scratchme1010

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Posts by scratchme1010

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  39

  In praise of Randall Watters

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  exjw's of a certain age will remember randy's site well.

  freeminds was instrumental in waking me up along with ray franz's books.

  if net soup and armageddon okies mean nothing to you you're probably under 30.. whatever caused randy to post what he did recently is something i can only guess at but it won't be what i remember him for.. randy, i wish you well and thank you for all you've done over the years .

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  scratchme1010

  Whatever caused Randy to post what he did recently is something I can only guess at but it won't be what I remember him for.
  

  Some of us are not aware. What did he post?
  
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  5

  NWT cross references

  by Steel in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  lately i have been really interested in the idea of who jesus was in the in old testament.

  i have reading an author named michael heiser who generally believes anytime there was a physical manifestion of god in the old testament it was a pre incarnation of jesus christ.. i was reading the first chapter of jeremiah there is a figure called " the word of jehovah appears ".

  this actually happens in a number of places in the old testament.

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  scratchme1010

  Never heard of Jesus existing during the time when the old testament was written. Scientists and historians do confirm that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person and existed in the area where the bible says he lived. Other than that, I think it's difficult to confirm the rest.
  
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  21

  There is a NEW Songbook?!

  by My Name is of No Consequence in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am not talking about the one that the org came out with in 2010. i am talking about a new one that just came out.

  it is completely different or is it just the 135 songs from the 2010 songbook plus the 16 that they have rolled out since then?

  my head is spinning!.

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  scratchme1010

  My point is that they just came out with a new one 7 years ago. Almost immediately, they started adding additional songs. I just have to wonder why. Like Sanchy said, apparently it is more of a revised songbook as opposed to a new one.
  

  I still fail to see a point.
  
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  49

  How do you categorise the Society - Cult or High control religion

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have often seen many categorise the organisation in different ways.

  some say cult, some say high control religion.

  cult or high control religion?.

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  scratchme1010

  So what's your your perspective? Cult or High Control Religion?
  

  I'm not a pro, but I am well educated in the matter. I follow what professionals who study them and have decades of unbiased research on them and on organizations like them conclude and say.

  The term cult is not necessarily one to which all professionals feel comfortable using, mostly because of what the media have made people believe a cult is. When people mention cults, the average person thinks of things like this:

  
  

  Instead of using the term "cult" they prefer to use "high demand" or "controlling" groups and/or relationships. That includes a number of groups and relationships that are nothing like the ones that people normally think of. In fact, professionals define cults in 4 different ways, based on 4 different perspectives: cults as dangerous, authoritarian, cults as culturally innovative or transcultural, cults as loosely structured protoreligion, and Bainbridge’s taxonomy that distinguishes: audience cults, client cults and cult movements

  With that in mind, I made my own comparison between the characteristics of what the professionals call a high demand, controlling group, and the WT. Here are the characteristics of a cult or controlling group that I experienced in the WT:

  • Charisma and High Demands - a cult is characterized by an ideology, strong demands issuing from that ideology, and powerful processes of social-psychological influence to induce group members to meet those demands.
  • Risk of Harm - A high-demand controlling group is leader-centered, controlling of the social climate in their group, which places their members at risk being exploited and injured, although they may remain benign if leadership doesn't abuse its power.
  • It treats people as objects to be manipulated for the benefit of the leader(s).
  • It believes that and behaves as though the group’s supposedly noble ends justify means that most people deem unethical.
  • It harms some persons involved with or affected by the group.

  Those things make me believe in the WT as a cultic organization. I'd call it a cult based on what I know from my studies and research in the matter. However, my definition of a cult is this:

  A group or movement exhibiting a great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control (e.g. isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependency on the group and fear of leaving it, etc.), designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders, to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community.

  The WT fits that definition to a T.
  
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  130

  Not a sympathizer

  by Richard Oliver in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i think everyone here is under the impression that i am a watchtower sympathizer, i am not.

  i just like facts and when people say things, which are their opinions but that facts point out as not being true, than that is when i get so motivated to make a comment.

  i have read posts here, listened to six screens and read jwsurvey and seen things that people say, which are opinion, but pass them off as fact.. there are legitimate things that people on here and former jws have concerns over without manipulating what is said or trying to pass off opinion as a fact.

