EdenOne

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Posts by EdenOne

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  20

  Have the Governing Body caught themselves out in a lie?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  all sorts of suspected deception going on surrounding the cutbacks and the reasons for them.

  but hard to pin down a direct falsehood.

  sure, they initially said they were reducing the magazines so the brothers had less to read, then later said it was to save money.

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  EdenOne

  Could it be that the grossly miscalculated the cost of moving from a printing-based operation (which the knew he ins and outs and were fairly efficient with) to a full multimedia production based enterprise?

  Eden
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  75

  Australian Royal Commission Findings released

  by Mephis in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  will just post the general findings by counsel for the commission (angus stewart) - case specific ones are prior to them.

  in short, absolutely damning.. not been through every submission myself yet.

  available for download here: http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/case-study/636f01a5-50db-4b59-a35e-a24ae07fb0ad/case-study-29,-july-2015,-sydney.aspx.

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  EdenOne

  Pretty damning ... It's looking grimm for the WTS in Australia ...

  Eden
• 
  55

  SHUNNING - Unchristian Psychological Torture

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some time ago, i wrote an extensive article on shunning and published it on my website.

  since that website had views on doctrinal matters that no longer reflect my current stand, i took the website down.

  however, my views on this matter are still current, and for the benefit of everyone here, i'm going to post the article here.

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  EdenOne

  Ok, I've done the final tweaks to improve readability. You can now convert it to pdf and the formatting will be correct on different browsers - I hope ;) Many thanks to Oubliette for the great coaching!

  I've also added some more content and reworked some of the phrasing to improve clarity.

  There comes a time where one has to say it's finished.

  Shunning - Unchristian Psychological Torture

  It's now completed and available freely through Google Docs. I wish I could have added a couple of real life stories. Maybe next time. I hope you find it useful. As usual, it's up for debate if you will.

  Eden
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  55

  SHUNNING - Unchristian Psychological Torture

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some time ago, i wrote an extensive article on shunning and published it on my website.

  since that website had views on doctrinal matters that no longer reflect my current stand, i took the website down.

  however, my views on this matter are still current, and for the benefit of everyone here, i'm going to post the article here.

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  EdenOne

  Some changes made to the Google Docs file (Thanks for the coaching, Oub!)

  Front page and table of contents page added, plus some other minor content items.

  Eden
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  55

  SHUNNING - Unchristian Psychological Torture

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some time ago, i wrote an extensive article on shunning and published it on my website.

  since that website had views on doctrinal matters that no longer reflect my current stand, i took the website down.

  however, my views on this matter are still current, and for the benefit of everyone here, i'm going to post the article here.

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  EdenOne

  Oub, I followed your advice.

  Here's my contribution. Anyone can now access it on Google Docs, using this link:

  SHUNNING - Unchristian Psychological Torture

  
  

  Feel free to use the essay as you please, just respect its integrity and credit the author if you publish or print it.

  
  

  
  

  Eden

  
  
• 
  10

  First ever Anti-Jihadist Arch in Spain

  by oppostate in

  1. social
  2. humour

  .

  carrefour inaugurates the first anti-jihadist arch in spain.

  carrefour inaugura el primer arco antiyihadistas de espana .

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  EdenOne

  Wait until it starts dripping down liquid fat ...

  Eden
• 
  51

  I have been informed that if u are df and you appeal the decision and you loose appeal

  by poopie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the elders will keep you out longer as payback for you appealing their decision how dare you peon appeal the secret weapons design you stupid publisher.

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  EdenOne

  You have seven days to appeal after the date of your DF. Be very clear in your reasons to appeal. Make sure you send a copy of the letter of appeal to the CO and your local Bethel branch too.

  Eden
• 
  23

  "Don't think too much...."

  by Tornintwo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a couple of middle aged jw sisters dropped round unannounced the other day, they were only being kind i suppose, after some awkward silences i voiced a couple of my issues with the religion, (the safe ones), sort of an explanation as to why i'm no longer attending, namely: everyone else will die, lack of support for young ones, mistreatment/judgementalism by prominent ones who get away with it because 'they're imperfect and we have to wait on jehovah' etc.

  well, after sympathizing and telling me horror stories about awful elders and their own kids' issues in the past (how some left the truth, had bitter divorces from fellow witnesses etc) they then begged me to 'come back to jehovah', 'he misses me' apparently.

  finally, the more pushy one summed it up with 'you're thinking too much, it's not good for you', 'some issues you just have to put in a drawer and forget about....'.. hmm nice reasoning sisters, theocratic school training at its finest!

