So glad I skipped this meeting. . .
. . . it was one of the most beautiful days of the year!
Absalom prefigured young JWs who fist bump, play video games, and take pictures of themselves with the opposite sex
by JimmyPage 26 Replies latest jw friends
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Red Piller
I could overhear some teens and kids in my hall mocking this picture. Good to see....The WT wants you to feel guilty about being normal.
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WingCommander
I agree with the poster above, that photo of the guy refraining DOES ABSOLUTELY look like the ASL guy! Even has the same suit on!!! Incredible!! This poor bastard is going to go down in x-JW lore forever! Hahahahaha!
Now, back to the illustration. This is freakin' absurd.....absolutely absurd. This is right up there with that list a few years ago that stated education was like a bullet to the head or as bad as drugs, sex, etc.
These kids aren't throwing "the shocker" or gang signs, they are fist bumping. I belong to, and regularily work out at a Gold's Gym (gasp!!) and I can tell you that that is the standard greeting while walking thru working out. Also, taking the photo with the cell-phone or small camera.....big deal??? Haven't people been doing this for like 100+ years now? So now merely being close and getting photo with a friend equates you to being "worldly" and hyper-sexual? These bozos are whacked in the head!! The level of pharasitical intrusion into every small detail in the everyday lives of the rank and file is just incredible sight to see. I thought it was tough growing up back in the 80's? Look at this sh*t?
What normal, sane, outgoing person would be attracted to this fruitcake religion today? Not me, and I'm sure not even my deceased parents would recognize this religion anymore. This is some whacked out sh*t right here. The only people that will be left are geriatrics, and frigid, uptight, sexually-repressed individuals who don't mind working for free and being celebate eunics. In essence, the WTBTS wants you to be a modern-day MONK, completely cut-off from reality and world around you. CULT.
- Wing Commander
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00DAD
The young man in the picture is NOT the same as the ASL brother! Look the tie is different ... oh maybe he had to change it because he spilled something on it ... nevermind!
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drewcoul
NC- I thought the exact same thing when I saw that picture. I know they use bethelites to pose for all of these pictures, so it would make sense that its the same guy.
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fakesmile
that crap used to work with smurfs and troll dolls but tell a kid that his smartphone is from satan and there might be a riot. i told my buddy that i dont trust iphones due to privacy concerns, boy did he get butthurt
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fakesmile
and that does look like the whack off guy.
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Franklin Massey
Fighting gargantuan space crabs in video games may lead an immature teen's heart to long for similar experiences in real life.
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00DAD
Great thread JimmyPage! Love your guitar, I have one just like it upstairs in my studio.
Actually there is something very insidious and manipulative going on here.
Last week, the WT made that point that the only place we are safe is in the congregation:
Consider this:When you are in the company of those who love Jehovah with all their heart, do you feel afraid? Do you find yourself constantly glancing over your shoulder? While engaging in conversation at the Kingdom Hall, do you keep a firm grip on your belongings lest they disappear? On the contrary! You feel at ease and free. Would you feel that way at a secular event? Not likely! What is more, the freedom that you enjoy now among God’s people is just a foretaste of the freedom that lies ahead. - Watchtower July 15, 2012, p. 11, para. 16 - [Emphasis added]
But then this week, they say we're not even safe there, Why not? Because modern day "Absaloms" abound:
Sadly, on occasion negative peer influence can also come from within the Christian congregation. “I have known some young ones who dated nonbelievers,” said a Witness youth. “Eventually, though, it struck me that the more I hung around with them, the more I was becoming like them. My spirituality began to suffer. I was not enjoying the spiritual food at the meetings, and I barely went out in service. This was my signal to cut off those associates, and I did!” Are you aware of the power that your associates can have on you? Consider a timely Bible example.—Rom. 15:4. - p. 13, para. 4 - [Emphasis added]
It's just plain weird that they cultivate an unrealistic fear of the world in the first instance while simultaneously telling us how safe we should feel in the congregation. But then one week later they deliberately reverse that and sow seeds of doubt and mistrust in the very place that we are supposed to "feel at ease and free." What exactly is going on here?
