That's a fantastic line of reasoning.
Paralipomenon
JoinedPosts by Paralipomenon
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59
Surprise Elder's Visit-FAIL
by iclone in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><!
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Who are the Jehovah Witness online apologist groups?
by Gros Michel no more inthe summer assembly was hot and sticky, it was long on rules and stingy on deep scriptures.
the speaker warned us about the online discussions of greek and hebrew, which are running ahead of the organization.
did you know there are brothers who are trying to check the accuracy of the new world translation?
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Paralipomenon
There's a fairly large group of Witnesses that post in the Religion & Spirituality section of Yahoo! Answers.
They mainly just plug their ears and try to drown out all the criticism.
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10
Shunning is easy
by Paralipomenon inupon reflection over the past 5 years of being out, i've had a lot of time to consider my time as a witness as well as come to terms with my parents shunning us.. that was the biggest shock for me.
contrary to most experiences i've read, my childhood, while focused on witness matters was still pretty happy.
our family always seemed to fall on "family first, religion second".
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Paralipomenon
Upon reflection over the past 5 years of being out, I've had a lot of time to consider my time as a Witness as well as come to terms with my parents shunning us.
That was the biggest shock for me. Contrary to most experiences I've read, my childhood, while focused on Witness matters was still pretty happy. Our family always seemed to fall on "family first, religion second". My mom tried to push for a "religion first" attitude, but it just didn't suit the rest of us.
Upon reflecting on my family's decision to shun I did strike upon an interesting point. Shunning is the easiest thing to do.
When you take a look at all the things that the Watchtower demands of its followers you notice a trend:
Meetings, require study, planning, getting dressed up, travel back and forth
Service every week, organization, setting up groups, finding territory and going door to door
Daily text requires study
Assemblies require more planning and financial expense
Maintainence of the hall takes extra time on the weekend
Elders have more meetings and parts to prepare for
and so forth.
We have all lived it, there is always something to do to keep you busy.
All this you need to do to remain a Witness in good standing.
What does shunning involve?
Nothing.
That's right, it requires you to do absolutely nothing. It is considered a major sacrifice and there is much consolation to the parents forced to shun a child or viceversa, but in reality it is the only activity required to keep you in good standing that you can do nothing to accomplish.
It is easy doing nothing, and it is seen as a major test. You can parade around the hall feeling righteous because Satan has decided to test you personally and you are able to pass the test with ease.
All other "feel good" tasks set out by the Watchtower require a fair bit of constant effort and time, but shunning actually gives you more time and has the Governing Body stamp of approval.
The articles highlight how difficult it is and praises the sacrifice of those willing to put Jehovah first.
I just had to shake my head at the level of manipulation required to pull this off.
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2
Read first 7 chapters of "combatting cult mind control" today
by Lied2NoMore inhard to believe this book wasn't written by an ex-jw.
parallels are astounding!
i'm anxious to read if there are suggestions to help open minds of my wife and child.
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Paralipomenon
While similar I found that the content dealt with entities far more controlling than the Watchtower.
I was a bit disheartened when I got to the part about how to help someone joining a cult. It seemed writtend from the aspect of a family trying to help a wayward child or parent. There was not much advice I could apply being that my parents have been Witnesses since before I was born and their entire friend group are Witnesses. Other than my sister and I, the immediate family are Witnesses as well.
I do realize that I handled my "leaving the WT" conversation wrong and I could have done it differently, perhaps with more positive results
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JW Forum Closes Due to 2012 District Convention
by biometrics indoes anyone know what was said at the 2012 district convetion about websites?.
subject: jw forum .
http://www.getphpbb.com/phpbb/index.php?sid=a428e22582822b1665b41d48ee8f58c9&mforum=jw.
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Paralipomenon
Marking for later
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Will we ever see another Ray Franz?
by Emery inwill we ever see another governing body member leave the organization like ray franz did and speak out against them?.
one can only imagine the kind of dirt that's been concealed behind those gb sessions since the 1980's.. what are your thoughts?.
