Posts by Spiral

31

What's destroying Watchtower!

by UnshackleTheChains in

for me, beyond any shadow of a doubt, it's the extreme shunning policy.. at a recent sunday meeting, i listened to a complete brainwashed sister saying how important it was that we stick to the shunning policy even if it is a close relative.. i just thought.

wtf.

there is a big difference between the brainwashed and the awoken class!.

Spiral

I do think the shunning policy will have an effect, intensified by the push to baptize kids younger and younger (something that would have been unheard of decades ago). Apparently the brothers are going around pressuring parents to get their children baptized young. Then as teenagers or early twenty-somethings they either don't want to be in the bOrg or they do something to get DF'd, and then the family is torn apart.

Many failing dictatorships all through history have made a similar mistake. They frequently tighten the screws on the population when they see they are failing (call it encouraging "loyalty"). This bumps up their power temporarily and then it collapses. I think this will happen to the JWs too.

24

The New JWdom - Vew of Older Publications? (and other related questions)

by Magnum in

i feel that there aren’t many of that type anymore, but there have to be some – mostly old-timers.

how do they study?.

when i was active, i collected all the old publications i could find.

Spiral

I've wondered about this, because back in the day we knew a lot of brothers and sisters who took great joy showing how much research they did. One sister in particular had notebooks that she had created herself about prophecy, all indexed and cross-referenced. Impressive (if not overwhelming) to studies. All of it for nothing, after the bOrg decided they weren't in to types/anti-types anymore.

I know she's still in, so I wonder how she feels about the changes. I don't have much meaningful contact now but it doesn't seem like anyone takes doctrine seriously. The younger generation doesn't have a doctrinal mindset at all. Let's face it, you don't have to know much (such as it is) to stand by a cart or show someone a video on a tablet.

I don't think anyone reads or thinks about anything before the 90s, as they have been conditioned not to. But - I'm intrigued to think that there are "underground" groups of people trying to discuss research. I wonder what they really think.

Has the bOrg just thrown out the "Revelation" books and given up on interpretation of what used to be considered the most important prophecies in the Bible?

52

Are Beards becoming more acceptable due to decline in membership?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i noticed a young brother with a beard being given more privelages within our hall.

when he first grew his beard, he lost his privelages.

but more and more recently he has been helping out a lot more.. the cobe is old school and a stickler for rules, but with the hall becoming more empty these days, and the need for young brothers, he seems to have relaxed on this particular watchtower/man made rule.

Spiral

I think there's something else to consider, maybe the brothers growing beards just don't give a sh*t any more about striving/competing/groaning after privileges. Here the elders (who are all really old) have been having a hard time getting brothers to care enough about competing for privileges. A bit of a shift, methinks, from the old days.

Once you don't care about privileges, they have much less control over you. And if you're a brother, you grow a beard! If they still want to give you a privilege, you keep the beard, and read that Watchtower.

11

stupid questions

by road to nowhere in

paragraph 4 today: "what are we gonna consider?

" maybe that is the article title?

the other is: "what will we consider next week?

Spiral

I think the OP is referencing the question to paragraph 3 which is: "What will we consider in this article?" The word "gonna" might have been said from the stage.

I agree that the studies are so dumbed down they ask repeatedly things like what are we studying, what will we study next week, let's review what we just learned, or this item from today's study in paragraph 1: "Why can there be no doubt that God's word exerts power? (See opening picture). A staged set of pictures! Everything is directed as if the audience were small children. The questions really make the meeting slow and boring.

I find this article interesting because it's about reading scriptures in the ministry, even though they've pushed everything toward showing people something on the tablet (which is also shown in a picture). They also mention meditating on the scriptures, as if just reading a scripture and thinking about it was really meditation.

35

Is All The Bad Publicity About The Watchtower Pedophile Lawsuits Causing Contributions To Nose Dive Worldwide?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

i think with all the child molestation lawsuits the watchtower corporation is and has been hit with is the main reason for all the prime property sell off recently.

the silent lambs protest back in 2001, and the dateline prime time expose probably was the death knell for the watchtower's hey day in brooklyn.. their membership is drying up, young people are leaving in droves, the situation is no doubt far worse than the annually published yearbook figures show and so they ceased it's publication permanently.

and those left remaining are experiencing a huge grab of money from their congregations accounts and now are required to make pledges about how much they can contribute which i think is a last ditch effort by the governing body to squeeze more money out of the rank and file watchtower indoctrinated drones.. i think all this is happening because even those still loyally attending are hearing reports of these tremendous pay out that the watchtower is making to the victims of their self serving policies that put young ones at great risks so that even the rank and file don't want to contribute to pay court costs and so are withholding giving contributions to a very great extent.

