Posts by metatron

13

Running On AutoPilot is the Borg's Achilles Heel

by metatron in

jw
friends

please forgive the mixed metaphor.

nevertheless, it summarizes.

a convention talk on "the organization isn't fading away!"..

metatron

Please forgive the mixed metaphor. Nevertheless, it summarizes
what I feel about the Watchtower's present - and ultimate
fate.
As to the present, it should be plain that the organization runs
on a kind of "auto-pilot". Consider Writing , for example.
We have that now infamous quote from a Governing Body member (Carey
Barber?) that the GB has nothing to do with writing the Watchtower.
They just rubber stamp the process. Ray Franz claimed that Henschel
didn't keep up with reading the latest magazines! It shouldn't be
surprizing that the Watchtower is mostly cut and paste editing of
previous articles - often with the same dated quotations.

These are signs of a leaderless organization - their collective
direction of the organization means, in effect, no one is in charge.
Sure, Jaracz has enormous power as the "Boss", but is his influence
merely used to continue intransigence? Does he have any grand vision
or plan? or is his authority simply "deny, deny, ignore, ignore".

Why doesn't it surprize more elders that the Legal dept. dominates
the organization? Imagine a RELIGION run by LAWYERS! Can you imagine
anything more absurd? It's like having the Ku Klux Klan run a
charity to promote civil rights! Yet, it all makes sense - if you
think of the WTS as basically leaderless - the lawyers dominate it
by default.

This leads us to the great coming danger for the WTS.
Being basically leaderless, they have no effective response to decay
within the organization. I HAVE BEEN AMAZED OVER THEIR LACK OF
RESPONSE TO ATTACKS and security leaks over the internet - a few
warnings about "apostates", and that's it. As decay advances,
the greatest danger to their sick enterprise is simply the thought
that the organization is dying, fading away into history.
It's also a difficult belief to argue against - can you imagine
a convention talk on "The Organization Isn't Fading Away!".
It's easier to talk to Witnesses about - next time you argue with
Joe Hyperloyal, don't bring up doctrine, just point out that in the
last 3 years more than 200 congregations in Japan have been shut
down. Tell Joe Zealous that in 5 or 10 years, the average Witness
won't be any different from any member of any church.

This, I think, will be their Achilles heel. Their leaderless
lack of response to decay - coupled with the perception that the
organization is dying - in the minds of the rank and file.

It's just a matter of time, therefore.

metatron

3

Why Watchtower Corruption Will Intensify

by metatron in

jw
friends

recently, it seems that elders are being treated , not merely.

as a priviledged clergy class, but as something more.. "made" guys!.

in movies about the mafia (goodfellows?

metatron

Recently, it seems that elders are being treated , not merely
as a priviledged clergy class, but as something more.

"Made" guys!
In movies about the Mafia (Goodfellows?), you can't attack
a guy who is officially induced into the gang - unless you
wanna get killed horribly. "Made" guys are only accountable
to the "boss" Sound familiar?

I know (and many of you know) about elders who lie, cover up,
cheat and defraud - often with solid evidence of their
wrongdoing. But don't dare talk against them! You might get
df'd for apostasy/whatever - and the Society will back them up.

"Made" men, indeed!
The more they do this, the deeper it gets.
All the way up to the Governing Body, you're going to
have situations where "you know my secret and I know yours".
"Good old boys" will "cover" for each other.

And, in particular, the more they suppress evidence
of child molesting, the sicker and more coarse this
secretive organization will become. You tell one lie
and then cover it with more - whether with silentlambs
or blood in Bulgaria or any other deception this cult
chooses as expedient.

a religious Cosa Nostra

metatron

6

Never DA Yourself (&French Ball Bearings!)

by metatron in

jw
friends

are you angry?

disappointed?

disgusted with a corrupt.

metatron

Are you angry? Disappointed? Disgusted with a corrupt
organization?
Well, whatever you do, Never, never disassociate yourself!

Don't play their game! Don't con yourself into believing
that Da'ing yourself is a moral statement or protest.
They won't even notice or care - you're one less problem
gotten rid of.

Give yourself the opportunity to discreetly damage their
rotten enterprise. When Brother Uncertain says "I wonder
how soon Armageddon is coming - should I work hard to
make more money for retirement?" - YOU CAN SAY
"Well, there's no King of the North, is there?,
Why there isn't even a King of the North in sight!".

He'll say "You're right!"( Yes, it can happen!)

