Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  30

  ARC report released today.. and phew!

  by zeb in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  "the response of the jehovah’switnesses and watchtower bibleand tract society of australialtd to allegations of childsexual abuse".. this report is 110 pages.

  it is imperative to look it up on the arc website each and every one of you.. http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/c2d1f1f5-a1f2-4241-82fb-978d072734bd/report-of-case-study-no-29.

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  Half banana

  Have you noticed that the GB response is not to say, "How can we help the abused and protect against further abuse happening? This would be the humane and compassionate response to a situation where the vulnerable were being exploited, wouldn't it?

  Not so in the JW org, no siree! The response is to limit the financial damage to their golden egg laying operation at HQ and claim they are not to blame. Put the onus on local congregations, limit the liability of the Watchtower companies involvement and claim they were only acting in line with the scriptures. It is a living demonstration of how foolish it really is to pedantically use the Bible as a life guide, it is thousands of years out of date.

  They have made the Watchtower in Australia a limited company which means it can only pay out what it owns and as I understand there is a sudden rush to make all congregations financially autonomous.

  The fact is that as the courts have clearly recognized in cases such as the Conti trial, that the JW organisation however it morphs into various other legal companies or uses new labelling strategies, is now for all its bleating, considered to be a "hierarchical" religion, the people at the top take all the stick.

  The paradox being that for years under Rutherford up until the 1980s, responsibility was held at local level but due to the worldly pride and lust for money and a desire for total control, JW HQ forced ownership of all Kingdom halls to be relinquished locally and to be thereafter owned by themselves. So nowadays the Watchtower is an "organised religion" like the Roman Catholic Church and likewise responsible for the consequences of all its policies and teachings which are disseminated from the top-downwards.

  I noticed a contrast between the JW org and the Roman Catholic Church response to the abuse enquiry in that the latter have supplied all details and approach it wishing to resolve the matters in a spirit of cooperation. The GB are extremely defensive, uncooperative and imagine that quoting scriptures will get them off the hook.
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  65

  My Introduction - An ex-elder's story of waking up later in life.

  by doubtfull1799 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  background:.

  my parents got the “truth” while i was in primary school.

  i was baptised at 14. i loved school and was extremely studious.

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  Half banana

  I want to say congratulations doubtful1799........you have escaped the brain washing!

  There is still more work to do and you can take it slowly. Your wife will notice that you haven't become a drug addict or turned to satanism and I hope she will join you in the future.

  It is a shock to realize you were conned, it is hurtful to know that the JW org continues to bamboozle their flock with unsubstantiated rhetoric demanding obedience but not worthy of it. As for eternal life in paradise........... was it not always too good to be true?

  I hope your depression lifts and that your family accepts that you have a solid reason to leave the old religion. Well done for seeing the real light.
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  10

  The Guardian: Australian Catholic church has paid $276m to abuse victims so far, inquiry shows

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/feb/16/australian-catholic-church-has-paid-276m-to-abuse-victims-so-far-inquiry-shows.

  royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse releases data showing 4,445 have come forward.

  australian associated press.

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  Half banana

  It would be good if they have to sell off one of their new glossy properties such as the Walkill development to pay for their sins.
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  66

  Was There ANYTHING Positive That You Experienced Because of Being a JW?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was there anything positive about your jehovah's witness experience?.

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  Half banana

  I was always nervous of public speaking as a JW, partly because it was the speaker’s job to persuade the audience that the Watchtower was divinely inspired. (LOL!) Subconsciously I think my unease was because I had big reservations about the honesty of doing this.

  When I woke up and left I was actually grateful for that particular JW experience and now I’m fairly confident speaking in public and I enjoy it. The reason is because now I choose to say what I know to be true from evidence. (Prehistory, horticulture, landscape design and art history-- offers welcome!)

  In no way could any possible benefit justify belief in the paranoid false hopes and downright delusions of the JW organisation nor does it compensate for the lack of proper education, the years of wasted life, being emotionally and mentally constrained and in thrall to a worthless money grabbing cult. Pause for vomit...

  And A Watcher you just wait until one of your “very close friends” also wakes up to TTATT and you too can learn just how conditional your very close friendship is then.
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  20

  Round and round the not so marigoround

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i find most theist arguments to be either confused or dishonest at best.

  and most of them i regard with mild annoyance.

  but there is one track of thinking that is so stupid it really gets under my skin: when, in order to try and prop up "faith", people try and tear down reason and critical thinking.

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  Half banana

  Why should anyone care what others believe SoCal101?

  As the poet John Donne said, “No man is an island”, we are all in this business of life together, we depend on others and someone with dangerous beliefs can harm you or me.

  Most modern terrorism is an expression of fundamentalist theism. Most of the wars today are in lands where belief in God is encouraged as a means of supporting a political agenda. Belief in God empowers the headstrong fanatics to oppose the more rational ‘ungodly’ world and brands them infidels as legitimate targets for destruction. There is no proof or evidence involved just blind prideful cultural belief.

  It is always counter-productive for a human to hold on to beliefs for which there is no evidence. For religion to exist at all, it is a necessity.
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  31

  I need some advice please

  by JaMu in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i am a non-jw girl dating a jw man for almost 5 years now since end of high school.

  most of the relationship has been long distance.

  when we started dating, we wanted a serious long term relationship that would end in marriage one day.

