Posts by Gentledawn

106

If you thought Tony Moris the Third was extreme, wait till you hear this other GB member!

by Island Man in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqzc2m8_mba&list=uus0vqkpnsxult0gsz6ahpta.

Gentledawn

Phrenology (from Greek: φρήν, phrēn, "mind"; and λόγος, logos, "knowledge") is a pseudoscience primarily focused on measurements of the human skull, based on the concept that the brain is the organ of the mind, and that certain brain areas have localized, specific functions or modules. Phrenology was first practiced by mystical groups that operated during the period of the Essenes. Developed by German physician Franz Joseph Gall in 1796, the discipline was very popular in the 19th century, especially from about 1810 until 1840. The principal British centre for phrenology was Edinburgh, where the Edinburgh Phrenological Society was established in 1820.

Although now regarded as an obsolete amalgamation of primitive neuroanatomy with moral philosophy, phrenological thinking has been influential in 19th-century psychiatry and modern neuroscience. Gall's assumption that character, thoughts, and emotions are located in localized parts of the brain is considered an important historical advance toward neuropsychology.

17

Jehovah's Witnesses - the Fourth Branch of Judaism

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

everything about the jws points exclusively to jehovah, the god of the old testament.. jesus hardly gets a mention.

they can't ignore him completely but isn't it interesting that the only publication they produced about jesus, doesn't even have his name on it.

it's simply called "the greatest man who ever lived".

Gentledawn

It's very telling that the Watchtower religion allows regional building committee workers count "ministry" (service) time when all they are doing is swinging a hammer, pouring cement, landscaping, surveying, etc, etc.

But any elders who call on already baptized members of the congregation? Not only do elders NOT get to count service time "shepherding" honest-to-goodness PEOPLE (i.e. not inanimate objects or real estate), they are not to keep track of the calls they make in general.

So yeah. Watchtower is not teaching christianity. They're teaching some weird form of Judiasm, which is why they rely so heavily on old law codes, such as the two-witness rule (Deut 19:15) because it works in their favor. But when it comes to actual no-witness rule (Deut 22:25)?

25 But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death. This case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor, 27 for the man found the young woman out in the country, and though the betrothed woman screamed, there was no one to rescue her.

Or the "false prophet put to death one", which the Watchtower leadership is guilty of (Deut 18):

17 The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.”

21 You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” 22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed.

6

The two elders want to visit my sister the next saturday (this is the third visit)

by opusdei1972 in

i phoned my sister and she told me that the elders called her to visit her again the next saturday morning.

you can read the issues discussed in the past two visits:.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/medical/281372/1/elders-answer-questions-about-the-changes-of-the-blood-ban#.u9e2dnlyops.

Gentledawn

Never trust the Watchtower to play by their own rules. They (the leadership & hierarchy) are conniving, cowardly, craven little schemers. And they change-up things on the fly to suit themselves.

New letter dated July 11, 2014:

"In the rare instance where three elders cannot be located to serve on the judicial committee, two elders may care for the matter"

Link to leaked Elder letters plus discussions:

July 11th, 2014 (Minister-Ministers can be elders, too, without the actual title [Elder shortage])
http://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/2c2s3p/leaked_july_11_2014_boe_lack_elders_use_ms/

July 12th, 2014 (JW-Borg logins and uses)
http://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/comments/2c2pv7/leaked_july_12_2014_boe_all_ur_logins_are_belong/

90

PEER PRESSURE!!! I gave in to Pioneering during August...I feel dirty...

by stuckinarut2 in

ok, i'll admit it...i am weak.... as everyone knows, the pressure to "pioneer" during "the most momentous, awesome, amazing, centenary anniversay of jesus invisble kigdom rule, & distribute tracts about a dodgy website" campaign is very strong at the moment.... also, many will have read my threads about the extreme views and expectations in our cong for "all appointed men to pioneer" etc..... every elder and ms and their families have been announced as pioneering....i mean everyone's name was read out except mine..... i was not going to do it, as i do not believe anyone should be forced...(and of course its the last thing on earth i would rather do anyway since learning ttatt).

but i am not quite ready to make the break yet, so i realised that i would stand out more if i didnt put in a form to pioneer.

yes it would make me more conspicious, and make fading harder to do...it would bring more heat on me if i didnt pioneer.. so i gave in and submitted a form.... now, of course, i'm only going to make sure i'm seen at the key field service groups etc...but then go and do something more interesting...like count blades of grass..... ahh....i feel hypocritical to myself now......

Gentledawn

Don't think that by simply handing someone a card, tract or any other slip of paper or cardboard is going to have the intended/desired effect.

