Posts by gingerbread

5

Seven signs you're in a cult ( Is our religion "cult-like"?...)

by gingerbread in

jw
friends

an enlightning and disturbing story in today's atlantic.. ginger.

.

http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/06/the-seven-signs-youre-in-a-cult/361400/.

gingerbread

Exactly bobert.

That is why I titled the post the way I did.

It just might get a person to think about the mechanisms and methods used by the Organization to control information and people.

I don't think of the Org as a cult ... but it is very cult-like.

As the Governing Body continues to assert it's power it could become a 'cult'.

Do they openly admit that they speak with God? decide who is good or evil in the group? attempt to control how members think and feel? force personal decisions to be made that are damaging to the members (medically, emotionally, financially or physically)?

It's a lot to consider.

ginger

5

Seven signs you're in a cult ( Is our religion "cult-like"?...)

by gingerbread in

jw
friends

an enlightning and disturbing story in today's atlantic.. ginger.

.

http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/06/the-seven-signs-youre-in-a-cult/361400/.

gingerbread

An enlightning and disturbing story in today's Atlantic.

ginger

http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/06/the-seven-signs-youre-in-a-cult/361400/

173

Atlanta Int Convention 2014:The Big Party. Does this look like WT believes Armageddon is coming "soon"?

by AndDontCallMeShirley in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=potrr2qxhue.

.. if armageddon is "imminent", why is wt focused on sight-seeing, entertainment, travel, etc.

instead of preaching and saving people??.

gingerbread

AndDontCallMeShirley -

Another pattern may reveal itself when you look at the international convention city choices. (Please don't find me as a racist or being guilty of profiling - it's just an observation)

Detroit, Atlanta, New Orleans, Indianapolis and Landover, MD (Washington DC) all have a significant population of African Americans. Working class. Middle to lower income brackets.

Looking at the other cities chosen for international conventions - Rutherford, NJ & Arlington, TX (Dallas/Ft Worth) - it may be that these were chosen because of the very large numbers of Hispanic persons in these areas. Texas goes without saying. While Rutherford, NJ has a nostalgic history with the Society, it is also in the center of two towns with significant Hispanic populations - Patterson and Elizabeth. Again - working class and middle to lower income brackets.

These racial and economic "groups" are the target of the Org. They need these people.

Of course Hawaii has to have an international convention - awesome vacation for the Org. big shots.

And Seattle is necessary - the last major stronghold of the International Bible Students in the States.

ginger

48

Farewell from Confused and Alone

by confusedandalone in

jw
friends

i use to hate when people who made goodbye posts on message boards.

why would they think that just because you no longer post on a chevy truck forum or a los angeles lakers forum the world would crumble around those still left there.

this place is definitely different.

gingerbread

Freedom. For REAL.

We look forward to making this same 'final' step soon.

ginger

17

Article: To save trauma victims, doctors may swap blood with cold water till patients die

by AndersonsInfo in

to save trauma victims, doctors may swap blood with cold water till patients diedoctors at the university of pittsburgh medical center plan to treat trauma patients with an experimental procedure that induces hypothermia by replacing their blood with freezing saltwater.. .

by kate murphy.

the new york times.

gingerbread

Medical care based on science is awesome.

57

40 years on - and still in Damage Control mode!

by Bungi Bill in

earlier this morning, i posted off to the the institute of engineers an application for membership as an "engineering associate":.

- today being just over 40 years since the congregation's retards elders made me abandon my apprenticeship.. (in this part of the world, the pre-1975 hype was taken to that level.

not being content to prevent young persons attending university, they went one step further and treated with hostility any youngster who would "tie up five years of their lives" by entering into an apprenticeship.

gingerbread

7

The WT Society taking child abuse more seriously now?

by adjusted knowledge in

with the constant reports of child sex abuse in the congregation from members who now will not be silent, i wonder if the wt will continue to change their policy in this matter.

they have made some adjustments compared to a decade ago.. .

i didn't even know about the case below.

gingerbread

The WT takes child abuse more seriously when they get brought to court - and sued. Then the legal department gets real busy.

For victims of child abuse the elders are instructed to be sympathetic toward the victim and direct her parents to WT publications for advice. Before this happens the victim is subjected to very detailed questions about the actual abuse (a judicial inquiry).

Watchtower legal is always called first. The elders will follow their instructions - whether or not to call the police.

The victim's life is damanged forever.

Watchtower protects their $$$ first and their own reputation second. They pay out millions of dollars every year to pay victims off and have them agree to gag orders.

27

Possible announcement in October....

by Skinnedsheep in

jw
friends

pure speculation for several reasons.. "friends, it has been 100 momentous years since christ arrived as king.

in the last 100 years a great shout of praise has gone up to jehovah.

technology has greatly changed the way people live and communicate and jehovah has made sure that his organization is on the forefront of these changes.

gingerbread

www.jwgift.org

70

How do you shut your mind down so you can get a good night sleep???

by jam in

jw
friends

the more i learn about jw's the harder it is.

to sleep at night.

the wife hit the pillow and within 5 min.. she is snoring.

gingerbread

We usually go for a walk in the neighborhood after supper. I've stopped getting on the computer/internet in the evening to look at work emails or JW stuff. This helps my mind can rest before lights out.

Insomnia can have multiple reason - anxiety, stress, depression. Eat light in the evenings. Get regular exercise.

ginger

27

Possible announcement in October....

by Skinnedsheep in

jw
friends

pure speculation for several reasons.. "friends, it has been 100 momentous years since christ arrived as king.

in the last 100 years a great shout of praise has gone up to jehovah.

technology has greatly changed the way people live and communicate and jehovah has made sure that his organization is on the forefront of these changes.

gingerbread

I agree.

The core methods to maintain loyalty to the organization are still the same. The Watchtower/Jehovah's Witnesses will never change their position as millennialists. The culture produced by it's doctrine is firmly entrenched in an end of time belief system. ALL members are required to spread this message / warning.

"Door-to-door work" may be phased out but the "preaching work" won't ever disappear. It's a mandate from God for Jehovah's Witnesses. It's the methods that will change.

In the writing and talks of the Bible Students and Witnesses, it is clearly stated (or at least heavily implied) that God caused man to invent things to be used for the preaching work - telegraph, telephone, phonograph, cars, radio, magnetic tape, high speed printers, fax machines, computers....and now the internet.

It's a bunch of delusional guys who have 7 million people at their "service".