Posts by Marvin Shilmer

7

Manipulation of child minds

by Marvin Shilmer in

today i read a comment on my blog about an image found in a 1958 watchtower publication titled from paradise lost to paradise regained.

it reminded me of what went through my mind back in those years.

watchtower meeting agendas were notoriously boring with the result of children (including teenagers) spending their time looking at pictures in great detail.

Marvin Shilmer

OMG! I grew up with that book and remember those illustrations. They worried and frightened me because I knew, just knew...........I was never going to make it!!

I can't tell you how many middle-age JWs have told me that, as children, they lost sleep at night worried sick they were not good enough to make it through Armageddon. Nearly every one of these recounted the very image discussed here. As recounted to me, the fear was heightened to nearly unbearable levels on nights of bad weather with lots of thunder and lightening.

323

Question and answers for fisherperson regardingy time at bethel

by _Morpheus in

so fisherperson sent me a pm asking a bunch of questions re my time at beth hell.

rather than respond in a pm i will post the q/a here as i have nothing to hide.

q:what years did you serve in brooklyn bethel?

Marvin Shilmer

Wrong. And even if you were right, the net of this is you complaining over nothing and pretending to know things you don't.

I'm right. You're out to lunch with your comment that wannaexit was "trying to have authority". Sharing an opinion to a group that "we should all move on" is in no ways an attempt at authority; it is no more than sharing an opinion as a recommendation. It's pure lunacy on your part to make more out of this as you have, alleging an effort to "have authority". I don't pretend to know this, I do know this. It's common usage spanning many cultures, including English speaking ones.

Within guidelines of this forum wannaexit (and you and me, and everyone else here!) does have purview to share opinions, including a recommendation that the group should move on for whatever.

323

Question and answers for fisherperson regardingy time at bethel

by _Morpheus in

so fisherperson sent me a pm asking a bunch of questions re my time at beth hell.

rather than respond in a pm i will post the q/a here as i have nothing to hide.

q:what years did you serve in brooklyn bethel?

Marvin Shilmer

This was a lot more fun when ...

Yes. Now we're down to us mere commoners bickering over nits. It must be a slow day... somewhere.

323

Question and answers for fisherperson regardingy time at bethel

by _Morpheus in

so fisherperson sent me a pm asking a bunch of questions re my time at beth hell.

rather than respond in a pm i will post the q/a here as i have nothing to hide.

q:what years did you serve in brooklyn bethel?

Marvin Shilmer

Of course it's not an attempt. Wanna exit offered her opinion, unsolicited, to tell the entire group what to do. In response she got an answer. She didn't like the answer, she was given free and accurate advice on how to avoid not liking the consequence of her actions.
As far as what "getting used" to things, I am used to people making unfounded and wrong assumptions, like whether or not I am annoyed. You've done nothing more than be utterly ordinary in not knowing what you don't know and thinking you do

How Vivianesque of you.

wannaexit shared an opinion. You did too. One's no more an attempt to "have authority" than the other. Both are completely normal and acceptable.

28

Did you know WTBTS applied for Holocaust compensation?

by umbertoecho in

did you know that the wtbts applied for these compensation funds?

i had no idea and if this has already been addressed then so be it.

i find it interesting due to the fact that so much is made of the jws being in camps during ww2 and nothing else is expressed about the other millions who died in these camps.

Marvin Shilmer

The Watchtower organization has a rather extensive legal department and makes use of it in novel ways, one of which is to find circumstances where it can establish billable hours for new money.

My opinion is the above is one of those instances. Added to this is a presumed likelihood that some recipients will end up bequeathing monies owed them to Watchtower coffers.

Another, more recent, example of this is, in my opinion, the lawsuit filed by Watchtower over the Warwick construction site alleging pollution. You can bet your bottom dollar Watchtower's banking billable hours that it will ask to be paid as part of any settlement. It won't matter whether the case has merit. The only thing that will matter is whether it's less expensive to settle the thing than pay even more lawyers to fight it further.

7

Manipulation of child minds

by Marvin Shilmer in

today i read a comment on my blog about an image found in a 1958 watchtower publication titled from paradise lost to paradise regained.

it reminded me of what went through my mind back in those years.

watchtower meeting agendas were notoriously boring with the result of children (including teenagers) spending their time looking at pictures in great detail.

