xero

Oh mother, tell your children,
not to throw away their decorum
Spend your life in sheer lunacy
On the World News Media Forum

If just cracks me up when someone downvotes a comment that undermines whatever they harp on—as though without a downvote, nobody would have any idea they might disapprove. 
It’s even more so when people downvote insults to themselves. Duh.
I think I’m going to collect a few insults and upvote them all as a subtle means of ridicule.

“Both official reports and media often confuse ‘institutional’ abuse in religious settings and abuse happening in families that happen to be religious.” HF
"Next move will be to hold Walmart responsible for abuse that has occurred among their shoppers"- True Tom
Yes, I would say that is the crux of the matter. 

This is helpful.

You know I've been studying this phenomenon for a long time. I decided to look at other non-trinitarian groups as well just to see what they had to say and how these were doing w/scandals. I've looked at non-denominational non-trinitarian groups as well. I've looked at some who say they believe in the trinity, but everything they say about Jesus and Jehovah indicate they are henotheists and not trinitarians at all. I haven't found a group yet which hasn't been touched by one scandal or another.
I would say this doesn't surprise me. It also doesn't surprise me that a lot of CYA goes on in organizations. I find it quite disappointing. So that's why when I'm asked to pretend that our organization is the purest of them all. I can't. I don't know. How am I supposed to know?. I'm sure that the people I see in the congregations have the best of intentions and yes there have been exceptions, but all the failings I see are human failings. Even the way certain things are handled. I mean what are you to do when you're not a professional in these areas and you are honest with yourself.
I suppose I would have (and still do) belay any instruction that I can't internally agree with.
But we're back again. I've been going through prophesies which emphasizes specific events as being interpreted specific ways and unless you insist on a few key points, you find that it all gets rather ambiguous.
Take the little horn in Daniel. If you look at it w/o the lens you currently have you might conclude other things.
https://www.gotquestions.org/little-horn.html
https://readingacts.com/2020/02/11/who-is-the-little-horn-in-daniel-78/
https://atoday.org/a-new-interpretation-of-the-little-horn-of-daniel-7/
(In this one it's Donald Trump)
So I suppose I may be treading water (I wish I could walk on water) But rather than spending my time in defense of a narrow set of ideas, I focus on the practicality of living as a Christian. Not particularly thrilling to some, but necessary.
I'm still asking/searching and knocking but my focus is trying to wrap my mind around what I can and can't know from scriptures.  When I read the eisegesis done w/Rev. 11 I have to roll my eyes a bit now.  (But I could be very wrong too, maybe it's right, but it seems forced) I keep this to myself because it invariably leads to a call on the mat and a flag salute. (Sorry Scooter...I follow Jehovah, his Son and the Bible) Also, these questions are MY problem. Not someone elses . I don't need to drag anyone along w/me and my private investigations.

Perhaps some do dedicate to an organization. But the same can be said for a true believer anywhere. People are always making idols out of something, someone or even some idea.
Whomever you obey, you worship. So if you find yourself obeying and internally transferring the authority to command away from Jehovah or Jesus or the Bible, then you're in dangerous territory.

This might help:
“Out of nowhere a scholar has appeared who talks dispassionate sense on the subject of child sexual abuse as it relates to Jehovah’s Witnesses and is unswayed by secular jingoism. Are/were you a Jehovah’s Witness who was abused as a child? That is very bad, Holly Folk agrees, but she cautions such ones that they must be on guard not to be abused a second time. It may happen at the hands of those who mostly feign interest in their trauma so as to enlist them in their greater goal of taking down a religion they hate. “All I ask is that you consider, for a moment, that you might be being used again, by people who care little about achieving justice for victims,” she says.”
More... https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2021/02/holly-folk-speaks-to-child-sexual-abuse-among-jehovahs-witnesses.html

Here is one in which Trump is the greater Moses:
https://www.tomsheepandgoats.com/2020/03/moses-addressing-the-israelites-trump-style.html

In the jw case, it would be spiritual junk food:)

