Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  6

  A Graphic History of the World in Nineteen Minutes

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a great animation, showing the spread of humans across the globe (something like a troublesome rash spreading over your body).

  then, on to the gradual poltiticisation of humanity.

  interesting to watch the animated hi-speed spread of the mongol empire, which scared the sh*t out of europe.. the animation doesn't show religious brands (except islam, which was both a religious brand and a political brand).

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  Half banana

  Thanks FTS, terrific!
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  40

  Older JW: not happy

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this week i visited my sick father in law.. then an old elder from my far away congregation came in for coffee.

  did not see him in 15 years.. nice chat.

  had a lot to say, is alone, his sick wife disabled and away from home.. he told me: "living alone is so hard.

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  Half banana

  Yes PE the cult leaders wouldn't want members to spend precious preaching time on helping worn out brothers and sisters instead would they? Yet that sense of family care extended to believers was paramount in the early Christian churches and a reason to join it back then (Jas 1.27).

  You said it Lois, they steal lives.

  I would like to see all JW literature with a health warning printed at the top of every page:

  WARNING: IF YOU JOIN JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES YOU MAY HAVE YOUR LIFE STOLEN FROM YOU.
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  29

  Guilt trip

  by Jrjw in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  did anyone have other jws try to guilt trip them when they were leaving or if you were making a decision which jws felt was wrong but wasn't unscriptural?

  i'm getting people guilt tripping me to eventually get back with my emotionally, spiritually and mentally abusive husband who i'm separated from.

  i feel sick at the thought of getting back together and putting myself through that nightmare again but i'm being told its what jehovah wants coz he doesn't want families to be apart.

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  Half banana

  Never feel guilty about acting according to your own conscience. The JW org has no right to dictate your moral sense and indeed it does take quite a while to shake off the old JW imperatives but what a relief when you do.

  People are guilt tripping you not for your good but to to protect the organisation, an organisation which does nor deserve protection but public exposure!

  Your life must be difficult at the moment but given time I'm sure you will sort yourself out... you can look forward to achieving that.
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  21

  Why the JW org should fail.

  by Half banana in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  dr margaret t singer, a professor of psychology at berkeley university california has studied the experiences of 700 cult members.

  ''consciously and manipulatively, leaders and their trainers exert a systematic social influence that can produce great behavioral changes,'' said dr. singer.. .

  one of the ways the jw organisation exerts so much influence over its members is because it has created a culture sustained by constant propaganda, which polices itself according to how the leadership has moulded it.

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  Half banana

  Dr Margaret T Singer, a professor of psychology at Berkeley University California has studied the experiences of 700 cult members. ''Consciously and manipulatively, leaders and their trainers exert a systematic social influence that can produce great behavioral changes,'' said Dr. Singer.

  One of the ways The JW organisation exerts so much influence over its members is because it has created a culture sustained by constant propaganda, which polices itself according to how the leadership has moulded it. Do you remember being a JW? One of the favourite subjects of conversation was to discuss the boundaries of what was, and what was not acceptable.

  Let me give you a vignette showing the level of idiocy to which the Watchtower has sunk. About four years ago I steeled myself to view the JWTV and saw governing body member Tony Morris whose aim on this occasion was to decry “critical thinking”. The lack of critical thinking is the common objection to Watchtower indoctrination by its critics. Morris’s argument, if you can call it that, was that to examine a subject from different viewpoints was in itself “manipulative”! It takes very little education to see the crass illogicality of this comment but alas! JWs are discouraged from getting more than the minimum of education and worse still, they are made to feel socially compelled to believe what the organisation says “whether reasonable from a human standpoint or not".

  “The systematic social influence” as Dr Singer called it, reached into every aspect of your life starting with defining approved people (those who believe the governing body) and the doomed outsiders (everyone else). It reached into what you said, what you thought, what you would wear what you did in the bedroom and virtually into every pore and molecule of your being. This is one reason why it is so hard to leave Jehovah's Witnesses and adopt a normal healthy viewpoint again. The other obstruction to making an easy exit is the threat of further social manipulation due to being shunned by your 'loving' family.

  Surely an organisation which functions with these oppressive constraints should fail? The Watchtower cult has been predicting the end of the world since 1879 and never has had the slightest flicker of success, just a list of dire disappointments weathered manfully by the hapless membership.

  The world is rapidly changing, we are vastly more informed and consequently are able to make balanced judgements ourselves, the old guide lines are being discarded and will leave 19th century Bible literalists like JWs as an appendage of religious history. The internet is giving access to a transparent appraisal of the workings of everything, including abusive and anti-social cults.

  The JW organisation has no record of “divine” approval, it has lost credibility with repeated date failures, most especially the “generation of 1914”, it is intellectually bankrupt, the Bible is no longer seen by the majority as the ultimate guide for life and JW dirty washing is now being aired in public.

