Posts by MrMonroe

65

Higher Education and Disqualification for Privileges in the Congregation

by 00DAD in

when i was still serving as an elder in the late summer of 2006 in a congregation of jws in socal we received a letter from the "christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses" (read: the governing body) directing that anyone pursuing a higher education would be disqualified from privileges of service: elder, servant, pioneer, etc.

i remember this quite distinctly because i had just received by ba in education in june a few months before this.

in 2002, i had decided to pursue a degree under the society's then current "it's a personal decision" policy and was quite shocked at their drastic policy change.

MrMonroe

Is that not, a "COMMANDMENT OF MEN" pure and simple? (Isaiah 28:13; Matthew 15:9) Something Jesus counseled against and to be avoided by pure worship, at all cost.

These are clearly "rules" made by men (GB), not by God.

I don't know why JWs can't see this. Its right in front of their faces!

JanetB, you're correct. An elder told me once how the CO had a meeting with the elders and told them that any elder who had a DFd family member living under their roof could not remain as an appointed man. He stood down because, though no one in the congregation knew, his DFd son was back living in a granny flat downstairs. Just another rule from dogmatic old bastards who sit round mahogany tables in Brooklyn and figure out how they can make life even harder by setting the bar even higher. It's a mindless pursuit of self-righteousness.

11

I was looking through some old notes and I remembered how dull the meetings were

by gubberningbody in

jw
friends

i was the school overseer, and the only way i could pay attention was by ripping every part to shreds.

everything was so elementary and boring.

why anyone would have needed to take notes was beyond me.

MrMonroe

Most of the notes in the margin of my Watchtower were mesages my wife and I would exchange, commenting on the hypocrisy of idiots making comments in the meeting.

I would take a big notebook with me and create word puzzles for my daughter, or draw elaborate mazes. Having an eight-year-old gave me the excuse to completely tune out of the shite coming from the stage and audience comments, all of which I hated. I'd walk out of the hall as quick as I could afterwards and go and wait in the car with my kids; my wife, sadly, was doing her best to chat with them back in the hall in the vain hope she'd be accepted by them. No such luck. No one actually cared.

All those wasted hours.

29

Judge Rutherford steps off a curb, is struck by a truck and dies.....

by Terry in

pastor charles taze russell died on a train outside pampas texas in october of 1916.. shortly afterward a phonecall was placed to j.f.rutherford that "the old man is dead.".

as we all know, rutherford wasted no time.

he engineered a series of moves that placed himself at the helm of a publishing company.

MrMonroe

Excellent thread.

Andrew Pierson was elected vice-president at the January 1917 AGM, so it's possible that he would have been elected president in the absence of JFR. Although in the stoush of 1917 he initially sided with Rutherford, he later backed the old board, deciding the president had been wrong in dismissing the majority of the board and appointing his mates to fill the four vacancies, thus stacking it with his sycophantic supporters.

Rutherford's major contributions to the religion were to impose greater central regulation on it, forcing congregations to obey him. He also commissioned The Finished Mystery, which stirred up government opposition and attracted attention to the religion it otherwise wouldn't have received. He sought controversy and was successful at gaining it with a succession of ploys (hate-speech tirades against government and religion, stance against flag salutes, gramophone witnessing, marches, radio broadcasting).

He introduced the requirement to go witnessing door to door and field service record-keeping; introduced worldwide uniformity, created the current concept of Armageddon, "God's vs Satan's organisation", the us-and-them mentality, the picture of a vengeful Jehovah, killed the celebration of birthdays and Christmas. Through The Finished Mystery and other books, he also turned Russell's neat and intriguing system of Bible chronology into a weird set of dates and interpretations that needed constant revision.

Take away all that and Pierson's group would have blended into the background, remaining just another low-key millennialist religion that would have probably died a natural death or remain today as a tiny minority denomination.

65

Higher Education and Disqualification for Privileges in the Congregation

by 00DAD in

when i was still serving as an elder in the late summer of 2006 in a congregation of jws in socal we received a letter from the "christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses" (read: the governing body) directing that anyone pursuing a higher education would be disqualified from privileges of service: elder, servant, pioneer, etc.

i remember this quite distinctly because i had just received by ba in education in june a few months before this.

in 2002, i had decided to pursue a degree under the society's then current "it's a personal decision" policy and was quite shocked at their drastic policy change.

MrMonroe

I'm running Firefox and can't see some posts.

28

who does the society consider as apostates?

by booby in

from their literature as source.

i did some searching and was surprised that i couldn't find them referring to those who simply quit and/or speak their doubts as such..

MrMonroe

I encountered the same problem in creating the definition of apostasy (as JWs see it) at the relevant Wikipedia article. It's possible though. The citations from WT articles are easily located there.

