Syme

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Posts by Syme

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  23

  New DVD - Has anyone ripped a leaked copy yet?

  by outinthemeadows in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was going to say "i could do with a leak" but that would sound wrong.

  so i'll rephrase, has anyone got a leaked copy of the new dvd released at the district sorry regional convention this year?.

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  Syme

  Welcome, wifibandit. Thanks for the post.

  Those faces of the poor dubs when I tell them that I've already watched the video :)
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  7

  For past and present elders - Questions in a JC - why so intimate?

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  repeatedly, people who have been in a jc are shocked by both the invasiveness and irrelevant questions asked by elders.. yet, the shepherd book doesn't seem to indicate requiring this?.

  if it is something passed on from one generation of elders to the next, then why does it appear globally?.

  where and how does the questioning arise?.

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  Syme

  berrygerry, it is not an oral tradition. Rather, it is specific instructions from the Borg that require this kind of intimate questioning.

  The reason? Typically, so that elders can know exactly what has happened, in order to be able to give specific help and counsel/discipline.

  My opinion is that it has a psychological factor, too: That intimate questioning is a way of exercising power over the 'sheep'. And that is very important. The 'sheep' must know who has power over them, he/she must feel it in their skin, so to speak.

  Plus, it feeds the ego of the elders, that kind of exercising power. It sounds twisted, I know, but it's under the greater picture that all of the JC thing is twisted and un-humane in its nature.

  This kind of questioning is identical to the Medieval (and later) Inquisition. The only difference is that JCs are not allowed to inflict physical pain and/or death, so they are left with the option of 'spiritual' death (DFing). Thanks to the secular authorities, the Inquisition was banned from carrying death sentences. I think something similar should happen with the JCs. While it would be wrong to expect an authority to completely ban a religion, however banning the carrying out of spiritual death sentences should be something that authorities should look into. I believe that is going to be the case in the next few years.
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  87

  How is the org really run? What goes on behind the scenes?

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how is the org really run?

  what goes on behind the scenes?.

  i just read an older post on this site that was recently bumped (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/6600/1/don-adams-biography) the post mentioned the adams brothers don, karl, & joel and how influential they are/were at headquarters.

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  Syme

  Listener, you might have a point in there.

  On the one hand, the GB can easily delete or DF any BoD member who goes astray. On the other hand, even without privileges, one can still retain his legal position in the WTS. But hey... to keep his legal position one must be elected by the Board. And of course, if the GB says to the other Board members ''do not elect him", what do you think will happen?

  Again, the legal authority is completely subject to the religious authority of the GB. Except, of course, if a general uprising in the Board occured, which would allow the Board to make its own decisions, uncontrolled. But that's science fiction, I think. Let's stick to reality, which, IMO, is the above-mentioned statement.
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  87

  How is the org really run? What goes on behind the scenes?

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how is the org really run?

  what goes on behind the scenes?.

  i just read an older post on this site that was recently bumped (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/6600/1/don-adams-biography) the post mentioned the adams brothers don, karl, & joel and how influential they are/were at headquarters.

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  Syme

  Guys, how can you really believe that people from the Board of Directors or anyone else can be higher that the GB?

  Let's say for example that a member of the BoD, even the President (D.Adams), disagrees with the GB and tries to have power over them. So what? The GB can easily delete him of his privileges as an elder, strip him of his Bethelite status (or even DF him), and thus D.Adams automatically loses any power he might have had.

  I mean, everyone in the Org, EVERYONE, no matter how high up on the 'technical' ladder he may be, no matter if he's a chief-lawyer, an chief-accountant or a Board of Directors member, is first and foremost subject to the religious authority of the GB. If they like, they strip him of his eldership, and since he's not an elder anymore, he can't hold any position of influence in the WTS.

  Don't try to make this more complicated than it is. Remember Occam's Razor: search for the simplest explanation. Which is: the Top of the JWs are the GB, simple as that. They are a self-sustaining and self-propagating group of delusional fanatics, purely Orwellian in nature, who, like the Inner Party, are masters of Doublethink: they know they are decieving the R&F, and at the same time they firmly believe they have the Truth.
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  59

  Books that changed your life-

  by new hope and happiness in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am not much of a reader as i have two many distractions, but i fancy a challenging read, so please list any book that has changed your entire world view on everything.

  i remember as a teenager buying at a yard sale, norman vincent peales " the power of positive thinking" and at the time that had a big impact on me.

  but i am a little bit more in to " realistic positive thinking" now..

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  Syme

  Excellent question, new hope and happiness !

  Here are some:

  - The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

  - The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins

  - a history of Marxism, in my native tongue (lots of books on this, in many languages)

  - Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond

  - The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin

  - some books by Fernando Pessoa (you'll know why when you read him)

  I strongly recommend all of them; if anything, they enable you to see how nature and the world truly operate. They are awakening experiences, in other words.
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  45

  ONE REASON

  by snare&racket in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  out of interest, and to formulate a cordial chat, would you give your top one reason for your belief or non belief?.

  my foremost 'one reason' for non belief is:.

  the historical evidence that provides an explination and timeline for how the modern religious doctrine's and dogma developed over time.. .

