Blah blah blah…Most Witnesses are too busy to look up apostate sites… blah blah blah…
What kind of claptrap is this? Whoever is behind this thinking has reached the bottom of the buck, and started digging.
Marvin Shilmer
Marvin Shilmer
JoinedPosts by Marvin Shilmer
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89
How the Internet Means 'The End' for Apostates and Opposers of the Society
by slimboyfat inthe received wisdom is that the internet has dramatically damaged the ability of the watchtower society to gain and retain followers.
there was a very eloquent article to that effect written some time ago by a commentator who attempted to buttress his argument with reference to the postmodern condition and the breakdown of metanarratives in todays secular society, nay, even the come-back for enlightenment notions of truth.
in the 1970/80s there were major challenges to the watchtowers theology (great crowd in heaven) and chronology (1914) in norway, alberta canada, dublin ireland and in the newyork bethel itself: but the damage caused by those involved in the dissent was limited because knowledge was dispersed merely through personal contact and minimal use of obscure publications that seldom met the eyes of witnesses innocent of the watchtowers doctrinal and chronological vacillations in any case.
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Marvin Shilmer
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28
The story of my life (part 15- Betrayed)
by onacruse ini'd recaptured the "community," (or, perhaps, better said: the "community" had recaptured me).
my wife and i were invited to one party after another, old friends, and new friends.
indeed, there was a considerable degree of subliminal suspicion about me; after all, i'd been dfd, and who knew what i really thought?
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Marvin Shilmer
Damn!
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97
What silly rules did your congregation make up?
by weinermcgee inelders were famous for making up stupid rules with no bible base at all as an ego trip i guess, what were some of yours?
i am not talking about the stupid rules that we all had to follow, just the congregation specific silly ones.. 1. having to button your jacket while on stage (this was later changed due to all the elders having a beer gut).
2. suits only or no privledges.
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Marvin Shilmer
Once I visited several congregations in the South Pacific where publishers were resistant to change. What were the changes? Believe it or not:
1. Sisters had to start wearing something below the waste to cover their privates or else they could not attend meetings.
2. Sisters had to cover their breasts if they were on the meeting program.
3. Brothers had to start wearing a tie if they were on the meeting program.
The tie thing is what got so many up in arms. Ties were very hard to get and expensive, and the publishers were dirt poor. The problem was alleviated by a visiting brother donating a tie to the congregation. Yes, one tie. It was amusing to observe the ceremony during a theocratic school or service meeting where the brother giving the talk would don himself with "the tie" and then hand it off to the next speaker coming to the front. During the school meeting this was hilarious. The school overseer shed and donned that tie about 10 times during the meeting! This went on until the tie was not only filthy dirty but in tatters.
Oh, did I mention the brothers were bare-chested, except for the tie? This thread is about silly rules, isn't it?
COs in the United States had a slide talk provided with one slide showing a sister from one of the congregations I visited. The photo was of a large bare-breasted woman who was breast feeding two children at the same time; one child in each arm. The shot never failed to draw laughter from audiences in the USA, but the average publisher never knew the whole congregation behind the photograph was practically naked, and ready for field service. About the only thing covered on a semi-consistent basis was the uh, shall we say, bare essentials?
Marvin Shilmer, who's going way back with that experience
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48
WT speaks out on phone sex!! LOL!
by rebel8 ini was reading the "mobile phone" thread and then found the article below on the official wt web site.
i'm surprised they don't tell people to empty the garbage and polish their shoes when they get horny rather than engage in phone sex.
why the wt feels the need to comment on these topics is really beyond me, but it's good for a laugh.. http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/2004/2/22b/article_01.htm.
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Marvin Shilmer
The real question is: What is in the boy's left hand, as he is watching his screen?
Bet those Bethel artists had fun getting that little optical mystery into the Watchtower rag!
Marvin Shilmer
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36
KNOCKING --- NEWS
by Marvin Shilmer inthe programming director for pbs has asked for the removal from the knocking web site of language indicating the program will be aired on pbs.
this does not mean the program will never be aired on pbs.
rather, the request is made because of feedback from viewers like us.
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Marvin Shilmer
Eyebrow2 writes:
"Pushing the program off the air doesn't do much good really. This is what the WTS would try to do..actually actively DOES by bullying its rank and file to stay away from "apostate" literature and websites."
No one is trying to push the program off the air. No one is trying to squash free speech, except the WTS does inhibit free speech for JWs.
The effort is to persuade an honest and informative program, or else to prevent a religious propaganda tool financed with public money. The public has no interest in producing a documentary that is nothing more than a recruiting tool for the WTS! As things stand the KNOCKING program is following the WTS rhetoric like a script. It pretends the WTS is interested in civil liberties when its real interest is self-preservation. It pretends JWs refuse blood when JWs actually use massively from the donated and stored blood supply. It pretends to present a rounded picture of doctrinal effects such as from the WTS' blood doctrine, when in fact it is presenting the WTS' marketing page. The producers of KNOCKING actually believe that a JW asking for and receiving an advanced medical therapy somehow reflects the downside of the WTS blood doctrine! Nothing could be further from the truth! It is not the effect of receiving advanced medical therapeutics that doctors and the public criticize; it is the effect of forbidding the most advanced medical therapies to prevent premature death. KNOCKING does not show this downside, though it pretends to.
I encourage that you exercise your free speech by expressing yourself to the KNOCKING producers, ITVS and PBS however you see fit, remembering that public money provides funds to this project.
