Posts by UnshackleTheChains

33

Why are the individuals who make up the Governing Body so deluded

by UnshackleTheChains in

surely these men must see what's going on.

if they can afford fancy pinky rings, they must have smart phones.

if they have smart phones, they must be inquisitive as to how they are perceived.

UnshackleTheChains

delude

dɪˈl(j)uːd/

verb

past tense: deluded; past participle: deluded

make (someone) believe something that is not true.

"too many theorists have deluded the public"

mislead, deceive, fool, take in, trick, dupe, hoodwink, double-cross, gull, beguile, lead on;

cheat, defraud, swindle;

informalcon, bamboozle, pull the wool over someone's eyes, pull a fast one on, lead up the garden path, take for a ride,

..

58

Just a quick Poll...Do you think the GB is sincere?

by NikL in

jw
friends

i've been thinking about this the past few days and curious what the honest consensus is here just for fun.. show of hands,.

is the governing body.... a: completely sincere.

they really do believe what they teach.. b: somewhat sincere.

They MUST know that things aren't right. There is too much out there for them not to know. Personally, I think they are fully aware, but HAVE TO put on a front to keep the boat steady. Fear is also a major factor. Mess with us or else. Ray Franz is testament of that!

33

Has Anyone Ever Just Gotten Mad and "Popped" an Elder?

by Cold Steel in

it has to have happened.

people get stressed out, an elder or overseer takes just two steps over the line and gets a fat lip for his trouble.. does that ever happen?

or maybe someone "counsels" a brother at the wrong time and tempers flare at the old kingdom hall?.

UnshackleTheChains

There was one elder in my old hall I couldn't stand. His lofty, arrogant, ignorant, uncaring attitude toward me and others annoyed me big time. I often imagined the satisfaction I would have felt by kicking this smarmy AH right up the hole with a pair of pointed steel toed shoes on!

33

Why are the individuals who make up the Governing Body so deluded

by UnshackleTheChains in

surely these men must see what's going on.

if they can afford fancy pinky rings, they must have smart phones.

if they have smart phones, they must be inquisitive as to how they are perceived.

UnshackleTheChains

I give them the benefit of the doubt that they are actually deluded and beleive their own teachings. Many of us were deluded at one time too

Yes, but I find it incredible given that so much has gone under the bridge so to speak. As a group of men, they surely have meetings to discuss serious matters. Eg the many court cases re child abuse allegations, the ARC hearings, the large amount of critism coming at them from all angles through the media. Yet life goes on at JW.Org like nothing has or is happening. We still see the members of the GB smiling and talking into the camera on jw broadcasting like everything is just so very very perfect. It reminds me of a colleague who always humourously said 'oh well....Never mind' regardless.

What's' more, you never hear a whisper about 'anything' at the hall between members, even close friends! It's simply astounding.

Any psychologist would find JWs and their leadership an interesting but baffling study group in relation to cognitive thinking and behaviours!

33

Why are the individuals who make up the Governing Body so deluded

by UnshackleTheChains in

surely these men must see what's going on.

if they can afford fancy pinky rings, they must have smart phones.

if they have smart phones, they must be inquisitive as to how they are perceived.

UnshackleTheChains

The comments here answer the question quite well. But deep down, surely there must be one or two among them with a conscience. If they search deep enough within their own souls, the many controversial issues out there must be having an impact.

As a collective body of men, they have managed to make a somewhat odd religion into one of the most controversial religions on the planet, for all the wrong reasons!

Reasoning with these men is virtually impossible. They will be their own downfall.

33

Why are the individuals who make up the Governing Body so deluded

by UnshackleTheChains in

surely these men must see what's going on.

if they can afford fancy pinky rings, they must have smart phones.

if they have smart phones, they must be inquisitive as to how they are perceived.

UnshackleTheChains

Why?

Surely these men must see what's going on. If they can afford fancy pinky rings, they must have smart phones. If they have smart phones, they must be inquisitive as to how they are perceived. If they are inquisitive as to how they (the GB) are perceived, then they will be reading all sorts of things about them - critical or not!

So why are they deluded?

17

JW's efforts to block sex abuse inquiry squashed

by darkspilver in

fyi.

the guardian, tuesday 4 april 2017. jehovah’s witnesses congregation's efforts to block inquiry squashed.

tribunal rejects claim investigation into charity’s handling of sexual abuse allegations amounts to religious discrimination.

UnshackleTheChains

It sickens me why they (the so called FDS) go to such great lengths to get in the way of Justice toward their own members who have been hurt and emotionally scarred.

The GB members sitting up there in their ivory tower MUST surely.... SURELY now see the writing on the wall, when every stupid thing they do is exposed for all to see via the internet.

37

GB asks every JW to give Putin their home address

by MrHappy in

jw's around the globe have been encouraged to write letters to putin and the russian government.

they are expected to give their personal details on the envelope.

i appreciate that this might be normal when writing to your own government if they are tolerant, but is this not a bit strange that the gb want to give putin the address of every jw in the world?

UnshackleTheChains

I sent this letter to the GB recently, I wanted to highlight the fact that I gave my address details to Putin, but avoided giving my details to the GB. My letter explains why

Dear Members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses

I wish to write to you to let know that I ‘supported’ my wife to write the following letter to President Vladimir Putin. She asked me to do this and I complied. Why? Well the reason I did so was because I strongly felt it was deeply unfair of the Russian Government to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses and restrict their freedom of worship.

