I'll repost my favourite Deep Space Nine quote in response
Garak: Everything I've said is true
Bashir: Even the lies?
Garak: Especially the lies!
NotFormer
JoinedPosts by NotFormer
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27
The Governing Body - Both sides of their coin
by Ron.W. inhow many can you think of.... they speak for god.. it would seem presumptuous to say they speak for god,.
they are neither inspired nor infallible.. they are god's only channel for issuing truth here on earth.
they won't be apologising for any errors/falsehoods they have promoted in the past that fail.. congregation members must be quick and apologise for their errors to avoid harsh discipline/disfellowshipping.. when they change a major belief/doctrine you must not complain or criticise them.
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Leaving update
by MissDaSilva injust to give you guys an update on mine and my son’s exit from the matrix.
my son put on his instagram page he was no longer a jw and wished everyone a merry christmas.
🎄💥😳the blocks/unfollows came thick and fast.
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NotFormer
It sounds like you were in a good position to simply lob that grenade, MissDaSilva. Not everybody has that luxury, but I'm glad that you were able to and won't suffer so badly.
It would be nice to see more do it like that; that would prove that the grip of fear that they have on those questioning is losing it's power. Perhaps Bethel, which never reads boards like this (🙄), will start to see that they're losing the ability to hurt people in the way they used to.
But everyone has their own reasons and needs and has to work within those boundaries.
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13
70s Cartoons
by NotFormer inthere're the obvious ones, like the smurfs.
although why still escapes me.
was it because of the magic, that they were "magical creatures", that there were wizards, etc?.
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NotFormer
Diogenesister: "So they hit the GB naughty list on all three scores....ie being new, popular and for the young"
Based on the "new, popular and for the young" formula, how did Pokemon fare? 😱
I personally didn't like Pokemon, it involved making your pets fight. To me it was the moral equivalent of cock-fighting.
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70s Cartoons
by NotFormer inthere're the obvious ones, like the smurfs.
although why still escapes me.
was it because of the magic, that they were "magical creatures", that there were wizards, etc?.
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NotFormer
TD, what was the name of the French Monsignor? I'd like to read up on him; he may be the founder of all that came after, by the sound of things.
The satanic panic of the 80s grew out of some phenomena that started in the seventies. You had Mike Warnke, who claimed to have been a satanist high priest who converted to Christ.
Then you had that great purveyor of Christian comic tracts, arguably the WT's rival, Jack Chick, and his Chick Publications. He had a series of comics about Satanism informed by supposed Satanist and druid, John Todd.
Later he started publishing stuff by Dr Rebecca Brown, who claimed that churches were being infiltrated and undermined by organised witches. It was a great scapegoat at a time when the popularity and influence of Christianity seemed to be waning. It might have been tempting for the WT to lean into that one, but they already had their JCs and disfellowshipment so, credit where credit is due, they could always claim to be keeping the organisation "clean". The Watchtower was also growing and their finances were fine in the 80s, so they didn't need anything to blame their lack of growth on.
Michelle Remembers came out in the midst of all this. Her story seems to have been popularised alongside that of Laurel Rose Willson, who claimed to be a victim of satanic ritual abuse, to the point where she was supposedly breeding babies to be sacrificed to Satan.
Eventually the whole edificxoe came crashing down when Christian magazine Cornerstone began publishing investigative articles about these people and their claims. Whole "ministries" died overnight when their bogus claims were brought to light.
As for the cartoons and the toy merchandising associated with them, that was definitely being berated in "mainstream" Christianity. There was a book, Turmoil in the Toy Box, about how all that was being used by Satan to usher in the age of the Antichrist. The Smurfs and He-man both got a serve in that one. I'll come back to He-man with the appropriate 80s cartoons topic. 😉
But back to the seventies cartoons and JW kids' relationship to them. What else do you remember?
Speaking of remembering, does anyone remember the British children were tv series, Catweazle? It was about a Saxon wizard transported forward through time, from Norman times to the Twentieth century. It often showcased his occult powers. I can't imagine it would have gone down well in JW households, or mainstream Christian ones, for that matter.
