Posts by Londo111

BTW...I suspect the reported 2015 baptism numbers are likely accidently misreported by an order an magnitude. I hope I'm wrong! We will see when the Yearbook comes out.

30

About my avatar

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

questions from readers .

say, who is that in your avatar slimboyfat?

from brother i. m. curious, usa.. that's archibald belaney aka grey owl.

Londo111

For some reason, I always thought that was a picture of Johnny Cash, the Man in Black. LOL.

6

The Myth of Two Sides

by Londo111 in

jw
friends

we have heard it said, he that is not on my side is against me... .

in watchtower world this was certainly the case.

watchtower world was fully good, while anyone not belonging to them was fully on the side of evil--classic cult black and white thinking.

Londo111

We have heard it said, “He that is not on my side is against me…”

In Watchtower world this was certainly the case. Watchtower world was fully good, while anyone not belonging to them was fully on the side of evil--classic cult black and white thinking. There is no middle ground, no fence. Anyone who sits of the fence is following the Devil whether they know it or not.

If one points out any criticism in teaching or practice, then they are on the other sides, they are following the enemy. After all, there are only two sides. One side cannot do wrong and the other side cannot do right.

In Watchtower world, political feuds abounded, especially when people had any “position”. Most elder bodies around the world are rife with politics. Personalities clashed, battles ensued. I know. I had family embroiled in these constantly. Sometimes they were winners, sometimes they were losers. Who was right? Who was wrong?

Now that I am outside of Watchtower world I realize they were like children on a playground behaving badly over some meaningless game. Often my family was as much the troublemakers as the other parties they were feuding against.

There are many who carry of this same spirit of contention. Normally, I try to duck and cover and be invisible. I am afraid of getting dragged into the muck rather than attempting to live a post-cult life. To me, Watchtower (not JWs) and other cults in general (not their members) are the big enemy.

Why? Because it is an evil that has affected my life. Of course, I don’t give it the same energy I used to--I just don’t have the energy anymore. I have done what little I could do. Even then, it was never about me. I was about helping JWs still trapped.

And it was never about battling against any one individual, but the “concept” that apparently holds even the Governing Body “captive”. Perhaps there are some individuals who knowingly pull the strings, but I do not think it has ever been proven. And besides if there are a shadowy cabal, I certainly don’t know their names to make it about individuals.

Back to the point, contention is a force of nature that has occurred before in the exJW community and will continue. The names will change but the song will remain the same. I have no illusion anyone will change that and certainly not anything I will say. But perhaps if anything I say makes sense, perhaps some individual will decide to not contribute to any feud. And if I ever get embroiled in such a thing, feel free to call me out on this and remind me of these words.

I have noticed in both sides to the current feud that has been going on that neither side can take criticism well. These camps seem to believe there are only two sides without neutral ground. If anyone offers criticism, they are assumed about being a follower of the other camp. In truth, there are those outside the two camps. They see clearly the flaws of both camps because they are not emotionally invested. They see both sides throwing gasoline of the fire. They see both sides guilty of bad argumentation. They see both sides guilty of what the other is accused of in slightly different ways. They see both sides doing some good work as well, but the storm that they both stew overshadows it.

I am not in either camp…or anyone’s camp but my own. Nor am I looking for people to be in my camp…my tent is not big enough.

20

Congregation in U.K. "executed"!

by The Searcher in

latest from a reliable source: .

"more news from the south-west of england.cinderford congregation has been terminated.

if you look on jw.org it hasn't disappeared yet (dec 20th 2015) but it's meeting time is shown as sunday at 10.00 am and that is not possible, as lydney who shared the same hall are listed as sunday at 10.30 am.cinderford and lydney shared a hall in parkend, lydney, gloucestershire.

Londo111

This is not unique and has been going on for a few years now in my area in the US.

9

They did not even use the library!

by GermanXJW in

jw
friends

mir, a participant in german board http://www.infolink-forum.de reports that he contacted the dag-hammarskjold-library and got the following reply from [email protected].

1. can anybody - following a request and explanation as set out above - use.

the library?

Londo111

And from what I understand using clippings leads to quotes out of context.

21

Is going into a church really THAT bad?

by Zana in

family background: my wife ("liberal" jw), me (ubm), two children aged 5 and 2.

(want more details?

-> http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/279456/raising-kids-jw-mother-agnostic-father).

Londo111

Watchtower interpretation of Babylon the Great:

All other religions are part of Babylon the Great, "the world empire of false religion", the dwelling place of demons. JWs are to "get out of her" and "touch nothing unclean".

73

Crisis of Conscience- World Wide Cease & Desist

by Newly Enlightened in

http://www.commentarypress.com/copyright/.

.

https://youtu.be/fdzzl453drq.

Londo111

They are ironically people who violated the very same copyright as the other guy they’ve been feuding against.

56

Privacy

by Esmeralda001 in

i need some advice guys.

how do you get people to mind their own buiseness without coming off as rude?.

i was invited to a jw gathering last night.

Londo111

Pioneers and high-hour publishers who tend to work in midweek field service form a gossip network. If you want to know what is going on in the congregation, go out in midweek field service with a gossipy pioneer and the whole car group will soon know, and then everyone else.

This is an unintended consequence of this culture. When a person does tedious task with little to show for all the work, going from empty house to empty house, riding from territory to territory to random return visits, and finding creative ways to make one’s time, eventually people run out of things to talk about. Gossip is an inevitable result. Anything that could be juicy or mildly interesting. It is just human nature, no matter how counseled against.

If the public knew how many records JWs took on them, they would be alarmed. Even if a person doesn’t answer the door, their address can be taken down on a not-at-home slip. If a person takes a magazine, a JW will write any detail about that person so they have details in their return visit book for later conversation. It's almost a "little black book" of interested ones.

Any perceived interest from a non-JW can be the subject of an “experience” that can be related to other JWs in the car group or at the Kingdom Hall when experiences are called for. Any detail a person brought up might be mentioned. Sometimes a JW will brainstorm with other JWs on how better to reason or reach such a person. No topic is off the table, no matter how private.

Of course, a “Bible study” will be talked about as well. As the expression “it takes a village to raise a kid”, the congregation mobilizes to help sort of raise a “spiritually immature one”. You are viewed as a spiritual child and they will try to “guide” you to “maturity”, that is to think and act just like they. As parents discuss a child, so too they can discuss too. Anything you’ve told your study conductor is easily fair game for discussion with other JWs.

In a cult, there is no such thing as privacy.