Sorry , wrong reference. Last one is from Asleep! June 2013.
Can't edit my post on Android.
Sorry , wrong reference. Last one is from Asleep! June 2013.
Can't edit my post on Android.
December 2015 WT:
Manipulation. Some use the silent treatment as a means to get what they want. For example, imagine that a husband and wife plan a trip and the wife would like to take her parents along. The husband objects. “You’re married to me, not to your parents,” he says. He then gives his wife the silent treatment, shunning her in the hope that she will break down and concede to his wishes.
But when it is used as a means to retaliate or manipulate, the silent treatment not only prolongs conflict but also erodes the respect [people] have for each other. How can you prevent that from happening to you?
The first step to ending the silent treatment is to recognize it for what it is—a tactic that, at best, works only short-term. True, not talking may quench your thirst for retaliation or compel [the disfellowshipped person] to give in to your wishes. But is that really how you want to treat someone whom you have vowed to love? There are better ways to resolve conflicts.
The silent treatment runs counter to the Bible’s admonition: “Let each one of you individually so love his wife as he does himself; on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband.” (Ephesians 5:33) Why not make an agreement with your spouse that the silent treatment is unacceptable in your marriage?
(Isn't the congregation compared to a marriage in the Bible? If shunning is bad in a marriage, why is it good within families or between friends?)
And then they have the courage to say something about people who react strongly when a loved one might end up in this cult:
July 2009 Awake article “Is It Wrong to Change Your Religion?”
“No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.“
Awake 2003, 11/08, “When Loved Ones Do Not Share Your Faith”
“Many who are not true Christians love their parents and other relatives and communicate regularly with them regardless of their religious affiliation. Should Christian Witnesses do any less?”
Watchtower 2002, 01/01, “All True Christians Are Evangelizers”, $15
“Pressuring people to change their religion is wrong. Certainly, Jehovah’s Witnesses do not act in such a way.”
Used these quotes in a letter to relatives who decided to shun me without me being marked or dfed. They probably won't read it, or don't see the hypocrisy.
these are some of the things the wbt$ 'taught' me:.
dishonesty is fine if it's to trick people into joining the cult.. if your spouse stops believeing, the best thing you can do is break up the family.. the laws of the governing body overrule any other laws...or else!.
my friends are conditional.. avoid loving people, they'll only let you down or get df'd.. unintelligent dumbos are better than intelligent ones if the dumbos are elders or above.. hate is better than love.. i am not good enough and god will probably enjoy killing me.. demons will appear in my room at night.. ignore practicallity if being practical or loving prevents the leaders getting money or praise.. god hates.
I learned that...
Thinking about this whole mind control shit they pull, and many otherwise intelligent people falling for it....I suddenly start to understand how something like Nazi Germany was possible :-(
If humble and kind people can be made to shun their closest relatives, imagine (or remember) what can happen when an even more evil group is in control.
today i am working on writing my disassociation letter.
i successfully faded a year ago.
but i feel like i can't keep looking over my shoulder anymore i just need to be completely rid of this cult.. any suggestions on letter and it's content?.
You can be honest with your mother.
Even if she goes to the elders, no problem there.
If elders contact you, politely but firmly refuse to talk to them, ask them to never contact you again. Don't offer any explanation, they are not entitled to hear it.
With only one witness (your mother) and no confession, there's nothing they can do.
You told your mother, played the elders but not by their rules. You win.
At least, this worked in my situation (replace mother with wife).
YMMV.
anyone that is/was a dedicated jehovah's witness knows that the worship of the ''faithful and discreet slave'' is the only relationship we know.i don't remember having a personal relationship with jehovah without the governing body being in the way.they make all the rules on every matter.anyone who thinks that jehovah has any control on your daily matters is a fool.jehovah's witnesses only answer to an organization!.
"we do not dedicate ourselves to a religion, nor to a man, nor to an organization.
no, we dedicate ourselves to the supreme sovereign of the universe, our creator, jehovah god himself.