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JW sign is the sacred cow being idolized by the JWs
by enoughisenough inthis video makes valid points and the last pictures in the video says it all imo...i knew witnesses who wore the logo in their jewelry.
the sign represents the organization, so the organization is what is really being worshipped instead of god almighty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktadlxlqee8.
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NotFormer
I want to see Landru elected to the GB! 🖖👽🧑🚀
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32
55 Year Cycle shows up in March 2024 Watchtower
by was a new boy indid they hope that everybody who read the1969 awake as a kid is too senile to remember?.
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NotFormer
GrreatTeacher, you might find yourself a bit confused in my rural city. The local JWs manning the trolley/cart usually wear Akubra hats (kind of like a Stetson). Would that be a regional thing? For example, would JWs in Texas wear Stetsons?
As to the girls and their cardigans, this is harkening back to the "Both sides of the coin" thread. Which way do they want to go: stand out, or blend in?
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27
The Governing Body - Both sides of their coin
by Ron.W. inhow many can you think of.... they speak for god.. it would seem presumptuous to say they speak for god,.
they are neither inspired nor infallible.. they are god's only channel for issuing truth here on earth.
they won't be apologising for any errors/falsehoods they have promoted in the past that fail.. congregation members must be quick and apologise for their errors to avoid harsh discipline/disfellowshipping.. when they change a major belief/doctrine you must not complain or criticise them.
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NotFormer
Huh! I didn't realise I had even been downvoted. I can't think why? I agree, an actual comment might help me avoid on stepping on someone's toes in future, if I've offended someone, somehow.
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13
70s Cartoons
by NotFormer inthere're the obvious ones, like the smurfs.
although why still escapes me.
was it because of the magic, that they were "magical creatures", that there were wizards, etc?.
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NotFormer
I'm just remembering all the Scooby Doo rip-offs. I guess The Funky Phantom would have been definitely off limits; he was literally a dead guy with a dead cat! (He was also a patriot during the Revolutionary War, so I guess there was that too).
Goober and the Ghostchasers: more often than not, there turned out to be a real ghost somewhere in the story, even if there was some scam being perpetrated.
Clue Club: back to Scooby Doo mechanics. The supernatural happenings and monsters were cover-ups for some local scam. The only problem I see is 13 years old Dottie is the smartest kid in the room, and often "accidentally" turns up on the scene when she's been told not to by the older kids.
Captain Caveman: probably because of the caveman factor, but I was always more concerned by the relationship of a basically naked old man with three teenaged girls. There was definitely something implied to be going on between him and Taffy.
The New Shmoo: the scams were always perpetrated by humans, but the Shmoo himself was some sort of magical creature.
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13
70s Cartoons
by NotFormer inthere're the obvious ones, like the smurfs.
although why still escapes me.
was it because of the magic, that they were "magical creatures", that there were wizards, etc?.
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NotFormer
There're the obvious ones, like the Smurfs. Although why still escapes me. Was it because of the magic, that they were "magical creatures", that there were wizards, etc?
What other ones weren't you allowed to watch? I imagine Sabrina the Teenage Witch and the Groovy Ghoulies were off limits. Heck, as a kid, I always wondered what the point of the Groovy Ghoulies was. It certainly never got a chuckle out of me, regardless of that stupid laugh track. I'd actually have been grateful if my parents had banned me from watching that one!
What about Scooby Doo? Ghosts and monsters everywhere! But it always turned out to be a crook in a mask, perpetrating a small time local scam. So, perhaps actually teaching kids about discernment and deductive reasoning.
What cartoons were off limits?
This question is asked against a background that it's entirety possible that you were dragged out in field service on a Saturday morning, so you never watched those cartoons, anyway 😔
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55 Year Cycle shows up in March 2024 Watchtower
by was a new boy indid they hope that everybody who read the1969 awake as a kid is too senile to remember?.
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NotFormer
was a new boy, That photo on page one of this thread, about how to choose appropriate friends, is a study in the dress standards. Ankle length skirts, no cleavage revealed. In fact, the way she's got her red cardigan buttoned up over her top looks like she's going for some sort of "reverse cleavage" look!