Unsuccessful Multi-level marketer who isn't in a cult.
exwhyzee
JoinedPosts by exwhyzee
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31
What Term Can Replace "Publisher" ?
by OnTheWayOut inindulge the possibility that, as profits from printed materials become thinner, watchtower might want to stop having members carry printed materials to the homes of many.
i know it will probably go through more phases of "cheapening" the materials (softcover books, pamplets instead of brochures, flyers instead of pamphlets) but let's consider the idea that they will one day cease delivering anything printed.. the door-to-door work is huge in controlling members and monitoring loyalty.
pioneers are their biggest supporters.
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Lurkers - can the "increasing light" excuse cover TERRIBLE non-scripturally based advice?
by cedars inthis thread is directed at those of you who are "lurking".
perhaps you visit this website frequently because you know something is wrong with the watch tower society, but you don't feel you know enough yet to form a solid opinion.. as you are aware, the society regularly uses the "increasing light" concept to excuse any scriptural advice or prophetic understanding that is subsequently reversed or changed.
put simply, the governing body would have us believe that god's holy spirit, which is guiding the organization, is deliberately feeding false scriptural information to the society as a "makeweight" until true understanding is revealed at a later stage (at this point, i would add that none of the scriptures quoted by the society in support of "increasing light" suggest that god's holy spirit would act in such a manner, but this is for you to discover for yourselves).. with all of the above in mind, please may i draw your attention to this advice, which was printed in the august 5th, 1979 awake!:.
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exwhyzee
. Let us consider home violence with the encouraging conviction that something can be done about it.
From that statement I would expect them to tell the reader about God's big picture solution to the problem....
Still, I agree...."unlettered and ordinary men" should refrain from delving into matters where only highly trained professionals dare to tread...ie Blood Transfusions.
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33
'Where else is there to go'? Thoughts I had this morning--and evening...
by sd-7 ini was just thinking of something this morning.
when presented with the possibility that the witnesses could be wrong, the typical response is 'where else is there to go?
' in short, 'if not us, who?
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exwhyzee
The question " To whom shall we go ? You have the words of eternal life" was asked of Jesus himself, by Simon Peter, not to an organization.
Witnesses flip this around to say "where else is there to go" and the Watchtower would have you believe that leaving them is the same as leaving Jesus himself and the prospect of eternal life.
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54
JW's and Chronic Fatigue Syndrone!
by cornish inchronic fatigue syndrone, m e, yuppie flu.
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i dont know if anyone else has noticed the alarming number of jws who claim to suffer from chronic fatigue syndrone,i mean hear in cornwall there tend to be several sufferers in every congregation,outside the jws out of the many people i know i dont know anyone,although there are obviosly many outside the jws who suffer this illness,percentage wise it seems that jws have a much,much larger occorance of the illness.. for example my brother in law has not worked and been living on invalidity benefits for more than 10 years since his mid twenties,his brother is also in the same boat, an m.e sufferer.. i wonder if anyone has looked into this a bit more?
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exwhyzee
Yes CF, Epstien Bar, Hypoglycemia, Panic attacks and the Witness Disease....Depression.
So many of the above comments are spot on in regard to these things being brought on by the "Cult Like" mentality of those who subject themselves too far into the Organization. For some it doesn't take much to bring on these ilnesses whether real or imagined.
What they will tell you from the platform about this is " Jehovah's organization is made up of those who have come out of the world...the "sighing and crying" ones who have been beaten about and bruised by the world. It is only to be expected that there would be a large number of his people suffering such afflictions." These people need to draw close to the Organization...immerse themselves in activity.
The thing they forget is that many of those afflicted were raised in the TRUTH. They forget that Gods word is meant to be a comfort to us and serving him is meant not to be a burden. So what happened?? This constant indoctrination, being responsible for having all the answers and peddling of literature containing the answers (often incorrect) eventually sucks the joy out of life....wears you out until your body demands that you do something about it.
