TonusOH

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Posts by TonusOH

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  3

  Wishing that You Could Make it all Go Away

  by NotFormer in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  there're always things we did in the past that we wish had never happened or that we could make them all go away.. the wt actually can do this, to a certain extent.

  speculation about tony?

  they command the r&f to stop doing it, and it goes away.

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  TonusOH

  The closed, secretive, and controlling approach can work for some time. But it requires a lot of effort and the ability to react quickly to anything that might threaten that control. And the control has to go almost all the way to the top.

  The internet has made it tougher to keep unwanted information from the rank-and-file. Even if they do not look for it, others can, and can confront them with it. The attention they are getting from courts and governments around the world for issues like CSA and shunning makes it harder to shield the rank-and-file from it. You don't have to seek out 'apostate sources' in order to learn about these cases; mainstream media is covering them, and you can read these reports from around the world from the comfort of your home PC.

  Government pressure on the organization is nothing new. But now, it is much harder to control the narrative. What do you do when a congregation member gets the real story from a regular news site? Do you distrust the 'worldly media' when you are changing policies in response to their discoveries and claims? Do you demand that rank-and-file JWs only get their info from jw.org?
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  54

  If the org. Is being advised by consultants, is a name change in the works?

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  let's be honest, there's a stigma to the name jehovah's witness.

  if they are going more mainstream.

  i imagine the first recommendation was a name change.

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  TonusOH

  That would surprise me. I suppose anything is possible, but that sounds like a really bad idea.

  "Jehovah's Witnesses" is not just a name, it is effectively a brand. And it's a very well-known brand around the world. If they change it, people would append "formerly Jehovah's Witnesses" to every mention of the new name. So they would not get away from it, and it would add the additional stigma of people wondering why they changed it, which could lead to more interest in their issues with CSA and shunning, with their anti-gay stance, and with any other issues they prefer not to discuss publicly.

  Changing it could lead to some confusion and disillusion among the rank-and-file, especially if the new name focuses their loyalty on someone else. They have spent almost a hundred years distinguishing themselves by their specific devotion to Jehovah. Their only other option would be Jesus, which at least would make them more Christian than they are now. But that flies in the face of decades of putting Jesus in a distant second-place to Jehovah. It's not just a drastic change; in terms of their long-term relevance, it's potentially a dangerous one.
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  3062

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

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  TonusOH

  ForeverAlone: He stated that he wanted to get past JW stuff 12 years ago.

  I think he says that and he might even believe it. But I don't think he ever really wanted to. It was always a future thing for him. And he ended up in a comfortable situation, where he was the figurehead of a growing brand that was making him a very nice living, supported mostly by unpaid volunteers. He thought he could continue to misbehave behind the scenes and keep his family in line. Leaving exJW activism would not only involve more effort on his part, it would also involve more risk. Not just financial risk, but his ability to control things at home could be jeapordized.

  He can blame the WTS for messing him up, and Kim for ruining his life. But he had a situation that was working out, and could have become very lucrative if he'd just exercised some self-control and perhaps even a smidgen of self-respect. He probably still feels that his big mistake was telling Kim and Producer Bob about his personal life. His mistake was building a house of cards and shifting blame onto the WatchTower, and using that to avoid taking responsibility for his decisions. I don't think he will ever admit this, but until he does he will continue to spiral downwards.
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  16

  Weirdest Jesus I’ve seen yet…

  by stuckinlimbo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  TonusOH

  The text looks a bit awkward as well. 'Let's celebrate his victory over death, as we mark the date of his death.'

  It sounds as if they're saying that he conquered death by dying.
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  10

  New light isn't that new outside the USA?

  by KerryKing in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  all this recent new light etc has everyone talking but none of it is that unusual here in ireland.

  i've been df'd for 15 years, my parents started talking to me again when i had my first child nearly 13 years ago now.

  last year my sister in law started talking to me again also, at the one meeting i attended last year quite a few people chatted to me and said hello.. i'm just wondering if all this is only a big deal in the usa or is this neck of the woods just particularly rebellious anyway?

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  TonusOH

  It is interesting reading these experiences. I grew up in the Bronx (NYC) in the 70s and 80s, and the congregation I spent most of my time in was led by a strict old-school type who had been in since the 20s or 30s and had traveled with Knorr on some of his trips around the world. Let's put it this way: COs and other traveling bigwigs treated him like the big shot, and never the other way around.

