Posts by willyloman

13

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

by GinnyTosken in

jw
friends

the tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.

just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a small but precisely targeted push cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate.

if you're looking for fascinating and lively reading about social epidemics and how and why ideas spread, i recommend malcolm gladwell's the tipping point: how little things can make a big difference.. gladwell explains:.

willyloman

Excellent research. This proves what we've all suspected for a long time, that the reason the WTS insists on congos splitting when they reach a certain number of publishers is all about control.

Many JWs like being part of a big congregation. If there are 180 publishers, attendance at meetings will exceed 130 or 140 people. It means if you show up for field service, an activity many JWs secretly loathe, at least there's a posse present... it's easier to endure if 30 or 40 others show up, too. At a night meeting, the hall isn't half empty. These kinds of numbers are encouraging because no one likes to feel they're "in it alone" and lots of people in seats implies that one is part of a growing concern, that this is the place to be. The "friends" instinctively know that the real reason the congo exists is for social activity. The Society is at odds with this view; one CO told our body of elders "the congregation exists to further the preaching work. This is not a social club."

But any congregation that hits a high water mark of 160 publishers immediately feels pressure from the CO to start planning a split. Some bodies of elders, recognizing their constituents are happier in a crowd, resist the pressure. Others are all too happy to oblige because it means more important positions are created and more guys get to be presiding overseer, Watchtower conductor, and so forth. There are only five "executive" positions per congregation, so a split automatically doubles an elder's chances of getting one of those coveted posts. Watch any congregation go through a split into two, and you'll see the leading and loudest proponents are those elders who covet a position all their own. They will be fully supported by other elders who understand the control issue behind holding down the number of people in a single congo. Of course, their public stance is that they are merely supporting the society's direction and that "mother" knows best. Even reluctant elders will often go along because a split creates the (artificial) appearance of growth.

This is also the rationale behind the recent decision to increase the number of book study groups in every congregation to be sure no group numbers more than 15. Elders were told in their exclusive meeting with the CO and DO that this change would make it easier for overseers to keep a close eye on the sheep and quickly head them off if they began to stray. See, it's all about control.

67

Ran into two JW's in service today, I was on !!!, it was classic !!!

by run dont walk in

jw
friends

well, for some reason i was up extra early today, understand i am night person and usually sleep to 11 or so today i was up at 9 and decided to take the dogs out before it got to hot outside.

i hadn't been gone 3 minutes and as i came out of my street onto another i bumped into 2 jw's (females) getting out of their suv.

they asked do you have a couple of minutes.

willyloman

Anybody else remember that WT study article about 15 years ago? It held up as an example to follow a German brother who inherited wealth. But he chose to rent a modest apartment, spent his substantial leisure time pioneering, and drove a Volkswagen instead of a much more expensive German car. This created quite a buzz in some congregations where the parking lot had more than its share of Mercedes Benz automobiles (all with four doors, of course). It's this kind of hypocrisy that's being condemned here, the disconnect between what we say/what we do.

As usual, we JWs don't pay enough attention to the really important stuff that appears in the Watchtower, but we pay way too much attention to all the speculative prophetic interpretations that help us stand out from the rest of the world. I thought Jesus said it would be the unique love amongst us that would get the world's attention. But, no, it's been decided that we must be recognized for our bizarre teachings and interpretations. And we are.

44

Who has the best chance of defeating Bush in '04?

by badwillie in

i will be backing former vermont gov howard dean to run in '04.

my reason: clinton was quoted recently as saying that "strong and wrong always beats weak and right".

i remember during the run up to election in 2000 watching the bush vs. gore debates and thinking..i know gore is smarter but he comes across as weaker in debate.

willyloman

Simon, you've got my vote! However, if we waive the rules to let a foreign born individual be President, you'll have to fight Arnold Schwarzenegger for it, and he's big!

52

Would you be willing to admit it if you've been a hypocrite?

by onacruse in

for the last 20 years of my association with the jws, i was, more or less, a hypocrite.

they taught things i didn't believe, but i went to the meetings and, by my presence there and by my "non-answers" i in essence supported something that i didn't believe.. it's a hard thing to say "i was a hypocrite.".

i was.. craig

willyloman

Onacruse:

Do you wonder sometimes, as I do, that even as I go down this road of what I think is really open and honest discussion, that, somehow, I'm not still "hiding from myself?"

