Posts by Syme

10

Humbled Valentine's chicks pics ;)

by Bruja-del-Sol in

jw
friends

here's a few pictures of the little chicks saved from the snow and hatched by mom goldie.

(click on them to see larger pics).

.

Syme

Gee, I read "Valentine's chicks'' and I thought ... oh, well, never mind.

Nice chickens.

15

when i was growing up in the religion i heard a number of times that immediately after ww2 many jw's in germany left the religion.. i was told that this was, despite their courageously opposing the nazi regime, and enduring concentration camps etc, after the war , they fell prey to "materialism".. there was much shaking of heads as to how this could happen.. whilst reading an old thread the other day, i read there that these ones who left did so because they did not agree with doctrinal changes that had gone on whilst they had been cut off by the nazis and the war, "materialism" was nothing to do with it.. is this another case of watchtower revisionist "history" ?.

does anyone know the truth about what happened at this time ?.

Syme

For the ones that were located in the East part, maybe they abandoned the religion because of the atheist culture that was cultivated there. Don't underestimate the power of propaganda that the communist parties had; it was not all prisons and exiles, people were actually persuaded by marxism there. Proof of this is that 25 years later, people in former Eastern Bloc countries are still atheist in a larger proportion than western countries, even though they are completely free now and can be as religious they want. Even today, former East Germany regions are a lot more atheistic than former West Germany regions.

As for West Germany, it was a country in ruins and extreme poverty for many years after 1945, as rebel8 mentioned. Can you imagine being back from a concentration camp, devastated, trying to survive after the war, and having the ''Org'' telling you to go out preaching or ''reaching out'' and stuff?

The Org putting the blame on poor JWs who survived the camps in order to obey THEIR directives, is outrageous but it is expected. Didn't they do the same with 1975-ers? The GB seeded and cultivated the expectation, and when some poor dubs left after, they were blamed personally, as if it was their idea. It's a very old trick, you see.

21

TV Ideas For JWNers. "Luther", "Dexter" "The Killings" "Braquo"-

by RottenRiley in

jw
friends

i am looking for more ideas of interesting movies and gritty crime shows to watch.. .

the killings, wallander, luther, dexter, braquo (french (english subbed) german (berlin berlin), sherlock, george gently, inspector frost, inspector lewis, did i say "dexter (though the ending was a bummer :( ) "orange is the new black", "house of cards", "mad men".. .

can you add to my profile of movies and series i need to see?

Syme

Well, a TV show you MUST see is Banshee. It mainly consists of fighting, stealing, shooting and erm, you-know, but it has another distinct feature:

It features a lot the Amish community, in which you can see the WTS reflected as in a mirror. Disfellowshipping, shunning (and the pain that comes from it), women taught in obedience and silence, extremely strict moral codes which are however broken in secret by a lot of youths, etc. You get the picture :)

12

Does this count as Nazi collaboration?

by Julia Orwell in

a jw friend of mine visited the site of auschwitz-berkenau and bought a book on jws in auschwitz which documents which jws were in the camp, which ones died, and what they did while they were there.

known as honest and industrious workers, a lot of them, especially women, were employed as domestic help in the homes of the ss commanders.

this is well documented.

Syme

Julia, I think you're going a little too far with this. The Nazi commanders did not *employ* the JWs into their houses; they were prisoners, as in slaves.

It's like saying black slaves who worked inside the landlords' houses in the American South, instead of out in the fields, had part in the crime of slavery in the US.

There's no need to let our feelings towards the ''Org'' and its practices, make us feel hatred for simple JWs who fought honestly for what they thought was God's cause. Especially people who did not betray their beliefs in the face of death (even if their beliefs were ill-placed).

In my country young JWs have been shot in the past (post-War), others beat to death, because of the neutrality issue. Were they mislead? Well, yes, apparently. All of the 1st century martyrs were mislead as well (for an atheist like me); Others who died for their political ideology were also mislead; this does not diminish the respect they deserve.

Sorry for the 'advisal' tone

21

Short Video - Interviews with Creationists

by cofty in

this short video demonstrates how faith is impervious to facts.. the contributers are honest about their beliefs but so badly deceived about reality it is quite depressing.

spot the canards - some of them are jaw-dropping.. pastor peter laruffa exudes, "if somewhere within the bible, i were to find a passage that said two plus two equals five, i wouldn't question what i'm reading in the bible.

i would believe it, accept it as true, and then do my best to work it out and understand it.".

Syme

Oh, God, I saw this video earlier today. It is unbelievable; but hilarious too!

Did you notice the super-comment made in 2:20? "I would love to encourage Mr. Darwin to try God"!!! Does she really think he is a living person? Everything is possible with those poor fellas.

It's very hard to resist the temptation of being IQ-racist when dealing with that group of people.

16

"Writing . . . is a lonely life."

by compound complex in

jw
friends

"writing, at its best, is a lonely life.

organizations for writers palliate the writer's loneliness but i doubt if they improve his writing.

he grows in public stature as he sheds his loneliness and often his work deteriorates.

Syme

compound complex,

Excellent quote! I used to write a lot, but I got into the social networks and stuff, like twitter, and my ability to write has faded...

84

BOE Letter: New Adjustments

by pixel in

**this was predicted from some members here**.

to all congregations .

re: adjustments in organizational terminology and assembly arrangements .

Syme

Wow, this is interesting stuff. It's SO much Orwellian, I just love it! #not

Now, besides the funny terminology parts, what do you think is the reason for assembly reduction of days? Purely economical? Or are they taking a step back in forcing coercion in members? Are they 'laxing the ropes'?

38

Curious change in December 15 Study Article

by Bobcat in

i ran across a change between the printed edition of the december 15, 2013 wt study edition and the magazine as a pdf download from the jw.org website.. whether the change amounts to much, i'm not sure.

but it is curious.

the change is in paragraph 16 on page 15:.

Syme

Brave New Orwellian World.

I bet the GB makes those tiny changes just for fun sometimes; or, better, just to get the sheep used to instant rewritting of doctrine. It's like they put them in 'shape' somehow. You know the example: you can't put a frog in boiling water immediately, he'll pop out; but raise the temperature slowly, and voila! you have your boiled frog :)

8

Do you remember the girl in the coffee shop?

by quellycatface in

jw
friends

i 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.

Syme

"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

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.

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.)