Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  6

  This is not even close to the cult I grew up in

  by phoenixrising in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was watching some of the may jw cult broadcast.

  this push to be a movie studio and other things makes this cult seem like something else entirely from what i grew up in.

  they really are trying to use anything they can to hook suckers into being cult members.

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  Half banana

  sp false kingdom promise
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  6

  This is not even close to the cult I grew up in

  by phoenixrising in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was watching some of the may jw cult broadcast.

  this push to be a movie studio and other things makes this cult seem like something else entirely from what i grew up in.

  they really are trying to use anything they can to hook suckers into being cult members.

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  Half banana

  True things never need to change -- but businesses have to, to meet prevailing market conditions. In all fairness even if there was such a thing as "God's organisation" it would have to change as culture changes but it would not change doctrines would it?

  Since the Watchtower is market led and not by God, it has had to rebrand and use new methods and especially electronic media for keeping up subscriber numbers.

  So is the new fangled film and TV media expenditure working? Alas, in the Western World it is not.

  With all the hype of the imminence of "the end" the number of Witnesses in the developed world is not increasing it has levelled off at zero increase with a prospect of seeing decline in the near future.

  Only where people are desperately poor or uneducated and without the internet does the JW faise kingdom promise bring forth new converts. It is worth remembering that these poor and those from unstable war-torn lands are not financial contributors to the WT, they are a drain, a fact no doubt weighing heavily on the minds of the GB.

  Their response has been to beg for money from the rank and file -- and (yes Phizzy) to sell off the family silver so to speak i.e. realise the capital in the kingdom halls which were taken away unceremoniously from the individual congregations and which are now being turned into cash to keep the cult going.
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  38

  The Motive of the Governing Body

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been quiet of late, developing other interests, happy that there are a whole group of people producing great resources.

  however, i found some old emails from ray franz that promoted me to write an article that answers a question i regularly receive.

  it is in regards to the motive of governing body members.

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  Half banana

  Thank you very much for posting Paul, we continue to speculate here on the motivation of the JW governing body because we have little concrete information. You though have supplied some hard evidence from the horses mouth so to speak, by correspondence from a GB member.

  Ray discusses the conundrum of recognising the weaknesses of certain JW doctrines but strikingly all at HQ seem wedded to the concept of a divine rightness of The Organisation. In the minds of the GB and through their historical activity going back to Rutherford, it seems to me that they have sacralised the organisation (exactly as they do the Bible) to cultivate it as the product of God's hand. In a similar way the Catholic Church had bamboozled the poor by using extravagantly decorated cathedrals and churches to supply them with an apparent tangible token of the divine.

  I remember so often Catholic priests and other religious men were mocked for holding on to their church's teachings even though not believing and yet were tied to the way of life within it. Cannot we see the same hypocrisy written larger in the leaders of the JW religion who appear to fulfil the obligations of office but probably remain internally in denial as to JW dogma, stymied because they would lose all that they value if they left; i.e. the prestige and executive lifestyle with all its earthly comforts and welfare.

  Like others on this site, I lost a lot when I woke up and left. Apart from Ray Franz, there seem to be none of the present GB who put truth and personal honour ahead of their cushy life at the top.
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  20

  JW cult suing everyone critical of the cult

  by phoenixrising in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  its amazing how the cult has changed over the years.

  they are now suing everyone who has books or internet presences critical of the cult.

  this was never done that i can remember before.

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  Half banana

  Then they must think we are a serious threat to their existence.
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  19

  Politically Neutral and No Part of this World....

  by Davros in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  nice to be here.

  still a pimo and struggling through my fade.

  i still have several jw friends on social media.

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  Half banana

  The JW organisation is a business, it requires political skill to control the minds and actions of so many individuals. As their organisational confidence rose due to increasing numbers and consequent wealth in the late 1980s, they were emboldened to join the UN. This was it seems to pave the way for their expansion in the east of Europe and elsewhere.

  By its own value judgements the organisation should have been disfellowshipped for this! But in a cult there are no checks or balances, it is totalitarian, the membership have no say, no veto, they are powerless.

