i still read on reddit.
(though no longer post) occasionally, i'll venture over to the ex-seventh day adventist (sda) sub and catch up a bit.
it's been a long time.
Phizzy - “…Mere numbers mean nothing…”
This.
It took me a while before I finally figured that out… that it doesn’t matter how many alleged members adherents the WTS claims.
If they’re just warming seats, tuning out on Zoom, fibbing about their activity, living as they please without quaking in fear of being disfellowshipped removed, or - most importantly - closing their wallets (either because they’re PIMO or broke as shit)…
…any numbers the WT claims are essentially irrelevant.
awake 1976 - should a pocket calculator be in your pocket?.
somehow this totally zany 'bible based' article passed me by first time around!.
anyone remember it?.
WTWizard - “…do they really want life to be a complete drudgery?”
When I was younger, I thought maybe the WT leadership figured that since secular infrastructure could be initially problematic in the New System (for a number of obvious reasons), the rank-and-file might be better off not letting themselves become overly dependent on technology.
These days, I think they just never wanted the average JW to be too comfortable, lest they pine for the New System a little less… and let’s face it, life these days is arguably more comfortable than back in, say, the 50s and 60s.
Similar to how they never seemed to particularly want overly good-looking members. I always found the sheer blandness of young people portrayed in JW media was depressing AF… I’d be like, “this is how a ‘righteous’ kid is supposed to look?” 😟
i was thinking about the male children ( even unbaptized ) being placed ahead of the sisters.
; and i thought the jw were raising a bunch of misogynist.
would these kids not feel more important than their mothers let alone other women.
A lot of folks tend to forget that virtually all the female heroes of the Bible were portrayed as brave, strong, and tough.
family move to remote pacific island to serve were the need is great get a mention in the year book.. however one of the (married) boys in the large family has sex with his sister while his wife is in hospital giving birth to their child.
.
all hushed up not even a word said and hes now an elder d.fing people for lesser crimes.. young couple dating leave the jws and move in togather doing drugs partying ect.. his family grandfather,uncles, dad ect are all elders.. after a few years they decide to come back to the jws and are married in the k.h a few months latter.. 1 elder questions them getting married in the k.h and is voted down by his family.. to many drunks and c.s.a to mention.. karter..
I didn’t see a lot of the kind of experiences described here. Maybe it’s ‘cause I was young and my parents were able to shield me somewhat.
I don’t doubt them, though…
…and I think a big reason for it is the Org’s hardline stances increasingly alienate the majority of decent, conscientious folks, to the point where only the assholes were left with any authority.
Then it’s too late.
i still read on reddit.
(though no longer post) occasionally, i'll venture over to the ex-seventh day adventist (sda) sub and catch up a bit.
it's been a long time.
I don’t think it has much to do with sexuality.
It’s just easier these days to reject something you can’t subscribe to, especially belief systems that have a poor track record.
family move to remote pacific island to serve were the need is great get a mention in the year book.. however one of the (married) boys in the large family has sex with his sister while his wife is in hospital giving birth to their child.
.
all hushed up not even a word said and hes now an elder d.fing people for lesser crimes.. young couple dating leave the jws and move in togather doing drugs partying ect.. his family grandfather,uncles, dad ect are all elders.. after a few years they decide to come back to the jws and are married in the k.h a few months latter.. 1 elder questions them getting married in the k.h and is voted down by his family.. to many drunks and c.s.a to mention.. karter..
Know what’s really fucked up?
When loyalists who are actually in the loop take it to the next level and have the audacity to suggest that if it’s this bad in “God’s Exclusive Earthly Organization”, it’s gotta be an absolute nightmare in “The World”.
🙄
https://www.eurasiareview.com/01072024-russia-further-jail-term-for-answering-fellow-prisoners-questions-about-faith/.
july 1, 2024. by f18news.
by victoria arnold.
Agreed, and the teabagging-level irony is not lost on me.
The problems start when you’ve made so many “boogeymen” (and done so in such an egregious and harmful manner) that they get fed up, find allies, organize, and start to fight back.
we have lonely old folks and even some not so old.. they know the gb are not who they claim to be.. but they stay in the congregation because they are lonely.
i wonder what percentage of jws this is the case, i would guess a lot.
.
BluesBrother - “…There was an old maxim that used to be common.. they said ‘it is better to be wrong and inside the Truth than to be right and outside it’…”
It was more of an attitude than an axiom where I grew up, but yeah, I remember that.
And it may well have had an element of actual, lower-case-t truth to it, too, considering just how fucking bonkers the 60s, 70s (and, to a lesser degree, the 80s) actually were.
These days, though?
Not so much.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/01072024-russia-further-jail-term-for-answering-fellow-prisoners-questions-about-faith/.
july 1, 2024. by f18news.
by victoria arnold.
I used to scratch my head whenever a government acted in a heavy-handed manner towards any kind of fringe group…
…I’d wanna ask, “don’t you idiots realize that this’ll stroke the persecution complex, convince the victims that they were right all along, and end up causing an uptick in zealotry, fanaticism, and (actual) extremist behaviour?”
And then I finally realized that governments like Putin’s Russia absolutely realize that, and that’s why they’re heavy-handed…
…authoritarian regimes need “enemies” to justify their existence and actions, and JWs come almost tailor-made for that kind of role.
after a jehovah's witness secretly confronted a foster child, eunice spry was jailed for torturing three children; she is now set to be released from prison and re-homed near her victims.
uk.
(warning - graphic pictures and story).
The knee-jerk rejection of anything negative is fear-based.
However, I do remember the first time I realized that it was statistically impossible for all bad news to be false…
…therefore, some of it had to be true…
…but more importantly, wilfully refusing to even consider that possibility was potentially dangerous.
