Great point, Lisa. I haven't read that particular book but your point fits what they're doing. Forced Teaming is a great way to phrase it. Even police and negotiators use it when trying to manipulate a suspect into giving up. It's about control. Always.
Mad Sweeney
JoinedPosts by Mad Sweeney
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32
The Watchtower hates the word, "You"
by moshe indozy brought up a good point a few months back about how the wt uses third party terminology to obscure their real motives.
i thought it was a good idea to revisit this wt writing technique.. (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/184897).
look at the nov 15th 2009 wt, "treasure your place in the congregation" and compare what happens when we replace the third party terminology (words in bold type) with first party words.
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10
ELDER WOULD NOT STEPDOWN, SON IMMORAL
by arnoldM inplease share me letters from wt and publication, this elder so notorious he is untouchable, he depend his lots of privileges from publications
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Mad Sweeney
Happens all over. I knew an elder who had three kids. ALL THREE got DFd for various offenses while in their teens and early 20s. He not only never stepped down, he never even stopped being PO! That congregation is a cesspool to this very day.
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Why 'Apostates' Are All The More Remarkable
by metatron ini was watching an interview with hank paulson ( big time former government official who pushed all the humongous bailouts of banks into being).. he was the ultimate diplomat referring to bush ( who couldn't even put together a coherent sentence) as a skilled politician who understood the dangers involved, pelosi as "cooperative" ( yeah, sure), and others in complimentary terms.. it all resembles the final scenes of the novel "catch-22", in which the main character (yossarian) is told that he can be free if he agrees to love and speak well about his superiors.. this is the normal response: you lie thru your teeth about the ignorant, venial thugs who ordered you around, even after you are free of them because you probably are never totally free from them!
you kissed a$$ when you were around them and so it's not difficult to continue doing it now.. "opposing", being an "apostate" may require a greater sense of self sacrifice than the 'righteous' behavior that preceeded it!
why not just lie and say, 'the governing body are great guys", 'bethel service is the closest thing to paradise", 'this really is the "truth'".. metatron.
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Mad Sweeney
Being apostate is the ballsiest of the ballsy. You folks ROCK!
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NEW GENERATION DEFINED -- April 15, 2010 Watchtower
by Ultimate Reality infrom jw.org, here is the new definition of the generation from the april 15, 2010 watchtower.. .
article: holy spirits role in the outworking of jehovahs purpose.
13 third, holy spirit is at work in bringing bible.
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Mad Sweeney
While you're factually correct, Terry, I wonder whether arguing on that basis ignores the fact that believers place great stock in faith. They consider it a grand and noble thing to believe in something without any real factual basis (such as God and The Bible). Do you think this tack would work on people who put faith over facts? Does anything really?
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Elders dont know much !!
by leo999 inone of the reasons that i started to 'wake up' from 50 odd years of slumbering in the 'truth' was the realization that the elders just do not know very much at all .
in fact they are so very ignorant !.
2 years ago , i was trying to fill in the advance blood directive form , or whatever it is called and i had the km insert on the allowable fractions to refer to .
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Mad Sweeney
For real, Sir82? It's been awhile since I had any biology class that covered the topic. I was going to guess water, which is absurd enough, but the cell wall takes the freaking cake. You can have what's IN the red blood cell but you can't have the cell itself because some Intro to Pre Nursing Human Anatomy book mentioned four components of blood as "primary" in an obscure statment talking about something else.
If it wasn't so sad and deadly, I'd laugh.
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George Benson & Friends - Sing Praises to Jehovah
by possible-san ingeorge benson & friends - sing praises to jehovah .
rar file, 97.5mb (320kbps, mp3).
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4856838/george_benson__amp__friends_-_sing_praises_to_jehovah.
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Mad Sweeney
Then, after they were recorded, the Society could not reach a unanimous vote to release them, so the project was put aside.