Does it really matter?
I dedicated myself to Jehovah, tried to follow Jesus, and trusted JW GB for being Jesus" brothers giving me spiritual food at the right time.
Now I know Jehovah does not exist, Jesus is dead (if he ever really existed), and JW GB are dishonest liars repeating themselves ad nauseam.
My dedication 'contract' cannot possibly be binding, because all the other relevant parties in the agreement (Jhwh,JC) do not exist, and the party that assisted in setting up the contract (JWorg) is a fraud.
So even if a baptism question was 'do you swear you will sacrifice your firstborn to Satan'....I wouldn't care anymore :-D
hello everyone!just a little background info, i haven't been to a meeting in over a year.
my wife has asked me to go with her tonight to help watch our son since it's the circuit overseers visit...my wife wants to be able to pay attention and get something out of the meeting since our son is 1yr old he can be a handful some times.. a few things of note about the situation:.
- i'm going to the meeting no matter what.
Kudos to you for showing your wife what unconditional love looks like!
Now for some bad answers:
Missed you! - Well swing by my home any day! Coffee ready!
Start coming back? - *pinch* Oh wait, my kid is crying! :-p
Wasn't that a wonderful meeting? - With Jeff and the ARC? Best meeting ever, hands down (under)!
it seems like the watchtower is still encouraging "theocratic warfare".
in the no.1 watchtower of 2016, they (ironically) printed an article on honesty.here is something they said:"lyingwhat is it?
saying something false to someone who is entitledto know the truth.
I guess soon JW will get their own dictionary for these words and topics.
For each of these they have either stated their own definition already, or they show their own definition by their behaviour.
BTW I know dictionaries are normally in alphabetical order, but they might have their own version as well? Just pick and choose and you'll end up with Alef, Beth, Gimel, D,EA,F,.......,Omega
the dna code could be used to store unimaginable amounts of information.. researchers have shown that encasing the dna is glass it would remain stable and able to be recovered for more than a million years.
by adding redundancies into the code it would still be preserved even if it did become damaged.. why didn't god think about encoding a simple "hello"?.
read more here.... bbc video here....
@Cofty,
Yes, if only God was as clever as scientists. Then we would have unrefutable proof of his existence.
He sure could have foreseen that newborn skeptics like me really need that level of evidence?
Or does he really expect us to accept random explanations of a Bronze Age book by Brooklyn goofballs?
Or maybe some tiny little verifiable miracle? I mean, according to the Bible and JW yearbooks, praying will make goats go striped or spickled, sheepskin dry or wet, dead wood blossom, Witnesses sent to your door...But apparently what I asked for (any one brother making a random remark about creation to me while at the kh) was to complicated.
Let alone convincing evidence for all to see (instead of having to believe an ancient dude who just learned to write)
Okay, rant modus off ;-)
the dna code could be used to store unimaginable amounts of information.. researchers have shown that encasing the dna is glass it would remain stable and able to be recovered for more than a million years.
by adding redundancies into the code it would still be preserved even if it did become damaged.. why didn't god think about encoding a simple "hello"?.
read more here.... bbc video here....
This reminds me of the scientists who created artificial DNA, and implanted it into a cell stripped from it's DNA. The cell with synthetic DNA was capable of reproducing.
So, creating life from dead materials is a step closer (in contrast to what dubs claim)
And these scientists showed God how he could have revealed himself:
To verify that they had synthesized a new organism and not assembled the DNA from another natural bacteria, scientists encoded a series of 'watermarks' into the genes of M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0. There are four of these hidden messages: an explanation of the coding system used, a URL address for those who crack the code to go visit, a list of 46 authors and contributors, and a series of famous quotes. The presence of these watermarks verifies that M. mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 truly is synthetic and demonstrates the precision and power of JCVI's new techniques in synthetic biology