Posts by john.prestor

It's clearly meant to represent something, I just can't tell what. The first thing that comes to mind is Russell's pyramidology. It's stylistic, it doesn't have to mean anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

42

Discontinue unproductive bible study - jw broadcasting

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

https://tv.jw.org/#en/mediaitems/latestvideos/pub-ism_2_video.

interesting video explaining how to end a bible study.. watch the kind of uber behaviour of the witnesses: make a choice or we leave.... so hard, so not christian.

no love for the person.. g..

john.prestor

ShirleyW, I'm with you, they should be innovating, should be trying to come up with new ways to attract people, yeah they gave themselves a face lift with their website and the carts and music videos on JW Broadcasting and interviews during Gilead graduation but... it's the same old iron hand under a sleek new velvet glove.

The Governing Body simply cannot innovate when it comes to the most important features of their faith because in many circumstances (getting rid of disfellowshipping, permitting blood transfusions, encouraging or just tolerating higher education at the congregational level) that means sacrificing or diminishing their power, they teach that they hold the keys to paradise, to everlasting life (I typed lie, hahaha, Freud was right) and they actually hold life and death power over many Witnesses, who let themselves die because they think taking a blood transfusion damns them to a violent death at Armageddon or they'll never see their dead loved ones again. So that won't do, we know these people love power, it's written all over their faces, it's dripping from their words, I think of Tony Morris's Don't say we're dogmatic remarks, and then he tells another audience not to go on websites that criticize him and his buddies. It's just... astonishing. They claim they're not infallible or inspired and yet they toss people out onto the street "like a piece of trash," in Flodin's terms, after years of "faithful service" just because they start to doubt the leadership. The Governing Body might as well snort power off their boardroom table like bankers snort powder from hundred dollar bills.

When it comes to less important features of the faith they could change without endangering their power very much (I dunno, youth groups, congregations getting together outside the hall), remember that Knorr chose the original Governing Body because they went with what he said and did and didn't challenge him. That Governing Body chose their successors for pretty much the same reason, it takes years to climb the hierarchy (I heard a Bethel speaker at one convention call it the "theocratic ladder") and you gotta toe the line and preach the company line to pull yourself up rung by rung over literal decades from (typically) the congregation to the circuit work to a Branch to Warwick. Even when you get into that boardroom in the lofty heights of headquarters, or that idyllic gazebo by the lake, it's hard to think innovatively when you repressed your own individual thoughts, not to mention individuality, in order to get there from adolescence if not childhood to adulthood through middle-age.

Here's what it comes down to: the Governing Body could choose to save their sinking ship. Instead, they're still whipping the slaves down in the galley with their threats and guilt-tripping and shouting, Keep rowing, we're almost there. But the truth is they're just as far from the gleaming shores of paradise as they were when the Bible students first sailed off with Russell all those years ago.

4

My intro essay revisited

by vienne in

hi everyone [even the person who always marks my posts thumbs down - snicker] i've added to and revised my introductory essay for separate identity volume two.

please read it and give me your thoughts.. thanks,.

rachael.

john.prestor

Just want to encourage you to press on in your work, what you're doing is valuable.

10

Prayer BANNED for Public Talks in KH's...

by The Fall Guy in

........back in 1949!.

w50 3/15 p. 96 letters - "jesus held many public lectures, but there is no record that he opened or closed any of them with prayer....surely those of the public who are not of the christian faith do not turn out to our meetings in order to join with us in prayer to our god, but solely to hear the speech which is the drawing feature.

so we give them that and do not think to impose upon them by attaching something else to the lecture which might offend or stumble them before they hear the speech they came for.

john.prestor

'Jesus held many public lectures...'

Their anachronistic wording will never fail to crack me up. Did he hand out fliers?

18

report from vomitville and financials

by jonahstourguide in

i attended a circuit arsesemblancey today.

melbourne, melton arsembley hall.

western suburbs area.. 1. re hearing negative reports in the media about jws.

john.prestor

They sent 10k to Warwick? That's... quite the donation. I wouldn't be happy hearing that either.

5

Facing future events with courage....Will Mark compromise?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

mark was facing serious pressure at work compromising his neutrality.

he is asked to join a protest at his employment that is facing cutbacks and layoffs.

mark will not join the protest or sign the sheet.

john.prestor

Like hoser said: the Governing Body does whatever they need to do to to maintain the faith's international foothold and, more importantly, ensure their own (relatively) leisurely and luxurious lifestyle. They don't want Mark participating, assuming they actively think about these things (they probably do from time to time), because Mark might enjoy the protest emotionally, might realize his coworkers aren't just drunkards and adulterers, and might figure out that sometimes, not always, but sometimes, political action actually succeeds, i.e., the only hope for humanity isn't the kingdom, but humanity itself.

42

Discontinue unproductive bible study - jw broadcasting

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

https://tv.jw.org/#en/mediaitems/latestvideos/pub-ism_2_video.

interesting video explaining how to end a bible study.. watch the kind of uber behaviour of the witnesses: make a choice or we leave.... so hard, so not christian.

no love for the person.. g..

john.prestor

I saw this video the other day and I wondered about it too. I think it's just a technique they're teaching Jehovah's Witnesses who have Bible studies, they want them to pressure their 'students' to convert, they need converts these days and they need money, and if somebody won't join up (that's explicit) and cough up the money (that's implicit in membership, you donate once you get baptized, you volunteer your labor, you feed COs) well, to hell with them... politely. That's what I take away from this video.

49

Dilemma of Shunning Policy

by Drearyweather in

apologies if this topic has been discussed earlier.. i was thinking of whether demanding for a ban on shunning policy would be beneficial for the larger society.

following are some things that we need to remember while advocating the issue:.

1. shunning is not limited to jw's and for many americans, it is not that controversial as it seems.. 2. jw shunning is not a dark secret policy.

john.prestor

I don't agree with the court in the Anderson case, Jehovah's Witnesses don't tell you that they're going to shun you until you're already an unbaptized publisher, that's when they give you the Organized book, and the Organized book explains that they shun people. By the time you're an unbaptized publisher they can already shame you, they can take that status away, they'll announce it publicly, and if you leave Jehovah's Witnesses will (often, most likely) shun you whether that's official policy or not. Jehovah's Witnesses don't sign up to be shunned. They throw that in right at the end once it's much harder for you to say No thanks.