Posts by JW

19

Will the Watchtower ever turn against K-12 public education?

by cappytan in

jw
friends

when i was in school, you never heard about critical thinking skills...not till you started taking college level courses.. i work closely with the public education community.

now, the big rage in public education is instilling critical thinking skills from kindergarten on up.. and i'm in texas!

imagine what it's like in more liberal areas.. i would not be surprised if the watchtower started denigrating and discouraging public education (k-12).. it would likely start like this: .

JW_Rogue

I have some personal experience with this as i was home schooled for most of my life. There seemed to be two viewpoints that most JWs had about public education. One was that public education was just too dangerous and would teach kids the wrong ideas and involve them with bad influences. When I was growing up my parents also believed that the schools were failing to teach kids how to read and write properly. For those reasons I was enrolled in an alternative school. The curriculum was chosen by a teacher but the work was still done at home. Every few weeks we would go and turn in samples of what we had done and talk to the teacher about our progress, goals etc.

Some people though viewed this as a way of sheltering kids from the real world and believed that kids should go to public school as a way to prepare them for real life. By going the home school route you avoid many of the things that can test a young persons faith. Things like birthdays, holidays, flag salute can all be avoided with home schooling. So I guess some felt it was better to test the young people by making them stand up to these things at early age. I know for me personally since I was never around worldly kids I didn't see what the big deal was about holidays and never really felt different from others because I had a core group of JW friends. I loved not going to school because I had so much free time that other kids didn't get to enjoy. Now though I can see that I was stuck in a JW bubble even at that age. I never was exposed to anyone who didn't believe exactly as I did. I never really learned to make friends, the friends I had were more by default than anything else.

28

Abusing the power of tears. Yet another sign of desperation

by StarTrekAngel in

so i was seating at the meeting this past sunday.

the latest wt article to be studied speaks of "using our imagination" to think about the blessings of the kingdom.

the whole study was centered around how we can, and should, spent time visualizing ourselves in the new world, working along with our brothers.

JW_Rogue

They know that it is easier to get a reaction with video. The past two conventions have both featured emotionally charged videos about seeing dead loved ones. I hate seeing them because they hit some people I know pretty hard.

41

July 19th Watchtower Summary. Insanity

by Lemonp in

just got back from the wt study and it overall was just so blindingly biased and leading.. i had to read it from the platform too, i hope they couldn't see the confounded look on my face as i read this craziness out!.

first we consider the faith of abel, enoch, noah, abraham, isaac and jacob, and moses.. all of these people are held up as sterling examples of blind faith, with the article pointedly saying that their imaginations sustained their faith in gods promises for them.

no mention anywhere at all that all of these characters saw and talked to angels, spoke to god himself, saw and performed miracles, or any of the other feats experienced by these characters.

JW_Rogue

And you would have to think that most of the people destroyed would be from cultures that have no belief in the bible or Christianity. So according to JWs someone who is born a into an entirely different culture with their own holy books/writings should drastically change their world view to conform to a western religion whose God they don't even recognize. What are the chances that someone born Hindu or Buddhist is going to give up everything they have ever known to follow a religion that rejects their culture and beliefs? So by virtue of being born in those cultures these ones are pretty much doomed according to JWs.

28

Did you know WTBTS applied for Holocaust compensation?

by umbertoecho in

did you know that the wtbts applied for these compensation funds?

i had no idea and if this has already been addressed then so be it.

i find it interesting due to the fact that so much is made of the jws being in camps during ww2 and nothing else is expressed about the other millions who died in these camps.

JW_Rogue

If they actually receive compensation and don't donate any to the actual families that would be terrible PR for them.

28

Abusing the power of tears. Yet another sign of desperation

by StarTrekAngel in

so i was seating at the meeting this past sunday.

the latest wt article to be studied speaks of "using our imagination" to think about the blessings of the kingdom.

the whole study was centered around how we can, and should, spent time visualizing ourselves in the new world, working along with our brothers.

JW_Rogue

Yes, those who have lost a loved one are always targeted for emotional manipulation. The idea of seeing a beloved relative again is strong. If an emotional reaction can be gotten it will strengthen their loyalty. Many are stuck because they don't want to lose that hope. They do the same to elderly ones who want to be young, people with disabilities and even those who simply desire friendship.

