In the jw world there is no love, really. The wt society defines love through what you (are supposed to) do. If you do, then you love. If you do not do, then you do not love (and will not be loved). Where is the subjective experience? Try to find from the wt publications, like the book Make your family life h... what love is. I never could... instead I could give a list of classical literature which eventually might make you get it. This of course is a well-known approach of wt-like cults: They redifine major concepts, also feelings and emotions, watering them out and explaining them to death (like in that book), or making them meaningless by externalizing and alienating them (love yhwh etc). That explains the learning outcomes produced by twenty years in the wtbts educational program.
DrJohnStMark
JoinedPosts by DrJohnStMark
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22
Yesterday's WT
by WalkTall inthe whole wt yesterday, which was supposed to be about love, actually centered on how we should react to 'persecutors'.
it was horrible to hear the audience comments...calling 'worldly people' everything from 'they are unkind and mean' to them being 'hateful and unneighborly'.
i sat there and thought about how this 'us vs. them' mentality is the very thing that is contributing to the divisive and separatist world we live in.
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57
How fast can you "prepare" a Watchtower lesson?
by Open mind inover the last 3 years i've gotten much faster at making a wt article look "studied".. .
how fast can you get one ready for inspection by snoopy elders and microphone handlers?.
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DrJohnStMark
Three minutes is enough, random underlining of 1/4 of the text using a screaming-colored highlighter pen so that everyone can see. Bonus: Your apparently "wrong" markings will make those sitting beside you feel very intelligent... so it's the good deed of the day.
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Did you Have One " Power Controlling " Elder in your Congregations ?
by flipper ini believe many congregations had one, if not 90 % of the congregations i attended.
there seemed to always be one elder that dominated over the other elders and incredibly - in spite of the arrangement being called a " body of elders " many times it seemed that one elder would arise and take control over the other elders.
the other elders would roll over and bow essentially to these power elders.
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DrJohnStMark
In the city I lived in, there were four JW congregations in the 80's, and they all had a different flavor... or smell in sunday morning meetings. In one gongregation the presiding oveseer, a wealthy business man whose authority was never questioned, was known to drink quite a bit... and so did most of the ministerial servants. Then there was one "dry congregation" in the city, because the controlling elder in that congregation was a teetotaler... towards the end of my JW career would not have lasted a minute therein. In the first congregation it was possible to keep your privileges even if you had quite a few quite often if you happened to be a fishing friend of the presiding guy. During the years, I learned that several families moved in another part of the city to join a more happy congregation.
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A Sister and a Brother alone
by Lilycurly ini've been looking in the watchtower library all morning and can't find anything.. i know that jws have this rule (is it unwritten??
) where a brother and a sister should not be left alone in a car, a house, or any private place.
but my jw father says it's not so, and he spent a part of yesterday installing a computer program at a jw couple's house while the man was at work and the wife was at home.
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DrJohnStMark
After quitting JWs, have to say, I first was disappointed since it seldom happened like that: just me and women accidentally in a closed room and then soon necessarily out of all control... In fact, that is only happening in cheap porn movies so apparently that's where the Governing Body must have found their idea.
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How Many Here Were Turned Down For "Privileges" Because You Weren't "Exemplary"?
by minimus inour odd body of elders would not allow the one person who wanted to mow the lawn at the kingdom hall to do this because he was not getting 10 hours in a month, he was only getting in 7. seriously.. were you ever told you couldn't have a "privilege" because you didn't measure up to their lofty standards?.
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DrJohnStMark
As a teenager, for some time, I was getting theocratic ministry school assignments less often. It later turned out that the elder responsible for that had thought that my hair was a bit too long (even if it was short, I can tell) but he was not able to say it directly because of the pecking order of the local elders (my father was one of them), so I was supposed to eventually understand...
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IT IS THE BEST WAY OF LIFE, says my Dub sister.
by wobble inas some may remember, i posted about being dubious as to accepting anniversary presents this year from my super-dub family, esp.
my older sister.. well we agreed with the consensus on here that it was best to accept with gratitude and this we have done, but i would just like to reproduce what she wrote in the card accompanying the present and flowers.. after the happy anniversary she wrote :.
"it makes us sad to think of all the anniversaries past when you were part of our christian congregation.
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DrJohnStMark
Wonder how they (born-ins) can know if they never tried another way.
And wonder if many JWs on their death bed really think that certainly it was the best way of life... -
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Was the Apostle Paul the Rutherford of his day?
by nugget ini was doing reseaerch on early days of the society and remembered a radio programme about the apostle paul from earlier in the year.
the gist of the programme was that paul had remodeled the early christians in his image and that many of the restrictions and edicts from that time had little to do with jesus earlier teaching.
for example the vilification of homosexuals and the denegration of women.. this made me think about how rutherford changed the early bible students and added restrictions to them as well trying to remodel the organisation into something he could control.. jesus spent time teaching about the kingdom, preaching the need for love, forgiveness and acceptance.
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DrJohnStMark
Another point of view: Also the level of insanity of Rutherford's writings is comparable with the insanity of those by Paul. Like Rutherford, Paul was able to produce a flow of absolut nonsense... wonder if he used the same dopes that the Judge did. Just (part of) one demonstration of Paul's apparent madness from Gal.Ch.4:
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; F10 the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.Juas open any book by Rutherford to find similar streams of nonsense... he believed he was inspired like Paul did. But Festus knew better: Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. (Acts 26:24)
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DrJohnStMark
I experienced some 'demon attacks' when I was a JW. Somehow I got rid of (my internal) demons after quitting the JWs.
Most of my experiences fit well into what I later learned is called a sleep paralysis.
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DrJohnStMark
For me the personality of the God of the Bible is the main reason for not being a Christian any more (if I ever was)... plenty of examples of that mentioned above by other writers. Thus, after reading the Bible a few times, I no more have reason to read it any more. I recently read the Apocrypha since they give some insight (and outside look) in what I used to believe in. Reading the Bible can be useful in helping someone to quit the JWs, so if somebody has not carefully read the Bible, I might recommend it for that purpose.
Another thing: There is too much unnecessary BS in the Bible for it to be inspired by anything (anyone) else but limited human experience. Some statements there are just plain wrong and, in addition, then there is lots of stuff like that I mentioned in the do-you-still-read-the-bible thread: "Jair, a Gileadite... had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts..." (Judges 10:3-4) and "Abdon... had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts..." (Judges 12:13-14). Nothing more than a fairy tale.
In my opinioin, most pages of the Bible are completely unnecessary and only a few of them have some artistic (which I cannot really appreciate since I do not understand the original language) or major historical value. So take your own Bible and a text-liner pen to mark the passages that are completely useless or apparently wrong. There is not much left after that.
You should ask the same question about the Bible and about the Watchtower publications:If they have anything to do with Holy Spirit, why are they so terribly wrong and stupid?
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How Good Was/Is Your Singing Of The Kingdom Songs?
by finallysomepride inmine, this is self explanitory, i hated it & just moved my lips but nothing came out..
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DrJohnStMark
My singing was bad and I did not usually sing, but for some years I played the rotten piano at the kingdom hall because there was no competent player available. It was a relief (not for the ears though) when they finally decided to use the tapes instead, I just no more wanted to 'watch those (interesting and) false notes'...