Posts by Vidiot

21

Thoughts on a WT Reformation

by Fr.RAS in

i posted what follows elsewhere but thought it might be of interest here as well.

my forst posting here so i apologize in advance if this is not in the correct place.. a tribute to ray franz (on what would have been his 98th birthday) and to ed dunlap, his collaborator.

last week would have marked the 98th birthday of a man for whom most of us here have high regard.

Vidiot

The WTS is long past any possibility of positive reform.

At this point, if they reformed, they'd arguably no longer be "Jehovah's Witnesses".

73

Everybody loves Raymond

by Saintbertholdt in

a while ago the user vinman started a forum thread called: "ray franz was an idiot".

the reaction to it was quite negative but i have to admit that the title of that thread was intriguing to me.

by nature i am an iconoclast.

Vidiot

Saintbertholdt - "Most worrisome is why Franz didn't gun Leo Greenlees in 'Crisis of conscience'. In the book he mentioned Greenlees having to leave while he still resided on the Governing Body. Franz gave his vote to make him step down and yet he kept absolutely silent on the matter of why Greenlees was kicked out. Wasn't his silence complacency? Franz wrote about everything else, why not this particular subject? The Watchtower pedorast scandal already broke three years before the last revision of his first book (2001 and 2004 respectively), yet he still kept silent. Was it too uncomfortable for him or was he just protecting Greenlees and his own reputation? So why wasn't his conscience in crisis over this particular matter?"

I've occasionally wondered this myself...

...and the only explanation can think of was that the rest of the GB may have realized that letting Ray in on the entire Greenlees story would have caused too many difficulties, considering the strain Ray himself was going through at the time (remember, Greenlees - for all intents and purposes - was booted for being gay, not for being a pedophile, in part because back then, the two were often viewed as simply two sides of the same coin)...

...i.e. Ray didn't out Greenless because he himself wasn't privy to the growing child abuse problem (he expressed skepticism that it was a serious problem when questioned some time ago), as the rest of the GB were able to keep him out of that particular loop.

19

Ancient Hebrews Got Away With So Much

by Tim207 in

why wasn’t judah punished for sleeping withtamar?

even though she had the legal right to an offspring by his family he still thought he was sleeping with a prostitute.

if it is wrong to even think of having relations with a woman similar to the “sin” of watching pornography why wouldn’t what judah did be wrong?

Vidiot

Tim207 - "Why wasn’t Judah punished for sleeping with Tamar?"

Because she wasn't married (anymore)...

...therefore, he hadn't committed theft/vandalism of another man's "property".

11

Michael Palin: North Korea - Similarities In N.Korean and JW Mentality

by pale.emperor in

did anyone catch michael palin's travel documentary in north korea?

it was a fascinating insight into such a secretive and controlled country.

totalitarian, suppressed and yet i found a few similarities to jw mentality.. particularly, this segment, where michael asks his handler about the limitations on freedom she has.

Vidiot

Phizzy - "...'Totalitarian' and 'Authoritarian' are almost synonyms, but the merely Authoritarian State is more open to reform. The Totalitarian State (or cult/religion) tries, and often succeeds, vampire like, to change the mind and very soul of the person..."

Yup, pretty much.

I would argue that the former isn't quite as open to change as you suggest, but other than that, yeah...

...an authoritarian state doesn't really give a shit what you think, as long as you do what you're told.

A totalitarian state wants you to completely subservient to it, and to remake you in its image, which is way fucking scarier.

11

Michael Palin: North Korea - Similarities In N.Korean and JW Mentality

by pale.emperor in

did anyone catch michael palin's travel documentary in north korea?

it was a fascinating insight into such a secretive and controlled country.

totalitarian, suppressed and yet i found a few similarities to jw mentality.. particularly, this segment, where michael asks his handler about the limitations on freedom she has.

Vidiot

pale.emperor - "Eerily similar to JWs view of the governing body, I think."

Ditto.

I've lost count of how many times I've heard a JW loyalist talk as though they and the GB are - effectively - the same...

...i.e., the GB doesn't like something, therefore the rank-and-file doesn't like something.

Honestly, I think some of them aren't even aware they're doing it.

19

Two kingdom halls up for sale in our area

by Still Totally ADD in

jw
friends

driving by a kh yesterday we saw a for sale sign in front of the building.

it's on a beautiful piece of property off a main road outside the city limits.

the building can be no more than 10 years old and is very beautiful.

Vidiot

alanv - "They may be selling off loads of Kingdom Halls, but Im sure they will building new ones as well."

Have they announced them?

15

have you heard anything ?

by lancelink in

i was a witness from grade school ( 1976) until 2007. i seem to remember an important aspect that was always talked about at the hall as being a fact.they would say that "the rocks themselves would cry out" if the public preaching work was to stop,,,,, all i've seen and heard these past few months are the witnesses complaining about the witnessing work coming to a halt.but i've not heard one rock crying .. .

.

Vidiot

Funny...

...thought that in the Last Days, the love of the greater number was supposed to cool off.

I'm confused.

15

Dutch judge rules that elders are not entitled to hide behind clergy-penitent privilege

by Anders Andersen in

today a dutch judge ruled that jw elders and the jw branch cannot invoke clergy-penitent privilege when it comes to information used in a judicial committee.. jw had filed a complaint with the courts because the branch office, two kingdom halls and a few elders' homes were raided by police almost 2 years ago in search of evidence related to child abuse issues.. jw argued that the information that was taken by police is protected by clergy-penitent privilege.

today the judge ruled that 1) an organization doesn't haven't such a privilege, 2) jw elders don't always act as spiritual counselors.

their actions as judges in judicial committees aren't protected by privilege, and 3) conversations jw have with their elders are often not confidential at all (as per jw policy) so jw elders can't rightfully invoke clergy-penitent privilege to maintain absolute confidentiality, because there isn't absolute confidentiality in the first place.. jw are thinking about appealing the verdict..