Posts by Dunedain

65

Withdrawing community support in the congs

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

i've noticed in the past 10 years that the social support that used to be available in the congs, a shoulder to cry on, elders to help with family/marriage issues these seem to have been purposely withdrawn.

counsel is even heard from the platform that the elders are not there to help people with their problems.. so first in the 80s-90s they take away the congregation get to getters and social events and now they seem to be going one step further in taking away the emotional support for people too.. this will take away an aspect that i'm sure was keeping alot of people in the borg, the community support.

if that's not there and its just about meetings and ministry how many will start to get their emotional support elsewhere?.

Dunedain

I also think that certain Elders visits, and them visiting possible "spiritually weak" ones, has been tremendously backfiring on the WTBS.

The Borg may be trying to limit certain shepherding calls because over the past 25 years, with SO MANY people learning TTATT, these Elders instead of preaching to these ones, are getting preached to themselves.

The internet and its wealth of damning information against the Society is inundating these Elders as they visit certain "weak" ones, and shepherding calls. These "company men" may never have been shown this info, except when they try to council certain ones.

They used to every so often re-visit and try to sit with DF'd ones from their congregation. However, they put a stop to that too, because these elders were getting quite an earful from these "apostates". Many of their minds were blown, and the tables were turned on them. Like, "Oh, you wanna talk to me about things, Nope, let me tell YOU a few things guys".

These visits, have been planting "seeds" and waking up quite a few elders over the years, and the Borg is SCARED.

Hence, why the Elders "duties" have been quite limited lately. The GB are afraid of what the Elders may possibly hear, or learn on these visits, and from talking to certain ones.

43

KH hall 4 sale just whose waters are supposed to be drying up again?!

by nowwhat? in

avon lake ohio.

while new mega church being built right down the street!.

Dunedain

We should have a dedicated thread, in where each of us can list the area, or areas that we personally know what Halls have sold, are for sale, and which ones have been consolidated.

I am sure there are enough of us on this board to represent most states, and cities in America, and Canada and England. Any other countries would just be gravy. Then by everyone contributing what they know about the Hall sale/merging in their areas, we would have a nice "chart" to be able to see the decline.

I for one, can say that the Hall i grew up in, in one of the boroughs of NYC, i might add, has indeed merged with another Hall. This happened about a year ago. Go back 35 years ago, and the Hall was bursting at the seams, so much so that the congregation SPLIT into 2 FULL congregations.

NOW, fast forward 35 years later and those 2 same congregations have merged BACK together to form 1 Hall. Its attendance of both congregations recombined again, now equals LESS than what 1 of the 2 Halls was after they split all those years ago.

The fact that these 2 congregations, in a VERY populated city as NYC, where the populations are INCREASING, had to merge back into 1 congregation is very telling. There used to be 2 full, of 12 brothers EACH, Elders bodies. Now after BOTH congs merging, the dont even make up barely a full Elders body. Its a joke. The attendance is VERY down, and they are dropping like flies.

Again, we should all list what we know of our areas, and former areas, and maybe make a chart, and REALLY see what Halls are selling and being disbanded, and i guarantee it will be VERY telling indeed.

21

Beard update

by Coded Logic in

so it's been over a month since i decided to grow a beard.

the mustache and chin have come in fuller than i ever imagined - while the cheeks leave me wondering if i'll ever grow enough hair to make it not look so wildly unkept and patchy (if anyone has any advice here it'd be much appreciated).

but in the mean time i'll give it another month and see how it goes.. .

Dunedain

OOOOOHHHH, thats WORLDLY!!!! LOL, seriously though, it looks fine. Goatee may be the way to go too.

33

Can anyone name a single incident when bethel has fed the poor ever ?

by Chook in

charity is lacking from the house of god.

i remember reading once about some young pioneer sisters who needed emergency accommodation and where turn away from brooklyn because they weren’t special pioneers.

charity begins at home..

Dunedain

Listen, this is a religious cult whos roots are based in charlatanism. A group that peddled door to door, under the guise of fulfilling scripture, their own printed books and literature for a profit, and with free labor.

This is a group that sold regular bushels of wheat from Bethel, claiming it was "miracle wheat", and at $16 bucks a bushel, when the going rate was around a $1 per bushel.

