MrMonroe

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Posts by MrMonroe

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  56

  Happifying? Real WT quote, or are we joking -

  by james_woods in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  maybe i just missed it, (the story of the word) - but i am seeing this word "happifying" in a lot of threads.. can it possibly be that the wt actually printed this??

  ?.

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  MrMonroe

  District conventions, of course, are opportunities for us to find happyifying experiences, be spiritually upbuilt and most of all to find the material there so encouraging. At post-DC debriefing meetings a month or so afterwards, it was always good to be the first to put your hand up to say you were so encouraged. Walking out the door, thinking about the unmade beds and piles of breakfast dishes awaiting us at home because we had to race to the convention and save our seats in the morning, we would smile and say how encouraging and upbuilding the whole thing was.

  We just hoped no one asked us what the highlight was.

  I remember some dickhead elder giving a talk from the platform -- complete with props!! -- about the benefit of spiritual binoculars that allowed us to see the dangers far ahead.
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  10

  Memorial nibbler asked to leave

  by MrMonroe in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  seen this?.

  blogger is a partner of an ex-bethelite who attends a memorial after a decade out, takes a nibble and is asked to leave.

  photographic evidence provided.. partner, meanwhile (non-jw, smoker, unmarried) is warmly welcomed.. .

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  MrMonroe

  Seen this?

  Blogger is a partner of an ex-Bethelite who attends a Memorial after a decade out, takes a nibble and is asked to leave. Photographic evidence provided.

  Partner, meanwhile (non-JW, smoker, unmarried) is warmly welcomed.
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  51

  Alert: Witch hunt begins Watchtower 15 july 2011

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  reading the posts about the 2011-7-15 watchtower about mentally retarded apostates i foresee the following scenario:.

  1. congregational elders trying to get grip on non regular publishers and inactive witnesses.. 2. the good ones read in the watchtower that apostates are to find in the local congregation.

  3. inactives like me (i hate this name, but i use their language), and liberal witness like me, will be hunted, .

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  MrMonroe

  Nothing will change. After my wife and I stopped going to the meetings in early 2008, a friend in another city assured us that the November 15, 2008 articles on "helping those who stray from the flock" would prompt members of our congo to call us and ask after our welfare and urge us to return to the meetings.

  I doubted that, and in fact nothing happened. Although it was a very strident call for JWs to act when they see people fading and drifting, the drones just sit there, mark their Watchtowers, put their hands up for an answer, then wander off home and take off their jackets and ties and get on with their sorry lives.

  Nothing in the Watchtowers makes any impact on the drones. To them, this particular magazine article is just more background noise, banging out the same old message.
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  20

  'necessary family business'...just what is it?

  by Aussie Oz in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  (prompted in part by the post on the latest wt reinforcing shunning).. say a child has occasional, not regular, contact with a d/f parent.

  the child later gets married, is inviting the parent seen as ''necessary family business''?.

  if a wedding is not, then what is?.

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  MrMonroe

  Pirata nails it. The definition is left intentionally loose so that it can be interpreted by the local BOE. If they want to crucify you they have carte blanche.
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  41

  Has your anger turned to pity?

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  getting through the tough steps toward real freedom from the wts involves a lot of work for some.

  many, start out angry that their authentic lives were hampered by a high-control group of men posing as god's organization.

  we feel robbed of something we can't quite put our finger on sometimes.

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  MrMonroe

  I feel a mix of anger and pity. At school when I pick my kids up I see Witnesses I used to mix with, and I often think about the "friends" who studied with me and introduced me to this organisation. And I feel a measure of pity and sorrow for them that they're still trapped, as I was for more than 20 years.

  But then I figure, I had the brains to analyse and inspect my religion. I found the resources to do so. They just haven't. As the famous Walter Salter letter said, " 'A man who cannot think is an idiot, a man who won't think is a fool, and a man who is afraid to think is a coward.' I absolutely refuse to have any person do my thinking for me."

  They can all choose to live their lives in submission to a group of old men who sit around a mahogany table in Brooklyn, or they can take control of their own lives. It's their choice.

  Yet they continue to regard me with pity and contempt because I "slacked off" or "lost faith" or become "seduced by the world" or want to "enjoy the temporary pleasure of sin" or whatever lie they believe. Idiots.
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  65

  Watchtower -

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs
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  MrMonroe
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  23

  Yet another July 15th 2011 WT thread...use caution--deconstruction at work

  by sd-7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i figured i'd start off by just examining the language used in the july 15th, 2011 watchtower, page 15-16, paragraphs 4-7.. apostates are like:.

  1. ravenous wolves.

  9. their own ideas.

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  MrMonroe

  Well considered. Many thanks, sd7. That's brilliant. Don Cameron in his Captives of a Concept book similarly compared the them-and-us language which provided a stark contrast between the terms describing the organization and those they perceived as its enemies. Reading it in a list as you (and he) have done underlines the point so well.
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  65

  Watchtower -

  by jwfacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs
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  MrMonroe
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  10

  BEHOLD! A more dumbed down Watchtower!

  by pubtruth in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  they just released a "simplified english" version of the watchtower... "it is very important that everyone understands.

  the information that we study.

  in thewatchtower each week.

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  MrMonroe

  Online definition of "apostate": "A person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle."

  JW Simplified WT defiinition: "People who rebel against true worship and abandon it." (page 11)

  The dictionary definition would mean that anyone leaving another religion to become a JW is an apostate. The JW definition boils it down to anyone who leaves Jehovah's Witnesses because they disagree with that religion's teachings.
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  138

  July 15th WT out - Coming out Swinging at Apostates Hard

  by LostGeneration in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  this is one of the most aggressive watchtowers i think i have ever read.. four study articles on not "following the crowd" not following unrealities(page 13) not following false teachers, meaning apostates of course(p 15).

  avoiding false teachers means "refusing to read their literature, watch tv programs that feature them, examine their web sites, or add comments to their blogs.

  (para 7, pg 16).

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  MrMonroe

  Page 18-19: "Show personal interest in others, but do so in ways that respect their privacy and that do not take away their dignity. Remember, too, that we should not impose our own views on others regarding matters that they need to decide for themselves."

  From an organisation that has the highest regard for individual dignity and is very respectful of a healthy divergence of viewpoints within Christianity.