Posts by Anna Marina

21

STOP treating Watchtower Bible & Tract SOCIETY as a RELIGION

by Nathan R. Koppe in

"the watchtower society is not a religious society for 👥 public worship, such as a ⛪️ church, but is a 💲 business corporation..."

➡️ please use and demonstrate this if you are involved in any legal action, it's not about religious rights and freedom, this is where they are 'fooling' their followers and authorities❗️

➡️ the purpose of disfellowshipping, disassociating and shunning are 'legalistic and pharisaical tricks' to 'name and shame' anyone asking (the right) questions about it's biblical teachings (aka) doctrines, (abuse) policies and the real truth about the 'truth' (aka apostate)❗️

Anna Marina

And potentially, free labour.

The body of Christ can be described as an organisation because a body is made up or organs. But a corporation is also a body, usually set up for the purpose of business.

The thing to examine is the relationships between the people. Are they based on love (as in brotherly love and a voluntary spirit) seeking the genuine well being of the other person or are they based on contract and money. Ok, WBTS does not use money. In their case they use a kind of enticement. I am not quite sure how to describe it. Social engineering? Priviledge? Mind control?

The point I want to make is that they are not seeking the other person's well being but their exploitation.

32

30 years after leaving utterly unrecognisable

by Number 6 in

this is the first time i have posted on here in many years..... i seldom visit now although this forum was instrumental to me in gaining my sanity in the early 2000's and recovering from the watchtower religion.. by chance tonight i was on youtube and caught a jw.org video which out of curiosity prompted me to look at the official website and amongst other things i looked up the music section.. why that i hear you ask?

music is my passion and nothing reminds me more or evokes more memories than the kingdom songs i grew up listening to.. i am 49 years old and my mother was baptised in 1974. i grew up in the era of pink songbooks and green bibles.

of the theology of fred franz and types and anti-types.

Anna Marina

Hi days of future passed

You said - That was back in the day before 1975 and people had a firm belief that soon, yes soon Armageddon would bring relief and the end of death.

And some in the audience already knew they had been conned by teachings that they'd see a resurrected King David come out onto the platform.

Some who knew they had been conned were very forgiving but they spoke out. Now your are definately not allowed to speak out otherwise you are making the congregation 'dirty' with the truth.

8

My Life In the Watchtower

by Number 6 in

it is choice of name i was never happy with.

so to re-introduce myself i chose number 6, after the main character in that superb 60's sci fi series "the prisoner".

six of one, half a dozen of the other i suppose.

Anna Marina

Posted 18 years ago - wow. Haven't read your whole post but one thing stood out the ref to 1984. Did you realise that George Orwell based his Ministry of Truth on the BBC?

Program makers at the BBC have been much influenced by Hollywood communicators/film makers and the founder of PR - Sigmund Freud's nephew who paved the way for today's advertising. It was part of a sustained cultural attack which I believe was due to the fact that Marxism had failed on purely economic terms. Therefore, something else was needed.

Orwell was criticising Communism from a left-wing perspective.

My take on it is that the issue is not just about false religion, it is also spin, the destruction of logic and seeking to influence people with a view to entrapment rather than the freedom and loving kindness that Jesus Christ is all about.

2 + 2 = 4 except when we say it equals 5.

But if you know the truth about maths (plus some), it will set you free from nuked logic. Incidentally in the Greek, Jesus' disciples are called mathete. Jesus expected them to think and work things out.

20

Jehovah's Witnesses as medical records employees, and Medical Privacy laws.

by Balaamsass2 in

this subject has been brought up before.

the governing body and watchtower have repeatedly encouraged jws to show loyalty to the organization to "keep the congregation clean" by reporting wrongdoing to the elders.. i know directly of two cases.

two jws working in the records department of our local hospital "outed" 3rd gens 1st husband to the local elders when he and his mistress sought medical treatment together for stds.

Anna Marina

Odd, this is a group of people with a growing reputation for covering over child abuse.

21

STOP treating Watchtower Bible & Tract SOCIETY as a RELIGION

by Nathan R. Koppe in

"the watchtower society is not a religious society for 👥 public worship, such as a ⛪️ church, but is a 💲 business corporation..."

➡️ please use and demonstrate this if you are involved in any legal action, it's not about religious rights and freedom, this is where they are 'fooling' their followers and authorities❗️

➡️ the purpose of disfellowshipping, disassociating and shunning are 'legalistic and pharisaical tricks' to 'name and shame' anyone asking (the right) questions about it's biblical teachings (aka) doctrines, (abuse) policies and the real truth about the 'truth' (aka apostate)❗️

Anna Marina

Hi Blondie - I came in in 1992 and I remember being taught WBTS is not a religion. The one who studied with me asked me a very interesting question:

"Would you call Jesus religious?" I thought about her words for a bit then replied, "no, he wasn't."

