you gotta admire the skill manifest in the watchtower's deception skills.
don't kid yourself, even the gestapo, in internal documents found after the war, found the magazines to be well crafted in the field of propaganda.. the latest deceptions?
well, there's the nov. awake magazine with its cover asking, "is belief in a creator reasonable".
Braincleaned: you might not want to antagonize Greybeard, I hear he has a large and very supportive family. Besides, he only has 10 posts a day and it would be a shame to see them go to waste in a fruitless argument with you.
Blessings to all (and hoping there are leftovers from yesterday's love feast),
AB
you gotta admire the skill manifest in the watchtower's deception skills.
don't kid yourself, even the gestapo, in internal documents found after the war, found the magazines to be well crafted in the field of propaganda.. the latest deceptions?
well, there's the nov. awake magazine with its cover asking, "is belief in a creator reasonable".
The keyword for what WT produces in the Writing Department ought to be "rubric". Essentially it means "standard" or "template". One can "write to a rubric", "teach to a rubric", etc. In plain English that means if you have the standards at hand, you can form your publication to fit, or if you are a teacher you can teach your students exactly what they need to know to pass the test.
Remember all those "experiences" written in the Awake!? They all sounded alike: first a paragraph or two about the person's notable adventure, next a statement like "Before I tell you how I got to this pinnacle of excitement, let me tell you what led up to this point", and then there would be a page or more of mind-numbing details about frolicking in the mountains and noticing Creation or of being raised in terrible surroundings where food was foraged from someone else's trash while lying paralyzed on a skateboard at the same time trying to get an education in a place where the only school was on the other side of a raging river...and uphill both ways! The bio section would conclude with a swift summation of the Bible Study phase and the Baptism, a lengthy list of "privileges" that person had in Jehovah's Organization, then the final portion was dedicated to a description of the blessings only Jehovah's true worshippers would receive on Paradise Earth. That's a rubric. One template; just pour in each and every story. If you've read long enough online, you will have run into statements from people who had stories published and most say the same thing, they didn't print it the way it was handed in. The Writing Dept. is where it gets fitted to the rubric. All the WT publications follow a rubric: make a general statement, pick everyone else's rubrics apart, fill the torn out places with the WT version, then close with the nearness of the blessings to be gained by "doing Jehovah's will". Oops! Almost left out a part: right after the topic is introduced be sure to dwell on how every objection is motivated by evil forces bent on keeping the reader from learning "The Truth". That's the insurance clause, it keeps a person questioning the motives of anyone who doesn't agree.
Watchtower "writes to a rubric". Jehovah's Witnesses "teach to a rubric". That's what keeps them "united". It isn't because they have the True God's exclusive blessing, it's because most people go through their whole lives never knowing that since childhood all their education has been rubric-based, all the entertainment they've ever experienced has been template-based, every magazine, every book on every subject published, is all pushed, poked, prodded, and fitted into someone else's idea of a mold before it becomes available to the general public. Teachers learn about rubrics in college, journalists have their version, doctors call it "protocols". WT isn't so much devious as they are ahead of the curve when it comes to understanding how to get their message to the people.
As most here already know, the primary qualification for a higher position in WT is obedience; not skill, not experience, but a willingness to defer to the arrangement. That, too, is a sort of rubric. Once a person internalizes the rubric they are able to carry out all sorts of duties "whole-souled as to Jehovah and not to men". At least that's what they think it is! The unknowing sit back and wonder how "God's people" can be so deceptive! Well, now you know.
AB
I wouldn't say I'll fight for mine but I won't give up on them, that's for sure. I'll be holding down the fort until they're able to come out of their trance and remember the love we once shared. I haven't forgotten. They're still my family whether they acknowledge me or not.
AB
Worse than that, WT sets up a false dichotomy here: Bible versus Tradition. It's not about Bible-based teachings v. tradition-based teachings at all. It's about believing in God and following the leading of his Holy Spirit.
WT has a phrase they ought to copyright: "God'sWordTheBible". They link the two together when they ought to be separate. Until a person realizes that simple truth they'll be hoodwinked by specious arguments such as the one above.
God's Word isn't the Bible. The Bible and scripture are not the same thing. WT either doesn't know or doesn't care.
AB
here is why, even though i no longer agree with most of what the gb/wt/jw's teach, i still feel especially close to all of us who were apart of this group.
born in or converted.
we all have had the same life experience of being raised in a over bearing mind controlling cult.
