The Ravings of Trolls Distracts FOCUS From Real Watchtower Scandals

by cofty 95 Replies latest watchtower scandals

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  Focus

  defender of truth, leaving aside the unnecessary sarcasm (I readily admit to being a total fool and ignoramus, when such knowledge or comprehension that is possessed is measured against the great universe of what there is yet to know or comprehend), and also leaving aside your misinterpretation of my actions as "jeering" (you may well have been referring to my Footstep Followers, though, lol), you might even be surprised that I generally agree with you.

  It is an issue about which I've internally wrestled many a time.... and still do. It was debated a few times among my erstwhile peers. On the whole, I think it true that AlanF, Farkel (past tense), SixofNine, Kent, JanH, JT, Norm, Tallyman, Skally and about fifty others, at the very core of the "Anti-" movement, fully understand the "why"s and "how"s of what Focus does.

  Many, however, did not, and disagreed with me in approximately the same way as you presumably do. I've no problem with that. We're not a "borg"!

  Here is some TTwLTELbmh ("Truth That won't Lead To Eternal Life... but might help") for you:

  About as reliable a recipe for snapping out of it, and thus salvaging a happy life, as I can find is this set of unconditional recognitions:

  1) "I" was an utter, ridiculous fool and was thoroughly tricked and deceived by what was, at the end of the day, a simple scam (this first point doesn't apply to "born-in"s, to whom I have the greatest possible sympathy).

  2) While in the state of being deluded, I did perpetrate a very great deal of damage to others too. Possibly including loved ones. Whatever my intentions or delusions may have been at the time, this is what actually happened.

  3) Therefore, I am guilty. Appallingly guilty. Unforgivably guilty?

  4) I am terribly sorry for all the evil I have done. Forgive me.

  5) While I need to heal, I owe a moral duty to fellow humans to help, as best I can, destroy this destructive illness masquerading as a religion. Preventing its further vectoring is a priority.

  6) This may help me heal, as my focus will then be directed away from my own misfortunes. There's always someone who's been hurt far worse.

  Collective stone-and feces-throwing (as displayed here) simply reinforces cultic conduct encouraged within the exact same organization that one is presumably seeking refuge from.

  And that's one of the reasons what Focus does what Focus does, and has done so for 20 years.

  And I don't think I'm the only one who thinks as I do. I'd wager there'll be others along who agree with me, and are brave enough to risk Papionic fury and speak out. Perhaps they've drawn the same conclusions about the disgraceful misconduct in this thread (lol - I don't care a bit, stone me as much as you wish - you'd benefit more from stoning the one who spiritually sodomized you, though, and that wasn't me).

  Of course it's easier for the Jonadabs to shout "Troll" or "Mad" (lol! To be called mad by many here is a badge of honor) and throw stones.

  It doesn't even occur to them that they are exhibiting precisely the same knee-jerk stupidity that may have got them enmeshed in the first place. Ironic, eh?

  One rule suffices. JUST ONE LAW. Truth is ultimately better than falsehood, no matter how much it hurts.

  I won't end with "Thank you for listening, O great one." No one's greater than anyone else. I don't pretend to have all the answers or even most of the questions. I'm not the Filthy Watchtower Whore, a liar, thief (of time, love and money) and swindler and a damned outrage from start to finish.

  __

  Focus

  ("Bottom of the Totem Pole" Class)
• 

  Dis-Member

  So so true...

  Many people on waking up to the TATT completely forget and seem to completely skip the duty they now have to make amends. Perhaps we should take a lesson from steps 8 and 9 of Alcoholics Anonymous.

  Steps 8 and 9: Making Amends

  Step 8: “Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.”

  Step 9: “Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”

  Although I was personally suckered and duped (mostly due to my own desire and need to believe in something) for about just 3 years back in the very early 80's (when I first started studying) and then much later for a year. (I spent 26 years away and went back to take a second look and saw right through it all) I know that the first thing I did when I left was to go to all my interested persons and Bible studies and tell them that I was wrong and that everything I believed and told them was true is in fact a whole crock of lies. It was my absolute responsibility to do this and I did so with around 14 people. They are all well distanced from the Borg in every way now. That was my making amends. It has to be done. It clearly seems to me that it should be everyone's duty to this.

  And Focus.. despite many here having a bash and a poke at you. I can see an awful lot of sense in what you say and where you are coming from.
  
  
  
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  defender of truth

  Thank you for explaining and I'm sorry for the sarcasm.
  
  You misread my post slightly, I was talking about people here shouting and jeering at you. Then the following were your own words. The illustration clearly fell flat. Your insults and condascension are completely unnecessary, though. Intelligient people do not need to insult people that do not understand them.
  Anyway, let's move on..
• 

  Locutus of Borg

  “Collective stone-and feces-throwing (as displayed here) simply reinforces cultic conduct encouraged within the exact same organization that one is presumably seeking refuge from.”

