Posts by TonusOH

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

It looks as if he wants this to blow over so he can move past it and get back to making a living with his videos. But it's not the kind of thing that is so easy to shrug off. People are being forced to address the situation, and his "with me or against me" approach is not working in his favor.

I think he has worked so hard to build up his own importance -while minimizing his faults- that he genuinely does not understand why people won't give him a pass. He doesn't seem to think that it's any problem that someone who has so much dirty laundry being aired (and this is just the stuff he admitted to, not even counting the rumors and as-yet-unverified accusations) might be a liability for those working with him. By the time he recognizes that he needs to change course, it will be too late.

19

After leaving the JWs

by punkofnice in

how do i view the world after leaving the jws?.

1. most politicians are disgusting filth.

political parties are disgusting filth.

TonusOH

I think that we don't change all that much in terms of who we really are, even when making such life-altering decisions. My behavior and general outlook on life changed very little even when I recognized that I didn't believe in god and was free of the shackles of the WTS and was no longer bound by any religious creed.

Or maybe it's better to say that the changes I have made were driven more by more specific experiences and people/relationships, than they were by a religious affiliation or belief. Our brains don't seem very good at parsing the bigger picture; we focus on the stuff that's close to us and personal.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

Alan Feurbacher

I didn't seek out non-JW info or sources until after I had realized that I was no longer religious (they had pretty good control of me!), but once I was free of the shackles I found lots of sites with good info. https://corior.blogspot.com/ was one of those sites. Their deconstruction of the Creation book had quite an impact on me. To realize the extent to which I'd been mislead has made me a much less trusting and much more skeptical person. Mostly for the better, I hope. But betrayal always leaves damage of some kind.

He also writes for https://ad1914.com/, a site I found much later but which was still an interesting read, even after the initial desire to learn more about the organization had finally worn off.

25

Are Jehovahs Witnesses a cult?

by GoverningBody in

this question has been presented many times throughout the years.

somewhat recently, there has been much talk surrounding the "bite method" :.

"bite” stands for behavior, information, thought, and emotional control.. some examples were thrown at me, such as the decisions of who we associate with, discouraging any worldy media, encouraging our brothers and sisters to report any of our misbehaviours to the elders, our rejection of criticism on the truth, shunning etc.. what do we think about this?.

TonusOH

I think they are. Or at least they want to be, based on the way they try to isolate and control the membership. It's always been difficult to do that, because they do not physically isolate people. So you are exposed to others in 'the world' all the time. Even if you do not consider 'worldly people' to be friends or spend any free time with them, you're expected to behave in a manner that gives a good impression to people. And that will draw them to you and make them take a genuine interest in you.

It's probably more difficult now, since the internet is a part of our lives to such an extent that the WT itself has a presence there (I can remember all of the old warnings about the internet, early on). It's very easy to find information about the WT, including information that would otherwise be extremely difficult to come by. So while they want to isolate and control people, it's become more difficult to do so. They do seem to want to be seen as a mainstream group in some ways (perhaps to ward off the label of 'cult').

15

Michael Jackson's mom on his disassociation

by neat blue dog in

from an interview with ebony magazine:.

in 1987, he left the jehovah's witnesses.

there was strong opposition to his "thriller" video on the part of some witnesses.

TonusOH

There was strong opposition to his "Thriller" video on the part of some Witnesses.

'Some witnesses'? As I recall, the GB itself warned us not to buy or listen to the album. Jackson put a statement at the beginning of the Thriller video to state that making the video did not imply that he believed in the occult. I think he was still trying to walk an impossible tightrope at the time. Looks like his mom had to work around a similar fine line-- she would not have wanted to get the GB upset, I guess.

8

Article: Judge: Jehovah’s Witness Parodies Are Fair Use. Watch Tower: So What?

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

https://torrentfreak.com/judge-jehovahs-witness-parodies-are-fair-use-watch-tower-so-what-220220/.

february 21, 2022 by andy maxwell.

in 2018, watch tower filed for a dmca subpoena that would've required youtube to hand over the identity of an animator who parodied the religious group in his videos.

TonusOH

I would assume the WT has lawyers on retainer, so the cost of filing this suit isn't as much as it might seem. And it will have at least some effect on people who are thinking of making videos, so they might consider it a worthwhile expense. On the other hand, if the effect is to encourage more videos, then... oops...

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

Remember she had a witness. Producer Bob' was there too and heard his admission

Good point-- that's true. And she would be able to make a specific request for phone/text records, which would likely be granted. So even that would have been a bad idea.

33

An upcoming Watchtower article saying if people Pioneer Jehovah will provide!

by LongHairGal in

jw
friends

i saw the post on reddit and the thread got many responses..can anybody believe the religion is still saying this??

it has to be as plain as day that so many jws are poor and struggling today because they never got a career or decent job years ago.. sadly, there are still witnesses who believe money will fall from heaven if they are in the full-time ministry.

they expect some miracle to occur..but, we all know the truth: people in the congregation will be hit up for yet more money for another bunch of irresponsible people pursuing poverty.

TonusOH

I turned out very lucky. Didn't even think about college and got a job as a mail clerk, figuring that the end would come and life would be sorted out after that. Ended up taking advantage of an opportunity to get into IT (by building the department from the ground up at the same place where I was a mail clerk) and developed it into a career. Got a promotion to IT Manager just as I was beginning a long, slow fade out of the organization.

I think that made it easier to cope when I finally realized I wasn't a believer in god. I had my life in order emotionally and mentally, and as a bonus my finances were in good shape. I don't want to imagine what it would have been like, had I come to that realization while still earning poverty-level wages in my mid 40s.

11530

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

by Newly Enlightened in

original reddit post (removed).

TonusOH

If Lloyd goes after anybody, I look forward to the lawyer's discovery.

I'm not sure he'd have much to worry about, there. Discovery is not a fishing expedition. If he sued someone for defaming him, and their strategy was to use the discovery phase to get his phone/email/etc records, I think they'd be in for a very rude surprise, unless they had very specific requests for very specific records.

There aren't many people he could successfully sue for defamation, and I doubt he'd gain enough from legal action to make it worth the expense/time/effort. The one person that might have made sense to sue was Kim Silvio, but he blew that up by making a video where he corroborated her claims. And if he decided to do so anyway, she could probably put Evans' wife (among others) on the witness list. It would be an ugly mess.

I think he's making statements about legal action in the hopes of getting people to stop talking about his situation, both the parts that are known for sure and the parts that are speculation or not corroborated (yet?). He might be creating a version of the Streisand Effect, where your efforts to stop people from talking about something end up drawing even more attention to it.

17

Adam & Eve: Perfect but not everlasting life?

by pixel in

so i was watching annual meeting.

towards the end of jackson’s talk, he says: .

“perfection doesn’t automatically means someone will get everlasting life.

TonusOH

I find it odd, but many of the interpretations imply that the tree is so impossibly powerful that God couldn't reverse its effects. His only chance of foiling Adam and Eve was to prevent them from reaching it, as opposed to making the fruit poisonous. Or making the tree invisible. Or just destroying it with a snap of his fingers. Or just destroying Adam and Eve with a snap of his fingers. You know-- quietly murdering them and replacing them with replicas and threatening the angels so that no one would ever talk about it...

Then again, we're talking about a guy who struck a man dead for the sin of trying to keep the ark of the covenant from falling when the oxen carrying it stumbled while crossing a river. Insanely violent overreaction seems to be his modus operandi. Thoughtful and deliberate plans are a bit too boring for a book chronicling your exploits, I suppose.