King Solomon

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Posts by King Solomon

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  104

  “We will decide who is a predator!” – New Watchtower Instructions to Elders on Child Abuse

  by Jaime l de Aragon in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  must read on jehovahs witnesses watchtower arrogance in failure to warn of congregation pedophiles.. http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/we-will-decide-who-is-a-predator-new-watchtower-instructions-to-elders-on-child-abuse?fb_action_ids=10151270345663993&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582.

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  King Solomon

  Anderson info said:

  As far as I was concerned, WT's Legal Department had its footprints all over it. It's just great that as per the October 1, 2012 BOE letter, now WT headquarters will determine who the "known" molesters are in congregations and the elders are taken off the hook. You know it when the elders read this letter, they heaved a collective sign of relief because the WT took the decision-making out of their hands and they can sleep better at night knowing that the liability buck stops at WT headquarters and not with them.

  Yup, there's a HUGE assumption of liability for WTBTS vs elders, as now they're involved in EVERY case as a potential defendent (with deep pockets). I'd have thought they were trying to let the individual elders hang out to dry, to protect the Mother Ship? Hmmm...

  But off the top of my head, I'd think one possible explanation to implement the "call us for any pedophile issues" policy might be that the Legal Dept is going to start accumulating a database of known pedophiles, and they don't want to release the entire list of names to the individual KHs for privacy concerns (and risk getting sued for defamation of character, as wrongly labelling someone as a child predator might do!), where leaks will likely occur (such as this letter itself was leaked within days). Here's where my ignorance of Bethel practices shows: do we know for a fact that they HAD been accumulating such a list in Brooklyn in the past?

  It would be interesting development, if not, as the hacker group Anonymous was trying to hack WTBTS servers to get a list of pedophiles, when that list may not have even existed before the Condi verdict....
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  52

  Django - Trailer - does this encourage Racism? View at your own descretion

  by dreamgolfer in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i am not normally one to give opinion on movies, however i saw this christmas trailer the other night and it made me think (it's at the end of the trailer and spoken by jamie foxx (he is django).

  what do you think - lets all discuss.

  http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/django-unchained-trailer-jamie-foxx-leonardo-dicaprio-christoph-waltz-334332.

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  King Solomon

  My favorite part in "Shaft" is where Richard Roundtree smashes through his window in his upstairs office to escape the bad guys. Later in the day, he returns to his office, and his windows is completely restored (and this is one of those multi pane jobs). Great stuff!

  Gotta love those continuity errors, where the Bible is chock-full of them, too. (Only difference is, you don't get movie fanatics who try to protect their favorite movie, and try to explain them away with movie apologetics, or appeals to "movie magic".)
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  12

  Question about the new "FDS" light

  by Indian Larry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if the fds is only the governing body and the governing body of today is patterned on the apostles in jerusalem in the 1st century then does that mean that paul was not of the fds?.

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  King Solomon

  So what WAS Russell then: a fraud? A deluded "mentally ill" individual who thought God directed his work?

  Are they throwing their founder under the bus to distance themselves from the goofy stuff he said?

  If so, then how can they explain their continued existence today, an organization that grew out of an uninspired lie?
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  10

  White paint

  by zed is dead in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  white paint.

  i remember in junior high school asking a question that really pissed my science teacher off.

  we were talking about color.

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  King Solomon

  OTWO said:

  Do you have to be 100% free of your past to provide the right colorful answers and attitudes to people now? I confidently say no because we are not like tainted paint.

  And that's the point I was trying to make (but OTWO made it better):

  Analogies (and parables) are a favorite rhetorical teaching device of Jesus (and is probably something you've accepted as a valid approach, without even thinking about it!), but thinking in analogous terms can be limiting when your "model" (paint) includes intrinsic limitations that end up handicapping your life. As OTWO said, we are NOT like paint, and accepting that model places non-existent limitations on you.
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  8

  A Point To Ponder....

  by JWOP in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've viewed several videos of judicial committees formed against so-called "apostates", and i still vividly remember my own jc on charges of apostasy.

  a common thread that is obvious is that the accused always tries to state his or her case, while the attending stepford elders pretend to listen and then continue on with watchtower propaganda.. and it hit me:.

  often times the accused will present a logic that is difficult for the three elders to answer; as a result the three will bumble through it for a minute or two before someone regains "composure"and responds with a watchtower response.. is the prescribed presence of three elders a "safety feature" to ensure that any one elder doesn't get derailed from watchtower propaganda?.

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  King Solomon

  Sab said:

  I know you are used to doing it, but you don't get to define how life works, no matter how many agree with you.

  Uh, if everyone agrees that life works in a particular manner, then that IS how it works. Look up social contract sometime, as it's one of the few examples where "an appeal to popular opinion" IS valid (another example is voting, where each person gets one vote; group opinion wins).

  Your moral compass has been pointing in only a single direction for quite some time now. Life is a world that we make and we can change it any time we like. It helps to realize that instead of falsely claiming that life lives us instead of the other way around.

  Maybe you missed that the topic is related to group dynamics of elders on a JC, and not freedom of the individual? Maybe you missed that the elders invited him to the JC committee, not vice-versa? Even if you pitched the question as a show of hands, the opinion of 3 outweighs that of the 1. If the person doesn't like those odds, the answer is simple: go somewhere else and find another group, or go your own way. It really IS that simple.

  In a group like JWs, the individual doesn't make the rules; the elders are simply cogs in a massive machine, and hoping to move up as a result of following the rules (which is way to rise in any organization). For all members (including random members of the GB, eg Ray Franz), you either go with the group or you're out.

