MrMonroe

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Posts by MrMonroe

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  65

  Higher Education and Disqualification for Privileges in the Congregation

  by 00DAD in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i was still serving as an elder in the late summer of 2006 in a congregation of jws in socal we received a letter from the "christian congregation of jehovah's witnesses" (read: the governing body) directing that anyone pursuing a higher education would be disqualified from privileges of service: elder, servant, pioneer, etc.

  i remember this quite distinctly because i had just received by ba in education in june a few months before this.

  in 2002, i had decided to pursue a degree under the society's then current "it's a personal decision" policy and was quite shocked at their drastic policy change.

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  MrMonroe

  I'm running Firefox and can't see some posts.
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  28

  who does the society consider as apostates?

  by booby in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  from their literature as source.

  i did some searching and was surprised that i couldn't find them referring to those who simply quit and/or speak their doubts as such..

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  MrMonroe

  I encountered the same problem in creating the definition of apostasy (as JWs see it) at the relevant Wikipedia article. It's possible though. The citations from WT articles are easily located there.
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  28

  who does the society consider as apostates?

  by booby in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  from their literature as source.

  i did some searching and was surprised that i couldn't find them referring to those who simply quit and/or speak their doubts as such..

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  MrMonroe

  From the Insight book:

  Apostates often seek to make others their followers. (Ac 20:30; 2Pe 2:1, 3) Such ones willfully abandoning the Christian congregation thereby become part of the "antichrist." (1Jo 2:18, 19)

  So to part company with a Christian denomination is to become an Antichrist?? But reading just a touch further in the passage from 1 John they cite, one discovers that is a complete lie:

  "The man who denies that Jesus is the Christ -- he is the liar, he is Antichrist." (1 John 2:22). Verses 18 and 19 refer to men who had appeared as "rivals of Christ", clearly claiming they, not Jesus were the Christ. That's what made those men "rivals". That's why they were "antichrists".

  If I discern that a religious denomination is misrepresenting scriptures, claiming to represent God and Christ when it makes a pattern of overstepping scripture and making up its own rules and doctrines, then attempting to punish for life those who dare to disagree, surely I am free to exit that denomination. But in the weird world of Watchtower, exiting that religion, deciding that those self-professed representatives of God are no such thing, makes me an antichrist. Which is kind of odd, because actually, I still believe in Christ.
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  3

  Australia: Ramifications of government watchdog's ruling on Scientology's use of unpaid laborers

  by MrMonroe in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  fair work australia, the government industrial law agency, has ruled that the church of scientology broke australian law by requiring employees to work long hours for as little as $10 a week.

  the church's defence was that because it is a religious entity, its workers are not employees, but volunteers.. which all sounds a bit familiar!.

  the agency also found that "a significant level of control and direction was applied to workers by more senior church members who hold positions of authority".

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  MrMonroe

  Fair Work Australia, the government industrial law agency, has ruled that the Church of Scientology broke Australian law by requiring employees to work long hours for as little as $10 a week. The church's defence was that because it is a religious entity, its workers are not employees, but volunteers.

  Which all sounds a bit familiar!

  The agency also found that "a significant level of control and direction was applied to workers by more senior church members who hold positions of authority". Workers accused the CoC of using "unconscionable tactics" to keep them in their work commitment.

  Which all sounds a bit familiar!

  FWA also called the CoC a "bureaucratised organisation" that appears to have imported practices and procedures into Australia with little regaerd to Australian workplace laws. It urged workers who felt they were being intimidated to complain to the police.

  I wonder if similar grounds exist for complaint by former Bethel workers who are required to work six days a week and also perform field service to mett monthly quotas.

  Link to news reports on the FWA ruling are here and here.
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  19

  Psychotherapy Specialist for Jehovah’s Witnesses

  by Marvin Shilmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  psychotherapy specialist for jehovahs witnesses .

  today i added a new article to my blog showing a licensed psychotherapist advertising a specialty in treating jehovahs witnesses.

  my article is titled psychotherapy specialist for jehovahs witnesses and is available at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/09/psychotherapy-specialist-for-jehovahs.html.

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  MrMonroe

  Havor Montague was Jerry Bergman? Haven't heard that before. Is that widely known?
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  19

  WRM: Watchtower Resistance Movement

  by ekruks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when france was invaded by the nazis, they established what was called the french resistance, which attacked the nazis.

  the cause was to fight evil, so it was called a guerilla movement.

  in each town, rebels would meet together secretly and sabotage the nazis, doing things such as blowing up railway lines, though they didn't attack civilians who were oppressed.. i don't see for us to fight the individuals in the organisation, because many of them are just misled, confused, brainwashed.

