"That's why we must avoid taking notes from strangers in coffee shops, or even talking to strangers, except if it's to present them with the good news. Obey, and you will be blessed!" --WT 15 December 2014
Posts by Syme
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8Do you remember the girl in the coffee shop?
by quellycatface ini posted a few weeks back, about a young girl having a study in a local coffee shop.
the sister she was studying with i knew, from my ex kh.. i saw them again today.
i acted on the advice from my previous post and wrote a note.
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18
Selective Statistics & extraordinary JW claims
by Syme in* a jw family leave their crops and livestock unattained to go to a convention.
when they return, the crops and livestock are doing just fine.. * a desperate person is anxiously praying to god to give her a chance to know him.
even before the prayer is concluded, two jws knock at her door.. * a pioneer prefers to take leave from her work in order to attend the pioneer school, even though she's sure she'll be fired.
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Syme
* A JW family leave their crops and livestock unattained to go to a convention. When they return, the crops and livestock are doing just fine.
* A desperate person is anxiously praying to God to give her a chance to know Him. Even before the prayer is concluded, two JWs knock at her door.
* A pioneer prefers to take leave from her work in order to attend the Pioneer School, even though she's sure she'll be fired. When she returns, she learns that she has kept the job.
* A head of family decides to quit his job because it conficts with meetings and field service. Later, he finds a better-paying job with less hours.
* A teen JW decides to leave the truth and live a worldly life. A few years later he's a complete fail: drugs, depression, and between prison sentences.
What do all of the above stories have in common, provided that they are true and accurate?
In the WTS's official explanation, they are a proof that what the Organization teaches is always correct: that God provides when we obey his instructions, that angels guide the jws to find 'sheep', that failure is guaranteed if you leave the truth, etc.
In reality, these are all examples of Selection Bias, or as some call it, Selective Statistics.
Selective statistics is when you have a population from which to draw conclusions and you select only the samples that suit your story; the rest you just ignore them. It's easy to see that selective statistics is at the heart of most of extraordinary JW claims.
In the above-mentioned examples, consider: How many witnesses have taken absence from their work for 'theocratic' purposes and not got their job back? How many pioneers try like crazy to find a job and yet remain practically unemployed? How many jws in developing countries have left their crops/houses to attend convention and found them plundered or ruined? How many desperate people all around the globe pray every day to know God and God does not send his witnesses right after? How many young jws have left the 'truth' and have not failed in their life? No-one, not even one? Or is it the majority? Even if few of this counnter-expamples existed (they're not few), they would automatically debunk JW claims about 'Heveanly intervention'. Either way, pure (and not selective) statistics show that in the worldwide JW population, all these things follow a normal pattern as with every other population ...However, the examples that do not serve our 'purpose' have to be left out! Or else, how are we going to persuade the ignorant sheep, that don't have a clue about statistics and critical thinking?
(As you can imagine, selective statistics debunks not only the JW's claims, but also a lot of extraordinary claims like homeopathy, telepathy, etc, but this exceeds the purposes of this topic. There are a lot of good books on the subject, like Ben Goldacre's Bad Science and Michael Shermer's Why people believe weird things.)
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Arrested by French authorities for wanting to perform Female Genital Mutilation
by Syme inhere's the story, from guardian:.
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/10/france-tough-stance-female-genital-mutilation-fgm.
these are very interesting news.
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Syme
Here's the story, from Guardian:
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/10/france-tough-stance-female-genital-mutilation-fgm
These are very interesting news. Some people wanted to do something hideous for RELIGIOUS reasons, which was inhumane AND illegal (in France.) So, they tried to do it in the UK. But, they got busted before they were able to leave the country!
Vive le France!
I think France here set an example. When the next JW parent decides to force their minor child into denying a blood transfusion, they could be handled like those 'cutters'.
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Syme
This is not hard for a learned JW. They can easily respond that "Israel" refers to the spiritual Israel (hence the anointed), while ''all nations'' refers to, well, all nations. Arbitrary reasoning of course, but this is the 'correct' jw answer.
Things that have to do with the Org and the GB are far more likely to awake someone to TTATT. And if he's science-inclined, evolution, naturally.
If you are allowed to use *only* the Bible, there are dozens of things: The genocide of the Canaanites is one of my favourites. After reading some passage from Joshua or Judges (involving lot of slaughter), you ask: "What would you do if you were an Israelite Jehovah's witness at the time of the conquest of Canaan? Would you take the sword and slaughter kids, infants, and women?"
If he answers ''yes'', then you ask: "How can you, then, state before the secular authorities that you are a conscientious objector, that your conscience does not allow you to even HOLD a weapon, let alone use it???"
If he answers ''no'', then you say: ''Well, that would be disobeying Jehovah's organization. Would you disobey Jehovah's organization TODAY if your conscience told you so? The Organization today teaches that the annihilation of the Canaanites was justified. Do you agree with this or not?" [if he agrees, this contradicts his previous negative answer].
I've used this exact sequence in a couple of persons, and they did get a little disoriented...
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7
Thank God for the Greeks, where would mankind be without those Pioneers.
by jam inthe greeks developed philosopy as a way of understanding the.
world around them, without resorting to religion, myth or.
magic.