  That's how real-life works, Sab, whether you're talking JWs, politics, military, the business/corporate world, etc. The key is to learn how to survive as an individual INSIDE a group, AKA learning to play the game, and hopefully not selling out your soul to do so.
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  8

  A Point To Ponder....

  by JWOP in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've viewed several videos of judicial committees formed against so-called "apostates", and i still vividly remember my own jc on charges of apostasy.

  a common thread that is obvious is that the accused always tries to state his or her case, while the attending stepford elders pretend to listen and then continue on with watchtower propaganda.. and it hit me:.

  often times the accused will present a logic that is difficult for the three elders to answer; as a result the three will bumble through it for a minute or two before someone regains "composure"and responds with a watchtower response.. is the prescribed presence of three elders a "safety feature" to ensure that any one elder doesn't get derailed from watchtower propaganda?.

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  King Solomon

  My impression of the video was that Raypublisher might've as well been talking to a wall, since the JC wasn't convened as a brainstorming session to fix whatever ails the WTBTS, but simply for Ray to state whether he wants to continue to be a JW. It really is as simple as that: do you want to stay or do you want to go?

  He kept bringing up other issues into the proceeding, but that's a waste of their time: it was all about HIS desire to repent and rehabilitate, or to hit the road. If his doubts were based on a misunderstanding, then sure, they could try to explain it. But some evidence that seems absolutely rock-solid compelling is going to strike someone else as easily explained and dismissed. That's life.

  Besides, it wasn't like Raypublisher was going to convince them to stage a coup from their KH in CA, with him convincing the other elders to form a break-away group (and for what point? If you know the WTBTS is BS, then it's an "accept/reject" deal: you HAVE to toss it all out, and not try to "reform" it).

  I imagine it would not be unusual to have a 3rd younger elder take a part, simply as training, not to lead, as much as to watch the process and approach (learning by practicing).
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  10

  White paint

  by zed is dead in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  white paint.

  i remember in junior high school asking a question that really pissed my science teacher off.

  we were talking about color.

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  King Solomon

  Remember that paint relies on it's color via selective REFLECTION of the ambient light, i.e. it absorbs ALL wavelength of light EXCEPT the one that we perceive as it's color.

  eg If the color of the object (say, painted blue) is not present in the ambient light (eg sodium halide street lights put out yellow light), then the paint color won't appear blue, but BLACK.

  The story is different when you're talking about creating light by mixing wavelengths, which is where white light is all wavelengths.

  Just a bit of scientific correctness for you, since you want to build an analogy with it. :)

  All I know is that I want to be as pure as possible, and not be influenced by ugliness from my past. I want to distribute beautiful colors without the tinges, to those I care deeply about.

  So, just do it. You don't need to build a metaphor to do it, just do it. :)

  Of course the answer is that you need a base paint devoid of color. That is what I need in my life right now.

  Nope, I diagree. You cannot change the past, but you DO need to be aware that what you perceive IS tainted by prior experiences, and hence you really should re-evaluate everything, not denying that your basic assumptions MAY be flawed.

  I think denying our past is a mistake, rather than accepting it and learning from it. Just accept it as a lesson you learned, a step you took that even if wrong was a step YOU took, and one that got you to where you are today. You wouldn't be the you of todaqy without that being you in the past.
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  27

  The opposite of love is ......

  by caliber in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the opposite of love is ..... is the opposite of love indifference.

  is the opposite of love hate.

  is the opposite of love fear.

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  King Solomon

  this is so true.. so my mind asks myself... why does everything need direct opposites like a mathematical equation anyway?

  so the question of what is opposite of love may be bogus... but at least gives food for thought

  Now you're getting somewhere.

  ALL emotions exist ONLY in our heads, and don't exist outside of a brain, i.e. there is no physical element that can be isolated and concentrated and sold as "pure love".

  Instead, all emotions result as an interaction of neurotransmitters stimulating certain receptors in certain areas of the brain, and much like imagining the sound of one hand clapping, you cannot separate the physical hardware from the effect produced. Hence it is irreducible, and hence somewhat pointless to ask if you're looking for an answer.

  Hence why it's fun to speculate on things (such as whether love is unconditional or not), but it's a non-theological version of arguing how many angels can sit on the head of a pin (since angels aren't proven to exist).
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  198

  Rutherford's smear campaign (a must read)

  by Leolaia in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  there has been some interest recently about the moyle case, and how it may have set a precident in what became the society's disfellowshipping policy.

  in july 1939, the chief legal counsel of the watchtower bible & tract society, olin r. moyle, resigned from his position in a protest over conditions at bethel and rutherford's mistreatment of workers.

  he did not want to continue living under those conditions and he felt he could effect positive change for his brothers by taking such a stand.

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  King Solomon

  So the lesson there was, don't piss off the Judge?

  Rutherford let Moyle have it with BOTH barrels, lol, taking no prisoners!

  Irony being, by protesting Moyle's disclosure of confidential matters, Rutherford in fact was doing the SAME (arguably worse), airing Bethel's dirty laundry in public via the publishing might of the Mighty WTBTS printing presses!

  (and you've got to wonder how the average publisher managed to sell THAT article at the door: what sales pitch do you think they used to explain the topic? )

  Ps are we getting closer to finding a smoking gun to explain word choice of "discreet"?
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  30

  The Governing Body has to Become the Faithful & Discreet Slave

  by Mickey mouse in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the growing ranks of the anointed are a threat to their power.

  today's watchtower made it clear that jehovah uses the governing body, no mention of the faithful & discreet slave.. i think they need new light on this in the next year or two..

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  King Solomon

  Leo said:

  " Inanimate things? Oh!!!! "The great crowd are..... pets????"

  Not Sheep?

  I've always thought it funny the way Xians romanticized the loving/caring relationship between a shepherd and his flock, as if not realizing that the shepherd is not raising them as his fluffy soft pets, but for their meat! You'd think being called a sheep would be a BIG HINT, but apparently not...