Syme

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Posts by Syme

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  30

  Why Do JW Speakers and GB Members Sound So Robotic?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  everyone sounds like they came out of stepford wives.

  .

  is this supposed to be the way witnesses are to speak?

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  Syme

  The worst are the ones that don't sound robotic. They are the most fanatical.
  
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  17

  Man on the High Castle

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  g. was binge watching on amazon prime the serie the man on the high castle.

  because my interest in history subjects a good choice!

  what i mentioned was the family of john smith, the obergruppenfuhrer.

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  Syme

  @Gorbatchov

  This is no coincidence. The SS as an organization did indeed resemble the Witnesses. I found that out as I read a biography of Himmler. The SS under Himmler had a rational-like kind of fanaticism. They did not shout "fanatic" from miles away like the SA battalions; they were instructed to live an exemplary family life, and seem serious and sober (they were heavy drinkers in secret), but that didn't make them less fanatical. Instead, their rationalization made them the most dangerous of all fanaticals, because they coldly rationalized every despicable thing they did.

  Himmler often wrote letters to the Body of Generals" so to speak, and sometimes to lower officers, to give answers to questions they asked, and usually gave unnecessarily specific guidance in various tiny details. That surely reminded me of BOE letters. Plus, Himmler was in fact familiar with jws and expressed admiration for them. In his own words (taken from Longerich, Himmler, 2012):

  He came to respect the Jehovah’s Witnesses, tens of thousands of whom
  were imprisoned in his concentration camps as a result of their pacifist and
  anti-Nazi attitudes, because of their stubborn will to resist: ‘If their fanaticism
  could be harnessed for Germany or a similar fanaticism be created in
  the nation as a whole in wartime, we would be stronger than we are
  today!’ They also lived frugal lives and were hard-working and honest.
  For that reason he not only employed them in his own household and in
  those of friends and SS families, but expressed the view that precisely these
  qualities should be propagated among the suppressed nations in the east,
  where in addition the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ pacifism was extremely welcome
  to the Germans! In July 1944, in a long letter, Himmler therefore
  ordered the then-head of the Reich Security Main Office, Dr Ernst Kaltenbrunner,
  to export the religion to the occupied eastern territories (which by
  this time were no longer occupied): ‘In the case of all Turkish peoples the
  Buddhist faith is suitable but for other nations the teachings of the Bible
  Students [ Jehovah’s Witnesses] are the appropriate ones.’

  Btw, notice the irony of the Nazis welcoming the jws pacifism in the occupied countries, convenient as it was.
  
  
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  20

  Views on the golden ratio??

  by Freedom rocks in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  what are your views on the golden ratio or fibonacci sequence?

  i know jws and some other groups use this as proof of gods existence.

  i'm still looking into the debate but was wondering what others thought.

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  Syme

  The golden ratio is what it is. We cannot go backwards and assert that it proves that someone created it to be 1.618 and not 2.4 or 3.8. The fact that φ=1.618 favored the emergence of life, does not prove that someone 'made' that ratio for us.

  It's like the story where amoebas grow in a shallow pool created by an accident (on the highway for instance) and say one to another "Look! If that pool was smaller we couldn't have grown in here, and if it was larger other predators would have eaten us. It's exactly the right size for us to grow. Thus, a creator has built this pool for us."

  One could just as well argue that an infinity of multiverses jumped out of quantum vacuum simultaneously with our own 14Bya, with each having a different set of values for universal constants. We just happen to live in the one (or one of the worlds) where the constants like φ enable the emergence of life.
  
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  43

  Anyone watching the handmaids tail?

  by blownaway in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i thought this was all about the 18th century.

  but its current or just post current times.

  .

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  Syme

  This is what the world would look like if Armageddon happened and all of the planet was "theocratic". A society following the Bible to the letter. Bible-reciting elders/Commanders being now in actual power, not just spiritual one. That's the jw (and other fundamentalists', sure) idea of a paradise on earth. That's what would happen if religious wackos like GB, overseers, branch committees etc. had actual power. If anyone thinks otherwise (hugging lions etc.) they have to watch this series. If GB had actual power, the rules enforced would be more ("new scrolls" in jw terminology) and wider in scope and severity than the ones enforced now when they have to be under secular authority and control. DF now means shunning, because it cannot mean more, due to living under secular states. Then, it would mean death.
  

  No need to go political about this. We have more familiar and established comparisons to think of, and maybe, seed a hint or two when suggesting the series to a jw acquaintance.
  
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  6

  Overcoming A Servile Mind And A Slave Mentality

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  overcoming servile mind and a slave mentality.

  "care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.

  " —lao tzu.

