I already liked the JWs I met, but OnTheWayOut's asking about the WTS, not the followers. The followers can't decide anything about how it's run.
glenster
JoinedPosts by glenster
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50
Could WTS Become a Mainstream Religion?
by OnTheWayOut ini read threads about reform and needed changes.
i don't like the idea.
i personally think that a harmful dangerous mind-control cult should not find some way to moderate slightly to keep their membership.
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50
Could WTS Become a Mainstream Religion?
by OnTheWayOut ini read threads about reform and needed changes.
i don't like the idea.
i personally think that a harmful dangerous mind-control cult should not find some way to moderate slightly to keep their membership.
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glenster
If the JWs leaders dropped the claim of being the only rule-makers of a
literal 144,000, dropped the phoney efforts to make a dozen or so rules seem the
best ones indicated, and dropped harsh disfellowshipping for persistent dis-
agreement with those rules to keep those that got wise away from the steady cus-
tomers, they'd be mainstream (with an untrustworthy past).
If Erich Von Daniken dropped the pretension of being wiser than most of the
scientific community, and dropped the quote-mining, etc., to make unlikely
possibilities at best seem like proofs, he could be a mainstream author (with an
untrustworthy past).
If Uri Geller dropped the claim of being a psychic, and dropped the effort to
fool customers that his magic tricks were genuine shows of that ability, he
could be a mainstream magician (with an untrustworthy past).
If organized crime dropped the crime, and didn't pay people under the table
tax-free and without college requirements, it could be a mainstream business
(with an untrustworthy past).
If Peter Popoff didn't claim to be a healer, and dropped the radio transmitter
and tap water-type gimmicks, he could be a mainstream preacher (with an untrust-
worthy past).
They could become mainstream at any time, but then what would be their money
making distinction? Each have passed over the boundary of ethical concerns to
create a money-making niche and were happy to find a large enough group of un-
critical customers to become wealthy. The JWs leaders have treated those who
conscientiously questioned the program, including other JWs leaders, the same as
the others reacted to critics of their illegitimate methods--like enemies. Ex-
pose books about the JWs leaders, Geller, or Von Daniken may be more ethically
mainstream but don't sell as well as the literature or shows they criticize
because more people want to believe they're in on something special than find
out they're not.
The main obstacle that prevents the JWs leaders from going mainstream isn't
a critic, book, or the Internet--it's that the average mainstream preacher makes
a middle class income. -
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glenster
Here's a list of secret societies like the alleged "New World Order" in case
any conspiracy theorists run out of ideas. "The Sons of Lee Marvin" looks like
fun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Secret_societies -
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glenster
Re: "It was those pesky japanese that made the US go to war. The global elite
were actually finacing the nazi party in the US."
It's a shame certain rich prominent business people, such as those who
invested in Hitler's 1933 campaign, see money as ethically as some poor people
who just see organized crime as a way to make money without going to college or
paying taxes. In some cases, they were partly being pragmatic about power
plays, such as between Germany and Russia, neither one being led by great
examples of ethics. The worst examples of investment by those rich people, such
as Henry Ford helping the publication of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"
(later distributed by Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam), don't reflect the
majority of US concern at the time, though.
http://www.reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/chapter_07.htm
http://oneheartbooks.com/books/agenda/who_financed_hitler.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ashby_Turner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Black
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion
The US was mainly concerned to help the Allies. Within a few days, the US
reacted to being attacked by Japan on Dec.7, 1941, by declaring war on Japan,
Germany declared war on the US and attacked ships on the Atlantic coast, so the
US declared war on Germany.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II#The_war_becomes_global
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_and_carry_%28World_War_II%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-Lease -
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There's a whole floor before us, just for you and me.......
by Fe2O3Girl inso what makes you get up and dance?.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy7svzqfebm.
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glenster
<object width="445" height="364"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lqtki6I-VTY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Lqtki6I-VTY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object>
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Israel's Egyptian Exodus to the "promised land" only TWO saw it...same with Armagedon?
by Witness 007 inhow many of jehovah's israelites really saw the promised land?
only the two spies out of the original 3 million!
