Posts by jp1692

13

"We're involved in a life saving work"?

by eyeuse2badub in

as my wife left for fs this morning (aka gossip and coffee time with her friends) she mentioned to me that one of the parts in the clam meeting this week was:.

to remind the 'faithful' that, "we are involved in a life saving work!".

so i just calmly mentioned to her that if he really wanted to, jehoober could save thousands of lives every day just by controlling the weather or providing just clean water or just a just a few loaves and fishes!.

jp1692

Total number of lives “saved” by Jehovah’s Witnesses preaching since 1881: Zero

(The organization was formed in 1881 as Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society.)

2

The Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses wear Coloured Spectacles.

by Nicholaus Kopernicus in

i have been reading a text called: “determined to believe” – by prof john c. lennox.

he discusses theological determinism.

it is a rather interesting text.

jp1692

Yes, and they’re not “rose-colored glasses”; they are shit colored glasses!

22

MUST WATCH! Watchtower's Shocking Admissions

by Newly Enlightened in

watchtower's shocking admissions.

jp1692

People shouldn’t make videos when they’ve been drinking.

Those two have lost it. Not sure they ever had it, actually.

If they had a point worth hearing I wouldn’t know because they take waaaaaaaaaay to long to get to the it … if there was one.

"When I said 'MUST WATCH' I actually meant 'MUST NOT WATCH!'"

26

Youth and Spiritual Goals in this week's WT study (Are you F-ing kidding me?)

by TerryWalstrom in

i regret following the wrong goals when i was a young person.

such as?such as spending a hundred hours a month of my precious youth rapping my unwrinkled knuckles on doors and waving soon-to-be-obsolete religious messages in front of aghast householders.such as spending my 20th, 21st, and part of my 22nd years in prison imagining anything useful was happening or that i was pleasing the big guy in the sky.such as taking a crappy job as a janitor and trying to support my family on beans and rice while i peddled cult materials, arguing with people who were better educated about fantasy scenarios i was brainwashed into parroting.such as making excuses for my depressing existence for my empty feeling of constant depression by consoling myself that soon billions of people would be annihilated--except for me and those i was able to convince to waste their time too.thanks, watchtower for twenty years of dry rot for my brain, a jehovah sized hole in my heart, and a great big "thank you" in the form of shunning from all my wonderful spiritual brothers and sisters for all my efforts.sure am i glad i didn't "waste" my youth on education, career, lifelong friends, and (gasp) fun!i was 12 years old when i was introduced to the watchtower and the kingdom hall.23 years later, i walked out a free man.the emotional damage took decades to reconcile.i'm 71 and i'd be thrilled to have those 23 years back!the watchtower is one of the most insidious time-devouring organizations on our planet.thanks for nothing!____________________the above is in answer to:.

this week's wt-study:.

jp1692

The Watchtower - April 2018 - "Young People, Are You Focused on Spiritual Goals?"

18 No one remains young for long. Young people quickly progress to adulthood. Sad to say, as adults, many then regret having followed the wrong goals when they were young or, just as frustrating, having had no goals at all. But youths who today keep focused on theocratic goals will well into adulthood be deeply satisfied with the choices they made.

Awake! 1969 May 22 p.15

"If you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things. Why not? Because all the evidence in fulfillment of Bible prophecy indicates that this corrupt system is due to end in a few years. ... Therefore, as a young person, you will never fulfill any career that this system offers. If you are in highschool and thinking about a college education, it means at least four, perhaps even six or eight more years to graduate into a specialized career. But where will this system of things be by that time? It will be well on the way toward its finish, if not actually gone!" - Click here for scan

Forty-nine years ago it was "you will never grow old," now it's "no one remains young for long."

Hmmm ....

Let's review: It's a cult!

43

Anyone watching the handmaids tail?

by blownaway in

i thought this was all about the 18th century.

but its current or just post current times.

.

jp1692

SparrowDown: It's called fiction.

And I love it!

Sorry, I tend to get a little carried away with a good story. I love great fiction, especially when the author is able to make important social commentary using a believable fictional world.

35

new JW Online Bible Study Lessons

by neat blue dog in

has anybody seen the new online bible study yet, just posted yesterday i believe?

it's the first thing you see now when going to the home page.

the online bible study lessons on jw.org are free, have no obligation, and are easy to use.

jp1692

How Can I Avoid Dangers on the Internet?

Countless Web sites contain material that is morally corrupt and spiritually destructive.

43

Anyone watching the handmaids tail?

by blownaway in

i thought this was all about the 18th century.

but its current or just post current times.

.

jp1692

The totalitarian, dystopia part of HM is plausible -- the puritanical part - eh, not so much.

Writes a former member of a puritanical cult -- one of 8 million people that bought into just such a whacked belief system!

What the ... ???

A while back, I gave a presentation at an International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) conference in Europe. My particular topic was recovery after leaving a cult. The audience consisted mostly of mental health professionals and cultic studies researchers from all over the world, but there were also a few former cult members and family members trying to figure out how to have an intervention on behalf of their loved ones. At any rate, most members weren't too familiar with JWs or their beliefs.

