Posts by Vidiot

23

Did The Witnesses Mess Up Your Sex Life?

by minimus in

jw
friends

most of the witnesses i knew never really talked about sex.

whatever couples did was pretty much kept quiet.

every once in a while a wife might complain to the elders or a friend that the husband is too demanding or even immoral because of the sex practices the husband wanted.

Vidiot

All this is kind of academic, though.

The actual historical reasons that the sexual uptightness of religious conservatives with European ancestry (the WTS's ideological forebears) got so entrenched are because...

a) ...constant indiscriminate boning naturally created a constant influx of illegitimate children, which, in turn, created constant lineage- and inheritance-related headaches, and...

b) ...syphilis had actually become a major problem (think the AIDS pandemic in the 80s, but lasting centuries because Medieval medicine).

Don't believe me? Look it up.

Entire fashion trends were designed around concealing signs of past or present infection.

43

When You Were A Witness Did You Believe Everything Taught?

by minimus in

jw
friends

obviously at some point you stopped believing the witnesses had the truth or else you wouldn’t be here.

.

but for the most part, were you a true believer or were you typically a rebel or a doubter?

Vidiot

minimus - "When you were a Witness did you believe everything taught?"

Tried to.

More like "accepted", though.

But even that got harder and harder as time went on.

5

Speaks for Itself.

by BereanThinker7 in

[9-15-95 wt- ‘the golden calf’ and the people said: “all that jehovah has spoken we are willing to do and be obedient.”—exodus 24:7. nevertheless, the israelites soon sinned against god.

they were still encamped at the foot of mount sinai.

moses had been on the mountain many days, receiving further instruction from god, and the people pressured moses’ brother, aaron, to make a god for them.

Vidiot

truth_b_known - "What most do not realize from this story is it's true purpose - to insult the former Israelite god El in favor of the new Israelite god, YHWY. El was represented as a bull. Making the idol of El a calf was done to insult El..."

Woah, okay, this is new.

23

Did The Witnesses Mess Up Your Sex Life?

by minimus in

jw
friends

most of the witnesses i knew never really talked about sex.

whatever couples did was pretty much kept quiet.

every once in a while a wife might complain to the elders or a friend that the husband is too demanding or even immoral because of the sex practices the husband wanted.

Vidiot

minimus - "...Dating is not a game..."

Agreed.

It's actually more like school.

Weird, no?

Maybe not.

I've given this a shit-ton of thought as a parent, and in the end...

...the way I see it, adolescence is training for adulthood.

You learn to work a job, drive a car, interact (at least semi-)maturely with others, etc., all using training and practice*... because these are necessary skills for functioning as an adult by the time you get there.

And I would argue that the ability to navigate an intimate relationship might qualify, too (for the record, I don't necessarily mean "sexual" when I say "intimate").

Therefore, it stands to reason that learning how to navigate that type of relationship via training and practice - i.e. dating - could be appropriate during that time, too.

I could be wrong about that, but I guarantee you this...

...I would have been a way more well-rounded twentysomething if I hadn't followed the WT rules and dated the nice-looking female high school classmates who liked me.

Then again, if I had broken said rules, I may not have ended up married to the wife I have and become the father of the very kids whose "relationship training" I've given a shit-ton of thought about, so...

...what the fuck do I know?

*the regular definition of the word, not the one the WTS likes to use Vidiot

6

Statistics not looking good

by dothemath in

statistics have always been huge for the borg.

a couple of decades ago there were about 1200 people baptized every day as witnesses (on average).. a few years ago the co was glowing about 800 ones baptized per day.

he didn’t mention this was actually a big drop).

Vidiot

smiddy3 - "Then they could say that is proof we are living in the last days 'The love of the greater number will cool off '..."

"Everything is proof we're right!

Even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"

6

Statistics not looking good

by dothemath in

statistics have always been huge for the borg.

a couple of decades ago there were about 1200 people baptized every day as witnesses (on average).. a few years ago the co was glowing about 800 ones baptized per day.

he didn’t mention this was actually a big drop).