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  Syme

  Non-belief. Reason: Over 99% of the species ever existed is extinct. What does that tell you about a ''divine intelligence"? You make an ultra beautiful Creation and you lose along the way over 99% of it? That doesn't sound very intelligent to me. Every few eons a super mass exctinction takes place on Earth, destroying 70-90% of the organic population every time. Does that imply a wise ''watchmaker'' in the background? Or the blind, and impersonal, forces of nature?
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  10

  The Books are Cooked: Grossly Misleading chart and graphic

  by Tech49 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  are the charts and number graphics you see in the wt and awake articles factual?

  or are they misleading?.

  many have already discussed how verses, quotes, and facts are cherry-picked to fit a particular situation.. i came across another blatant misrepresentation of facts, in a grossly misleading chart-graphic.

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  Syme

  Excellent post, Tech49.

  I pioneered for 6 years, and not ONE month did I manage to make the 70 hours. As a matter of fact, the highest pure (= not including pioneer schools etc.) amount of hours I ever reached was 51 hours! And that for only one month! Yet, I remained in my post, for various reasons.

  My average was 40 hours at best, to 25 hours at worst. Again: I'm talking about REGULAR pioneering. For SIX years.

  That, more or less, was the case with many pioneers I knew. And the other ones that managed to throw in 70 hours or more, did that thanks to extremely low-quality 'witnessing'. (such as taking unbaptized children from the KH and ''squeezing'' them to acquire their hours ) The average of REG pioneers in my country, just before the stats vanished from the KM, was at 55 hours. No wonder why they stopped posting the full stats in the KM...

  So, do you want to inflate a certain statistic? No problem, just lower the standards for the respected field, and voila! 250% increase!

  It sure reminds me of the fake growth statistics spouted out every morning from the loudspeakers in Orwell's "1984"...
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  26

  In Death lies Glory

  by BluePill2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was alone at the new branch construction site in ticuantepe (nicaragua).

  everybody had taken off for a weekend assembly in the capital and it was my turn to have watchman duty and guard the site.

  we had dogs and i only had to walk around the perimeters and check all the gates and entrances.. suddenly a young boy appeared at the main gate, breathless and visibly nervous.

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  Syme

  One of my favourite writers, after discussing how the Sun will die in some 5 billion years, then proceeds to make the following analogy: Since even the Sun itself does die eventually, who are we to want to live forever? (I translated it, he said it better in his native tongue )

  The writer suffered from cancer when he wrote that book, and died shortly after. He did not succumb to the easy solution of religion. Until the end he remained a fervent atheist and dialectical materialist.

  Thanks again, BluePill.
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  12

  Recent refinements / changes in WTS

  by Da.Furious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we had our co visit and on his second talk he mentioned we need to be a pillar and support of the truth.

  we can do this by accepting and working with all the changes, refinements and the speed of jehovahs organisation moving forward.. he listed the refinements and changes that occurred in the last couple of years:.

  1- study edition of wt - allows the society to use more meaty articles and not worry about non jws understanding them.. 2- public edition of wt and awake.

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  Syme

  Yes, I heard that talk too.

  Here's the hypocrite aspect of the talk (and the BORG in general): From the 10 above-mentioned 'refinements', at least 8 of them have to do with the financial difficulties of the Organization, which extend over a period of the past 5-6 years. However, the financial aspect was not stated EVEN ONCE during the talk as a reason for the 'refinement'. Instead, they state some ridiculous pretenses about ''having more time for study'' etc, etc; while even a 5-year-old can see that the main reasons are economic.

  It's like the elephant in the room, they all see it, but pretend that there's no elephant.

  That is hypocrisy, the definition of it.
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  92

  COBE cannot be 80 or more

  by fader77 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a new letter no longer allows an elder to be cobe if hes 80 or more.

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  Syme

  Thanks for the intell, Fader77.

  Now, WHY? Why hadn't we thought of it before? (Some of you may have had). Why didn't we realise what the true purpose of those recent WT articles about the ''elderly'' was?

  It was right under our noses; we should have noticed it. (again, I believe some of you here will have had noticed it)

  The COBE in 'my' cong is 82 years old. He is very intelligent, absolutely no signs of dementia, very serious reader/researcher, very good at organizing and leading; there's absolutely no reason he should be removed from his post.

  I *will* feel sorry for the guy, but I hope he will wake up.

  I don't know guys, I have a feeling, a hunch, that this particular change is bound to wake lots of Dubs up.

  On the other hand, it will be a major blow for many COBEs like the one I mentioned. I'm afraid some may even suffer heart strokes. It is not an exaggeration; some will perish (literally) because of this violent change.

  They're just throwing them away like used ,well, things. And they came up with those ridiculous articles about the elderly just to pave the way for this change! It is the essence of Orwellian functioning. It makes me soooo sick