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  scratchme1010

  And just as many people here will accuse Witnesses of just believing what Watchtower tells them is because they want it to be true, same thing that I have seen here and on other sites. Six Screens did a whole story that Watchtower spent 30+ million dollars on blimps so that they could get GB members from Warwick to Brooklyn fast. Without exception people on there believed it whole heartedly because they want to believe it is true no matter what. Lets take away the fact that Warwick to the city even by car is only 1 hour 15 minutes and they did not take into account that there is nowhere to park a blimp anywhere in NYC, and even if they were to park it at JFK, it would take an hour to get from Queens to Brooklyn. But it is what they wanted to believe that Watchtower is this evil organization that has spent millions of dollars on this luxury.
  

  You just don't get it. The WT is a self-centered cocky careless organization. If you like facts, you stop trying to portrait us as people who want to demonize it, and instead look at the facts that we present to you to prove what that entity is. It is evil, it does cause harm to people. I can't care less about Warwick or whether they flourish or perish. The WT has caused harm to people. People have died because of them. They have made people let loved ones die over the blood thing, intervenes with people's decisions about career, marriage, medical decisions, who they should marry, who they can talk to, what music they can listen to, and all simply and exclusively for enriching themselves. They do nothing, absolutely nothing at all for any of the communities where they exist and have congregations.

  The WT is bad.

  There are legitimate things that people on here and former JWs have concerns over without manipulating what is said or trying to pass off opinion as a fact.
  

  According to who?
  
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  14

  Lies, and more lies.

  by biblexaminer in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i have seen some discussions related to the "kingdom" book, and the recent studies, but, i didn't see the one pertaining to the second chapter of the "kingdom" book.

  i may have missed it.

  if i have ...mea culpa.. chapter 2, paragraph 29 & 33.

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  scratchme1010

  The Watchtower has written so many lies. So very many lies. How could anyone trust them for anything.
  

  What a waste of bytes. You could have just typed that.
  
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  17

  Just a dumb question. A minor was df in our cong 15 yrs old

  by poopie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the question is can her mother and father who are witnesses greet her in the morning only or would they be a sharer in her wicked deeds and thus also be df for saying a greeting?.

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  scratchme1010

  The question is can her mother and father who are witnesses greet her in the morning only or would they be a sharer in her wicked deeds and thus also be df for saying a greeting?
  

  Jeezuz! If you find yourself asking that kind of questions...
  
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  4

  2016 year book

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi acording to the 2016 year book the borg sent 6,000 people from bethels around the world "home" i think they might be struggling a bit lol .

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  scratchme1010

  Who knows, some may be here in this forum already.
  
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  29

  Watchtower Annulled My Baptism

  by RICHT in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  contrary to popular belief you can have your baptism annulled as i did by my local elders after my judicial hearing.. the watchtower of 1964 page 126 first paragraph clearly states that anyone that was committing a gross sin before, during and after their baptism is void.

  in order to get right with the lord you would need to be re-baptised.

  err no thanks, i'm not a believer!!!!.

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  scratchme1010

  I have heard of baptism annulment before, and of a person being re-baptized too. To me that's too much dealing with the JWs for me to even care. I baptized at 14, and I take my baptism for exactly what it was, a decision made by a 14 year old.
  
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  14

  elders are leaving me alone. what to make of this?

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am a born in that goes back to the 1960's i am in a very zealous congregation with super dub elders.

  i have been inactive for 3 years and only go to about 2 meetings a month.

  i made my displeasure known about the overlapping generation b.s.

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  scratchme1010

  Since then the elders neither harass me or encourage me. Am I just lucky?
  

  I have the feeling that you may be lucky, but for the fact that they may just not like you and prefer not to deal with you at all. I've known of elders who do that. It may just be "fine by them".

  It could also be fear. If you were the kind of JW you describe, they may not feel too confident coming to you to try to discuss things with them. You may have a lot more ammunition against them than they against you.

  Just my guesses.