You're not hiding from yourself anymore than is the addict on route to sobriety who is in a halfway house getting acclimated to a new way of viewing the universe, before he goes out and fully functions in a society of which he's been no part. Don't beat yourself up, dude. That's what this place is, a halfway house.

44

Who has the best chance of defeating Bush in '04?

by badwillie in

i will be backing former vermont gov howard dean to run in '04.

my reason: clinton was quoted recently as saying that "strong and wrong always beats weak and right".

i remember during the run up to election in 2000 watching the bush vs. gore debates and thinking..i know gore is smarter but he comes across as weaker in debate.

willyloman

Y'all are overlooking the obvious: Saddam Hussein has a better chance than any of these guys of defeating Bush in '04.

23

The Aug. 1, Watchtower is Lying - Again!

by metatron in

jw
friends

the august 1, 2003 issue of the watchtower is lying -- again.. on page 20 it states,.

"they [jws] have no paid clergy".

this is false.

willyloman

Metraton is absolutely right in what he says, despite some efforts here to soften the blow of his direct hit on the hypocrisy JW's display in maintaining their "no class distinction" status when if fact class distinctions prevail up the wazoo.

The fact is that clergy of all kinds get "paid" in some fashion, whether it's by paycheck or largesse. DO and CO can live quite well on their "vow of poverty," especially if they are attractive, charismatic, brilliant speakers with warm personalities (and wives with similar qualities), and they have the good fortune to be assigned to a circuit or district where there is at least one affluent congregation. A CO of my acquaintance was assigned to a resort area in North America, and every Monday and Tuesday went skiing in the winter and golfing in the summer at some else's expense. He developed a posse of affluent brothers with time on their hands they entertained him royally. At the same time their wives adopted his spouse and they spent the same Mondays and Tuesdays on shopping trips and lunches at the nicest restaurants. The brother wore expensive clothing, provided by the brothers, and greeting cards with checks and cash were frequently presented to him and his wife. Observing that some circuit overseers lived in travel trailers to preserve some privacy, he mentioned to his circle of friends his wife's discomfort at having to move into someone's spare bedroom every week and immediately a new trailer was purchased and gifted to them.

Of course, there are WT princes who are assigned to poorer areas who don't receive these benefits, which is why certain districts and circuits come with a more desirable label attached. Depending on where one serves, the personality of a CO is formed. I've known some who were extremely humble and truly content with whatever came their way, even if it wasn't nearly as much as outlined above. In some places, these brothers subsist just above the poverty line. Others always had their hand out and their expectations high. I could relay stories all day about some of these expectations from my time in the Most Holy in the Inner Sanctum at the convention site. Mention "special diet" and you were out from under assembly food and catered. Mention cramped quarters and a hotel suite was produced. Mention the slightest need for any creature comfort or necessity and wallets were opened.

The reason for all this is the twisted take on the scripture in Matthew that tells Christians to feed, clothe and visit their brothers in prison. Most readers understand that to mean we have an obligation to care for the poor. In JW land, we teach that this applies to a small select group Christ's brothers who have in effect volunteered to be "poor." And we're told these men are princes. Result? We feed and clothe the princes and imagine we are doing it for the sake of Christ. This, unfortunately, reliefs us from concern for the real "poor" among us.

Despite what I've said, I don't want to be overly critical of the care and feeding of these "full time volunteers." Charity begins at home and that's what these offerings are, at the end of the day. But to deny there is special treatment for a few, and to argue that this is not "pay" for work performed... well, that's denial.

139

WTS Addresses Child Abuse - er, kind of...

by iiz2cool in

my wife, who is intent on re-activating herself as a dub since i da'd myself, went to the convention this past weekend.

she showed me this new publication entitled "learn from the great teacher", and placed great emphasis on these two pages i scanned and am posting.

it makes a poor show of telling children what to do when confronted by a child abuser.

willyloman

Sitting here fascinated by all the comments and heartfelt expressions on this thread, reminding me of why I have been so intrigued with this site for the past year or two. Somebody raises an issue, several others pile on, and in the end the truth emerges. Just terrific.

