Posts by Teirce

3

State of the WTS?

by gsx1138 in

jw
friends

i know it's in ny.

i've been out of the loop for awhile, thank god.

last time i was in we got a talk about how 2/3 of the young people were leaving the "truth".

I tend to think that a constant percentage of world population is mentally damaged and/or unformed enough to buy into it. That constant will never alter. The WTS just has to keep drilling. It has some likeness to the case of prospecting for oil. There are untapped world endowment (50 years of petroleum left on this planet), there are reserves which are pockets that have been speculated and marked, there are the methods of drilling and the methods of refining. All the reserves of surface oil are gradually drying up, but there are vast amounts of oil in dangerous areas (undersea) that will require a significant increase of technology to extract economically. Unless that technology emerges, that oil may remain there for some time, pushing everyone towards electrocars, et al, the sooner.

The WTS has to find new technologies for extracting equal resource from increasingly unwealthy and uneducated populations. Or, they must cut back their requirements and overhead. They do appear now to be playing the part of the desert succulent, which gorges on water in favorable season, and withdraws in unfavorable. It's hard to see where the next surge of economic moisture will come from, but there's always the energetic tug of politics which by shear odds always have a chance of happening in such a way that they can retroactively pronounce that it was forseen just so, and send even the wealthy western foxhole seat-warmers for their wallets. (I think, I may be wrong.)

12

The Watchtower's Achilles Heel

by metatron in

jw
friends

recent events strongly suggest that the watchtower has a. severe, if not fatal, weakness.. lack of education - and intelligent management.. over the past several years, the governing body has emphasized.

a program of 'simplification' - a plain response to the demands.

of an international organization that lacks enough money and.

Teirce

They also have that delightful overhead of interrupting perfectly productive momentums to go wash up for mealtimes. They could save a few cents just piping in all the spiritual spew to the various worksites so the workers could eat cheaply-produced boxlunches/grabbags. Maybe only have the hot meals at breakfast and dinner. Hear that, guys? Just an idear.

5

Think of the Witness TV could give

by VitoJW in

jw
friends

television is the undisputed king of information.

hundreds of channels, hundreds of topics..... 24 hours a day 365 days a year.. yet instead of taking the "truth" to the masses over the worldwide tv airwaves, jw's ignore the mass media, prefering instead the door to door approach of the first century ce.

i have my ideas..... what are yours?

Teirce

I'd have to agree on the money issue. For them to get any commercial ad or program up to the feel-good warmly-lighted fuzzy-edged schmaltsze of a Mormon commercial, they're talking serious design and production costs. Fuck, they'd have to hire some non-JW who could actually *portray*, because who the hell ex-district convention soundtrack-pantomimist could pull that off?

22

WHY DID GOD CREATE WOMEN BEAUTIFUL BUT DUMB?

by new boy in

jw
friends

its easy "beautiful so that men would love them!

and dumb so that they would love men!".

but the real question why does the society love their people dumb?.

Teirce

Male displays are to advertise power and their dominance over other males, which signals genetic premium. Flamboyant color is an evolutionary adaptation to denote that said male's genetics are so robust that his genes have spare time to experiment, and productively at that. All things otherwise being equal, the genes for normal non-flamboyant color and characteristics have been bred out of whichever species.

Males in the org also have their forms of display. "Reaching out" for priviledges, insofar as the witness dating game goes, is the equivalent of showing a surplus of mental ability, stamina and demonstrating that much-touted quality of fatherly providership. They get to possess a degree of real power, which is oftentimes the only real power, albeit indirect, that an elderette may get.

22

WHY DID GOD CREATE WOMEN BEAUTIFUL BUT DUMB?

by new boy in

jw
friends

its easy "beautiful so that men would love them!

and dumb so that they would love men!".

but the real question why does the society love their people dumb?.

Teirce

One of the reasons I left had to do with the complete lack of success bagging a JW chick who was adequately, or remotely, academically smart. Couldn't do it. Had to settle for pretty, wild, and not-bright. If I Had been able to attract and keep a 'smart one', such as they are, life may have been tolerable to stay in. It wasn't. I went through a misogynistic period because of that rejection, and I wonder if it's a universal period for young men till they get their bearings and realize they DON'T have to stay in the org to get a woman. Realizing that is a dawn of a new age.

