Posts by Cadellin

73

A letter from a College Dropout

by Ethos in

jw
friends

dear harvard university,.

i have decided go leave this institution of education.

let me explain why.

Cadellin

Okay, I can't help myself.

Ethos, sweet Ethos, I write to you from my office at a large, public university where I teach, among other things, critical thinking. While it has been acknowledged by other posters that certain kinds of classes require memorization (and for good reason), many--if not most--of the classes you will take at Harvard, or any other credible institution of higher learning, emphasize higher cognitive skills including analysing, evaluationg, synthesizing, and creating. Books are read with the goal of learning, yes, but always with an active and critical eye, and usually in conjunction with multiple perspectives. As far as my own students go, I tell them that they can argue whatever position they please in their papers, as long as they can substantiate it, reason through it and support it with credible evidence.

Like the FDS? Not.

98

Latest "Shun Your Family" Statement - Jan 2013 Study WT

by LostGeneration in

solomon alluded to it yesterday in a thread, i found the online large print pdfs here, not sure where the regular version is yet.

here are the full paragraphs, grab your barf bags .

19 on the other hand, if you choose the path of resentment.

Cadellin

No, Black Sheep, Rory, and everyone else, it is a LIE. That little piece of fiction drummed up by the WT's public relations boys and slapped onto JW. Org that states that "normal family affection and dealings continue" is a bold-face, out and out LIE. How can you put that side by side with this latest WT article stating unequivocally that even e-mail "assocation" must be avoided? Do you really think that the supposed weepy sister quoted in that article really has continued "normal family affection and dealings" with her DF'd daughter? Is that the impression being given?

And what are "worldlings" supposed to make of that JW.Org pr piece that Rory linked to? "Oh, no, witnesses don't shun family members--see, it says right here that if a man is disfellowshipped, blood ties remain! Normal family affectin and dealings continue, see? Right there."

Of course, what a dyed-in-the-wool JW reads in that pr piece is that the "children" are school-age, living at home, right? But does it state in that article that the children are only 5 or 6 and so they wouldn't be taught to shun the father? No, of course not. A non-JW reading that article assumes that it applies whether the man is 32 and the kids are 10 and 11 or the man is 52 and the kids are 28 and 30 and living on their own.

This makes me physically ill. The religion claims to be "The Truth." And yet engages (once again) in such clear and unambiguous lying, all in order to make themselves "look" more acceptable to those who aren't part of the cult.

17

roday at a 2-day assembly

by raxxxx in

i shall let you all know what happens, what kind of nee light is going to shine here today!

wish me good luck!.

Cadellin

the truth is mine: Are you serious? I've heard speakers dance around it but never come out and say it. That blows my mind...

44

Watchtower teachings on the length of human existence.

by free @ last in

anyone know the current wt teachings on the length of time humans have been in existence?

do they still teach that the first man and woman were created approximately 6,000 years ago?

have they made any comments on archeological findings that show paleo-indians living in the america's 10,000+ years ago?

Cadellin

The WT may be trying to distance themselves from their past assertions regarding the length of the creative days, but the chronology back to Adam still stands. IOW, dinosaurs might have been created millions of years ago (though they won't use that terminology, prefering 'eons' as has already been mentioned), but Adam made his first appearance a little over 6,000 years ago.

44

Watchtower teachings on the length of human existence.

by free @ last in

anyone know the current wt teachings on the length of time humans have been in existence?

do they still teach that the first man and woman were created approximately 6,000 years ago?

have they made any comments on archeological findings that show paleo-indians living in the america's 10,000+ years ago?

Cadellin

Nope, they are firmly attached to the belief that human existence is exactly 6,037 years old. They brush off the mountainload of evidence to the contrary by claiming that, while radiocarbon dating methods are reliable back to the flood (about 4,000 years ago, roughly), they cannot be trusted prior to that. Why? Because the removal of the water canopy disrupted atmospheric radiation and so there is no way of knowing what the proportion of C14 to C12 was.

Which is absolute nonsense, of course. There are numerous independent and yet harmonious methods of detecting historic carbon levels, including oceanic foraminafera analysis and ice core samples going back tens of thousands of years, neither of which would have been affected by any supposed shifts in atmospheric carbon levels. But, alas, such independent research and (even worse) thinking is not to be engaged in by the majority of JWs, many of whom just don't have sufficient reading levels in order to process the implications of this kind of research.

But here's another way of thinking about it. Let's say that the WT is right--that at the moment of the great deluge, when the water canopy came down, there was an immediate, dramatic change in radioactivity significant enough to affect the rocks and all fossilized remnants of life. That would create a paleontological/chronological boundary as dramatic as the KT boundary with its iridium layer, which would profoundly affect all dating methods in every discipline and would be very well-known among scientists. Think about it: radiometric dating predictions would function orderly all the way back to the date 2370 BCE, then suddenly, wham! Everything gets funky and the predictions don't work anymore; another model has to be substituted. You don't think scientists, researchers and other professionals wouldn't notice?