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  MrMonroe

  @Mad Sweeney: My wife and I met an old friend a couple of years back; we'd been out of the org for about a year; he called us "amateurs" because he'd been gone for seven. It was great swapping old stories, and as we left, hey told us, "Hey guys, we should stay in touch. I mean, it's not as if you're disfellowshipped or anything."

  We were just stunned. He'd been gone seven years, but was still prepared to let them dictate who he spoke to. He was still in their control.
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  17

  Lawyer’s Response — Resigned and Withdrawn Elder

  by Marvin Shilmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  lawyers response resigned and withdrawn elder .

  today i uploaded a new article to my blog containing a 14-page incredibly detailed response from a watchtower lawyer to a long-time high-ranking elder who had resigned and withdrawn his association with watchtower.

  my article is titled lawyers response resigned and withdrawn elder and is available at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/09/lawyers-response-resigned-and-withdrawn.html.

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  MrMonroe

  Interesting how unshamedly the letter states on page 9 that a decision to reject the teachings of the religion (which members of every other religion on earth are urged to do by Jehovah's Witnesses) is regarded as "wrongdoing". The two scriptures they use to justify such a punitive approach have no bearing on the issue at all. The Bible simply does not include such a directive. It is a distortion of scripture used by a religion/cult to blackmail members into remaining, despite whatever conscientious objection they may hold.
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  19

  WRM: Watchtower Resistance Movement

  by ekruks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when france was invaded by the nazis, they established what was called the french resistance, which attacked the nazis.

  the cause was to fight evil, so it was called a guerilla movement.

  in each town, rebels would meet together secretly and sabotage the nazis, doing things such as blowing up railway lines, though they didn't attack civilians who were oppressed.. i don't see for us to fight the individuals in the organisation, because many of them are just misled, confused, brainwashed.

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  MrMonroe

  I completely appreciate where Ekruks is coming from. I was riding home from work on Saturday a few weeks ago and discovered dozens of JWs were boarding the train at Richmond station, near the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, where they'd been having their annual three-day Re-Education Camp. The buggers started handing out flyers, including the picture of the toes on the colossus, to people on the train. One idiot kept trying to get my attention to hand me one, but I ignored him and kept reading my paper. Another gaggle of them were gathered around the flyer point at it and deeply "discussing" some point in it to try to get other passengers interested.

  Next year I want to be better prepared and have a brochure I can hand back to them. "Sure, I'll read yours if you read mine."
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  19

  Psychotherapy Specialist for Jehovah’s Witnesses

  by Marvin Shilmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  psychotherapy specialist for jehovahs witnesses .

  today i added a new article to my blog showing a licensed psychotherapist advertising a specialty in treating jehovahs witnesses.

  my article is titled psychotherapy specialist for jehovahs witnesses and is available at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/09/psychotherapy-specialist-for-jehovahs.html.

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  MrMonroe

  A psychologist called Havor Montague published a medical paper in 1977 in which he discussed the furtiveness with which JWs approach mental health specialists. They fear that Jehovah's organisation will be reproached by an admission that they need psychiatric or psychological treatment, and Havor wrote, "In the writer's work as a therapist, a significant number of Witness patients would clearly have never have sought psychotherapy if the writer had not been seen as an active Witness." (Link to the paper available at jwfacts.)

  Another JW, Scott Wolfenden, of Newark, New Jersey, who has been active on Wikipedia trying to promote both his website and his religion, runs a psychology practice that presumably would invite JW patients, and he strikes me as the sort of person who would do anything to avoid blaming the religion for turning his patients into basket cases.

  As Montague notes, there is an incredible pressure within the organisation to hide these facts in order to present the brothers as the happiest people on earth. Since leaving this religion I have seriously wondered just how much mental damage I suffered in my two decades (including my formative years) inside this nuthouse. It affects your outlook, and relationships with others, in so many ways.
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  92

  My Letter to local Newspapaer - Your Feedback Please?

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my local congregation has been in the news this week following a successful application for planning permission for a quick build.

  a local vicar objected because the application described it as a building for "christain worship".. .

  vicar fury at new home for jehovahs .

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  MrMonroe

  Possibly too long for a letter for publication. It's unlikely they would reproduce those long WT and Awake citations with the abbreviations; you're better to summarise the statements in a sentence of your own. But good thoughts throughout your letter and well expressed.