Posts by Anders Andersen

34

1980s Brochure/magazine on demon possession?

by caves in

does anyone else remember a brochure/ magazine from the early 80s with stories of demon possessed individuals and spiritism ?

i dont think i saw it around very long.

it had a story about some lady having her head snapped around by a demon.

Anders Andersen

Perhaps this one from 1978?

http://www.watchtowerwayback.org/jw-wb/English/Brochures/1978%20Unseen%20spirits%20do%20they%20help%20us%20or%20do%20they%20harm%20us%20(us-E).pdf

14

Watchtower Corporation Hacked By It's Own IT Department

by Brokeback Watchtower in

it's hard for me to think that the watchtower it department must be fully aware of wt duplicity as in they are experts in using the internet and are fully aware of what the internet is saying about their boss.. so why not hack them and make more public their utter bullshit in a humanitarian concern expressed by what ever powers he has to reduce guilt.. as the reputation of the watchtower goes south and more dirt is revealed the more likely it is for those in position of trust like watchtower it department to be forced into a very precarious position of helping a bunch of frauds and so why should it be of any surprise that some type of corrective vengeance is planed by many members of the it..

Anders Andersen

It's hard for me to think that the Watchtower IT department must be fully aware of WT duplicity as in they are experts in using the internet and are fully aware of what the internet is saying about their boss.

Think harder ;-)

Humans are (unknowingly) experts at compartmentalizing.

I'm an IT guy (in a regular company). I am an expert in using the internet. Yet I never knew what the internet was saying about Watchtower.

Why not? Because I didn't look and didn't search. After all, we have all bee inoculated against the temptation of looking at apostate websites. That same fear or hesitation that most felt when they first visited this site keeps most JW - including the internet savvy crowd - away from websites critical of JW.

Compare it this way: there are many prolific book readers, even among JW. They read many, many books. Does that mean they know what people have been writing about Watchtower? No, not until they actually read a book about that specific topic.

Edit to add: I'm not really fond of clickbait title by the way! It contributes to confusion and fake news, and we don't need that!

40

Branch Co-ordinators letter re the Australian Royal Commission

by stuckinarut2 in

this letter was posted on the aust and nz facebook group this week.. it is self explanatory!

wow.... it seems to be their attempt at controlling the situation after the arc fallout.. .

Anders Andersen

So this letter is genuine?

Yes. The formatting matches current and confirmed branch letters, and the letter is in the official ARC evidence (most likely provided by Watchtower themselves as evidence that branch Australia is doing their best)

I'm sure Watchtower would have jumped at the opportunity to show how apostates are liars if the ARC accepted a fake letter. What better opportunity to suggest that opposers make up all kinds of stuff, maybe even child abuse claims?

38

Strange first names among jw's

by fulano in

do you remember those families where all the sons and daughters had weird biblical names?.

i recall a " machlon" , "eunice" , even a "jehosafath".

can you believe it..

Anders Andersen

Yep.

Funny thing: My daughter has a somewhat Biblical name, but we only found out after we liked it.
We got her name from a TV series (with spies and guns and fights lol), and like both the sound and the meaning.

So when we thought that must be the name, I started a search to see if that name means anything weird or despicable in other languages, or maybe there is a criminal or terrorist or evil organisation with that name. Basically to prevent accidentally naming her the equivalent of Dick, Adolf, Isis or Watchtower.

That's when I found out that it's actually also a Biblical word, and even with a nice meaning too! Well six months later I became a pomo atheist, but it's funny that we accidentally gave our daughter a Biblical(lish) name (it's not used as a name in the Bible)

40

Branch Co-ordinators letter re the Australian Royal Commission

by stuckinarut2 in

this letter was posted on the aust and nz facebook group this week.. it is self explanatory!

wow.... it seems to be their attempt at controlling the situation after the arc fallout.. .

Anders Andersen

Oh lol I should have looked up ARC case 54 instead of 29.

