Yes. There is a double standard to JW advice and duplicity is their calling card.
We are required to swallow our betrayal and show submission when these revelations emerge.
It is the taste of betrayal which never really goes away and the idea that they'll never admit anything is wrong with it makes it doubly difficult to bear.
TerryWalstrom
JoinedPosts by TerryWalstrom
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18
Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY
by TerryWalstrom in_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.
the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.
jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.
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TerryWalstrom
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Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/08/15/abrams-calls-for-removal-of-confederate-faces-off-stone-mountain/
https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21645749-jihadists-are-attacking-more-regions-people-destroying-historysDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams called for the removal of the giant carving that depicts three Confederate war leaders on the face of state-owned Stone Mountain, saying it “remains a blight on our state and should be removed.”
“We must never celebrate those who defended slavery and tried to destroy the union,” Abrams said in a series of tweets posted early Tuesday, a response to the deadly violence sparked by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Va.
Removing the faces of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson would take a monster of a sandblaster and require a change in state law. The Georgia code has a clear mandate for the memorial, saying it should be “preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.”
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17
Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
What happens today is real. What happened before today was real. Choices are made and alternatives were chosen. Each of us weighs choices and decisions based on alternatives. So what? So, erasing the history of alternatives destroys the LESSONS to be learned by bad choices made by others.
What we don't know doesn't hurt us.
We see an ad on TV for abandoned pets, starving children, and hungry homeless folk as we open our electric bill. Whose NEED shall we serve?
We don't change the world by our FEELINGS--only our ACTIONS.
We slumber in a bed of nightmares.So, back to sleep?
This sad old world is a vast pond on which we float like a random leaf.
One tiny pebble tossed at the far shore makes its wave into our space and as we bob up and down--oh woe!
Oh, Woe!
What shall we do? What shall we "don't"?
Here are two roads:
ACT or go back to bed.
The rest is only the shriek of nightmares. -
17
Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
The statue had a clear dedication: The pillar is engraved, "In memory of the boys who wore gray."
Not to slavery. Not to war itself. To the boys in uniform. -
17
Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
redvip2000
if you live in Italy, and you want to have a statue of Mussolini in your living room, well then....great go ahead. Everybody should respect that.But what if you want to put it in the local square? Should the rest of your village be fine with it because you think he was a great man? Moreover, should everybody pay taxes to maintain it? I doubt anyone reasonable would agree.
_________
In Texas, we have a "shrine" called the Alamo.
Do Mexicans think of it the same way non-Hispanic Texans do?
Whose ox was gored by whom?The Confederate statues being destroyed constitute vandalism under the guise of something else political. Either we are lawful people are we are that "other" kind: anarchist.
I don't think many citizens of Iraq complained when Saddam's statue was toppled spontaneously.
Saddam and Mussolini were two of a kind.
Confederate Generals were surely not in the same category, were they?
_____Protesters pulled the rope and erupted in cheers as the statue toppled onto the ground. Several people ran up to the mangled statue, kicking it and spitting on it.The statue, dedicated in 1924, depicts a soldier holding a gun on top of a concrete pillar. The pillar is engraved, "In memory of the boys who wore gray." -
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Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
I'm pretty old. 70. I should be more excited by bigots than I am.
I see them every place I look, frankly. Maybe I'm just desensitized.
Let me remind myself of what a BIGOT is.
Bigot= a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.
Uh-oh!
That is a Double-Whammy!
If we don't tolerate Confederate flags by people holding a different opinion that makes us bigots.
When I was a JW I surely was a bigot.
As an EX-JW I don't tolerate JW's. I'm still a bigot.
They're everywhere!
I guess I'm being a little bit silly about this.
What I'm trying to emphasize is HOW LITTLE IT MEANS in the real world as to whether we agree or disagree with what somebody THINKS.
What people actually DO is far more serious. -
18
Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY
by TerryWalstrom in_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.
the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.
jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.
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TerryWalstrom
(The only JWs to really "escape" Rutherford's radicalism are Ex-JWs.)
I dunno...maybe...maybe not...
Suddenly becoming a political true-believer can swallow up the Ex-JW with the old hunger for group think, sloganeering and cries for purity and solidarity.
Further, there are those who go back into the breach because thinking and deciding are too great a burden for an individual to succeed without absolute certainty connected to authority.
There are Ex-JWs who forget their only world view is still the WATCHTOWER created worldview. The become freelance Dubs and self-made mavens tilting at windmills, engaging in theological debates and flexing their indoctrination under a false flag of apotheosis.
