Posts by talesin

11

Will this faded JW be DF?

by thedepressedsoul in

i have a friend who has been inactive for going over 2 years.

him and his wife split, she stayed a jw and he left and lived with a worldly girl.

he timed it so that he was officially inactive by the time him and his wife split.

talesin

He cut JW land cold turkey when they split. His wife was hell bent on getting him DF. She showed the elders letters that showed he had a gf and did everything possible. She also showed other pieces of "evidence". The elders tried getting him in the hall to "talk" but he dodged it every time, never stepping foot in a hall. The elders finally told her that he is not accepting the Christian authority arrangement so there is nothing they can do

That's a lie. They can DF in absentia.

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Is his family 'connected'? That would be my guess.

10

Who is the oldest GB member?

by StarTrekAngel in

during the talk delivered by stephen lett in our last assembly, he talked about brothers who serve despite their frail health.

he said "one of the gb members, whom i work with every day, is 80 years old and has been a diabetic for the last 30".. give a peak into how well they are tended to and how someone that age would not dare to let go of the power that keeps him alive..

talesin

If they"retire" COs at 70 what have G B got that is so special? Herd is well past the limit.

In a corporation, members of the Board of Directors are not subject to the same rules as employees.

87

Did you get " Counseled " about the Music you Listened to While you were a JW ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

from the time i was a small boy - i loved rock n' roll music.

beatles, rolling stones, led zeppelin, hendrix.

i started getting slighted for the music i listened to as i lay in my bedroom listening on headphones to led zeppelin's song " black dog " at age 14 with my elder dad looking suspiciously at me as i'm rocking out .

talesin

Speaking of K*I*S*S, did anyone mention that we were told it meant Knights In Service of Satan? Ahahaha!

.
Gene Simmons, really? He's a financially astute man, who at a tender age, decided he wanted two things - money and lots of women. Looked around and said "ROCK AND ROLL!" It's as simple as that. Alice Cooper inspired him (as he tells it, with Paul Stanley) to go for theatre in a big way.

And the biggest power-chord band was born. The first boy band? Um.. nope .. Jackson 5 and the Osmond Brothers are the usual ones we think of. But boy bands don't play instruments, and lol, they don't 'do' R&R.

As for the Hall of Fame - that's all about politics, and it's Hollywood, mang. It's BS ........ I think K*I*S*S deserves to be there, because they helped to popularize glam rock (no, they are not great musicians nor song writers, but that's okay - music is not about the technical, it's about how you FEEL!). Should they have been inducted before the great ones like Deep Purple (we are not worthy) and Led Zep and a host of others? Hell, no. But you'll not find a better wheeler-dealer than Gene Simmons. He is a super intelligent man - lol, his wife is Canadian, he knows a smart gurl when he sees one (snaps to Shannon Tweed). Don't blame K*I*S*S, blame the establishment. They are just playing the game well.

Beth Sarim - def leppard............mmmm! Love that band.

8

A Complete lack of Empathy with a huge side order of Foulness !

by Thirteenth tribe in

over the last few years i have experienced in general a lack of sincerity and empathy from jw's .. i won't lie 2 sisters i knew to be different and quite genuine ... all be it still sipping the 'cool aid' though.

but on the whole most brothers/sisters i've met couldn't really care less or just have no idea how to genuinely connect.

one sister asked me a year ago how things were with my husband (an un-believer) i replied " a bit strange right now" (in hindsight it was always made worse because i was in a cult!!

talesin

I've read some of her work, she's awesome, and great for anyone who is in therapy and healing. Great vid.

My favorite expression is "At least you don't have cancer." No matter what your health problem or quality of life is. Yep, that's a real comfort. NOT

6

"These Words Must Be On Your Heart" Propaganda Film Review

by WatchtowerReviewz in

new watchtower movie review for those interested.. .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggj7rlof1o8.

talesin

I had to watch this movie last night, after seeing snippets in your review (well done!). They should have gotten Kirk Cameron to play the dad, haha. The WT propaganda is surely changing to suit the times, and resembles American evangelicals more than anything else.

8

Food for thought -"How cults rewrite the brain"

by Thirteenth tribe in

https://www.ted.com/talks/ex_moonie_diane_benscoter_how_cults_think?utm_source=email&source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ios-share.

try this link for more of a psychological angle on the jw s .

talesin

Oh, yes! I hope you do that. You'll never regret it, that's for sure. Had you chosen a major or field of study?

