Having trouble listening to this nonsense. All the points are stacked in a particular way to put education in a bad light - and without education you might not realize that!
The thing that turns my stomach on this is that I have a very bright 10 year old granddaughter still in the Witnesses, and I will work like crazy to make sure this type of crap is ignored as much as possible by her parents!
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Seeker4
JoinedPosts by Seeker4
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"The Superiority of Being Taught By Jehovah" -- British Version
by cabasilas ina friend has sent me a mp3 recording of the lecture from the 2007 district assembly entitled: "the superiority of being taught by jehovah" which discourages higher education.
this one is from the nottingham (u.k.) assembly this year.
i thought it would be interesting to compare this with the mp3 of the same lecture from georgia (usa) which was posted earlier here on jwd.
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Seeker4
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Is the information the same at all assemblies?
by I quit! inthe anti-school rhetoric was very strong, stronger than i've seen it in a decade.
one particularly galling interview took place with this 19-year-old girl who went against her parents' wishes for her to go to college, spurning the money that they'd saved for her out of their want--they were not a rich family but scrimped and saved enough to send their daughter to school anyways, obviously foregoing pleasures and comforts for her.
she "prayed to jehovah for a month.
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Seeker4
It has been pretty much the same for years: most talks are outlines and give the speakers a little leeway as to how it will be presented.
Other talks are manuscripts, and they will usually be printed later as WT study articles.
In either case, someone from the Chairman's office will be following along very closely to make sure no one strays too far from the party line.
Interviews and experiences will vary from convention to convention, but will be based on a recomendation in the outline as to what the experience should entail.
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Dreams of KH, Assemblies, etc.
by monophonic inso, i attend more meetings than most jws with all the dreams i continue to have regarding the meetings and assemblies..
usually the dreams aren't nightmares, but i'm supposed to give a talk and i'm given what i'm supposed to say and i tell the brothers there's no way i'm getting up there and giving the talk unless i can go off the outline..
most of the time, the dreams bleed into other areas of my life, like last night i was at the assembly and i saw this supposed life-long 'friend'....
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Seeker4
I constantly have dreams about being at assemblies and conventions. Lots of times I'm supposed to be giving a talk and I end up onstage with no idea what the talk is supposed to be about. Other times, I'm on the platform and I know that I'msupposed to talk about something that I no longer have any belief in. Sometimes I'm in a field service car with old JW friends, and I tell them why I no longer believe. Strangely, they often end up agreeing with me. Maybe not so strangely.
The most interesting dreams are where I'm with old JW friends, and instead of being critical, they will often tell me that they understand why I left, and some say they would do it if they had the courage. Very often, instead of being the hard asses I know they are, they treat me with great respect - perhaps more than I often express toward myself.
I think this dream phenomenom is far more common than any of us realize.
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Where Are Our Elders.....?
by Seeker4 in....here on jwd?
as in, we have tons of younger to 50 year olds, but only a handful of folks in the 70-plus category, from what i can tell.
so, is it just that older folks aren't on-line or computer savvy?
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Seeker4
Min,
I refer you to my previous comment!
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Where Are Our Elders.....?
by Seeker4 in....here on jwd?
as in, we have tons of younger to 50 year olds, but only a handful of folks in the 70-plus category, from what i can tell.
so, is it just that older folks aren't on-line or computer savvy?
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Seeker4
Wow, responses from two of our elderly ones! Just kidding, Min!
Thanks, ShutterB. The 70s can be interesting. I know people who are elderly at 60 and others who are youthful at 75 or more. You strike me as the latter.
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As The Wanderer Wanders, Minimus Wonders...
by nvrgnbk ini wonder if richard the wanderer will ask questions that i haven't asked some day?
just wondering.. these two kill me!
lmao!.
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Seeker4
Min,
Those comparisons probably have to do with your "hair" style!
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Where Are Our Elders.....?
by Seeker4 in....here on jwd?
as in, we have tons of younger to 50 year olds, but only a handful of folks in the 70-plus category, from what i can tell.
so, is it just that older folks aren't on-line or computer savvy?
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Seeker4
....here on JWD? As in, we have tons of younger to 50 year olds, but only a handful of folks in the 70-plus category, from what I can tell.
So, is it just that older folks aren't on-line or computer savvy? Not everyone is a Mouthy, I guess!
Or, is it that there just aren't that many older folks leaving the JWs. Tons of us left in our 40s, but if you stay till your 60s, is it just too late to reconsider?
OR possibly a combination of the two - fewer older ones leave, and they are likely not to be computer literate?
I for one would love to hear the experience and wisdom of some of the older ones who have left. It's a bit of a hole in our ex-JW community, don't you think?
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Seeker4
I knew that there was a LOT of drinking at Bethel, and I knew a lot of Bethelites that loved to drink.
There's an old JW joke about four Witnesses at a bar: a publisher, a Pioneer, a Bethelite and a missionary and a fly lands in each of their beers.
The publisher asks for a new beer; the Pioneer takes the fly out of the beer and finishes drinking it; the Bethelite grabs the fly, holds it over the beer mug and squeezes it while yelling, "Spit it out! Spit it out!" and the missionary finishes the beer and eats the fly, as it's his only source of meat for the week.
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As The Wanderer Wanders, Minimus Wonders...
by nvrgnbk ini wonder if richard the wanderer will ask questions that i haven't asked some day?
just wondering.. these two kill me!
lmao!.
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Seeker4
Hey, I like both you guys, and your posts, and I don't think either one of you is all that creepy.
I've met Minimus, and I happen to know that in real life he looks like a younger, handsomer, buff version of Dennis Franz, and from his avatar, I'd say Wanderer looks like a handsome, three-headed, 50's boy band!
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Was the Watchtower taken off guard by the internet and XJW forums
by JH indo you think that the internet and xjw forums caught the watchtower off guard?
just a few years ago, disfellowshipped ones were powerless and rendered silent by the watchtower.. to what degree do you think the internet has made life difficult for the watchtower?.
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Seeker4
Terry,
I agree with that last post. I've seen it as well.
That concept of "where else is there to go," is a genuine stroke of genius. It sets up this idea that you have to be in a "place" - a religion, a group, SOMETHING, DAMMIT! It's another way of saying, "Who else will tell us what to do? Who will tell us how to live if we leave?"
I can still hear the panic in their voices.
That question was always so hard to answer when I was a JW, and even as I was fading. "If the Witnesses are wrong, where else is there to go?" you'd hear asked all the time. "Even if the Witnesses don't have the truth, this is such a good way of life."
For me, a huge turning point was when I simply had enough insight and wisdom to ask, "WHY does there HAVE to be a place to go to? Why would I NEED someone or somthing to tell me how to live? Why can't I just do that for myself?"
The Witnesses and similar groups create and cultivate a culture of helplessness, the inability to decide for yourself what you will do. I saw it all the time as a Witness. The older sister coming to me in a panic because they got a notice for jury duty. A brother facing an operation. Someone offered a new job. "What should I do? What should I do?"
Like your friend staying just below the radar, people unsure about how to live life, and those who need to be a big fish in a small pond, the JWs offer a "safe" haven, at the cost of your right to think and act for yourself. Part of the impact of the Internet is finding people, like many on this board, who will tell you that, who will let you know that it's NOT a bad thing to be able to question and think for yourself.
Coming to the realization that this is YOUR life and you can decide what to do without being in a "place" that gives you all the answers is a huge step. It makes you capable of laughing in the face of the Inquisitors and snapping off their paper chains, walking past the helpless guards right out of the dungeon and into the light.
I may not have all the answers out here, but I sure do love the feel of the sun and wind on my skin.
S4