This isn't surprising, if true (though it is a 2/3 majority that is required, not unanimity). Out of the nine geezers, there are bound to be four of them who think George Benson's music is from the devil because some of the instruments run on electricity and an occasional drum is used to set the rhythm. Drums are from pagan music, you know.
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DOES THE BIBLE really really EXIST?
by Terry inthe bible did not exist in jesus' day nor in the lifespan of his apostles.. people didn't walk around with one (bible) tucked under their arm.. christians didn't carry one (bible) door to door for preaching and teaching.. the closest thing to the bible was the septuigint greek translation of hebrew scriptures which not one person in a 10,000 had ever seen!.
creation of the septuagint (wikipedia article).
...in the third century bce[6].
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Mad Sweeney
Brief nitpick for PSac. Didn't Paul lay out the Lord's Supper in 1 or 2 Corinthians? Seems like I hear it at least once a year. Interesting that the JW Memorial prefers to use Paul's version rather than one of the gospel accounts.
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87
DOES THE BIBLE really really EXIST?
by Terry inthe bible did not exist in jesus' day nor in the lifespan of his apostles.. people didn't walk around with one (bible) tucked under their arm.. christians didn't carry one (bible) door to door for preaching and teaching.. the closest thing to the bible was the septuigint greek translation of hebrew scriptures which not one person in a 10,000 had ever seen!.
creation of the septuagint (wikipedia article).
...in the third century bce[6].
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Mad Sweeney
The Bible believers seem to be missing the point: There Are No Originals and there is no way of knowing how many generations of copies there are between the originals and the oldest preserved writings. Secondary and minor point: The gospels, supposedly written by eyewitnesses, were penned many many decades after Christ's death. Even if that was verifiably true, who can write an accurate account with accurate quotes about something that they witnessed for a handful of years several decades earlier?
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Knock Knock...."Who's there?" They came to MY DOOR!!
by Terry init is a peculiar experience.. once you are out of the kingdom hall forever and haven't been in field service for many years...... a knock comes at your front door and you answer it only to find:.
jehovah's witnesses!.
that happened to me......finally.. in the last decade i don't think i've encountered anything other than mormons or drug ministry fund raisers at my door.. but--this time, it was the real thing.. it was two sisters and they weren't much older than their 20's.. they didn't know i was satan himself, of course and i was reluctant to interrupt them and tell them.. what to do---what to do?
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Mad Sweeney
That's all we can do in an at-the-door situation: plant seeds. Someone else will water.
I remember a fast progressing Bible study I had back in the day who came to a screeching halt because of 1914. He couldn't by the convoluted explanation and after giving it and hearing myself say it I wasn't so sure of it myself. That Bible student planted a seed for me.
What's the message here? NO, it's not "go out in service more to start more studies so they can stumble you!" LoL. It's seeds and little tiny drops of water over a period of time are better than a downpour all at once that makes you run for cover.
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32
The Watchtower hates the word, "You"
by moshe indozy brought up a good point a few months back about how the wt uses third party terminology to obscure their real motives.
i thought it was a good idea to revisit this wt writing technique.. (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/184897).
look at the nov 15th 2009 wt, "treasure your place in the congregation" and compare what happens when we replace the third party terminology (words in bold type) with first party words.
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Mad Sweeney
Their use of third person has multiple purposes, whether intentional or not.
One, it cloaks their true intent: control.
Two, it further strips us rank and file of our identity. I'm not me, I'm merely a belonging, one of "us" or one of "them" depending on the context.
Three, it makes their points unnecessarily confusing and therefore easier to overturn later when they decide that "generation" means the amount of time it takes to watch yellow ochre oil paint dry in the middle of a rainforest.
Four, it gives their language a uniqueness that unifies (and happyfies!) the rank and file and sets them off as different from "the world."
There are probably many other purposes it serves that I've overlooked. And while it fits these particular paragraphs well as an illustration of the control tactic, they do it all the time in many circumstances. You can pick any random WT and find a paragraph where their oppression is couched as loving and practical counsel.