It's really more of a literacy issue. Due to the American public school system many adults in this country, including witnesses, can't read above an elementary school level; nor can they critically analyze an argument in a way that would allow them to spot its fallacies. The information is out there, yes, but without a proper education it is of no use.
Rainbow_Troll
JoinedPosts by Rainbow_Troll
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19
Is ignorance an excuse?
by stuckinarut2 ini have always maintained that i hold nothing personally against individual witnesses, even those that have actively slandered our name and reputation based on the actions of some individuals.. i have often said that all these ones, (even the ones spreading gossip), are victims of the culture of the organization, and the directions of the gb.. but recently i have been rethinking this, and wonder if ignorance is really an acceptable excuse?.
i mean, with so much information now readily available about the society, its origins, its scandals, issues and conduct, is it simply ok for a witness to remain wilfully ignorant about the organization that dictates every aspect of their lives?.
is ignorance an excuse?.
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22
I need help understanding my moms decision!
by Holzy86 infirst of all i'm not a jahovas witness, my mother is.
i've asked my mother for some help over the weekend for my sons birthday, i understand jw do not celebrate birthdays.. every year i take my son out for a treat day, this year he has asked me if he can bring friends too so i said i only have enough room for one but he has asked for two, so i said i will ask nanny if she will help out to take my other son in her car with my netphew and older sister, but as soon as i mentioned it was for a birthday treat she refused to help me.. i just need to know if jahovahs witnesses will refuse to help family out when asking for help, i feel i've asked and made sure all the people she will be giving a lift to that it is not there birthday.
his birthday has just happened to have fallen on the weekend when we would have been taking him because he is at school monday to friday.
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Rainbow_Troll
Holzy86: I'm just asking for a lift that's all not for my mom to celebrate the day.
Would you give a bank robber a lift as he was escaping the crime scene? I mean. Why not? It's not like you were personally robbing the bank yourself.
This is how your mother sees the situation. You have to understand that Jehovah hates you. He has you in in the scope of his lighting death ray and your mom doesn't want to be around when he pulls the trigger.
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23
"Best life ever" ?????
by charity7 inis this a slogan that was recently come up with for jw's?
i've seen it used as a hashtag on instagram for jw's, key chains, cakes, about me biography description... the first thing i thought was, isn't that a little pretentious?
they complain so much about this life.
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Rainbow_Troll
They will say, I don't smoke, do drugs, have sex and catch disease, why would I want to have any other life?
Who wouldn't be happy with a life like that? It must be the junk food. The GB should soon receive new light on the dangers of fast food, soda pop, and dessert. Once they've removed every conceivable source of pleasure from their lives, JWs can finally be happy.
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20
Feeling the Guilt
by Saethydd ini'm currently disfellowshipped and living at home with my parents, but because they are both still devout jws i have to keep going to the meetings and crap because i don't want to risk getting thrown out until i finish college or find a job that will let me support myself and go to college.. yesterday, my mother rode with me to the meeting and told me how much my best friend and my oldest sister are missing me, and it just tears me apart because during the meeting i was practically counting the minutes till it was over.
it didn't help matters that i had to sit with my family because the library was closed off, thus forcing me to follow along with the meeting on my tablet instead of reading something useful or interesting like i normally do.. when i got home i just cried out in frustration because it feels like no matter what i do, i am making the wrong choice.
either i have to keep pretending to support an organization that has caused so much pain to so many people, or i have to abandon my family and friends to it so i can save myself.
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Rainbow_Troll
Your two best choices are:
1. Do what Wilie suggests and make a clean break as soon as you have the opportunity and never look back. There is a whole wide world out there and you are young enough to completely start over and build a rich life of new friends, family and experiences. If your so-called friends would narc on you to the elders then they are worse than mine and probably aren't worth saving. Ditto on your family.