28

Did you know WTBTS applied for Holocaust compensation?

by umbertoecho in

did you know that the wtbts applied for these compensation funds?

i had no idea and if this has already been addressed then so be it.

i find it interesting due to the fact that so much is made of the jws being in camps during ww2 and nothing else is expressed about the other millions who died in these camps.

JW_Rogue

Wait, so the fund would go to the WT or to the heirs of the family? If the WT is fighting for the heirs then that is a noble cause but it looks like they would also like a portion for their "education work".

105

Name "UNWRITTEN" Rules That JWs Are Supposed To Follow

by minimus in

jw
friends

as with the scribes and pharisees, there are a number of unwritten rules that witnesses are supposed to follow.

here's a couple : "worldly" kids in society depictions are shown quite often wearing their baseball caps backwards.

jehovah's witness youths would not want to imitate that "look".

JW_Rogue

Oh, forgot one that many have been counseled about. If a couple is dating they should not sit together at the hall unless it is "serious" which to many meant the couple had to be engaged first. Never understood that one at all. I mean if they are dating they are obviously sitting together in other settings, so why not at the KH?

41

July 19th Watchtower Summary. Insanity

by Lemonp in

just got back from the wt study and it overall was just so blindingly biased and leading.. i had to read it from the platform too, i hope they couldn't see the confounded look on my face as i read this craziness out!.

first we consider the faith of abel, enoch, noah, abraham, isaac and jacob, and moses.. all of these people are held up as sterling examples of blind faith, with the article pointedly saying that their imaginations sustained their faith in gods promises for them.

no mention anywhere at all that all of these characters saw and talked to angels, spoke to god himself, saw and performed miracles, or any of the other feats experienced by these characters.

JW_Rogue

In paragraph two it mentions a young girl imagining she is flying on a butterfly. It then states that this is an example of a mere fantasy. Wouldn't petting a lion, living for eternity, reverse aging and rising from the dead be similarly ridiculous? I mean if there was a scale of incredible unbelievable things that could happen they would all be a 10. It is only by manipulating the authority of a book written thousands of years ago that you can get anyone to believe any of this.

5

Creative Ways To Get DFed For "Brazen Conduct"

by JW_Rogue in

okay, so here's the idea let's try come up with some creative ways to get dfed under the new "brazen conduct" rule.

i'll start:.

continuously schedule get togethers at your house on the same night as the meeting, invite the entire congregation and see who shows up.. go to the memorial and drink the entire glass of wine but don't eat the bread.. regularly go to nude beaches and tell people that's what adam and eve would do.. get a jw.org tattoo on your neck and tell people you count hours anytime somebody sees it.. when a preteen brother or sister gets baptized tell them they are also ready to start driving.

JW_Rogue

Okay, so here's the idea let's try come up with some creative ways to get DFed under the new "Brazen Conduct" rule. I'll start:

Continuously schedule get togethers at your house on the same night as the meeting, invite the entire congregation and see who shows up.
Go to the memorial and drink the entire glass of wine but don't eat the bread.
Regularly go to nude beaches and tell people that's what Adam and Eve would do.
Get a JW.org tattoo on your neck and tell people you count hours anytime somebody sees it.
When a preteen brother or sister gets baptized tell them they are also ready to start driving.

49

What are the costs of literature cart witnessing?

by oppostate in

in the article on the guardian ( http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/jehovahs-witnesses-evangelism-church-god-armageddon ) mentioned in another thread, there's this quote of mark omalley, who is assigned to the public information desk at the jehovahs witness uk centre in north london.

we now have more than 165,000 [literature] carts on the streets in over 50 countries.

it gives us visibility and availability.

JW_Rogue

The literature cart signage is not handled by the org but by third party printing companies at least that's how it is in the US. For special campaigns like the memorial and conventions it is pretty much required that the signage be changed. Changing the signage for each new WT and Awake though is probably a congregation decision. I know some congregations are just leaving the "What does the bible really teach?" signage up most of the time. As I brought out in another thread these printing companies are run by JWs who are highly invested in the org.

JW_Rogue

Posts by JW_Rogue