Spiral

I can't say that anyone in my Mom's congo (US) knows about the lawsuits. They are so busy trying to survive with little money, poor health, taking care of family members (elderly parents, family with chronic illnesses, etc.) that they can't see the forest for the trees. Not a lot of global thinking going on around here.

Having said that, the exhaustion is palpable. There is no further money to give - I don't think there are any big contributors remaining. (Good thing I have my hands on the checkbook, there's nothing coming from us.) There is awareness that the "special people" in Warwick have beautiful lodgings and a care home and I think that is resented, quietly and anonymously. The thought that they've done all that and are now short of money would really trouble people here (who live such a modest life style) but they probably wouldn't admit it publicly.

I haven't been approached or challenged in any way about my status, or asked for a contribution, or even about why I am (obviously) inactive. That tells me quite a bit.

Question, though, do I understand from a previous post that Lett actually mentioned or hinted at legal costs in one of the broadcasts? Is he trying to cover the GB's collective backsides when even just the news about the lawsuits in California become more well known? I've been wondering when that would hit the collective consciousness of the US JWs.

9

So obsessed

by incognito2014 in

i find it almost too difficult to bear.

my mother now in her 80's does not miss up on an opportunity to preach.

in fact most of the time the opportunity does not exist but she mentions something anyway.. she is so blind it's embarrassing.

Spiral

I hear you, Incognito. My mother is in her late 80s and has dementia, so it's like the proverbial "broken record".

However, if you ask around you will see that many in our age group are dealing with older parents who have outlived their cognitive abilities. If it wasn't "the truth" it would be something else, repeated over and over again.

But I feel your pain, because I also just get sooooo tired of hearing the same thing. Her generation isn't going to quit being a JW because most are by their very nature worker bees and haven't been thinking independently for years. They are never going to see the obvious because it doesn't benefit them to do so.

But the ones that are younger who can't see it..... they are the ones I really wonder about.

21

Many Witnesses are just plain tired out!

by UnshackleTheChains in

i believe that many witnesses are tired out or at least tiring out.

i know....... because i am tired out!.

imagine going to college for 20 years not knowing when college is finished.

Spiral

LongHairGal, I agree 100%. The JWs have created a whole culture of suffering and depression for "righteousness' sake". I am also far better off mentally leaving it all behind.

34

THIS Is How JWs Feel About The Cut In Magazines And Content

by pale.emperor in

i asked the question on quora "how do jehovah's witnesses feel about the announcement that the public edition of the watchtower and awake!

magazine is being reduced to just 3 issues a year and the number of books, tracts, and online content are being discontinued?".

https://www.quora.com/how-do-jehovahs-witnesses-feel-about-the-announcement-that-the-public-edition-of-the-watchtower-and-awake-magazine-is-being-reduced-to-just-3-issues-a-year-and-the-number-of-books-tracts-and-online-content-are-being-discontinued.

Spiral

pale.emperor10 hours ago10 hours ago

Were you actually expecting active JWs to put in writing how they may really feel about it? The act of writing becomes a serious filter for those living in high-control groups.

I knew they'd put a positive spin on it. I was hoping they'd give me an indication of how they personally are processing it positively.

PE, the problem is they don't "process" anything. I have come to think that most JWs want a religion where they don't have to think - that's why they are JWs. The outside world is scary to them but the crazy culture of bOrgdom is comforting. Can't tell you how many times I've heard "the brothers know what is best for us". UGH Any amount of discussion is just a waste of time. *SIGH* That is what started part of my waking up, got so bored with so little "spiritual" food.

But now, this religion is a western religion for the generations who learned how to use the internet and tablets. Not only does it leave behind people in other parts of the world without access, it also leaves many senior citizens behind because they were so righteous they never learned how to use a computer. They were taught that the internet was from Satan, remember. How are they supposed to get any literature?

19

Two coins of little value? Ok! Sure (!)

by purrpurr in

last thursday meeting was the verbal begging bowl item.

in which having told the audience that wt doesn't ask for money... proceeded to then ask for money.. among the usual scriptures cited "honor god with your valuable things" etc was also the widows mite story "she dropped in two coins of little value..".

and it occurred to me, two coins of little value in the uk would be two one penny coins!

Spiral

IDK, I'd have to say in my Mom's congregation tithing wouldn't collect very much. Too many poor people. All the successful professional types that were here two decades ago are elderly or gone. The elders and M servants here now are all poor, several just living on social security. Congregation half the size of what it used to be.

The Mormons have the other half of that equation right, because they encourage education. The local Mormon congregation here is larger and wealthier.

2

EVENT: Middle Tennessee Conference - Understanding Abusive Spiritual Systems and Relationships

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

http://www.icsahome.com/events/midwest.

middle tennessee conference .

understanding abusive spiritual systems and relationships .

Spiral

Thank you for posting this!

Just the agenda is food for thought about what we all experienced, and what our still-in loved ones are still experiencing. Wish I could go.