this thread is for a general all-inclusive discussion of the library card explanation presented by the wts.
nothing within that context should be considered off-topic.. to get the ball rolling:.
by affiliating with the un as an ngo an organization agrees to support and advance un goals.
If we buy the WTBTS explanation that they didn't know what they agreed to by joining the UN, What does that do to their credibility?? I mean by entering into such agreement without knowing what they were getting into, these guys couldn't even run a whore house let alone a billion dollar enterprise.
Will
Here's one that I found the other day.
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Will
a friend from back home wrote me a letter.
they just had the co visit.
she asked him about the un thing.
Interesting note that I was taking to a JW in the US the other day and they told me that the WT is encouraging them to learn a foreign language. The WT sees that there is none or very little growth in the English speaking population but that the growth potential is in the foreigners that are moving into the US. Again the borg knows that the average educated US citizen is too smart to get sucked into their cult, whereas these lowly educated foreigners minds are easier to mold. Just wondering if anyone else has heard of this.
Will
i am pulling this out of the "subject" thread so more folks can see:.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=16702&site=3.
big thanks to those activists who worked behind the scenes to get this story published.. this is not one of the locations that i'm personally involved with, but one where others of like mind took the bull by the horns.
It never stopped me to go out and eat. I preferred to go to the local restaurant and have a nice quiet relaxing lunch then stay in the madhouse convention. I know I was not the only one that did that to because I would see other JW's there to. I remember one time when one brother made a comment about me going out to eat and I just asked him to show me where it says that in the bible. I was always one that if I was told not to do it I would do it anyway...
Will
i'm still me whether the org is a fraud or not.
its too late now to make myself into a different person.
a person is a result of their environment and the way they were brought up.
"Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man,
Commands all light, all influence, all fate;
Nothing to him falls early or too late.
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This is a quote from Emerson's "Self-Reliance". He was telling us to
be your own person a nonconformist.
"These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow
faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere
is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.
Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the
better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the
liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is
conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities
and creators, but names and customs."
"Who so would be a man must be a nonconformist. He who would
gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness,
but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but
the integrity of your own mind."
Wayne Dyer in his book "Wisdom of the Ages" says:
"In this brief excerpt, Emerson speaks to the necessity of being a
nonconformist to be fully alive, and of resisting enculturation.
Society demands conformity at the expense of individual liberty, he
asserts-it demands that you fit in or be an outcast. Emerson insists
on the integrity of the individual mind, maintaining that it is
sacred. Now, remember that Emerson was also a minister, who is
informing us that the mind is what is sacred: not the rules, laws,
and societal mores, but your mind. Further on in "Self-Reliance"
Emerson declares,
"No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature."
This profoundly courageous statement is from a fearless man who knew
that divinity and sacredness are not in the institutions of the
church but in the minds of individuals. Our conduct makes us divine
creatures, not our memberships. How we use our minds as free-thinking
people is what makes us sacred, not how well we cite the laws to
protect our malice or vanity."
"The essence is knowing that you are already complete, already whole,
and that nothing external to yourself in the physical world can make
you any more complete."
I also like what he had to say about religion:
"The leaders of the church misconstrued the teachings of the Great
religious leaders and attempted to teach comformity by using fear of
retribution as a weapon. Thus a man behaves morally not because he
believes it to be appropriate for him, but because God wants him to
behave that way. If in doubt, consult the commandments rather than
yourself and what you believe. Behave because someone has told you to
and because you will be punished if you don't, not because you know
it to be right behavior for you. Organized religion appeals to your
approval-seeking needs. It may produce the same behavior that you
would have chosen, but you haven't chosen it freely.
Using yourself as a guide and not needing the approval of an outside
force is the most religious experience you can have. It is a
veritable religion of it self in which an individual determines his
own behavior based upon his own conscience and the laws of his
culture that work for him, Rather than because someone has dictated
how we should behave. A careful look at Jesus Christ will reveal an
extremely self-actualized person, an individual who preached self-
reliance, and was not afraid to incur disapproval. Yet many of his
followers have twisted his teachings into a catechism of fear and
self hate."
Will
hi there... as you probably knew (not), i'm no longer a publisher.
however, my brother, even though he never was, and only 14 years old, stills clings to the borg.
or so i thought.. you see, only recently we went to a restaurant, and while me, my brother and 13 year old cousin were eating some good grub, our discussions fell upon *gasp* the jw's.
Don't forget these are 13 year old children and it is a big step to tell their parents where to stick it. They know that if they say anything that they would be marked as bad associate and not be allowed to associate with their friends. This is a big step for young ones when peer pressure and wanting approval is a very big motivational factor at that age. It is sad and immoral that grown adults would manipulate innocent young minds like that. But when was the last time that the borg has done anything that was not immoral???
Will
i have been inactive for a year now.
before that i was quite active, had only an average time slip but did a lot of things you cannot count.
but i had read r.franz and the internet.
Hi GermanJW,
Sounds like you have bought into all their BS. I just have to say one thing,
Will
whilst tidying up the ol' hard drive i came across "the purging of my soul", which i wrote as an intro to the philia group.
sounds very raw (i probably was) and thought i'd share it.... .
where do i start?
Hi Ken,
I can relate to everything you are saying. I was brought up as a JW and didn't know anything else. I was discouraged to get a higher education and it has been a fight for me every step of the way, although I went on to take part time studies and eventually earned a diploma. You are so right that most JW's that marry before the are old enough to know what they want in life, only marry for sex. That was the case with me and I was stuck in a loveless marriage. I am out of it now after confessing to my "wrong doings" and was DF'd. I have now learned to love myself first by reading "worldly" books. I have no guilt feelings anymore.
Will
a friend from back home wrote me a letter.
they just had the co visit.
she asked him about the un thing.
I also believe there is a decline in meeting attendance. I know in my area they have just redistributed the publishers in the circuit but the meetings I have attended they are only getting about 70 to 80 people at the Sunday meetings. The days of 120+ attendance are a thing of the past.
Also I have spoken to a number of JW's and most of them are jumping on the Sept 11 bandwagon. In a few months when things settle down I am sure these "fair weathered" Christians to doing nothing until the next big scare. What a bunch of weak minded, dysfunctional individuals and to think that I bought into all this BS at one time.
Will
did you ever use this response, or know of someone who did?
it's in page 16 of the "reasoning from the scriptures" book.
the "conversation stopper" being addressed is, i'm not interested .. the 7th and final suggested answer for a jw publisher is as follows: is that your usual reply when jehovah's witnesses call?....have you ever wondered why we keep calling or what we have to say?....briefly, the reason is that i know something that you should know too .
What can you expect with people that are low educated and ignorant???
