Posts by StrongHaiku

43

Change to dress and grooming rules for JWs in USA soon?

by RayPublisher in

my guy with the lurk account on jwtalk (where all the kool-aid drinking jws go to talk about how wonderful 'the twoof' is) sent me some more interesting threads, here's one:.

spoiler: starting new the new service year september.

"there will be new directives from the branch through the circuit overseer on dress and grooming that will disqualify one to be a congregation publisher.

StrongHaiku

Soon, JWs won't be able to wear wool and linen together... Oh, wait... That's been done...

41

Missed it by that much ----------23

by John Aquila in

i almost had a freaking heart attack.

i even threw my coffee cup at the wall and starting yelling like crazy when i got the the 5th number correct.

i was checking my texas lottery ticket for this past saturday.

StrongHaiku

I went out and bought a few lottery tickets in your honor...

10

at some point in the future, it has to finally dawn on people that something is seriously flawed about the idea of jesus coming in the clouds to save everyone who believes- and kill everyone who doesnt..

will people still believe in jesus in another 1000 years?

will people still be saying in the year 5015;.

StrongHaiku

John Aquila - The doctor tells him he has beginning signs of throat cancer.He either need to quit or face the consequences. The cognitive dissonance that was causing him to rationalize away the information that smoking is bad, it now out the window. Now he realizes he needs to do something or he will die earlier than he anticipated.

I totally hope that "Cognitive Dissonance" has its limits. I really, really, really do. And, I hope that there are large numbers of JWs who have limits and will wake up. You named a number of JW scandals that may have shaken some, which is good. But experience has shown me that there are people who, no matter what, will "ride that bus all the way to the end". My grandmother smoked even when she was in an oxygen tent. Some people never learn.

I really have no hope for my family. But I truly wish that there will be many who will run into limits of their cognitive dissonance.

24

Has anyone had a jw hack into their email/tablet/phone etc to spy?

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

i note stillin has had a recent problem with this.

i also know of two cases were an elder went through a brothers phone to get dirt on him.

and another were a sisters email was hacked into to get dirt on her.. in both cases apparently it was for their spiritual protection (!

StrongHaiku

One thing to note, for your own protection, is that you can look at someone's text messages without hacking if it is a "family plan". A number of carriers have an online feature that allows the person being billed to look at ALL of the text messages under the same family plan. Just a good safety tip in case you are looking to keep your fading in the down-low...

10

How long will it take?

by John Aquila in

at some point in the future, it has to finally dawn on people that something is seriously flawed about the idea of jesus coming in the clouds to save everyone who believes- and kill everyone who doesnt..

will people still believe in jesus in another 1000 years?

will people still be saying in the year 5015;.

StrongHaiku

John Aquila - At some point, Cognitive dissonance has its limits.

I really wish that someday we may eliminate a lot of knowledge gaps that God/superstition resides in. That eventually religions, supernatural, and other non-sense get relegated to a museum in the "This is how dumb we were..." exhibit.

I would hate to think that 500 years from now we will be fighting "holy wars" about "Who shot first? Han Solo or Greedo". I truly hope that there is a limit to Cognitive dissonance, as you stated. I truly hope that we manage to stay alive long enough that we will make a "brave new world".

32

If you were put in charge of the Governing Body tomorrow...

by FusionTheism in

if you were somehow magically put in-charge of the governing body tomorrow, by jesus, with the rules being, you could not teach anything that would be considered outright apostasy and you could not teach anything that would be considered to cause doubt about god's existence... (so as not to arouse suspicion).

what "new light" or "clarified understandings" would you introduce first?.

and which later on?.

StrongHaiku

If the goal is to change the Organization into "gentler/kinder cult", you could change a number of things. But, for me, that's not sufficient, because regardless of changes it would still be a dangerous organization and I want it to be dissolved and forgotten. Making the Organization "gentler and kinder" would only delay the inevitable. I would turn the Organizations into an amped-up Old Testament saga.

I would make it so you could be disfellowshipped for wearing mixed, eating shrimp, talking back to parents, and require them to sell everything, etc. I would require them to be vegetarian, have no technology, etc. to get ready for New System. I would shape the Organization to be as literally close to the bible as possible. People would be disfellowshipped every week by the dozens.

Over time, there would not be ONE SINGLE PERSON in the Organization that could possibly follow ALL the rules. At which point, I would disfellowship myself, drop the mike, turn out the lights, and walk out.

19

Jw's don't let their kids die because of blood...

by freemindfade in

another nauseating detail i remember from saturdays program.

there is a video (one of so many) shaming young people for being afraid to admit they are jw's.

one australian girl talks about how one of her teachers was saying jw's let their children die over the blood issue (fact) and she goes on to say how that is not true.

StrongHaiku

So, if I get this right, "JWs don't let their children die over the blood issue" but instead "the children show their loyalty to Jehovah and obey his laws...then die". Sounds like a classic "distinctions without a difference".

111

"We Already Forgive Him" - What Does That Mean?

by cofty in

the children of one of yesterday's shooting have told the media that they have already forgiven the killer for what he did.. dylaan roof has not apologised for what he did.

he hates black people and probably regrets not killing even more.. what does it really mean to forgive?.

if the legal system asked the victims relatives what they want done next would they ask for dylaan to go free and unpunished?.

StrongHaiku

cofty - So if the court asked the relatives of the murder victims what should be done they would say let him go free would they?

Good point. In the US all that the relatives, etc. of the victims can do is testify at their sentencing. If he is declared guilty, they have the opportunity to provide testimony on whether, for example, they should impose on him a harsh (in some cases a reduced) sentence.

As far as forgiveness goes, I think in this case the only people who ultimate have the right to forgive (or not) are the direct victims of the crime. That man killed the only people who I think had the ultimate authority to forgive him.

41

Convention Tomorrow...

by freemindfade in

kill me.... it's hard to put into words just how badly i do no want to sit through this 3 days of bull $hit.

i will appreciate any and all words of condolence, humorous, serious, or otherwise.

StrongHaiku

Open up whatever mobile device/laptop you can or use a legal pad. Pretend you are taking notes. Start this sentence "June 19, 2015 was the last Jehovah's Witnesses Convention I ever attended. And, this is what happened next...". Start writing the story of your life from tomorrow on. Who knows? Maybe it will someday be a bestseller. I'd sure would buy a copy.

8

Religious explanation for suffering vs church shootings

by Simon in

whenever there is a discussion about the "godness" of god and whether he can be described as both "good" and "all powerful" given that he could avoid untold suffering and death for millions of people in earthquakes, floods, tidal waves and other disasters we are often given the same answer:.

"you don't know why he lets it happen but he has a plan".. bleh.

often they throw in some snippets that suggest the people may actually deserve it for not praying to the right god or not praying hard enough.. of course it's easy to dismiss the death of all those faceless unknown people.. so, i present to you a new thought experiment for the righteous to grapple with.. i dare you to use the same arguments to explain the deaths of the people in the recent church shooting.. were they not praying hard enough?

StrongHaiku

Well, let me put on my JW hat from 25 years ago...At the time, on reading the news, I probably would have noted their deaths in passing as a confirmation that the world is getting worse and worse, which is great, because it would mean the "end is near". I probably would have not empathized with their loss and suffering because as far as I was concerned, they should have been "in the Truth" and at a Kingdom Hall. In short, I would have done victim-blaming.

I was a horrible person then. After leaving the JWs, I now have a better appreciation of life and how precious and valuable it is. I hope I can do better now. And, when I read the news, my reaction this time was different than it would have been in the past. This time, I truly empathized with their loss in a deep way as opposed to using their loss as a way to validate my faith.