Posts by Cadellin

55

JW.Org Blitz

by Theredeemer in

jw
friends

i've noticed, partilcularly on instagram, a advertising blitz for jw.org by the dubs.

primarily its the younger ones 35 and under vs older ones.

i dont know if its just my friends or everyone but they are obsessed with jw.org.

Just had an interesting convo with my elderly super-zealous parents. The ministry is "completely changing," and it's all about using tablets now. In fact, there are classes being given on how to use a tablet in the ministry (anyone else hear of this?) I think this is locally, like at the local assem hall. So now my parents are trying to decide if they need to buy two iPads or if they can keep using their Samsung Galaxy and just buy one new tablet but all the JW apps seem to be for iPads, etc. etc. Keep in mind that while the parents aren't destitute, they are pensioners on a very limited budget. I see what's happening--publishing paper mags is a huge expense. The WT is in the process of drastically limiting the amount of paper printing it will have to do and shifting the expense of information distribution to the publishers.

Oh, well, this is very exciting for my parents, who have lived their whole lives expecting the big A any day and right now, really don't have a whole lot else in their lives. In a way, I'm glad they are still so zealous as the religion has lent a lot of meaning to their golden years, even if it is illusionary. Okay, now I'm depressed.

52

Stagnant JW growth at international convention

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

so at the international convention 235 were baptized.

the attendance was 34k.

that's resents less than 1% its about .6%.

Cadellin

It's worth noting, too, that the demographics of those baptized seem to be changing. My teenager went to the Int'l Con in Indianapolis and was shocked by "all the 5-year olds getting baptized" (his words, not mine--I wasn't there.) My teen has no interest in being a JW, just went to make dad happy and is generally indifferent to all of the ins and outs of the religion but this was really troubling to him. He kept saying "They (small children) can't make a decision like that!"

I'm sure there were young children getting dipped when I did but I don't remember that. I remember mostly older teens and adults.

Side note--the other thing that he noticed when he wasn't on his phone or dozing was how all the emphasis/worship is now directed to the organization, and how it seemed like Jehovah and Jesus weren't mentioned that much, or at least, not as much as JW.ORG. Again, this is from someone who really doesn't care one way or the other.

62

Roll call of those of us stuck in for our spouse or whos spouse is still in!

by BU2B in

jw
friends

i just wanted to get a feel for how many here have awakened to ttatt but are still carrying on some jw activities to pacify them and keep the peace.

also trying to hear from those who have left, but whose spouse has stayed in the wt and in the marriage.. for me it comes down to my own mental anguish.

i am mentally tortured by attending the meetings, yet i feel compelled to because my wife would kill me with her personality if i had her drag 2 small girls by herself there.

Cadellin

Husband in and a fervent elder. I'm out and my teenager is, too. My husband and I have been able to keep our relationship together, somehow, and I have to say our marriage is stronger now than ever. Basically, the religion is a no-fly zone and we've learned to respect each other's differences. Easy? No, but worth it to stay married to this man, whom I love deeply.

24

Bizarro world conclusion to the 2014 International Convention Public Bible Discourse

by rory-ks in

jw
friends

it was entitled earth's new ruler - who really qualifies?

given by brother mark neumeyer*, "who has been a full-time servant for nearly 35 years, and is a helper of the governing body of jehovah's witnesses.

" it was his second talk of the convention.

Cadellin

It's interesting that he goes into the we'll-answer-any-questions-from-the-Bible routine, and yet the questions he offers as an example of what they will answer are the same-old, same-old boring crap like Why Do We Grow Old and Die? and Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? that we've heard over and over.

The REALLY interesting questions like How Do You Explain Neanderthal Fossils? and Why Do Ice Core Samples Reveal 100,000 Years of Continuous Ice Coverage of the Poles If There Was a Global Deluge a Mere 4,700 Years Ago? and Why Haven't You Published Anything On Radiometric Dating in the Last 30 Years? don't get raised. But those are the ones that REALLY need answering!

25

A few thoughts on the District, um, Regional... sigh....

by Apognophos in

i don't even know what the bloody event is called anymore.

i think it's still a district convention until it goes to two days, isn't it?

my convention program leaflet just says "convention of jehovah's witnesses", seemingly intentionally avoiding the change in wording.