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Is being a JW that serious?
by Skratch inbefore i decided to post my thread i went through this most of this site and tried to see everyone elses experiences and childhoods, unlike some ppl i never told my friends i was a jw because i just knew that would make me uncool to everyone and i wasnt brainwashed like the rest of the jw's i saw and really followed there life by the jw principles.
its sad how some parents have there kids so brainwashed by this stuff its so pathetic i feel sad for some of them, they probably have no friends in school.
growing up in a jw household i always thought alot of there rules are intense and dont allow humans to have any fun i mean come on i can't play pokemon?
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exwhyzee
Hi Scratch,
Sounds like you are really thinking and figuring things out for yourself. If I had to do it all over again, No, I wouldn't have taken this religion or these people so seriously. As a Dad can I just say that I hope you are careful with your new found awareness and don't throw the baby out with the bath water. By that I mean, much of what your parents taught you regarding morals and such matters, was done out of love, responsibility and as a means of protecting you from harm. Although many well intentioned JW's carry things a bit too far, some of what you have been taught and have been living will be beneficial to you. It's easy when you are young, to be hasty and all or nothing about things. Just because you are discovering that some of what your parents have taught you doesn't always add up in the real world, much of it will. The nit pickey details (Harry Potter, video games etc) can be very annoying and make you want to toss it all aside. Be wise as you move along toward adulthood and sort things out for yourself, keep some room for the "Big Chunks"... the old principals and morals that you have aquired and have proven to be useful to so many.
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Lurkers - can the "increasing light" excuse cover TERRIBLE non-scripturally based advice?
by cedars inthis thread is directed at those of you who are "lurking".
perhaps you visit this website frequently because you know something is wrong with the watch tower society, but you don't feel you know enough yet to form a solid opinion.. as you are aware, the society regularly uses the "increasing light" concept to excuse any scriptural advice or prophetic understanding that is subsequently reversed or changed.
put simply, the governing body would have us believe that god's holy spirit, which is guiding the organization, is deliberately feeding false scriptural information to the society as a "makeweight" until true understanding is revealed at a later stage (at this point, i would add that none of the scriptures quoted by the society in support of "increasing light" suggest that god's holy spirit would act in such a manner, but this is for you to discover for yourselves).. with all of the above in mind, please may i draw your attention to this advice, which was printed in the august 5th, 1979 awake!:.
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exwhyzee
I agree with the ridiculousness of using the "New Light" explaination whenever they change their thinking on things. It's pretty interesting how God always gives them new light just when their old light has been proven or is about to be proven laughable. It's funny too how he always agrees with whatever new light they come up.
I must say though that I didn't get the idea from the statement you provided from the 79 Awake that they were advising anyone not to call the police in to assist during instances of domestic violence. To me they were simply stating that because of the frequency of domestic violence calls, police are called away from their other duties or caring for other individuals. I didn't for one second get the sense that they were telling people that Domestic Violence isn't important or that Police assistance isn't necessry. Which part of the statement you provided made you think they were giving advice....maybe I'm missing something?
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93
What's The Biggest Difference In Today's JWs And The Witnesses From Decades Ago?
by minimus ini believe today's witnesses lack zeal, resolve, "love" of the "truth"......just to name a few things.. years ago, witnesses were excited to knock on doors and tell people they were gonna die if they didn't accept paradise.. now, when you see jws in service, they all look zombied out.. it's a slowly dying religion that will last probably forever like an ancient rotted out tree..
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exwhyzee
I honestly can't remember the last person who was baptised who wasn't a child of a JW or had some other family
Yes this is true. Our hall split several times in the last 20 years, had a remodel and a quick build and has 3 congregations meeting there. In that time there was only one new person that studied and was baptized. The rest of the growth came from JW's that grew up and had kids or moved here from another area. That one guy who actually studied and was baptized was married to a former witness who fell away. She was found in service and reactivated. She had two kids and was married so she convinced him to study. He had a pony tail and tatoos including a naked woman on his arm. He eventually got his hair cut so he could join the Ministry school and got a bikini tattoo'd on the naked lady. Later he became a MS who was often shown as a shining example of what applying the truth in your life can do for you. My wife had the daughter as a patient this week. She told her that sadly her Dad commited suicide 5 years ago, her brother has two kids and is a crack addict. The daughter (very pretty) is 24 already has three kids and is covered with tattoos. She has "fallen angel" tatooed across her lovely skin above a huge set of tatooed wings comming out of torn flesh on her back. The Mom is still in but the family is a train wreck.
