Vidiot

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Posts by Vidiot

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  21

  JW Response to COVID

  by optimisticskeptic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i haven't been on here in quite some time so i apologize if i missed a similar thread already (i did look for one :) ) anyways, just to be clear i think the jw response to covid in general has been really positive and proactive and they've done really well trying to educate people on covid, doing zoom meetings, etc to prevent spread within the congregations.

  the part that i find interesting is how compliant and non-apocalyptic the branch has been during all of this.

  even as someone who's a bit of a skeptic i found myself wondering if this might be the beginning of the end between covid, economic upheaval, and blm.

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  Vidiot

  Not to mention that only a third of young people "raised in the Truth" actually stay, undercutting the Org's future membership even further.
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  21

  JW Response to COVID

  by optimisticskeptic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i haven't been on here in quite some time so i apologize if i missed a similar thread already (i did look for one :) ) anyways, just to be clear i think the jw response to covid in general has been really positive and proactive and they've done really well trying to educate people on covid, doing zoom meetings, etc to prevent spread within the congregations.

  the part that i find interesting is how compliant and non-apocalyptic the branch has been during all of this.

  even as someone who's a bit of a skeptic i found myself wondering if this might be the beginning of the end between covid, economic upheaval, and blm.

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  Vidiot

  Fair points.

  I would argue, however that the ruthlessness you describe is - in and of itself - primarily a means of snuffing out any dissent that would ultimately call the Concept into question.

  sir82 - "Eventually those primal desires will drive them to return to 'normalcy' as soon as they can do so without appearing to be stupid or careless."

  Don't sell them too short.

  When you've spent as long as they have in the company of people who are never allowed to disagree with them, appearing stupid or careless kinda becomes "normalcy".

  

  Seriously, though...

  ...I suspect the adaptations the Org has made as a result of the Covid shutdown serves their long(er)-term plans more than hinders them.

  At the very least, the rank-and-file is now far more primed to transition to a primarily internet-based religion with a minimum of fuss, and the revenue from family silver property sales will stave off falling into the red.

  For a little while, anyway.
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  21

  JW Response to COVID

  by optimisticskeptic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i haven't been on here in quite some time so i apologize if i missed a similar thread already (i did look for one :) ) anyways, just to be clear i think the jw response to covid in general has been really positive and proactive and they've done really well trying to educate people on covid, doing zoom meetings, etc to prevent spread within the congregations.

  the part that i find interesting is how compliant and non-apocalyptic the branch has been during all of this.

  even as someone who's a bit of a skeptic i found myself wondering if this might be the beginning of the end between covid, economic upheaval, and blm.

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  Vidiot

  sir82 - "More valuable to them is the control the exercise over, and the adulation they receive from, their adherents."

  To a degree.

  Far more so, however, it's the Concept that they're Captive to...

  Ray Franz - "...the strongest force is their devotion, even reverence, for the concept of organization, and of the Watch Tower organization’s claim to being exclusively God’s channel..."

  Everything they say and do...

  ...everything...

  ...is in service to maintaining and reinforcing that fiction.
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  9

  JW vs. Mormon with regards to homosexuality

  by Downtowner in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i find it ironic that jw.org publishes an article about homosexuality on the day i received july 2020 issue if the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints magazine "ensign" which also has an article on same-sex attraction.

  .

  regardless, the lds article comes across as more caring than the jw article although in the end members in good standing cannot act upon their same-sex attraction in either religion..

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  Vidiot

  Downtowner - "... the LDS article comes across as more caring than the JW article..."

  Unsurprising.

  I've long thought of the LDS as the WT's weirder but nicer older cousin.

  ...

  I actually suspect that (unlike the WTS) the Mormons will eventually come around as time goes by and they evolve to survive...

  ...other mainstream Christian denominations are, after all.
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  21

  Why do Jehovah's Witnesses avoid examining their own religion? An interesting read from Scientific American Magazine.

  by Balaamsass2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for a long time, i thought pimi (physically in, mentally in) jws were unique in their inability to simply type and read the latest "google" news results about "jehovah's witnesses " or "watchtower".

  however, it appears it is not uncommon for a large portion of the population purposefully to avoid facts...on purpose!

  "why do people avoid facts that could help them?.

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  Vidiot

  Balaamsass2 - "Why do Jehovah's Witnesses avoid examining their own religion?"

  Because they might find something that they don't like.
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  2

  The Great Tribulation has been replaced with........

  by BoogerMan in

  1. social
  2. current

  ........the great reset launch.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5pxhsndr4u.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lanwf9r759s.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8raitdq-nvy.