In short, remember the lesson of the French ball bearing
makers in WW2.
After the war, various Frenchmen were accused of helping
the Germans. Some of them worked in factories making
parts for German tanks. Why didn't they oppose the
Nazis and risk getting shot like many brave Frenchmen did?

One of them replied that they quietly reduced the
production of ball bearings to a crawl. The few ball
bearings that actually made it into German tanks didn't
last because they were defective anyway.

And so, without getting identified and shot
they quietly defeated the Nazi war machine.

Some of us can be heroes, openly
Some can't
But we all can contribute to the defeat of tyrants,
petty or otherwise.

metatron

28

Sat. Dist. Conv.--Cracking the whip!

by LostMyReligion in

jw
friends

i have put in my final day at this year's test of posterior endurance---saturday at the district convention, 2001. i took quite a few notes today, because some had specifically asked about saturday's program.

i hope all will be suitably edified by them.

do not just listen to bits and pieces of the program, but to the whole thing.

metatron

Cute application of Isaiah's critics' words.

Trouble is, with all the lies and false prophecy generated
by the Watchtower, you may as well just repeat the
"sham" part over and over again

metatron

10

Loyal Elders! Here's Your Future!

by metatron in

jw
friends

i will now predict the personal futures of countless.

loyal elders who secretly read this board.. in five to ten years, you will say to yourself:.

"what was i thinking?".

metatron

Welcome to the board.

I do have respect for many Christian organizations - in
matters of charity and helping the disadvantaged, for example.

As to the future of religion, neither the "truth", nor any
other Christian sect has any worthwhile explanation of why
an all-powerful Creator avoids speaking directly to people,
without using a 2000 year old book written in dead languages.
Eventually, the real truth of our existence will be
revealed - our universe is the product of a non-personal
pantheistic "creator". We live on a tiny speck in a universe
loaded with life - I simply accept that conditions here
are repeated elsewhere , on other worlds, likely together
with naive, juvenile phases where the inhabitants thereof
believe that they too, are the only intelligent life
in the universe!

metatron

10

Loyal Elders! Here's Your Future!

by metatron in

jw
friends

i will now predict the personal futures of countless.

loyal elders who secretly read this board.. in five to ten years, you will say to yourself:.

"what was i thinking?".

metatron

I will now predict the personal futures of countless
loyal elders who secretly read this board.

In five to ten years, you will say to yourself:

"What was I thinking?"
"Why didn't I spend more time with my wife?"
"Why didn't I persue more time with that hobby I loved?"

and finally,

"Why did I wait so long to quit?"

I say this because the future trends are well in hand.
Spiritual conditions in most congregations are going
to get much worse. In addition, YOU WILL BE HELD LEGALLY
RESPONSIBLE FOR MUCH OF WHAT IS DONE in the congregation.
The Society is discreetly dumping LEGAL responsibility
on LOCAL brothers. This is why the C.O.'s lecture you
on being careful NOT to put certain things down on
disfellowshipping forms sent to the Society - THEY DON'T
WANT TO BE LIABLE! The privilege of that liability
is YOURS, Brother!

I know an elder, a strong hardworking man who raised
a family and is now retired. He recently attended
a judicial meeting.

The other elders got uneasy when he started crying.

It just hit him during the meeting, how superficial
the righteousness of countless Witnesses was. Double
lives are common now. This isn't the organization
he thought he was defending, all these years.

These tears will be in your eyes, too.
You will know exactly how he felt.

In five to ten years, the average Witness will be
no different than any other member of any religion.

Do you really want to go on "policing the congregation"
with this trend accelerating? Is this the way you want
to spend your evenings? your weekends?

Does it give you a deep sense of futility when
anguished Witness parents call you suddenly to their
house to "straighten out their kid" - and you realize
that it won't make any difference? that the kid will
run away or get df'd or both?

There's a hard rule in the stock market.
"Don't fight the trend"
It's good advice.

Don't spend the precious currency of your lifespan
fighting a hopeless cause.
Spend that time instead wife your wife and family.

Years, from now
You won't regret it.

metatron

2

Proof of World Peace

by metatron in

jw
friends

some of you may not be fully aware of the state of.

world peace today.

it's easy to get caught up in .

metatron

Some of you may not be fully aware of the state of
world peace today. It's easy to get caught up in
Watchtower propaganda that the world just gets worse
and worse. Yet, we are clearly in a different -
and more hopeful situation - than existed in the 20th
century. How do I know?

My workmate's GPS unit!

He bought it for a couple hundred bucks and plays with
it when he gets bored driving. For the uninitiated,
it's a little gadget that tells you exactly where you
are - anywhere on earth - by receiving a signal from
satellites orbiting the earth.

