ABibleStudent

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Posts by ABibleStudent

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  55

  THE GRAND APOSTATE "WALKOUT" - January 1, 2015

  by RagingBull in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after knowing ttatt for many years now...i had made up my mind long ago that after 2014, i would no-longer subject myself to the boredom, pain, and frustration of following this cult...the wt...the borg.. so...i made up my mind that since the wtbts/gb makes such a big deal as to the "significance" of the year 1914 and this year 2014, there can be no greater time for me to leave it all behind.

  i daydreamed of how awesome and telling it would be if everyone that could ( because i do know that some have personal circumstances of their own, as i did too) would just .... walkout...never to attend/step foot in a kingdom hall from that moment on.. independence day of sorts?

  there is too much evidence, too many videos, blogs, books, news reports and lawsuits for me to keep lying to myself.

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  ABibleStudent

  Congratulations at being at peace with your decision, RagingBull!

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
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  26

  No wonder they hate apostates!!

  by ILoveTTATT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  besides a cult, everyone knows the watchtower is a business disguised as a religion.

  from a business viewpoint, i would certainly hate or lobby against those who dislike my product and warn other people of my product.. i made a calculation based on information from jwfacts, and the results are just astounding!.

  http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.

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  ABibleStudent

  ILoveTTATT - yay!! very few took interest in my post until it got derailed into another atheist/believer debate... geez... -.-

  Hi ILoveTTATT, The WTBTS's BITE control leaves an indelible mark on some JWs/exJWs (e.g., low compasion, not listening to others, and telling people what/how to think). Healing takes time for some people.

  You can choose to view this "derail" as an opportunity to turn around this thread (if you choose) by learning how to improve or practise your listening and interpersonal skills to help build trust in others on JWN.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
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  21

  Do you believe there will be "Mass Suicides" within the BAC/JW community?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a "therapist trainee"(still have to take my license test) i worry about all of the religious people out there who might commit suicide if the rapture/armaggeddon does not materialize.

  what if the bible is proven to be "a big fairy tale" will born again christians(bac) and jws kill themself?

  i worry about some of my older jw relatives that have waited for armaggeddon for 50 years and are still waiting.

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  ABibleStudent

  perfect1 - When religious people mass suicide, they do it so they dont have to accept that their belief system is false. Jonestown and Heavens Gate all died as true believers.

  H'mmm, Jonestown seems like an exaggerated generalization to me that is not substantiate by facts. How many people at Jonestown were coerced/deceived to drink the arsenic laced Kool-aid? How could a baby forced to drink the Kool-aid be expected to make an informed decision?

  Sure it is possible that some deluded people will make spur-of-the-moment decisions under "undue influence" , but that will probably be less than 20% of current JWs unless the GB is able to increase their "undue influence" over all JWs.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
• 
  5

  JWs love apostates!

  by Batman89 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  definition of apostate (n)bing dictionaryapostate[ ?

  pos tayt ]somebody who renounces belief: somebody who renounces a belief or allegiancesynonyms: renouncer defector deserter renegadeaccording to the actual definition of apostasy(not the wt exaggerated twisted definition).

  jws promote apostasy everytime we(im fading) knock on doors out in field service to try to get someone, who might have differnt religous views, to consider our literature and beliefs!!!.

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  ABibleStudent

  Do "JWs love apostates" or "are JWs apostates?" IMHO the GB has used BITE control techniques to transform JWs into apostates of Jesus Christ.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
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  13

  First Encounter With a Person From My Congregation Since We D-A'd

  by Iown Mylife in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  an older sister saw me in the store and called out to me.

  she's a widow; her husband was an elder.

  i have not seen her for at least five years.

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  ABibleStudent

  Congratulations to you, Iown Mylife! I wish you the best!

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
• 
  26

  No wonder they hate apostates!!

  by ILoveTTATT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  besides a cult, everyone knows the watchtower is a business disguised as a religion.

  from a business viewpoint, i would certainly hate or lobby against those who dislike my product and warn other people of my product.. i made a calculation based on information from jwfacts, and the results are just astounding!.

  http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.