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  Vidiot

  @ truth_b_known...

  Oh yeah, a lot of loyal JWs are susceptible to conspiracy theories.

  So many of 'em can be retconned into the WTS' eschatology with a minimum of effort, especially by rank-and-filers who've been waiting a long time for the End to come.
  
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  104

  Aunt Jemima and Mrs.Buttersworth Need To Be Destroyed!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we have to get rid of these racist relics.

  i propose that we destroy all these bottles of syrups and burn every pancake box !

  we need to get rid of anything that reminds us of anything negative concerning slavery.. in boston they decapitated the head of christopher columbus and got rid of his statue.

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  Vidiot

  Fortunately, here in Canada, we have maple syrup...

  ...and trees don't have racist origins, so it's all good.

  
  
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  23

  Television segment on JWs and the Australian Redress Scheme

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  tonight there was an 8 minute segment allocated to reporting on jws regarding child abuse and the redress scheme.

  it was presented by lisa wilkinson for the project.the australian branch has issued a statement to the show advising that they will not be joining the scheme.. they state:.

  statement from the jehovah’s witnessesthe religion of jehovah’s witnesses does not have the institutional settings that the voluntary national redress scheme is designed to cover.therefore, the ministry for families and social services has been advised that jehovah’s witnesses will not join the scheme.jehovah’s witnesses have responded and will continue to respond directly to individual claims for redress in a caring, fair, and principled manner, taking into consideration the unique circumstances of each claim.. https://10play.com.au/theproject/articles/statement-from-the-jehovahs-witnesses/tpa200621ycelq.

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  Vidiot

  The more I think about it, the more I wonder just how dependent the Org's business model is on its tax-exemption, particularly in the US...

  ...especially due to how hard (albeit quietly) they've fought over the years to keep it.
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  23

  Television segment on JWs and the Australian Redress Scheme

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  tonight there was an 8 minute segment allocated to reporting on jws regarding child abuse and the redress scheme.

  it was presented by lisa wilkinson for the project.the australian branch has issued a statement to the show advising that they will not be joining the scheme.. they state:.

  statement from the jehovah’s witnessesthe religion of jehovah’s witnesses does not have the institutional settings that the voluntary national redress scheme is designed to cover.therefore, the ministry for families and social services has been advised that jehovah’s witnesses will not join the scheme.jehovah’s witnesses have responded and will continue to respond directly to individual claims for redress in a caring, fair, and principled manner, taking into consideration the unique circumstances of each claim.. https://10play.com.au/theproject/articles/statement-from-the-jehovahs-witnesses/tpa200621ycelq.

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  Vidiot

  Although...

  ...I wouldn't put it past a quietly and increasingly desperate (as a result of facing multiple crises) WT leadership to try and passive-aggressively provoke Satan's World into cracking down on them early anyway, in the hopes that Jehovah would step in and bail them out by kicking off the Great Tribulation (remember, all the available anecdotal evidence we have indicates that the guys at the top really are full-on True Believers).

  And if that didn't work... well...

  ...every other authoritarian regime in history has preferred to crash-and-burn rather than capitulate to their opponents.
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  23

  Television segment on JWs and the Australian Redress Scheme

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  tonight there was an 8 minute segment allocated to reporting on jws regarding child abuse and the redress scheme.

  it was presented by lisa wilkinson for the project.the australian branch has issued a statement to the show advising that they will not be joining the scheme.. they state:.

  statement from the jehovah’s witnessesthe religion of jehovah’s witnesses does not have the institutional settings that the voluntary national redress scheme is designed to cover.therefore, the ministry for families and social services has been advised that jehovah’s witnesses will not join the scheme.jehovah’s witnesses have responded and will continue to respond directly to individual claims for redress in a caring, fair, and principled manner, taking into consideration the unique circumstances of each claim.. https://10play.com.au/theproject/articles/statement-from-the-jehovahs-witnesses/tpa200621ycelq.

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  Vidiot

  @ skin & menrov...

  Ah, but there's a problem with that.

  The WTS's eschatology is very specific; "Babylon the Great" - aka "false religion" - is supposed to be attacked and destroyed first...

  ...and only after all its various iterations are eliminated does the "Wild Beast" and "Satan's World" turn their attention on "God's Exclusive Earthly Organization".

  They've never diverted from that.

  Sure, the Org leadership might try and spin it the way you guys describe, but this is a significant departure from their End Times script that could create a tremendously difficult theological dilemma...

  ...either they were very, very wrong about their understanding of Revelation, begging the question "WTF else are they wrong about?"...

  ...or...

  ...they themselves are part of "Babylon the Great".