Posts by Island Man

Here in the Caribbean where I live, many of the high schools are church owned, operated and named - Catholic and Anglican. But some JWs work as teachers at those schools and many JW children attend those schools but that doesn't seem to raise eyebrows the slightest bit among JWs here. I think it's because those schools are still under the authority of the government (Ministry of Education) when it comes to things like the syllabus, and the law states that they can't try to impose their religious beliefs on the students (even though some of the teachers try to). It's kinda weird when I think of it.

207

Is the AGM today?

by hamsterbait in

jw
friends

anybody going or who can give us the noolite hot from the gb a$$?.

.

Island Man

fastjehu: 10 hours Pioneer: Just another hurdle for the MS & Elders

I agree. We can expect future guilt trips along the lines of: "The slave has now made it sooo easy to pioneer. You only have to make 10 hours to join the ranks of pioneer! Surely we all can and should be pioneers! What could possibly prevent you from pioneering?"

And think about this: who will refuse to be a basic pioneer? Every indoctrinated dub thinks in glowing terms of pioneering, so the only publisher who would refuse to reach out to at least be a meagre 10 hour basic pioneer is . . . yes, you got it - an awake publisher. So expect this new basic pioneer provision to become a tool used for sniffing out those who are not totally loyal to the GB. Non-pioneering could become like the new inactive.

It could become a new tool to manipulate publishers to do at least 10 hours of service or face being viewed as lazy or disloyal to the organization. It could be difficult for awake JWs to give just a token 2 or 3 hours a month without being hasseled as to why they're not reaching out to at least be a basic pioneer.

This 10 hour basic pioneer requirement doesn't bode well.

6

JW.ORG - Search results for web info - updated March 2014

by LogCon in

jw
friends

Island Man

Terms: 666

LOL.

207

Is the AGM today?

by hamsterbait in

jw
friends

anybody going or who can give us the noolite hot from the gb a$$?.

.

Island Man

With this new light on the identity of Gog, whenever a govt. bans the work of JWs, you'll hear the JWs saying that they're part of Gog's forces and this action is evidence that Gog is getting ready to attack. Who knows, maybe the GB expects to be banned soon in some countries and this new light is just a way of taking in front, so when they do get banned they can always play the Gog card and tell JWs not to listen to any news by the Gog govt. which gives reasons for the ban.

In essence they could be laying the groundwork for the term "Gog" (or "Gog's company") to be used to demonize any govt. who bans them or investigates them. "Gog" will become the apostate label they slap on govts who are not favorable to the Witnesses and who may publish news items on the JWs that contain TTATT. The Watchtower is probably feeling the heat from Russian and other govts. I hear the charity commission in the UK is currently investigating them. The Watchtower probably expects the proverbial "$s#it to hit the fan" in the near future and so they're using this new doctrine to get JWs looking critically and suspiciously at govts who are critical of the JWs. That way if any govt. bans them and gives reasons, the JWs would have been pre-indoctrinated to disregard any damaging, confidential information that govt. sources have to say about JWs.

35

The Blatant SEXISM of Watchtower!

by Island Man in

from my yahoo answers question here: .

"the bible says of deborah: "now deborah, a prophetess, the wife of lappidoth, was judging israel at that time.

5 she used to sit under the palm tree of deborah between ramah and bethel in the hill country of ephraim; and the sons of israel came up to her for judgment.

Island Man

Onager: So, let me get this right, there's a glimmer of gender equality in a story in the bible (which is a wildly misogynist book overall)

I wouldn't go so far as to call it gender equality. If Deborah served as a warrior herself leading the army and taking part in the battle without having to call a man to do the actual fighting, then yeah, maybe I'd say it's gender equality. What I think it is, is an attempt at toning down male chauvinism and making patronizing overtures toward disenfranchised women of the time. From the fact that the story mentions a woman ia judge to the fact that Sisera is given into the hand of a woman is more than mere coincidence. There's clearly an attempt at elevating women. It seems obvious that the writer or later editor of the book had this as one of his (or dare I say, her) goals.

The fact that the bible is a mysoginistic book overall does not preclude it from having a story that seeks to exalt the image of women. Let's not forget that the bible is a book of contradictions. For example, it says God is just and loving but at the same time portrays him as a harsh genocidal brute who condones injustices like slavery and the subjugation of women. If anything, the general mysogynistic tone of the bible to gives credence to the idea that the story of Deborah is a deliberate attempt at improving the image of women and/or rebelling against patriarchy and misogyny. It could very well be an attempt at improving the image of God as not being a misogynist by a more liberal, forward-thinking bible writer who was painfully aware of the misogynistic nature of other writings and Israelite culture in general.