I believe this is the same brilliant article (or issue) that presents evolution as a false religious doctrine and attempts to refute it on that basis.
With that kind of "logic," there's not much you can do in response except roll your eyes.
Cadellin
JoinedPosts by Cadellin
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Wt 2013 oct 15. KNOWING God is not about knowledge, it´s a conviction, LOL!!
by Mr Fool in.
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besides, claiming that you know god, is that a humble attitude?!
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The December 2013 study WT is up at JW.org
by Mickey mouse inhttp://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=pdf&issue=20131215&output=html&pub=w&langwritten=e.
here's one extract:.
9. why should we be on guard if someone begins to speculate or to speak critically?.
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Cadellin
"There are no laws in Oceana..." --1984, George Orwell
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Hello everyone....another newbie here
by KWJoe ini made my first post yesterday on an earlier topic about celebrating holidays.
just lois invited me to introduce myself.....hi jl.
where to start?
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Cadellin
Welcome and good for you for finding freedom--and true love! Yes, life is good.
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It's yime for an introduction
by HowTheBibleWasInvented ini've been lurking a month or two and letting out a comment here and there.a few weeks ago someone asked if i had formally introduced myself.
i was born and raised a witness.
i always found meetings borning and family studies so bad.
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Cadellin
Hey--welcome! That is really interesting--I, too, was awakened to the TTATT through an "innocent" foray into credible, third-party (read: Not WT) research. Amazing what you learn actually reading what scholars who have conducted broad and comprehensive studies of the Ancient Near East have written, as well as what geneticists and biologists have discovered. Amazing, isn't it, how the WT brochures and articles supposedly "proving" why the Bible is trustworthy history conveniently avoid mentioning what are certainly smoking guns as to the contrary?
I applaud you for your intellectual courage and motivation to expose the WT's lies and misrepresentations. Most JWs prefer to not look at the seams too closely, choosing the comfort of the social mielieu and the "hope" of living forever. I, too, was heartbroken when it dawned on me that I would never frolic in the golden light of that elephant-and-lion festooned paradise, garbed in the colloquial ethnic dress of centuries past, while smiling maids bore platters of basketball-sized fruit. Damn.
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More fear and paranoia WT-style! (11/15/13 WT)
by LostGeneration ini usually dismiss the "drinking the kool aid" scenarios that are posted from time to time, but the latest wt has another bit of fearmongering.
the quote from page 20, para 17. elders who are reading this article can draw some useful conclusions from the account we have just considered: (1) the most practical step that we can take to prepare for the coming attack of the assyrian is that of strengthening our faith in god and helping our brothers to do the same.
(2) when the assyrian attacks, the elders must be absolutely convinced that jehovah will deliver us.
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Cadellin
At first, I didn't believe that this was really in the Nov. WT (sorry--I'm permanently skeptical from being fooled for so long as a JW). I mean, it just sounds so bat-shit crazy. So I went to the site and read the PDF.
Me, before reading it: Me, after reading it:
OMG. This is the scariest issue I've read in a long time. The GB is basically saying, "No matter what we tell you to do, no matter how insane it sounds, you must do it." The worst part is that they have been preparing JWs for a long time now to mistrust their own instincts, to resist their inner voice and to doubt what their heart is telling them, which makes people especially vulnerable to external control. Every study issue of the WT is "Obey, Obey, Obey." On top of that, you have a group that is not particularly well-educated or well-read, and that is socially, intellectually and religiously very isolated. In some ways, they're physically isolated, too, since many JWs don't go anywhere where they might have close contact with "worldlings." This is a recipe for another Jamestown--and I know it's been said before--but when you take the accumulation of all the mind-control tactics together...
I really feel ill and very frightened. I really think something terrible is going to happen in the next couple of years and while, yes, it would be great to have this religion exposed, I shudder to think about what damage will be done to a lot of people.
To me, it seems like a huge red flag and I have to wonder what responsibility we have to warn--I don't know. Warn some authority? I honestly don't know, but it seems like some kind of pro-active action should be taken. On the other hand, I believe in free speech and in people's right to make their own stupid decisions. Thoughts?
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The Mermaid Takes Notes at the DC...in Limerick Form
by Cadellin infor those of you who missed the dc, i thought i'd share my notes so you, too, can partake of the spiritual feast.
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Cadellin
I think we should publish a chapbook!!! You guys are brilliant.
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The Mermaid Goes to the District Convention and this is what She Hears
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Cadellin
Pistoff: Those were from notes. I basically just scribbled down every negative thing, w/o worrying about grammar.
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The Mermaid Takes Notes at the DC...in Limerick Form
by Cadellin infor those of you who missed the dc, i thought i'd share my notes so you, too, can partake of the spiritual feast.
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Cadellin
For those of you who missed the DC, I thought I'd share my notes so you, too, can partake of the spiritual feast. This is just a smattering.
Friday, “The Truth Will Set You Free”
Drink in the pure waters of God
Or risk being seen as quite odd
For those who dare balk
At the elders’ straight talk
Soon draw back the curtains of fraud.
The suits walk the platform at ten
Eleven and twelve and, why, then
They go for a snack
But soon they’ll be back
For the platform’s all cock and no hen.
