NotFormer

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Posts by NotFormer

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  17

  Punishment and control: the secret handbook that rules a religion

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this article is behind a paywall: https://www.smh.com.au/national/punishment-and-control-the-secret-handbook-that-rules-a-religion-20231026-p5ef9z.html.

  a herald investigation has uncovered disturbing practices within the jehovah’s witness church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control in a secret rule book for church “elders”.. australian children in the jehovah’s witnesses religion are being trained to avoid life-saving blood transfusions and parents are being coached to thwart court processes that may prevent their children from dying, internal church documents reveal.. an investigation following an inquest into the death of jehovah’s witness heather winchester, who died in newcastle after refusing a blood transfusion, has uncovered disturbing practices within the australian church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control contained in the secret rule book for church “elders”.. the church’s blood transfusion ban forces people to choose between risking death by refusing treatment or being “shunned” – cut off from family and friends under the church’s strict rules – according to 16 former and current members of the church interviewed and the testimony of many others.. .

  some of them believe it has cost hundreds of lives in australia.. “i think it’s truly dangerous for children, who are not old enough to vote or drive, to be coached about how to convince a judge or doctors about a decision that is potentially life-threatening,” said fleur hawes, 32, a solicitor who escaped the religion and is speaking out for the first time.. in public, the jehovah’s witnesses’ leadership downplays the impacts of its ban on blood transfusions, which are based on interpretations of bible passages that say christians should not eat blood.. .

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  NotFormer

  Yes, we have known all that since forever, but the readers of the Sydney Morning Herald haven't. Everytime an article like this is put in front of the unaware public, it arguably helps in the long run. And it is a long run. Even in the best case realistic scenario, the WT will outlive most of us (if not all of us).
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  10

  Talk Outline needed

  by vienne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i need the talk outline connected to the handbill pictured here:.

  https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2023/11/talk-outline.html.

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  NotFormer

  Ah, so it was another buzzword! 🙄
• 
  24

  BadAss Bethelites, did they really peak in the 1960's?

  by was a new boy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in the 70's a bethel elder told me that every morning in the 60's the paint and scaffold crew, (which was located on the 5th floor of building 4) would go up to the roof and walk around the perimeter on top of the ledge, which i doubt was more than 12" wide.

  then they'd go render sacred service to jehovah..

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  NotFormer

  Balaam's Ass was the screen name of a particularly belligerent KJV Only Landmark Baptist who made his mark in the early days of the internet. He was forced to tone his polemics down and removed a lot of his combative content. He closed down the Balaam's Ass page, I believe.

  He emerged about the time that Gail Riplinger emboldened the KJV Only extremists with her book in the early 90s. I know that this is a site about JWs, but KJV Onlyism is a great study in cultic behaviour.
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  24

  BadAss Bethelites, did they really peak in the 1960's?

  by was a new boy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in the 70's a bethel elder told me that every morning in the 60's the paint and scaffold crew, (which was located on the 5th floor of building 4) would go up to the roof and walk around the perimeter on top of the ledge, which i doubt was more than 12" wide.

  then they'd go render sacred service to jehovah..

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  NotFormer

  Diogenesister, sisters did serve at Bethel. Did those who made it have to have close connections with someone already in the hierarchy? Were you told that you could never aspire to such lofty levels (and pairs of socks) by anyone (in as many words)?
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  27

  Pornography in the Marriage

  by LostintheFog1999 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the magazine that they are studying in the congregation this month has an article at the back about how pornography in a marriage could damage the relationship.. there's one piece of advice that sounds rather scary, the wt suggests that the couple should "consider asking an elder with whom you are both comfortable to sit in and guide your discussions for a time.".

  how many of you would want an elder present in your home while you and your partner discussed your personal sexual cravings and the type of porn videos being watched?.

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  NotFormer

  The "Disney bought Pornhub" thing was a joke that turned into an urban legend.

  I wanted to see The Stud, but only because I mistakenly thought that "Let's All Chant" by The Michael Zager Band was on the soundtrack. It turned out that the movie I was thinking of was "The Eyes Of Laura Mars". Glad I never saw that; I was never into that sort of movie! 😱 I saw The Stud years later on video: crappy movie and no Michael Zager. 🙄 It wasn't until the age of the internet that I finally figured out what went wrong.
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  10

  Talk Outline needed

  by vienne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i need the talk outline connected to the handbill pictured here:.

  https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2023/11/talk-outline.html.

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  NotFormer

  Did those sorts of handouts get much interest from outsiders? Would handing those out in 1957 have got many bums on seats in that (now deceased) Kingdom Hall?