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  ABibleStudent

  In 20011, I believe, I wrote the thread "WTBTS, is Your House Burning Down?!!" in the BibleStudent blog on JWSF that showed a chart that I created comparing JWs to former JWs. Unfortunately JWSF shutdown in 2012, I believe. I enjoyed writing the BibleStudent blog on JWSF.

  As of 2010 I estimated 2 million + Df'ed/Inactive JWs Worldwide using a rolling 40 year method to account for births/deaths. The chart and description are below.

  It is sad to me that there are 2 million + former JWs, when I think how many of those individuals left the WTBTS years ago, yet are still adversely affected by the WTBTS's BITE control. If someone can think of a way to help a DF'ed/DA'ed/faded JW overcome the WTBTS's BITE control, I encourage you to try.

  If someone would like to reveiw my analysis and assumptions and/or update the information, please PM me and I will send you the workbook.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert

  

  The third chart shows how the numbers of JW publishers and former JWs have increased since 1960 to 2010. The numbers of former JWs were estimated from the annual reports by calculating the difference of average publishers from the previous year to the following year, subtracting that number from the number of baptized publishers to determine how many publishers were no longer actively publishing. Publishers probably no longer publish because they died, were df’d, or faded away. I tried to calculate the number of publishers who died by multiplying .008 (obtained from CIA facts for the USA death rate) from the total number of average number of publishers. The number of df’d publishers was calculated by multiplying the average number of publishers by 1%. WTFacts stated that the WTBTS stated that the annual attrition rate of JWs is more about 1.25% and that 1/3 of JWs are reinstated in 1 year, so 1% seemed like a good number as long as it is not greater than the total estimated publishers who leave the WTBTS. After calculating the number of publishers who annually leave the WTBTS, the number of former JWs who were alive for the following 40 years was estimated by summing the number of former JWs for 40 years and multiplying by .992 to estimate the number of former JWs who did not die.
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  43

  Russian Parliament Approves Military Action in the Crimea

  by ABibleStudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  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?

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  ABibleStudent

  fulltimestudent - No need to be defensive, Robert. My questions are not aimed at you personally, but at the ideas presented. And, (for the record) discuss the miserable record of the USA in aggression against much smaller nations, only because of the difference between the rhetoric and practise.

  Hi fulltimestudent, I apologize for not responding to you sooner. I was busy and I was trying to figure out how to have a conversation and constructive exchange of ideas with you instead of unhealth communication. If you would like more information about what Steve Hassan might consider unhealthy communication, please watch his video How Big is the Phenomenon of Undue Influence? (2:01).

  Since you started using declarative statements about how I feel or how you interpret my responses instead of asking me clarifying questions, I do not feel inclined to continue responding to your comments in this thread that do not directly pertain to the topic of this thread. I prefer to respectfully exchange ideas and make friends.

  [My opinion and you are free to disagree with me without making personal value judgements.] I feel that unhealthy communications begin when the first person starts changing topics and/or makes declarative statements about the other person's feelings or actions without asking a clarifying question. The healthy conversations usually stop when unhealthy techniques (i.e., pointing fingers and changing topics) begin, because listening stops, and debating and positioning starts.

  After scanning topics that you started, it appears that you have diverse interests with a geographical focus in Asia. Although you joined JWN 3 years ago and did not start threads until ~ 1 year ago, you have started 13 pages of threads since then. I joined JWN 3 years ago and have only started 3 pages of threads. I'm limited to starting 1 thread per day. How many are you limited to?

  Thank you for shaing your JW experiences in My PERSONAL Complaint concerning Jehovah's Witnesses and for your pictures and insights of China

  I did not take your statements personally nor do I feel that I acted defensively towards your questions. I simply agreed with you that the USA has behaved badly in the past. When you wanted to continue to press your agenda about how the USA has behaved badly towards its neighbors, I decided to ask you a clarifying question to understand what were your intentions.