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Syme
Bugbear, thank you! I haven't ''officially'' studied those facts, but I read a lot on my own! (although I have studied, but not this)
That's exactly what every JW, escpecially young ones, should realise: You don't necessarily have to have a degree in History or Philosophy to know these things. Besides, most young j-dubs are discouraged from taking up ''higher'' studies, so they don't have a chance. What they DO have the chance (in most cases) is to go to a bookstore, buy a couple of books, and start READING. It's not that complicated. And if an overzealous JW reprehends them, they can always say they read so as to strengthen their faith by cross-referencing the Bible accuracy, or coz they want to search a topic that came up in field service, or tell them that the WT magazine has repeatedly encouraged us to have a general knowledge of secular literature [this is true], or something like that. :)
Now, about what you said, about what we can do, I haven't thought of it. Maybe we can start a new thread here on jwn, posting references and links to various historical sources, that help someone get a real grasp of world history and relevant things. Now, if you're suggesting anything bigger, I'm afraid I wouldn't have the time available right now to take it up.
Phizzy, yes, I agree: education is THE crucial factor. As Rutherford would put it: education, education, EDUCATION! I think that education stardards in UK are high, though. I've visited London only once, and I clearly remember the striking effect it had on me seeing all these primary school kids attending lectures in the National Gallery, or completing 'field' tasks inside the British Museum, or taking a tour to the Natural History Museum. These may seem normal to you, but to where I come from, those are really remarkable. When someone is taught, say, the theory of evolution or the history of mankind (which predates the story of Genesis) in such a young age, then one is not so prone to falling prey to charlatans.
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Now predicting increase of anointed?
by jgnat ini came across this nugget in the may 2014 issue:.
"are you moving ahead with jehovah's organization".
....at one time, the anointed remnant were like the little one, but their number grew as other spiritual israelites were brought into gods organization.
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Syme
Oh Gawd, this so typical textbook Orwell...
It's like that scene in "1984", when the Party taught that Oceania had always been in war with Eurasia. When the allies changed and they went to war with Eastasia, the Party taught that Oceania had always been in war with Eastasia! And the 'sheep' took it!
It makes your head ache, these things, guys. Don't dwell so much in them. If one wants to be an Orwellian sheep, let them be. We use to blame the GB for everything, but the sheep are not free of fault. Ignorance is a choice.
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Thank God for the Greeks, where would mankind be without those Pioneers.
by jam inthe greeks developed philosopy as a way of understanding the.
world around them, without resorting to religion, myth or.
magic.
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Syme
The greatest contribution of ancient Greeks to humanity was the invention of "Orthos Logos", which can be translated as "reason", "logic'', ''orthological reasoning'', ''rational thought'' etc.
Heracletus, Epicurus, Lucretius, Democritus, Leukippus were some of the founders of reason. As of no surprise, most of them denied the existence of gods, or at least their intervention in human matters.
It was the coming of Christianity that marked the end of Logos and its substitution by the ''knowledge by divine revelation'': if God granted us all the knowledge we need, then why employ reasoning? So, that marked the end of the ancient world and the start of the Middle Ages. Islam in the 6th century was just another repetition of Christianity in that matter.
It took some one and a half millenium for mankind to discover once again the ancient art of Reason. This procedure started slowly after Renaissance but mostly came on screen during the Age of Enlightenment. The 19th century theory of Evolution was a grand manifestation of the triumph of Reason over religious superstitions.
In the 20th century, alas, we saw a revival of irrational thought, with all this science denial and ''new-age'' religions, and cults like, erm, you know :)
What the 21st century will bring in this fight of reason against irrationality, we will see.
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The Judicial Committee videos in english
by confusedandalone innot sure if this has been posted but the jwsurvey site received the videos in english from someone.. this crap is pathetic to watch.
how to counsel someone who is suicidal... really.
http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/doubts-over-organizational-solidarity-as-disturbing-video-on-handling-suicide-is-leaked.
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Syme
I... I don't know what to say, really.
I want to puke.
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Overwhelming Fear of Death
by Perversion of a truth indo any of the posters on here deal with this?
i do, and i hate it.
people (mostly my brother) tells me to not fear death and just to enjoy life and so on, but that doesn't seem to help any.
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Syme
I STRONGLY recommend the book "Staring at the Sun" by Irvin Yalom. It deals with that topic exactly: fear of death. Please read it. It is like a journey in Epicurus' Garden. (you'll find what that is in the book)
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Schizophrenia
by thedog1 inthat is what it feels like at the moment.
i am leading a field service group tomorrow morning.
taking the wt study on saturday.
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Syme
Man, I feel for you. I mean, I feel sorry for you.
There are a lot of things you can do from your post, but it's up to you to decide if it's worth it, and if it is realistic to think you can change things from the inside.
Just remember that not even Ray Franz, who was an charismatic GB member, was able to change things from the inside. And you're just a local elder.
I have decided that this thing is definately not going to change by individual efforts from the inside. It is too large an organism. So I've decided to live my life, or what's left of it anyway. It is good to those around you happy, but at what cost on your life?
As for the bros and sis: they try to be Christians, but only in the way they've been told a Christian is; e.g. shunning former members, and craving for the oncoming death of 99.9% of humanity in Armageddon. Think about it.