ESCAPE from a cult requires a mind wash which is extremely difficult to achieve. It is basically do-it-yourself brain surgery.
So many under-educated ex-Dubs remain knuckle-draggers, anti-science, and conspiracy oriented vigilante thinkers (who don't know how to think.)
My own journey has taken me through the 7 circles of hell myself:) -
17
Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
Everything really is up for grabs.
OUR SENSE of "ABSOLUTES" is always under fire. We are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.
But--is that illusory?Examine how this works: Jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross. The cross was a vile instrument of that torture. HOWEVER...Christians love wearing a cross around their neck!
The "meaning" has changed!
The Confederate Flag has undergone a similar 180 in the South by becoming a benign symbol of the South itself and its spirit of good ole boy rambunctiousness.Who gets to decide what is "true"? Who decides who gets to decide?
Scientists? Engineers? Mathematicians? Legislators? Medical professionals? Legal experts?
Let's call those "referees" a kind of "Priesthood."A PRIESTHOOD of interpreters RULE our lives.
These are the REAL RULERS of the World; the judges, critics, sages, professors, peer reviewers, arbitration committees, Supreme Courts, media opinion makers, propagandists, and Spiritual counselors.REALITY, in fact, is VARIABLE and it is our "Priesthood" which pretends and insists on making reality a CONSTANT to fit our rules, beliefs, and 'absolutes.'
BUT...but...but...
We have a very powerful weapon to use against the flux, the drift, the erosion of absolutes. It is the word, "NO!"
We can always opt out.
It's called FREEDOM.
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18
Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY
by TerryWalstrom in_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.
the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.
jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.
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TerryWalstrom
When Rutherford unleashed his nastiness on Olin Moyle and Moyle left the headquarters, Rutherford took over a Supreme Court case Moyle was having (generally agreed) success with. After listening to the ranting, bombastic Rutherford, that case went down in flames.
As a lawyer, he had many infamous blotches on his record back home.
You might say, as impossible as it sounds, he succeeded only in giving lawyers a bad name :) -
18
Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY
by TerryWalstrom in_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.
the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.
jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.
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TerryWalstrom
The issue of neutrality is artificial and manufactured in the first place which goes to the heart of Rutherford's illicit takeover of the Millennial Dawn/Bible Students when Pastor Russell died.
To grasp the issue of neutrality as it evolved over time and to comprehend the mindset out of which it and other peculiar policies appeared one must begin this story at its inception in 1916.
With the death of Pastor Russell, Judge Rutherford grasped an opportunity to seize a bully pulpit and publishing enterprise primed to expect a cataclysm through the revelation of bible interpretation.
Through nefarious legal intricacies Rutherford over-rode Pastor Russell's last will and testament which expressly called for NO FURTHER publications to issue from the date of his death. Rutherford had a plan which would replace Russell as the central focus of religious Truth and place himself at the forefront as the mouthpiece of God.
The key instrument would be an expected 7th volume of Pastor Russell's commentary STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES.
WIKIPEDIA: The Finished Mystery
Following Russell's death in 1916, a seventh volume - entitled The Finished Mystery - was published in 1917 and advertised as his "posthumous work". This seventh volume was a detailed interpretation of the book of Revelation, but also included interpretations of Ezekiel and the Song of Solomon. An advertisement for the book in The Watch Tower called it: "the true interpretation." (1917, p.334) The book was allegedly: "of the Lord—prepared under his guidance." (p. 126)
Immediate controversy surrounded both its publishing and contents. In a short time it was established that it was actually written and compiled by two of Russell's associates, Clayton J. Woodworth and George H. Fisher, and edited by Joseph Franklin Rutherford.
The Finished Mystery had been prepared without the board's consultation, and in violation of Charles Taze Russell's Last Will and Testament.
Note that Rutherford's first official act as leader was to create a fabrication misrepresenting the Finished Mystery as a book written by Pastor Russell prepared under the guidance of the Lord. ( "This book may properly be said to be a posthumous publication of Pastor Russell." The Finished Mystery, Preface, p. 5. ) This counterfeit landed Rutherford and the board of the Watchtower in prison!
Why?
This is where our story actually begins.
WIKIPEDIA: Bible Students who felt that the tone and spirit of the book was overly harsh, as well as contrary to the spirit in which Russell had wrote during his ministry. Questions were also raised regarding predictions made in the book for the years 1918, 1919, and 1925. This seventh volume (entitled The Finished Mystery) included strong criticism of the Papacy and the existing Christian religious system and hierarchy. This prompted clergy pressure for government censure and in 1918 he served an imprisonment together with seven other associates in Atlanta, Georgia, for allegedly opposing the Selective Service Act of 1917 and the Espionage Act of 1917
Correspondence between the Watchtower Society and Christians serving in the army were revealed during the course of the trial. In these letters and in direct violation of Sedition laws, Rutherford conspired to provoke treason by advising the soldier to lay down his weapons.