{joshua, caleb} moses, aaron, and the rest of the jews were killed off or left to die for their insolence and disobiedience!
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glenster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exodus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promised_land
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/Lastjudgement7.jpg?0.2519666007693597
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/Lastjudgement8.jpg?0.35518451774415716
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/Lastjudgement9.jpg?0.6516157938366858
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn41.htm -
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Could God create a rock so heavy He could not lift it?
by nicolaou inone question that stretched theologians during the middle ages was; could god envision or make a four sided triangle or a three sided square or some other atrocity.
at first the problem seems foolish, but it really is an instance of a more fundamental problem: is god bound and limited by the laws of reason and logic or not?.
i've had this conversation on jwd before but i was never satisfied with it.
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Flouride and Chlorine in our drinking water is poisoning us to death?
by Witness 007 inamerican dental association now reccomends due to health problems children under 12 not drink tap water with flouride!!!!
even though since the 1950's we were told flouride only helps "young teeth.
" it is chemical waste made from smoke staks while chlorine was a chemical weapon which was found also to clean water.
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The WTS and it's members inability to face it's past/history, funny?
by jookbeard ina recent little debate with a couple of recent posters on here i was accused of constantly referring to the past / history of the wts, even to the extent of it being of little importance to them because of the advancement that the wts has made up until this present day , and that they made mistakes, so did the apostles, and we humbly admitted these mistake's etc, the thing is i love studying the history of the wts, it's failed prophecies/blatant lies/flip flop in doctrine, the outright crazy claims, the organ transplant ban, the persecution of their own brothers in malawi, there help for their brothers in mexico, yet at virtually the same time condemning those brothers to murder/rape/kidnap/false imprisonment etc, so folks, you will be seeing a lot more examples of wts history, i'll keep it coming, because the final conclusion will be that the wts is not the channel that jerkhobah uses on earth, and it truly is an apostate!.
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glenster
The JWs leaders apply their harsh shunning rules to persistent disagrement
with any of their special rules. Agreement with all of them is required for
membership. A customer who gets wise to the JWs leaders' methods of making
those rules seem guaranteed as meant by the Bible by the best evidence and
reasoning isn't around to spread the information to the other customers for very
long. It's the best Bible-sounding reason the JWs leaders can come up with for
damage control given that their customers aren't living in an isolated camp but
are spread door to door to sell the merchandise.
I normally never pick on the followers, but since the post asks about their
allegiance to the JWS leaders, it might be helpful to research how a sociologist
would describe the ties created when someone bonds with others in their priority
group. (Their priority group can be something good or bad--from a charity or-
ganization to organized crime.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociologist
The JWs leaders have their customers form bonds with friends and family in the
same marketing group. Persistent disagreement with a JWs leaders' specialty can
result in being shunned by friends and family. An extreme example of a bad pri-
ority group is the one created by Adolf Hitler, who imposed punishment on anyone
who disagreed with his propaganda about his inhumane rules. As compared to
Allied forces, which sent in new troops as they were required, Hitler had his
troops buddy together in training camp before sending them onto the field,
resulting in troops which defended Berlin as the bombs were closing in on it.
Don't lead yourself on about the effect of an evidential expose. A book on
ancient astronauts might sell millions and Uri Geller might become a close
friend of Michael Jackson, but the expose book will only sell thousands--more
people want to see support that a belief is proven true than see that it's only
possible or even disproven. An example is shown by Peter Popoff. How much
better an expose of him as having deceived could you want than the one supplied
by James Randi on the Tonight Show? Popoff went bankrupt in 1987 after the
expose but is back now bigger than ever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts
http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2008/11/erich_von_daniken_twilight_of.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Pseudoarchaeology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Pseudoscience
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-of-place_artifact
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_About_Uri_Geller
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4HQOVqyAxM&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLSI45raeHI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zl3I5y4cZc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxqRN5vjDHQ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Popoff