Posts by konceptual99

13

"Don't you want our kids to have what we had?"

by schnell in

my wife just asked me this.

my answer, in no uncertain terms, is no.

we both grew up in the dub religion.

konceptual99

You are correct Room 215 in that there are indeed many liberally minded JWs - I was one. The problem is that all the time these ones mitigate for the organisation's faults and allow the cognitive dissonance to work against their better judgement they are locked into the basic control mechanisms that prevent one from becoming mentally free.

It's almost worse for me that my wife remains in this state as if she were an uber loyal fundamentalist as I could feel less aggrieved at what is essentially wilful ignorance. She is quite capable of grasping the issues but cannot get over the CD. I can't blame her as she is as much of a victim of circumstance as I was but it actually requires even more CD when you have a more "balanced" worldview since there is less of what is normal to most people that you outright reject.

13

"Don't you want our kids to have what we had?"

by schnell in

my wife just asked me this.

my answer, in no uncertain terms, is no.

we both grew up in the dub religion.

konceptual99

I am in a very similar boat. Only yesterday I used the nonsense spouted in the public talk about 1.9 billion hours, 260k baptised, 9 mill bible studies to try and reiterate to my wife what a joke this is. I reminded her that this equates to 7300 hours spent in the ministry to get one person in. I compared the 8 million witnesses to just 9 million studies - just over 1 per publisher. I explained to her that the net gain last year was just 18k.

I tried use the fact that in just about 10 years or even less Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other web sites had gone from nothing to monsters of the internet with a ubiquitous global reach. I asked her why the holy spirit was not acting on the GB to give them similar success? I suggested that the work was simply not about the urgent preaching of a life saving message, as proposed by the public speaker, but rather a complete waste of time. How is standing by carts for hours on end talking to nobody manifesting a sense of urgency? How is the inability of the GB to reach billions of people in many lands a global preaching work? How is 260k new ones in one year anywhere near enough to meet the needs of the net 120k people added every day to the world population?

Her answer? Perhaps Jehovah wants us simply to be out there, being busy. Perhaps this is how he wants the preaching done. I can't believe the irony of her own words were so lost on her. She's not stupid, just blind, the same as I was for years. She won't see until she wants to, if ever.

13

REAL Community service now allowed?

by ab.ortega in

at watchtowers website there is an undated article under "helping the community" relating how in 2015, jw's from russia participated in the 'springtime beautification of the city'.

it is not stated but more than likely this had to do with preparations for some assembly or something.

a group of witness going out to clean the community just for goodwill - i don't see it happening.

konceptual99

Thanks for the clarification IM. It's even worse than simply trying to suck up to the authorities.

39

The increasing WT magazine

by darkspilver in

jw
friends

apart from the interesting block color change for the title strip on the front page.... the new 2017 wt mag has some new (updated printing figures):.

2016: produced each issue: 58,987,000 available in 282 languages .

2017: produced each issue: 61,651,000 available in 294 languages.

konceptual99

Don't forget that now the carts are loaded up with magazines.

13

REAL Community service now allowed?

by ab.ortega in

at watchtowers website there is an undated article under "helping the community" relating how in 2015, jw's from russia participated in the 'springtime beautification of the city'.

it is not stated but more than likely this had to do with preparations for some assembly or something.

a group of witness going out to clean the community just for goodwill - i don't see it happening.

konceptual99

Agree with Steve. I think it's a bit of a publicity stunt to try and demonstrate JWs are just normal citizens who like to perform their civic duty.

42

November 1, 2016 TO ALL BODIES OF ELDERS Re: Using and Maintaining Kingdom Halls

by wifibandit in

november 1, 2016 to all bodies of elders re: using and maintaining kingdom halls.

table of contents.

ownership .........................................................................................pars.

konceptual99

The internet password thing is interesting. They will have to change the one at our hall and I wonder what they will say to my wife - will they ask her not to tell me?

As for all the other stuff.... at least the organisation is not one for binding people up with man made rules....

101

HELP needed from folks in UK, esp. in Scotland!

by WTS Archive in

jw
friends

tl;dr: if you live either in scotland or in other parts of uk and you don't mind traveling, you might be able to help a fellow ex-jw by being present during a courtcase where she alone has to face more than two dozens of jws who have ruined their business.

please contact me directly for details on when and where the court case will be held (i will know these details in few days probably).

ps.

konceptual99

No official change from the WTS but as WTS says there was a pointed reminder about inactive ones known to be committing sins.

The other aspect that could be coming into play is if there were lots of people from the same families working for the woman. The peer pressure for shunning compliance gets raised to another level when you have your own family doing the same.

It will be interesting to see the detail on this - I hope it comes thorough eventually.

33

Petr Muzny: A Law Professor Explains His Faith

by konceptual99 in

this is absolutely feckin' priceless.. https://www.jw.org/en/publications/videos/viewpoints-origin-of-life/petr-muzny-law-professor/.

in yet another appeal to authority, jw.org has trotted out a professional to vouch for creation.

this guy is a law professor.

konceptual99

Of course he his. Well qualified lawyers who are truly in are like rocking horse shite in the organisation so they make the most of them when they have them. I know of a sister who is a qualified lawyer in the Southampton area and they've performed a strapadicktomy on her so she can get involved in things beneficial to the organisation that normally is the preserve of the males only.

33

Petr Muzny: A Law Professor Explains His Faith

by konceptual99 in

this is absolutely feckin' priceless.. https://www.jw.org/en/publications/videos/viewpoints-origin-of-life/petr-muzny-law-professor/.

in yet another appeal to authority, jw.org has trotted out a professional to vouch for creation.

this guy is a law professor.

konceptual99

Interesting George. The irony just keeps on growing. I would assume that this guy is an elder and very likely supportive of the JC process. I doubt very much, however, that he has advocated for those wanting to simply leave the Witnesses without being forced into being shunned by relatives and former friends. I also doubt he has ever challenged the behaviour of his fellow elders, let alone the organisation, when witnessing injustice as a result of their pseudo-legalistic interpretation of iron-age laws.

As a trained logician, sceptical of the blind acceptance of assertions purported to be fact and a lawyer experienced in cases of human rights and religious freedom then he is absolutely shit at recognising cognitive dissonance in himself.

33

Petr Muzny: A Law Professor Explains His Faith

by konceptual99 in

this is absolutely feckin' priceless.. https://www.jw.org/en/publications/videos/viewpoints-origin-of-life/petr-muzny-law-professor/.

in yet another appeal to authority, jw.org has trotted out a professional to vouch for creation.

this guy is a law professor.

konceptual99

What on earth is a law professor doing commenting on creation vs evolution?

Well, for anyone out of the WTS it makes no sense. For anyone in then they LOVE a person with a worldly education ratifying their beliefs which is a massive irony given their hatred of further education for those already in.

Don't forget as well that the WTS is full of uneducated people spouting pseudo-science they picked up from WTS publications and answersingenesis.org (you know they type - every congregation has one or two) so anyone with an ACTUAL education is free to talk about any subject with authority.