Posts by scratchme1010

23

Book study this week...more trumpeting over the organzations greatness

by NikL in

jw
friends

you know, there are some studies that are painful to sit through because of the blatant lies or bull shite spewing from the platform.

then there are those that seem to have no reason for even taking place.. such was the case for last nights congregation bible study.. all it did was talk about how many books and magazines have been published over the years and "aren't we wonderful that we print so much stuff"?

this is a study into important biblical things?

scratchme1010

Seriously?

And you still come here promoting them, seriously?

11

If the "society" were a person, he would be disfellowshipped!

by stuckinarut2 in

that realisation struck me the other day!.

if the society was an individual person, he would be disfellowshipped!

well, he has had a history of telling mistruths, half truths and distortions of facts.

scratchme1010

So, if this "person" was in a congregation, he should be disfellowshipped right?

Not really. The core of the reason for every cult or cultic relationship to exists lies in the fact that the leader/leadership is always right, no matter what he/she says. The WT as an entity is as full of --it as if it were a person, and as such, being the leader of the pack, that person will be the one calling the shots.

If you look at cults where the leader is one person, that person gets away with anything and everything that person wants, including other people's wives, money and lives (some have killed others and gotten away with it).

No changes at all, just a different way of having the cult leader.

6

Why do subjugated people adopt the religion of their oppressors?

by James Mixon in

i always wondered why african slaves adopted the bible.

for the life of me i couldn't understand the attraction.

of course this is not only african slaves who adopted the religion of their oppressors, so i came across a article "the above topic".. five reasons 1)coercion (2)co-option (3)conditioning (4)convincing (5) materialist consequences..in the case of the african slaves they made sure that plenty of bibles be shipped to the south and used to keep the slaves in line... so my question, what will be the religion in the destined future,jw's(no way),scientology (hope not),christianity, islamic or maybe no religion???

scratchme1010

I think the denomination itself won't matter much. The future of any of them, in my opinion, depends on how successful they are at maintaining their people at bay and growing in money, numbers and power.

There are a few things that all of us as human beings need that we alone cannot provide, a sense of comfort, reassurance and certainty about the future, a sense of belonging and community, approval and encouragement, etc. Subjugated or not, people still have those needs.

For as long as religion keeps providing (or giving the illusion that they are providing) ways of fulfilling those needs, they will always be in business.

10

Picking up the pieces

by longgone in

just needing a listening ear, so in advance thanks for being here, no one other than ex-jw's could understand.

they may try, but i think only a person who lived through it could know what's its really like.. i wish i could be supporting others here but i'm so broken myself i can't seem to do that yet.

i hope that will come in time though.. for now, i'm trying to undo the damage done to my family by the wts.

scratchme1010

Thank you for sharing. The only one thing that I will tell you is not to take it on you. Like you, I am born into that cult. I had no other choice and no other reference in life than the nonsense I was taught all my life by all my family.

Concentrate in the future and int he fact that you are starting the process of minimizing the negative influence from the WT. I have a few places where you can go for information, please PM me if you are interested. They are places that specialize in people who have been born into a cult experience.

Other than that, please keep your hopes up. You and I managed to figure out that it's a cult and it's damaging to family. Others can too. It's a process.

Keep posting here, and welcome.

18

one thing about all these pedophiles cases i cant understand is..

by nowwhat? in

as a parent, if it was my kid i would go straight to the police and or beat the living shit out of the perpetrator.

were all these parents of the victims brain dead or that indoctrinated?.

scratchme1010

As a parent, if it was my kid I would go straight to the police and or beat the living shit out of the perpetrator. Were all these parents of the victims brain dead or that indoctrinated?

I understand that as parents people must want the well being of their children to come first. In the particular case of the WT cult, those parents are conditioned to not question their authority, also mislead to believe that the elders and the WT itself are properly capable and prepared to deal with those situations. Additionally, they are to blindly trust everything and anything they say, including letting their own children die over a blood transfusion issue. This is not the only cult that has to deal with sexual abuse of children and parent being unwilling or unable to properly deal with the cult leadership stance and actions over it. In fact, the WT is by far not the worse when it comes to this type of situations.

Then, there are the other things to consider when you factor out the WT and their negative influence. It is well documented that there are a rather large number of parents who don't believe and/or don't provide support to their children when they express that they have been sexually abused. According to experts, the most common reasons for that happening have to do with the parents' fears of them being held responsible, along with a whole lot of other reasons, most of them around the parents caring more for them as individuals before thinking of them as parents.

Remember, perpetrators normally are people who are close to the family, sometimes they are family members. Also, in the case of the WT and other cults, the perpetrators are (or are perceived as) people with a degree of power over the parents. There can be repercussions in the community where they belong.

Speaking of repercussions, some parents prefer to cover it up to save appearances. They figure that the "shame" and labeling their child as "molested" will carry a social burden for the rest of their lives and they figure it's better if that doesn't come up to light.

As you can see, it first glance it seems like a no-brainer to have a person arrested and a child protected, but in reality there are other factors (real or perceived) that can make parents think twice before taking actions. I'm not saying that that's good or bad, it's just how it is.