  What on Earth does "Good-Will Persons Welcome" mean?? Was English the first language of whoever composed that handout?
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  27

  TODAY is my 56th anniversary of GOING TO PRISON as a Jehovah's Witness Conscientious Objector

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what happened to jehovah’s witness young men and why did it happen?______in the 1960s men of draft age were called upon to either serve in the military (during the vietnam war) or to comply with the alternate service option: serving in a hospital or community in need.. non-jehovah’s witnesses were faced with only one refusal: military service.jw boys and young men were instructed (in private) to refuse the alternate civilian service as well.

  the superior authorities had made this exemption for people of conscience.the law was clear on this.

  if we worked in a hospital community we would be free to go about our witnessing ministry - if we double-refused: we would languish in prison.a no-brainer to them.

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  NotFormer

  What did the powers that be in the WT think they were achieving? They could have had their conscientious objectors employed and able to do field service. Instead, they gave them criminal records and thus reduced their ability to donate to "da whirled woid woik".

  Those Newboy threads about Bethel life suggested that the situation was deliberately created to establish a pool of desperate young men who would willingly serve at Bethel under any conditions. That Bethel's heyday coincides with that era is probably not really that much of a coincidence after all.
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  17

  Punishment and control: the secret handbook that rules a religion

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this article is behind a paywall: https://www.smh.com.au/national/punishment-and-control-the-secret-handbook-that-rules-a-religion-20231026-p5ef9z.html.

  a herald investigation has uncovered disturbing practices within the jehovah’s witness church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control in a secret rule book for church “elders”.. australian children in the jehovah’s witnesses religion are being trained to avoid life-saving blood transfusions and parents are being coached to thwart court processes that may prevent their children from dying, internal church documents reveal.. an investigation following an inquest into the death of jehovah’s witness heather winchester, who died in newcastle after refusing a blood transfusion, has uncovered disturbing practices within the australian church, including the systems for discipline, punishment and control contained in the secret rule book for church “elders”.. the church’s blood transfusion ban forces people to choose between risking death by refusing treatment or being “shunned” – cut off from family and friends under the church’s strict rules – according to 16 former and current members of the church interviewed and the testimony of many others.. .

  some of them believe it has cost hundreds of lives in australia.. “i think it’s truly dangerous for children, who are not old enough to vote or drive, to be coached about how to convince a judge or doctors about a decision that is potentially life-threatening,” said fleur hawes, 32, a solicitor who escaped the religion and is speaking out for the first time.. in public, the jehovah’s witnesses’ leadership downplays the impacts of its ban on blood transfusions, which are based on interpretations of bible passages that say christians should not eat blood.. .

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  NotFormer

  Talking out of both sides of their mouth, as always, Biahi.

  The Sydney Morning Herald is one of the main newspapers here in Australia.

  It's not a bad article, hopefully it'll raise or maintain awareness as to the true nature of the WT.
• 
  10

  Talk Outline needed

  by vienne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i need the talk outline connected to the handbill pictured here:.

  https://truthhistory.blogspot.com/2023/11/talk-outline.html.

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  NotFormer

  What year is that dated from?
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  30

  Jehovah's Witness' bid to be excluded from abuse inquiry dismissed

  by Tahoe in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  link to article.

  a legal bid by the jehovah's witness church to get out of being part of the royal commission of inquiry into abuse in care has been dismissed by the high court in wellington.. after nearly three years of behind-the-scenes legal wrangling to avoid scrutiny from the inquiry, the church applied for a judicial review in june.. at a hearing, held earlier this month it argued it was beyond the inquiry's scope because it did not operate institutions that cared for children or vulnerable people and the inquiry had uncovered no evidence of abuse in that context.. lawyers representing the inquiry argued that jehovah's witness elders - equivalent to ministers or pastors - exercised a level of control over the congregation that allowed them access to children.. the inquiry informed abuse survivors who gave evidence to the inquiry in relation to the jehovah's witnesses of the news this afternoon.. "we have received advice from the high court that none of the causes of action brought by the jehovah's witnesses has succeeded and the application for judicial review has been dismissed.

  the judge's reasons are not yet available, but are expected in the near future," the email to survivors, seen by rnz, said.. the church was the only faith-based institution in the country to legally challenge its involvement in the inquiry, although it had attempted to challenge its status in other countries where similar inquiries have also been carried out.. the inquiry said, in a statement, that the dismissal "means the royal commission can continue to investigate the jehovah's witnesses, and all other faiths, in accordance with the pastoral care approach we have been applying since 2019".. "reasons for the high court's judgment are not yet available but are expected in the near future.

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  NotFormer

  I was a bit premature about NZ's change of govt. Labour lost the election on October 14, but the winning parties are still negotiating a coalition agreement.

  Does anyone have any idea if a change of government will affect the inquiry in any way?