why the anticipation?.
"no one knows the day or hour", i thought?.
i knew this very mentally unstable jw woman years ago.
I think we need legislation on Bibles. There should be a 7 day waiting period and a background check before you can get one. No more freebies in your hotel room. If you're crazy, you can't get a bible.
Maybe that will help stop some of these crazy doomsday prophecies.
JWS thats the funniest and truest thing I've heard all week!
just found out that the australian governong body member known as geoffrey jackson got engaged to a sister about two weeks ago.
it really shocked me at first but then i remembered how other members of the gb have remarried in the past like daniel sidlik.
what made me say "woah" was hearing that the holy bride to be is really young!
i read in another thread, where it said that the wts, has investments from stocks, with the companys of lockheed martin and grumman northrop.
these are some of the biggest weapons suppliers to the us,uk, and israel.
i would think it would be very hypocritical for a christian organisation, that claims to be nuetral, and to "learn war no more", to invest money in companys that produce weapons, that are used in wars.. is this true, though?
many people are understandably upset and angry at the notion that jws have the right to shun people.
it seems such an obvious "no brainer" cruel and inhuman thing to do - it must be wrong ... surely?.
of course we look at things from the perspective of those hurt and harmed by shunning.
Duh!
Do you know how many non-Witnesses shunned me when I was a Witness? Now you're going to try and regulate what they can do?
Actually its true any born-in can tell you how painful it can be to be shunned by your school mates for being different.😢
Again though that is individual preference.
many people are understandably upset and angry at the notion that jws have the right to shun people.
it seems such an obvious "no brainer" cruel and inhuman thing to do - it must be wrong ... surely?.
of course we look at things from the perspective of those hurt and harmed by shunning.
Giordano to coerce : to compel by force, intimidation, or authority, especially without regard for individual desire or volition
Boy if threatening someone will be hated by his God and loose his life everlasting (after being df'd for associating with a df'd)is not intimidation, I don't know what is!
many people are understandably upset and angry at the notion that jws have the right to shun people.
it seems such an obvious "no brainer" cruel and inhuman thing to do - it must be wrong ... surely?.
of course we look at things from the perspective of those hurt and harmed by shunning.
do agree Simon but I think something will give somewhere. It's religious intolerance, and as isis and other maniacs make more headlines the Prarie of religious hatred and intolerance is going to get less and less popular and by extension jw shunning could get lumped in with that at some point. Laws made to protect Muslims or others could be used for jws in the future.
Adding to DD's thoughts I'd like to say that maybe shunning, particularly when practised on someone who DA's or is DF'd due to no longer believing JW doctrine, hence called 'mentally diseased'or 'demonised'could become illegal as either slander and/or come under the hate crime laws. I don't know what others think?
I certainly agree with Datadog that muslim extremism is pushing it more to the forefront politically and it's bound to get caught up in any legislation against religous extremism.
we talk a lot about most jws being uneducated, uninformed, and that they lack critical thinking skills, but in my area there is a lot of jws that went to the university, medical school, law school, and came back to the organization.
in my circuit, that i know of, we had two electrical engineers, one computer engineer with a ph.d. eight teachers with a bachelors degree and three of those with a masters in education.
we had two medical doctors, one was a pediatrician who closed his business about 3 years ago and went to bethel.
Btw I am not saying that all people with vocational degrees lack intellectual rigour - far from it. I am saying that some degrees, medicine for instance, would be easier to undertake and not find your JW worldview too unchallenged if you had a mind.
With regard to the cultural aspect of studying in the USA, I think your less likely to have your beliefs challenged on a personal basis by fellow students.
we talk a lot about most jws being uneducated, uninformed, and that they lack critical thinking skills, but in my area there is a lot of jws that went to the university, medical school, law school, and came back to the organization.
in my circuit, that i know of, we had two electrical engineers, one computer engineer with a ph.d. eight teachers with a bachelors degree and three of those with a masters in education.
we had two medical doctors, one was a pediatrician who closed his business about 3 years ago and went to bethel.
I think you will find most of those degrees are going to be vocational degrees. I am not saying they are not hard work (law in particular entails a huge workload )and yes, you do have evidence to evaluate to some extent, particularly at the higher level. However some (vocational degrees in particular)are less intellectually challenging than others, in the sense of thinking creatively or/and with real intellectual rigour as opposed to 'learning facts.' With a degree in medicine or education I would argue you could maintain a JW worldview unchallenged. Apart from the above mentioned post pointing out the brainwashing aspect there is the cultural aspect of their being Americans. Having a strong faith is considered far more mainstream in the US than Europe. A fundamentalist Christian would be considered eccentric in a European university - less so in an American. I mean you even have Christian uni's in the states whereas education is strictly secular in much of Europe.
I will eat my hat the day you get a European with a masters or phd in philosophy become a JW.
what is a cult and what is a religion?
its open to debate.
who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?
er...dictionary
definition of a cult:
Most religons/Christians would say that a cult is anything that denies the basic tenets of a faith/ Christianity. For Christianity this would include the JW's as they deny the deity of Christ & preach that salvation is obtained not by faith alone (ergo by Christs sacrificial death)but by works.
I personally also think the 2 tier system of the saved (fds & great crowd) is also antithecal to Christianity.
A cult has undue influence over its members forcing otherwise rational people take decisions they would not normally make. By the standard and my own definition the wbts is a cult.
many people are understandably upset and angry at the notion that jws have the right to shun people.
it seems such an obvious "no brainer" cruel and inhuman thing to do - it must be wrong ... surely?.
of course we look at things from the perspective of those hurt and harmed by shunning.
In Europe there's an interesting development in the non-discrimination legislation. While at the moment it only applies in the context of employment, it's in the works being extended to other areas. It's the concept of 'instruction to discriminate'. If an institution of any kind instructs its members / affiliates / students to discriminate based on, among other things, religion and belief, that in itself will be considered a crime. It is an easy thing to demonstrate that shunning an ex-JW is a differentiated treatment than that given to a 'wordly' person who was never a JW, and, therefore, discrimination. The crime is considered to be perpetrated indirectly, that is, by the institution that is teaching or instructing to discriminate.
Edenone This is really interesting. I guess it could be classed as discrimination due to religon/belief system. As Mickeymouse mentioned, almost impossible to legislate on an individual basis but do-able when it comes to organizations that instruct its members to shun. Certainly it could be used as a reason to take away an organizations charitable statu - as is being talked about with regard to orgs that lack good child protection practices.