  That also meant that dress codes (and behavioral codes) were also strict. Beards? You could get a lecture just for having a five-o'clock shadow. A sister who flashed a knee was likely to hear about it. And so on. I guess I should have realized that we were in our own pocket dimension, because conventions were full of people who would have gotten an earful if they were in our congregation, based on hairstyles and the way they dressed and acted. But I just saw them as outliers, as exceptions to the strict rules that every JW loyally adhered to.

  I was in a bubble inside of another bubble!
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  37

  s-395 Adjustments-to-handling-serious-wrongdoing-in-the-congregation

  by gavindlt in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  this was posted on jw leaks.. my truth's | dad seeking truth.

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  TonusOH

  It sounds like they're trying to separate some sins from others, and allowing for the less-severe ones (in their eyes) to be dealt with more mildly. Apostasy will always be the big no-no for them, because for the WTS, apostasy is when you oppose the organization. And that is a hard line for them.
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  3062

  It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars (continued)

  by Simon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  uh oh, looks like the mega thread gave up the ghost, so while i investigate / fix it just continue the discussion here .... it's been a long 9 years lloyd evans / john cedars.

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  TonusOH

  Another thing that I noticed when prepping the transcript of his livestream (which is availale at lloydevans.info): He claimed that his JC was for apostasy. But, in the livestream, he says this:

  I write about all of this in The Reluctant Apostate. Not because I had to. I didn't write about all my sex life in The Reluctant Apostate because I had to. I did it because I knew that some Jehovah's Witnesses --namely the judicial committee and members of my family, etc-- knew stuff about me and I didn't want there to be any skeletons in my closet. Any skeletons at all. I didn't want there to be anything anyone could hit me with or weaponize against me at some future date.

  He says this when he is preparing his livestream audience for his explanation that, yes, he cheated on his wife and visited sex workers for years, and also reminds them about the time that his wife found out that he was sexting with girls women. So it really seems as if he is saying that he wanted to be up front about his sexual misconduct so that it could not be used against him at a later date. And he specifically refers to his JC and "members of [his] family." That doesn't sound like apostasy to me...
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  108

  Who really is the Faithful and Discreet Slave? The recent changes and the Governing Body's 10 year plan

  by redsetter2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am sure we were all shocked at the governing body update #2 with the unusual and impulsive changes set forth.. i am an insider at whq, and when i was on reddit and in communication with avoidjw i explained to the best of my ability that the approach on disfellowshipping was going to change based on the new light at the 2023 agm, that the jubilee rumor was false, and there were going to be changes on how jws approached disfellowshipping in response to the norway situation if it didn't turn out in watchtower's favor.

  the decision came because of a legal blow to watchtower, not because "holy spirit" wad directing a faithful slave, who is going to become the "evil slave", more explanation on this soon.. everything i stated came true.

  i left reddit exjw community due to the immature and mentally unstable nature there, and yet as has been the case my words came true.

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  TonusOH

  It's the internet. I take most people at face value. After all, I don't have anything invested, and time will tell if this person was right or not. Heck, I'm getting old. In a couple of weeks I'll forget he was even here.
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  6

  What Makes You an Apostate?

  by Aletheia1914 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was really excited about all the wonderful news related to these changes.

  i disassociated back in 2019 and my parents have not spoken with me since then.

  my brother who never got baptized kind of serves as a liaison between me and my parents as they will not contact me directly.

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  TonusOH

  As I always understood it, an apostate was someone who opposed the organization. Hence why they were referred to as 'opposers' by the WTS. If you went against the direction of the GB, you were an apostate. This could be as simple as disagreeing with an interpretation of Bible texts or differing on doctrines and policies. As joey jojo said, they feel that the GB stands between Jehovah and the rank-and-file. To disagree with the GB is to oppose Jehovah.

  And let's be clear on CSA- they only treat it so seriously because they have been forced to, both by cultural and legal pressures. Before, they may have claimed to take it seriously, but their actions didn't show that at all. They've been shamed by 'the worldly' into doing something they should have been doing from the beginning, if they were indeed 'spirit-guided.'
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  194

  GB Update #2, March 2024: Women allowed to wear pants, no ties/coats required if not giving a talk, & now able to greet DF ones in the KH!

  by WingCommander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you heard me correct, this is not a joke, and it is not april fools day!

  the asl portion of the governing body updated #2 (march 2024) has been released a bit early and someone caught it.

  summary: .

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  TonusOH

  The men who will ogle pants-wearing women are the same ones who ogle them now. Or who creepily complement young sisters on their appearance all the time, seemingly unaware that everyone realizes he's a pervert.