2. If you can't do the latter, then arrange a meeting with the elders and feign repentance. Do all you can regain everyone's trust by appearing to be an überJW while secretly devoting your life to destroying the organization from within. Once you become an elder or, even better, get a position at Bethel, you can use your position and influence to spy on the organization, sabotage their operation and corrupt weaker JWs away from their faith. Throw in a secret nightly satanic ritual (like reciting Lord's prayer backwards while burning a black candle) to stoke your passion for evil!
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23
Another family needlessly torn apart
by Visitor1984 ini'm feeling very angry tonight as i watched my mother in law end her relationship with my husband, her son, tonight.
we were happily inactive, enjoying a distant but decent relationship with my in laws until they saw some christmas decorations and everything changed.
i spent two hours getting drilled on whether my husband and i celebrate holidays, to be told that my laws won't socialize with us anymore.
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Rainbow_Troll
I'm not sure how to respond to that. I was a JW myself, but I stil can't fathom that level of callousness. And over a Christmas tree? It is truly breathtaking...
It's as if some JWs have achieved a level of emotional suppression that even a vulcan could envy.
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55
Looking forward to going to Memorial this year!
by kpop ini have some tricks to play.
i know it may sound childish but i feel that creating havoc and forcing the memorial to be postponed will be the highlight of the night!
wish me luck!.
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Rainbow_Troll
Whatcha gonna do? Deliberately spill the wine? Quaff it in a single swig and start singing a sea shanty? Or maybe you are going to convince a dozen or so worldly people to attend and then have them all burst into laughter at the most solemn moment of the ritual.
Don't leave us hanging. My imagination is all afire!
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Are There Many JWs That Have Actually Left?
by minimus init seems that most people who have been witnesses that i've known in the last 20 years are still jws.
they may not be as zealous as before but they still remain as jehovah's witnesses.
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Rainbow_Troll
In the congregation I go to nearly everyone is over 40 (and most are older). Not one of them seems particularly zealous, though they do still go out for field service. Most of the young people in my former congregation were apathetic enough even back then, so I can only imagine what they must be like now.
1914 was a hundred and two years ago and if anything the world has gotten a little better since then. What more needs to be said?
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36
What is the basis for advising “Don’t pursue higher studies”?
by venus intwo elders who visited my friend last week encouraged her not to pursue higher studies.
it seems they are dishing out the same old stuff: “the end is imminent, and this is the time to do more in the service; hence don’t waste your resources on higher studies.”.
i wonder whether there was some official communiqué (something that is sent out recently like letter to the elders, or kingdom ministry article …).
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Rainbow_Troll
This is a very old policy that goes back decades. There is nothing new about it.
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13
A Special Thanks ESPECIALLY to ATHEISTS
by David_Jay inas most of you know there has been a rise in antisemitism in the world as of late, especially in the united states where i live where many of our jewish community centers and schools have been subjected to bomb threats.
around the world many jewish cemeteries have been vandalized too.. while i have left the forum earlier this year due to a need to move on with my own healing path (and realizing this forum is doing quite well with the many bright minds already among the crowd), i have briefly returned mainly to write this note of gratitude (though i did post a few times too while i have been here).. it has been touching and very helpful when muslims, christians, and people of other faiths have stood with those of us in the jewish community to protest this wave of hostility against my people.
there have been many public displays of solidarity with us against these acts of hatred and prejudice and some personal notes from friends letting me know i am not alone.. some of you have been among those who have voiced your concern for me and other jews during this time.
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Rainbow_Troll
As an atheist, I think that the prejudice, discrimination, and countless pogroms the Jewish people have suffered throughout the past 2000+ years is one of the best arguments against theism. All of the antisemitism shit is rooted in theism (specifically the monotheistic religions of Christianity and Islam). It's all been religiously motivated. Even the Holocaust was perpetrated mostly by Christians and in fact Hitler's policy towards the jews was directly inspired by Martin Luther's 'The Jews & Their Lies'. Jews and atheists are natural allies, for we share the same enemies.
