Qcmbr, I appreciate your point of view, personally I do not take the Bible literally, but try to understand the principle.
apostatethunder
JoinedPosts by apostatethunder
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13
The craziest thing I have ever read...stunned!
by Qcmbr innot certain whether to be horrified or laugh - .
why marriage and family commitment sucks - a response to the traditional christian by rock jagar.
preamble.
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A Weekend with Thousands of Jehovahs Witnesses
by betterdaze inposted by rabbi john rosove @ jewishjournal.com.
their families are patriarchal and their denomination is autocratically led by an all-male religious leadership that maintains discipline, demands obedience, compels commitment, forbids independent thinking, and insists on conformity.
those who violate communal belief and behavioral norms risk disfellowship and shunning.
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apostatethunder
First of all, witnesses are manipulated into entering the cult, none of them has all the facts when they join, and don’t have a clue who and what agenda is running this corporation. As far as they are concerned they have just being offered a free bible study, no strings attached.
From then on they are being subjected to propaganda, manipulation, and strong social pressure. Some leave but some are not strong enough, don’t have enough support, or just can’t for various reasons.
The fact that they are not allowed to voice them, doesn't mean that they don't have any doubts, and personally I never met anyone that was truly happy in this cult. What keeps them in is the fact that they are trapped in, in one way or another. It’s not that they enjoy being enslaved as this rabbi seems to believe.
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The craziest thing I have ever read...stunned!
by Qcmbr innot certain whether to be horrified or laugh - .
why marriage and family commitment sucks - a response to the traditional christian by rock jagar.
preamble.
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apostatethunder
Qcmbr, this author is taking Jesus words literally. He was obviously not talking about literal swords, or plows, and he did care about his own family.
The principle of loving your neighbour as yourself starts with those closer to you, usually your family members. Normally nobody needs to remind you to love them, in normal families and for normal individuals that happens naturally.
What is behind Jesus’ words is the principle of justice, as in for example, let’s say your son is a serial killer, you know it, but out of loyalty, you say nothing, you shelter him and help him as much as you can, because after all he is your son. If he kills hundreds of innocent people, tough.
The fact that some religions like jws abuse this principle doesn’t make it any less valid. There needs to be a balance as with everything and this author is taking his point of view to an extreme to discredit the whole of Jesus message.
What he is saying has nothing to do with what Jesus taught his followers.
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Education is the Key to Everything
by OnTheWayOut ineducation (not necesarily structured classroom and not necessarily college) is really the key to everything.\.
skyrocketing birthrates go down when the women get educated about birth control and disease.
even where such education is freely available, birthrates go down further when the women go to college and wait to have babies.
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apostatethunder
I worry about educators, and the principles they are teaching to those they have under their care.
They are role-models, and some of them seem to have a lot of hang ups. The subjects studied are also a substitute of the real thing. If you think about it, it’s not the same studying the Bible or a Watchtower, studying history, or a pamphlet, studying the classics, or the work of some unbalanced author, that will shape a young person with all the wrong values.
It doesn’t seem to be a real interest in improving education. Any computer can have much more data than any of us, but it is not, and never will be a human being.
I think there is a deliberate degradation of the education system, and unless this trend changes, we are not progressing as a society. We should ask ourselves who is benefiting from this.
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Education is the Key to Everything
by OnTheWayOut ineducation (not necesarily structured classroom and not necessarily college) is really the key to everything.\.
skyrocketing birthrates go down when the women get educated about birth control and disease.
even where such education is freely available, birthrates go down further when the women go to college and wait to have babies.
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apostatethunder
Education that doesn’t teach people to think critically and independently is just indoctrination. An educated fool is still a fool.
The most important education is that which develops you as a human being, and teaches you to distinguish right from wrong. Educators have a huge amount of power.
Anyone that aspires to control you knows that your education is bad business for them.
The level of education of today’s children is what is going to shape the society of the future, we should ask ourselves who benefits with a high percentage of uneducated citizens.
Probably the same reason why the WT discourages academic education.
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Those who WERE or ARE Elders (Re: Molestation Coverup)
by dontplaceliterature ini'd like to hear from those who are currently elders or were formerly elders on your honest feelings about the charges brought against the society and their general policy in handling these matters.
do you think that the society handles child abuse accusations fairly?
or, do you think their policy is abusive?
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apostatethunder
I think what is a stake for them here is that their claim that the appointments are made by holy spirit would crumble, and that would have a knock out effect all the way up to the GB, as they approve all appointments. That would open the door for witnesses to start criticising other elder’s decisions.
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From a currently serving elder: an open letter to the organization
by elderelite inthere are 1000's who who hate this religion who are stuck ....inside it.
we work against you, we use our position to convince and sway those that still drink your koolaid.
we feed info to authorities who chase you, we warn off potiential converts by directing them to the real truth.
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apostatethunder
In my last congregation, I felt the elders and even the last CO were working hard to open my eyes to the TTATT, I didn't understand their behaviour, but this may be an explanation.
They definitely should be watching their backs. A system based on lies and faking, can be infiltrated much easier that one based on honesty. They are being sabotaged from the inside.
Termites are very powerful. Good job elderelite.
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Paradise or Oblivion
by Fernando infrom youtube:.
this video presentation advocates a new socio-economic system, which is updated to present-day knowledge, featuring the life-long work of social engineer, futurist, inventor and industrial designer jacque fresco, which he calls a resource-based economy.
this documentary details the root causes of the systemic value disorders and detrimental symptoms caused by our current established system.
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apostatethunder
Losthobbit, I really wish that a more just type of world were possible, I am still reading through all the links.
I also prefer to work in something that matters than just working for the money but I recognize not everybody thinks like that. The biggest obstacle I see for a better world to be possible is that not everybody wants it, some are quite content as it is, and others want it, but their concept of justice is not necessarily what others consider just.
I will post again when I have gone through all the material. Thanks for the links.
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Greetings from Candace Conti
by AndersonsInfo incandace asked me to tell you thank you for all your kind expressions of support.
this really means a lot to her.
she wants you to know that she is coping well with all the stress and excitement, even though she's had years of anger and frustration because of being abused for so long, first by the molester, and then by the wt.
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apostatethunder
Dear Candace, I wish you all the very best in your life, you were very brave to fight against this disgusting cult, and I really admire you.
A big thank you. You have all my support and love.
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Excellent news article re Candace Conti's abuse, not for the sensitive or tender-hearted
by yesidid inhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/15/bauq1p2ph2.dtl.
sadly there are details which may make you heave or want to commit violence..
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apostatethunder
How dare this lawyer say that he doesn’t know of any other religion that was made liable for the r&f actions? They abhor child abuse but their policies allow for it, and for other abuses. Their main difference with other religions is that they have much more power over the private lives of the r&f, and take it upon themselves the keeping the congregation clean by disciplining sinners.
They have no problem humiliating a person from the platform for marrying a worldly person, or complaining about an injustice, rather than suffering in silence modestly with a submissive attitude to the ass****’s running the congregation, but at the same time they will go to great lengths to cover for each other’s miseries in order to keep their privileges, or as in this case to cover for a paedophile. They are vicariously liable for what this pervert did as they knew he was a paedophile, and they are responsible for other abuses as they have so much control over every aspect of the lives of active witnesses, including very private aspects. And they are very capable of dealing quite harshly with anyone that steps out of line in other issues in which they shouldn’t be sticking their noses into.