Gladring

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Posts by Gladring

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  49

  As a JW Were you Counseled on Grooming, your Dress or Hair Styles ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just another controlling feature of a mind controlled cult.

  they always dictate that everyone should look like clones of one another - the same.

  from early on i remember my elder dad in the late 1970's telling me as a teenager , " you are an elders son ; little brother jimmy over there looks up to you as an example.

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  Gladring

  I was thinking about this earlier. In particular the hair and the beard side of things.

  I remember when I was younger a quite liberal elder from a neighbouring cong. say that in the new system that he was going to grow his hair down to his waist. He said something like "don't let small minded men and their opinions spoil it for you". At one point in that congo. a number of elders (including him) grew beards until neighbouring congregations refused to accept speakers with beards and the co cracked down.

  A few years ago, not long before I became an MS we were away for a few months. During the time I decided to experiment with a beard. I asked some of the guys I worked with "If you were going to a job interview and you had a beard, would it make a difference?" (I didn't want to mention that it was because of religion - I mean, I didn't want them to think that JWs were some kind of control freaks). One of the big arguments against beards is because of how it's viewed in the community. So I thought I'd actually find out how it was viewed. No one in the outside world gives a hoot about beards.

  When I came home to our cong. sporting a beard it created a bit of a stir. A couple of the elders stated that they had no problem with beards but think about how it's viewed in the community, not stumbling others etc. Anyway. All this led me to thinking (yes I did still use part of my brain even then) that maybe everyone was going around not wearing beards because they didn't want to stumble someone else - when in reality, no one cared and maybe some even wanted to wear beards themselves!

  What a bunch of wazzocks!
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  49

  As a JW Were you Counseled on Grooming, your Dress or Hair Styles ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just another controlling feature of a mind controlled cult.

  they always dictate that everyone should look like clones of one another - the same.

  from early on i remember my elder dad in the late 1970's telling me as a teenager , " you are an elders son ; little brother jimmy over there looks up to you as an example.

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  Gladring

  undercover said

  Talk about a mindfuck. You stick out at school and everywhere else where people kept up with the times but then go to the hall and you're reminded how you're not following counsel or setting a good example.

  I hear you. Didn't fit in anywhere. I was an English kid living in Ireland and a JW - I never stood a chance :)
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  49

  As a JW Were you Counseled on Grooming, your Dress or Hair Styles ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just another controlling feature of a mind controlled cult.

  they always dictate that everyone should look like clones of one another - the same.

  from early on i remember my elder dad in the late 1970's telling me as a teenager , " you are an elders son ; little brother jimmy over there looks up to you as an example.

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  Gladring

  I've been meaning to read this thread for a while. Some have already commented on the mind-control aspects of dress/grooming counsel. For me this has left a legacy of self-esteem and self-image issues.

  People often commented on my "obedience". I was very good at accepting counsel and direction. Growing up a JW, I never had any control over my style. My father was quite restrictive. They had something about denim in the '80s.

  As a teen, I always wanted to grow my hair longer. I would fight it for as long as I could, but in the end would give in to the constant nagging from my dad. He would make some encouraging remark like "your hair looks smart" and I would flip out. I didn't think it looked smart. He got his way, there was no need to rub it in. I would go through this cycle and never, ever achieve the look I wanted. If you want your hair long it does go through a scruffy stage before it straightens out. I would never get past this stage.

  One incident with the local PO sticks in my mind. When I was about 12-13 my folks were clearing out some stuff from their wardrobes. My dad had some great kipper ties, genuine '60s stuff. He had this cool brown sports jacket too. None of this stuff would fit me but I liked it and didn't let them throw it away. I kept it and grew into it. When I was 17ish the PO counseled me because this jacket wasn't smart enough. I handled mics at the meetings and he said I should wear a suit jacket. This seriously screwed with my head. I would be up in my room getting ready for the meeting and reach for the jacket. A lot of teens have esteem issues and I was no stranger. I would be paralysed trying to choose what to wear. I always buckled. Even in my mid 20s I still struggled with self image.

  I never got to experiment and find my own style when I was in my teens. I woke up at 27-28 and left the cult and realised I have no idea what I want to look like. I'm growing my hair, but I don't know how things will end up. I have clothes I feel comfortable in. I feel much more comfortable about my appearance and I'm putting myself under no pressure to rush things. Somehow I'm sure that this will never fully leave me.

