was the doj, nsa, and fbi weaponized?
the biggest scandal of this era, or a false alarm by the gop?
i am skeptical what will come of it, however, some very strong reactions and words are coming from its existence and those who read it, also the fight to keep it secret is telling (reminds me of any cult trying to prevent people from reading damaging information).
Every law requiring secrecy leads to abuse.
Its human nature, just as believing that someone else is watching every move tends to change peoples' behavior in a positive way.
The 3 letter agencies have been weaponized for many many years.
the real question is whether we should treat anythng that comes out of them to the public as truth or simply as subjective / possible propaganda with purpose.
i have been meeting with member's of the kingdom hall, and i have attended a few times now on sundays.
i'd like to discuss experiences with this group since i'm new.
so far, i love it.
I agree with the "troll" designation, though perhaps Im wrong.
Reason being that only JWs call it "the truth" with the exception of some who left but are still using the JWisms they've used for years. those are pretty rare though.
since blondie seems to still be on sabbatical, i'll take the liberty of highlighting a couple of "gems" from this week's upcoming study, from the article "reject worldly thinking".. from paragraph 12:.
is it true that succeeding in a secular career that offers power and prestige leads to lasting happiness?
remember that the craving to control others and the longing to be admired are the desires that enticed satan, but he is angry, not happy.. .
Lonzo, I was just thinking the same thing. Makes you wonder if the GB really ever read this stuff before its printed, surely they would catch on that it's all about them...?
Or maybe not.
jws teach babylon the great is the whole empire of false religion.
interestingly, bible’s definition of it would include jws also because it is the entity “that rules over the kings of the earth.” (rev 17:18) since revelation is given in symbols (rev 1:1) “kings” cannot be literal, but can mean minds of people because mind acts like king over everyone’s bodily kingdom.. no one exerts power over the minds of jws like their gb does.
just like members of other religions blindly follow what their leaders teach, jws too do—even when changes that are introduced under the guise of “new light” are virtually numerous.
Then there's another interpretation of "earth" which would be something more like the Jewish system at the time. Some preterists ascribe to this idea as it seems to make more sense given the rest of revelation.
by committing spiritual adultery, as she often did, Israel became a harlot, this is confirmed by the bible. There's a lot more in revelation that points to Israel/Jerusalem being Babylon the great, mother of the prostitutes.
Anyone remember what her fate was supposed to be? And the "this generation" that Jesus was speaking to would have witnessed it all.
I'd be a preterist for sure if I still believed in the infallibility of the bible.
(preterists believe some or all of the end time prophecies were fulfilled in the 1st century, centering on the destruction of Jerusalem)
will they be making a lot of their gb helpers full fledge gb?
i think as they continue to loose money and members and contributions dry up, that many might be thinking how to get out of this financial mess with some sort of golden parachute, and hand over the reigns to their helpers.. i'm sure with all this bad that is happening to the corporation they would welcome an early retirement with a nice comfy nest egg away from all this bad publicity away from the public eye.
why do they want to keep fighting a losing battle give over their power for a nice comfy retirement.
the old "under new management" deal might cause a short-lived boom in fundraising but ultimately too many people are waking up to continue for too long before money dries up, in my oppinion.
if they did a switcharoo, it would probaby be sometime after the memorial so the helpers can officially partake and be counted as annointed.
then again, there's always the koolaid option. you could even work that into the memorial somehow.
i was watching a fascinating ted-ex video on hypnosis and hypnotism with a friend.
my friend wondered if the jws new music might have a hypnotic suggestion buried somewhere in it which gets everyone in attendance to listen and absorb stuff that is totally irrational for the entire program.
ending with a second subliminal message in the final song along the lines of "you will snap out of this state when you next hear the word amen.
Perhaps whats really happening is that the late comers are really the JWs who are not all that into it anyways (why else would you be late instead of 1hr early, duh!?)
I wonder if number of minutes late can be correlated to how into it a JW is, it would be impossible to prove though.
since leaving the borg i jumped both feet first into classes i've always wanted to do but was never "allowed" to.
two of which are life drawing and photography.
i've been studying for almost two years now and have seen more nude men and women in our classes than i care to remember.. today in the photography studio i was working in with three others (two women, one man) we were told we had a new person modelling for us.
goog thing you stepped in and helped her keep from haveing to explain things.
imagine the awkward conversations at the kingom hall
"so, newly interested one, how did you hear about the truth?"
"well, this nude modelling sister told me about not celebrating xmas and i had to know more and so now im here"
more awkward if the new "one" was a man.
i thought of successfully fading out, but suffered a miscarriage last week.
i gradually decreased the number of meetings i attended.
in the latter half of the year it became once a month, then once in two months, once in three months ….. last week, two elders who visited me, after their bla..bla..asked: “where will you go leaving the motherly organization—the only truth now available on earth?”.
well congrats on your independence from "mother"
Was there a reason for fading that will be affected by this?
Isnt it great to see the love? I mean, they go there, probably counting time too, only to try to get you to condemn yourself (in their eyes) so they can duly punish you and act as though you never existed. ah now that's warm christian love!
i know this sounds very outlandish by the title but hear this one out:.
a few months back i spoke to an old friend of mine raised "around the truth", but never baptized and wanting nothing to do with the wt.
he is very hip to what is going on in the wt however.
Im sure Russia could find a reason to legally ignore all the letters instead of responding to each.
Perhaps declaring them to be part of the WT criminal DoS activity would be sufficient, or perhaps the fact that most are not from Russian citizens.
I cant help but wonder if the the GB got exactly the results they were looking for.
Too bad Sanderson, one of the chief kingpins of the American run extremist organization, was allowed to return home instead of being prosecuted. Maybe Russia was trying to avoid the obvious next step of American intervention.
maybe some of you remember me, maybe not.
for general information i am now 19 years old, and living by myself.
for the past 1 year (more like 1.5 years) i have been quietly fading out of the hypocrisy of this organization, but since i still live in the town i grew up in it has been hard, and filled with different challenges.
I wouldsuggest NOT bringing up points that draw into question the authority or legitamacy of the org only because you said that you are trying to record for your family to hear. if you get DF for apostacy they will be less likely to hear you out than if you get DF for "brazen conduct"
I loke the idea of showing the 1947 article, you could simply say that you agree with what the org wrote there. May I suggest giving each elder a copy but that you read out loud the paragraph where it mentions the pagan origens and the purpose being to control the members. Out loud so it gets on your recording and they may feel pushed to respond. then perhaps mention that jesus never commanded to shun or excercised shunning of anyone and so "Im sorry if my efforts to be more christ-like stumble you but rest assured that I have already forgiven you for what you are about to do."
Melt them with hot coals :)
or just skip the whole thing and move on. I feel for your situation with fam being in though. its going to be a rough ride, hang in there.
oh and congrats for being a real human being to your fellow man, we need more people like that in the world.