Midway through the presentation, one participant in the workshop asked if I thought JWs were capable of being radicalized (the presentation before mine was about how many, many teenagers in Spain were being recruited by extremist Islamic groups). I responded by saying that at present JWs were instructed to be non-political, however it was (and remains) my opinion that if the JW leadership ever directed their membership to carryout any kind of terrorist attacks that at least 1% of JWs worldwide would be totally and completely committed to doing whatever they were told. Blind, unquestioning obedience is a potentially scary thing - (see “Seven Shepherds, Eight Dukes—What They Mean for Us Today,” Watchtower, November 2013, paragraph 17).

I then continued, explaining that there are about 8 million JWs worldwide. Do the math. That means that about 80,000 individuals could and would be ready to do whatever they were told by WT leaders. Imagine: 80,000 coordinated acts of terrorism and or violence! (You may or many not agree, but the potential is certainly there.)

At this point in the presentation a young man in the audience raised his hand. (He was not the person that asked the initial question that got this part of the discussion going.)

When I called on him, he said boldly, "You're wrong!"

Taken somewhat aback, I said, "Okay. This is just my opinion, but tell me why you say that."

He replied, "I am very well acquainted with the beliefs and actions of Jehovah's Witnesses and I just think you're wrong. It wouldn't be 1% ... it would be much, much higher. Probably 10 - 20% or possibly even more!"

I found out later he had been a Bethelite for several years in Selters, Germany.

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Returning to the OP. I would think that we, as former cult members, would be the first to acknowledge how easily people can be manipulated and controlled into believing and then doing crazy, even horrible, things.

The Handmaid's Tale is clearly fiction. It is one woman's idea of how a dystopian, totalitarian society could possibly reform out of a post-enlightenment democratic one.

Clearly the story is compelling as evidenced by the lasting popularity of the book, the critical acclaim of the recent television adaptation and the fact that we are discussing it here.

Will it happen here? Probably not; I certainly hope not.

Could it happen here? Absolutely.

Therein lies the cautionary aspect of the tale.

12

Simon, is it possible to add an "Underline" button to options?

by Wonderment in

simon, is it possible to add an "underline" button to the available options?.

thanks again for this site!.

jp1692

I'm no a MAC. I just highlight what I want underlined and hit COMMAND-U.

It works.

43

Anyone watching the handmaids tail?

by blownaway in

i thought this was all about the 18th century.

but its current or just post current times.

.

jp1692

Hi Scotsman, No I have not read Oryx and Crake. I'll have to add it to my wish list on our recommendation!

jp

43

Anyone watching the handmaids tail?

by blownaway in

i thought this was all about the 18th century.

but its current or just post current times.

.

jp1692

It is of course correct that The Handmaid's Tale (THT) was published in 1985 and therefore could not possibly be about Trump. I did not say that or even mean to imply it. In my previous post I was not specifically referring to any particular administration, but rather an ideological worldview that actually goes back decades. Sorry that I wasn't more clear.

Margaret Atwood, the author of THT, has spoken and written at length about her motivations for much of her writing, THT included. Interestingly, she was living in West Berlin when she began writing the book in 1983. This was when it was still encircled by the Berlin Wall.

In The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood writes in the well-established tradition of using her art form, fictional literature, to advance her ideals of social awareness and change. She used a variety of historical scenarios --- from the Puritans of New England to the religious theocracies of Afghanistan -- to provide the backdrop, possible means and motivations for her story.

For example, she has stated that, all of “the scenarios offered in The Handmaid's Tale have actually occurred in real life,” adding that “I didn't put in anything that we [humans] haven't already done, we're not already doing, we're seriously trying to do, coupled with trends that are already in progress... So all of those things are real, and therefore the amount of pure invention is close to nil" (Gruss, 2004).

Expanding on this notion, Atwood stated in a recent essay that "One of my rules was that I would not put any events into the book that had not already happened in what James Joyce called the 'nightmare' of history, nor any technology not already available."

Atwood has explained that The Handmaid's Tale is a response to those who claim the oppressive, totalitarian, and religious governments that have taken hold in other countries throughout the years "can't happen here"—but in this work, she has tried to show how such a takeover might play out (Rothstein, 1986).

Atwood has speculated that a coup such as the one depicted in THT would misuse religion in order to achieve its own ends, positing the question, “if you wanted to seize power in the US, abolish liberal democracy and set up a dictatorship, how would you go about it?” (Atwood, 2012). Handmaid's Tale is her literary answer to that question.

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Works Cited:

Atwood, Margaret (20 January 2012). "Haunted by the Handmaid's Tale". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2016.

Gruss, Susanne (2004). ""People confuse interpersonal relations with legal structures." An Interview with Margaret Atwood". Gender Forum. Archived from the original on 27 April 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.

Rothstein, Mervyn (17 February 1986). "No Balm in Gilead for Margaret Atwood". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 March 2016.