StarTrekAngel

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Posts by StarTrekAngel

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  30

  Were you aware of the shunning policy when becoming a JW

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for those who became jws, were you fully aware of the societys cruel shunning policy whilst studying?

  i absolutely had no idea such a policy existed until years later.

  it really only hit home when reading the horrendous stories on the internet around 2002. .

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  StarTrekAngel

  I was too, very early in the process as the elder that "trained me" was very open and direct once he thought you were making good progress. However, the words he used were very subtle. The understanding that I left with is that the person being shunned had committed a very bad sin, like killing or cheating repeatedly and unrepentantly. Even then, my understanding was that certain family ties were irrevocable. My wife referred the story of my brother in law who got married without parent and elders blessings. He got DFd and he left the house voluntarily. Wife insisted that he could have stayed and that no one would have quit talking to him. Which was true for her family but it made it seem like shunning was not that strict.

  This, off course, was before many of the latter crazy push for shunning kids, or even those who talk against the organization.
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  33

  "It is the victims right to approach authorities" The weak excuse used by the society

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  we have seen that the society falls back on the line "it is the victims right to approach the authorities" during all the abuse claims.. they use this excuse to try and defend the passive lack of action in failing to report suspected cases of abuse.. a comparison came to mind:.

  if we came across a person lying in the street who says they were hit by a car, would we say "it is your absolute right to call the paramedics and police"?.

  or would we take the initiative and call those authorities ourselves to help the person?.

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  StarTrekAngel

  It is the victims right do go to the authorities as much as it is your right to choose to stay in the organization or not. They can not deny you that right. However, the key issue here is that the phrase is incomplete...

  "it is the victims right to go to the authorities.... it is our right to df them if they do so". Last part usually omitted.
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  9

  Regulate the Content of Religion?

  by schnell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my mom texted me to come back and said, "they will close religion!

  " here is my response:.

  no, they're not closing religion.

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  StarTrekAngel

  You may never be able to regulate the content of religion but you should be able to regulate the context of it. The issue of taxation is very valid and I am all for the removal of such allowance. However, it is only a means of diminishing their power, not eliminating their ability to inflict influence that harms people.

  The constitution broadly states that no law should be made against a particular religious belief or that limits religious freedom but it defines religious freedom to include a lack of belief. If no law should be made against religion, what can be said about laws that limit your lack of belief?

  For example, when we make laws against abortion, we are favoring a particular belief. If someone was to establish a religion that granted the individual's choice to terminate a pregnancy under religious belief, would this be in conflict? Would the law be favoring one belief over another? Lets take this in theory, because we all know that preservation of life, is at the center of this particular example.

  With that in mind, I see that we can not create law that regulates religious beliefs but we can create laws that create a context where the individual's right to choose is limited to certain principle. Just like we understand that abortion is/could be considered a crime and in the process favor a particular belief (the favoritism towards that beliefs is taking a secondary role in my analogy), then therefore we can allow, for example, JWs to exercise their freedom of religion but such should not extend to the point where exercising such freedom entails terminating someone's life, including your own. (like in the case of blood)
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  45

  Why Did JWs Abandon Brooklyn for the Sticks?

  by Room 215 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i may have missed this, but can anyone tell me what was the pretext the gb concocted to justify their abandonment of a perfectly suitable, high-profile, high-visibility complex in what is arguably the world's greatest metropolis for the bucolic isolation of upstate new york.

  any how does the move square with their purported belief in the imminence of armageddon?

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  StarTrekAngel

  Most of what we hear around our congregation is simply that the old facilities no longer fit the new way of spreading the good news. That since more and more information is distributed electronically there is no more pressing needs for printing facilities with access to distribution chains.

  A couple of years back, a Cuban brother that moved to our Congo for some time, related the story of a building (a believe it was a Home Depot) in Florida. He said that he volunteered during the time that the building was bought, transformed into an assembly hall and then the adjacent land that was part of the development sold off at a profit. Everyone at the social gathering where this conversation took place was amazed on how the "slave" so wisely manages Jehovah´s belongings to further kingdom interests.

