i managed to catch the new dvd on youtube last night before the inevitable takedown.
as a film i felt it wasn't anywhere near as good as the prodigal movie, the story wasn't as dramatic, the characters much less interesting and developed and the direction weaker.
i found the prodigal relatively entertaining (all things considered) this one was just dull.. here are some of my random thoughts anyway [spoiler alert - ha!].
The Governing Body is aware that most kids raised in 'the truth' leave as adults.
This film is used to guilt trip parents into obedience to the organization and it's structure.
Good parents raise good kids.
Too many parents in 'the truth' have unfortunately raised insecure children who turn into co-dependent adults.
ginger
it amazes me how the gb and witnesses keep using the ancient isrealites as examples for modern day "servants of god" (read: good witnesses).
how can an ignorant, ancient people who worshipped with animal sacrifices, went to war, killed children, stoned people, treated women as property, called women unclean due to normal body cycles, allowed polygamy, etc......be used as good examples?.
i mean, the gb can't have it both ways!
The mythology, verbal story telling and significance of numbers in ancient Isreal was a favorite topic of C.T. Russell. This facination is the underpinning of most of the beliefs and customs of Jehovah's Witnesses.
Parallels have been drawn for over 100 years between the ancient Isrealite nation and "modern servants of Jehovah".
Most contemporary Witnesses don't have a clue that their belief system is based on the ancient notions of a tribal culture - who borrowed much of their own beliefs from Egypt, Mesopotamia and Asia.
(Read or watch on YouTube - Joseph Campbell)
ginger
a lot of us have said that theres been a dumbing down in jw land.
its just not like it used to be especially a few decades ago.
it seems to me that if jw are right and the end of the world is near, the spiritual food should get tastier and more nourishing as time goes on, but it's getting more and more bland and less nourishing.
This religion has always attracted the less educated and lower income person. In the 50's - 70's the mags and books were a full blown treatise on doctrine / biblical prophecy. When Franz entered his 80's the publications and talks became shorter and less indepth.
Now the message to the faithful is simple and direct : listen, obey and be blessed.
ginger
is this a realistic thing?
can the governments or someone else ban religion?.
Not any time soon in the United States. That is a Watchtower prophetic fantasy.
If the US government wanted to silence religions, they would have shut down the Westboro Baptist Church groups a long time ago.
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/.
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
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/.
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/
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??.
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
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.
Freedom. For REAL.
We look forward to making this same 'final' step soon.
ginger
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.
Medical care based on science is awesome.
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.