Marvin Shilmer
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KNOCKING --- NEWS
by Marvin Shilmer inthe programming director for pbs has asked for the removal from the knocking web site of language indicating the program will be aired on pbs.
this does not mean the program will never be aired on pbs.
rather, the request is made because of feedback from viewers like us.
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Marvin Shilmer
Lest I forget:
The International Television Services (ITVS) has a web address to submit comments on the program KNOCKING. These comments are restricted to 200 words, but they will be posted online and linked to the program’s advertisement. The web link is:
http://www.itvs.org/search/talkback.htm?showID=1040
In addition to sending correspondence to individuals names above, I also recommend posting some well-honed comments at the address above.
I submitted my own comments (2 separate entries of 200 words each) earlier today. The web site informs these comments usually take about 24 hours to show up online.
Marvin Shilmer
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36
KNOCKING --- NEWS
by Marvin Shilmer inthe programming director for pbs has asked for the removal from the knocking web site of language indicating the program will be aired on pbs.
this does not mean the program will never be aired on pbs.
rather, the request is made because of feedback from viewers like us.
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36
KNOCKING --- NEWS
by Marvin Shilmer inthe programming director for pbs has asked for the removal from the knocking web site of language indicating the program will be aired on pbs.
this does not mean the program will never be aired on pbs.
rather, the request is made because of feedback from viewers like us.
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Marvin Shilmer
Hello, yesidid
You write:
“I am wondering what aspect we should stress. What is he looking for? Is it accuracy, evenhanded approach, or saleability. Just not sure of the best way to appeal to him. Please give clues.”
There are several points of address.
As advertised, KNOCKING is emphasizing how JWs have won legal victories that protect civil liberties and free choice for all Americans. The problem with this depiction is that it is not true of “all Americans.” If an American JW were to voice legitimate and valid objections to a teaching of the WTS they would not receive among JWs the same civil liberty to voice themselves as the WTS has fought for and won for the general public. The fault in the presentation by the producers of KNOCKING is in assuming that the actions and objectives of the corporate WTS are in the best and civil interests of the population of JWs rather than in the best interest of the corporate WTS. The producers of KNOCKING have assumed something that is not the case. The WTS takes matters to court for its own interests and not necessarily for the interests of JWs.
Another problem with the program is that it makes false statements. For instance, it states that JWs refuse blood transfusions when that is not always the case. The fact is that since the October 15, 2000 issue of The Watchtower there is a narrow range of blood transfusions that the WTS condones for JWs. That narrow range is of transfusing autologous blood when it is part of what the WTS ambiguously calls a “current therapy.” Documentaries that present false and/or misleading information are frowned upon in ethical journalistic circles. This is all the more the case when the producers have been forewarned.
Another problem is that the program depicts itself as showing the up and downs in the life of Jehovah’s Witnesses when that is not the case at all. For example, one of the subjects addressed is the WTS’ blood doctrine. The KNOCKING program uses the instance of a JW having liver surgery to illustrate JWs supposed refusal of blood. Yet this example fails to illustrate the actual dilemma facing JWs regarding blood because in this case the JW patient is accepting a medical procedure that is more advanced rather than an inferior treatment. To honestly illustrate their objective the KNOCKING producers would have to document a family of JWs where an innocent and unsuspecting child died prematurely due to the JW parents refusing some blood product forbidden by the WTS under pain of shunning. Since the KNOCKING program does not do this then this aspect of the program is a farce. It is nothing less than wholesale WTS propaganda!
Frankly, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the WTS were not directly or indirectly supplying funds to this program. This is one thing I would ask disclosure of for the record.
Marvin Shilmer
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KNOCKING --- NEWS
by Marvin Shilmer inthe programming director for pbs has asked for the removal from the knocking web site of language indicating the program will be aired on pbs.
this does not mean the program will never be aired on pbs.
rather, the request is made because of feedback from viewers like us.
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Marvin Shilmer
NEWS: The programming director for PBS has asked for the removal from the KNOCKING web site of language indicating the program will be aired on PBS. This does not mean the program will never be aired on PBS. Rather, the request is made because of feedback from viewers like us. Concerns have been raised, and now is the time to let your voice be heard; again if necessary.
The next step for the KNOCKING program is for the International Television Services (ITVS) to review the program's material and presentation. Only after this would PBS make any reviews for potential airing. Hence, stakeholders (all of us!) should write our concerns to the Director or Communications for ITVS, Mr. Jim Sommers. His email is [email protected]. Or, you can give him a call at 415-356-8383 extension x242. Or you can send a hardcopy letter by snailmail addressed to 501 York Street, San Francisco, CA 94110.
In addition, it is advised to write letters to PBS addressed to the two executives responsible for programming. These are: John F. Wilson
Senior Vice President & Co-Chief Program Executive
Jacoba Atlas
Senior Vice President & Co-Chief Program Executive
You can email these individuals at [email protected]. If you address your emails to those names above they will be forwarded accordingly.
Marvin Shilmer -
61
Any coloured people here?
by Hellrider innow that i got your attention, here`s a quote from the wt, february 1952:.
"really, our colored brothers have a great cause for rejoicing.
their race is meek and teachable, and from it comes a high percentage of the theocratic increase.
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Marvin Shilmer
From The Watchtower of March 1, 1946, page 80:
“I have conducted book studies with several colored men, and the one has been doing much witnessing to others. He owns much property here and thus contacts many people. At our last study he related an experience. He had been witnessing to a white man who is a city official and very well-to-do. This white man invited the colored man to his home and became interested and wants him to keep coming. He even served the darky his supper.”
Marvin Shilmer