  Individuals are routinely excommunicated for lesser offences but the leaders place themselves above the principles of the common herd. When their sins were found out by the UK Guardian newspaper, they gave no apology just excuses. To become an NGO member of the UN a necessary part of the formal agreement is to share the ideals of that organisation. The Watchtower is implacably opposed to international efforts for world peace by human agency and for this reason it had denounced the UN from its inception.

  They demonstrated they have no conscience. What remains of the JW governing body's involvement in politics is a prime example of their utter hypocrisy. It is the self interest of the governing body which rules supreme in Watchtower land.
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  5

  Ashya king's father plague sent by god

  by Fadeaway1962 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11530647/ashya-king-brain-cancer-mum-spain-split/ .

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  Half banana

  Then JWs are a plague sent from Satan......
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  15

  The purpose of conversion testimonies and stories

  by LeeT in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a hunch has just struck me.we get frequent accounts in the literature and videos of people whose dysfunctional lived have been turned around by studying with the jw's and coming to belief in the org (sorry, jehovah).

  evangelical type christian groups also use similar testimony stories.here's the hunch:the purpose of these is quite different among jw's compared to other religions.other groups use these testimonies primarily to persuade non-believers.the jw's use them to reinforce the beliefs of those already in the "truth.

  "any thoughts?.

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  Half banana

  I think it's worth pointing out that JW "experiences" are dished out to the already converted since the public generally avoid the KH.

  So the life stories of individuals are about the unbelievable blessings showered down from heaven only on those who heroically carry out the wishes of the organisation. (excuse me while I vomit)
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  18

  New in the neighborhood..

  by Italiancalipso in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm not totally new here, as i'm reading since some time...then i tried to sign up but had some technical issue with the email,eventually recovered..... i'm from north italy, for your info from the region where the covid is worse.

  i'm male, generation millennial(...unfortunately not the overlapped generation :))) ) ..sorry to don't go in so much details, but i'm pimo ;).

  hope i can contribute to this community and help as much i got from you guys.... have nice weekend!.

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  Half banana

  Benvenuto nel quartiere Italiancalipso.
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  31

  When do the 2300 days begin?

  by Kosonen in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  when to begin the countdown of the 2300 days?

  to get an idea, it could be helpful to discern when those days end relative to time times and half a time.. i see a possibility that the 2300 days end the same day as the 1260 days.

  that is because the woman in revelation 12 will be fed 1260 days.

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  Half banana

  Kosonen, let's put your theory into context. Do you think that an all knowing and loving creator would give his devotees this extremely obscure information which only you and possibly a handful of others have figured out?

  If your children were stuck in some godless labyrinth, all about to die and desperately wanting to escape; would you give them cryptic mathematical clues -- which may or may not work?

  Of course not, you would be very specific because you love your children!

  You have been away from the JW business now for at least 12 years but dare I say that you are still infected with the JW 'end time' mentality trap. And the world is not going to end! And Covid 19 is just a small blip in the history of pandemics, far, far worse have visited mankind and the world trundled on.

  I say this with genuine concern for you because like nearly everyone else on this site.... we were all deluded and snagged on Armageddon and paradise. It's a fantasy!

  We looked to the Bible as an authority and we looked to the JW organisation as being divinely guided. Sorry to say, BOTH of these 'authorities' are intellectually unsustainable.
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  31

  When do the 2300 days begin?

  by Kosonen in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  when to begin the countdown of the 2300 days?

  to get an idea, it could be helpful to discern when those days end relative to time times and half a time.. i see a possibility that the 2300 days end the same day as the 1260 days.

  that is because the woman in revelation 12 will be fed 1260 days.

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  Half banana

  Kosonen were you aware the the book of Daniel was written in the Hellenistic Classical period as a historical novel about ancient Babylon? He wrote a good yarn like Dan Brown might write today.

  There is no such thing as useful prophecy! The Bible was compiled as a political tool by Roman power for Roman unity. It's so full of errors, contradictions, unreliable history and hype that it's really not worth too much attention.

  'Holiness' is a human construct used by religious leaders to enslave the herd.

  Fortunately there are accurate and useful sources of information very much worth reading and readily available.