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JWs Like to Take Away Hope...
by JW_Rogue ini think the worst thing about jws is that they like to take away peoples realistic hopes for a happy life now and replace it with false hope for the future.
tell a jw you want to go college and get a good career and they'll tell you that college is a waste of time, that you'll end up in debt or that the economy is so bad there are no jobs.
tell a jw about how scientists have discovered a new technology that could improve millions of lives and they'll tell you that scientists and technology have "ruined the earth" and cannot be trusted.
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Rainbow_Troll
Smiddy: Do they think all the infrastructure / utillities water ,electricity ,sewerage ,etc,etc, that are available now will still be operating when the worldly people who run these services now are all killed off in the big A?
I love this comment. It immediately brought to my mind an image of 'the great crowd' living in tents next to open latrines. The sisters are washing clothes and looking after their brats while the brothers go out to forage for canned food in the corpse-sprinkled post apocalyptic wasteland. Meanwhile, Jehovah's wrath has created all sorts of problems: nuclear meltdowns, escaped zoo animals, stray dogs and chemical spills. Maybe Jehovah even missed a few and there are now motorcycle gangs plundering and raping their way across the country. I'm glad I won't be around.
Tor: Every commenter hit all the nails on the head. Many are just jealous of the young ones who have their life ahead of them....and many wasted theirs...Most of the witnesses have had all the sex they are going to have in or out of the truth in or out of marriage....and now it's time for the young ones to have some fun....the ole ones are telling them...they are wasting their time...oh really...old folks had their fun. Now they are looking down the barrel of old age and death...
You hit it on the head. What especially disgusts me are the ones who left The Lie when they were young, had all their fun, come back and now tell the next generation what a terrible mistake they made. Bullshit! They're just burned out hedonists who would be partying hardy to this day if they still had it in them; but they don't and so now they want to ruin it for everyone else so they don't have to endure the sight of others enjoying what they no longer can.
I remember my mom once lecturing me about the dangers of dating and premarital sex: "We're all tempted. Don't you think I'd love to go out and have sex right now?" And I thought silently "Yeah, and if you weren't stuck in that 60 year old body I'm sure you would do just that." How the fuck did she meet my dad? Was it an arranged marriage? She dated like everyone else does when they are young! She actually rebelled against her own father, who couldn't stand my dad!
Tell a JW you want to go college and get a good career and they'll tell you that college is a waste of time, that you'll end up in debt or that the economy is so bad there are no jobs. Tell a JW about how scientists have discovered a new technology that could improve millions of lives and they'll tell you that scientists and technology have "ruined the earth" and cannot be trusted. Tell a JW about things that could be done to improve society, government, or human rights and they'll tell you there is nothing man can do. So they take away people's hope in anything that can realistically happen through man's effort and replace it with just waiting for God to make everything perfect. For JWs if it is not a perfect solution then there is no need to even care about it.
As grim as it is, I can't help but sympathize with this view. All the college graduates I know are in debt and work at terrible, MW jobs. What's worse is that a lot of these employers won't even hire someone whom they know is college educated (they'll tell you that you are 'over qualified'). Educated people have knowledge and options while most employers are looking for ignorant, desperate shmucks whom they can exploit without much fuss. The only reason I want to go to college is so I have something to do for the next 6+ years. If I'm lucky I might land a research position and never have to leave.
People vote and protest and blog to effect social change, but it never works. The politicians and corporate CEOs thought Occupy was a joke and they were right. What happened to the fire young people had back in the 60s? You don't change anything by drumming and holding up picket signs; you do it by making those who think they are in control tremble!
Technology is always improving, but only in the sense of more powerful cell phones and computers; not in reducing human suffering. When was the last time a major disease was eliminated? It was polio back in 1955. Dr. Jonas Salk gave away that vaccine even though he could have made millions off the patent! But now that all the research is undertaken by big corporations, do you see anything being cured? Curing disease isn't profitable, only treatments are.
Now all this isn't to say that the JWs offer anything better; they don't. But personally, I don't see much to hope for in the near future. Things are gonna have to get much worse before most people are motivated to do something effective.