Vidiot

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Posts by Vidiot

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  18

  Watchtower issues take down notice!!!

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/f7jloq/breaking_watchtower_issues_dmca_takedown_to/.

  zing.

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  Vidiot

  I've heard rumors they actually employ non-JWs to monitor sites like this one so as not to "contaminate" the faithful.

  It sounds stupid, but...

  ...it is exactly the sort of thing deluded True Believers might actually do.
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  68

  Unwritten, congregational 'rules'

  by Thetruthhurts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what were some of yours?

  the big one in our hall was no frontal hugs!

  these were generally thought of as inappropriate, only side hugs should be given between sisters and brothers.

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  Vidiot

  Personally, I suspect that a ton of these "prohibitions" had to do with young people and their sex drives.

  I worked out much later - from remembering all the "local needs" talks - that a lot of JW teenagers must have been falling into each others' pants way more often than I'd ever thought...

  ...and the Org was becoming increasingly embarrassed and desperate to leash it.

  Which is like trying to turn a cat vegetarian, IMO.
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  18

  Watchtower issues take down notice!!!

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/f7jloq/breaking_watchtower_issues_dmca_takedown_to/.

  zing.

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  Vidiot

  Right out of Scientology's playbook.

  That fact alone irrevocably stains any of WTS's claim to legitimacy, IMO.
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  22

  Brazil: Watch Tower claim raid on premises unlawful

  by Antonio_Madaleno in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  in september 2019, the branch of jehovah’s witnesses and a number of kingdom halls in são paulo brazil were raided by the police, in search of documentary evidence of criminal activities relating to child sexual abuse.

  the jehovah’s witnesses claim that the raid was unlawful.

  below is a translation of the court of justice determination.

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  Vidiot

  smiddy - "...I saw this in the video of the ARC into Institutionalised Child sexual Abuse when an Elder was put under the spotlight ,and you could just see with the pauses to his response that he was waiting for the Holy Spirit to put words in his mouth... And they never came..."

  I definitely remember that.

  Poor fucker probably expected to sound eloquent, convincing, and sophisticated, and he ended up looking scared, mystified, and more than a little lost.
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  18

  Watchtower issues take down notice!!!

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/f7jloq/breaking_watchtower_issues_dmca_takedown_to/.

  zing.

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  Vidiot

  Phizzy - "This is proof positive that those at the top in the JW Org know that what they are peddling is not the Truth. And proof that they are aware of the accusation that they use Mind Control, and the truth of that accusation..."

  Not quite, IMO.

  Virtually all anecdotal evidence really does suggest that they fully buy into their own rhetoric... which is an easy habit to fall into when you insist that you represent God and surround yourself solely with people who are never allowed to disagree with you.

  And yet, there is the virtually impossible-to-refute point you've just brought up.

  I myself saw it happen for the longest time and scratched my head over the paradox, until I came to the conclusion that - as you said... they know it's wrong...

  ...but they believe it's true...

  ...at the same time.

  (I learned later that the phenomenon is called "compartmentalization", and seasoned politicians are particularly good at it.)

  Phizzy - "...If they had the Truth, and did not use mind control techniques, they could challenge this guy face on, instead they simply use underhanded methods, like this spurious Take Down claim..."

  If I had to guess, I'd say that argue (to themselves, at least) that it's perfectly justified... they do consider themselves to be "at war", after all.

  But you're right, of course.

  If you have to cheat to defend your beliefs, your beliefs don't deserve to be defended...

  ...and that, IMO, is the real crux of the matter.

  Phizzy - "...They are a bunch of manipulating, lying, money grabbers."

  Honestly, I think that - on some level - they believe that they're fighting for survival...

  ...which, of course, suggests that perhaps they're survival really is at risk.

  History is full of examples of authoritarian regimes who feel threatened by something, act disproportionally defensive, and in doing so, indirectly cause the threat to manifest itself for real, even if the threat was never actually present in the first place.
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  22

  Brazil: Watch Tower claim raid on premises unlawful

  by Antonio_Madaleno in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  in september 2019, the branch of jehovah’s witnesses and a number of kingdom halls in são paulo brazil were raided by the police, in search of documentary evidence of criminal activities relating to child sexual abuse.

  the jehovah’s witnesses claim that the raid was unlawful.

  below is a translation of the court of justice determination.

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  Vidiot

  In addition, it should be noted that - on the extreme end of the scale - the vast majority of authoritarian regimes throughout history have almost always chosen to crash-and-burn rather than reform or surrender to their enemies...

  ...in other words...

  ...I suspect that on a subconscious level, if - in the end - it turns out that the WTS cannot win (by secular or miraculous means), or justify their claims of Divine favor...

  ...they'd rather not exist at all.
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  22

  Brazil: Watch Tower claim raid on premises unlawful

  by Antonio_Madaleno in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  in september 2019, the branch of jehovah’s witnesses and a number of kingdom halls in são paulo brazil were raided by the police, in search of documentary evidence of criminal activities relating to child sexual abuse.

  the jehovah’s witnesses claim that the raid was unlawful.

  below is a translation of the court of justice determination.

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  Vidiot

  It's funny...

  ...back in the day, the Org would just quietly pay whatever settlement or fine was required, and stay under the radar.

  Seems these days, however, they're far more inclined to hit back in the form of counter-suits, DCMA takedowns, and the like.

  This suggests a couple things to me...

  ...that at this point in time, they've become self-deluded enough (in their own righteousness, or at least in their ability to afford it) that they can't imagine they'll lose...

  ...and/or...

  ...they've become so desperate to hide the scope of their problems (particularly from the rank-and-file), that they're willing to risk severely embarrassing public defeat in the slim hope that they'll...

  a) ...get lucky and put off the inevitable for another year, or...

  b) ...that Jehovah - seeing how much they're being "persecuted" at the hands of "Satan's World", will step in and grant His "Exclusive Organization" victory by miraculously snatching it from the jaws of certain defeat - up to and including kicking off the Great Tribulation (something that, I might add, is strongly implied - if not spelled out explicitly - in WT eschatology*).

  Now...

  ...who here thinks that the situations described above are recipes for the Org's future success?

  ...

  *Conveniently forgetting, of course, that according to that very selfsame eschatology, "Babylon the Great" is supposed to be attacked first...
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  18

  Watchtower issues take down notice!!!

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/f7jloq/breaking_watchtower_issues_dmca_takedown_to/.

  zing.

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  Vidiot

  YouTube's default response to this sort of thing generally seems to involve capitulating to whatever corporation is bellyaching.

  It's probably less hassle for them.
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  46

  Believers: How do you know your view of your chosen holy book is the correct one?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  don't start fighting, darlings.

  i am genuinely curious.

  after all i was a jobo 50 years and thought the wbt$ was 100% correct.. i ask this because i see that, for example, christian denominations (or whatever), likely have differing interpretations of the same writing.

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  Vidiot

  punkofnice - "How do you know your view of your chosen holy book is the correct one?"

  By how much said view affirms and reinforces your biases, obviously.
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  28

  Mental Illness among JW's

  by Victor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  disclaimer: this article has some broad generalizations that will have exceptions to what is stated.

  this is the only way i can even attempt to address the topic.

  i've looked for scholarly articles published on peer reviewed journals for years.

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  Vidiot

  The two related pieces that Atlantis linked to were pretty decent, but once you got to the end and realized there was an obvious agenda of converting JWs to evangelicalism, it was hard to not take the info with a retroactive grain of salt.