Posts by ABibleStudent

45

Talked to JW's in Service Today (kinda long...sorry)

by exwhyzee in

jw
friends

i was in my company vehicle and i spotted some jw's going from door to door.. i circled around the block and pulled over.

when they passed, i rolled down the .

window and asked the pleasant looking middle aged couple as they passed, if they were jehovah's .

ABibleStudent

Thanks for sharing exwhyzee and caring enough to talk with those JWs.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

43

Russian Parliament Approves Military Action in the Crimea

by ABibleStudent in

why did russian president vladimir putin ask the russian parliament to approve using military forces to keep the peace in the crimea, instead of asking the un?

why did the russian parliment pass a law approving military force instead of asking for the un to send peace keeping forces to the crimea (http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/europe/ukraine-politics/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)?.

is russia spiralling into a totalitarian dictatorship like germany in the 1930's and the soviet union from 1920's - 1990's with information control and coercive tactics?

ABibleStudent

DJS - What Obama should be doing with some plausible deniability is what I stated earlier: having conversations with potential insurgent groups for the purpose of arming them. Or suggest that such conversations are going to be held. Meet force with force and present the potential for the very last thing Vlad wants.

What good has/will tough rhetoric by Obama and his administration and implimenting sanctions against Russia going to do to positively influence Putin? Talking tough and implimenting sanctions against Russia helps the US administration promote that they are doing something to American voters, and plays into Putin's plans. Putin is playing Chinese "Go" (i.e., whoever controls the most territory wins) and the US administration is playing tic-tac-toe (i.e., playing a stalemate game).

If the US wants to influence Putin, it needs to learn how to get unbiased information to Russians to overcome the Russian government spinning information to unduely influence russians and russian speakers. Putin's source of power is the Russian Govenment's control of information to russian speakers both inside Russia as well as outside of Russia and his willingness to use IMHO unethical methods (i.e, vote rigging, exporting pro-russian protestors to the Crimea, lying, etc.).

If the US wants to influence russians (and help other people governed by totalitarian governments) with minimal adverse impact for the US, then the US goverment needs to develop methods/equipment to increase information flow to Russian speakers that is not controlled by the US government.

Something as simple as convincing the Ukrainian Government to pass iron-clad legislation that guarantees basic human rights, freedom of the press, promotes teaching both Russian and Ukrainian languages in schools, and minimizes corruption would throw a small wrench into Putin's plans. Other ideas would be to provide information about how to detect and report Russian "dirty tricks", as well as distributing hand-held video equipment with satellite uplink support to Youtube and photo-voltaic/hand-crank charging capability to Ukrainians in the Ukraine and Crimea.

Putin is playing a waiting game, which is why I chose the "Go" analogy, until news organizations redirect their reporters to more sensationalistic news. Putin can do whatever he wants without the international news media present.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

44

Jehovahs Witnesses make a big deal about following first century christianity, so please explain this.

by smiddy in

where in the christian greek scriptures do disciples of christ record how many hours a month they preached.. " " " " 10 hours for women and children and slack husbands with no ambition.

" " " " do they record how many back calls / return visits they made in a month.. " " " " have they set down how many bible studys they had in a month.. " " " " do they have pioneers ,special pioneers , aux.pioneers , with goals to reach each month.. " " " " do they have d.o.

, c.o., zone servants , etc.etc.. " " " " where in the christian greek scriptures is the word " organisation" applied to christianity.

ABibleStudent

If the WTBTS follows 1st Century Christians, then why did WTBTS recently warn the R&F to blindly follow the GB and not to bring reproach on the WTBTS by JWs public disagreeing with the WTBTS's doctrines? According to Acts, 1st Century Christians allowed discussion of opposing points of view.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

The Council at Jerusalem

15 Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question. 3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? 11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

12 The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. 13 When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Simon [ a ] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. 15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

16 “‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,
17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’ [ b ] —
18 things known from long ago. [ c ]

19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

13

Elder friend is reading 1984 from George Orwell - How to make him relate?

by alonein321 in

jw
friends

hey everyone.

i have and elder friend, he is 33, and he likes to test his faith by reading some science books.

he didn't wake up yet, but he is reading 1984 from george orwell now.

ABibleStudent

Hi alonein321, If you understand Steve Hassan's BITE Model, then ask your friend simply questions about the BITE control tactics in 1984 to help him recognize how simple it is to create "undue influence" over other people. DO NOT draw any parrallels to how the WTBTS victimize JWs, but do ask him how he would feel about being manipulated like in 1984.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

44

Hello - mentally out, physically in...

by Bluefluff in

i have been lurking for a while but was encouraged to sign up by a user on the ex jw reddit forum.

i'm a still in jw but i've been mentally out for about two months.

i'm an ms and i'm also gay so i have two lots of 'coming out' to do very soon!.

ABibleStudent

Welcome Bluefluff, DITTO what other members have written - lots of good advice. Were you born into the WTBTS?

If you were a born-in, have you read any books by cult-exit counselors, like Steve Hassan (i.e., "Combatting Cult Mind Control", "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves", and (his latest book) "Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and Beliefs"), visited his website www.freedomofmind.com, and/or watched his FREE videos on his website? A person can leave a dangerous cult like the WTBTS, but the WTBTS's BITE control indoctrination is very powerful. You might heal faster after learning about overcoming WTBTS induced phobias and how to overcome you using thought-stopping platitudes

Are you thinking about getting more education/training so that you qualify for a better paying career?