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67
Read S. Hassan's Book: Do JW's really fit the cult mold?
by simon17 infirst time i got a chance to read his book, "combatting cult mind control" and was interested to see if jw's fell into the cult mold.
my opinion after carefully reading and having left the witnesses after almost 30 years is... no, they don't.
however, i would add that they wish they were but are simply too big and unwieldy to really pull it off.
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exwhyzee
People who wind up being cult members never think they are in a cult. I think that the JW's recruiting tactics are more insidious than that of a full on Cult. Most people would run from the typical cult member but JW's are taught how dress and appear harmless and how to lure potential interested ones in using the hope of paradise and everlasting life. Lest the intrested person should be scared off, they withold the information about Holidays, Blood, disfellowshipping and the restriction of outside non JW information. The person isn't told that once he becomes a Witness, there will never be a ligitimate reason for him to leave the group without suffering dire consequeces. They purposely wait until the person is well along the way toward being a convert and has learned to doubt his own reasonings before revealing the full extent of the hold this group will have on their life. They present themselves as people who there only to rescue those who are sighing and crying over world conditions. Most JW's beleive that is really what they are doing because they really don't understand the inside goings on of the organization they have dedicated themselves to folowing or view their tactics as devious. Children who's parents are JW's stand no chance of ever getting out without shreadding their entire support system and personal histories to ribbions. They are taught from childhood in mind numbing all day education sessions to be at war with themselves internally and to doubt their own common sense ...even view their own internal warning system as being of the devil. They are taught that terrible consequences will befall them if they ever disagree with or leave the group.
Are JW's a Cult....maybe not in the true sense of the term but the methods they employ are the same as the ones cults are known for and the effects these have on those who end up being associated with them, are just as effective in convincing individuals to give up their lives and personal freedoms based on teachings that have time and again proven to be untrue.
Better the cult you see, Than the one you don't see .
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93
What's The Biggest Difference In Today's JWs And The Witnesses From Decades Ago?
by minimus ini believe today's witnesses lack zeal, resolve, "love" of the "truth"......just to name a few things.. years ago, witnesses were excited to knock on doors and tell people they were gonna die if they didn't accept paradise.. now, when you see jws in service, they all look zombied out.. it's a slowly dying religion that will last probably forever like an ancient rotted out tree..
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exwhyzee
Everything has been dumbed down, homogonized and has been made formulaic. The dramas are canned, the music is recorded, talks are from predictable outlines and hardly anyone researches anything anymore or really knows why they believe what they believe. The facts no longer matter...as long as the tid bits of information picked up at the meeting when one happens to be listening, make some sense and gives one a sense of superiority over the world, all is well. During the assemblies and meetings they hear how deep into the end we are but are thinking about going to the Olive Garden afterward. They go in service with literature containing this urgent message but afterwards they plan their upcomming trip to Hawaii or the new house they are building. They are no different than the rest of the Christendom...they just think they are.
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Sloppy brother/sister, always getting in trouble, why does every hall have one?
by Quarterback inwell, we are on a roll.
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i remember the brother that always had that same pair of pants with that grease spot in the same place.
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exwhyzee
Yeah.....poor dog.
Good one LOL !
I remember being being assigned to a new book study group which turned out to be at a pretty run down house. Our second Son was a newborn at the time. I looked over to see that the Sister who owned the house was holding our new baby and letting him suck on her fingers! In the next day or so he developed THRUSH which is a fungus like infection of the mouth and throat. White sores everywhere, he was miserable and crankey and for the next week we had to swab his mouth with Gentian Violet, a purple liquid that stains everything. The following book study my wife (who was too embarrased to say no) let the woman hold the baby again. She started to let him take hold of her fingers just as was rushing over to make some excuse rescue him out of her arms. I asked her not to do that since we had just spent a week getting him over a bad case of THRUSH. She looked horrified and said ewwww as she yanked her fingers away as if she was afraid to catch anything from HIM.
I don't think I'm snobish but looking back, I was often frustrated at having to even knew so many of thes back woods types and being in situations that let to being inside their homes. I'd look around at congregation get togethers and think "what am I doing here ?"