The reason I did so was because I was brought up in a country which at one time was ruled by a very powerful empire for many centuries. Restrictive measures and outright bans were placed on ‘A’ particular religion within this country for lengthy periods of time, despite the fact that the majority of people within that country practiced that particular religion. They often had to practice their religion in secret! Such repression was completely wrong and unjust by the so called ‘civilised authorities’ of this empire. It was the wholesale disregard of a people to practice their faith freely. Repression at its very ugliest! Though Jehovah’s Witnesses are considered a small religion in Russia, I strongly feel that any such bans are an affront to religious freedom. I have very strong feelings about this. It is for this reason I helped my wife write the following letter which you can now read.

……………..

UK

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin

23 Ilyinka Str

Moscow

Russian Federation

103132

28.03.17

Dear President Putin,

My husband and I write this letter with deep respect to ask that you use your influence to avoid banning Jehovah’s Witnesses from worshipping within your country.

We write to you from the UK and are thinking dearly of our fellow Christians in Russia. We deeply respect you as President of Russia and the Russian nation. Our places of worship (Kingdom Halls) are used to worship our God Jehovah and enable us to learn how we can follow closely the fine example of his son Jesus Christ. Our Kingdom Halls are used to read and discuss the bible to help us to love and respect people everywhere.

We are a peaceful loving people who show respect for the rule of law in whichever land we reside in. We respect the Russian Government and the laws of Russia.

We ask that you please prevent action being taken against our Russian brothers, so that they can be allowed to attend their meetings freely, as we need our places of worship to fellowship and encourage one another.

Thank you for taking the time to read our letter

Yours sincerely

……………

As you can see from our letter, we are very sincerely appealing to President Putin to prevent action being taken against the witnesses. In that being said, I would like to highlight something which you will have obviously noticed. As you can see, I have taken out our names and address. Yet, in the letter we sent to Vladimir Putin, our names and address are included. So why have I not included our names and addresses to you (the Governing Body).

Well, sadly, in all honesty, I am in more fear of you (the Governing Body) than I am of Vladimir Putin. Why? Well, because it is highly unlikely that Vladimir Putin is going to take any action against us for sending our letter. I don’t expect any repercussions personally from Vladimir Putin.

In contrast however, if I had given you my actual name and address when sending you this letter, it is highly possible that the elders of my hall would eventually get word about my letter to you and hence question me about it, which could lead to consequences in line with your own strict policies. That for me is too high a risk to take. You see, I love my family, I have a strong bond with my relatives and friends who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. It would therefore be fool hardy to give my details. I find it very sad that I cannot be open with you, but that is the kind of fear you have over people like me because of your very own policies and teachings.

So the reason I am writing to you is to point out that I whole heartedly agree that Vladimir Putins injustice toward Jehovah’s Witnesses is wrong and unfair. That we can agree on. But YOUR very own injustice is also wrong and unfair! Your policies which have been developed over the past 100 years are repressive to me AND thousands and thousands of other people world wide.

Some of your policies - including the very strict shunning of family members (particularly those who officially wish to leave – ie disassociate), your very strict policy on blood (not allowing an individual to use their own conscience on such an important medical matter); your very inadequate flawed child safeguarding policy; your teachings against higher education?; your intrusion and high control over peoples lives; not allowing people to use their own conscience when it comes to birthdays or other harmless events of the year such as mothers day without the fear of being pulled up by the elders; the obligatory compliance for every baptized individual to hand in field service reports (feelings of guilt only leads to loss of the volunteer spirit); the restrictions on brothers not being allowed to express their views independently on scripture or question ‘questionable’ teachings emanating from headquarters; your policies on dress and grooming (brothers frowned upon for growing beards/women frowned upon for wearing slacks at the Kingdom Hall); the importance and praise given to the Governing Body - so often mentioned at the meetings, in prayer and in our literature; the very apparent sidelining of Jesus (Yes Jesus our Messiah-our anointed King to which every knee should bend in heaven and on earth)

Like the letter we sent to Mr Putin, this is also a letter of appeal to you (The members of the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses) to ask that you please stop the repression of thought and intrusive control over millions of people earth wide. Please let us have liberty in Christ as Christians so that we can practice our faith freely and without fear. Please return to the days when Charles Taze Russell originally set up the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society for the production of literature to encourage and build up Christians everywhere, in a spirit of love.

The WTB&TS of pennsylvania was not ‘A’ religious society back then; but just a business organisation! Charles Taze Russell even mentioned this in his magazine.

Firstly, in his 1884 Charter or statement of its purpose when registering as an organisation, he said the following

‘it was for "the mental, moral and religious improvement of men and women, by teaching the Bible by means of the publication and distribution of Bibles, books, papers, pamphlets and other Bible literature, and by providing oral lectures free for the people".

In his magazine, Russell explained that the Watch Tower Society was not a "religious society", but just a business organization with no set of official beliefs. http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_Tower_Bible_and_Tract_Society_of_Pennsylvania

Christians could take it or leave it back then, agree to disagree, yet they felt upbuilt in their faith. They were allowed to question and give their views on subjects. The society didn’t use pharisaic style handbooks (elders handbooks) containing endless restrictive rules leading to an atmosphere of repression of thought.

So Brothers, my appeal to you is to bring about some sort of reform that will bring an end to the injustice and repression of thought many of us have been feeling and experiencing for a very long time. Please allow each Congregation a greater measure of autonomy, similar to the autonomy that the Congregations had in the first century. That way Jesus our Messiah and King (the head of the Christian Congregation), the Holy Spirit and Gods inspired word (the bible) will enable the shepherds of each Congregation to lead the flock in a spirit of love, joy and mercy in their worship of Jehovah/Yahweh God.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.

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