Posts by Syme

87

How is the org really run? What goes on behind the scenes?

by Magnum in

how is the org really run?

what goes on behind the scenes?.

i just read an older post on this site that was recently bumped (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/6600/1/don-adams-biography) the post mentioned the adams brothers don, karl, & joel and how influential they are/were at headquarters.

Syme

Listener, you might have a point in there.

On the one hand, the GB can easily delete or DF any BoD member who goes astray. On the other hand, even without privileges, one can still retain his legal position in the WTS. But hey... to keep his legal position one must be elected by the Board. And of course, if the GB says to the other Board members ''do not elect him", what do you think will happen?

Again, the legal authority is completely subject to the religious authority of the GB. Except, of course, if a general uprising in the Board occured, which would allow the Board to make its own decisions, uncontrolled. But that's science fiction, I think. Let's stick to reality, which, IMO, is the above-mentioned statement.

87

How is the org really run? What goes on behind the scenes?

by Magnum in

how is the org really run?

what goes on behind the scenes?.

i just read an older post on this site that was recently bumped (http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/6600/1/don-adams-biography) the post mentioned the adams brothers don, karl, & joel and how influential they are/were at headquarters.

Syme

Guys, how can you really believe that people from the Board of Directors or anyone else can be higher that the GB?

Let's say for example that a member of the BoD, even the President (D.Adams), disagrees with the GB and tries to have power over them. So what? The GB can easily delete him of his privileges as an elder, strip him of his Bethelite status (or even DF him), and thus D.Adams automatically loses any power he might have had.

I mean, everyone in the Org, EVERYONE, no matter how high up on the 'technical' ladder he may be, no matter if he's a chief-lawyer, an chief-accountant or a Board of Directors member, is first and foremost subject to the religious authority of the GB. If they like, they strip him of his eldership, and since he's not an elder anymore, he can't hold any position of influence in the WTS.

Don't try to make this more complicated than it is. Remember Occam's Razor: search for the simplest explanation. Which is: the Top of the JWs are the GB, simple as that. They are a self-sustaining and self-propagating group of delusional fanatics, purely Orwellian in nature, who, like the Inner Party, are masters of Doublethink: they know they are decieving the R&F, and at the same time they firmly believe they have the Truth.

59

Books that changed your life-

by new hope and happiness in

i am not much of a reader as i have two many distractions, but i fancy a challenging read, so please list any book that has changed your entire world view on everything.

i remember as a teenager buying at a yard sale, norman vincent peales " the power of positive thinking" and at the time that had a big impact on me.

but i am a little bit more in to " realistic positive thinking" now..

Syme

Excellent question, new hope and happiness !

Here are some:

- The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco

- The Blind Watchmaker, by Richard Dawkins

- a history of Marxism, in my native tongue (lots of books on this, in many languages)

- Guns, Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond

- The Origin of Species, by Charles Darwin

- some books by Fernando Pessoa (you'll know why when you read him)

I strongly recommend all of them; if anything, they enable you to see how nature and the world truly operate. They are awakening experiences, in other words.

45

ONE REASON

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

out of interest, and to formulate a cordial chat, would you give your top one reason for your belief or non belief?.

my foremost 'one reason' for non belief is:.

the historical evidence that provides an explination and timeline for how the modern religious doctrine's and dogma developed over time.. .

Syme

Non-belief. Reason: Over 99% of the species ever existed is extinct. What does that tell you about a ''divine intelligence"? You make an ultra beautiful Creation and you lose along the way over 99% of it? That doesn't sound very intelligent to me. Every few eons a super mass exctinction takes place on Earth, destroying 70-90% of the organic population every time. Does that imply a wise ''watchmaker'' in the background? Or the blind, and impersonal, forces of nature?

10

The Books are Cooked: Grossly Misleading chart and graphic

by Tech49 in

are the charts and number graphics you see in the wt and awake articles factual?

or are they misleading?.

many have already discussed how verses, quotes, and facts are cherry-picked to fit a particular situation.. i came across another blatant misrepresentation of facts, in a grossly misleading chart-graphic.

Syme

Excellent post, Tech49.

I pioneered for 6 years, and not ONE month did I manage to make the 70 hours. As a matter of fact, the highest pure (= not including pioneer schools etc.) amount of hours I ever reached was 51 hours! And that for only one month! Yet, I remained in my post, for various reasons.

My average was 40 hours at best, to 25 hours at worst. Again: I'm talking about REGULAR pioneering. For SIX years.

That, more or less, was the case with many pioneers I knew. And the other ones that managed to throw in 70 hours or more, did that thanks to extremely low-quality 'witnessing'. (such as taking unbaptized children from the KH and ''squeezing'' them to acquire their hours ) The average of REG pioneers in my country, just before the stats vanished from the KM, was at 55 hours. No wonder why they stopped posting the full stats in the KM...