Saturday, “I Shall Walk in Your Truth”
How grateful we are for the news
That those who are gay can just choose
To deny their desire
Or risk the lake’s fire
With choice like that how can you lose?
We must let God’s Word shed the light
To be sure our decisions are right
You know what to do
Critical thinking eschew
Follow “Mother’s” rules or she’ll bite.
Higher ed is for worldly nations
To Witnesses it brings desolations
No need to waste time
On that spiritual crime
Grab your mop, we’re all cleaning sensations.
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The Mermaid Goes to the District Convention and this is what She Hears
by Cadellin in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><![endif].
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[endif][if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><!
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Cadellin
I do think this DC has ratcheted up the phobic cultspeak a few notches. What really struck me was the heightened binary—everything is black and white, either evil/worldly or good/approved by the org. There is virtually no room left for a conscience or personal decision making.
Some observations:
1. The first demo Fri am was of a bible study telling the sister that she can’t have her study this morning. “Last night, I got into a discussion with Steve about the Bible and I really let him have it. And do you know what he did? HE HIT ME!” sobs the bible study.
“Oh, I am so sorry,” says the sister. “You did not deserve that. Jehovah does not approve of hitting. But maybe you could have handled it better. Here, read [Scrip on showing love].”
“But Steve never does any of those things!” says the study.
“Well, who’s trying to be the Christian here?” retorts the sister.
Sound familiar? Yup, it’s almost word for word the experience in the Feb 2012 WT. Except for a careful addition: The first two sentences the sister says about you not deserving that and Jehovah not approving of hitting are ADDED. They are NOT in the WT. I went home and looked it up on the CD-ROM. Anyone else notice that?
So much for “authentic” experiences.
2. The first scrip read—the very first in the whole program—was Prov 4 on the light getting brighter and its application to how “our understanding of truth is progressive and refined.” That scrip was used twice during the morning and there were repeated statements about progressive revealing of truth.
3. Evolution is now lumped in with the trinity and hellfire as false doctrine. Go figure. I suppose they’re trying to recast it as completely disassociated from actual scientific investigation.
4. One of the final talks had the weirdest illustration I’ve heard in a long time—in fact, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what the speaker was getting at until he finally explained the application. Suppose you are looking to buy a house and the realtor takes you to nice gated community. The house is great, except that the realtor says that there are a few rules within the community. First, everyone believes in free love and sleeps with everyone else. Second, there are “propaganda meetings” that are mandatory because the community wants to control the direction of your life. Any guesses? He’s talking about college campuses! This led to an extended discussion of how Christian parents would never expose their children etc. etc.
5. The Apostate talk was a doozy. I have NEVER heard of so much vitriol in such a short amount of time. The Bethel speaker was almost trembling. I decided that I would just take down every negative characterization. The most hilarious part, though, is that Satan runs a restaurant! Yes, Satan's diner, where demons are sous-chefs and human apostates the kitchen help. All I could think of was--someone's been watching a little too much Chef Ramsey.
Anyway, here goes. Without any grammatical adjustments or modifiers, in fourteen minutes, apostates are:
Evil, poisonous, unruly, poisonous lies, deceive minds, prefer the table of the demons, slanderous, infected, diseased workers, pushed away from Jah's table, decided on the table of the demons, oppose Jah's will, part of the seed of the serpent, prideful, reject counsel, have earthly wisdom, animalistic, pride that escalates into bitterness, jealousy, reject God's service, draw men after themselves, only claim to worship God, too prideful to preach, like kidnappers, prey upon others, speak twisted things, create divisions, resort to distortions, half-truths, lies, malicious, intend to deceive, speak counterfeit words, twist scriptures, employ clandestine methods, use smooth talk in blogs, don't care about others, hypocrites, false faced, claim to be your brother, don't have an original thought, only want to criticize, claim to serve God but reject his representatives. Reject GB, reject overseers, reject elders, lie to authorities, seek to discredit organization, use media to lie, picket in front of Bethel, have wicked works, like someone with an infectious disease, mentally diseased, want to infect others, like rotten fish, not sincere in their expressions, double-hearted, want to undermine your faith, opposers, walk against the truth, part of the antichrist, work with Satan in his evil kitchen.
I counted 64 negative characteristics in 14 minutes, which makes 4.5 or so every minute. That's without any kind of surrounding grammatical construction, which of coure, the speaker supplied. But this gives you an idea of the tenor. Actually, I thought a couple of things were odd: Not having an original thought! And "working with Satan in his evil kitchen." Direct quote. I had to giggle at that.
The speaker also said, "Don't we feel that you can say whatever you want about me, but don't say a word about my mother. Well, our mother is the organization. Shouldn't we defend our mother?"
The exhortation was imperative and repetitive: Don't read, don't talk, don't respond, don't say a word, don't even glance at what apostates produce. This was said over and over and over.
Yeesh.
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October 15th WT up already
by St George of England inhttp://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20131015/.
needless to say, banging on again about education and also creation/evolution.
can they not think of anything original?.
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Cadellin
It's articles like these that reassure me IN SPADES that I made the right choice to leave. Yeesh.