Apparently, this has been a discussion since the 70s. Here's two articles I read:

http://hallpike.com/Memetics.%20A%20Darwinian%20pseudo-science.pdf

http://www.lehman.edu/deanhum/philosophy/platofootnote/PlatoFootnote.org/Outreach_files/07-Dawkins%20memetics.pdf

8

Food for thought -"How cults rewrite the brain"

by Thirteenth tribe in

https://www.ted.com/talks/ex_moonie_diane_benscoter_how_cults_think?utm_source=email&source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ios-share.

try this link for more of a psychological angle on the jw s .

talesin

I was really wanting to say "use google or other types of searches, because no one source should always be accepted". It's good to look for articles by scholars and scientists. I found 2 papers that were quite interesting, as well as an article by a woman who formerly was a proponent of the memetic virus idea.

There's a lot to be said for having a bit of skepticism - don't be cynical, but look around and do your own research. The 'net has so much valuable information, and I'm often surprised that I get side-tracked and reading some super interesting stuff. I'm a big fan of facts.

Keep soaking up all the knowledge you can; enjoy your freedom. I love learning! It never ends. xx tal

8

Food for thought -"How cults rewrite the brain"

by Thirteenth tribe in

https://www.ted.com/talks/ex_moonie_diane_benscoter_how_cults_think?utm_source=email&source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ios-share.

try this link for more of a psychological angle on the jw s .

talesin

I'm not buying it. Ted Talks are not the Gospel, and this one is a good example. It's an interesting forum, with lots of real scientists, and a wide array of others, giving some very good talks. This, however, is not science.

Memetics is pseudoscience. There's some really interesting papers, if you'd like to research the subject more; google is your friend. xx

18

Incredible documentary about the exclusive brethren and their extreme shunning policy

by Truthexplorer in

just watched this remarkable documentary about the exclusive brethren here in the uk.

their shunning policy is remarkably like watchtowers policy except even more extreme.

its heartbreaking how families are torn apart by such man made policies based on their interpretation of scriptures.

talesin

Right on, blondie!

We had this scary cult in my province - there are others. We learned about it when the father abducted the children and mother was fighting to bring them back to the USA. The cult actually moved away because of such issues - to New England.

http://factnet.org/children-and-northeast-kingdom-cult

excerpts:

The women of the Northeast Kingdom church in Island Pond wear babushkas. Their children are beaten with rods; the children are also forbidden to entertain fantasies. Members of the cult believe that we are living in the "end-times" and that only those living a sacrificial Christian life -- which is to say, them -- will survive; the rest of us will be consigned to the Lake of Fire. Jan has seen terrified children.

Cult children are not like other children. It's more than a matter of their not being allowed toys or coloring books. Their expressions are both vacant and watchful; they are preter- naturally grave. The old house, the silent children, re- minded me -- though I am not given to hysteria -- of a scene from Village of the Damned.

The state, he said, acted on these specific allegations, obtained during child custody hearings and from affidavits from former church members:
A named four-year-old was hit fifteen to twenty times for imagining that a block of wood was a truck.
A named seven-year-old was stripped naked by several persons besides her father for asking for more food. The spanking went on until her bottom bled.
A named three-and-a-half-year-old boy was "disciplined" until his neck bled.
A named thirteen-year-old girl was stripped to her underpants and hit with a rod for being deceitful. She had as a result more than eighty welts.
A named eleven-year-old was hit with a two-by-four for laughing at a church member, receiving a large blister and bruise.
According to Burchard's document, sworn statements by witnesses and victims attest to these acts of brutality; in several instances, photographic evidence exists.

18

Incredible documentary about the exclusive brethren and their extreme shunning policy

by Truthexplorer in

just watched this remarkable documentary about the exclusive brethren here in the uk.

their shunning policy is remarkably like watchtowers policy except even more extreme.

its heartbreaking how families are torn apart by such man made policies based on their interpretation of scriptures.

talesin

Very interesting doc. Not only their shunning policy, but their language and doctrines are stunningly close to the JWS. (I don't see their shunning as more severe, just different.)

I had to say, got choked up seeing that young mother, with the infant and toddler, checking the pregnancy test whilst her 18YO fiance smoking while sitting next to baby. So sad for this child, really, trying to find love in her children, and so , so sad for the children. The whole image gave me a lump in my throat.

I did a bit of googling on their leader, John Nelson Darby (called the Father of Dispensationalism), and after reading the following information in several sources, have to wonder if CTR learned some of his terminology and thoughts from Darby, who by that time, had quite a reputation. The similarities in language are eerily similar, and dispensationalism is one of the foundations of Zionism, is it not?

New England - I didn't check the referenced map, but perhaps, Pennsylvania? Hmmmm....

[bold is mine]

He made at least 5 missionary journeys to North America between 1862 and 1877. He worked mostly in New England, Ontario, and theGreat Lakes region, but took one extended journey from Toronto to Sydney by way of San Francisco, Hawaii, and New Zealand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Nelson_Darby

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Food for thought, and maybe some interesting research for anyone that is into it. tal