Posts by cookiemaster

39

Are Jehovah's Witnesses a cult just as evil and dangerous as Islam?

by cookiemaster in

i know you might think i'm exaggerating but if you really think about it, maybe i'm not.

these two religions originate with the same ancient belief system.

islam is a dangerous middle eastern cult that seeks to control every aspect of its members' lives.

cookiemaster

Cofty - It is possible but you have to admit the similarities are striking. JWs simply don't have the power to enforce their religion on society like Muslims do.

DoctorWho - Okay but isn't brainwashing and pressuring thousands of people into committing suicide by refusing life-saving medical treatment just as bad? Granted, it's not as spectacular as crashing a plane into a building but JWs have definitely killed more Americans in the meantime with their blood policy than the Islamic terrorists have since 9/11.

39

Are Jehovah's Witnesses a cult just as evil and dangerous as Islam?

by cookiemaster in

i know you might think i'm exaggerating but if you really think about it, maybe i'm not.

these two religions originate with the same ancient belief system.

islam is a dangerous middle eastern cult that seeks to control every aspect of its members' lives.

cookiemaster

I know you might think I'm exaggerating but if you really think about it, maybe I'm not. These two religions originate with the same ancient belief system. Islam is a dangerous Middle Eastern cult that seeks to control every aspect of its members' lives. It has created theocratic totalitarian societies where religious leaders have a grotesque level of control over the lives of people, in some cases even that of issuing death sentences for religious crimes. Islam teaches the penalty for apostasy is death. The doctrines of modern Islamic leaders about the right to kill Muslims that are not "real Muslims" (they don't take their religious seriously enough/want to live a secular lifestyle) as well as infidels has created conflicts and hundreds of thousands of deaths due to terrorism. So, how could JWs compare to this?

I think JWs are very similar. They also seek to control every aspect of their members' lives. They also exercise totalitarian control in the "JW society" they have created. While they do not act violently toward anyone right now, they do hate a lot of people. JWs teach the penalty for apostasy is death by Jehovah. The only reason why JWs can't create a Saudi Arabia of their own, is because there's not enough of them. Imagine a country where only JWs exist and the government is a theocratic JW government. Apostates, fornicators, gays and others would be killed just like they are today in extreme Muslims societies. If JWs had one billion adherents and shaped society, they'd have the power to do some horrific shit.

Plus, they do some horrific shit today. There were actually almost a dozen cases (that I know of) of JWs dying because of refusing a blood transfusion just in the past couple of years in my country (we also have about 40,000 JWs). An 18 year old girl died after getting into a traffic accident because her parents refused to allow the doctors to give her a blood transfusion.There are what, 8 million JWs worldwide? That means thousands (maybe more) of deaths every single year because of refusing blood transfusions. If you think about it, JWs kill more people than terrorists. Only nobody cares in mainstream society. How many people have died in the past 50 years due to their policies or vaccines, organ transplants and blood transfusions?

37

The day after Armageddon

by Pronger1 in

jws are scattered across the globe.

a few million people left, pretty isolated from each other.. telephone lines and power goes down since the people who supported the infrastructure are dead.

communication across town, state, country, etc is cut off.

cookiemaster

LOL, you guys are such softies. Most JWs here in Eastern Europe would be fine. About 50% of our population lives in the rural environment. We grow most of our food. We have pigs, goats, chicken, crops in the fields, etc. Most people have their own plumbing system. Food and water would be no problem.

Heating and cooking is done with wood burning stoves because wood is practically a free and endless resource here. There would be plenty of cars and gas around, so that would be no problem. Even without those, there are bicycles and horse carts that people can use, like in the olden days.

One of the local JWs is an electrician. So there are some with some limited technical skills. Communications would be a problem. The local JW community would be isolated from the rest of the world. A lot of different JWs sects would form pretty quickly in my opinion. Being isolated from the GB, the local elders would act as religious and community leaders. By leaders I mean tyrants.

I wouldn't exclude violence against those that don't agree with elders. Disfellowshipping would be carried out by execution. No modern medicine around would mean a lot of deaths, especially among the sick and elderly. The biggest problem here would be an extremely low population density. There are a little over 20 JWs in the local congo, and most are old people. I think there might be only 4-5 individuals under the age of 40. Expect lots and lots of inbreeding.

Also, in a world run by JWs expect total patriarchy. Women would probably have as few rights as they do today in Arab countries. Little more than property. Marriages would be arranged by the male heads of families.

Practically, it would be like living in Saudi Arabia but without modern technology. Women are just a type of domestic animal you breed with. You fornicate, you're dead. You're gay, you're dead. You're an atheist, you're dead. You don't agree with some doctrines, you're dead. Your threaten the position of power of the local elders, you're dead. Conventions would be like tribal meetings. A very weird, bronze age world.

21

Attending a same-sex wedding

by Samantharockeby33 in

my cousin, whom is not jw, but we have grown up together our whole lives has just gotten engaged to her same sex partner, i am very conflicted on wether i can/should attend the wedding or not.

i am very close with my cousin and her partner and they are very understanding to our beliefs and differences as she grew up with our whole family being jw.

some family members have already said they will definitely be attending and some definitely not attending so i just want some extra advice and guidance!

cookiemaster

Hi Sam,
My name is also Sam in the real world. I'm 23 and in a similar position to yours, being theoretically still in and having JW parents but not having attended in a long time. I was recently interrogated by two elders for having attended a worldly public event that was about harmless fun. I have to admit it made me kinda angry and I didn't talk very nicely with them. Anyway, the point is that I don't regret it. It was fun and I can't afford to live my life in fear of breaking some stupid rules.

