Posts by hybridous

35

Did something changed regarding faders recently?

by Gorb in

jw
friends

friendly and good gorby smiled and waved towards 2 local jw's yesterday, and they turned with an angry face their back to me.

.

has something changed regarding faders recently?.

hybridous

Jws have short memory when it comes to who is brother or not cause of df arragment. It's been TWO years without meetings. How Many JWs You think remembers with persons came to kingdom hall? 😁 Two freaking years online. How they ever gonna return from this.

I am seeing this similarly. The lack of lateral/sideways enforcement of the JW life (applied thru regular KH associations) has really got to cost the cult. The burden of enforcing 'No-Association' slides unevenly toward the Elders. Energies flag. Old friendships persist without the ecclesiastical efforts to stomp out heresies.

I'm trying to put my finger on how best to say this. Maybe this isn't perfect:

Not meeting in a KH, that is - being a (mostly) online religion - perhaps serves to remove a measure of poison from a given DFing. Maybe because not being at a KH on the regular increases ambiguity of a given JWs status. It might let a person play with the process, to some extent; lets them dodge Elders and nosy 'friends'.

35

Did something changed regarding faders recently?

by Gorb in

jw
friends

friendly and good gorby smiled and waved towards 2 local jw's yesterday, and they turned with an angry face their back to me.

.

has something changed regarding faders recently?.

hybridous

Technically, to be an "apostate" you would have had to be a JW to begin with then "turn away" from it, but the "real" (functional) definition given above does not have anything to do with whether someone used to be a JW or not.

Thanks for that. I stand warned that I'd better continue to exercise EXTREME DISCRESION when talking with the JW relatives.

As it is now, I avoid the subject of religion, but mom likes to talk about all the people I used to know back when I was a kid going to the KH. I suspect she's hoping that I'll feel that I have a real connection with those folks and somehow have a change about what I've come to 'believe'.

If they are wound so tight that any resistance or challenge to any belief renders one unfit for association, then who are they going to be left to talk to? Each other? Where is this going?

I think I answered my own question.

35

Did something changed regarding faders recently?

by Gorb in

jw
friends

friendly and good gorby smiled and waved towards 2 local jw's yesterday, and they turned with an angry face their back to me.

.

has something changed regarding faders recently?.

hybridous

My guess would be that the cult is coming down on association with apostates. So it would be like when they came up with the dumb ass marking people who were not strong in the cult...

Yes, I think you are right about the WTs biggest concern. JWs can't withstand contact with critics. That's why they've been warned off concerning interacting with 'apostates' online, even if done in good faith as a WT defender/apologist.

The thing is...what's an 'apostate'? Right here, right now, in January of 2022...what exactly is a apostate?

Is it...any former JW who disagrees? Is it...any critic at all who dares question YHVH's 'channel'?

You see, in former times, the word 'apostate' was reserved for a very specific and select group of people. I think as time goes on, the WT has to keep massaging the definition, so that a greater number of enemies fall under the scope, and the WT can leverage that fear into avoidance.

Once upon a time, a person would have HAD to have been a former, baptized JW at one point to go 'apostate'. Is that definition still in use? Or might a former unbaptized publisher now qualify, even though I was never 'really' a JW?

35

Did something changed regarding faders recently?

by Gorb in

jw
friends

friendly and good gorby smiled and waved towards 2 local jw's yesterday, and they turned with an angry face their back to me.

.

has something changed regarding faders recently?.

hybridous

It is a fader paradise these days. Being in covid and not having to go to KHs.

Yes, it's never been easier to attempt this move. Some folks disagree on the propriety or usefulness of this idea, but I don't fault someone for trying.

I was under the impression that language has appeared in the Watchtower that states Jehovah's Witnesses should treat those who intentionally stop associating (i.e. go to meetings, etc.) as those who disassociate themselves.

This is 'official' policy, but this is increasingly difficult to implement since there's no lateral enforcement of JWs rules via association at the KH.