  I totally agree that the dress codes are mind-contol. I would add that the only reason they give you privileges like microphone duties, MS etc. is to tighten their grip. "Oh you have to set an example, the young ones are looking up to you". Just one big head f***.
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  9

  Arrrrgghhhh! *@#!$

  by Gladring in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have "myriads and myriads of brothers".

  stuck in my head.

  "all clad in raiment white".

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  Gladring

  Ok, I've changed the first line to "Millions and millions of Reptiles"

  Brain is stuck, need help for second line.
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  9

  Arrrrgghhhh! *@#!$

  by Gladring in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have "myriads and myriads of brothers".

  stuck in my head.

  "all clad in raiment white".

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  Gladring

  Anyone try singing "marriage is god's arrangement" to the theme of the muppets?

  Try it, it works.
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  9

  Arrrrgghhhh! *@#!$

  by Gladring in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have "myriads and myriads of brothers".

  stuck in my head.

  "all clad in raiment white".

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  Gladring

  Piraticus 13:7

  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was “ Arrrgh !”
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  9

  Arrrrgghhhh! *@#!$

  by Gladring in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have "myriads and myriads of brothers".

  stuck in my head.

  "all clad in raiment white".

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  Gladring

  I have "myriads and myriads of brothers"

  stuck in my head

  "all clad in raiment white"

  funking bar-stewards!
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  77

  What are the greatest evidences that the deluge never happened?

  by Newborn in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thanks for your help.. /newborn.

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  Gladring

  One of the slam dunk anti-flood evidences is the polar ice cores. Each year as snow and ice forms at the poles air is trapped. Each year a new layer is formed. If you take a core of the polar ice and count back the layers you can tell what the atmosphere was made up of in the past. Scientists use this to find out what the atmosphere and climate was over 200,000 years ago. If there was a global flood it would have melted the ice and ruined all of this data.

  A similar evidence from the world of climate study: In Ireland we aren't lucky (?) enough to have ice fields going back for hundreds of thousands of years to use for climate research. However a current study is using some other data. In a lake, sediment is constantly falling to the bottom of the lake. Pollen in the air falls on the lake and gradually sinks to the bottom. This happens year on year and if the bed of the lake isn't disturbed you have a history of pollen captured in the silt. Look back through the layers and you are looking back through time. The pollen of each plant species is unique and can be identified under microscope. If you know which plants prefer what weather, by charting the most prolific pollen in each layer you have a record of climate change over time. Again a flood as described in the bible would have erased all that data. The pollen records the climate in Ireland for around 20,000 years.

  What I like about the ice cores is there is absolutely no interpretation going on. It's just counting layers of ice. No ambiguity.
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  73

  I just sent an email to the governing body

  by Awakened at Gilead in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i sent a link to my new video and told them that they were featured in it.

  i hope this induces mass hysteria at the tower office.. i guessed the addresses, and i haven't gotten any error messages.

  so if you want to send a message to the gb or anyone else, the address should be:.

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  Gladring

  Woah, wait, you get a tour of the UN as par of the Gilead induction? Why?!

  Yeah, I wondered about this too. Was this during the WT's cohabitation with said "harlot"?
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  73

  I just sent an email to the governing body

  by Awakened at Gilead in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i sent a link to my new video and told them that they were featured in it.

  i hope this induces mass hysteria at the tower office.. i guessed the addresses, and i haven't gotten any error messages.

  so if you want to send a message to the gb or anyone else, the address should be:.

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  Gladring

  Lance, I was just thinking about this the other day. What if the WT tries to pull this video. There's a group of people who have got together to fight against DMCAs filed by creationists. They may help if you are attacked. They created this video, maybe it will come in useful sometime.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ztXK1C9DzM

  Steve2 said:

  You're probably just what the organization needs right now to feel "special" and increase its sense of being persecuted. Although your zeal for exposing them is understandable, your confrontational, hit-em-hard approach may not be effective - unless, of course, your major aim is just to hit 'em regardless of impact?

  Some people, atheists included, feel that Richard Dawkins approach is very aggressive and that it is counter-productive (I know Dawkins name is like a red rag to a bull for some people but it's just the example I am interested in here). I've seen Dawkins interviewed when he was asked about his approach compared to some other figures. His reply was along the lines that for some people another approach may work better. He felt he wasn't good at "seducing" believers into atheism and that he preferred a straightforward approach. That said, he feels that it is good that all the different approaches are out there. The straightforward approach worked for me, maybe it would put others off, but it's important that the variety of approaches is available.

  I don't really see how Lance's videos are confrontational. Many times he says "I'm not saying I know better than the GB, just that there are many ways of interpreting the texts." But to the closed mind...

  Keep it up Lance.