Thank you for the wonderful review. As a writer, it is always nice to get a pat on the back. I created a religion for the books because I didn't want this to be about one religion. I had hoped to provide my readers with a glimpse of the emotional impact of cult life, something that is hard to convey in academic discussion.
Posts by JeffT
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1JeffT's Mystery Novel
by dropoffyourkeylee injefft, a frequent poster here, asked me to review his recent book published in 2021:.
--- armageddon's disciples, when prophecy fails --- by jeff thomas.
i found it very interesting and well worth the time to read.
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JeffT
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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JeffT
It's possible that his lawyer has asked him to keep the details quiet,
Again, drawing on the times I've been involved in such matters. Either there is no lawyer, or Lloyd isn't paying attention to him. My experience tells me the conversations sound like this:
Lawyer: Lloyd stop talking about this, I will handle it.
Lloyd: But...
Lawyer: Shut up.
Lloyd: But...
Lawyer: Shut the fuck up.
Lloyd: But...
Lawyer: Go find another lawyer.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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JeffT
If he thinks the lawyers are now going to "handle" everything and leave him free to do his activism (whatever that is) he is sadly mistaken. I've been on both sides of lawsuits, they are soul-sucking monsters that will take over your life.
Maybe the legal system in Croatia is different. I've never heard of a "criminal lawsuit." It will be interesting to see what happens. I hope the seven defendants counter sue.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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JeffT
What does it take for a girl to get noticed around Lloyd? 🤣
Are you sure you want the answer to that? I thought of several things, none of them nice.
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20
Caleb & Sophia - The Watchtower gets weirder
by Listener inthe latest video release 4/4/22 (lesson 44 'don't give up') in the comic series of caleb & sophia just got weirder.
the plot is about caleb & sophia preaching door to door, caleb with his father and sophia with her mother.
it shows each of them having doors slammed on them four times.
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JeffT
Dad sounds like he hit the edibles before field service.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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JeffT
Come on, who does a video telling his patron to keep donating even though he won't do what they patrons signed up for?
If this isn't against Patreon's rules it should be. Even if it isn't, it may be against the law in the US, or certainly a good case could be made for a civil suit.
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17
Disfellowshipping
by jhine inso last night my bible study group was discussing the healing of the blind man in john's gospel.
ch 9 .
the man's parents were reluctant to say much on the subject.
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JeffT
LongHairGal: I saw something very like that. At the time (70's) I was in the Pullman, WA congregation. We had a visiting speaker from some tiny town in Idaho. That Congregation probably hadn't seen a new person in a decade or two. Speaker made a snide comment about Catholics that would have gone unnoticed in his own congregation. Unfortunately one of our pioneers sisters picked that day to bring her (Roman Catholic) study to the Hall.
Study was offended and left in huff during the song between talk and Watchtower study. Pioneer was seriously ticked off, after the meeting ended the elders had a meeting which ended with a letter to the Idaho congregation telling them to not send that guy to speak at our hall. Ever. I heard through the grapevine that the visiting speaker never did understand what he'd done wrong.
Another perfect example of how insulated JW's are. That was not the last tone deaf thing I heard from a witness, not by a long shot. For that matter I heard similar offensive remarks at a main stream church, before I stopped going to religious meetings entirely.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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JeffT
A book recommendation, I think you will find academic support for a lot of what we're talking about:
"The Sociopath Next Door" by Martha Stout, PhD clinical Psychologist and former faculty member at Harvard Medical School.
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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JeffT
Some thoughts on Lloyd.
1) His first problem is that he's treating his you tube revenue like a zero sum game. In his brain, the only way somebody else gains Patrons is by stealing them from Lloyd. Does it even occur to him that people are quite capable of watching more than one youtube channel?
2) I recall the days when I was first exiting the Watchtower, this was around 1988. My wife and I did hours of research at the public library and a couple of Christian bookstores that had entire racks devoted to cult studies. It was exciting times, we picked up new information almost daily.
I assume that many of Lloyd's Patron's are in a similar space. Everything is shiny, fresh and new. Some of us who have been around for awhile know that most of what Lloyd is saying is old stuff. (There is precious little new anything in Watchtower land). From that point of view, Lloyd Evans is a genius, but they can't see that while some information is new to them, it isn't actually new.
3) What follows is entirely opinion on my part.
Some where back in this thread I noted a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche. "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster."
Lloyd, you're on your way to becoming the monster. The attempts to silence your critics, the focus on you as the leader, the emphasis on money in your ministry have all the hallmarks of a cult. I know, you're an atheist, I assume you don't think of yourself has having a ministry. But your methods are just like the missionaries in the church I used to attend. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...
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11530
It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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JeffT
NEVER a truer word spoken! The community is demanding accountability, not one person or a small group. So long as this continues and I truly hope it does, accountability will come.
And here we get to the root of all Watchtower related problems: the leadership isn't accountable to ANYBODY. People leave the religion for lots of reasons, but the unifying issue is accountability. They can spend money any way the want, they can issue false prophecies without consequence, hide pedophiles you name it.
It is therefore right and proper that the XJW community holds members of the community to high standards of accountability. We need to make sure that it is obvious to everyone that we are accountable to each other.
Lloyd Evans\John Cedars whoever you are, some of us aren't going to let go of this.