  No much effort is needed to justify your actions when your have indoctrinated the crowd.
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  27

  Do you still go to meetings?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as i was sitting in the meeting last night i thought about this question.. sometimes it feels really lonely because i don't connect with most others in the congregation and i have to be so careful with the ones with whom i do associate.. quick rundown on my life...got baptized at 17...married at 20...became inactive at 28 wife still active though...came back to meetings with her 20 years later just to keep her quiet and see if they had changed (for a while i actually thought they had)...now i am still inactive and haven't gone out in service or anything.

  i just go to meetings with my wife who is happy as a lark to have me there with her...just go to meetings and think...and think...and think.... anyway, i just wondered if there are any out there like me who are going to meetings and nothing else?.

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  StarTrekAngel

  I too go to the meetings but my attendance frequency is shifting from going to most meetings to skipping most meetings. I go when there is a subject that could affect my child´s reasoning into submission or when there is a controversial subject that I know will come up in conversation with my wife.

  i give to my wife. She would rather go to every meeting but she does see the faults in the doctrines. Although this faults do not present a problem in her view, she could go as far as taking detailed notes of the meetings if I ask her for such favors and I can trust that she is not leaving out anything bad.
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  14

  Was kidnap victim Sherri Papini a JW?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sherri papini is that woman kidnapped in california and released on thanksgiving day making the news right now.. during one of the reports this morning on the today show there was a quick scene of an investigation going on at a kingdom hall.

  there was crime tape up and everything.

  credit goes to my wife for catching it.. i just wondered why the kingdom hall was a crime scene when she was abducted and released somewhere else?anybody else catch this?.

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  StarTrekAngel

  A while back there was a break in to a house next door to our KH. The police came with 5 min to the start of the midweek meeting to see if the cameras from the hall may have caught a glimpse of the perpetrators. The elders dropped everything and began retrieving videos with this exaggerated sense of duty in their faces.

  Is funny how they are so ready to help find faults on others by whatever means necessary. A single sided sense of justice.
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  29

  Dr Monica Applewhite's evidence rejected by Australian Child Abuse Royal Commission

  by jwleaks in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  australian child abuse royal commission rejects dr monica applewhite's evidence and testimony.. [quote] dr applewhite acknowledged that her report did not identify the basis on which she had formed her opinions.657 she accepted that her report failed to identify the ‘current standards’ of other religious organisations658 or which ‘religious organisations’ she referred to in writing her report.659 dr applewhite told the royal commission that her understanding of material provided to parents and families about sexual development in children by other faith-based organisations was ‘anecdotal’.660.

  dr applewhite accepted that it would be difficult for the royal commission to accept the opinions expressed in paragraphs 36, 45, and 46 of her report because her report did not identify the basis on which those opinions were formed.661.

  we do not consider that dr applewhite’s report and the opinions expressed therein assist the royal commission in its inquiry for the following reasons:.

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  StarTrekAngel

  I wonder which retard inside the WT thought it was a good idea to bring her in
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  9

  Spain: 5 police complaint on JW in one month

  by sp74bb in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  weblink:.

  http://www.elperiodico.com/es/noticias/sociedad/cinco-denuncias-testigos-jehova-5632503 .

  guillem sànchez / barcelona.

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  StarTrekAngel

  
  
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  3

  Addiction and Belief: A comment left for me on YouTube

  by schnell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'd just like to share a comment that someone left on my youtube account (which i hesitate to call a channel because i don't upload anything).

  theism is an addiction; try talking someone out of a gambling (thought), or drug (chemical) addiction (both involve dopamine).

  you will find the same pattern of cognitive biases, and circular logic that of a theist.

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  StarTrekAngel

  And if we try to elaborate, the author makes a case for the many behavioral tendencies that we cement during teenage hood and how adolescence is a crucial time for establishing patterns that may last a lifetime. The WT and other cults may be unintentionally attempting to harness the brain at the best time to create life long members.
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  3

  Addiction and Belief: A comment left for me on YouTube

  by schnell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'd just like to share a comment that someone left on my youtube account (which i hesitate to call a channel because i don't upload anything).

  theism is an addiction; try talking someone out of a gambling (thought), or drug (chemical) addiction (both involve dopamine).

  you will find the same pattern of cognitive biases, and circular logic that of a theist.

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  StarTrekAngel

  Makes absolute sense. I am currently reading a book called "Brainstorm", which goes over the adolescent brain. The very same logic is put forth regarding a new understanding of the reason why teenagers engage in potentially dangerous and unreasonable behavior.