(please excuse the lack of paragraphs in this post as this forum's dinosaur software does not support Mozilla Firefox or Netscape!!) As many know, the Exclusive Brethren have many similarities with the JW's, particularly their cultish black-and-white view of the world, seeing everyone else as 'worldlings' and the rest of the world as in control of the devil, believing only they have a chance at salvation, and their rigid shunning policy. The EB are, however, more strict than the JW's, not permitting tv watching, their kids are not allowed to go to normal schools, the woman must wear something on their head, etc. They are a bit of a cross between the Amish and JWs. In New Zealand, the leader of the opposition party (The National Party - a bit like the Republicans), Don Brash, was recently embroiled in a scandal where he knew and approved of a $500,000 advertising campaign by the Exclusive Brethren to try and bolster support for the National party at the last election in New Zealand (which National narrowly lost). All this despite the fact that EB members are not allowed to vote (just like JWs)!! The Exclusive Brethren up until a few years ago were completely neutral in politics, just as the JW's are, but a few years ago their leadership decided to take an active role in political pressuring. This is because they believe the ruling party, the Labour Party (more liberal, like the Democrats), are undermining the family unit in NZ through various law reforms it has made in the last decade or so, specifically, a law passed a few years ago that gives de-facto couples, including gay couples, the same property rights as married couples. The EB have come under a lot of scrutiny lately in the press over this and tonite on NZ television there is a documentary about them. The documentary will recount former EB members experiences, including terrible treatment they suffered through being shunned, etc. Mention will be made of how the EB are accused of being a brain-washed cult-like church that breaks up families etc. What is interesting is that some members of the public have noted certain similarities between the EB and JW's, particularly their disfellowshipping/shunning policy that has ruined many families. Some have written letters to newspapers pointing this out. The JW's here must certainly be feeling a bit nervous about all this I suspect.
Doco on Exclusive Brethren on tv tonite in NZ
by yaddayadda 2 Replies latest jw friends
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Fatfreek
(please excuse the lack of paragraphs in this post as this forum's dinosaur software does not support Mozilla Firefox or Netscape!!)
Someone on this board clued (a Firefox user) me in to Xinha Here! It's free, of course, and once installed, simply right click in the forum window. That will bring up Xinha's editing window which has many of the frills we normally don't have. When you finally click OK or Apply, that in turn places your text along with the html codes into the forum window. Yes, you can also insert graphics as well as hyperlinks.
Fats
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SirNose586
Exclusive Brethren? Sound like a bunch of a-holes. Time to get a-Googlin'.
Oh, and if you use Firefox, do yourself a favor and get IE Tab. You'll view this page in IE, no need for other software.
Edit: This article is good. It talks about an EB man who left. You could make it an article about a former JW: just replace EB with JWs, replace "obsessed with Paul" with "obsessed with the OT," replace John Hales with J.F. Rutherford, replace "no good to us" with "did not have the right heart condition," and replace fax machines with blood or the blood issue. Bam, instant former dub article. Best quotes:
"The Brethren are not wicked, cruel or horrible people. They are good people who protect their young and care for their old, but the organisation has corrupted itself and lost sight of what they wanted to achieve in the first place."
"It distressed me and made me question the point of street-preaching and at the same time I was also battling to understand the Brethren's ruling on the use of fax machines.
"We needed them for our businesses but we weren't allowed to have them.
"We used to pay the business next door to let us send and receive faxes and some Brethren businesses even bought faxes to install in their neighbour's premises. It was crazy."
"I can remember driving home from the meeting with my family and telling them I was tired of living in fear of breaking rules which couldn't be justified by the Scripture.
The parallels between this and dubism are really scary. They sound like dubs on steroids. I wonder if I sent this to other dubs, what would they think...?