Posts by Marvin Shilmer

18

What's so great about the Elder's School???

by DATA-DOG in

i have a friend who is an eldub and he just completed elder's school!

what did he learn?

as far as i can tell, he learned:.

Marvin Shilmer

Nothing is great about elder schools. They're tiresome and an utter waste of time.

8

The Status of DO`s , Co`s , Zone Servants , or their equivalents , nowadays .

by smiddy in

i am just trying to figure out who is an employer and an employee as opposed to a volunteer in this organisation .. are the governing body members of the wtb&ts employers ?

do they consider themselves volunteers ?.

are anybody male or female under their jurisdiction employee`s ?

Marvin Shilmer

Are the Governing Body members of the WTB&TS employers ?

The Watchtower organization and it's adoring followers have been giving cagey answers to that question for a long, long time and probably for many and varied reasons.

So, for instance, when asked on his WWII draft registration card his employer's name and address, Fredrick Franz answered with "Administrator of the Gospel under direction of Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society."

The most direct written statement from a high ranking Watchtower corporate officer admitting an employer/employee relationship exists within the Watchtower structure is found in a letter dated December 17, 1943 and signed by then Watchtower President Nathan Homer Knorr. In this letter to the US Secretary of State Knorr wrote in his capacity as President and "as employer". This is a very rare instance of Watchtower admitting a status of employer in writing.

Just to finish the Knorr story, in a separate letter also dated December 17, 1943 Knorr wrote to the US Secretary of State on behalf of his private secretary, Milton George Henschel. He attached a copy of his letter written "as employer" in order to secure a passport for his secretary.

So in this instance (dated I know!) we have a corporate officer writing in their official capacity and declaring themselves "employer" and in tandem we have another letter making request for a secretary of the corporation as that secretary's employer.

Though dated, this might be the only known instance of Watchtower admitting in writing an employer/employee relationship between itself and staff.

9

JW Blood Doctrine Constitutes Idolatry

by TTATTelder in

if you sacrifice your life for something - that is devotion to the highest degree and can in certain context constitute worship.. .

as has been discussed many times on this forum, the blood doctrine of being willing to sacrifice life to honor a symbol of life (blood) is ludicrous (see this excellent thread by cofty http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/273265/my-explanation-why-they-got-wrong-about-blood-using-only-nwt?page=1).

it is also idolatry.... .

Marvin Shilmer

A person who sacrifices their wife (or child, or anyone else) to preserve a photo of their wife (or child, or anyone else) is assigning a higher priority to the photo than the real thing. Aside from such a person being a lunatic, whether that prioritization is worship is debatable depending on how a person understands the term worship.

Regarding blood and symbolism the Watchtower organization holds two competing doctrines:

- On one hand it says blood is a symbol for life and we should be willing to sacrifice life out of regard for that symbol.

- On the other hand it says a symbol is not as important as the thing it symbolizes.

These two doctrinal positions collide the moment a decision must be made about whether a person's life should or shouldn't have priority over how they treat the supposed symbol of life.

See: Blood as important as life?

34

RELIGION AND MENTAL ILLNESS!!!

by ADJUSTMENTS in

jw
friends

i have have come to realize most "rank and file" jw's are mentally unstable-to-ill and here is why.... http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/mental-issues.php.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/religious_delusion.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/religion_and_schizophrenia.

Marvin Shilmer

steve2,

I agree with what you write on this issue.

Probably the best study available on the subject is found in a 1983 article in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (MacDonald and Luckett, Religious Affiliation and Psychiatric Diagnoses, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1983, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 15-37).

Findings of that article do not suggest there is more psychoses among Jehovah’s Witnesses compared with other religious affiliations. The study did include a category of "no religious preference" but compared with the various religious categories this group had it's own issues with the paramount one being alcoholism.

I have a short article addressing this study if readers are interested. See: Jehovah’s Witnesses and psychiatric diagnoses?

25

'Tracing All Things With Accuracy' - How the Watchtower Society's Writing Department never makes a mistake

by jwleaks in

from the 2011 yearbook of jehovah's witnesses.. source: 'tracing all things with accuracy'.

tracing all things with accuracy.

jesus said that the faithful slave would be discreet in giving the domestics their food at the proper time.

Marvin Shilmer

Accuracy and Watchtower's Writing Department

An Example of -- cough cough -- accuracy: Death from TRALI?

34

RELIGION AND MENTAL ILLNESS!!!

by ADJUSTMENTS in

jw
friends

i have have come to realize most "rank and file" jw's are mentally unstable-to-ill and here is why.... http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/mental-issues.php.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/religious_delusion.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/religion_and_schizophrenia.

Marvin Shilmer

-

Jehovah's Witnesses and mental illness at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/09/mental-illness.html

108

"Jehovah ALWAYS had/used an organization". How would you reply?

by EdenOne in

in a recent meeting with elders, an argument was used to the effect that jehovah has always [= throughout history] used, or operated through, an organization; therefore, the wts must be that organization today, since god must be using one.

naturally, i know what arguments i've used to counter that argument.

but i'm interested in hearing yours.

Marvin Shilmer

I just answer saying, No.

If I'm asked why I'd point out what some have already pointed out here, that even the Society acknowledges there was no central organization God was using for nearly 2,000 years. I'd say that's a gap.

10

Usage of FDS and Faithful Slave.

by runForever in

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Marvin Shilmer

Thanks Splash for pointing out that particular article and how often it repeats the phrase. I've added the reference to my blog article on Watchtower's brainwashing.

23

Consequences of staying on the recommended Hotel list

by Samaritan At the Well in

i wanted to share an experience i had and see if anyone else had encountered this same matter.

we always tried to make an extra effort to ensure we stood on the approved hotel lists when going to our special day conventions or district conventions or what they now call regional.

we use to stay many nights a year and i would save up my hotel points to use at a later time.. i remember checking in at popular chain hotel and asked the hotel clerk how many points would i earn for the 3 night stay?

Marvin Shilmer

It was happening all the time, and is still going on.

I have points status at a couple of hotel chains and I watch my points pretty close. When I learned about this points stealing scheme many years ago I would still stay at the designated hotel but would rebook under my points and get the stay that way rather than letting Watchtower just rip my off.

10

Usage of FDS and Faithful Slave.

by runForever in

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Marvin Shilmer

Watchtower's repetitive usage of "faithful slave" (or the abbreviated version: "the slave") is very telling. Watchtower once wrote about repetitive usage of terms, and why it's done.

See: Watchtower Identifies Brainwashing