So, do you want to inflate a certain statistic? No problem, just lower the standards for the respected field, and voila! 250% increase!

It sure reminds me of the fake growth statistics spouted out every morning from the loudspeakers in Orwell's "1984"...

26

In Death lies Glory

by BluePill2 in

i was alone at the new branch construction site in ticuantepe (nicaragua).

everybody had taken off for a weekend assembly in the capital and it was my turn to have watchman duty and guard the site.

we had dogs and i only had to walk around the perimeters and check all the gates and entrances.. suddenly a young boy appeared at the main gate, breathless and visibly nervous.

Syme

One of my favourite writers, after discussing how the Sun will die in some 5 billion years, then proceeds to make the following analogy: Since even the Sun itself does die eventually, who are we to want to live forever? (I translated it, he said it better in his native tongue )

The writer suffered from cancer when he wrote that book, and died shortly after. He did not succumb to the easy solution of religion. Until the end he remained a fervent atheist and dialectical materialist.

Thanks again, BluePill.

12

Recent refinements / changes in WTS

by Da.Furious in

we had our co visit and on his second talk he mentioned we need to be a pillar and support of the truth.

we can do this by accepting and working with all the changes, refinements and the speed of jehovahs organisation moving forward.. he listed the refinements and changes that occurred in the last couple of years:.

1- study edition of wt - allows the society to use more meaty articles and not worry about non jws understanding them.. 2- public edition of wt and awake.

Syme

Yes, I heard that talk too.

Here's the hypocrite aspect of the talk (and the BORG in general): From the 10 above-mentioned 'refinements', at least 8 of them have to do with the financial difficulties of the Organization, which extend over a period of the past 5-6 years. However, the financial aspect was not stated EVEN ONCE during the talk as a reason for the 'refinement'. Instead, they state some ridiculous pretenses about ''having more time for study'' etc, etc; while even a 5-year-old can see that the main reasons are economic.

It's like the elephant in the room, they all see it, but pretend that there's no elephant.

That is hypocrisy, the definition of it.

92

COBE cannot be 80 or more

by fader77 in

a new letter no longer allows an elder to be cobe if hes 80 or more.

Syme

Thanks for the intell, Fader77.

Now, WHY? Why hadn't we thought of it before? (Some of you may have had). Why didn't we realise what the true purpose of those recent WT articles about the ''elderly'' was?

It was right under our noses; we should have noticed it. (again, I believe some of you here will have had noticed it)

The COBE in 'my' cong is 82 years old. He is very intelligent, absolutely no signs of dementia, very serious reader/researcher, very good at organizing and leading; there's absolutely no reason he should be removed from his post.

I *will* feel sorry for the guy, but I hope he will wake up.

I don't know guys, I have a feeling, a hunch, that this particular change is bound to wake lots of Dubs up.

On the other hand, it will be a major blow for many COBEs like the one I mentioned. I'm afraid some may even suffer heart strokes. It is not an exaggeration; some will perish (literally) because of this violent change.

They're just throwing them away like used ,well, things. And they came up with those ridiculous articles about the elderly just to pave the way for this change! It is the essence of Orwellian functioning. It makes me soooo sick

52

It is so obviously a lie......now

by snare&racket in

once the spell is broken, one you take a deep fresh breath outisde of the watchtower camp, the amazingly obvious realisation becomes clear.... of course this is a lie, of course this is ridiculous!

you find you have memories of really believing the claims and promises, but it seems like another life, another experience.

it seems so incredibly false once you leave and it is very difficult to belive you even once accepted it!

Syme

Excellent article, snare&racket !

9

Hope -And A Conspiracy Confirmed

by metatron in

jw
friends

http://www.businessinsider.com/buttonwood-one-dollar-one-vote-2014-5.

just because the 'truth" is nonsense doesn't mean i don't hope for a better world.. .

in recent years, there have been a lot of people on the fringes complaining that the western world in particular is ruled by an unaccountable elite.

Syme

Metatron,

What you grasped is correct, but did you need a recent PhD assertion to realise it? It is not news, no news at all.

What you described is not some big secret: it is called CAPITALISM, the economic system on which most countries of the world are based. The economic system that enables a 1% of a given population to thrive on the remaining 99% by exploiting them. And it's no new system, it is some centuries old.

And we don't need any 'conspiracy theories' and New-Age analyses to reveal it; do you know a guy called Karl Marx? He explained them all more than 150 years ago. Everything that is going on in today's world, was thoroughly foretold by Marx in his writings. He was not a prophet, he was a thinker who used the scientific method to explain history and society.

So, if you want to learn deeper how the world's engine works, get over the Cold-war anticommunist propaganda, and read Marx.