Cadellin

You are TOO funny! Thanks for making my day!

83

1975 end prediction

by FL_Panthers in

jw
friends

does anyone have the article written by the wt saying that the end would come in 1975?.

how did people back then come to this year?

i need this information becuase i was told, this was never literally written by the wt in any publication.. thanks.

Cadellin

Panther, I know others have said it, but let me chime in here. Reading somewhat convoluted material written by the WT and figuring out what is being said is necessary if you want to know the truth about the truth. If you weren't a strong reader before embarking on this journey, be prepared to become one.

Also, with respect to your comment about "people just serving Jehovah until 1975" and "running" with vague statements made by the GB, reflect on this: Those assertions assume that disappointment over 1975 sprang from the publishers themselves, that they brought it on themselves by baselessly magnifying or misconstruing statements by the GB. This tendency to blame the victim is consistent with how the WT likes to characterize people who leave the organization--shift the burden of proof to them and keep it off the organization. Yet is that accurate? Remember that the power relationship between the Society and the average publisher is not equal. The Society/GB repeatedly insist on unquestioning obedience, and emphasize that everything they produce is from "Jehovah's table," inferring that it's all straight from him (while at the same time disavowing inspiration, something of a trick). The average good publisher seeks to obey, to go along with what he/she is told and takes what the Society says as "Food at the Proper Time." So when the Society makes slippery statements about the end coming "within the next few years at most," what the heck is the pubisher to think? How could s/he ever not expect the big A otherwise?

Lastly, how can you or anyone claim that someone is doing something just for or until a date? In fact, what is the difference exactly between just serving for or until a date and "keeping the end closely in mind"? When the date goes by, another one is handily provided--1975 was replaced by the end of the 20th century, which was replaced in 2009 by the meaningless "imminent," if you recall that DC where the word was used in literally every talk on the program.

64

First Post - Emotionally Torn

by scaredtospeak in

i haven't been on here long but i found this site a couple days ago and quickly realised it had a lot of posts by people going through similar experiences as me.

i read some of the answers and it helped relieve some inner anguish i've been carrying since everything i came clean to my parents about everything i've been reading about.. .

i just have been going through a rough patch right now; that might be an under or overstatement depending on your own personal experiences with this kind of stuff.

Cadellin

Welcome! You ARE NOT ALONE. When I read your first post, I felt like I was reading my own story. The only difference is that I'm in my 40's and I went through my awakening about ten years ago, when I was already on my own and married to an elder. Here's what you need to remember:

--Your brain is telling you that there is a problem (well, multiple problems) with this religion. Your brain, not Satan. Your brain is telling you this based on credible evidence. Listen to it. The credible evidence is not going away.

--You are not responsible for your family's happiness and they have no right to imply that you are. You ARE responsible for being respectful and loving to your parents but that does not mean they should control your life or decisions (assuming you are eighteen or older. If you're not, hang in there--you soon will be).

--There is a tremendous amount to learn. Being raised a JW means that, even if you consider yourself fairly well read, you aren't. Exercise your sentience and read credible, authoritative material about evolution, and other phenomenon, written by educated people who actually know what they are talking about (unlike most JW writers).

--Read Ray Franz's Crisis of Conscience. It's amazing.

--Get an education, even if you have to finance it yourself by working full-time. As someone who finally went to college in her thirties and is now a university professor, I can tell you it's worth it.

--You are not guilty of wrongdoing. I felt like I had committed a murder when I finally started researching the Truth About The Truth. Yet all I was doing was exactly what we encourage people of other faiths to do about their own faith! This weird unwarranted feeling was strong evidence that my mind had been messed with.

--Keep coming here and reading and posting. We want to know how you're doing!

107

Will firing the DOs be the first step to a new Watchtower?

by Juan Viejo2 in

against my better judgement, i've decided to share the following as a response to guy pierce passing and the announcement of the elimination of district overseers later this year.. late in january (2014) i got an email from one of my contacts (a fader) who served at bethel for several years, but is no longer at wt hq.

he still has a lot of close contacts within the service department and in other departments at patterson and knows people in all of the ny offices.

i kept this email set aside on a flash drive and haven't shared it with anyone - figuring i'd publish an article about it later this year when i had more time to do it right.