630

SAD news about OOMPA......

by redredrose in

jw
friends

our friend, oompa, has passed away.

just recieved the news a couple of hours ago, and have almost no details.

it happened today or yesterday, he took his own life.

Cadellin

I am heartbroken. Oompa was one of the first posters to welcome me when I first joined. Rest in peace, dear Oompa.

28

Anyone Notice this in the New Brochure "Good News From God"?

by Cadellin in

if you look on page 10, "what is god's purpose for the earth?," you'll see an illustration of adam in the garden--with a belly button!!

what were the wt artists thinking????.

i'd post a scan but, alas, i'm unable to in my present locale..

Cadellin

If you look on page 10, "What is God's Purpose for the Earth?," you'll see an illustration of Adam in the Garden--with a belly button!! What were the WT artists thinking????

I'd post a scan but, alas, I'm unable to in my present locale.

19

2012 Convention Baptism reports yet?

by Gayle in

Cadellin

Tacoma, Washington, USA (English), 6479 attendance, 21 baptized (less than 1/2 of 1%)

Portland, Oregon, USA (Spanish), 6500 attendance (approx), 58 baptized (still less than the 1% of days of yore)

99

Thought Reform and the Psychology of the 'Safeguard Your Heart!' 2012 Convention

by breakfast of champions in

to make attendance at my second district convention "mentally out" both a little more bearable and meaningful, i decided to take some notes of key points as if i were an outsider studying the thought reform methods of jehovah's witnesses.

at first, i was only going to share these notes with my therapist, but inspired by the "parsing the watchtower double-speak" thread, i figured i would share my amateur analysis with everyone.

here are some of the highlights:.

Cadellin

Great comments--I'll add my observations, too. I was at the DC on the West Coast at the end of June/beg of July (won't say where to maintain anonymity) I have to agree w/what's been said about thought control and manipulation. I'm not sure if it was stronger at this assemb or if I'm more attuned to it, but WOW--major psychological assault on any kind of indep thinking or self-reliance.

This whole binarial heart/flesh dichotomy was fashioned to instill doubt and hesitation in anyone listening--doubt or even whole-scale aversion to any form of healthy, rational thinking-things-through-for-oneself. You just can't trust anything that comes from within yourself! That's why you need to be TOLD what to do, say, wear and, most importantly, think. Otherwise, you run the risk of displeasing Jehovah by relying on your treacherous heart. You must obey whatever it is that you're told, even if you don't understand or happen to agree. Any shades of doubt or disagreement with what the Slave has said or provided is really exactly the same as "testing Jehovah in your heart."

Yikes. This was underscored over and over. The rhetoric harmonized with the mind-control content. One new strategy I noticed was the practice of the speaker making a statement and then saying, "Let me say that again," or "I'll repeat that..." or "Did you catch that?" and then, gosh-darn, saying the same statement again word for word. This little ditty happened in virtually every talk. Did anyone else notice that?

I'll also throw out the number baptized, since it was interesting. We had peak attendance of 6,500 approx. on Sat. and the baptism was a whole 21 souls. That's it. That's not even half a percent. Interestingly,I later spoke to someone who had attended a Spanish convention with roughly the same attendance and the baptisms were 58. So now we know where all the increase is (not that it's any surprise).

The general feeling I got from the content was a ramping up of fear, paranoia and control. No question about it. Due to circumstances, I had to miss Sunday. Oh, darn!

11

CNN Breaking News: Jury reached a verdict in case involving 2 Philadelphia priests

by AndersonsInfo in

.

i was just informed and hope the info is correct that the jury has reached a verdict in the sex abuse case involving 2 philadelphia priests.

verdict will be announced in court at 2 p.m. est

Cadellin

I was just about to post a link to this story. The parallel b/w the WT case and this RC one is eerie, only this one involves jail time. Notice that this priest is "the first U.S. church official convicted of a crime for how he handled abuse claims" (emphasis added). What he did was almost exactly what elders have been instructed to do: say nothing to congregation members, do nothing to prevent further abuse.

This paragraph is particularly interesting:

"Prosecutors said they showed a pattern at the archdiocese of lying about why priests were removed, sending them to "company doctors" at church-run therapy centers and failing to warn new parishes where they were later transferred.

"They put so many innocent children in danger," Assistant District Attorney Patrick Blessington said in his closing remarks, noting that it can take years or decades for victims to come forward. "That's what's so scary about this. We have no idea how many victims are out there." (Emphasis added.)