On occassion I have asked others, who know a reasonable amount about Jesus, that question. They too respond saying Jesus wasn't religious.

Maybe the reason for this is because Jesus Christ is about freedom and treating others properly. Not binding them by re-ligaments to someone who wants to muscle in on his role.

34

Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah

by Sour Grapes in

my pimi wife listens to a lot of the meetings on the phone with the speaker on.

when i am watching tv i hear the meetings in the background.

i just cringe with how a witless can't give a comment without having said jehovah at least two times.

Anna Marina

A new word that entered their volcabulary a while back was the word 'entertainment'. An elder got on the platform and seeking to elicit more funds from the poor, informed us how expensive it was to go to a football match or a concert.

Then he said, "but where else could you go to get entertainment like this?"

Hmm. Entertainment?

32

30 years after leaving utterly unrecognisable

by Number 6 in

this is the first time i have posted on here in many years..... i seldom visit now although this forum was instrumental to me in gaining my sanity in the early 2000's and recovering from the watchtower religion.. by chance tonight i was on youtube and caught a jw.org video which out of curiosity prompted me to look at the official website and amongst other things i looked up the music section.. why that i hear you ask?

music is my passion and nothing reminds me more or evokes more memories than the kingdom songs i grew up listening to.. i am 49 years old and my mother was baptised in 1974. i grew up in the era of pink songbooks and green bibles.

of the theology of fred franz and types and anti-types.

Anna Marina

They are giving out a very green message though. They keep a few scriptures to maintain the collective, then squew the message to polar ice caps.

Do you remember the Panda Tract? What struck me was that the panda was the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund. Maybe they haven't changed that much - maybe that was always there, underlying things.

You never know Number 6, they may bring out a Green Bible again.

24

Debate

by gabcol in

back in the day, russell and rutherford would hold debates with other religious leaders.

why has jehovah's witnesses stopped doing that?

i think it would be very interesting to see how they would hold up on a debate now.

Anna Marina

Hi Smiddy - I know that in the past some were excellent at debate. I know one who is still outstanding at debate and could knock the socks off most BUT relies on others not knowing certain things. So he doesn't end up debating the pack of lies.

He can teach you some excellent stuff - but if you catch him out he turns.

21

STOP treating Watchtower Bible & Tract SOCIETY as a RELIGION

by Nathan R. Koppe in

"the watchtower society is not a religious society for 👥 public worship, such as a ⛪️ church, but is a 💲 business corporation..."

➡️ please use and demonstrate this if you are involved in any legal action, it's not about religious rights and freedom, this is where they are 'fooling' their followers and authorities❗️

➡️ the purpose of disfellowshipping, disassociating and shunning are 'legalistic and pharisaical tricks' to 'name and shame' anyone asking (the right) questions about it's biblical teachings (aka) doctrines, (abuse) policies and the real truth about the 'truth' (aka apostate)❗️

Anna Marina

As Tater-T said

The focus needs to be on the fact that they have charitable tax exempt status
But they are a business

This is what I put in a letter to all the elders in my old congregation. They were attempting to bring me to a judicial for sticking to the scriptures. So I put it to them:-

Also, how are your actions in harmony with the charitable purpose of the xxxxx xxxxxxx congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses? The charitable purpose of the congregation is teaching Christianity. But you are not teaching Christianity if you are bullying Christians into acting against their Bible trained consciences. All of Jesus Christ’s teachings are beneficial and for our good. Jesus was the greatest witness that Jehovah, his Father is the true God. The words in the book of Daniel contain the 70 and 69 prophetic weeks, showing the timing for the Messiah. How can changing the words in the book of Daniel benefit anyone wanting to study the Bible and get the truth?

16

A list of the oppressive controls the JWS religion places over its faithful adherents

by Finkelstein in

i thought i would start a thread listing the social behavior controls the jws religion places over its devoted followers just to arrive at an overall perspective of what this religion actually does to people while actively in it... starting off ........ 1.the interpretation of the bible by its leaders which can not be criticized or the doctrines which these men create, to do so would provoke punishment, shunning and accordingly identified as an evil person.. 2.the pressing restraint of associating with non-jws in daily social activities such as schools for children, adults in work places, local community events, charities etc.

3, dress restraints placed onto both sexes such as no pants worn at kingdom halls for woman, no wearing of yoga pants in public, no beards in most cases for men, hair has to be not over the ears for men.

suits have to be worn for men while giving public talks, shirts and ties should be worn during meetings at kingdom halls.

Anna Marina

The handing out of privileges by elders. For example, if you want to be an elder, do something useful for the Coordinatior. Up to a point that kind of behaviour is ok but it becomes very political and warps Christian values which the congregation is supposed to be adhearing to.