28

who does the society consider as apostates?

by booby in

from their literature as source.

i did some searching and was surprised that i couldn't find them referring to those who simply quit and/or speak their doubts as such..

MrMonroe

From the Insight book:

Apostates often seek to make others their followers. (Ac 20:30; 2Pe 2:1, 3) Such ones willfully abandoning the Christian congregation thereby become part of the "antichrist." (1Jo 2:18, 19)

So to part company with a Christian denomination is to become an Antichrist?? But reading just a touch further in the passage from 1 John they cite, one discovers that is a complete lie:

"The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ -- he is the liar, he is Antichrist." (1 John 2:22). Verses 18 and 19 refer to men who had appeared as "rivals of Christ", clearly claiming they, not Jesus were the Christ. That's what made those men "rivals". That's why they were "antichrists".

If I discern that a religious denomination is misrepresenting scriptures, claiming to represent God and Christ when it makes a pattern of overstepping scripture and making up its own rules and doctrines, then attempting to punish for life those who dare to disagree, surely I am free to exit that denomination. But in the weird world of Watchtower, exiting that religion, deciding that those self-professed representatives of God are no such thing, makes me an antichrist. Which is kind of odd, because actually, I still believe in Christ.

3

Australia: Ramifications of government watchdog's ruling on Scientology's use of unpaid laborers

by MrMonroe in

fair work australia, the government industrial law agency, has ruled that the church of scientology broke australian law by requiring employees to work long hours for as little as $10 a week.

the church's defence was that because it is a religious entity, its workers are not employees, but volunteers.. which all sounds a bit familiar!.

the agency also found that "a significant level of control and direction was applied to workers by more senior church members who hold positions of authority".

MrMonroe

Fair Work Australia, the government industrial law agency, has ruled that the Church of Scientology broke Australian law by requiring employees to work long hours for as little as $10 a week. The church's defence was that because it is a religious entity, its workers are not employees, but volunteers.

Which all sounds a bit familiar!

The agency also found that "a significant level of control and direction was applied to workers by more senior church members who hold positions of authority". Workers accused the CoC of using "unconscionable tactics" to keep them in their work commitment.

Which all sounds a bit familiar!

FWA also called the CoC a "bureaucratised organisation" that appears to have imported practices and procedures into Australia with little regaerd to Australian workplace laws. It urged workers who felt they were being intimidated to complain to the police.

I wonder if similar grounds exist for complaint by former Bethel workers who are required to work six days a week and also perform field service to mett monthly quotas.

Link to news reports on the FWA ruling are here and here.

19

Psychotherapy Specialist for Jehovahs Witnesses

by Marvin Shilmer in

jw
friends

psychotherapy specialist for jehovahs witnesses .

today i added a new article to my blog showing a licensed psychotherapist advertising a specialty in treating jehovahs witnesses.

my article is titled psychotherapy specialist for jehovahs witnesses and is available at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/09/psychotherapy-specialist-for-jehovahs.html.

MrMonroe

Havor Montague was Jerry Bergman? Haven't heard that before. Is that widely known?

19

WRM: Watchtower Resistance Movement

by ekruks in

jw
friends

when france was invaded by the nazis, they established what was called the french resistance, which attacked the nazis.

the cause was to fight evil, so it was called a guerilla movement.

in each town, rebels would meet together secretly and sabotage the nazis, doing things such as blowing up railway lines, though they didn't attack civilians who were oppressed.. i don't see for us to fight the individuals in the organisation, because many of them are just misled, confused, brainwashed.

MrMonroe

@Mad Sweeney: My wife and I met an old friend a couple of years back; we'd been out of the org for about a year; he called us "amateurs" because he'd been gone for seven. It was great swapping old stories, and as we left, hey told us, "Hey guys, we should stay in touch. I mean, it's not as if you're disfellowshipped or anything."

We were just stunned. He'd been gone seven years, but was still prepared to let them dictate who he spoke to. He was still in their control.

17

Lawyers Response Resigned and Withdrawn Elder

by Marvin Shilmer in

jw
friends

lawyers response resigned and withdrawn elder .

today i uploaded a new article to my blog containing a 14-page incredibly detailed response from a watchtower lawyer to a long-time high-ranking elder who had resigned and withdrawn his association with watchtower.

my article is titled lawyers response resigned and withdrawn elder and is available at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/09/lawyers-response-resigned-and-withdrawn.html.

MrMonroe

Interesting how unshamedly the letter states on page 9 that a decision to reject the teachings of the religion (which members of every other religion on earth are urged to do by Jehovah's Witnesses) is regarded as "wrongdoing". The two scriptures they use to justify such a punitive approach have no bearing on the issue at all. The Bible simply does not include such a directive. It is a distortion of scripture used by a religion/cult to blackmail members into remaining, despite whatever conscientious objection they may hold.