Posts by outsmartthesystem

35

LeavingWT: Why Never Discuss Doctrine?

by InterestedOne in

among the various helpful pieces of advice i have read here from leavingwt, i have noticed that he often tells people to never discuss doctrine with a jw.

i realize that discussing doctrine with a jw can be very frustrating, but i was wondering if there is a more far-reaching and less-obvious reason for this advice.

like is it related to some peculiar aspect of the jw mind that the average person would not be aware of?.

outsmartthesystem

It is actually fairly simple. Jehovah's Witnesses are under mind control. They have been taught to implicitly trust whatever the governing body tells them. If you begin to discuss anything with them that threatens their faith in the GB......their brains automatically shut off thinking/reasoning powers and go into desperation defense mode. You've now lost the witness' trust

165

evolution question

by outsmartthesystem in

it has taken me almost 2 years to get to the bottom of the watchtower society rabbit hole.

being fully convinced that i was duped....i am still a little ashamed of myself for being so narrow minded.

i have vowed never to close off my mind like that again.

outsmartthesystem

Well.......this thread has accomplished the opposite of what I was hoping for

165

evolution question

by outsmartthesystem in

it has taken me almost 2 years to get to the bottom of the watchtower society rabbit hole.

being fully convinced that i was duped....i am still a little ashamed of myself for being so narrow minded.

i have vowed never to close off my mind like that again.

outsmartthesystem

Thank you all. That was information overload....but thank you.

"Why is it so easy to believe a talking snake made a naked woman eat a piece of fruit but evolution is impossible?"

I LOVE this question!

165

evolution question

by outsmartthesystem in

it has taken me almost 2 years to get to the bottom of the watchtower society rabbit hole.

being fully convinced that i was duped....i am still a little ashamed of myself for being so narrow minded.

i have vowed never to close off my mind like that again.

outsmartthesystem

It has taken me almost 2 years to get to the bottom of the Watchtower Society rabbit hole. Being fully convinced that I was duped....I am still a little ashamed of myself for being so narrow minded. I have vowed never to close off my mind like that again. As such.....I want to begin to explore in more detail the truth about evolution. I'll admit....for the last 2 years....my life (outside of normal activities) has been dedicated to the study of JW materials and beliefs. I've not had the time to devote to creation vs evolution. The only info I know about evolution is from tainted sources such as the WT society and other creationist writers. While I know practically nothing about evolution......I have at least put together that what I've been taught about it by the society is far from the truth. Shamefully I don't even remember much from my days in school. By that age, I had been taught to NOT accept ANYTHING that evolutionists teach. So I did what I had to do in biology class to get by and then my brain automatically deleted what I had "learned". I guess what I am asking for is........do any of you know a good website or book that lays the ground work for the basics of evolutionary teachings that I can read and then build off of from there?

152

To garyneal and Others, Evidence that the anointed remnants represented by the GB were selected in 1919.

by mankkeli in

1st evidence: the release of loyal jews from exile, made possible by the fall of babylon, foreshadowed the release in 1919 of anointed christians from spiritual exile.

2nd evidence: that year marked the beginning of the period when the anointed remnants were released from a form of spiritual captivity to the ideas and practices of false religion.

although having rejected such false teachings as the trinity and the immortal soul, they were still tainted by babylonish practices.

outsmartthesystem

the best part of the 1919 debacle is that Rutherford and his minions were supposedly released from prison "in a cleansed state". (i.e. they learned their lesson in regard to providing Babylonish spiritual food and using man made ideas). Knowing this......one could expect their teachings in 1919 and 1920 to be far different from those in 1914....when they supposedly entered "spiritual captivity".

Mankkeli - can you please document the wonderful changes in teaching that were made between 1914 and 1919? I'd like you to compare and contrast the vast differences that surely had to have been made manifest upon their release from prison and subsequent spiritual cleansing.

16

A new method of "counting time".

by dothemath in

i think everyone who does put in a field-service report........should just use the principle from "a day for a year".

(num.

4:6) i know i put in about 6 minutes of actually talking to someone about religion at work, so in.

outsmartthesystem

Ha! Beautiful!

23

HOW MANY BORN-INS or almost born-ins, WOULD HAVE BECOME A JW IF SOMEONE CALLED AT THEIR DOOR?

by PaintedToeNail in

jw
friends

i know i would have never, ever been interested if someone would have come to my door as a jw.

i guess i really don't feel like i've ever had a real spiritual side to me.

the 'truth' would have never interested me, nor would i have ever accepted a bible study with anyone who came looking for a sheeple.

outsmartthesystem

I certainly would not have. I got baptized because I didn't know any better. The religion had fed me lies about the world and lies about former witnesses. I was basically scared into believing it was true. But as I grew up and became more confident in my own thinking abilities I began to question things.

had I been a "worldly" to begin with.....I would never have prevented myself from questioning therefore I would never have been baptised.

120

Do YOU Believe That JWs Have A Huge Problem With Pedophiles?

by minimus in

i don't think there are more pedophiles in the religion than there are in others.. i understand that one is too many.

but i think some believe that it's an epidemic within the organization.

i believe their 2 witness rule can help pedophiles secretly abuse kids.. but i don't think that this particular crime dominates those in the religion.. .

outsmartthesystem

Oh.....and the fact that "still ins" believe there is no problem whatsoever.....

My wife for example refuses to believe that there is a any problem. She has stated that perhaps....thoughout the last 100 years there may have been "an isolated case or two.....but nothing like what you see in Christendom".

Witnesses are sheltered from the truth and are blind that yes....the problem is just as bad as it is in the Catholic Church....but on a smaller scale because there are less JWs than Catholics

120

Do YOU Believe That JWs Have A Huge Problem With Pedophiles?

by minimus in

i don't think there are more pedophiles in the religion than there are in others.. i understand that one is too many.

but i think some believe that it's an epidemic within the organization.

i believe their 2 witness rule can help pedophiles secretly abuse kids.. but i don't think that this particular crime dominates those in the religion.. .

outsmartthesystem

No I don't believe there is a massive problem with it. Does it happen? Yes....but I don't think it is any worse than any other religion. The problems for me existed with:

1) the WAY it is/was dealt with. The 2 witness rule is absurd.....but they think they are truly following what the bible tells them

2) IF this is God's organization.....how could He let the 2 witness rule stay in effect?

39

A reality test for Jehovah's Witnesses that really seems to work

by Terry in

i admit to a fondness for "factoids".

little snippets of information.

statistics.

outsmartthesystem

Another thing they like to do is show one sided "true" stats. For instance......"the murder rate in Chicago has doubled since 1965." Well.....considering the population has also doubled.....I guess that makes sense.

Or "yearly deaths from the influenza were at

2,000,000 in 2005. Up from only 1,000,000 in 1935." Well...seeing as though the world's population has TRIPLED since then.....influenza deaths per capita are actually down. But witnesses don't like to look at things that way.

BTW these are not real stats....just examples of controlled thinking.