Why does this tell us about a profound shift in world
peace? Because this simple, cheap technology could be
used to provide accurate, inexpensive missile guidance
anywhere on earth - yet the MILITARY ALLOWS ITS EXISTENCE
IN THE HANDS OF CONSUMERS.
The U.S. military , during the Cold War, spent huge
sums of money and expertise trying to come up with
accurate ways to guide ballistic missiles. Remember
the U2 incident where President Eisenhower got caught
lying about spy planes flying over the USSR? Many of
those missions may have been necessary to get accurate
mapping of Russia to guide nuclear missiles. Now,
that guidance is cheap and easy - and easily available.

Which tells me the Pentagon isn't as worried about
world peace as you might think. Otherwise, the whole
GPS system wouldn't exist. Heck, Bush has offered to
BUY Russian missiles, just to get rid of them.
A division of the Halliburton Co. is involved in
tearing down Russian missile sites - for treaty
compliance!

And in Europe,
Tony Blair will be able to move Britain into a
Federation of Europe, compromising sovereignty
and eventually getting rid of the Pound (and inches
and ounces?).
The Chancellor of Germany is openly calling for
a central European Parliament.

The world ain't what all the King o' the North fans
predicted it would be, is it?

metatron

40

My Epiphany

by Farkel in

jw
friends

well, folks.

i just had a minor epiphany.

its a wonder it never dawned on me before, because it should have been so obvious.. we can forget about doing any more research or any more exegesis.

metatron

There's one song that sounds like "What Kind of Fool Am
I" - is it "Walking in Integrity"?

metatron

26

7-15 01 wt comment

by silentlambs in

wt 7-15-01 page 21. are you truly tolerant?.

(balance is needed).

of course, we need to avoid being overly tolerant.

metatron

I wish I had your confidence. I'm afraid this may be
rather like saying "Hitler will hang himself". I have to
envision a mechanism or situation in which the Prince of
Darkness dies/ is incapacitated completely or removed.
But how? This could go on for decades under his rulership,
just like Stalin, ruining what little good is left in the
organization, because of his own twisted ego.
No matter what ugliness is created, they can always explain
it away or lie about it - so the zombie rank and file don't
notice.

Is there really any concrete hope in this matter?

metatron

6

Fred Franz& the Flag Salute Deception!

by metatron in

jw
friends

the watchtower society has long-established habits of half-truths,.

misquotations, and deception.

the subject of the flag-salute is.

metatron

The Watchtower Society has long-established habits of half-truths,
misquotations, and deception. The subject of the flag-salute is
no exception.
The first half truth involves long discussions about flags without
explaining where they came from. Basically, flags were a practical
necessity used to assemble soldiers for battle. Imagine yourself
amidst hundreds of thousands of men - there's noise, dust, smoke
and confusion - you were told to attack the enemies' west flank
immediately together with your tribe, but you can't find them.

You then look up and see a banner held on a pole. The banner
may have more than one color or some simple symbol on it, that's
easy to see from a distance. You see it and now know where to go.

This function of flags continued for thousands of years - even
the American flag originated as a practical tool of battle.

All of which brings us to the next question, did faithful Israelites
use flags? --- Yes, indeed! Read the book of Numbers (chapter 2
for example) and you find tribal groups assembled by a "signal",
an "ensign", a "banner", or "standard". Fred Franz tried to hide
this fact by translating de'gel as "three tribe division" - even
tho the words "three tribe" do not appear in the Bible text
(they're in brackets, accordingly). Other scriptures that use
de'gel really stretch this unlikely translation, as when a single
tribe is being led out by it's "three tribe division" (??? how
about being led by the BANNER OF ITS DIVISION??!!)

Even the Insight on the Scriptures book admits that armies might
use a signal or pole, altho it refrains from telling us what
might be flying from that pole!

And how did faithful, idol-avoiding Israelites view such "banners"?

Well, suppose an Amalekite grabbed your standard and stomped on it!
Would that be a disgrace?
Would it be dishonorable?
If you were in charge of it, would you be ashamed? or punished?
or humiliated? yep!
Would men be fighting and dying under this "banner"?
Might they fight to keep it out of enemy hands, in effect dying
for it?

So, would it be treated, in practical terms as a sacred object,
like it or not?
So, Freddie and his pals kept those nasty national symbols outta
their New World bible. With so many folks getting tortured or
killed for refusing the flag salute, I guess they felt motivated
to cover it up.

Like so much else.....

metatron