For anyone interested in unsensational fact, I have not been to this forum SINCE MY LAST REPLY TO THIS TOPIC maybe 5 days ago. This is a classic and predictable response from a few bashers to claim I "hit and run" when in fact I replied to this topic, then castigate me for an absence. Believe it or not, I don't live on this forum. I have a life outside this forum and cannot visit more than once a week.
Next, any intelligent individual who has any experience with forums recognizes that a poster does not have to prove they are not a hit-and-runner by following up with a reply such as, "I have read your responses and simply don't have anything further to add." That is considered a waste of bandwidth and rather rude.
The expectation is that no social contract exists to reply without being labeled a "hit and run" type. The obvious reason is that if you had to reply to your posts no matter what, but it wasn't sufficient to reply "I can't think of anything to add at this point" (a waste of bandwidth), then you might NEVER POST. The expectation is that the initial post is sufficient in itself. For example, if I post "I believe in democracy," to which you reply, " then you are a complete and utter moron," and I fail to reply to you, then am I a "hit and runner"? Remember, if I simply reply, "I'm not going to qualify your comment!!!!" then you will accuse me of wasting bandwidth. You would have likely said, "Derrick, why did you even bother to post? If you were going to post, you should post a rebuttal to the accusation that you are a complete MORON for believing in democracy. Furthermore, YOU created the post and so YOU have the burden to prove democracy is something worth believing in!"
One is NOT required to anticipate whether your post might generate replies, and abstain from posting if one thinks it's possible that someone will post something where you can't think of any to say in response.
In fact, although I'm preaching to the choir, suffice it to say that lack of response is showing respect for others if one cannot think of a response!
Suppose I sat there reading this topic and thought, "this is impossible! These people have absolutely no understanding of the teachings of JWs!" QUESTION: Should I flame the board by posting that as a reply? Should I simply post "I'm not going to qualify your idiotic responses" and then be accused of promulgating the very disruptive verbal tactics that many used over the years on this and other forums to start flame wars? And yet remaining silent is used as an excuse to attack me. For example, you post "I think democracy is the best way of life because ............." and I reply, "You are a total moron as usual! None of what you said has any logic to it! Democracy has failed because............." Then, five days later, you return and read my reply with a sigh, scratching your head. So you decide it's a waste of time to reply, and that anything you say will simply cause a firestorm to erupt. As a result, I post "YOU are obviously a hit and run poster, OR it is more likely you know my argument against democracy is RIGHT and you're too chicken sh*t to post a rebuttal! That figures!."
But I keep forgetting the hypocricy of many here -- it's OKAY for them to do the very things that I'm criticized for doing because of course they are far superior to myself.
And predictably, because I decide to criticize poor netiquette in this rather lengthy reply, you will use that to further attack rather than addressing my post.
Replies I'll never get...
"Derrick, it hadn't even dawned on me that you were gone between your last reply to this topic, and today! Sorry for the rash accusations that you hit and run!"
"Derrick, whenever I post and feel for any reason that people make stupid or thoughtless replies, I don't respond and YES, they accuse me of being a hit and runner! So I know exactly what you're talking about."
My continued stance on the worldwide destruction doctrine...
The current Watchtower leadership IMO has engaged in manipulation of words on this teaching to keep the rank and file in line, WITHOUT actually teaching that non-JWs will be exterminated.
If people in this religion refuse to simply tell their leadership "I'm going to do my best in the ministry knowing that the Bible says 'God is love' and those who are not reached with this vital message will be treated with perfect love, so all the speculation about non-JWs dying at Armageddon is inappropriate," then these people are not showing the spirit of true Christianity. The whole idea of reform is to remove those from leadership that use scare tactics to scare people into putting in more hours, attending every meeting each week at practically all costs, and donating more than they can afford to the Society's coffers.
You are simply WRONG that the official teaching of JWs is that only JWs will survive Armageddon. The fact that the majority of Earth's population is not reached with the vital message is proof. Many haven't even heard of JWs! New generations keep coming as years go by who have never even heard of the Bible let alone Christianity! Your hurling insults that the Watchtower leadership is so bloodthirsty that they believe these innocents are going to die for not hearing a message from a manmade religious group isn't going to make it so. It's sort of like someone hating the heads of some big company because they mismanaged it, so they keep comparing those persons to Hitler or Saddam Hussein. They can make all the comparisons in the world and basically make complete idiots of themselves because those types of comparisons are based on out of control emotions and failure to reason in an emotionally agitated state of mind.
You can keep villifying the Watchtower leadership all you want, and attack those like myself that try to point out both the positive and negative about these men, and even claim that I'm evil or insane of both for trying to remain balanced. It's no different than claiming that some news correspondent on CNN is "another wannabe Hitler who supports the molestation of children" simply because he refuses to claim that your personal enemy is literally evil. We see this all the time.
If you say as an extreme example, "I believe the governing body has a torture chamber where they rape children, it's accessed through a hidden passage way from their conference room." and I say "I believe that is pure HOGWASH!" then it is your right to say, "your denial of what I just said proves that YOU are an evil child molester that ought to be locked up for life!!!!!!!!!" Far as I'm concerned that is just par for the course in this rabid civilization. And, you can claim that I'm engaging in "hit and run" because I remain silent and decline to defend myself -- you might even followup by saying, "the fact you didn't defend yourself when I accused you of being an evil child molester only proves that I'm right!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Derrick
