Posts by neverendingjourney

106

If you thought Tony Moris the Third was extreme, wait till you hear this other GB member!

by Island Man in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqzc2m8_mba&list=uus0vqkpnsxult0gsz6ahpta.

neverendingjourney

I don't know how high up in the religion he was back in '71, but he may have suffered from a condition I began to notice as I was waking up. Men in positions of authority, usually the CO level or higher, were given great deference by the rank and file such that if a CO said this or that it was taken as truth with no need for independent verification.

The CO assigned to our congregation when I stopped going to meetings would occasionally quote bogus stats or incorrectly say that science had proven something or another. I was incredulous yet I would look around and all I'd see where nodding heads.

The fact that Herd says "scientists have proven" that women have smaller brains suggest he had fallen into that mold. Since the rank and file doesn’t ask questions he lazily resorted to making shit up. I hope he got wiser as the years passed but I wouldn't count on it.

10

The boiling frog

by wolfman85 in

the boiling frog story is a widespread anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive.

the premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.

the story is often used as a metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to significant changes that occur gradually.

neverendingjourney

True story: There was an elder in our hall who used the boiling frog metaphor as an illustration during a public talk.

To his credit, the elder clarified that it wasn't an original illustration he had come up with. Rather, a CO had come up with it and the elder simply borrowed it from the CO's talk.

In hindsight, the ignorance of the average JW is startling.

29

WTS one step closer to "1984" - JW literature rewritten in online versions

by sir82 in

jw
friends

likely everyone here is familar with the novel "1984" - "he who controls the past, controls the future.

he who controls the present, controls the past".. take a look at wol.jw.org, insight book, topic "faithful and discreet slave".. current online wording: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1200001485.

jesus trained the apostles for the role they would have after pentecost 33 c.e.

neverendingjourney

When I was a zealous new JW I remember reading that unbaptized publishers who had been removed via judicial action should be treated the same as those who were disfellowshipped. Whenever I brought this up, I got a bunch of blank stares in return.

Years later I figured it out. I had an old copy of the OM book. A subsequent version had since come out and scrubbed that part.

Sadly, there are many other examples similar to this. Faithful JWs rarely notice.

61

Pixar the production company is jealous of Caleb and Sophia video's

by life is to short in

so said the co last night.. apparently a jw was on a flight and just happend to sit next to some big wig from pixar and when the man from pixar heard that he was a jw the pixar man just gushed over what great work that the watchtower has done in producing the caleb video's.

he siad he only wished pixar could do such great work.

the co said we are able to do it because we have free labor and jehovah behind us.. my husband stayed home from the meeting but wanted to tie in by phone and that is what the co said in his talk.. the co also talked about all the changes that have happened in the last ten years and how if some of the friends did not like it they needed and to quote him "they just needed to get over it" these changes are going to happned period.

neverendingjourney

I have found many JW stories from the platform that were stolen from stories originally found in other religions. It never ceases to amaze me how I just accepted that Watchtower was just so wonderful.

There was a quite popular illustration in my area used to explain why it was difficult keeping your children "in the truth." A brother once mentioned it had originated from a CO's talk. Anyhow, the illustration was that a rock could be in a river for thousands of years, but if you cracked it open it was dry. Similarly, a child may have been raised in "the truth" but he/she may not have absorbed it.

Years after I had stopped going to meetings I watched Godfather III for the first time and lo and behold there was a scene featuring the future Pope conveying that same illustration to Michael Corleone almost word for word. Instead of "the truth" he used "christianity." Somehow an illustration from a rated-R movie made it's way onto the platforms of many a kingdom hall.

45

Testimony card returns

by sir82 in

jw
friends

old timers, or careful readers of the proclaimers book, are familiar with the "testimony card" used in the early days of rutherford-era door to door witnessing.

the jw would traipse up to a house, knock, hand the card over to the householder, and wait while he read it.. well, it seems that "everything old is new again".

here is an excerpt from a recent boe letter:.

neverendingjourney

Ah, so you've seen Lett giving a talk, then?

lol...you read my mind. I posted the following on that thread roughly an hour ago:

I don't understand how anyone could take him seriously.

What would Lett be doing if he weren't a Witness? Who would hire someone like that? He would never make it past a screening interview.

