Posts by scratchme1010

38

What Was Your Favorite Kingdom Song?

by minimus in

jw
friends

funny but for whatever reason, i can't stop singing walking in integrity from the old songbook!

it's in my head and in my opinion it was one of the few songs i really liked..

scratchme1010

I have musical ears and talent for music and I hated, hated, hated all those cheesy songs. Hated more that I couldn't explore my musical talent because every time I was told to sing one of those hideous songs instead.

NONE.

27

OK who threw the stink bomb in here?

by Thisismein1972 in

come on a believer, everyone knows it was you so own up to it and teacher will not be cross!.

this is exactly what seems to be happening, a believer runs in drops the stink bomb and runs out again...only to pear around the door when he/she deems it safe to do so.

😅😅😅.

scratchme1010

I guess I missed it. What was "the stink bomb". I came to the forum and can't smell anything

9

A better way to ask questions - Anybody remember "Amazing"?

by Bonnie_Clyde in

first of all, i wonder whatever happened to jim whitney (aka amazing).

when i first joined this forum, i remember being so impressed by the way he got his family out.

instead of knocking the organization head-on, he would ask questions that can't be answered during his family study, such as, "how would you answer someone if they said we were false prophets?

scratchme1010

For those who are wanting to fade, wouldn't this be a better way to ask the elders without raising suspicion? Always throw the question back to a 3rd party. I notice a lot of the posters like to ask these questions head-one, and it very seldom works.

I agree (respectfully) for the most part. Personally I am of the opinion that there isn't any cookie-cutter way of fading. Many JWs have different circumstances, different reasons to leave/stay/stay for now. I think that the approach you mention can be helpful, but not for every single JW.

What I see is that regardless of how they decide to leave, we all need support, respect for what we decide to do/believe and understanding when they decide to take an action that we personally wouldn't take.

Also, many people refuse (or are not aware) that aside from asking questions regarding teachings and doctrine, there are feelings and other things that make people stay tied up with their congregations. Those bonds, and feelings are stronger than any line of reasoning.

207

Honest Questions About Child Abuse

by Richard Oliver in

i have two honest questions for everyone here.

i understand that most here want retribution from the courts against watchtower for child abuse allegations.

but let us take away the instances where someone was accused of child abuse and then later put back into a position of authority, such as an elder or an ms. let us just take the cases where a regular publisher or even an appointed person, with no previous accusation of child abuse has come up against that person.

scratchme1010

Why do you feel that Watchtower is responsible for that person's actions against the child?

My two cents (Ok, maybe like a $1.50). According to the law, when a person becomes a JW and agrees to abide their rules, both the WT and the person enter what is legally called a fiduciary relationship. When that's the case, the WT is then bound to the full extent of the law in terms of reporting to the authorities every single instance when a person, not only children, when there's any incident that as required by law, causes any harm and may result in the prosecution of a person who has violated a the law. The WT has stated specific policies and actions that they are supposed to take when sexual abuse of a minor has occurred by anyone, that is, an elder or not an elder, by any other JW, or by anyone outside their JW realm. Yes, that includes if a child mentions that (s)he has been sexually abused by a non JW person too.

Because of that, the WT is 100% liable for not abiding the law and have its policies trump prosecution of people who have committed the crime of sexual abuse. Furthermore, they can't care less about having registered sex offenders in congregations in complete contact with children, and going house to house preaching.

Additionally, the WT's rules are that the child has to come to a JC, state his case and bring witnesses to the alleged abuse (can you imagine a 5 year old doing that? Ok, make it a 10 year old, even a 17 year old, could you see any of them going through such even more traumatic process after being sexually assaulted or molested?).

The WT is liable because (a) they have their own policy and process that flat out violates the law, (b) they do not enforce current existing laws to protect children from sexual predators, and (c) they violate the law when they do not report the incident of sexual abuse of a minor to the authorities, claiming that they are not part of the world.

But doesn't that require a child to be abused and to be hurt along with years of litigation and then mental health support. Why is it that more and more people here aren't encouraging each other to try and work with your state or national legislatures to get laws changed for everyone to to be mandatory reports of child abuse? This would be something that actually helps future victims.

I'm not completely sure of what you're asking here.

First: currently there are plenty of laws that protect children. Every state has specific laws and there are plenty of federal laws that protect all kinds of harm that the children may be. There's no need to create more laws.

Second: not sure where you get that we are more interested in attacking the WT, or that we have no interest in legislation and law. Since the laws already exist, we hold the WT responsible for their disgusting position about child abuse, and for the lack of care for children. Don't expect people to be nice about it if we know that they protect pedophiles and have to be sued for them to admit that they are doing that.

Third: Covering for pedophiles is not the only immoral act that the WT commits against children. I for once can tell you that I grew up going to the KH hearing about fornication, orgies, adultery, bestiality, Babylon the Great having sex with a dragon, beheadings, genocide, rape, slavery, incestuous relationships, children getting killed, children getting sold into slavery, children getting murdered for making fun of a person's lack of hair, etc. You know very well that all kinds of subjects are openly talked about in KHs with children present. JW kids get exposed to all kinds of violent events, sexually inappropriate subjects and all kinds of things that are not suitable for them. That happens every week in every KH. The WT shows no regard for children at all. If that doesn't give you a clue about the WT not caring about the well being of children, I don't know what does.

Fourth: What do you think that the events and cases that are currently being seen in court are doing? They are holding them responsible.