Vidiot

I don't know if they're in a "downward trend" yet...

...but I'd be surprised if they weren't plateauing.

66

Watchtower fined in Belgium

by Vanderhoven7 in

jehovah's witnesses in belgium have to pay €12k fine for shunning policy.

news.

you have probably heard of the trial going on in belgium about the shunning policy of jws.

Vidiot

Anony Mous - "You cannot say you hate anyone in the EU for any reason without risking a fine."

Not even "I hate hate groups?"

27

Spiritually Weak Ones Are Bad Association according to the Governing Body

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

after you read the words of jesus in mark 2: 17, you will see that the contrast between the teachings of jesus and the governing body.. .

you clearly read what's written in the bible, but the society is always twisting and bending scriptures to their benefit.

here is stephen lett talking about ''spiritually weak'' members and twisting jesus's words teaching on sinners:.

Vidiot

mynameislame - "I find myself wondering if they don't realize that their end is in sight and all this craziness is an effort to wake up as many people as possible without causing mass suicides. It seems like a fairly humane way to do things... Make it so crazy people start waking up and any young person would want to get out as fast as possible. Take ownership of all the property so there won't be any fighting over it at the local level. Consolidate and sell off properties to raise cash for the lawsuits and try to keep enough money around to keep things running until all the hardcore, never leaving JWs die off... Or maybe they know it is BS and are just trying to live the rest of their lives in relative comfort while watching the whole thing fall apart."

You're partly right.

They'd never admit out loud that "the end is in sight" for the WTS (it's "God's Earthly Organization", after all), but I guarantee you that on a subconscious, reptile-brain level, they absolutely feel threatened and cornered.

Don't kid yourself, though... I also guarantee you that acting "humane" is not on their agenda. They are concerned with the Org's survival (which manages to be both disingenuous and ironic, IMO).

Sure, they're consolidating property assets to pay legal expenses, but selling off the family silver to stay in the black is not a long-term sustainable business plan.

As to the rest, a number of us have come to the admittedly weird (but, IMO inescapable) conclusion that they both know it's wrong, but believe it's true... at the same time. Make of that what you will.

And lastly, every authoritarian regime in history has opted to crash-and-burn rather than reform or admit defeat... and make no mistake, the WTS is very much an authoritarian regime.

27

Spiritually Weak Ones Are Bad Association according to the Governing Body

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

after you read the words of jesus in mark 2: 17, you will see that the contrast between the teachings of jesus and the governing body.. .

you clearly read what's written in the bible, but the society is always twisting and bending scriptures to their benefit.

here is stephen lett talking about ''spiritually weak'' members and twisting jesus's words teaching on sinners:.

Vidiot

@ SlimboyFat, JW GoneBad, soloman, & Rattigan350...

Human beings are tribal.

We evolved that way to survive, because in prehistoric times, any given member's survival/reproductive chances were almost solely dependent on said member's status within said tribe.

And despite what some may think, we're not really all that far removed from our caveman ancestors (natural selection doesn't work that fast, after all).

Is it really any wonder, then, that a JW member will be preoccupied with his or her status within his or her ~~tribe~~ congregation?

72

How many TRUE BELIEVERS do you think are left in the Organization?

by pistolpete in

i have a few jw relatives who are true believers.

by this i mean, they believe with all their heart that 1914 was the beginning of the last days, that this is the last generation, that we are in the very last of the last hour of this system of things, and that you should obey the governing body even if it does not make sense.

all of them are in their 60s and up into their 90s there is nothing you can say or show them to convince them or even cause a small doubt that the wt is not god organization.

Vidiot

Disillusioned JW - "I wish there was a way to find out who are the JWs with doubts and who are the disfellowshiped JWs (ones considering reinstatement), so that we could contact them and share with them what we have learned."

They can only do that themselves.

Take heart, though... sooner or later, they do.

How else do you think most of us ended up here, after all?