I think a lot of JW's are losing their minds right now. Expectation is making the heart sick. I get it.
I look at Christendom and see that their scripturally incorrect views give them an advantage of sorts insofar as these believe, in the main that death leads immediately to a resurrection. This is a lie, of course, but if you believe the lie, you then aren't really waiting for anything. Armageddon and the ultimate righting of wrong becomes a nebulous idea so far off so as to cause them to take no notice. They just get of with living.
W/JWs...The frustration I see comes from all the not knowing. Many believed at one time or another that they really knew. I was worried when I started pioneering that I wouldn't be able to get enough hours under my belt before the end came. Clearly I was wrong. Then I thought about it all and researched all the groups who really believed the end was close at hand. There have been many. It's hard to be in a state of readiness if you really believe that some super important thing is going to happen this takes a toll on both your body and your mind. You can get into a sort of PTSD. People have differing reactions too to information given. No one listens to a talk or reads a publication without creating a narrative or movie, filling in the gaps with themselves. The anxiety can build up in people and then like a human immune system it may select a target to attack. Many are focused on the GB or anointed or these kinds of things. I get it. These things are not the real reasons. The real reasons come from all the not knowing while being in a state of stress.
This is where you have to go back. Pump the brakes and pray. Jehovah is in charge. Jehovah created this universe (through his Son) and his son said "take courage, I have conquered the world". Read carefully the book of Job. Keep studying. Don't stop living. Don't go towards hating on the world, hating on apostates, hating on the GB, hating on anything. Understand that the real enemy is in the spirit realm. Understand that you yourself can be your own enemy with your own thinking and obsessions. Meditate on what it means to wait, what is it doing to you.
I jumped out of a plane by myself once with only a morning's worth of training. It felt like suicide. During the training (over a high jump pit) we were told how to spot and deal w/a parachute malfunction - how to discard the tangled chute and deploy your reserve. The bikers running the jump site freaked out the guy in front of me and he didn't jump. They joked "You'd be lucky to get a malfunction - you get two rides for the price of one!" But they also told us once we got a chute to be sure we got lined up properly for a landing and relax and look up (don't look down) when you're one your way to a landing, otherwise the landing would be too hard as you'd stiff up and maybe break a leg. (we used old Vietnam era chutes, not the fancy kinds). So to me the illustration is to be sure you have yourself lined up right, and when you do relax and look up (not at your bro/sis/GB/world) and you'll stick the landing.
If you're feeling anxiety, you're in good company. Just make sure while you feel trapped you don't chew off your own leg or the legs of those around you. The trap isn't your bros/sis's/elders/gb... it's this world under Satan's influence. You fight the trap by following as closely as you can the patterns set  which lead to faith. Just be sure that when you see another human that you imitate faith based on the promises in the bible.
Eat right, get regular exercise, find something to do which you enjoy and do what you can and learn to ignore the ones who imagine they know you and what you can do better. (I'm still working on all of this too)

It happens, it repeats itself periodically to every generation of JW.
Excellent advice!

I think a lot of JW's are losing their minds right now. Expectation is making the heart sick. I get it.
I look at Christendom and see that their scripturally incorrect views give them an advantage of sorts insofar as these believe, in the main that death leads immediately to a resurrection. This is a lie, of course, but if you believe the lie, you then aren't really waiting for anything. Armageddon and the ultimate righting of wrong becomes a nebulous idea so far off so as to cause them to take no notice. They just get of with living.
W/JWs...The frustration I see comes from all the not knowing. Many believed at one time or another that they really knew. I was worried when I started pioneering that I wouldn't be able to get enough hours under my belt before the end came. Clearly I was wrong. Then I thought about it all and researched all the groups who really believed the end was close at hand. There have been many. It's hard to be in a state of readiness if you really believe that some super important thing is going to happen this takes a toll on both your body and your mind. You can get into a sort of PTSD. People have differing reactions too to information given. No one listens to a talk or reads a publication without creating a narrative or movie, filling in the gaps with themselves. The anxiety can build up in people and then like a human immune system it may select a target to attack. Many are focused on the GB or anointed or these kinds of things. I get it. These things are not the real reasons. The real reasons come from all the not knowing while being in a state of stress.
This is where you have to go back. Pump the brakes and pray. Jehovah is in charge. Jehovah created this universe (through his Son) and his son said "take courage, I have conquered the world". Read carefully the book of Job. Keep studying. Don't stop living. Don't go towards hating on the world, hating on apostates, hating on the GB, hating on anything. Understand that the real enemy is in the spirit realm. Understand that you yourself can be your own enemy with your own thinking and obsessions. Meditate on what it means to wait, what is it doing to you.
I jumped out of a plane by myself once with only a morning's worth of training. It felt like suicide. During the training (over a high jump pit) we were told how to spot and deal w/a parachute malfunction - how to discard the tangled chute and deploy your reserve. The bikers running the jump site freaked out the guy in front of me and he didn't jump. They joked "You'd be lucky to get a malfunction - you get two rides for the price of one!" But they also told us once we got a chute to be sure we got lined up properly for a landing and relax and look up (don't look down) when you're one your way to a landing, otherwise the landing would be too hard as you'd stiff up and maybe break a leg. (we used old Vietnam era chutes, not the fancy kinds). So to me the illustration is to be sure you have yourself lined up right, and when you do relax and look up (not at your bro/sis/GB/world) and you'll stick the landing.
If you're feeling anxiety, you're in good company. Just make sure while you feel trapped you don't chew off your own leg or the legs of those around you. The trap isn't your bros/sis's/elders/gb... it's this world under Satan's influence. You fight the trap by following as closely as you can the patterns set  which lead to faith. Just be sure that when you see another human that you imitate faith based on the promises in the bible.
Eat right, get regular exercise, find something to do which you enjoy and do what you can and learn to ignore the ones who imagine they know you and what you can do better. (I'm still working on all of this too)

Yes. This is why I am nothing but hugs and kisses for Alan, Witness, and even that insufferable 4Jah.
Exactly. This is why you do not pay undo attention to the individuals. They are as actors in a play. Take one out and another who knows all the lines immediately steps into his place.
This is true even with the good guys, though they are more pleasant to dwell upon and might be dwelt upon for just that reason. It is the play we are watching. One need not know the names of the actors to follow the play. It can even be a distraction if we do 

Oh. I just read that it was you who said that.   I should have known.  