45

Testimony card returns

by sir82 in

jw
friends

old timers, or careful readers of the proclaimers book, are familiar with the "testimony card" used in the early days of rutherford-era door to door witnessing.

the jw would traipse up to a house, knock, hand the card over to the householder, and wait while he read it.. well, it seems that "everything old is new again".

here is an excerpt from a recent boe letter:.

neverendingjourney

Do they really want the average Joe-in-the-street to connect the dots between "Jehovah's Witnesses" and "the internet"?

I don't think this reflects a lack of thought on their part. Up to now they've eschewed the internet precisely for the reasons you mention. The more likely explanation is that their management-by-committee structure breeds schizophrenic decision making.

At some point a GB member or two changed their views or a particularly intractable GB member or two died and the scales were tipped in favor of this new approach. Given that leadership consists of a bunch of geriatric buffoons, it's no wonder the rollout has been less than stellar.

127

I'm sitting here listening to a JW try to recruit somebody

by Terry in

jw
friends

i'm at starbucks .

just outside in the courtyard.. i'm trembling.

my hands are shaking.. wow!.

neverendingjourney

Ignorance breeds certainty. As evidenced by his anti-science comments, he doesn't understand critical thinking but what you said resonated with him enough for him to want to have a follow-up with you.

I was baptized when I was 16 and was never more certain of my beliefs. I can't imagine how many times I argued with a much older householder about things I actually knew very little about. Every now and then someone would be in a position to provide a well-thought retort.

Even though I never admitted defeat, those memories stayed with me. As I grew older and my thinking process matured, I was able to revisit some of the points they made. I fought against it and tried my best to repress doubts, they eventually resurfaced.

This young man may never have a change of heart. He may enjoy the comfort that a regimented and structured belief system provides. He may be unwilling to face the real world as it actually is, but you've done your part (and more than I would have likely done). We are all accountable for our own actions, after all.

14

Bro Lett at Int. Conv in Israel last year.......

by WingCommander in

jw
friends

having been recently introduced to governing body member lett's "unique" speaking style, i found another video on youtube (and also on jw.org) of bro lett visiting the international convention in israel.

apparently his buffonery is not only reserved for video intro's to dramas, but also in real life as well.. i used to think those ol' time pentacostal and baptist ministers in tents would overdue it......i was wrong.

this guy has them all beat.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltvx_e4xe4e.

neverendingjourney

I don't understand how anyone could take him seriously.

What would Lett be doing if he weren't a Witness? Who would hire someone like that? He would never make it past a screening interview.

47

convinced 95% of all active jw's don't have a clue as to where 1914 originates

by goingthruthemotions in

so talking with my wife last night...i was explaining to her about a conversation i had with a person at work about end times.

he has a strange belief that some scriptures in isaiah perdict something huge is going to happen in september of 2015. she then states that no one can predict the future only the father knows and he is in a cult.

lol on the inside.. i then stated "what about 1914 and the dubs perdiction and what it means today" she said no there was never any predictions.

neverendingjourney

Oh how I wish the internet had been around then...I just might've googled something out of curiosity and I could've been out decades ago.

I've had similar thoughts. I was baptized in 95. According to this source (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2?page=3) there were fewer than 10 internet users out of 100 people in the United States back then. I was not among them.

Five years later I bought my first PC and had dial-up internet in my house. What would have happened had I been born five years later? Would I have done online research? I might have learned the true origins of the religions before baptism.

It really serves no purpose to speculate, but I can't help but wonder.

34

How big a fee does the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society get for booking Jehovah's Witnesses into Convention Hotels?

by Balaamsass in

curious.

i know travel agents and on-line sites get a kickback or fee for booking hotels.

how much is this fee?.

neverendingjourney

I'm sure someone will completely flame me for the comment but the practice appears innocuous to me.

Not a flame, but while the business practice of obtaining comps in exchange for a guaranteed number of bookings may be completely justified, the lack of transparency combined with the guilt, coercion, and manipulation the society uses to obtain such perks is not.

Here's a better idea. Instead of using its leverage to obtain kickbacks for itself and its "special full time service" members, why doesn't the society use it to actually negotiate better-than-market rates for its rank-and-file members, many of whom already are straining their budgets to attend given that they've decided to follow its advice on higher education and career choices.