Some advice that I can give you is that you don't to live by their rules. You can keep a low profile if you do attend, just to avoid any trouble. But if the elders do start the interrogations, you can make up whatever bullshit you think will get you off easier, even saying something you don't really mean. Not getting the family that won't attend mad at you is the hardest thing. You can say that you love your cousin so much that you don't want to break her heart by not attending.

47

CO visit... Circuit is not growing at all, he said during midweek meeting

by StarTrekAngel in

so that was a "shocker".

i was not able to attend the meeting.

i had a more important one with my other apostate friends in the area.

cookiemaster

This might not be the most relevant piece of information but in my congregation here in Romania there used to be 60+ people regularly attending when I was a child, and now two decades later they barely get 20 people, sometimes not even that. This is with pioneers from other congregations being sent here, who will most likely leave in a few years at most.

Nobody got baptized in forever (probably a decade). There are only two local elders, one of which is 70+ and other in his 50s. Only two JW males under 40 in the entire congregation, one of which being me (inactive-rumored apostate) and the other guy isn't even an MS. It's pretty much the same everywhere in the country and most countries in Europe.

This is definitely a larger downward trend for JWs that is taking place on a global scale. In this growingly less religious/traditional world, JWs with all their stupid rules are completely unattractive.

7

My old congregation is gone

by cookiemaster in

went to the hall today as i was the designated driver for my parents.

an elder who was in our old congregation in the city gave the talk.

i've had a little chat with him and apparently our old congo is gone.

cookiemaster

Went to the Hall today as I was the designated driver for my parents. An elder who was in our old congregation in the city gave the talk. I've had a little chat with him and apparently our old congo is gone. The borg decided to sell their KH for lots of $$$ (probably a few hundred thousand euro) and merge their congo with another, now having 140 people crammed into a single congo. Nice money making scheme the borg seems to have going on.

23

Besides Beards . . .

by neat blue dog in

beards have been talked about a lot, especially with the recent wt article, but what about other types of non-mustache facial hair, like goatees chinbeards and soul patches?.

in my own experience i've seen a white young man with big handlebars and a soul patch run mikes, do literature and give talks not too long ago.

i saw a black older man with a sizeable soul patch as the focus of one shot in a jw.org video about an annual meeting a few years ago.

cookiemaster

I did go out in service, even with a CO, and many elders, while sporting quite a puffy soul patch and a little trace of beard. None of them have said anything.

28

Where does WT get their money?

by Dreamerdude in

i assume they get most of it from cash donations and assets left in wills.

there may also be some income from invested assets.

i guess they get a lot of money from old jws who die childless or with only df'd kids.geographically i assume they get it mostly from a few countries that have many publishers and strong economies.

cookiemaster

I think they've been saving a ton of money since cutting back in printing. Everyone uses tablets now. That's the new fad. They barely have to publish anything.

Dreamer - I'm not sure if they send money to HQ. I'd say it's very likely. Although, Romania is a relatively small country in the grand scheme of things and they won't be making impressive sums of money from just below 40,000 publishers. Growth is also at a standstill. They probably do make a few million euro in profit which goes to HQ but I think they also reinvest their money into the real estate business. It's their biggest money maker here.

Take for example the local KH in our town. Huge multiple story house bought by my parents along a small group of other JWs in the early 90s. A lot of money was invested by the locals into renovations. When the local group finally became a congregation officially, the Watchtower took ownership. Now it's worth at least 200-300 grand in euro. A 98 year old brother died recently. Donated his house and all he had to the Watchtower. Another couple hundred grand there as well. So, they have more than half a million Euro in real estate assets only in our small town. I think this is pretty much the case for every European country. Donations might not be making much money, but real estate is making them a fortune.

28

Where does WT get their money?

by Dreamerdude in

i assume they get most of it from cash donations and assets left in wills.

there may also be some income from invested assets.

i guess they get a lot of money from old jws who die childless or with only df'd kids.geographically i assume they get it mostly from a few countries that have many publishers and strong economies.

cookiemaster

I'm not entirely sure, but I think most Western countries they're present in, turn a profit. The US of course has over a million publishers, hundreds of thousands that probably donate and tens of billions in real estate. Other Western countries have much smaller JW populations, so they're probably only a fraction of the income brought by the US, but they're still profitable. Going by the reports, here in Romania they get quite a nice profit. All conventions seem to be making money. KHs have lots of money. They also seem to have tens of millions in real estate throughout the country. Just in this circuit they have all sorts of assembly halls and kingdom halls in cities where they can easily be sold for millions each to all sorts of corporate businesses. All build with free slave labor, of course.

3

How does Life expectancy by Country affect JW growth?

by dropoffyourkeylee in

here's something i haven't considered before.

below are the average life expectancies by country (male and female combined), which i found at:.

http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/life-expectancy-country.html.

cookiemaster

Average life expectancy does not mean people in Malawi don't live longer than 60. It's just the average length of a human life in that country. Being an average, it can be dragged down severely by those dying young and dragged up significantly by those that reach old age. People in Malawi can too die of old age at 80 or 90 naturally, like everyone else, but huge infant mortality brings the average life expectancy way down. You'll find plenty of people over 60 there.