52

For those of you who wish to 'hear'

by kes152 in

may you all have peace!

when i was sent to speak to ones and they came back asking me why it is that we hear and they do not, i had taken it before my lord to ask him.

this is what he told me, their hearts are hard and they do not wish to hear what i tell them.

willyloman

Gumby: Nice rendition of song no. 160. It's from the Greatest Hits collection, isn't it?

33

The WTS Kills Another Child

by Robdar in

i spoke to my father this afternoon and received some bad news.

the daughter of a woman who was one of my childhood friends at the kh died today from leukemia.

she was 16 years old.

willyloman

Do not expect the WTS to make any radical break with its current position on the blood issue. They have already done everything they can to set up a scenario by which this just goes away and becomes long forgotten... it's just taking longer than they thought. By now, any one of several blood substitute products was supposed to have found its way to market. That's the way it appeared, anyway, four or five years ago. As some of you know, these substitutes have so far failed to pass all of their clinical trials.

In the meantime, however, members of the HLC across North America have largely succeeded in positioning bloodless medicine, or transfusion-free surgery as it's sometimes called, as the new standard and a best practice. Therefore you can, in almost any metropolitan area in the U.S., check into a hospital which will promise to manage your case without blood transfusions. Most of these hospitals have been guided by JW's in terms of setting up procedures. Often the hospitals have a director or manager of the program who is probably a witness, likely a former member of the HLC, who coordinates the program, trains doctors and nurses on what is acceptable, or not, to the average JW, and counsels JW patients so that they are more likely to accept all those "gray area" practices that can save their lives.

The JW patient is made to feel not only welcome but even special, with a special wrist bracelet i.d. that carries some sort of visual "no blood" symbol, which is also on the patient's chart. In some hospitals, admissions personnel are trained to ask each patient if they want the "no blood" surgical option. JW patients end up on a surgical wing or floor where every single doctor and nurse they meet has attended in-service training and has pledged to support non-blood medical management of each case.

This is reality. What is truly bizarre is how few JW's are really aware of this, even when the majority of their local hospitals offer this service. The degree of ignorance by individual elders on this subject is appalling. To this day, some will get up in the congo and talk about medical meanies who are out to force you to violate your conscience and take blood; some have even questioned the motives of these hospitals--whose very programs are the result of WTS initiatives.

This has preempted the blood issue in nearly all cases where the patient is informed. JW's are one successful blood substitute trial away from having the whole issue evaporate, and then the WTS can simply declare victory and move on. It has taken them 15 years to get to this point. Don't expect them to bail out now.

264

Furuli's New Books--Attempt to Refute COJonsson

by ros in

jw
friends

i just heard that the norwegian watchtower apologist, rolf furuli, who esteems himself a biblical scholar of semetic languages, has completed the first of two volumes he plans to publish on the societys chronology, assyrian, babylonian, egyptian and persian chronology compared with the chronology of the bible.. title of this first volume is: persian chronology and the length of the babylonian exile of the jews.. i hear that although carl olof jonsson is not mentioned by name, or reference made to his book "gentile times reconsidered," it is nevertheless apparent that these volumes are an attempt to refute jonssons excellent study which has exposed the watchtowers 1914 date as total folly.. .

the book can be ordered now from furulis new personal website:.

http://folk.uio.no/rolffu/.

willyloman

There has been much debate on this thread, and surely more will follow, but when the smoke clears here is the One True Thing that will have emerged:

Since then they've been pretty silent on these things, to the extent that no one seems to be able to get any definite statements out of them about things that were basic to you and me, like what is the present teaching on the length of creative days? But has the Watchtower ever actually explained the reason behind the changes? Of course not, because it would expose the previous ones as stupid. My point is that Watchtower is chock full of pseudo-scholars too prideful to admit their mistakes, and too dishonest to admit that something as basic as their "chronology" -- the very basis of their religion -- is completely flawed.

Okay. Back to the debate, and try not to fall into the same trap as the WT.