Posts by slimboyfat

11

A Taxonomy of WT Presidents/GB

by breakfast of champions in

[this is what happens when the semester ends.

idle hands.

so i was thinking of how you would categorize the presidents of the wt, and i came up with this:.

slimboyfat

I don't think Russell was necessarily crazy. He was a man of his time, and his beliefs and actions were not terribly out of the norm for his time and place in history. He was successful on many levels, as a businessman, author, and charismatic preacher.

Frederick Franz on the other hand was a bit of an oddball character. Whereas Russell was successful because he could appeal sufficiently to society in general to generate a following, Franz could only thrive among the captive audience of pre-existing believers. The general public flocked to hear Russell in many places. Thousands of the flock were wowed by Franz too, but not including many who were not already JWs.

45

Disassociation - shunning - can we all lobby Government that it is against freedom of religion?

by stockholm_Syndrome in

if jws want to inflict shunning on members who want to remain -- knock yourselves out.

but if someone wants to leave - dont believe in an evil almighty god, bible ...or just dont agree with the rules- they should be free to leave- even after being 'disfellowshipped'.

i think it was pre 1980 that you could disassociate yourself without shunning repercussions.

slimboyfat

Simon is right you can't make people not shun or make them associate with people they don't want to. That's pretty obvious.

What the state can perhaps do is deny privileges and benefits to religious or other organisations that promote shunning family members. It is then up to the organisation to either reform their policies or suffer consequences. This might include loss of charitable status, and denial of privileges, legal status or avenues of influence accorded to religious bodies generally. This does not curtail anyone's rights but nudges organisations in the right direction. In the case of JWs it would be no more than an invitation to live up to their own statement that:

No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/102009251#h=14

50

Why Finding the One True Religion is Impossible

by Simon in

jws like to think they have found the one true religion.

but like so many other religious people, it's usually the religion they were born into, the only religion they know because it's the first one they found or, at the most, one of two or three (typically the second one after they left their first / born-in faith).. the trouble is, there simply isn't enough time to explore and investigate each and everyone of the many thousands of belief systems, religions and sects around the world.. think of it this way: which is the best neighbourhood to live in where you would be most happy and most successful?

not just in the city or even the country you are in, but the entire world.. how would you ever know?

slimboyfat

It's not impossible. I'm joining one religion a week until I got all my bases covered.

12

Learning from History

by no-zombie in

i was reading the book 'five stages of collapse' by dmitry orlov, which discussed in part, people's attitudes toward the probability of societal collapse.

one group of people, those who dispassionately examine facts, like scientists, engineers and accountants ultimately become diametrically opposed to the group of people with vested emotional interests, like politicians, businessmen and economists.

and he made some interesting comments that parallel our situation when we consider how people are polarized over the future of the organization..

slimboyfat

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/172862/british-sociologist-predicts-possible-collapse-jehovahs-witness-numbers?page=1

18

What is "The Truth" which the Jehovah's Witnesses are really missing ?

by Finkelstein in

i personally think the truth which the jws are missing all together is that the wts has devised and constructed a doctrinal gospel (1914) specifically to assist toward the proliferation of the literature of which this organization publishes itself.

they allure people with them then exploit these ones further in the distribution of those pieces of literature all while stamping the information as bible truths.

i see jws as well controlled robotic sales representatives for this unscrupulous religious publishing house.

slimboyfat

JWs were a phenomenally successful religious publishing company for much of their history.

Now that they are getting out of print books I wonder what kind of future they have got.

22

Who would vote to disband the JW organisation?

by Half banana in

from their history, it is evident that jehovah's witnesses are just another doomsday cult.. cults are run by autocrats.

on purpose they are ideologically fixated and they demand that their devotees hold the same absolute certainty of belief without regard for evidence.

the suspension of critical thought is encouraged and by focussing on the objectives of the cult belief in a like minded community, it gives both a sense of direction within a sort of ‘family’ and a hope of paradise perfection.. the leaders have everything to gain by controlling their followers; all the income goes in their direction.. democracy has strictly no part in a running cult.

slimboyfat

I didn't understand the OP question to mean banning JWs. I thought we were simply voting on its demise, maybe due to financial crisis, or under the weight of its own contradictions.

22

Who would vote to disband the JW organisation?

by Half banana in

from their history, it is evident that jehovah's witnesses are just another doomsday cult.. cults are run by autocrats.

on purpose they are ideologically fixated and they demand that their devotees hold the same absolute certainty of belief without regard for evidence.

the suspension of critical thought is encouraged and by focussing on the objectives of the cult belief in a like minded community, it gives both a sense of direction within a sort of ‘family’ and a hope of paradise perfection.. the leaders have everything to gain by controlling their followers; all the income goes in their direction.. democracy has strictly no part in a running cult.

slimboyfat

I would rather if they reformed. They would need to abandon shunning and make blood, education and so on conscience issues. Accept gay people, reform abuse policy, and have women elders and on the GB. If they did that they'd be fine. Not asking much.

12

Possible new light on 70 years

by Saltheart Foamfollower in

i may be reading more into this than is there, but here is what i've spotted from today's watchtower study (oct 2016 study edition) page 14 paragraph 8. concerning daniel it says "thus, some 70 years after his arrival in babylon, he was still known by his hebrew name" referring to an event in the first year of darius ie 539/538 bce.

however, according to the wtbts chronology daniel went to babylon in 617 bce - more like 80 years earlier.

could this (finally) be a step towards ditching 607?.

slimboyfat

Shame the study is past. People who attend could have had some fun with it. They could have said this WT introduces a "new thought" that Daniel went to Babylon in 607 instead of 617. It would have been difficult for the conductor disagree, because either that is true or the statement in the WT is wrong by 10 years. And I doubt any conductor would want to declare a statement in the WT a mistake.

13

Vatican launches website for preventing clerical sex abuse

by AndersonsInfo in

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/12/06/vatican-launches-website-preventing-clerical-sex-abuse/.

inés san martín .

december 6, 2016 vatican_correspondent.

slimboyfat

Quite amazing how the Catholic Church has, at least perception wise, turned things around.
Compare where the WTS was 20 years ago - on the moral high ground, bashing them for the abuse scandals. Now look how things have switched.

Interesting point. I remember when WT literature used to feature Catholic abuse scandals. I wonder if anyone who has access to the CD ROM could do an analysis of how frequently the WT mentioned Catholic abuse and when they stopped talking about it and how this correlates with their own scandals.

The last blatant example I can think of was the Kingdom News no. 37 in 2006 "The End of Flase Religion is Near!"

Even churches that condemn immorality have tolerated religious leaders who have sexually abused children.

http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102006290

12

Possible new light on 70 years

by Saltheart Foamfollower in

i may be reading more into this than is there, but here is what i've spotted from today's watchtower study (oct 2016 study edition) page 14 paragraph 8. concerning daniel it says "thus, some 70 years after his arrival in babylon, he was still known by his hebrew name" referring to an event in the first year of darius ie 539/538 bce.

however, according to the wtbts chronology daniel went to babylon in 617 bce - more like 80 years earlier.

could this (finally) be a step towards ditching 607?.

slimboyfat

Probably just someone made a mistake. If they were going to drop 1914 this would be a pretty strange way of introducing it.