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  EdenOne

  Yes, I was told the same thing by an elder ... "Brother Eden, you're very intelligent, but that intelligence isn't doing you any good, you should back away from researching certain things. The 'slave' has done all the research and thinking for us already, so that we don't have to do it."

  Typical.

  Eden
• 
  55

  SHUNNING - Unchristian Psychological Torture

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some time ago, i wrote an extensive article on shunning and published it on my website.

  since that website had views on doctrinal matters that no longer reflect my current stand, i took the website down.

  however, my views on this matter are still current, and for the benefit of everyone here, i'm going to post the article here.

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  EdenOne

  Oub, I would gladly do it if I knew how.

  Eden
• 
  55

  SHUNNING - Unchristian Psychological Torture

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some time ago, i wrote an extensive article on shunning and published it on my website.

  since that website had views on doctrinal matters that no longer reflect my current stand, i took the website down.

  however, my views on this matter are still current, and for the benefit of everyone here, i'm going to post the article here.

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  EdenOne

  ===================

  Part 9 - Conclusion

  ===================

  Although any Christian church has the right to terminate fellowship with an unrepentant member, and therefore, disfellowship a member as a disciplinary act, such is an extreme measure that should be used sparingly. Certainly, no man has enough authority nowadays to make additions to the Bible as to what sins are subject to disfelowshipping action. For example, although smoking is a filthy habit that deserves rebuke, there aren’t enough bible grounds to disfellowship someone for smoking. The Bible teaches us:

  “Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.” – Proverbs 30:6 NLT

  When someone, under whatever pretext, even the claim of divine [theocratic] authority, goes ‘beyond what is written’, he is attempting to do the unthinkable: He’s trying to instruct the Lord. But, as Paul asked, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” (1 Corinthians 2:16) Those who have the audacity to ‘instruct the Lord’ in reality are ‘running ahead of the teaching of Christ’, and risk becoming antichrist themselves in doing so. (2 John 1:9) Therefore, any Christian church, and in this particular, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, would do well to not go beyond what is written to require what God has not required or to prohibit what God has not prohibited.

  When Paul and John wrote their admonishments to their Christian brethren, they were giving their opinion and instructing their methods as experienced ministers in the discharge of their offices as apostles. They were thoroughly convinced that their wisdom could be trusted, and they had God’s spirit. (1 Corinthians 4:17; 7:12, 25, 40; 2 Peter 3:15) No one nowadays can make a verifiable claim to possess equal authority as that of the apostles who interacted directly with Jesus Christ. Therefore, no one has the authority to modify or reverse what was written by the apostles or taught by Jesus, unless Jesus himself would unequivocally change his teachings.

  Therefore, when we are faced with demands that go against the teachings of Christ and the practice of the apostles, our Christian conscience should heed to the words of Peter and John:

  “We must obey God rather than men” – Acts 5:29

  Shunning – avoiding any contact, ignoring, treating with silence, regarding as ‘dead’ those who have been disfellowshipped from the congregation – is a practice unbecoming of a Christian. It causes intense psychological pain to those who are shunned, but also causes unfair and unnecessary psychological pain to those who are compelled to shun them, causing the perpetrators to become victims as well. Shunning breaks family apart, separate children from their parents, socially isolate individuals from their loved ones, and causes severe depression. Generalized shunning of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses is morally and biblically wrong. It’s in contradiction with Christian love, and is nothing more than a thought-control totalitarian tactic that’s a typical feature of a cult.

  The threat of disfellowshipping and consequent shunning impending over those who disregard the commandment to shun disfellowshiped ones isn’t compatible with the Christian freedom that we advocate. If the “truth shall set you free”, then this unloving practice that castrates the freedom of those inside the congregation cannot be part of the Christian truth, for no one is truly free with a gun pointed at his head. (John 8:32) In most severe cases, it has known to be a decisive factor in some cases of suicide among ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses, transforming its instigators and perpetrators as sharers in a social murder that reaped the life of a fellow human being. No individual Christian should wish to carry such guilt in its conscience; likewise no Christian organization should be guilty before God of promoting unchristian practices. – Hebrews 13:18

  Eden

  
  

  ==================================

  This concludes my article. It's actually 9 chapters (on the website there used to be a brief introduction that would be irrelevant here, and I mistakenly counted it as a chapter). I hope this might be useful if you're doing some reading and research on the topic of shunning.

  
  

  Eden