Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  32

  Angus Stewart calls the JW religion a captive organization

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  if you watched the questioning of terrence o'brien by angus stewart at day 7 part 3 on youtube--thanks so much for uploading these videos--you'll see that mr. stewart puts quite clearly to brother o'brien that the jw 0rganization is a "captive organization".. he makes this reference regarding the practice of da/df'ing and shunning, which he mentions is the one thing that makes ex-jw's the most angry.

  because insisting on shunning ex-members causes psychological trauma and separates people from their family, friends and their community of support; therefore, they are held captive by the organization if they don't want to lose those most dear to them.. i believe angus stewart is to be commended for seeing clearly what the wt/jw religion is truly like in practice, and it isn't pretty.. the term "captive organization" is usually used in finance to mean a business front, a legal veil that shields the parent company from liability and having to make big insurance payouts.

  for example if the australian branch gets sued and loses, the "wt australia" corporation will pay the amount awarded by the judge to the complainant.

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  Half banana

  ^ (uncontrolable font size!)
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  32

  Angus Stewart calls the JW religion a captive organization

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  if you watched the questioning of terrence o'brien by angus stewart at day 7 part 3 on youtube--thanks so much for uploading these videos--you'll see that mr. stewart puts quite clearly to brother o'brien that the jw 0rganization is a "captive organization".. he makes this reference regarding the practice of da/df'ing and shunning, which he mentions is the one thing that makes ex-jw's the most angry.

  because insisting on shunning ex-members causes psychological trauma and separates people from their family, friends and their community of support; therefore, they are held captive by the organization if they don't want to lose those most dear to them.. i believe angus stewart is to be commended for seeing clearly what the wt/jw religion is truly like in practice, and it isn't pretty.. the term "captive organization" is usually used in finance to mean a business front, a legal veil that shields the parent company from liability and having to make big insurance payouts.

  for example if the australian branch gets sued and loses, the "wt australia" corporation will pay the amount awarded by the judge to the complainant.

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  Half banana

  
  

  
  

  ---As you say Love uni---it sounds like Angus Stewart knows exactly how devious the WT cult is and uses the words “captive organisation” with full understanding of its more important legal business meaning (as already mentioned by Oppostate):

  by Chris Hamilton, Demand Media

  "Captive organizations primarily provide insurance to the parent organization that created them. These organizations act a legal veil that protects their parent in the event of a large insurance payout, while other businesses simply want to use captives to keep insurance segregated from their main business for liability purposes. Associations, industrial entities and companies all utilize captives in order to gain tax benefits, save on insurance costs and obtain special coverage."

  It looks to me like he is building up to a big exposure of the devious methods this shabby cult is using to enforce its will on its followers, let alone its disregard for the welfare of its abused children.
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  82

  Quality Thinking - Warning: Long Post Ahead

  by Viviane in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  recently, several threads have had some debate about logic, evidence, critical thinking and skepticism.

  i wanted to write a post discussing those things, hopefully to clarify what those things are, why they are important and how to use those tools.

  first, logic, at its core, is simply a method for how to reason validly, how to draw conclusions based on a premise.

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  Half banana

  Human activity is driven by thought. As part of our mental equipment we assess the outcome of actions before we start, this is one way we evaluate the effectiveness of what we chose to do. This faculty for foreseeing the future is a component of all we do in life, work, sport, education, family and business. Any function of the mind can be developed to a high degree and sometimes to an obsessive or pathological extent.

  Religion, in the absence of scientific evaluation and the use of logic in the philosophical sense, has forever grasped the words of visionaries to further their hold over the gullible. Look how the schizophrenic Joan of Arc was used politically and then consider the Bible writer Paul who said with reference to his works that he did not know how he wrote, “Whether in the body or not.”

  Extreme mental phenomena were powerful exotic experiences enough to convince the man on the Clapham omnibus that they came from God.

  Our minds are the faulty interpreters of not just rational and irrational thought they also conflate memory and emotion as well... and here is where the religious mind is found; drawing comfort from the mental possession of brain patterns which have their own non-philosophical ‘logic’ which is not dependant on evidential truth but simply coherent within its own terms of reference i.e. the unsubstantiated premise that, “there must be a God.”

  Therefore I suggest that if one has a highly developed sense of outcome and future eventuation, occasionally if not frequently success with ensue. Prophecy is a religious institutionalisation of this very faculty, spoken of with elevated awe but in real terms normally a failure. But to suggest that foretelling outcomes accurately originates with divine sponsorship; ignores the profound workings, biases and the pathology of the human mind.

