Island Man

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Posts by Island Man

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  225

  Cult or Religion

  by Richard C B in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what is a cult and what is a religion?

  its open to debate.

  who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?

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  Island Man

  Early in the thread someone posted that the cult identity is more of a spectrum or continuum than a fixed digital state. I agree with this.

  Cult can be seen as one of many properties or metrics of a group - really, every group - that can have a range of values from low to high. A group's cult metric can be determined by examining its culture to see how closely it conforms to the BITE model. It is fair to say that most religious groups will match some aspects of the BITE model to some degree. But when a group's cult metric exceeds a certain threshold, there can be no denying that the group is a cult. For example, there can be no denying that the People's Temple was a cult.

  If we quantify a group's cult metric on a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 meaning they have no trace of cult tendencies (which is extremely unlikely for any group) and 10 being the most harmful blatant cults, then we can use a cult metric greater than 5 as the litmus test for designating a group as being a cult. In my opinion, Watchtower has a score around 7.

  It's important to note, however, that a group's cult metric has nothing to do with how orthodox or correct its beliefs are. Rather, it has to do with the group's behavior.
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  21

  November 2015 Awake

  by username in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok. when i first looked at the cover of this issue of awake i was instantly struck on how creepy it looked.

  my first impressions were the picture looked almost masonic in nature.

  well, further investigation has led me to another picture that shows a grand masonic hall.

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  Island Man

  This is stretching it. Aside from the red carpeting and the spacious high-roof interior, the two buildings have little in common. I think you're seeing a connection that you want to see.
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  10

  new arrangement - chairman

  by inbetween in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a thought on the emphasis of the importance of the new chairman arrangement at the midweek meeting:.

  it reminds me of a tv-show, where the showmaster introduces tv-clips of some topics.. is it maybe a preparation for meetings with more and more videos ?.

  and all the local brothers are doing is introducing them, creating anticipation for what big skydaddy prepared this week.. i wonder, if most of the meeting times in years to come will be videos anyway.....

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  Island Man

  Local needs are still there. It's mentioned in passing, in the instructions for carrying out the meeting.
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  138

  My Mother Died Two Weeks Ago

  by Perry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  none of my jehovah's witness relatives called to tell me or my family.

  just found out this morning.

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  Island Man

  Submit a "letter to the editor" post to your local newspaper about this issue. Explain to them how it is that your mother died 2 weeks ago without you knowing - because of the JW practice of shunning, your mother and all her friends refuse to communicate with you. Use this as an opportunity to publicly expose JW cult behavior.
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  20

  INSTRUCTIONS FOR OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE AND MINISTRY MEETING

  by pixel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  1. the life and ministry meeting will proceed as outlined in the life and ministry meeting workbookand according to the instructions that follow.. 3. treasures from gods word:.

  the theme and an outline of two or three main points are provided in thelife and ministry meeting workbook.

  this should be assigned to a qualified elder.. 6. concluding comments: 3 minutes or less.

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  Island Man

  Island Man, the talks given by brothers that are not ministerial servants or elders have been removed. This is a MAJOR change! I'm sure that more than a few will not like this at all. Obviously, this is a move to control absolutely everything that is said from the platform

  Actually, those talks have been gone for quite some months, replaced with seated presentations using the NWT.
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  20

  INSTRUCTIONS FOR OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE AND MINISTRY MEETING

  by pixel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  1. the life and ministry meeting will proceed as outlined in the life and ministry meeting workbookand according to the instructions that follow.. 3. treasures from gods word:.

  the theme and an outline of two or three main points are provided in thelife and ministry meeting workbook.

  this should be assigned to a qualified elder.. 6. concluding comments: 3 minutes or less.

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  Island Man

  It's the same old TMS just under a different name and a slightly adjusted format. All the hype about the TMS being done away with was wrong! LOL. It would have been more accurate to say that the service meeting was done away with - in reality it has just been drastically curtailed to about 15 minutes in length, with some of its features - the offer for the month - being incorporated into the Apply Yourself to the Field Ministry segment.

  The Service meeting has always been a bit redundant given that it dealt with skills that were also covered by the TMS. What really separated the service meeting from the TMS is that the TMS dealt with basic generic teaching and preaching skills while the service meeting was more about higher order teaching and preaching skills - knowing when and how to use the basic skills learned in the TMS - and offering specific literature

  I think the biggest change has been the logistical combining of the three meetings into one so you only have to sing twice on a thursday instead of 3 times. That adjustment bought them a couple extra minutes
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  19

  For those of you who is contemplating leaving the Borg, consider...

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i know it's not easy for you to walk it's a big decision, family and etc.. if you are afraid consider this.

  i have been here for a few years and i can count on one hand from posters who made the statement, i can't take it anymore, i'm going back.. what is it that members here have given up their family and friends to be free.

  is it so we can have sinful fun, we are our own person and no one will tell us what to do?.

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  Island Man

  "The stories of people immediately becoming promiscuous drug users after walking out of the KH are just made up from the pages of the WTS."

  Some ex-JWs do self-destruct upon leaving the Watchtower so I wouldn't doubt the veracity of some of the negative experiences used by Watchtower. Some born-ins, because of being repressed their whole lives as JWs, engage in reckless "sin binging" upon leaving. It's like they're trying to enjoy all the things they couldn't when they were JWs. But they're not typical of those who leave.

  The problem is that these minority reckless individuals are used by Watchtower as if they represent the typical scenario of those who leave. These negative experiences are given prominence while those ex-JW who move on to live ordinary successful lives are never mentioned by Watchtower.
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  53

  First thoughts on "new" meeting...

  by konceptual99 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  had a quick look at the workbook and flicked through the sample meeting video.. the increased use of video shows the trend for more centralised dissemination of "best practice" .

  sure there isn't really a "school" any more and the format is a bit different but i think those that called it as the same old crap just in new package got it pretty much right.

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  Island Man

  It seems like a lot of ink and effort will be going into the production of these monthly work-books - no wonder they switched to printing one issue of the Watchtower or Awake every other month. They simply wouldn't have the man-power and money to print that fancy workbook every month in addition to printing a copy of both magazines every single month.
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  8

  can I have my p.m.s deleted?

  by sowhatnow in

  1. forum
  2. tech-support

  i would greatly appreciate it , please please, to have all my private messages deleted.

  and ill thank you much!.

  [there is also one post id like to have removed if possible,.

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  Island Man

  can I have my p.m.s delted?

  Yes. Just get a hysterectomy - or wait until you reach menopause.
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  10

  Has The Shit Finally Hit The Fan For The Governing Body Liars?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i say you betcha!.

  the gb has been hiding their shit for a long time but finally it has hit the fan and it is all over them..

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  Island Man

  Has the shit finally hit the fan?

  Yes. But the GB are denying that it's shit. They're saying it's chocolate rained down from heaven as a blessing from Jehovah. And most JWs believe it because pride and indoctrination prevents them from admitting to themselves that it's actually shit. And even if they do admit to themselves that it's shit they don't dare voice that opinion the hearing of other JWs because they know all who complain about smelling shit get accused of being ungrateful, disloyal, murmurers on their way to apostasy. So everyone praises the GB's new choco-shit rained down as blessings from Jehovah.