Lola-rabbit: it's not that I can't feel the love, it's that I don't call all love "family". (I call some of it "affinity"!)
Greybeard: Thank you for your kindness. I looooove meatloaf!
My cup runneth over. Oh, sorry, it's the gravy. It spilled on your clothes, Diest? Awwwwww.
here is why, even though i no longer agree with most of what the gb/wt/jw's teach, i still feel especially close to all of us who were apart of this group.
born in or converted.
we all have had the same life experience of being raised in a over bearing mind controlling cult.
I say NO. Family is an overworked word, and it certainly doesn't pertain to being an xJW. WT, and, by extension, JW's, is a *group*. In my opinion they're just what they say they are, a nonprofit *corporation* (root word means "body" but not "family"). JW's are what WT says they are, non-members of the corporation, simply "publishers" for the WT nonprofit corporation.
I have a family. I was once associated with a nonprofit corporation known as Watchtower. Watchtower said I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses. There were other JW's for whom I felt an "affinity" just as there are now a number of xJW's for whom I feel an affinity. At the same time there are a number in each group for whom I feel no affinity at all.
I find it best to keep my definitions straight, especially in light of my WT/JW experience.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
AB (speaking in friendly but very serious mode)
faith california city fines couple for holding bible study in their homeposted on september 19, 2011 at 1:36am by madeleine morgensternphoto via flickr user erwin vogelaar.
a southern california couple has been fined $300 dollars for holding christian bible study sessions in their home, and could face another $500 for each additional gathering.. city officials in san juan capistrano, calif. say chuck and stephanie fromm are in violation of municipal code 9-3.301, which prohibits religious, fraternal or non-profit organizations in residential neighborhoods without a permit.
stephanie hosts a wednesday bible study that draws about 20 attendees, and chuck holds a sunday service that gets about 50.. the fromms appealed their citations but were denied and warned future sessions would carry heftier penalties.
Diest, please take a look at my earlier post to this thread wherein I mention compelling governmental interest in not losing potential tax revenues. Thanks.
faith california city fines couple for holding bible study in their homeposted on september 19, 2011 at 1:36am by madeleine morgensternphoto via flickr user erwin vogelaar.
a southern california couple has been fined $300 dollars for holding christian bible study sessions in their home, and could face another $500 for each additional gathering.. city officials in san juan capistrano, calif. say chuck and stephanie fromm are in violation of municipal code 9-3.301, which prohibits religious, fraternal or non-profit organizations in residential neighborhoods without a permit.
stephanie hosts a wednesday bible study that draws about 20 attendees, and chuck holds a sunday service that gets about 50.. the fromms appealed their citations but were denied and warned future sessions would carry heftier penalties.
Diest, no one is taking away their right to assemble (for religious purposes), they're just saying "not on residential property".
faith california city fines couple for holding bible study in their homeposted on september 19, 2011 at 1:36am by madeleine morgensternphoto via flickr user erwin vogelaar.
a southern california couple has been fined $300 dollars for holding christian bible study sessions in their home, and could face another $500 for each additional gathering.. city officials in san juan capistrano, calif. say chuck and stephanie fromm are in violation of municipal code 9-3.301, which prohibits religious, fraternal or non-profit organizations in residential neighborhoods without a permit.
stephanie hosts a wednesday bible study that draws about 20 attendees, and chuck holds a sunday service that gets about 50.. the fromms appealed their citations but were denied and warned future sessions would carry heftier penalties.
From a purely financial perspective: It seems that the home and property are relatively costly. If the owners continue to "hold services" and "bible studies" on that property, they will qualify for ministerial exemptions on their personal income tax. At some point they may decide to form a nonprofit religious, educational, or charitable corporation and that means exemption from property tax. San Juan Capistrano is protecting whatever rights it has in relation to income or loss thereof. They might not want their city to lose money like Brooklyn Heights, Patterson, Walkill, etc., still having to protect the property against crimes, fires, emergency medical needs, but getting nothing in the way of compensation for it.
crime channel = a family of four were murdered at a tennasee rest stop.
one of the killers a teenager girl said.
"the man aproached me at the rest stop and asked me if i believed in god, he said he was a jehovah's witness..." the four youths are serving life in prison.
If you do a search here on the board for "Lillelid" (the family's surname) there are other threads about it.