  The JW organisation therefore is poised to fail?
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  19

  You might surprised how many JWs are homosexuals

  by Roger Kirkpatrick in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  contrary to common belief, neither the bible nor the watchtower condemns homosexuality; however, they do condemn the practice of fornication.

  homosexuality is same sex attraction whether such attraction is acted upon or not.

  leviticus 20:13 describes a man having sexual relations with a man, or the act of fornication.

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  Half banana

  Sticking what out Slimboy?
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  48

  Anyone struggle to find meaning in life?

  by Good JW in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just wondering if this is a common thing for you guys and girls?

  when i left the jws it was hard to make a connection with people, much of the time i felt that whatever they wanted to talk about just didn't seem relevant/deep/meaningful.

  i find myself filtering my mind to get to a level with others (small talk mostly).

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  Half banana

  I want to blurt out that life doesn't intrinsically have a meaning. Why should it? That doesn't mean it's not worthwhile enjoying all the marvellous things in the world.

  Life is short, we might as well enjoy this amazing experience before we return to the oblivion we came from.
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  26

  What Is The Major Reason Jehovah’s Witnesses Exist?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i understand that cults and religious groups will always exist.

  but why do jehovah’s witnesses continue as a religion that people will join?.

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  Half banana

  You might first ask, “Why does any religion exist?” Existential comfort is probably the briefest explanation as Xanthippe explains.

  People want some certainty in a changing world and people want an explanation for why things are like they are. Explanations might satisfy emotionally but they need not be true. Most people who use rational thinking e.g. in the world of academia, conclude that there is no need to invoke spirits, gods or magic to explain our universe.

  So down to the specific question “What is the reason that JWs exist?” I would suggest that it is due to the efforts of entrepreneur CT Russell and the fact that his Watchtower outfit had commercial success; an understandable event considering the religious appetite of people in the US at the end of the 19th century. Secondly, that JF Rutherford, after great membership loss, was able to print 400 million pieces of brain numbing literature at a profit to make the Watchtower rich. However under NH Knorr the biggest source of wealth was the impetus given by declaring the doomsday year 1975 which accelerated membership numbers and yielded a vastly larger income platform as a consequence.

  What then is the major reason they exist? It is because they have a history of successfully deluding millions into a false belief of a reward of paradise if you comply with the demands of the JW org-- and making billions of dollars from it. Who but an honest moralist would bother to kill such a productive cash cow?
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  14

  Did electrical energy evolve or was it created?

  by atomant in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  lt appears this topic has not been debated.energy has to come from something it doesn't come from nothing..

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  Half banana

  Atomant what answers are you expecting from such an unfocused question?

  Evolution has to do with living things, organisms which reproduce.

  However electrical energy is fundamental to everything made of atoms or sub-atomic particles... and what isn't made from atoms?
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  23

  Were visits to the library an important part of your childhood?

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings, fellow bibliophiles:.

  i remember how sad i was, as a little child, when our beloved carnegie library was razed (unsafe, structurally).

  the same tragedy occurred when we moved to a new town and that similar architectural treasure was demolished to put up a new and gleaming building of steel and glass.

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  Half banana

  The local library was my alma mater. I was about eleven and trying to stretch my knowledge horizon I took out a book on quantum mechanics. I returned it a week or two later absolutely none the wiser, in fact I felt defeated.

  I love being surrounded by books. I have spent many hours in the wonderful and famous libraries including the Bodleian in Oxford and the British Library when it used to be in the British museum. I recall it only had seven million books then but now it has many more than the Bodleian's twelve million.

  Oak shelves polished by use bearing sumptuous leather bound tomes row upon row... the works of Britain's finest thoughtsmiths who themselves wrote and researched there. Ahh, deep joy!
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  60

  I am getting disfellowshipped

  by CitizenofEarth in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  maybe some of you remember me, maybe not.

  for general information i am now 19 years old, and living by myself.

  for the past 1 year (more like 1.5 years) i have been quietly fading out of the hypocrisy of this organization, but since i still live in the town i grew up in it has been hard, and filled with different challenges.

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  Half banana

  Good on you Citizen of the earth for waking up to the JW insanity and having your own values of where loyalty should be placed.

  As others advised, I also suggest you don't go to be humiliated by a bunch of window cleaners at a judicial committee, they are after your blood not your wisdom. In other words; don't feed the sharks.

  You might phone in advance to let them know you won't be attending--worldly people are so polite! The experience of others from this site indicates no benefit will accrue since you are likely to be d/fd anyway but if you do choose to go, let us know how you got on.

  As a practical measure and being independent of your family make sure you keep in employment to look after yourself and secondly keep your old comrades but make a network of new ones as well. If possible defy the ignorance of the JW org and get some college education under your belt. All the best to you and hold your head high.