Fifth: It is extremely naive to expect that written laws are going to stop pedophiles and child abusers from causing harm to children. It's not a matter of laws or legislation. JWs have to stop blindly accepting anything and everything that the WT tells them; that's the bottom line. You cannot legislate attitude, you cannot legislate indoctrination, you cannot legislate brainwashing and blind devotion. It really boils down to parents blindly trusting that the WT is acting in their best interest when they are not. There's no law that can enforce people to act appropriately. proof of that is that those laws actually exist and people, including the WT, just don't follow them.

I almost forgot the most important part. I possess transcripts of many lawsuits brought against the WT for the issue of sexual abuse of minors and other violations of the law. Please PM me if you are interested in a copy.

9

New MacBook Pro fails with lowsy 3 to 4 hour battery life

by jwleaks in

with 2017 fast looming i was looking at upgrading my laptop and was eagerly awaiting the release, and reviews, for the new apple macbook pro series and the promoted longer battery life.. fail ... 3 to 4 hrs for the battery life.

lowsy results also reported by apple discussion members.. new macbook pros fail to earn 'consumer reports' recommendation.

by jerry beilinson.

scratchme1010

That's before you start digging into specs - ATI graphics instead of NVidia just feels "cheap" when you should be getting the best. Things seem to be going downhill at Apple - nothing really 'great' coming out and lots of misses.
But then what are the alternatives? Windows Surface Book or a Dell? Never have I felt so content with my current hardware after such a length of time ...

I agree, not to mention that there has been a little bit of diversion about what those devices are meant to exist for. They are there to make life more convenient, efficient and fast. Sounds like the way they are produced today causes more problems and costs more money (relatively speaking; it's still better than doing many things manually).

Microsoft is now focusing on sucking all the information about you that they can, not to mention that their OS is now a peer-to-peer network, meaning that other computers can use your processing power for their purposes. It's a little weird the way technology is today for consumer electronics.

15

how to not get in trouble when addressing your comcerns about the organization during a shepharding call

by nowwhat? in

so just finished telling your concerns about the pedophiles cover up, failed prophecies, revisionists history and lack of financial transparency.

so elders ask you the questions.

" so does this mean you don't want to to be a jw anymore?

scratchme1010

watch the fun and hijinks ensue as the leave scratching their heads!

Great advice. I may add to those who want to use it, please take a deep look at what you're doing remaining in that organization.

Back in the day i just downright lied about my interest in remaining a JW so they could leave me alone. That is as good as anything, after all, I didn't want to play by their rules. It was important for me to feel that I was the one calling the shots, not them.

25

JW employing pre-teens to work religious propaganda phonebank

by oppostate in

.

what do you think about using pre-teens to work religious propaganda phonebank?.

scratchme1010

I was doing that literally since the day I was born. That's nothing new, using children for their propaganda that is. The only difference is the technology used for it.

36

Noah a Preacher of Righteousness?

by Spoletta in

during the watchtower study today, i browsed genesis and looked for evidence of noah ever preaching to anyone.

from what i could glean from the scriptures, it was a foregone conclusion that noah's family would be it on the ark.

(unless they towed some rafts behind) my wife says that building the ark could be considered a witness of his faith to the wicked world, but that seems kind of lame to me.. so, should i just assume that god decided not to give anyone else a chance for redemption?

scratchme1010

I just say this because many of the comments today tried to tie in the Door to Door ministry with Noah's example and I just couldn't see it.

Great catch. If you try to understand it and make sense of it from perspective that such events never happened and that both the bible and the WT are full of nonsense, you may be able to make better sense of both what the bible says and what the WT claims.

I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'

1

I thought of a new Theme for the 2017 Convention Year

by Truth and Justice in

jw
friends

i hope everyone is well and having a good weekend.

i have been quite busy with my work this year, but that should not be an excuse for me, although it is the best one i have.

i had briefly stopped by to see how everyone is doing, and it looks like everyone is hanging in there, although we're all such good actors.

scratchme1010

Putting all humor aside, I think the writing is on the wall, they realize it, and they know it is not looking good, no matter how well they try to spin it. They can say all they want that "well, Jehovah is refining his organization." The only refining going on is people have had enough and they realize that "His Spirit" is no longer with them. They will only continue to have a downward spiral ahead of them.

Interesting post. The Trump nonsense related theme goes well with the WT. Both things are equally disturbing and nauseating. They deserve each other.

What I quoted from you caught my attention. I guess that speaking in a language that communicates well with them, I guess that a statement like that will make them think. But I wonder if they or any JW truly believes that the "Jehovah's" spirit will leave their organization leaving them in status quo.

I think it will be more powerful to show them where the WT is investing all their resources, along with finding a way of letting them know that they have been fooled, as they are no longer the WT's primary interest. Now that they have a better way of making money (they have a thriving real estate business) all that shift in focus is a business, not spiritual, not new light, not coming from "Jehovah", move.

8

Much of the Old Testament accounts do not seem to be historical, shows internal evidence

by anointed1 in

ezekiel 16 gives a brief history of israel.

surprisingly, it has no resemblance with what we already know about israel—their origin and progress as given in the prophecy genesis 22:15-18 and also in the description that follows.

ezekiel repeatedly says (16:2, 45) “your ancestry and birth were in the land of the canaanites; your father was an amorite [descended from one of the sons of canaan (genesis 14:7), occupied large parts of southern mesopotamia, and their god was amurru] and your mother a hittite [ancient anatolian people who established an empire centered on hattusa].

scratchme1010

Nice to see you discerned the spirit of my post.

Some of us discern the spirit of your post, but don't care about the bible anyway. Point is, not giving a hoot about some biblical post has nothing to do with not knowing or understanding what is being communicated or why.