i find it ironic that jw.org publishes an article about homosexuality on the day i received july 2020 issue if the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints magazine "ensign" which also has an article on same-sex attraction.
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regardless, the lds article comes across as more caring than the jw article although in the end members in good standing cannot act upon their same-sex attraction in either religion..
steve2 - "...It is a message about homosexuals to JWs..."
Let's be honest...
...has anything the WT put out ever really been for anyone but JWs?
steve2 - "...it's as if they cannot bring themselves to talk to the very people whose lifestyles they condemn..."
Yup, just like they don't really have the balls to condemn militant Islam.
many of us have watched the gb #4 update.
most of us jumped for joy when they basically said that there will be no meeting in person for a long time to come.. one aspect we overlooked was how hard they hit home the "love of neighbor".
how this "love" is what makes a true christian and as a result our love for our neighbors will motivate us to stay at home.. well now they released a letter that is instructing all kh's to view this video during their local needs part.
Also, just last night I was joking with my wife about how some of the old-school loyalists probably don’t know what to do with themselves during the shutdown, whilst a lot more are actually enjoying the break.😀
many of us have watched the gb #4 update.
most of us jumped for joy when they basically said that there will be no meeting in person for a long time to come.. one aspect we overlooked was how hard they hit home the "love of neighbor".
how this "love" is what makes a true christian and as a result our love for our neighbors will motivate us to stay at home.. well now they released a letter that is instructing all kh's to view this video during their local needs part.
Yup, COVID-19 sure has made the e-church transition way easier.
i missed this when it first came out.
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it's so sad to realize that i was part of the behaviour shown by the witnesses in the video.. this is my neck of the woods, and i recognize some of the yellow vested attendants that control the situation.i used to play football with the big french brother named guy.. if only they could see.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukiqqgfngxk.
Something I’d like to add to my previous post...
...it occurred to me that in the case of lower-ranking members of the heirarchy, there would definitely be a reluctance to report alleged abuse because any subsequent secular investigation might uncover more...
...prompting very uncomfortable suspicions that they wouldn’t want to face.
hi fellow apostates, here is a link about the redress scheme from the arc into child abuse and jws refusal to participate.
enjoy; https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jul/01/six-groups-fail-to-join-australias-national-child-abuse-redress-scheme.
Half banana - "It makes me wonder whether the GB's digging their heels in attitude will be death of them?"
Looking back over the years at all the slowly and steadily escalating rhetoric and propaganda, the steadfast refusal to acknowledge anything that suggests they might be wrong, and the annoying refusal of the world around them to not fall into apocalyptic chaos...
...I think that that there would always have been a point where the Org would stop budging and defy the larger world, no matter the outcome. If it didn't happen organically, it would have been by design.
They'd proceed from the assumption (or rather, desperate hope) that at that point, God would step in and save them, thus vindicating them all along...
...and if not, I suspect that deep down, they'd rather crash-and-burn than submit, just like every other dead authoritarian regime in history.
We just might be seeing it now.
all my jw life i was reminded constantly about the importance of not bringing reproach on jehovah's name.
decisions on whether or not to disfellowship an individual often turned, not on the seriousness of the sin, but on whether the incident was public knowledge and had resulted in bad publicity for the congregation.
i recall a middle-aged lady being reported to the elders for shoplifting a sweet worth less than £1- and the elders' insistence that a judicial committee must be formed because the store manager and staff knew that she was a jw (i successfully argued that all she needed was support for her dreadful family life, but that's another story).
They're at the point where they don't give a rat's ass about bad PR.
It's not about protecting the Organization's reputation, and hasn't been for a long time, now.
It's about maintaining and reinforcing the fiction of "God's Earthly Organization"...
...because without it, the WTS is nothing.
i am addressing here those who, like me, spent decades in the organisation that we called “the truth”.
perhaps like me you were brought up in it from an early age.
looking back now i wonder that i could have been so heartless as to believe that the mass slaughter of billions of people was “good news”.
Can't speak for everyone, but I personally felt so hurt and victimized by "Satan's World" that I could barely stand the wait...
...or, more accurately, I was taught that all the hurt and victimization I experienced was the fault of "Satan's World".
Armageddon was my personal supernatural revenge fantasy.
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just wanted to put this out there for any lurkers.. as someone that grew up during the 70s and 80s, we were promised that we would be in the first picture long ago.
if you are still on the fence, please let this sink in for a while..
And the religion that their parents and grandparents were sold in the 50s and 60s is not the religion of the 70s and 80s, either.
It started out relatively harmless and benign, but a fucking lawyer and his businessmen cronies snatched the reins, couldn't stand the thought of being just another denomination amongst many...
...and here we are.
i haven't been on here in quite some time so i apologize if i missed a similar thread already (i did look for one :) ) anyways, just to be clear i think the jw response to covid in general has been really positive and proactive and they've done really well trying to educate people on covid, doing zoom meetings, etc to prevent spread within the congregations.
the part that i find interesting is how compliant and non-apocalyptic the branch has been during all of this.
even as someone who's a bit of a skeptic i found myself wondering if this might be the beginning of the end between covid, economic upheaval, and blm.
Not to mention that only a third of young people "raised in the Truth" actually stay, undercutting the Org's future membership even further.
i haven't been on here in quite some time so i apologize if i missed a similar thread already (i did look for one :) ) anyways, just to be clear i think the jw response to covid in general has been really positive and proactive and they've done really well trying to educate people on covid, doing zoom meetings, etc to prevent spread within the congregations.
the part that i find interesting is how compliant and non-apocalyptic the branch has been during all of this.
even as someone who's a bit of a skeptic i found myself wondering if this might be the beginning of the end between covid, economic upheaval, and blm.
Fair points.
I would argue, however that the ruthlessness you describe is - in and of itself - primarily a means of snuffing out any dissent that would ultimately call the Concept into question.
sir82 - "Eventually those primal desires will drive them to return to 'normalcy' as soon as they can do so without appearing to be stupid or careless."
Don't sell them too short.
When you've spent as long as they have in the company of people who are never allowed to disagree with them, appearing stupid or careless kinda becomes "normalcy".
Seriously, though...
...I suspect the adaptations the Org has made as a result of the Covid shutdown serves their long(er)-term plans more than hinders them.
At the very least, the rank-and-file is now far more primed to transition to a primarily internet-based religion with a minimum of fuss, and the revenue from family silver property sales will stave off falling into the red.
For a little while, anyway.