My daughter came home from work last night, laughing about a man who she was pretty sure belonged to a cult. He yawned on and on about weird get togethers. "Oh, but it's not a religion!", he told her. He handed her a card and asked her to check out the wbe address when she got off work.

The man walked away from her and in the trash can his card went.

She told me that all that kept running through her mind as he talked was the he was a "level five laser lotus". I'm like, "What?". It was an episode of cummunity: when Pierce's mom died, left him a CD recording, along with a lava lamp (that was supposed to be her), which she stated on the recarding was NOT her. "If you unscrew the top off that stupid thing, you'll see it was "made in China". Even with that clear proof that he and his mom had belonged to a cult (and were both "lvl 5 Laser Lotuses" within that group), he tossed the CD out the window.

(Troy, the guy in the backseat, was raised as a Jehovah's Witness)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdZ1qTycmM8

So, yeah. Level Five Laser Lotus means a whole lot. Just like being "anointed" or a "governing body" member. Yup. Go put a parade on for yourself, or tell the whole world (all sorts of legitimate media outlets out there!), if that is really what you think/believe.

I would LOVE one (or ALL) of these so-called "anointed" govbody men to go stand up in court and state that they are the equivalent of Christ on earth today. Go ahead. Make my day.

Anyhoo, handing out dorky-ass tracts/"business cards" for clear-cut cults? Not necessarily gonna have the effect you expect. Besides, writing in "jwfacts" may swing back and bite you directly on the ass, too, if the person handed it to a fully-dolted zombie member, especially if it were a male in a "position of authority".

34

Why is shunning wrong?

by noonehome in

consider an example i often hear.

youre sitting at a dinner table.

the topic of conversation is regarding your mother.

Gentledawn

How does divorce work inside christian churches?

Does adultry count if only one of the marriage mates is a cheater? Yes. How do we know? Because Jesus verbally set the standard. A divorce can take place if EITHER mate commits adultry. The innocent mate gets to walk away. They are free.

Watchtower/ JW.bOrg committed the following abuses/blasphemies:

• were members of the United Nations from 1992 (actually applied in 1991 and were accepted into membership in 92) until 2001, when a Guardian newspaper article exposed them. They quickly (matter of days) quit being members under the Watchtower name at the time (apparently they are members currently under different corporate names). According to their own teachings, the U.N. is a filthy "wild beast", and one of the powers under Satan's control. Plus, neutrality.

• made false predictions as to the end time, and quickly blamed the low-ranking membership for 'getting overly zealous and running ahead'. No. It was their (watchtower's) chanting, mantras, speeches, and examples that all pointed to: 1874, 1914, 1925, 1975, "before the end of the 20th century" (1914 old Awake! masthead was prime example, until Oct 1995 change) and so on. They are false prophets.

• they replaced "holy spirit"/ghost with "god's spirit-directed organization on earth today" as part of the baptismal vows. In "worldly"-speak: they inserted themselves into the "trinity" itself.

• they lie, sanction lying (only for the leadership and their butt-monkeys, not regular rank & file members) under the banner of "theocratic warfare". Theocratic warfare also means they can lie under oath in courts of law. They can stand at attention in court while their lawyers make false assertions about the "heirarchy" inside the "church" itself, stating that there is "clergy-laity priviledge" for confessions of serious (criminal) wrongdoing (Gordon Leighton trail being prime example). They destroyed documents before the trial of Mark Sewell, a former elder who molested and raped multiple congregants.

• they change teachings on the fly. Anyone who has the "wrong" bible will get more than a mere raised eyebrow.

• They literally changed the bible to suit their teachings and to make it so it supports their current dogmas. They removed the first 12 verses of John chapter 8 because it was too inconvenient to have Jesus display blanket forgiveness in such a way. The editors of the new silver bible are not theologians, nor are they trained in ancient Hebrew and Koine Greek. Otherwise they would not have inserted the word "jehovah", sprinkling it all higgledy-piggledy, whenever the whim struck them to replace the word "lord" in the NT/greek scriptures.

• 1914 means nothing. Look for it in the bible. And yet if you say that out loud within earshot/hearing of any elder/male leader, you will likely find yourself going into a backroom of a kingdom hall and face some stern questioning.

• you cannot state out loud that the governing body (the seven leaders in Brooklyn, New York USA) are not god's spokespersons on earth today. If they are, then they can prove it: they seem to love using the Old Testament to draw their current rules (Deut. 19:15 is were they get their 2 witness rule that protects pedos and rapists in the congregations):

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1 Kings 18: 22-24
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord’s prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal’s prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”

Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”

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Let the governing body PROVE they are god's prophets/spokespersons on earth today, just like Elijah proved he was, and Baal worshippers were not.