This is a group of charlatans that switched from a publishing company who peddled their own made up lies, to a real estate company that sells the very buildings they use for worship, right out from underneath those same worshipers who paid for them.

This is a group that systematically used and still uses free slave labor from its own blind followers, for financial gain. Then once they have used them up, throws them out into the very world that they condemned, and to fend for themselves without an ounce of help.

Meanwhile, the leaders of this group build for themselves a palace and opulent compound for THEMSELVES ONLY.

No, this group does NOT do charitable work for the poor. Instead they actually USE and ABUSE their own members. That's truly who these people are, and have ALWAYS been too, from the very beginning.

You will know my followers by their fruits. That's what Jesus said. Well, the WTBS has had nothing but rotten, disgusting, fruit full of worms and lies. Time to cut down the evil tree.

14

What does shunning acomplish?

by poopie in

jw
friends

well in order to shun someone you must dehumanize them much like what occurred in slavery.

dehumanizing someone now allows you treat them worst then an animal.

and now you can justify ignoring them there not human anymore.

Dunedain

Like tor1500 touched on, it is a way the Borg can use control. Its really two fold in its control. It, as tor1500 said, is used to "straighten" out wayward flock member to try and "scare" them into A- not leaving in the first place, OR, B- coming back since they lost everyone.

Another major control factor that shunning is for the Borg, is it allows them to discard and cut off ANY that THEY deem subversive or "apostate".

If someone starts to question things, or the BS that the GB is spouting is not making sense, the "looming specter" of DFing helps keep the sheeple quiet.

Then if you do have someone who IS making sense, and their questioning of the GB is valid, DFing them can control them from "tainting" any others. In the hopes of knowing that literally these persons will not even be said Hello too, it helps the Borg keep control so that ONLY their version of things an be spoken about and accepted.

JWs are a VERY high mind control cult. They are VERY extreme in their control and regulation of the R&F. Shunning is a by product of this extreme control, and can ONLY exist in a VERY high control group.

The scary thing is, and its very typical of high control groups, is that they actually have the R&F believing that shunning is for their benefit, when in reality it is an extremely unloving and unscriptural rule.

They more control they lose, then the more they ramp up the shunning. We can see this clearly is the pattern, and even more so in recent times. They cats outta the bag though. They are losing more than they are gaining, and the stricter even more higher controlling policies are back firing on them.

Its not working. All shunning does is PROVE they are a cult, and that they are a high control one at that. It accomplishes nothing but chasing more people away, which if you think about it, is maybe a good thing.

I know personally, when I was first DFd, I thought it was the worst thing that could have happened. Now, 20 yrs later, I am SOO glad it happened. It released me from the clutches of these evil men. It allowed me to really ponder if this was the truth, and I was able to research with a clear conscience other information, and now I truly DO have the truth, lol.

32

CO working at Walmart

by the girl next door in

it just took me by surprise.

i remember him from a decade or so ago.

he came up with gems like, “weddings are for women, they are not necessary.” also, “if you want to be truly happy, marry an ugly woman.”.

Dunedain

Wow, he went from slaving for one billion dollar corporation, to slaving for another. At least with Walmart, he MIGHT get benefits.

What a joke. Being a CO is the epitome of being on the "top" spiritually, in JW land. He was practically worshiped by the sheep. His every word was hung onto, and pondered, and dissected as coming from Jah.

99% of COs are haughty, judgemental creeps. They get off on the "power" they have. Even the Elders step all over each other to kiss their asses. Don't get me wrong, over the years there definitely were a few "gems" of human beings that were COs. They REALLY did care, and were decent people, but unfortunately, they were not the norm.

For someone to be a CO, they were "IT". They were the top of the JW food chain. The fact that they need to be working at a Walmart during the twilight of their lives, means they have been truly tossed aside by the BORG.

Where is Jahs blessing? Where is Jah taking care of his own? Nope, its just more proof that the WBTS has lost its way. There is NO spirit there. There is NO blessings from Jah. When COs are tossed aside like yesterdays news, its another nail in the coffin of the WTBS's grave.