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  Half banana

  JaMu, the sensible response to your request for help is that you disentangle yourself from this relationship. To pursue it is to sow the seeds of unhappiness.

  You are unaware how far reaching and disastrous the JW influence is on family life. You are unaware that the cult demands that a JW is required to put loyalty to its governing body above the value of life itself as demonstrated in their prohibition on blood transfusions to save life. This is a sobering thought that if you marry a JW they imagine that Biblical precedents determine what we should do today. The JW cult still lives with an Iron Age mentality. You are unaware of the fact that most families infected with the rules of this cult will be split apart at some future time with the loss of happiness and security which family life normally offers.

  Finding a suitable life-long partner is hard enough without having the JW organisation muscling in on your relationship. Believe me you will not prosper with a JW in the long run.

  On the plus side you have experienced a sort of relationship with one unsuitable individual, I really think you should spread your net a lot wider and find someone who will be happy to put your mutual interests ahead of Biblical dogma.

  Life is hard enough without inviting this imbecilic religion into it.
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  12

  I was manning a cart

  by closed in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was manning a cart not long ago.

  o, aye:) .

  a man, who i suspect is familiar with this site comes to me.

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  Half banana

  Welcome Closed and well done for seeing the daylight!

  That is an apt visual Perry, here we have an instance of something substantial made from overlapping things which stands on its own. Unfortunately, although the GB explanation is very flimsy and light it still collapses under its own weight.
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  9

  Scientific reason why it's hard to get someone to change their beliefs.

  by LisaRose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  many of us have had the experience of trying to share our knowledge of the dark side of the watchtower with those we love, only to have it end badly with the person getting deeply upset and refusing to believe any of it.

  a new study might shed some light on the problem.

  this brain study looked at what happens when someone's belief system is challenged.

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  Half banana

  An excellent find LisaRose.

  What we do is culturally bound; dependant on which culture we find ourselves in.

  Neuroscientists detect the brain reacting electrochemically to cultural situations and here we are shown the brain saying “my view of myself and the world is being challenged so I’ve got to put my foot down!” Indeed it describes the existential crisis in a JW’s mind when “belief” is questioned.

  Without too much speculation on this point, surely it has to do with our identity, which is how privately we see ourselves and how this self constructed notion relates to the society we live in, i.e. who we think we are and how we think we should relate to others.

  In the case of JWs, it is not surprising they bridle at the slightest challenge to their belief because their happiness depends on belief in what the JW org has granted them. It has fostered a heroic identity for all members based on a tenuous but aristocratic belief of associating with those effectively chosen by God to do his work. Once this absurdity is swallowed the bearer of the belief is drawn to fellow believers because only they reinforce the JW identity.

  Significantly the JW world is held at odds with the normal world of humankind believing these to be under “Satanic influence” and soon to be exterminated... This us-and-them stance is yet another defining and heightening of the JW membership values.

  To challenge the validity of this fragile identity as a privileged believer is naturally alarming since it undermines both their sense of self and also their most cherished hopes. Too much to lose!

  Neuroscience tells us then that the brain closes the shutters and tightens its grip on existing belief if one’s worldview and identity are challenged, so it’s a good heads-up on how we talk to believers.
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  41

  Anyone read the latest Awake (on the supernatural)?

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just read some of this latest awake on the org's webshite.. it begins by talking about the 'supernatural' - wizards, witches, vampires, etc.

  - their popularity and why they might appeal to people.

  then it goes on to state the wt belief that someone is 'behind it'.. now, i like a few horror/scary films - when i was a kid, i always actually liked being a bit scared by them, tbh.. the silence of the lambs, a nightmare on elm street (1984), the ring, the witch, the thing (1982) and a few others are all great, imo.. they are just genres and subgenres of film, that's all.

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  Half banana

  How's this for a Satanic horror story:

  A freaky divine being wreaks revenge on all of mankind because they refused to listen to his slaves on planet Earth.

  With his supernatural powers he murders the lot of them, except his slaves, it's a grisly scene with the majority of mankind, rotting and putrefying everywhere you look. Birds peck out the eyes of the dead and wild animals feast on their flesh. Clouds of flies darken the heavens while the corpses heave with maggots. The stench is overpowering but the demented slaves dance about in triumphant joy, their god hero has brought retribution to their enemies-- even though the death roll includes children, parents, family and neighbours.

  So this is ok is it? But film fantasy is suspect!
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  46

  Circuit Assemblies in the "Good Old Days"

  by BluesBrother in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just been reminiscing about how c/a's have changed since we were young.

  i remember when they started friday night in some rented hall , as well as the two weekend days.

  saturday morning was a brief session then field ministry (which only a few performed ) and sunday sessions.. in the free time around the venue we just used to hang out socialising and eyeing up the girls.

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  Half banana

  Jook, I imagine he died a disillusioned JW like many COs must have.

  There they are telling stupid stories to keep the rank and file keen as mustard and nothing ever happens. The organisational heavies keep parroting the Watchtower rubbish and they all die off, like the generation of 1914 did. Wasting their own lives and everyone else's.