  Well said Sir!
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  Old Goat

  Usually, those who assert their genius don't have the intelligence they claim. They have mental health issues. In this case we have many claims and no substance. All that's happening here is that a disinfranchised man is looking for attention he can't get elsewhere.
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  Old Goat

  It is probably an unpopular view, but we are responsible for ourselves. Focus feels duped by who ever converted him to Witness theology. Others feel similarly. But we are responsible for the decisions we make. If we failed to investigate before conversion, the fault is our own. If we persist in believing the impossible, that’s our fault too. If we adopted a manner of life we found we could not sustain, we made that decision.

  Blaming others for our walk in life makes us resemble a guilty child who shouts, “I didn’t do it!” Witnesses do not hold a knife to anyone’s back. They persuade, apply social pressure, hold out a system of “holiness” and reward. But if we were persuaded to believe, the final decision was our own. Assume responsibility for yourself.

  What Focus does resembles a tempering child. If we seek to dissuade others from being Witnesses or simply wish to put our own case forward, we do not succeed by being an abusive, screaming child. We may do so by being a rational adult.

  Focus makes many claims. Others on this board can make better ones and with a firmer basis for them. However, it is not a claim about oneself that matters. It is rational discourse. If we were convinced that Witness doctrine was rational, most of us do not see it that way now. If we wish to reach others, we do it best by being rational, factual and honest. One cannot be or project any of those things by ranting.

  Those who quietly wrote letters back before Focus even questioned Witness belief, who met in person with Watchtower authorities, who cornered them at conventions or in the hallways at Bethel and put difficult questions to them are the real heroes of this story. The brash and rude and irrational are not. They cloud the issue.

  The Witness organization tries to remove one’s sense of personal responsibility and standing before God, replacing it with the mind of the elders and other Witness hierarchy. That may explain why some of us focus on others, when we made the decisions that took us into the Witness organization and out of it again.

  Focus, I do not see maturity in your future.
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  Ucantnome

  Old Goat i agree that we are responsible for ourselves but i think we can be misled and feel annoyed with those we feel misled us.

  I think eve was misled.
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  Old Goat

  If we believe the Bible, then we must say she was "deceived." We either call God unrighteous for punishing her or we assume that she bore personal responsibility at least for not taking the issue up with God whose voice walked the Garden of Eden. Ultimately we are responsible for ourselves.
• 

  Ucantnome

  Old Goat we are talking about witnesses and being a witness and why and they do believe the bible.

  I was raised as one they told me they were commissioned by God in 1919 as a modern day Ezekiel I was happy to be baptised at 12/13. in the book that we studied at the bookstudy about the time of my baptism it says the battle in the day of Jehovah would begin within the twentieth century which i understood this to mean the great tribulation. We had the generation that would not pass away. I think if your commissioned as Ezekiel was to do a special work you can't get new light when it doesn't occur without looking like a false prophet.

  Then we have 1975.

  This is from the booklet that my parents studied when they came into the truth

  Your safety and the whole future of yourself and your family depend on now studying the Bible, associating with the New World society of Jehovah's witnesses, dedicating yourself to your Creator, Jehovah God, and witnessing for him. Look! I am making all things new. (www.strictlygenteel.co.uk/booklets/look)

  we could discuss what we were witnessing about.

  God said the serpent would be crushed in the head so although Eve was punished God seemed to be cross with the serpent.
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  Old Goat

  I was baptized in 1948. Yes, that makes me old. I lived through much of this history. I don't hold anyone responsible for my belief but myself. Nor should I. If we were taught wrongly, it was still up to us to decide to believe. I have always been what one of my friends calls a "sekptical believer." When I was an active Witness (You may have heard me at District Conventions), I questioned things. It made me unpopular sometimes. In the approach to 1975, The Watchtower Society told me to stop writing to them about it. Eventually I reached a tipping point. I do not blame the person who studied with me. He's been dead for decades. I don't blame Franz or Knorr, both of whom I knew at least somewhat personally. The fault is my own.

  I doubt one can move on until they take responsibility for themselves.

  Do I still have unresolved issues. Yes, I do. But, while I reject Watchtower philosophy and practice. it was my choise to enter and certainly my choice to leave. I didn't fornicate, smoke, steal, have sex with my neighbor's donkey or childen. I stopped believing things that seem very unscriptural and I rejected the self-serving, self-entitled view of elders (I was one at the time) and governing body members. In fairness, I don't know any of the current GB members except on the basis of a brief meeting with two of them. All those I knew personally are very, very dead. And they weren't all like that. John Barr (and his wife too) was a Christian in every sense - Approachable, loving, kind, concerned. That can't be said about others of them. But, none of them persuaded me to believe. I did that myself.

  If our critical faculties lapse, it's not someone else's fault. It's our own.