This is definitely a real letter. This very same letter in deposited as evidence with the ARC:

https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/CORR.0375.001.0001.pdf

Full text for those who have a hard time reading it:

Dear Brothers:
We are seeking your direction in responding to the Royal Commission hearing into the Institutional Response to Child Abuse held last year and the anticipated soon-to-be-released final report from the commissioners. The request herein is to show the Royal Commission that we have acted on some of the recommendations made during the hearing. We are hopeful that by doing so, this may soften the final report of the commissioners and minimize any likelihood of having representatives of the branch being called back again to a further hearing before the commissioners.
Our request is to make available to the Royal Commission the letter to All Bodies of Elders dated August 1, 2016 re. Protecting Minors From Abuse and the S-66 document provided to Branch Committees and Service Desk overseers. We appreciate the confidential nature of both documents, but also recognize that it may not take too long a time before these documents find their way to the Internet. It seems to us that by the branch providing both documents to the Royal Commission; it will show that we have done what is reasonable in the way of satisfying some of the policy matters that comply with both their thinking and ours, where they do not compromise Scriptural standards. No doubt it will be much better if the Commission receives this information from the branch, rather than from apostate opposers.
However, in making this request we are glad to follow whatever direction you may provide. Thank you for considering this request. Please be assured of our warmest Christian love and best wishes.
Your brother,
For the Australasia Branch Committee

40

Branch Co-ordinators letter re the Australian Royal Commission

by stuckinarut2 in

this letter was posted on the aust and nz facebook group this week.. it is self explanatory!

wow.... it seems to be their attempt at controlling the situation after the arc fallout.. .

Anders Andersen

Ah, and now I found where I saw this letter before.

It was already discussed at JWsurvey last year september: http://jwsurvey.org/child-abuse-2/jehovahs-witnesses-release-new-child-abuse-reporting-policy-net-result-business-usual

I guess this is old news then, not fake news ;-)

Anyway the way the branch approaches the issue is despicable. They really don't care about the victims, they only care about whether they'll be 'dragged before a magistrate' for their misdeeds.

40

Branch Co-ordinators letter re the Australian Royal Commission

by stuckinarut2 in

this letter was posted on the aust and nz facebook group this week.. it is self explanatory!

wow.... it seems to be their attempt at controlling the situation after the arc fallout.. .

Anders Andersen

A I found an even better example that matches the format of the letter we're discussing perfectly:

[...]

Source: Royal Commission evidence, https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/WAT.0004.001.0058.pdf
See also
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/WAT.0002.001.0013.pdf

40

Branch Co-ordinators letter re the Australian Royal Commission

by stuckinarut2 in

this letter was posted on the aust and nz facebook group this week.. it is self explanatory!

wow.... it seems to be their attempt at controlling the situation after the arc fallout.. .

Anders Andersen

For those who cry fake: apparently letters from branches to HQ do not carry the letterhead.

See this example: letter from branch Australia to HQ:

Letterhead

Ending:

Source: official evidence of Royal Commission: https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/WAT.0004.001.0010.pdf
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/WAT.0004.001.0014.pdf
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/WAT.0012.001.0009.pdf
A different example:
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/WAT.0012.001.0011.pdf

Even HQ doesn't carry a Watchtower letterhead when writing to branches:
https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/WAT.0012.001.0016.pdf

Yes I see it still looks different than the letter discussed in this topic, but at least the missing Watchtower letterhead doesn't mean it's a fake.

40

Branch Co-ordinators letter re the Australian Royal Commission

by stuckinarut2 in

this letter was posted on the aust and nz facebook group this week.. it is self explanatory!

wow.... it seems to be their attempt at controlling the situation after the arc fallout.. .

Anders Andersen

for those who find the letter is blurry: that's because this forum resizes pictures depending on your screen size. If you're on a mobile device, check the option 'get desktop site' or 'desktop mode' if your browser can do that, it will help.
I think this letter was around a long time ago already?

29

JW’s do NOT shun... (apprently)

by pale.emperor in

my quora campaign of answering all jw related questions truthfully with evidence is going well.

however, one jw had the audacity to claim that "jws do not shun".

they seem to want to present a fake, squeeky clean image to non-members and seem to get angry when answering questions regarding shunning.. like this asshole, dennis cybulski.

Anders Andersen

I'm deliberately becoming the bane of their Quora presence.
They block me from commenting one by one. It's like a badge of honor.

I have the same...whenever I find a new zealot I poke the bear a bit. But what really irritates me are those who already disabled comments on everything, and are clearly out to recruit new victims for their cult instead of simply sharing their POV. Preying on the sad and downtrodden, whitewashing their despicable policies.

Ah well. Every now and then I manage to help someone rethink their association with Jw, and that is worth quite a lot of annoyances.

Confirmed score so far: 1 elder, 1 Bible study working towards baptism, 1 Bible study.