-----------------------------------

Anyhoo, the Watchtower / Jw-Borg are a bunch of abusive, lying cheaters. They'll lie down with any corporation, government or organization in order to get their way. And they will lie to those ones, too, just like they lie to their baptized followers.

So, shunning is only a one way street? Yes. Is it a punishment or teaching tool? It's an abusers weapon of choice, in order to keep fear as a stranglehold on their locked-in followers. But guess what? We're not locked in if THEY (watchtower/JW-Borg) lie and cheat on us!

• They lie. Repeatedly.
• They also obfuscate the true-truth about what the organization is all about. Most people don't find out about the GovBody men until baptism or afterwards.
• They cheat. They were a "friend of the court" during the Jimmy Swaggart IRS trial, because the decision in favor of Swaggart would also favor them. They had ZERO qualms about yoking themselves to that con-artist Televangleist.
• They were members of the United Nations, an organization that they (watchtower) vilified as being part of Satan's organization.
• They do NOT follow the teachings of Jesus. Proof? Who did Jesus shun? Did he teach shunning? Paul and the old testament characters get more name droppings in articles than Jesus ever does, except perhaps at memorial time of year. That's when they troop out the Kenny Loggins "jesus" drawings/photos.

No person is free to walk away from the JW-Borg with his/her dignity intact. That is a tactic of an abuser/abusive life-mate/marriage partner. Just one more log put into a bonfire pile of things stacked against this false religion.

21

The two elders visited my sister again

by opusdei1972 in

i phoned my sister and she told me that yesterday the two elders visited her again.

she lives in a latin country (as i do).

and as i shown before, just two weeks ago, these elders visited my sister because she is not attending the meetings.

Gentledawn

"Sister, we are noticing that you have too much stress for these past publications. You demand too much perfection for the organization. Firstly, these were not false prophets, they were sincere christians who wished the end of this system of things, so their desire led them to set some wrong dates. Secondly, in certain sense, these predictions were true, because Babylon the Great fell in 1919."

Deuteronomy 18:20 - "20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death.” "

And what proof do they (the visiting elders) offer that "babylon fell" in 1919? Seriously. The bible students continued to celebrate christmas and all manner of things, all with "god's approval" allegedly hanging over their heads like a halo, until the latter half of the 1920s.

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/celebrations.php

Watchtower followers stopped celebrating Christmas from 1928.

"What caused the Bible Students to stop celebrating Christmas? Richard H. Barber gave this answer: "I was asked to give an hour talk over a [radio] hookup on the subject of Christmas. It was given December 12, 1928, and published in The Golden Age #241 and again a year later in #268. That talk pointed out the pagan origin of Christmas. After that, the brothers at Bethel never celebrated Christmas again."

-----------

"Sister, those who left the Society went back to the false religion, to the churches of Babylon the Great. "

Again, proof? They need to name some names. In fact, they are implying that ALL went back to "false churches". Name the names and where they went. They made the assertion as fact. The burden of proof is on them to prove the statement as factual.

They (the elders) make sweeping statements without a single ounce of evidence to back up what they say. That is a fact.

---------

Tell her to stop allowing these cultists into her home or even in her presence. The next set of statements from them will be in the form of questions, such as "do you believe the governing body/watchower society are spokesmen/god's channel on earth today?"

If she does not answer "yes" to any of these sorts of statement questions, she will be disfellowshipped and shunned. She needs to shake the dust off her feet at them and never talk to them again.

18

ex elder sentenced to 14 years.

by ThomasCovenant in

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/im-relieved-everybody-now-knows-7357125.

.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-28127683.

Gentledawn

Tried to find a copy of the text online, but this book has been out of print for some time now.

[W A R N I N G: some of the text in the book is explicit and may inadvertantly trigger an unwanted response in some former victims/survivors]

Understanding rape and pedophilia, exceprts from an "Abnormal Psychology" textbook (circa 1980s):

Rapist types:

http://i60.tinypic.com/2a81bww.png

----

Pedo types:

http://i60.tinypic.com/opwq9w.png

-----------------

47

A precious gift to all from Jehovah (channelled via Focus)

by Focus in

jw
friends

some souls here may feel i was a little harsh.

if so, i am deeply sorry.

i was abused by a handful right from the start, presumably on the basis of the avatar picture (and 2001 vintage).. when visiting dubland, i often find that others start fights with me - for whatever reason, and i provide quite a supply of them - and when it doesn't quite go the way they expected, they cry persecution.