truth_b_known

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Posts by truth_b_known

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  12

  How Fear is Weaponized

  by Sea Breeze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  fear is used by politicians, marketeers, social scientists, military psy-ops tacticians and just about anyone who wants to manipulate or destabilize another.

  to illustrate, look at this 1964 political ad by pres.

  johnson against barry goldwater:.

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  truth_b_known

  Love and Fear are the two base emotions. All other emotions stem from them. The very word "emotion" comes from the Latin "to move." That is to say to cause someone to take action.

  All fear and anxiety are is the human brain trying to prolong the life of itself. Your brain causes you to concentrate on past pain and the anxiety of future pain to work out a solution to avoid said future pain. Pain from the past and anxiety of the future create prison that robs you of joy, peace, and happiness. Living in the present is important because that is the only place life really exists.

  Western culture is obsessed with preserving the Self. It teaches that each person is separate. We are taught as children this and we create this fictitious persona that fears coming to an end. That is why Christianity is obsessed with salvation. Salvation is nothing more than giving your ego immortality so it can rest easy at night.

  Like all other living organisms, humans do not have and never had "everlasting life." We are born. We live and then we die to make room so other have a chance to live.

  Fear of death isn't the real issue. It is fear of not living forever that is the issue. Once a person no longer desires to live forever religious control groups no longer have control over the individual.
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  28

  Mental Illness among JW's

  by Victor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  disclaimer: this article has some broad generalizations that will have exceptions to what is stated.

  this is the only way i can even attempt to address the topic.

  i've looked for scholarly articles published on peer reviewed journals for years.

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  truth_b_known

  Back in the 70s & 80s my father was a big mover and shaker withing the realm of the Watchtower. He had been recruited by the Watchtower to make a documentary on District Conventions back in the 80s. A previous project he started on his own was looking into mental illness among Jehovah's Witnesses.

  My fathers findings were that there was a higher percentage of mentally ill among JWs than other Christian sects and that JWs seemed to attract the mentally ill into their ranks. He was told to bury his research.

  I personally saw many mentally ill recruiting into the Witnesses. In fact, most coming in who are not born-ins tended to live in poverty, be mentally ill, or both. What was sad was how many of these who suffer from mental illness were told to stop taking their meds and seeing doctors. They were told that there mental illness was actually demons and that they needed to rely on Jehovah, not medicine, for help.
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  68

  Unwritten, congregational 'rules'

  by Thetruthhurts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  what were some of yours?

  the big one in our hall was no frontal hugs!

  these were generally thought of as inappropriate, only side hugs should be given between sisters and brothers.

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  truth_b_known

  At one time men were not allowed to give parts unless they wore a white dress shirt. I was told there were congregations that had spare white dress shirts just in case a brother with a part showed up with a colored shirt on.

  You have to wear a suit to deliver the public talk. A sports coat and slacks was not allowed.
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  13

  TV actress Ja'Net Dubois has passed away.

  by NoAbuse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  she was very active in the 1970's then kind of faded away.

  i remember her mostly as "weezy" on 'the jeffersons' but she also played the mother 'mrs.

  evans' on 'good times'.

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  truth_b_known

  I believe she wrote and performed the opening theme song for the Jeffersons..
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  9

  Baptisms exceeding 300K last year – a possible reason

  by Viva la Vida in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  two facts to consider: 1) most baptisms take place during assemblies and conventions; 2) the theocratic year goes from september to august.

  my theory: the borg changed the calendar of conventions and assemblies so to concentrate the baptisms in a single theocratic year.

  if some conventions used to take place in july/august, for the 2018 series they moved them to september.

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  truth_b_known

  Just wait until the Watchtower starts having infant baptisms at the Kingdom Hall.
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  7

  Why does the Borg never use the terms Grace or Ezer

  by HiddenPimo in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  let me start with: this is not a discussion of the validity of the bible or whether it is inspired of god.. my question is why do you think they don't use grace in their teachings when this is such paramount teaching in the rest of the christian world.

  and why do they not reference the hebrew word for helper in genesis 'ezer'.

  this word as applied to a woman seems more dignified as it carries the connotation of strength where the man is weak.

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  truth_b_known

  Cofty summed it up well.

  Grace is a Biblical/New Testament concept. Jesus died to cover the sins of mankind. According to the Watchtower, this is not so.
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  9

  People Were More Ingenious in the Past

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  ok, you'll have to bear with me with this one.. i want to talk about toasters.

  a) a toaster you can buy today, any brand.

  b) a toaster invented in 1948. for a bonus, how long do you think a toaster purchased today will keep working?

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  truth_b_known

  Why pay $100.00 for a Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster when you can purchase a plastic toaster made in a Chinese sweatshop that will last 12 months for $15.00 at Wal-Mart? Ooooooh....
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  46

  Believers: How do you know your view of your chosen holy book is the correct one?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  don't start fighting, darlings.

  i am genuinely curious.

  after all i was a jobo 50 years and thought the wbt$ was 100% correct.. i ask this because i see that, for example, christian denominations (or whatever), likely have differing interpretations of the same writing.

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  truth_b_known

  Why just one book? I have started reading several religious texts. The Holy Bible. Buddhist texts. Hindu texts. Daoist texts. At some point I'll crack open the Koran and give it a read over.

  I find certain common threads that run through the all. Those are the teachings that lead to true happiness, joy, and peace. Religion is a belief. Spiritualism is having faith. Belief clings to an opinion and denies anything contrary to it. Faith is letting go and accepting the truth of reality.
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  8

  Exiting the JW's and its aftermath

  by Victor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as human beings we are capable of experiencing around 750 emotions.

  parents use fear, guilt and shame to control their children to behave and do as they wish.

  the jw's are masters at using the same 3 emotions to keep their members in check.

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  truth_b_known

  The brain is an organ of the body. Like any other organ, its purpose is to keep the body alive. One way it does this is it constantly goes over painful events of the past and it causes anxiety over the future. It does this to force us to analyze these things to prevent future pain. The problem is that we neither live in the past of the future. We only live in the present.

  By living in the present we come to the reality that there is real happiness, joy, and peace to be had right now.
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  50

  King David's Three Choices

  by Jehalapeno in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  editor's note: found this on reddit...thought the meat of the post would be a good post for discussion here as well.. consider the three choices god forced upon david for taking a census.

  these three choices were forced on king david, not for murdering people, not for raping women, not for lying, stealing, or any crime we can think of in our modern world that is repugnant, but simply for taking a census or in other words, counting people.. for counting people, jehovah forced a decision on david that involved the lives of thousands upon thousands of innocent people.. the choices all dealt with the “way” jehovah would kill thousands of unsuspecting loyal worshipers.. 1 chronicles 21.

  “these are the choices the lord has given you.

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  truth_b_known

  Just throwing something out there under this scenario -

  1. This never happened. There was no "king David". There is no YHWH. Therefor, YHWH never made David play the ultimate game of "Would you rather...?"

  2. This did happen. There is a YHWH. Insert implications including "who are we as mere mortals to tell the Almighty what is good and what is bad?"

  3. Neither 1 or 2.