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

66

hello

by fakefading in

hello my fellow "apostates".

just wanted to say hi.

i'm still in the borg but mentally out.

ABibleStudent

Welcome fakefading, I wish you the best to help your JW family to critically think for themselves. I hope that you continue to post on JWN to vent your frustrations so that your JW family does not become suspicious of your beliefs.

With a little planning on your part, you have many options to enjoy your life with your wife:

Read Steve Hassan's books ("Combatting Cult Mind Control", "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves", and (his latest book) "Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults and beliefs"), visit his website www.freedomofmind.com, and/or watch Steve Hassan's videos on his website to help your JW family to critically think for themselves.
Ask your wife simple questions to learn more about how she thinks and feels about her childhood feelings/experiences, as well as her authentic persona's feelings. Your objective should be to learn more about your wife's authentic persona and how to help it overcome your wife's cult persona.
Help your wife to meet non-JWs, who she might share common interests.
Encourage your wife to have non-JW and time consuming hobbies that might help her to meet non-JWs.
Help your wife to use the internet. Your objective would be to help her learn how to be a smarter consumer such as to find better and cheaper accomodations when attending DC's. Also, by staying away from other JWs it might help her authentic persona to control her cult persona.
Hold home Bible studies with your wife to help her to recognize how the Pharisees and Sadducees used BITE control techniques to victimize Jews and how Jesus Christ felt about it. DO NOT draw parrallels between the WTBTS and the Pharisees and Sadducees. Let your wife do that on her own.
Research how to overcome WTBTS thought-stopping platitudes that your wife uses. Posting on JWN and reading www.jwfacts.com may gve you ideas.
Talk to your wife about getting additional education/training that will help you to provide greater financial security for your family, as well as miss more meetings.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

43

Russian Parliament Approves Military Action in the Crimea

by ABibleStudent in

why did russian president vladimir putin ask the russian parliament to approve using military forces to keep the peace in the crimea, instead of asking the un?

why did the russian parliment pass a law approving military force instead of asking for the un to send peace keeping forces to the crimea (http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/01/world/europe/ukraine-politics/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)?.

is russia spiralling into a totalitarian dictatorship like germany in the 1930's and the soviet union from 1920's - 1990's with information control and coercive tactics?

ABibleStudent

A perspective of a Russian speaking Ukrainian about Putin's actions Opinion: A divided Ukraine? Think again.

What I thought was interesting is how Russia has supposedly brought Russians into Crimea to protest in support of the Russian military and has used news broadcast to influence Russian speakers opinions. I wonder how much it costs to import pro-Russian protestors. If elections were held in Crimea, I wonder how free they would be and what Russia would do to win.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

19

New Article: Jehovah's Witnesses a Study in Hypocrisy

by daringhart13 in

would love your feedback!.

http://darrinhart.hubpages.com/hub/jehovahs-witnesses-a-study-in-hypocrisy .

.

ABibleStudent

Hi daringhart13, You wrote a very heartfelt and well-written message.

I only make the following comments to hopefully reduce how JWs will focus on minor errors and not see how truthful your message is.

I feel that where you wrote:

“Please note: The Watchtower Bible & Tract Society openly claims to be God's only representative” it should be changed to “Please note: The leaders of the Watchtower . . . “
“For those that question that authority, they are banished from the organization, including family and friends.” It shoud be changed to “ . . . they are banished from the organization, and shunned (as if dead) by JW family and friends.”

I did notice the following grammer errors in part of your message that I read:

End of 5th paragraph - "their claim isn't in accord with the very Bible the claim to hold as the 'breath of God'."
Near end of 8 th paragraph – “In hindsight, I believe it made me an good elder;”
"Millions and millions of pages, books, magazines, brochures and talk outlines highlighted how evil the UN is and the belief that that Jehovah will use the United Nations to destroy all "false religion" leaving only Jehovah's Witnesses on earth."
"Imagine the shock when it was discovered (insert that) the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society was an associate member of the United Nations Public Information Department starting in 1992."

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

12

Shun Run 2014: Show Courage, Don't Shun

by rawe in

jw
friends

our third annual shun run will be held again at 10am at papago park, tempe, az on saturday, april 12th.

this is a low-key public event that all who wish to see an end to organizational-induced shunning can join in.

lecture room on floor 4 at 2:00pm.. as part of this event, i write a letter to sdb:ssy, the otherwise anonymous jw author who informed me about the df'ing announcement in my case.

ABibleStudent

Awesome cause rawe!!

I hope that hundreds show up.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

9

Been through so much!

by MissConfused in

its been a while that i came here due to so many ups and downs emotionally.. :(.

crazy that the family is so divided now that we cannot sit and talk (even though we pretend while attending meetings).

all i can think is this line from hotel california - "you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave"... love the family so much that dont feel like hurting them.. this is killing me.. regards, miss confused!.

ABibleStudent

I'm sorry that you feel trapped MissConfused. Can you make more non-JW friends? Can you write about what your family is so divided about and whose opinion do you care about the most?

I know that meetings are boring and mind numbing, so what are your options for missing meetings? Have you considered getting a better education/training/career that would conflict with attending all the meetings? What hobbies/interest do you have that you could think about during meetings or need to skip one or two meetings a month?

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert