Posts by Partisan

14

Catholic priest condemns & blasts Watchtower Society...

by Newly Enlightened in

with english subtitles.

i found this interesting that the catholics are blasting wtbt$ and demanding the wtbt$ recall their misquoted information from the reasoning book under subheading of 'cross':.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxybtrrh53u&list=wlgr2qszwt6b2giou9xsths1r7q0qkc_mb.

Partisan

Listening to Catholics and Jehovahs Witnesses attack each other's "reasonings" is an exercise in futility that would make Nietzsche weep.

50

Really enjoyed the CONvention....why?

by punkofnice in

i remember when i was a mind cleansed(tm) jw i would listen to the talks when i wasn't napping.. on the long tiring drive home i'd say how i ''enjoyed(tm)'' the sessions and felt ''encouraged(tm)''.. .....and yet i couldn't recall a single ''point(tm)'' made.

i couldn't remember what it was that actually made me feel good.. on one occasion i asked the family what they found ''encouraging(tm)'' or interesting.. tumble weed.

no examples.

Partisan

This "feel-good" euphoria after a convention is most likely attributed to the sacredness assigned to it. It is essentially a pep-rally that is marketed to be some sort of pilgramage to a "holy gathering" so therefore the attendee is made to feel that they've just been part of something profound and important. Old friends not regularly seen are associated with again, propaganda about what a privilege it is to be a JW, "End of Days" nonsense and a constant allusion to a convention environment being some sort of "spiritual paradise" all intensify this sanctimonious experience.

It is no different than the Walmart pep-rally that employees are sometimes involved in to "motivate" them and make them think they are part of a special team, not just slinging cheap bras and LEGO Star Wars kits all day for $2/hour.

It's what Marx was pointing to:

Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions.

Karl Marx

Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right

47

Former Longtime Elder- Met up with a Former CO,DO

by James Jackson in

jw
friends

at a convention recently, i met with don wallace, a former co and do.

he told me he came off the road 6 years ago and is living in scottsboro al.

him and his wife are in their late 70's.

Partisan

Blondie, I've often found myself debating with Jehovahs Witnesses regarding their "clergy". Many JWs proclaim that they don't have a clergy and that is one of many things that seperate them from "false religion." But the textbook definition of clergy is the administrative branch of any church or religion. So technically the elders and ministerial servant body would constitute a "clergy". However, and I apologize for forgetting where I saw it, in a Watchtower article I saw once it was listed that the JWs do not have a paid clergy like those in Christendom.

So my question is this: If this yokel is receiving a stipend from the Watchtower Society, regardless of whether it's $6 or $6,000 a month, wouldn't that be compensation? Wouldn't that then make them a PAID clergy?

14

When the urge to hit back is stronger than the instruction not to

by steve2 in

jw
friends

clearly, any jw apologist or jw friendly person who posts on this forum knows full well they are breaking their own organization's policies.

everything else is mere detail.

even before the send button is struck, the jw knows they are doing something the organization has told them not to do.

Partisan

Well said. Then again, when a person's entire way of life is filled with contridictions (shunning = love, ask others to question their belief = don't question yours, etc.) what's a little extra cognative dissonance?

If a person can believe that any god operates solely through a handful of uneducated, unenlightened mo-mo's sitting around a table in Brooklyn then that same person can talk themselves into believing that they are justified in visiting "apostate" websites to "wage spiritual warfare".

10

Show me something better

by WildeLover in

terry started a really good thread a little while ago.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/258731/1/where-did-pastor-russell-get-his-truth.

it reminded me of what the jw who studied with me and brought me into the truth said.. she said show me something better.

she qualified this by saying show me another religion that teaches the basics.. i changed subject but i suppose basics are.

Partisan

"Show me something better!"

Ahhh, the age-old cry of the huckster and the rallying cry that draws the gullible to buy tickets to the sideshow.

47

Former Longtime Elder- Met up with a Former CO,DO

by James Jackson in

jw
friends

at a convention recently, i met with don wallace, a former co and do.

he told me he came off the road 6 years ago and is living in scottsboro al.

him and his wife are in their late 70's.

Partisan

TO THOSE LURKING ON THIS SITE AND READING THIS:

At the very least, STOP giving your hard-earned money and subsidizing your meager incomes to fatten their bank accounts! The next time you go to put money into the contribution box thinking that it will build a Kingdom Hall in East Timor or fix the roof of a poor JW affected by a hurricane, think of this:

Picture this fellow living in a house with no mortgage, comfortably retired and using the money from the Watchtower Society to go out to a restaurant. He can order good food, sip his wine and congratulate himself for being "one of the smart ones."

If you truly believe that your God is the most all-powerful being in the Universe, THEN WHAT DOES HE NEED WITH YOUR MEASLY DOLLARS?

It's a scam. THINK for yourselves OR continue to finacially support the very prison walls that hold your minds and the minds of your children.

153

Shocking talk from 2013 District Convention urges parents to shun disfellowshipped children

by cedars in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yldwe_6jsu.

.

cedars.

Partisan

Shunning your own flesh and blood due to a theological difference isn't an act of loyalty.....

...it's an act of lunacy.

153

Shocking talk from 2013 District Convention urges parents to shun disfellowshipped children

by cedars in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yldwe_6jsu.

.

cedars.

Partisan

Bluepill2, I am not saying we need to get rid of the aesthetic contributions of religious belief. Instead, I am calling for the removal by any means necessary the human clergy element, in all its forms, who operate in an entitled position to control what people think, feel and understand. For that is the among the greatest crimes of civilization - the bondage and repression of the human intellect.

153

Shocking talk from 2013 District Convention urges parents to shun disfellowshipped children

by cedars in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yldwe_6jsu.

.

cedars.

Partisan

reason #566,048,372 why we need to cast off the shackles of organized religion. RISE UP AND OVERTHROW YOUR OPPRESSORS!

Civilization will not attain perfection until the last stone from the last church, falls on the last priest.

--Emile Zola

3

The Real Influence of Elders

by Partisan in

"anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.

" - voltaire.

often times, jehovah's witness elders will present themselves as humble, down-to-earth men, honest hearted and caring.

Partisan

"Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices." - Voltaire

Often times, Jehovah's Witness elders will present themselves as humble, down-to-earth men, honest hearted and caring. They are, after all "ordinary and unlettered men" who serve as a "hiding place from the wind" as well as a dozen other flattering Scriptural descriptions. Along with those descriptions, they frequently will affix these the disclaimer that these elders are "not infallible" and are themselves "imperfect men." Most of you reading this would be quite familiar with the crafty and dubious manner in which they use this loophole whenever one of their "verdicts" or decisions turns out poorly. Like the ridiculous theology these men subscribe to, their role can very often seem to be one of great entitlement with little or no accountability.

Yet, to be fair, there are elders who genuinely feel that they are caring for their congregations. Such men may even operate in their clergy capacity with real brotherly love, trying to live up to the Bible's example of a "comforting shepherd." These men (never women, of course) are praised and admired by members of the Kingdom Hall and no doubt have influence in their lives.

But how much influence? And is this influence harmful?

One need only to consider the hierarchy of the Jehovah's Witness congregation to see the real influence that these privileged few men have over groups of people, sometimes a hundred or more. Watchtower literature repeatedly admonishes the congregation to submit and follow the lead of these elders, effectively granting to them sweeping authoritative powers and weight over their "flock". Any and all instruction is given either by them or under their strict oversight, creating in their congregants minds (and often even in their own minds) the illusion that they are deeply spiritual men with great Biblical knowledge. Appointments are done so either "in" or "through" Holy Spirit, adding even greater weight to their office.

Adding to this atmosphere of delusional so-called "divine education" is the continual reinforcement through cultist propaganda that the curriculum offered through the pages of its rhetoric is sanctioned and blessed by The Almighty himself. Men who have no formal (or any for that matter) training in psychology, crisis counseling, even basic communication skills are thrust into positions where they are the perceived direct source for the "distribution of Spiritual food at the proper time." Nor can one miss the irony of an entire cadre of men claiming to educate their laity, while they themselves have little to no training in even the most basic of Scripture aside from the drivel printed by the Watchtower Corporation.

Yet here these men sit, often in judgment, casting their supervisory influence upon all these misguided lambs. Recent exposure of the Watchtower's dreadful handling of child abuse incidents gives evidence of this. For example, if such a tragedy does occur resulting in a minor being abused, the predominant Witness mindset would guide the parents to turn to the congregation Elders to "investigate" instead of seeking the assistance of trained authorities. Likewise, the Elders in this situation will turn to their Corporate Legal Counsel as to what to do, instead of realizing their lack of qualification and again turning this information over to proper authorities. Again, the delusion of having some sort of Divine backing and education disrupts the thinking patterns of both parent and clergy, ultimately perpetuating this sort of crime and others like it.

The example of the child abuse was given to establish a point, but can be substituted with just about any situation/life choice. Who among you who were raised in the Jehovah's Witness religion, after committing some indiscretion at some point in your life wasn't anxious about the Elders finding out and the resultant consequences that were sure to follow? And while it does not do well to generalize that ALL Jehovah's Witnesses are so wholly dependent on the authority of the Elder Body, it certainly would not be out of place to assume that this is case for a great majority of congregation members.

It would however, be out of place to assume that there will be any serious reform in this religion that would lead to a more fertile environment for the mind. Most likely it will continue to base itself on a collective framework that stifles the mind and continues to put the lives of its members in the trust of uneducated lack-wits , bent on their own "divinely-issued authority". Their dangerous influence will endure and their prating will make the average congregation member's intelligence and freewill erode at an alarming rate.