16

Finally a WT prophecy fulfilled?

by Marilyn in

jw
friends

so what does the scripture "the love of the greater number will cool off" mean if it's not the big falling away from the wts in the last few years?

btw i don't remember the scriptural context but i have sometimes wondered about it - even though i'm a devout non-believer.. marilyn

Teirce

Unfortunately you have a point. It's a short step from saying that the "greater number", formerly applied to wordly people, could now apply to the "great crowd", who would then be basically associated with being worldy. Greater number of the great crowd, ish.

We still can't beat "Serving With One United Shoulder".. if anyone remembers that joke.

Any takers that the WTS has head-hunters that scope out places like this for ideas to throw on the policy change slush pile?

7

Todays text (4/20/02) and mind control

by D wiltshire in

jw
friends

expectation postponed is making the heart sick.

(text for 4/20/02 wt 9/1/00 19,20a).

certainly, if a person is entertaining unfounded expectations, the heart can be sickened by disappointment.

Teirce

I wonder how few statements it takes to break down this argument for the benefit of any JWs who happen across. Here's my attempt:

Because the WTS adds conditions to Prov 13.12, it is either incomplete as a scriptural instruction (comp. ii Tim 3.16), or they contradict it. The scripture is a truth, or it is not a truth.

27

The collapse of the WBTS? - I don't think so.

by dmouse in

jw
friends

do we apostates fall into the same trap as jehovahs witnesses when it comes to blinding ourselves to the truth?.

how often have i confronted jws with overwhelming evidence that the so called signs of the times are simply not being fulfilled in our day only for them to bring up some barely relevant snippet of information, which, to them, shoots my argument down in flames?

it is incredible how jws can ignore the camel of evidence that contradicts what they believe and then exult over the gnat of evidence that supports their view.

Teirce

This earthquake made it dawn on me that the WTS seems to have a faith in the overarching power of pure inanimate chaos, in the same way that Qui-Gon did in the animate Force. If things are looking too good on the world scene, and there's no nice bad news to harp on, the Qui-Gonnish among them will confidently look to the future and say, "Don't worry. I'm sure another solution will present itself." And, lo, an earthquake has been given down into their hands, and it is like manna from heaven.

27

Zebras (Awake! magazine Jan 2001)

by Duncan in

jw
friends

well, weve been in our new house now for almost two years, and we finally got our first visit from the witnesses, a couple of days ago.. two very nice middle-aged ladies stood on my doorstep, asking me would i accept their two magazines for free?

- they were old issues from january well, how could i refuse?.

its gods will that zebras are striped and thats the beginning and end of it.. for an educational magazine this is just a disgrace.. can you hear the voice of the great teacher in this?

Teirce

JWs are for all intents and purposes illiterate. This doesn't mean that they are incapable of interpreting a series of cyphers to extract an intended meaning. It means that because of their mental and physical isolationism of said cyphers, they are unable to grasp the thought of what IS actually literature, ie, the great works of great men who have lived in great moments. The WTS insists on their members becoming "literate", and why? So they have a ready-made recepticle that cannot question and expurgate the contents poured into it. IE, those who must think and discuss are able to question immediately, for if a food smells bad, we as animals generally avoid it, immediately. This reading medium is a pillar of the hypnotism which commands that one allay and defer their questions until they've seen 'more of the big picture'. No less, the WTS uses the term "literature" to insinuate that they, as literary men who are capable of having "translated" Bibles themselves, are fluent in all forms of classical writings and human wisdoms, and have evaluated them in the light of deity, and have found them entirely wanting. What the WTS calls "literature" is not worthy of the word, but is trash that hasn't found its way to the landfill as yet.

27

The collapse of the WBTS? - I don't think so.

by dmouse in

jw
friends

do we apostates fall into the same trap as jehovahs witnesses when it comes to blinding ourselves to the truth?.

how often have i confronted jws with overwhelming evidence that the so called signs of the times are simply not being fulfilled in our day only for them to bring up some barely relevant snippet of information, which, to them, shoots my argument down in flames?

it is incredible how jws can ignore the camel of evidence that contradicts what they believe and then exult over the gnat of evidence that supports their view.

Teirce

I agree with every detail. I'd add that many of these instances are just ex-JWs going through the seven stages of recovery. Anger and the desire for vengeance can for a time override critical thinking. But that stage has to be passed before the object of anger is neutralized, and the experience humanized. But very fine illuminations!