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Paralipomenon
Unlikely.
As far as I can understand from reading his book, the only reason he went public was because the GB wanted to make an example out of him and disfellowshipped him.
Even after leaving the GB he was content to remain a Witness.
If they ever feel the urge to remove a GB member again, I doubt they will make the mistake of disfellowshipping him. Especially in the light of today's information age.
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Atheists: Lowest Retention Rate Next to JWs
by breakfast of champions inarticle found here.. .
those who grow up in an atheist household are least likely to maintain their beliefs about religion as adults, according to a study by georgetown university's center for applied research in the apostolate (cara).only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults.
this "retention rate" was the lowest among the 20 separate categories in the study.. there were 1,387 atheists (weighted) in the survey.
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Paralipomenon
I can see that.
Atheism is an extremely difficult concept to believe. You have to be okay with no afterlife in any form. It's not for everyone.
Also, an atheist isn't going to shun his children for believing in a god of somesort.
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54
For those of you who do not believe in corporal punishment...
by Chemical Emotions inthat is, for those of you who actually think that hitting children is wrong, what types of discipline do you find more effective?
i'm not a parent but when dealing with kids, i've seen that time-outs tend to make kids feel isolated and can really hurt them.
if they're near others and are checked up on frequently, it seems ok. but when they're completely ignored, that is just bad.
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Paralipomenon
My experience is almost identical to MC RubberMallet's. I was devious enough that I could try to lie my way out of a punishment if I was grounded just do things anyways after my parents forgot.
You can't lie your way out of spanking though and it was what worked on me.
For my children two of them only ever need a glare, the third however has a rotton temper and works himself into a fury. At that point he can't be reasoned with. You could count to 100, ground him off of everything and lock him in his room. He would start destroying things or throwing things around the room. We found a smack on the bottom would redirect his rage from just being angry at being punished to the point that he would listen.
It was always a last resort and as he has gotten older, he now has a much better control of his temper. We just stand silent for sometimes up to 20 minutes staring at each other until he's calm enough to talk about what happened. No spankings necessary now and I don't regret doing it at all.
To any punishment there are extremes. There are parents that use corporal punishment as an outlet for their anger. There are also parents that helplessly plead "No Johnny" as their child screams at the top of its lungs running around destroying everything in sight.
Neither is beneficial.
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Paralipomenon
Bobbi and I go for lunch dates at a local sushi place.
I actually can't stand cooked fish, but love sushi and sashimi.
My favorite are salmon, red snapper and butterfish. California rolls are a guilty pleasure as well.
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27
Serv. Mtng DEMO from last week: How would a "real" householder respond?
by Open mind inmy wife and i call in to the cbs/tms/sm once or twice a month and only listen to the announcements.
last week the announcements included a demo of a jw woman trying to peddle mags to a female householder.
her intro went like this:.
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Paralipomenon
I was usually pretty quick on my feet and knew the teachings very well so I was often the person that they went to for last minute talks or presentations.
One day an elder comes up to me in the middle of the meeting and doesn't ask, but tells me I am going to be part of his demonstration. I was a bit irked, I don't mind doing it, but I appreciate being asked rather than told.
I didnt like this elder at all, in fact none of the teenagers did. We all joked that he was a child mollester since he would take all the young girls in his car group in service. Turn out we were right, but I digress.
I get called up for the demonstration and he opens with one of the anti conversation stoppers: "No doubt you already have your own religion, right?"
To which I reply that I was a very happy Hindu.
The congregation started laughing and this elder tried to recover: "But you must agree that the bible is a holy book, correct?"
I replied "Actually I prefer to follow the Vedas".
The congregation was in stitches and he stood there turning red. I could tell that he was half trying to think up the proper witness reply, the other half thinking about how he would love to punch me in the face.
He then excused me from the stage and proceeded to give the demonstration playing both sides. It was awkward to watch.
I got a reaming out after the meeting, but it was worth it.