This is clearly a form of psychological manipulation. I'm not sure what to call it, I'm only just getting my own head around it, but there it is. The scary, but at the same time fascinating, thing is that it's so subtle that it works on the majority of JWs without them even being aware of it. Also, it is functioning on multiple levels.
It's like the abuser in a codependent relationship that says, "No one loves you like I do" but then terrorizes the alleged object of his love in a cycle of hot-and-cold manipulation.
Also they are deliberately creating a climate of suspicion, mistrust and fear among the flock. Why would they do that? And why would they do that right after (ok, a week later) they said we are safe in the congregation. I suspect that they know when you keep people off-balance emotionally and mentally and cause them to question the motives of everyone around them it makes people unsure of themselves and afraid. That uncertainty, doubt and confusion keeps them weak, docile and in-line.
Fear is the mind killer - Frank Herbert, Dune
There's a whole lot more subtle and some not-so-subtle stuff going on here as well. And it is really quite frightening when you see it for what it is. As many have commented, the "sins" of the young man in the pictures, the "Modern Day Absalom" are pretty minor stuff. Texting in meeting, putting his feet up on a desk, not wearing a jacket in the Kingdom Hall. Ok, so the kid's maybe not got the best manners, but none of these things are judicial, even by the strict, legalistic WT/STFOG 1 standards. In fact the only really wrong thing is underage drinking. That could be a problem and should be addressed, but taking a picture of yourself and a friend with a cell-phone or "fist-bumping" with your buds at school is hardly anything to get hung about!
My goodness, do you know how many parents would love to have kids that are this well behaved?
Notice what the WT writers do with this stuff next. Although they are very careful to avoid explicitly mentioning any of these nefarious activities in the text of the article (a curious omission in and of itself), they are nevertheless able to let us all know just exactly what we should think of anyone that does these things. Notice how they proceed to demonize our poor young man in the next paragraph:
The Bible contains many examples of those who were a bad influence on others. One such example is Absalom, a son of King David. Absalom was an exceptionally good-looking man. In time, however, like Satan, he let greedy ambition fill his heart. - ibid
Whoa! Did you catch that??? Our young man that likes to fist-bump and hang-out with his friends is a bad influence. He is like Absalom who is just like Satan.
Fist-bumping = Absalom = Satan
WTF? Satan is in the congregation! How'd that happen? Who let him in?
Where is he brothers and sisters? Look around, what do you see? Which young brothers aren't wearing coats? What young sisters are texting during meetings? Who likes to put their feet up on their desk? Play video games?
Do you know? You should. They are bad associates and a bad influence on others, maybe you! Maybe YOU are the bad influence!
Never mind that Absalom, the real Absalom was a murderer, killing his own half-brother, and was guilty of treason against his father, the King. If you are a young person in the congregation and you do any of those things pictured in these two articles you are just like him. You are a bad influence and a bad associate.
You are like Absalom and he is like Satan. So you are like Satan. You are bad, very bad.
So put on your coat, put away the cellphone, sit up nice and straight and be a good little boy. Do what we tell you and everything will be just fine:
... it is the only way to everlasting life and true freedom. - ibid, p. 16
No kidding, that really is the second to the last sentence of the study article. I couldn't make this stuff up. I'm not bent that way.
00DAD
1 STFOG: "Shepherd the Flock of God" - © 2010 WATCH TOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA, this is the secret elders' manual which they follow regarding the handling of Judicial Matters in the congregation. The individual copies of the books are only loaned to men that appointed as elders in the congregation. The books are property of the congregation. If an elders is deleted, removed, resigns or otherwise discontinues as an elder he is expected to turn his copy of the book over to the Congregation Service Committee.
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cobaltcupcake
So who are the folks in the background? Are those the "good" teens? Are they actually reading scriptures as part of their conversation? Does the Washtowel Society think that that would appeal to teenagers? Buncha weenies!
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The Odd Life of Jehovah's Witnesses