I agree. The site where this connect-the-dots activity can be found (jw.org) has a number of other activities children can do that are not like this, I realized. But it is troubling that a woman's death is treated so lightly.
--sd-7
Posts by sd-7
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14Lot's Wife Dot-to-Dot for Kids IS child abuse. Active parents - please read.
by likeabird ini'm posting this in the public section as i would like any active witness with children to think about this carefully.. .
for those of you who haven't seen it yet, this is the picture in question :.
(source : http://www.jw.org/assets/m/ijw13fr/502013170/ijw13fr_id-502013170_e/502013170_e_cnt_1.pdf ).
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138
A question about lying and the Jehovah's Witnesses
by Change Name ini have seen questions regarding how much jehovah's witnesses lie all the time on yahoo answers.
here is the latest question:.
jehovah's witnesses, is lying at any time something jehovah approves of?.
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sd-7
Why do opposers and apostates to Jehovah's Witnesses like to twist their teaching in regards to lying and claim that Jehovah's Witnesses lie through their teeth because they are allowed to because of something called "theocratic warfare"? The teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses are plain with the links above.
A key to understanding this issue is that Jehovah's Witnesses in general are not consciously lying about anything. They consider it as wrong to lie, it's that simple. But they generally repeat what they are told, and don't put two and two together to fully grasp that statement A cannot be true if statement B is true, yet both statements are being made as part of 'the truth'. Because the idea is to forget statement A while making statement B, while forgetting statement B while making statement A. This is the only way to reconcile certain key points or details being omitted in literature geared towards the public with opposite statements being made in literature geared towards JWs.
So I think the real issue here is, is anyone inside the organization aware of certain contradictions or that certain things are not really honest that are put in the literature? Yes and no. Depends on the moment. The Society says what needs to be said to potential recruits to get them interested or to dispel certain criticisms without going into too much detail about what such criticisms involve. Sometimes that does involve withholding information that is or would be vitally important to the subject matter at hand. More often, they are guilty of lying by omission than anything else. This is especially the case in situations where either the Bible itself or outside sources are quoted out of context to make a point. If you knowingly misrepresent the position of another by omitting critical details relevant to the subject, you are lying.
Not all of the lying is conscious or intentional, but there are specific cases when the phrasing used in the literature is crafted as if by a lawyer seeking a loophole to the position he takes. In those cases, I would say that intentional deception is kind of inevitable. Phrases like "it would be convenient if", "evidently, then, it is reasonable to conclude that", and so on--rather than stating it in precise, certain terms, the conclusion is stated as merely a reasonable one to draw, when of course, based on the long history of doctrinal change, any number of conclusions "would be reasonable to conclude" or "convenient". These things are telltale signs of an entity that knows it may have to abandon a particular teaching, and basically sets up its words a lot like an office that looks like it could be cleaned out overnight if anyone discovered it was a fake.
But in the end, most JWs are unaware of this. So they are not guilty of conscious, deliberate lying, but rather, the unconscious spread of things that, unknown to them, are either untrue or impossible to reconcile with other beliefs or historical events. This can be the case with any entity, but there are people at the top who do know, who do understand enough that this dishonest behavior/attitude could be stopped, and they simply choose to keep it as it is. It's a beast with many independently swinging tentacles. If one of them wraps around your neck, generally it doesn't matter whether it was the beast's idea or not, you still get strangled.
--sd-7
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24
The Apostate Boogeyman--a figment of JW imagination
by Londo111 inapostates are a figment of the jw imagination.
not necessarily the dictionary definition of the word apostate, which simply means a person who leaves their religion, for by that definition everyone who leaves a religion to become a jw is an apostate--but the jw conception of the apostate, both as an individual and as a 'group' is imaginary.. .
for starters, the watchtower goes beyond the definition of merely leaving the religion, if a person disagrees with a doctrine or practice of the organization, even if they dont voice it, that is a thoughtcrime called apostasy.
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sd-7
I cannot and will not accept anything said here at face value. No offense to anyone. In order to prove it to myself, I have to do the research myself. That way, if I am ever asked this question, I can honestly say that I have researched it and provide my own notes to back it up.
"That's good! You've taken your first step into a larger world."