13

Do jw's have any concept of numbers re: population?

by carla in

jw
friends

i was just thinking about how jw's like to brag about having 8 million members world wide and thought i might look up just what those numbers really mean in the big scheme of things.

back in the day when me & my jw were still discussing anything jw he thought that 8 million people couldn't be wrong.

i tried to tell him what a minuscule amount that really is to no avail.

Dunedain

Tssk Tssk Tsssk, you are forgetting about all the millions, or thousands, or tens of thousands, whatever, that will be resurrected.

They are going to "fill" up the world too, or state of Virginia. Oh wait, where will they "wake up" from the resurrection?

Will they be spread out all over the world? Who will welcome them? What language will they speak? How will only around 8 millions people spread out over planet earth, coordinate and communicate with each other to coordinate and communicate with all the ones being resurrected?

Wait, I know, Jehovah will magically do it, that's it. See, its really simple.

8

Husband let pregnant wife, unborn baby die over blood transfusion

by AFRIKANMAN in

a man took to facebook to share his experience at a general hospital in lagos state, and its bound to leave you speechless.. in the post that he shared on social media, the man revealed how he got to the point of beating up a man whose wife had just died.. http://www.pulse.ng/gist/metro/pregnant-woman-unborn-child-die-over-jehovahs-witness-belief-id8007373.html?utm_content=bufferbe61d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

Dunedain

@ Outahere - Its so true, Jews themselves even have enough sense to use moderation.

What I always found absurd, and highly illogical concerning not taking blood, is if the blood was sacred because it SYMBOLIZED life, how could that supersede the ACTUAL life of the person who is dying????

It makes NO sense. In JW world the SYMBOL of life is more important than the ACTUAL life, so STUPID. The sad thing though, is the lives of the many people over the years, due to a poor, archaic decision from 7 MEN in Brooklyn.

53

Is Satan Real ?

by jdash in

i've been pondering on this question for awhile now, and i'm starting to think this malevolent spirit creature isn't real.

.

do you guys believe satan is real?

Dunedain

The "invention" of Satan, is a very simple minded attempt to "explain" the many evils in the world. There are, have been, and always will be, tremendous evils, atrocities, and horrors, that befall humankind, and the world in general.

The animal kingdom moves on, survives, and adapts to these things. Humans have a need to explain these things. To accept such horrors, is sometimes inconceivable to most.

Satan was an attempt by mankind to "answer" why these evils happen. Its almost childlike to say that ALL evil happened, and came into this world from, and by ONE creature.

A creature that we cannot see. We cannot talk to, and we cannot ever truly know. It makes it easy to say the "boogeyman" did it. Satan is the ultimate "boogeyman". The cause for all the wrongs, but he is simply a manmade concept created to "explain" what we don't want to accept.

Yes his forms and name have changed over the years. His place in culture has changed over the years. The way in which he is used, by the clergy as a scare tactic, by the simple as an explanation, and so on and so forth.

In the end Satan is simply a name and face to place upon all that is wrong in the world.

12

Other Religious Denominations

by Plato in

jw
friends

it’s me again, your favorite greek philosopher xdd.. i was wondering if any ex-jws around here have since indetified with other christian denominations.

if that is the case for you, how has it been?

do you feel more welcome?

Dunedain

I truly say to each his own, but with that being said, myself personally, I could never understand why someone who left the Borg would ever get involved with another denomination of Christianity, or at least in an organized way.

I would be more prone to go towards a completely different faith, like Hinduism lol, than Christianity, simply for the fact that it would be a different beast all together, and a learning experience. Again, this is if I went in an organized religious way.

I think I still "lean" towards Christianity, when it comes to a religious mind set, but it is my own version of it, based on my own knowledge, and gleaning of information. I find it crazy to me, when I hear of someone who was a JW, left, and went back to Catholicism. I know specifically of an old family friend who did just that. I don't get it.

Again, to each his own though. If that makes you happy, then so be it. Personally, I would rather dive in head first into learning about evolution, than diving into another version of organized religion. I am at a phase now where gaining knowledge in subjects I am not as educated in, is my goal. I want to learn more about evolution, for example, if its real, how it works, what the facts are, so I will direct my time n energy in that direction.

I just don't feel that another form of Christianity is worthy of my valuable time and resources. Again, just my personal opinion.