46

Circuit Assemblies in the "Good Old Days"

by BluesBrother in

jw
friends

just been reminiscing about how c/a's have changed since we were young.

i remember when they started friday night in some rented hall , as well as the two weekend days.

saturday morning was a brief session then field ministry (which only a few performed ) and sunday sessions.. in the free time around the venue we just used to hang out socialising and eyeing up the girls.

scratchme1010

Anybody else have fond memories of Albert Broad, John Blaney and more lately David Carter?
The present regime has the arrogance to believe that their programme is so wonderful that it is all the brothers want to experience. It misses the point entirely that the weekend was one of association, friendship and a sense of being a part of something .

I have memories, not fond of them, but yes, back in the day the assemblies felt more "owned" by the JWs because there was a lot more work put into getting it all going. The meals were a full menu, there was socializing with people you didn't use to see more often (now with FB and social media that's not the case), the decorations of the assemblies had these complicated flower arrangements. Also, some people used to find thrilling the location for the upcoming meeting place. I also remember at the end, people in the congregations talking about the wonderful experience, charmed by the content.

I still hated them since I was more neglected than anything, so I used to make my own fun by bothering as much people as possible and getting away with as much mischief as I could.

15

Childless elders need to piss off

by Steel in

anyone else think it's wrong to ask a women with small children to volunteer there time, ask if they like to come to a potential study etc etc?.

my wife just spent an entire day helping with a kingdom hall reno while i babysat.

i latter stepped out and saw half the elders having coffee because they had so many people show up, they were tripping over each other.. i also have no idea what tangible skill my wife offered or why it is important she needs to be there.. i just wish these men would man up and be men, instead of just wasting everyone's time on purpose.

scratchme1010

Anyone else think it's wrong to ask a women with small children to volunteer there time, ask if they like to come to a potential study etc etc?

Let's see: they want people to go meet every single week, go preaching distributing their literature, and make every single life decision around and for them. Yeah, I have the feeling that it's a little inappropriate to ask women (or anyone for that matter) anything, especially when you consider that they get zero out of anything and everything they do for them.

3

Again a knock at the door!

by JWdaughter in

nothing for years, and twice in two weeks i get jws at the door.

i didn't feel like talking to them and said i had plenty of bibles and read them.

i had a plan, but i was getting ready to leave the house and didn't want to get into it.

scratchme1010

It was a father and daughter. NO bible. They both had ipads and notepads (like the leather bound kind). So weird.

If that was in the neighborhoods I went preaching, I could have gotten robbed or killed for the darn iPads. Though come to think of it, people read less books and printed materials, so maybe there's an app they can download? Maybe they are promoting their literature through and app?

I also know that they are slacking left and right, which in my view is a clear sign that the WT has no interest in making money from their preaching as strongly as they did before, especially now that their real estate business is thriving.

Either way, please be kind to them when confronting them (unless you come across one that is like I was, that wouldn't take no for and answer and people had to yell at me to leave). After all they have plenty to deal with as active JWs.

31

Endure or Enjoy??

by stuckinarut2 in

have we ever noticed how witnesses are constantly being told that life is something that needs to be "endured", rather that "enjoyed"?.

life is always so tough, so hard, so difficult in "these last days".

"persecution and trials abound".

scratchme1010

Have we ever noticed how witnesses are constantly being told that life is something that needs to be "ENDURED", rather that "ENJOYED"?
Life is always so tough, so hard, so difficult in "these last days". "Persecution and Trials abound". "Worldly people and opposers" are always trying to make things hard for "Jehovah's people" etc...
Life is not promoted as something to be ENJOYED now, but rather just to be put up with, until "the real life" occurs in the "paradise".
It must mess with the minds of witnesses??
Any thoughts?

It is more noticeable with high demand, controlling groups like the WT, but Christianity in general promotes that sense of wrongness with life around you. As some other people mentioned in another post, according to Christianity (and the WT is not an exception to that) we are born in sin and therefore, our own mere existence makes us deserving of dying. Also, when you add their black and white mentality, that is, you are either for them or against them, if you enjoy something, they cannot see it as something that you are enjoying, but rather as being "weak", "wordly", "loving the world", etc.

Life itself and the world is not in black and white. People are not good/bad, life is not great/horrible. Life is made of a number of places, events and people who cross your path in a good/bad way, but it never stops. While there's a wonderful perfect day in Florida, we're buried in snow in New York. It never is all good and all bad.

Therefore, it's a mistake to look and take life as something that one has to recover from. If you concentrate in the bad that life brings, you will find it, same thing if you concentrate in the good.

12

Fires! "Catastrophic fire conditions" in New south Wales, Australia

by zeb in

"catastrophic" is the highest level of fire danger and is current in most of nsw.

temperatures in the high 40's ( c )are being recorded.. some fires have broken out already.

please keep the fire fighters and these country folk in minds and prayers.. the city of sydney may face power outs as the electrical system cant keep up with the demand for power.

scratchme1010

Please keep the fire fighters and these country folk in minds and prayers.

Sorry to hear about the inclement weather. We could have sent a little bit of the snow storm we faced in USA northeast. I don't think prayer is going to do anything, but if that gives people comfort, pray away.