--sd-7
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3rd Annual Memorial of Freedom--Will You Attend? Also, 'When Prophecy Fails' by Leon Festinger
by sd-7 insd-7's 3rd memorial of freedom falls on sunday, march 10th, 2013, at sundown.
check your local news for when sundown happens in your area, so that you may pass the emblems--chocolate milk and pop tarts--in observance of liberation from the watchtower.
for review, the pop tarts represent one's body, which will no longer sit in a kingdom hall.
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sd-7
Guess I ought to do some kind of meaningful post about what the last 3 years have meant to me. Hmm. Good idea.
Good idea, SD!
Good idea, SD!
It's "sd" now, sd-7. "SD"? What do you think I am, a tiny chip in which you may store your digital photos? Nah, I called myself that in the past, until I realized that my username isn't actually in capital letters and adjusted to "sd". But thank you.
Anyway, 3 years, huh? I'd say I can't believe it, but...when I look at how my kids have grown, I realize that I have no choice but to believe it. The time has passed. Three years since I was liberated from the Watchtower.
To tell you the truth, I've spent too much of it in grief and too little of it truly enjoying what I earned--the right to think for myself and be myself. There's some part of my true self that I have found myself unable to be open to, unable to consider. I know I'm making a mistake, a compromise, and shutting my eyes to it. I've made the most important decisions based on wrong premises, instead of holding those decisions to the same level of conscience and reason as my choice to leave the cult.
It seems that even my wife feels that I have no purpose now, beyond just working for the family, being a husband and father. As if that's armor I strap on to hide even from myself the fact that I don't have a big 'purpose in life' right now beyond the immediate needs or wants of the moment. I've studied the Bible on my own, ventured into thoughts of an agnostic and even atheistic nature, learned a little about objectivism just from reading 'Atlas Shrugged', but mostly I've just done a lot of what I've always done--watch movies, play video games, read novels and comic books, write in my journal, write short stories and occasional songs, and...not really much else apart from the duties of work and maintaining a household.
I think part of me feels that many of the greater things we could do are merely exercises in futility. You need more than one person to make a difference. Alone, he or she will simply be trampled. But me? I don't know. I just want it to be finished, whatever this is supposed to be about. Is there a point to all this, or were we all just a series of variables that showed up somehow and will disappear and be replaced by other variables?
Maybe it doesn't matter. At least I can live the rest of my days knowing I opened the door and found the answers I needed for myself. It made this existence a little more bearable, a little more real. Considering how much worse it is for so many on this planet, I'm actually pretty fortunate. That'll have to do.
--sd-7
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3rd Annual Memorial of Freedom--Will You Attend? Also, 'When Prophecy Fails' by Leon Festinger
by sd-7 insd-7's 3rd memorial of freedom falls on sunday, march 10th, 2013, at sundown.
check your local news for when sundown happens in your area, so that you may pass the emblems--chocolate milk and pop tarts--in observance of liberation from the watchtower.
for review, the pop tarts represent one's body, which will no longer sit in a kingdom hall.
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sd-7
I was leaning more towards buffalo wings and Guiness, but if it has to be pop-tarts and chocolate milk I'll do it.
It's cool--whatever you choose to do is fine by me. Wouldn't be a Memorial of Freedom otherwise, now, would it? Actually, I don't think I ever combine chocolate milk and Pop Tarts anyway, probably too much sugar at one time. It's kind of a gimmick; I'd say don't tell anyone, but this is the Internet, so I just told everyone.
Guess I ought to do some kind of meaningful post about what the last 3 years have meant to me. Hmm. Good idea.
--sd-7
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32
They read off the names of those auxilliary pioneering; 75% of them don't work &
by Theocratic Sedition inhalf of that 75% get disability and ssi checks.
it was kinda funny sitting there listening to them go down the line, name by name, of the ones auxilliary pioneering since the numbers are dropped to 30 hours for march & april.
as they were doing the names i was saying to myself, "she don't work", "she supposedly can't work", "he hasn't worked in years", "she gets a check", "she's probably gonna lie about the amount of hours she did" etc.. gotta love it.. i don't know if this happens in your congregation or not, but have you ever heard someone remark about someone else behind their back, "she can show up at every gathering, but she can't show up for field service!
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sd-7
"If anyone does not want to work, neither let him eat"
--sd-7
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3rd Annual Memorial of Freedom--Will You Attend? Also, 'When Prophecy Fails' by Leon Festinger
by sd-7 insd-7's 3rd memorial of freedom falls on sunday, march 10th, 2013, at sundown.
check your local news for when sundown happens in your area, so that you may pass the emblems--chocolate milk and pop tarts--in observance of liberation from the watchtower.
for review, the pop tarts represent one's body, which will no longer sit in a kingdom hall.