  Not saying you are ‘pathological’ Andrekish!... but I was just having a stab at the subject you brought up. And thanks for your story.
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  82

  Quality Thinking - Warning: Long Post Ahead

  by Viviane in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  recently, several threads have had some debate about logic, evidence, critical thinking and skepticism.

  i wanted to write a post discussing those things, hopefully to clarify what those things are, why they are important and how to use those tools.

  first, logic, at its core, is simply a method for how to reason validly, how to draw conclusions based on a premise.

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  Half banana

  Ron, if the Bible says so...you don't have to trouble the brain cells.
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  61

  Jwfacts tv appearance

  by sparrowdown in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  shout out to jwfacts.. just saw the drum.

  excellent job !

  !.

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  Half banana

  I like he fact that he spoke like a Witness does, using their terms, so that Jdubs could identify with him.
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  13

  Why aren't the Governing Body members being investigated in the ARC?

  by Illuminated in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  when there's a malfunction in a product that causes an injury or death, the head of the corporation is held accountable not the salesmen selling the product.

  .

  why aren't the governing body members being investigated when they are the root cause of the child abuse issues and the re-victimization that takes place after?.

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  Half banana

  You make good point Stan, I think they should trundle their wooden bovine idol YHVH into the enquiry room and ask him directly.

  Or perhaps the gold version works better?
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  21

  where there was a conflict between the Bible and science, the Bible would prevail, because all scripture is "inspired by God"

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  thought i would put this in its own thread.

  it another embarrassing statement from the rc (royal commission not regional convention lol).

  it's not even one about abuse, its about the jw's stance on science and the bible.

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  Half banana

  Gordon Bennett! when will pig-ignorant Jehovah's Witnesses realise that when Paul said "All scripture is inspired of God..." he was not referring to the Bible?

  The Bible was not compiled until the fourth century... and "scripture" in the first, second and third centuries referred to all and any texts of an uplifting and moralistic nature as opposed to legal and official text.
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  11

  Two fingers up because they are so holy

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the two-finger-i'm-so-holy hand gesture is an old mannerism of catholic and orthodox hierarchs.

  it's all over their catholic paintings and scultures, and greek orthodox icons of, jesus too.

  ................................... here then, the holy gesture is adapted for use even by our very own gb members who are trying to appear most holy themselves.. .

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  Half banana

  Being rather literal about Letts' hand gesture; I suggest he is unconsciously asserting a fine or nuanced definition rather than playing the holy saint like Mr Polish Pope is.
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  24

  A MODERN FICTION: the lie which became a GOVERNING BODY

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  safe to say, if you walked up to any of the 8 million jehovah's witnesses on earth today and told them the.

  governing body was a fiction, not only would they refuse to believe you--they'd consider you their immediate enemy!.

  what if i told you jw's embrace a mental construct which is at odds with history?.

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  Half banana

  Thanks Terry for your arduous research. Since going off the gold standard of the "generation of 1914" this doomesday cult has a real credibility problem at the top of the organisation.

  On what demonstrable authority do they seek such control?
  

  The only authority they now have left to them is simply that they have inherited it as leaders of the cult. Oh! How they hate being called leaders but that’s what they plainly are. The whole raison d’être of the organisation was to announce that JC came in 1874. It was this unprovable claim which gave Russell his authority, it was to climax with God removing all his enemies by 1914. This became obsolete as have all subsequent claims for divine pronouncements of their organisation, yet the revisions of ‘truths’ have never stopped the money coming in; the masterstroke in cult organisation! No money no cult. Their forebears had through a century of propaganda and promise of unattainable hope, built up the Watchtower giant of today with millions of gullible followers and billions of Dollars. Any organisation needs directors, theirs is a religious one ...all religions will claim their leadership to be authorised by God and yet all they can say, without any demonstrable authority is, “Obey us.”

  It is like a tragic merry-go-round with enough inertia to keep spinning and enough suckers who will listen to the callers at the religious fairground... and be taken for a ride.
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  67

  List of Prominent JW Urban Legends...

  by Tuesday in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey folks,.

  i'm wondering if you all could help me with my next video that i want to put up in the next couple of days (though i'm hoping for tonight), i want to come up with a list of the most prominent urban legends surrounding jws and then refute them whatever they may be.. i'm thinking there's the urban legend about the question on jeopardy that said the nwt was the most accurate would be a good one.

  that one stems from an online powerpoint presentation named theological jeopardy and a book which was written comparing six different translations of the bible.

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  Half banana

  It's an urban legend widely spread, that the Bible is a holy book and what it says is directly from God.

  That Dwight Eisenhower's parents or at least his mother was a JW (or Bible Student) is true.