Marvin Shilmer

Yep, that little girl/puppy picture (also the foot-on-the-snake picture) have been indelibly imprinted on my mind.

Not too long ago at a medical round table I was approached by two mental health specialists and each recounted middle-age JW patients who brought up those very images. These providers said the patients were haunted by the illustrations, in particular the one with the little girl and puppy being killed at Armageddon. It is beyond paradoxical to tell a child God loves you, but even as a child God will kill you and your puppy (and throw your doll in an abyss!) because your parents aren't living right. It is mental abuse. That's what it is!

323

Question and answers for fisherperson regardingy time at bethel

by _Morpheus in

so fisherperson sent me a pm asking a bunch of questions re my time at beth hell.

rather than respond in a pm i will post the q/a here as i have nothing to hide.

q:what years did you serve in brooklyn bethel?

Marvin Shilmer

...if you don't like being called out for trying to have authority where you have none, then stop doing that.

wannaexit did not try to have authority where she/he has none. wannaexit did no more than share an opinion. Folks have them. Get used to folks sharing them. Otherwise you'll forever find yourself annoyed and attempting to 'call out' behavior that is perfectly normal and acceptable.

"If ...then stop doing that"? Oh dear! Is that an attempt to have authority where you have none?

7

Manipulation of child minds

by Marvin Shilmer in

today i read a comment on my blog about an image found in a 1958 watchtower publication titled from paradise lost to paradise regained.

it reminded me of what went through my mind back in those years.

watchtower meeting agendas were notoriously boring with the result of children (including teenagers) spending their time looking at pictures in great detail.

Marvin Shilmer

Today I read a comment on my blog about an image found in a 1958 Watchtower publication titled From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained. It reminded me of what went through my mind back in those years.

Watchtower meeting agendas were notoriously boring with the result of children (including teenagers) spending their time looking at pictures in great detail. Back in those days the kids were likely to get spanked for having anything other than a Watchtower publication in their hands to look at during a meeting. So what would they do? They'd exploit what they had in hand (a Watchtower publication) to relieve boredom.

Children would scrutinize those pictures in great detail, and Watchtower knew it. So what did those children find to look at in that 1958 book? An illustration of a little girl and puppy being killed by God at Armageddon.

Showing children horrific acts of violence carried out on innocent and defenseless victims has devastating effects on those children.

I remember looking at those pictures. I remember looking into the eyes of children who'd been staring at those pictures too.

323

Question and answers for fisherperson regardingy time at bethel

by _Morpheus in

so fisherperson sent me a pm asking a bunch of questions re my time at beth hell.

rather than respond in a pm i will post the q/a here as i have nothing to hide.

q:what years did you serve in brooklyn bethel?

Marvin Shilmer

Its a great thing to be a part of this community

Yes it is. Including the Fred Ziffels. If nothing else, entertainment abounds!

323

Question and answers for fisherperson regardingy time at bethel

by _Morpheus in

so fisherperson sent me a pm asking a bunch of questions re my time at beth hell.

rather than respond in a pm i will post the q/a here as i have nothing to hide.

q:what years did you serve in brooklyn bethel?

Marvin Shilmer

If I sent you a PM, would you publish it without my permission?

I might and I might not depending on multiple factors. As I've said before in this discussion, I've published many PMs sent to me.

When I send someone a personal letter or PM I've GIVEN something to that person. Read: IT IS THEIRS.

If I hold a preference of what should or should not be done with this gift then I should state that. Otherwise (OTHERWISE!!!) I've given something to another person based on trust of that person's moral and ethical standards to do with as they please because IT IS THEIRS; I GAVE IT to them. I gave it to them on trust based on THEIR moral and ethical standards. If, based on my standards, I later decide I misplaced trust then I cease trusting that person.

This is said from an ethical perspective and not a legal one, though these two perspectives often overlap.

As I said already, If you think _Morpheus betrayed you then my recommendation is that you don't trust him anymore. At this point all you're doing in this discussion is showing the south side of a north bound horse.