Vidiot

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Posts by Vidiot

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  24

  new situation in world helpful to org?

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sometimes new situations can provide cover for one’s mistakes or intentions.

  for example, suppose that i crack the windshield in my dad’s car one night.

  i go home, park the car in its usual spot in the yard, and go to bed without telling my dad because i’m scared and i’m trying to think of a way out of the situation.

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  Vidiot

  "...'How can we make converts when we cannot preach?'..."

  That's too funny.
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  13

  Sued by inmate, North Carolina concedes Witnesses are distinct faith group, not subset of Protestants

  by Corney in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  last thursday poyner spruill, a prominent north carolina law firm, announced a victory in a pro bono case involving religious freedom of incarcerated jehovah's witnesses.

  the poyner team was appointed by the u.s. district court for the western district of north carolina to represent an inmate challenging the state’s policy governing how and when jehovah’s witnesses can worship in prison.

  the state’s policy classified jehovah’s witnesses as a subset of christian protestants and, on that basis, prohibited separate jehovah’s witness meetings—an infringement on religious freedom under the first amendment.

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  Vidiot

  You gotta love it when criminals and convicts make a public fuss about their beliefs...

  ...it almost can't help but cast their religions in an embarrassing and unfavorable light.

  
  
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  16

  Beards in the WT: Africa too

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  as many know, african languages have for decades been given their own alternate cover with black people.

  their cover for the 2020 wt#3 also includes a bearded man.

  this can not be a coincidence.

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  Vidiot

  Facial hair is an almost integral component of many African and Middle Eastern cultures.

  If you want new recruits in those parts of the world, it's probably best not to rock that boat too much.
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  24

  new situation in world helpful to org?

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sometimes new situations can provide cover for one’s mistakes or intentions.

  for example, suppose that i crack the windshield in my dad’s car one night.

  i go home, park the car in its usual spot in the yard, and go to bed without telling my dad because i’m scared and i’m trying to think of a way out of the situation.

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  Vidiot

  Also, don't forget...

  ...more and more of us suspect that deep down, the WT leadership actually wants to downsize the membership - similar to the asset closures and liquidations - to a more manageable size of loyalists (and rich folks, of course).

  Not to mention that transitioning to a predominantly online presence also - theoretically - mitigates the accusation that "pedophiles are knocking on your doors trying to recruit your kids" without them having to publicly admit the problem exists. ('cause I guarantee you, the Org's lawyers have advised them that their pedo-related court problems are not going away any time soon).

  It really comes down to which option is most likely to enable the WTS to survive...

  ...the old way, or the now one.

  IMO, the Covid pandemic and shutdown almost seems tailor-made to facilitate the new one.
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  24

  new situation in world helpful to org?

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  sometimes new situations can provide cover for one’s mistakes or intentions.

  for example, suppose that i crack the windshield in my dad’s car one night.

  i go home, park the car in its usual spot in the yard, and go to bed without telling my dad because i’m scared and i’m trying to think of a way out of the situation.

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  Vidiot

  BluesBrother - "...the G/Body may not be bright but they are not that stupid..."

  Never underestimate the degree of foolish decisions you can make when you're convinced God whispers in your ear, you have authority over millions, and you surround yourself solely with people who are never allowed to disagree with you.
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  25

  Tips for a Slow Fade

  by Huxley1979 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm a born and raised witness.

  i was an elder for almost 20 years.

  almost the same in fulltime service.

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  Vidiot

  Sometimes quietly moving without leaving a forwarding address works.
• 
  3

  Update on the ARC into Institutionalised Child Sexual Abuse

  by smiddy3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  "if by 30 june 2020 an institution has failed to signify their intention to join the scheme, they will be immediately publicly identified by the scheme in accordance with scheme legislation and jurisdictions will consider other appropriate action.

  this may include financial sanctions applied by state, territory or commonwealth governments, and changes to an organisation's charitable status.

  naming institutions is necessary to ensure that people wanting to access the scheme know the status of relevant institutions.".

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  Vidiot

  The WTS will never sign up, nor were they ever going to...

  ...(capitulating to any pressure from "Satan's World" this close to the End notwithstanding), to do so would be tantamount to admitting there was/is a problem and that they are culpable... and they'd rather gargle with battery acid.