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sd-7
Ah, of course. The chocolate milk is the 'milk of freedom', representing freedom from the Watchtower. Keep drinking this, whenever you feel like it, in remembrance of me...
--sd-7
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Emotional Abuse - 10 signs to watch out for in a relationship
by sd-7 inhttp://shrink4men.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/10-signs-your-girlfriend-or-wife-is-an-emotional-bully/.
the above link explains it well.
i've probably encountered it before, but i think it warrants a mention once more.
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sd-7
Rejection. She ignores you, won’t look at you when you’re in the same room, gives you the cold shoulder, withholds affection, withholds sex, declines or puts down your ideas, invitations, suggestions, and pushes you away when you try to be close. After she pushes you as hard and as far away as she can, she’ll try to be affectionate with you. You’re still hurting from her previous rebuff or attack and don’t respond. Then she accuses you of being cold and rejecting, which she’ll use as an excuse to push you away again in the future.
Result: You feel undesirable, unwanted, and unlovable. You believe no one else would want you and cling to this abusive woman, grateful for whatever scraps of infrequent affection she shows you.
--Yup, that's me!
--sd-7
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Emotional Abuse - 10 signs to watch out for in a relationship
by sd-7 inhttp://shrink4men.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/10-signs-your-girlfriend-or-wife-is-an-emotional-bully/.
the above link explains it well.
i've probably encountered it before, but i think it warrants a mention once more.
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sd-7
One of my favorites:
"Unreasonable expectations. No matter how hard you try and how much you give, it’s never enough. She expects you to drop whatever you’re doing and attend to her needs. No matter the inconvenience, she comes first. She has an endless list of demands that no one mere mortal could ever fulfill.
Common complaints include: You’re not romantic enough, you don’t spend enough time with me, you’re not sensitive enough, you’re not smart enough to figure out my needs, you’re not making enough money, you’re not FILL IN THE BLANK enough. Basically, you’re not enough, because there’s no pleasing this woman. No one will ever be enough for her, so don’t take it to heart.
Result: You’re constantly criticized because you’re not able to meet her needs and experience a sense of learned helplessness. You feel powerless and defeated because she puts you in no-win situations."
Marriage has been like one gigantic Kobayashi Maru test. "Isn't the test itself a cheat? I mean, you programmed it to be unwinnable."
--sd-7
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130
How many former Jehovah's Witnesses bury their head in the sand when it comes to reasoning about the NGO "conspiracy"?
by Change Name inhi all - sure sure, you can call me a troll or brainwashed cult member.
i am totally interested in how your answers to these questions.. .
do you find yourself ignoring anything that jehovah's witnesses bring out in regards to their former status as an ngo?.
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sd-7
I don't see this NGO issue as some 'conspiracy', per se. It's mainly that it looks suspicious, questionable, and could stumble JWs if they knew about it. The big problem to me is that the Society knew quite well or should have known how any kind of affiliation with the UN would look to their 'brothers', but they did it anyway. If it was perfectly fine and dandy, they could easily have maintained their NGO status and released a public statement to the entire organization explaining their reasons and justifying it scripturally if necessary. Instead, they terminated their status and never mentioned it to anyone who didn't ask. That contributes further to suspicion.
And again, any JW who did the same thing, or who got a job as a UN librarian for instance, I wonder what would happen to them? Either way, Awake! very clearly backs up the DPI's letter about what the Society had to do to keep NGO status--inform the public of UN activities and accomplishments. This is what the Society did, and they used JWs to do it by having them place Awake! articles about the UN's activities and accomplishments...around the same time they applied for NGO status. Hey, I'll even give the benefit of the doubt--maybe not all of the 'top men' knew this was happening. But enough knew that it happened and involved every JW in the process.
The distinction between DPI and ECOSOC would be relevant as a counterargument if the Society hadn't published certain Awake! articles around 1991 that clearly fulfill the NGO requirement as listed in DPI's letter in response to the public inquiries on this issue. So...this isn't as complicated as you're makin' it out to be. Even if they were perfectly on the up and up about this one issue, there really is so much other questionable and outright wrong stuff that this seems like chump change by comparison. I mean, at least nobody died over this issue. People have died over other stuff the Society has done.
--sd-7