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  Syme

  Talk about coincidences... I also left at 31. Although I had had doubts some years before that. It may have something to do with the 'magical' age of thirty: it's when you realize you're actually getting older, that you've reached an age when you must at least have the courage of your opinion, and stand up for it.
  
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  16

  2018 Special Talk Outline: “Who Really is Jesus Christ?”

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  revision date: 8/17.

  the talk outline “jesus christ—earth’s new ruler” has been discontinued and should no longer be used.

  it has been replaced by “who really is jesus christ?”note: this is the special public talk outline for 2018. the talk will be given in most congregations the week of monday, march 19, 2018.. .

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  Syme

  Wow! At least, a really interesting subject, suitable for the 2017 world! I am sure THIS time everyone will be intrigued to come and listen!
  
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  28

  What is Nature's most perfect food?

  by compound complex in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  greetings, gourmands of the forum!.

  i agree with garfield, but mayo comes in a close second.

  slathering my pasta with an inch of best foods real mayonnaise (hellman's, east of the rockies) is close to heaven for me.

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  Syme

  The spiritual food :P
  
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  20

  North Korean Gift to "American Bastards" for Independence Day

  by cofty in

  1. social
  2. current

  nk has taken another important step towards having a viable nuclear arsenal with the successful trial of an icbm.. kim jong-un says new missile is 'gift' to 'american bastards' from north korea on independence day.. one major hurdle left for kim jong-un is working out how to make his nuclear bombs small enough to be delivered by the missile.

  that is not an insurmountable obstacle.. the us sate department have issued a statement stating that it "will never accept a nuclear-armed north korea".

  how exactly to prevent this outcome is not clear.

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  Syme

  It is rather interesting that the US will not accept North Korea, a country that hasn't invaded any foreign country ever, as a nuclear power, while the US themselves are "acceptable" as a nuclear power, despite the fact that they habitually invade foreign countries every few years for the past century, and having already used 2 nuclear bombs against civilians.
  
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  32

  DA myself to relieve great pressure?

  by Isambard Crater in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my lifelong mental illnesses, fuelled significantly by the borg, are very bad at the moment and result in me missing lots of midweek meetings, but i haven't missed a sunday in years except the occasional vacation.. the nature of my mental and emotional illnesses mean that i, as a physically in and mentally out pimo, take to heart very painfully admonishment from the platform to never miss meetings, preach all i can, and so on.. okay, i report 3 hours each month on average and no elder has ever said anything, but when they make comments on the platform, i feel such great guilt and shame, but also anger, as they do not understand my illnesses and when i do mention my situation to elders, they kind of minimise and joke about it.. some other sisters in my congregation started "officially" not attending midweek meetings a few year's ago because of their own health circumstances, but i know for a fact that some elders look down on them for this reason, not showing real understanding deep down even if they do on the surface.. i have reached the point where i want to hand in a da letter as a cry for help, or more like a clear indicator to them that when i say i'm not well enough to attend midweek, i really mean it and it's not just an excuse.

  sure, i'm only 42, but i can still be too fragile to go out at night with a 30 minute drive both ways..

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  Syme

  If you want to remain in the religion, (for social or faith-based reasons), you shouldn't DA. You should DA only if you don't believe in the religion anymore and don't want to have anything to do with them.

  DA letter is not a cry for help; you won't get any help if you hand this letter -you'll just get shunned, with no sympathy for your mental condition.

  If you want help from the jws, you can get it via the usual jw way: with socializing in the cong, with seeking help from elders etc. However, the only way to deal with mental and serious emotional problems is via therapy with a professional. DA would be a relief from the jw-induced pressure only, it will not be a cure from other issues.

  You could consider the middle ground of fading/going inactive. That's the path I chose, for the time being at least. I just dropped off from every jw thing, and was hugely relieved from jw pressure, and able to go on with my new secular, non-religious life. I don't allow jws any access to my personal space, and they have no choice but to accept it.
  
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  59

  FWIW -- Anonymous suggests North Korea will start WWIII before the end of this year

  by kpop in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know most of you don't know what anonymous is or what the real 4chan is, but both are saying that their global meta data is pointing that now with south korean elections going to a pro war candidate (moon, who is a psycho) and china saying there may be no other solution, north korea will strike first before the end of this year.

  japan has called up reserves.

  take it with a grain of salt.

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  Syme

  Moon, the new president of South Korea, is not pro-war, he is pro-discussion and even pro-cooperation with DPRK. As for WWIII, North Korea hasn't instigated or even participated in a single war in the last 65 years (and that last one was a civil war, not an international one). In contrast to, let's say, the U.S.