Posts by Half banana

58

A Question for Underground Apostates, How Many Are There?

by Village Idiot in

when i first came to this forum i was of the belief that those of us who were still in due to family reasons were few in numbers perhaps one in a thousand in the jws.

soon i came to the realization that there were many more.

we have dozens of posters here who are mentally out but still in.

Half banana

Good idea New York because if there are wobblers on the congos, they don’t want to advertise their disbelief. The JW religion is about appearances... an example of this is about the half hearted witnessing time, put in because it is required of them, not out of earnest desire to find new converts. Of course there are many who just put in a report without the work.

I have just spent the afternoon with a close friend who is a JW of good standing but in his head he doesn’t believe a word of their teaching. He is aware as most of us here that the GB are sociopaths playing the role of God ordained teachers but without the authority. He actually hates the organisation! But his fondness for his JW zombie wife means he goes through the motions and lives in tolerable peace with her but mentally lives elsewhere through books and a cultural life apart from JW indoctrination.

I asked him today about others in the cong who also might be non believers and he said he knows of others, but like him they would rather not rock the boat. Simply to talk about the errors of the society is enough to create a witch hunt and unpleasantness, so no one goes there...

If there are one hundred and fifteen thousand congregations I would think that would make at least 115,000 mentally out but stuck in and another 400,000 having grave doubts and perhaps another 500,000 unenchanted youth about to leave as well. This of course is just a guess...how could we ever measure it accurately?

All in all let’s hope that the internet with its transparent information allow the world at large and more and more JWs to see the harmful cultic activity of the JW org and encourage them to leave in droves.

41

What is the basis for authority for the governing body?

by Half banana in

a word to jehovahs witnesses: what is the basis for the authority the seven members of the governing body can claim in controlling the lives of eight million followers?

the organisation they represent has never got one useful piece of information correct in one hundred and thirty five years... so why should they be believed?.

Half banana

A word to Jehovah’s Witnesses: What is the basis for the authority the seven members of the governing body can claim in controlling the lives of eight million followers? The organisation they represent has never got one useful piece of information correct in one hundred and thirty five years... so why should they be believed?

15

Sketches of Revelation, this and that

by TerryWalstrom in

i've been rummaging around on bart ehrman's blog and such and managed to distill six cogent views about.

the book of revelation, i thought i share for whatever it is worth.

1. parts of the book of revelation could scarcely be explained if it were written by jesus own disciple, john.

Half banana

Thanks Terry.

57

How many of you still believe in God or are still Christians?

by JWCartPusher in

hello, i asked a new but old friend how many people are still christians after leaving the watchtower's mind control agency, for statistical purposes do you mind if i do a survey and see how many of you are believers?.

please don't post if your not a believer out of respect for this poll, we need to sharpen each other's sword and help build each other up and meet new friends over the internet with faith in god or some other force of the universe.

i asked another person how we can still manage our faith after getting burned by the high group mind control, he had a few ideas but he's not really involved with god because of how life burned him.

Half banana

Not surprising since the function of religious belief is emotional comfort.

Education is to be "led out," to be taken to a place where by our internal thinking alone, we could not have arrived...to be shown evidence for realities which other individuals have spent many lifetimes researching. This is the glory of education.

Religious faith however is a more primitive urge, it is sustained by credulity. It is a suspension of the logical thinking process and the pride of the believer is the certainty of his or her faith. Possession of this unshakable belief pays an emotional dividend which scientific knowledge cannot so readily supply. Belief based on religious hope short-circuits the more sober responsibility to lead a prudent life based on knowable things and their outcomes. We have a choice.

57

How many of you still believe in God or are still Christians?

by JWCartPusher in

hello, i asked a new but old friend how many people are still christians after leaving the watchtower's mind control agency, for statistical purposes do you mind if i do a survey and see how many of you are believers?.

please don't post if your not a believer out of respect for this poll, we need to sharpen each other's sword and help build each other up and meet new friends over the internet with faith in god or some other force of the universe.

i asked another person how we can still manage our faith after getting burned by the high group mind control, he had a few ideas but he's not really involved with god because of how life burned him.

Half banana

Last night actually...

48

Just woke up

by Doctor Who in

new to the site.

currently i am a ministerial servant and was told i was appointed to be an elder.

i told the brothers i was not ready for that assignment.