Cadellin

Wow, what an interesting thread. I think the symbolicizing of the 144,000 is probably very likely for reasons already given. However, the idea of suddenly yanking the heavenly rug out from under the feet of all those poor old sisters is staggering. I can't see it happening, honestly--it would be so clearly an aboutface without any kind of scriptural basis (okay, okay, I know lack of scriptural basis hasn't stopped them before, but still). In a way, I almost hope they do, because it would be such a blatant act of partriarchal bigotry and discrimination, even more so than all the stupid rules limiting women's roles already, that it might wake more women up to the idiocy of this religion.

Thank you, Juan, for posting this and please say thank you to your source.

57

Regional Convention Program Posted

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

http://download.jw.org/files/media_books/b8/co-pgm14_e.pdf.

i think i will want to kill myself during the friday afternoon symposium.

it should be called "how to not enjoy life or have fun.".

Cadellin

Thanks for posting this. When I saw some of the comments, I thought--this can't be right. Then I opened up the file and YUP, IT'S MORE CUCKOO THAN EVER. Wow, when you've been out for a while and then take a look at a program like this, it just leaps out at you how completely nutty this religion is. Cult, really. I've never wanted to think of it that way, but some of these titles are doozies.

I have to comment on the Sunday symposium (sidepoint--what's up with all the symposiums and dramas? I remember there might be one or two at the most and then just one drama on Sunday. Now these formats seem to appear every day of the convention) about visualizing life in the new order. One of the talks is "Complete Peace with the Animals," or something like that. Actually, I would love to listen in on that one and see how they spin it. I've always thought that the predatorial and parasitical nature of nature is almost impossible to explain from the Biblical perspective.

You can't just flip a miracle switch and make all those nasty carnivores grass-eaters. The entire web of life on this planet rests on a predatory and parasitic framework. Which means, of course, that either species evolved so as to take advantage of food sources in the form of other species, like cats with their motion-tracking vision, retractable claws, high speed and inability to synthesize taurine, in which case prey species must have co-evolved in response, like mice with their speed, caution, fast gestation and high birthrates, OR God created them that way, which makes the idea of Him changing all of that over to grass-eating rather perplexing.

I wonder how the manuscript of that symposium talk will deal with this? Probably this way: ignore or obfuscate the facts, talk about lions playing with beach balls instead.

18

A startling example of a JW ignoring evidence

by Pyramid God in

i happen to work with my father, and today we got into another debate about the origin of life.

during the debate, while rebutting a lot of creationist canards, he said that mutations are always harmful to an organism.. .

after he left i sent him a quick email with a link to talk origins on the subject of mutations.

Cadellin

"Mutation" as a term covers a host of changes that can, and do, occur regularly within a genome, including things like whole sections of dna being duplicated, letters being reversed, and so on. Every human has, on average, between one and four mutations in her/his genome that are not found in either parent, ie. are "new." The vast, vast majority of mutations are silent, that is, they occur in parts of the genome that are noncoding, or that are not actively involved in producing proteins or are otherwise neutral, neither harmful nor beneficial.

All of these mutations or genetic changes ride along in each generation's genome, getting passed down and added to, and acting like raw material for natural selection to act on. When one or more mutations, acting alone or in concert, produce a change in an organisim that gives that organism an advantage in dealing with some environmental challenge--like helping it to digest a food source that would otherwise be inedible--the organism possessing that mutation has an edge that it may pass along to its offspring. They, in turn, will have an edge that will enable them to live longer, healthier and/or (and this is most important) produce more or healthier offspring. This is how a mutation or group of mutations spreads throughout a population. This is evolution.

I should add, this is not speculation. This has been documented over and over and over. What I find most interesting, however, is that mutations can render a formerly useful section of the genome useless. When this happens (and this happens very slowly, over time), that now noncoding portion of the genome still gets reproduced from generation to generation, riding long like a piece of history--a kind of fossil gene set. One fascinating example of this is the land-mammal olofactory genes possessed by whales, a vestige of their terrestial past.