ARREST RUSSELLITES ON SEDITION CHARGES; Rutherford, Who Succeeded Late 'Pastor,' and Five Other Leaders Barely Escape Jail. INDICTED IN FEDERAL COURT Inciting Refusal to Do Military Duty and Sending Money to Germany Alleged.
May 9, 1918, Thursday
Page 22, 1053 words
Charged with spreading doctrines calculated to promote unrest and disloyalty among the men of the army and navy, six leaders of the International Bible Students' Association, which has founded by the late "Pastor" Charles T. Russell, were arrested yesterday afternoon in Brooklyn by United States Marshal James M. Power.
Kathleen Koenig: As America prepared to enter World War I, the anti-war, anti-government message of The Finished Mystery brought the wrath of the United States judicial system down upon the Bible Students' heads. In 1918 Rutherford and seven other Watch Tower officials were convicted on charges of sedition. Though sentenced to a total of six hundred years in the Atlanta penitentiary, the Judge and his fellow inmates were released in 1919 and later acquitted of all charges. The experience made him bitter, and he emerged breathing fire against all the clergy of Christendom, whom he held responsible for his incarceration.
Rutherford realized the Bible Students were in danger of further disintegration. Many members were dismayed by Russell's death prior to Armageddon. Rutherford replaced Russell's books with a steady stream of his own, insisting that doctrinal changes were "new light" cast on Scripture by Jehovah. He consolidated power by replacing elected congregation elders with Society-appointed men. He castigated as idolaters those who revered the memory of Russell, making life intolerable within the organization for loyalists. The pages of his books and of The Watchtower soon were filled with attacks against other religions, the most vicious being reserved for the Catholic Church.Memorandum: ...submitted at the same time by the Attorney General and also placed in the Congressional Record. Speaking of printed matter which, in the opinion of the Intent genre Service, "could only serve to stir men up to mutiny and tend to disintegrate our entire army,"
Meaning what?
Rutherford was seeking vengeance against other denominations, against the U.S.army and the government for 400-year sentences. He spent the rest of his life fulminating against everybody and everything while using the membership of his Jehovah's Witness religion to do so.
Everything about Jehovah's Witnesses was designed to anger mainstream society, Christianity and government. JW's were created as contrarians. Whatever "normal" society expected of a Christian; Jehovah's Witnesses did the opposite. No birthdays, no Christmas, no flag salute, no singing national anthem, no military service, no cross, no hell, no blood, no pledge of allegiance... this list is endless.
Judge Rutherford and his successors imprinted the JW psyche with a kind of radicalism it took them a long time to escape.
The upshot of these policies was to pit forces of young men from Kingdom Halls against any authority willy nilly to create publicity which inflamed ordinary Christians because it made JW's look Holier than thou and more dedicated and righteous through the creation of martyrs.
In Malawi, the members could not purchase political party cards. In Mexico, the members could bribe officials to avoid problems.
The two policies were Ad Hoc: created on the spot according to the whim of the leadership at the time.
The two-fold reasoning of American draft problems was that young Witness man could not serve in the armed forces or accept ALTERNATE service unless a judge sentenced the young man to the alternate service. The young man could not explain this to the judge either!!
It is clear from all this the leadership of the Watchtower Society was not attempting to explicate their "reasoning" through the use of firm and clear bible interpretation.
Arbitrary, capricious and whimsical ad hoc policy has been behind every move the Society has ever made. How do we know? They have had to change every policy ever uttered!
Millions now LIVING will never die, Romans 13 (Superior Authorities), Generation of 1914, Armageddon predictions +1975 and other very public whims have backfired repeatedly on the leadership. They never learn their lesson and never will.
Why?
This religion has always been about creating turbulence, friction, and animosity among regular society and manifesting a spirit of chaos which CAN THEN BE USED to demonstrate righteous persecution against JW members and point to the nearness of Armageddon!
1.Making Jehovah's Witnesses so contrary, so different alienates them from regular society and drives them into the Kingdom Halls like frightened sheep where they are fed more contrarian policy to keep them fearful and obedient.
2.Society at large cannot reconcile Jehovah's Witnesses with mainstream belief and must continue to regard them as cultists and thus demonstrate a wary attitude leading to the semblance of persecutions.