Half banana

Welcome Doctor Who and glad you have surfaced and can drink in the pure air of reality.

Surely very few Jdubs know about CofC otherwise they would be out also? Perhaps we are missing a trick here...all JWs should be acquainted with Saint Ray Franz's masterwork! So how do they get to know of it?

43

Why are extraterrestrials pictured in ugly form in movies?

by abiather in

humans have produced many movies on extraterrestrials.

yet all of them are shown in ugly form.

why cant we depict an et more beautiful/handsome than humans.

Half banana

Sounds like enormous fun, can't wait to join!

Do they also supply you with a mallet so that you can repeatedly hit yourself on the head?

15

Sketches of Revelation, this and that

by TerryWalstrom in

i've been rummaging around on bart ehrman's blog and such and managed to distill six cogent views about.

the book of revelation, i thought i share for whatever it is worth.

1. parts of the book of revelation could scarcely be explained if it were written by jesus own disciple, john.

Half banana

Terry, I haven’t kept up with Erhman’s ”beliefs” as opposed to his knowledge of Biblical texts. Is he still a believer?

I would normally suggest people avoid ”Biblical scholars” since their partisan beliefs and faith interfere with objective evaluation of texts. Has Bart E made the change to the disinterested academic approach or is he still hanging in there as a believer?

18

What's the mechanism?

by Half banana in

i am perpetually challenged by the fact that most jws are completely duped by the propaganda pumped out relentlessly by the borg.

even intelligent ones; they unwittingly grovel to the gb decisions and follow the party line.

they do this for a number of reasons..

Half banana

Too true Mak! (Good to see you here!) The psychological push to like and be with the people you admire is very relevant. The enthusiastic (but delusional) ‘friends’ who cheerily study with you and bring you hope, it’s a way out of real life problems, the talk of paradise, fairyland forever! No worries, no mortgage payments all you have to do is sell your soul to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society...you never need to have to think again...what a relief!

Like to elaborate on "spent cost fallacy" Eyefell4it2?

18

What's the mechanism?

by Half banana in

i am perpetually challenged by the fact that most jws are completely duped by the propaganda pumped out relentlessly by the borg.

even intelligent ones; they unwittingly grovel to the gb decisions and follow the party line.

they do this for a number of reasons..

Half banana

Thanks for your input folks, I do think Galaxy has come up with a significant point with people "succumbing" on the basis of finding a comfort zone.Nevertheless, like most things in life, complexity rules! The psychological trigger can only be pulled when quite a number of conditions are already in place. By including your replies, here is a rough summary:

1/ the right type of person i.e. one susceptible to belief without intellectual evidence

2/ the person above who has a need for a hope through changing their life trajectory e.g. a bereaved person, someone without hope of improving one’s circumstances

3/ someone introduced to JWs, studied with and been to the meetings or a JW relative, leaving or rather making the newbie to want to join in to please others and themselves

4/ someone prepared not to look at the internet from the start regarding the history of JWs and the ex JW community

5/ the preparation by the JW org to ASSIMILATE the newbie, love bombing, welcoming to the fold

6/ acceptance of the belief that the Borg supplies ALL the existential answers, including the authority of the GB and Bible

7/ exposure to the sustained propaganda from the GB to enforce the deceptive beliefs,

8/ and indeed the primary force comes from the human impulse to conform. As the Asch experiment shows; how even perception is distorted by an innate wish to be like others even in the light of contrary information.

9/ the conscious decision to give up worldly ambitions and henceforth look to the” future hope” putting all one’s eggs into the one JW basket,” the switch” to rely on JW religious belief driven by the threat of death at big A, and the lure of the hope of paradise.

Well in making this simple analysis it seems that the mechanism which makes a non JW into a true believer would now look highly improbable based on condition no.4 except in those countries where internet access is too difficult to access through cost etc.

So to fall into the JW trap involves all these things...but goodness! Surely no one can any longer evade the vast anti-witness exposure found on the net can they? This hurdle cannot be surmounted by the newbie.Will this be the downfall of the JW org? Future decline of membership will signal to the rest of the flock that it has had its day...don’t you think?

BTW is a human bean: Homo phaseoloides or is it Phaseolus anthropoides?