Authoritarian regimes are not the least bit concerned with an individual's "rights".
They never have been, and they never will.
in the 10/15 watchtower study edition on pg.
12 is the article " what kind of spirit do you show ?
" right away this article starts drawing the line of demarcation in the sand between who has the right to make decisions within jehovah's witnesses and who does not have the right to do so.
Authoritarian regimes are not the least bit concerned with an individual's "rights".
They never have been, and they never will.
lets say you meet with a jc and in the midst of it you snap because you feel intimidated or bullied and start swinging chairs at the heads and limbs of elders and actually break bones or send one into a coma or worse accidentally kill one of them.
you think they would press charges?
think they would be advised by legal to keep it quiet to avoid negative publicity?
When I first read the thread title, I thought it was about uber-dub elders losing their shit and assaulting the "plaintiff", maybe because he could successfully refute their assertions or whatever.
In a case like that, if it were 20 years ago, they'd sweep it. Nowadays, though, they wouldn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of keeping it quiet.
Desirous of Change - "As the Society continues to ramp up its hard-ass aproach on issues, I would not be surprised to see the inquisitions turn more violent."
That had never occurred to me, but you may be right. Can't help but wonder if that was an additional consideration in the slight adjustment to the "so-and-so is no longer" announcement, or if its related to reports of elders requesting known faders to write a DA letter...
Either way, I'm (strangely) hoping that the "inquisitions" do turn more violent, while at the same time, hoping they won't. I'm having trouble picking at the moment.
in the 10/15 watchtower study edition on pg.
12 is the article " what kind of spirit do you show ?
" right away this article starts drawing the line of demarcation in the sand between who has the right to make decisions within jehovah's witnesses and who does not have the right to do so.
Kojack57 - "Good lord, these pricks are getting more and more brazen every time they write an article."
Interesting choice of words. You use "brazen" on purpose (as in "Brazen Conduct"), or was it coincidental?
Not being a smartass (this time, anyway), just honestly curious...
how many people existed before the biblical flood?
in the bible from adam to noah they have around 1600-1700 years.
adam had at least three children (one dies and not counting the daughters) in a 930 year life span.
Data-Dog - "...The only logical explanation is that the prime directive was violated."
Why? How do ye know he didnae invent the thing?
solomon alluded to it yesterday in a thread, i found the online large print pdfs here, not sure where the regular version is yet.
here are the full paragraphs, grab your barf bags .
19 on the other hand, if you choose the path of resentment.
rory-ks - "Watchtower trumps Awake! every time. Awake!...is the Reader's Digest of Society literature..."
On the nose, man; well said (actually, come to think of it, RD is considerably better...).
solomon alluded to it yesterday in a thread, i found the online large print pdfs here, not sure where the regular version is yet.
here are the full paragraphs, grab your barf bags .
19 on the other hand, if you choose the path of resentment.
High-Control groups just looove them double standards, huh?
Or should they be called "dub-le standards"?
okay, i don't know lots of people that were df'd, but of all the times i've encountered df people when i was a dub, they actually blanked me!
it was always something that i had fixed in my mind that the jws had dead wrong, even when i was an uber dub.
i remember several times when i used to arrive late at meetings, and i'd make a point of getting eye contact with the poor dub at the back sitting on the naughty step.
Sorta.
Still gave what I thought would be an "encouraging" smile and/or a discreet little wave when it was someone I knew and liked; beleive it or not, I was following my Dad's example.
So I guess I played a bit fast and loose with it.
in my immediate family only my dad was never a jw.
my brother was the first to leave when he was 15, i left some twenty years later.
my mum always was and still is the hardcore jw 'hub' of the family and she also brought in her sister and nephew.. now here's the thing.
nicolaou - "Because I love them..."
I have no doubt you do - unconditionally, in fact - but is that degree of familial love reciprocated?
In relationships where it is not, usually one party ends up doing almost all the taking, and the other, all the giving. I'm sure you're perceptive enough to tell which party is which in your case.
Just a heads-up.
how many people existed before the biblical flood?
in the bible from adam to noah they have around 1600-1700 years.
adam had at least three children (one dies and not counting the daughters) in a 930 year life span.
Phizzy - "...once you start allowing for allegory, many of the scriptures used by the WT to bludgeon their R&F into obedience to the GB are not so effective."
You hit the nail on the head.
Not to mention that once you start to reclassify the overtly supernatural phenomena in the Bible as allegorical, where do you stop? The creation of Adam in Eden? The Ten Plagues? The miracle of the loaves and fishes? Jesus` Resurrection?
Eventually, the inclination to explain all the Bible`s miraculous elements that way can become overwhelming, and once that happens, kiss your fundamentalist faith (and everything that came with it) goodbye.
That ain`t always a pleasant feeling for some.
can a skillful lawyer use this information in court as evidence of lack of fullfillment of fuduciary duty on thier part since they claim to be the only true religion and obedience is a life and death matter.. just saying could not the governing body just be falling into a trap of thier own making and not even be consciously realizing it?
and maybe consciously and unconsciously thier legal team is pushing them that way conspiracy theorys could take many turns on that one.. how about conspiracies that operate in the collective unconscious level, conspirering against them unconscious to them making themselve thier own worst enemy..
They sure do seem to be making their opponents' job a lot easier.