  They'll try and spin public shaming (of failure to join) as martyrdom and the loyalists will probably buy it, but that's to be expected... anyone with half a brain will realize that it doesn't even come close to, say, arrest and imprisonment for their convictions (i.e. the real deal).

  There's no guarantee that financial sanctions will be effective, since WTHQ had the bulk the Aussie savings transferred out of the country a couple years back (super-likely in anticipation of this very issue, which indicates that they never intended to join the redress scheme from the beginning)...

  ...but...

  ...loss of tax-exemption?

  That might actually make things difficult, in no small part because...

  a) ... I strongly suspect that the Org's business model has become highly dependent on it's charity status, and...

  b) ...how the fuck do you spin "paying back Caesar's things to Caesar" as "persecution"?
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  11

  Things that you may see and experience once you get involved with the JWS

  by Finkelstein in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there are numerous experiences you might see once getting involved with the jws.. things that come to mind are as follows ........... getting lied to by dishonest men (gb) running an unregulated religoius publishing house.

  (wts).

  these men created an apostate (commercialized) version of the gospel of jesus and the new to come kingdom order, many from both inside and outside of the organization are starting to realize that .. your mostly likely are getting to be pressured and quilted into spreading about the wts's literature to the public in hours of service as they describe it, with all the attached false doctrines this organization's top leaders make.. you will be closely monitored by congregation elders to how you dress, the length of you hair your attendance, who you are associating with, what are you doing in your private social life etc.. you will most likely going to hear about people who were somehow associated with the organization have committed suicide.

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  Vidiot

  Being told you have to "hate the things of This World".

  Which is damn near impossible if you have anything resembling hobbies, interests, or pastimes.
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  18

  Gorby has to admit

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for the first time in my life, i have to admit that the world is rapidly deteriorating.

  first i saw a decline in democracy worldwide.

  elections were a tough battle every time, unfair too.

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  Vidiot

  Try to stay positive, folks.

  The last thing any of us need is to feel tempted to go back to the WT.
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  22

  How many of you would actually believe a child abuser would let his crime be watched by minimum two witnesses?

  by Thinkforyourself in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  in many closed religious cults, sects or globally widely spread religions, sexual abuse on big scale is revealed and covered up by the religious authorities.

  in the jw, the culture is to deal with these matters within the org itself, and the rule is, "no crime can be proven without the presentation of at least two witnesses".

  men made the rules, men commit these crimes and men defend them and even forse these children to meet and talk to their abusers.

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  Vidiot

  The question of whether or not an offender would abuse his victim in front of a witness is somewhat academic...

  ...by the 1980s, internal complaints about the problem had reached a point wherein the WTS was compelled to slightly revise the two-witness rule to to classify the first accusing victim as "witness #1" and a second accusing victim as "witness #2", so an actual third-party eyewitness to a single offense was no longer deemed necessary (in no small part because poorly-informed loyalists already had difficulty believing that something like this could even happen, so extreme skepticism amongst elder bodies was the norm, rather than the exception).

  Nevertheless, the Org has held so strongly to their interpretation(s) and application of the two-witness rule, NOT because they want to follow so-called "Biblical" standards, but because they've come to depend on it it as a crucial tool in keeping the nature and full scope of the problem from the rank-and-file (plus a century of internal rhetoric and propaganda has made capitulating to any outside pressure an absolute anathema).

  Yes, they want to avoid negative publicity, lawsuits, and the expenses both incur, but even more so, the endemic and institutionalized nature of the problem thoroughly undermines their claim of being "God's Exclusive Earthly Organization" like almost nothing else*...

  ...because, let's face it... despite what some may claim, actually being an active, dutiful JW isn't really all that enjoyable... so without that particular carrot/stick combo, there's virtually zero real incentive for the average rank-and-filer to actually stay.

  ...

  *Not to mention that, in a huge dollop of irony, the staunch application of their previously mentioned "Biblical" standards are arguably making the problem worse...

  ...and therefore casting doubt on said standards' efficacy and legitimacy, which is pure poison for any organization who derives their authority from the Bible.