If someone's association is assessed via a Zoom Meeting...maybe brother/sister so & so attend some other Zoom Meeting w/ some other congregation. Maybe someone is Zooming on to feign attendance and instead watching a ballgame.

There is now a substantially LARGER imprecision concerning what it means to be a 'Good JW'. I recommend all to take full advantage of this. This might mean a possible extraction for people who would otherwise NEVER have the courage to exit.

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36

Door to door again?

by Zeds Dead in

do you think the jdubs will start up the door whacking again one day?.

there has to be many inside the org that are dreading having to do that again and as for the general public seeing this, it’s hard to imagine.

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hybridous

They'd better be careful.

Implementing a return to D-2-D Witnessing might very well do more harm than good.

Seeing how many JWs are very comfortable with the suspension of D-2-D ministry and lack zealous enthusiasm for resuming...that might be a dangerous morale killer.

The GB ought to be reluctant in serving up a real-time candid snapshot of JW fatigue.

61

Elders hounding members to quit their jobs due to missing too many meetings

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

how many times did you see elders hounding congregation members to quit their jobs due to missing meetings?.

my brother worked at a grocery store at 16 years old.

he would miss tuesday's ministry school due to his work schedule.

hybridous

Anyone willing to question the WT is damaged goods.

They know this. They know they can't tolerate inquiry. That alone ought to send folks running...

22

Tony Morris hijacking GB

by asp59 in

has the gb been hijacked by tony morris?

hes the host many times on jw videos.

saying gb members wanting him too host.

hybridous

Right about now, I'd really revel in an organizational power struggle resulting from a personality conflict.

Give it time.

They aren't the 'saints' JWs believe them to be.

In fact, I suspect it's quite the opposite.

But that's what a delusion does to you. It makes you a victim of reality.

141

My Prediction Regarding New Space Telescope That Will See Back to 100 Million Years From the Big Bang

by Sea Breeze in

a new space telescope launched a few days age that will supposedly be able to see to within 100 million years of the big bang.

wow... only 100 million years from the big bang.

that is pretty early given the 12 billion year age of the universe assigned by scholars who adhere to naturalism.

hybridous

Can someone explain why a belief in 'Creation' necessitates a static universe?

If anything, I would infer that a Universe which, at one point

DID NOT EXIST...

and

THEN, DID

implies anything but a static state. If those aren't dynamic conditions, what are?

61

Elders hounding members to quit their jobs due to missing too many meetings

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

how many times did you see elders hounding congregation members to quit their jobs due to missing meetings?.

my brother worked at a grocery store at 16 years old.

he would miss tuesday's ministry school due to his work schedule.

hybridous

At this point, the sad reality is that giving into the cult's demands for

particular employment,

doing particular things

at particular times

is bourn from a grievous disconnect

between the ORG, and the average work-a-day believers.

Anyone who puts 'kingdom interests first', at their own expense

Deserves what they get.

JWs! The ORG doesn't give a fig for you,

your family,

the burdens of life you bear.

One positive point of the new online aspect of JW-dom, is that perhaps fewer believers will find themselves between the ORG and their family obligations, due to an easier schedule.

19

So many are waking up. Pandemic gave jws time to think.

by pistolpete in

this is not about stats, but "actual experiences" happening world wide in the organization.

there is about 156 comments of what some jws are seeing in their congregation.

feel free to read and come to your own conclusion on whether the watchtower organization is turning pimo but no one says anything in order to keep family relations.

hybridous

I always go back to thinking about the lateral enforcement as a very necessary part of the JW Cult.

JWs enforcing (judging/informing on others) the rules sideways helps the elders police the congregation.

And that requires JWs to be interacting with one another - before/after meeting, field service, etc.

Going online as a 'religion' certainly implies a substantial loss of that in-person interaction,

and consequently, a loss of lateral enforcement,

shifting that burden directly to elders

or nobody!

I just can't fathom how this cult can perpetuate without this mechanism.

JWs keep each other in-line, but it can't really be done over Zoom, can it?