a thesis: the discursive construction of freedom in the watchtower society.
https://ris.cdu.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/24632569/thesis_cdu_24577264_chester_h.pdf .
be aware, this thesis, although supremely stimulating, thought-provoking, fascinating, attention-grabbing, remarkable, noteworthy, and appealing, the author made use of out of the ordinary, worthy of note, and fascinating words and statements that, for the reader of average intelligence (like me), make for laborious reading.
Gordano - "The Society like other religions has a morbid fear of masturbation. Why?"
Since Jews, Muslims, and Christians are expected to "follow the example" of their respective religions' founders...
...they simply can't imagine Abraham and Moses, Mohammed, or especially Jesus actually jerking it.
The mental image threatens to melt their brains.
how many kingdom halls are there worldwide?
even better how many in the years 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.. i'm asking this to get a picture of the total real estate owning of the jw and how this become to the money-cow in these days..
I have difficulty watching Kim and Mike.
I'm sorry, but they remind me just a little too much of the TV reporter in Iron Man 2 who comments on Pepper Potts' promotion by smashing coffee cups with a baseball bat.
IMO, if you want people to take you seriously, you need to talk in a more subdued and serious manner.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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?
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
alanv - "They may be selling off loads of Kingdom Halls, but Im sure they will building new ones as well."
Have they announced them?
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 .. .
.
.
Funny...
...thought that in the Last Days, the love of the greater number was supposed to cool off.
I'm confused.
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..
smiddy3 - "I wish more judges would come to the same conclusions..."
Pretty sure it's coming, bit by bit.