  My intention for this thread was not to bash any one country, but to explore how governments use BITE control techniques to "unduly influence" individuals and populations, how to identify those techniques, how to overcome those types of control techniques. how to uncover hidden agendas of governments/individuals (e.g., who benefits, who is afraid, or who hates), and possibly why governments/people revert to using those techniques.

  If your intentions are to solely express your opinions about how badly the USA has behaved to its neighbors in the past, I will not respond to your comments. If you would like to further discuss, how and what can be learned from this situation in Ukraine and the actions of those governments who are involved, then I am willing to make comments.

  fulltimestudent - If the west argues that the forcible seizure of government by the present political alliance in the Ukrainian National Parliament is OK because it likely has the support of people in the west of the state, then surely it must also be OK for the formation of independent provincial (breakaway) governments in the east who prefer to align themselves with Russia because that's their preference?

  I feel that as long as individuals are not unduly influenced (e.g., coerced) then they should choose their own destiny in a socially acceptable manner as individuals. When a population is voting on significant referendums (such as when changing allegiances, increases in taxes, and approving new types of spending such as entitlements) at least a 2/3 to 3/4 majority of voters need to approve it (with at least an 80% participation of eligible voters) in an election process free from "undue influence" and election rigging. Of course, it gets complicated when the population that wants to leave a country is in the minority of the total population, but is in the majority of the population in the area that affected by the voting.

  Do you feel any government/organization should use BITE control techniques to "unduly influence" others? Would you characterize Putin's administration's actions as benign or coercive?

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
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  21

  I'm postponing my JW elderette and her BS session again

  by Faithful Witness in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i really do have more important things to do this week, so i am postponing my elderette again.

  she has not yet contacted me for her "topic of discussion" for the week.

  i know she wants time to prepare her speech and presentation.

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  ABibleStudent

  Faithful Witness - On my mother's last visit, I asked her if she really believed that the governing body spoke for Jehovah directly. She responded with "Yes." She didn't even take a breath first. I was stunned, and I wonder if she was. We were having dinner at a noisy pub at the time, so the conversation didn't get very deep... but that was a shocker and a thought-stopper!

  Hi Faithful Witness, Ask your mother innocently and purplexed again in a quiet moment and then ask her what convinced her to believe unquestioningly in the GB. Is she a Christian, who follows the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, or a follower of the GB? Ask her how she follows God's two greatist commandments (Mt 22:37-40) and is able to unquestioningly follow GB. Ask her how Paul might respond to her if she read 1 Cor 1 through 1 Cor 3.

  Then, remind your mother about how unloving your sister has treated you from your heart.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
• 
  30

  Memorial Musings

  by undercover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a few things noticed in last nights annual, jesus who?

  gathering:.

  1: only one scripture from the gospels was read or cited.

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  ABibleStudent

  undercover - 10. And finally - the speaker alluded to, and it was quick, the fact that we could live to see the end of this system and live through to the paradise. He didn't dwell on it. It was so quick it was almost subliminal. Yet, it was there. Dangling that 'live forever' carrot is part of their M.O. still

  I'm amazed that no one said anything about the "King of the North" considering the opportunity to capitalize on the situation in the Ukraine. It would have made for a more exciting finish!

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert
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  15

  JW parents actively seeking relationship

  by Leeca in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my parents shunned me when i was df'ed.

  when i got ri'ed they started talking to me again.

  when i got divorced & stopped going to meetings they shunned me again.

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  ABibleStudent

  Hi Leeca, DITTO what JWdaughter wrote. Could your parents' ailments be caused by the WTBTS's BITE control?

  If your parents are willing to critically think for themselves by watching Steve Hassan's video Strategic Interactive Approach explained 2003 (1:23:23) and then continue to love you unconditionally to improve your relationship with them, I would take it one step at a time. If not, protect yourself.

  Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

  Robert