I think a lot of JW's are losing their minds right now. Expectation is making the heart sick. I get it.
I look at Christendom and see that their scripturally incorrect views give them an advantage of sorts insofar as these believe, in the main that death leads immediately to a resurrection. This is a lie, of course, but if you believe the lie, you then aren't really waiting for anything. Armageddon and the ultimate righting of wrong becomes a nebulous idea so far off so as to cause them to take no notice. They just get of with living.
W/JWs...The frustration I see comes from all the not knowing. Many believed at one time or another that they really knew. I was worried when I started pioneering that I wouldn't be able to get enough hours under my belt before the end came. Clearly I was wrong. Then I thought about it all and researched all the groups who really believed the end was close at hand. There have been many. It's hard to be in a state of readiness if you really believe that some super important thing is going to happen this takes a toll on both your body and your mind. You can get into a sort of PTSD. People have differing reactions too to information given. No one listens to a talk or reads a publication without creating a narrative or movie, filling in the gaps with themselves. The anxiety can build up in people and then like a human immune system it may select a target to attack. Many are focused on the GB or anointed or these kinds of things. I get it. These things are not the real reasons. The real reasons come from all the not knowing while being in a state of stress.
This is where you have to go back. Pump the brakes and pray. Jehovah is in charge. Jehovah created this universe (through his Son) and his son said "take courage, I have conquered the world". Read carefully the book of Job. Keep studying. Don't stop living. Don't go towards hating on the world, hating on apostates, hating on the GB, hating on anything. Understand that the real enemy is in the spirit realm. Understand that you yourself can be your own enemy with your own thinking and obsessions. Meditate on what it means to wait, what is it doing to you.
I jumped out of a plane by myself once with only a morning's worth of training. It felt like suicide. During the training (over a high jump pit) we were told how to spot and deal w/a parachute malfunction - how to discard the tangled chute and deploy your reserve. The bikers running the jump site freaked out the guy in front of me and he didn't jump. They joked "You'd be lucky to get a malfunction - you get two rides for the price of one!" But they also told us once we got a chute to be sure we got lined up properly for a landing and relax and look up (don't look down) when you're one your way to a landing, otherwise the landing would be too hard as you'd stiff up and maybe break a leg. (we used old Vietnam era chutes, not the fancy kinds). So to me the illustration is to be sure you have yourself lined up right, and when you do relax and look up (not at your bro/sis/GB/world) and you'll stick the landing.
If you're feeling anxiety, you're in good company. Just make sure while you feel trapped you don't chew off your own leg or the legs of those around you. The trap isn't your bros/sis's/elders/gb... it's this world under Satan's influence. You fight the trap by following as closely as you can the patterns set  which lead to faith. Just be sure that when you see another human that you imitate faith based on the promises in the bible.
Eat right, get regular exercise, find something to do which you enjoy and do what you can and learn to ignore the ones who imagine they know you and what you can do better. (I'm still working on all of this too)

He was not removed for that reason.
Look, nothing has changed with this new identification of the GB with the faithful slave. Before that was made the situation was the same. Headship came from a small group of under a dozen who, for practical reasons, physically gather together. Should they need a replacement, they look into the ranks of anointed worldwide, and select one. It was that way before. It is that way now. 
Who do you think they are going to select? Someone who just recently began to partake, or one who has done so for a long time? Someone with relatively little experience in the Christian preaching work, or one who has specialized in it full-time for decades?
This is not hard to answer. Even before this arrangement, anointed within the congregations knew, were content with, and deported themselves, that their assignment was to rule in the new system, not now. But it has apparently become the thing that there are now some anointed, whether for real or “self-promoted”  I know not, whether associated with a congregation or on the outside I know not, who want to be NOW seen as having authority. It has never been that way. 
As far as I am concerned, Witness’s non-response to my request that she arrange the car group says it all. She bitterly complains on how sisters with many children are “ignored.” When I ask how would she handle the situation she herself presented she is silent. Yet she is not silent on everything. She continues to chime in about her being “cheated” out of her anointed status.
Someone really anointed, someone really concerned with the sheep, would not ignore the scenario she presented herself as a complaint. She would tell how it is solved. She may have been like that at one time. But she appears far too interested in self-promotion” these days for her to be so now.

In congregation, there are male lobsters and female lobsters :)) and all have their roles within possible hierarchies and possible outcomes. 

Reminds me of the guy who tried to steady the ark and got zapped for his trouble.
6  But when they came to the threshing floor of Naʹcon, Uzʹzah thrust his hand out to the Ark of the true God and grabbed hold of it,i for the cattle nearly upset it. 7  At that Jehovah’s anger blazed against Uzʹzah, and the true God struck him downj there for his irreverent act,k and he died there beside the Ark of the true God. - 2 Sa. 6:6-7
Someone didn't follow instructions, someone thought "here! let me help!" - Wrong choice! Thanks for playing.

Like one brother said "Opinions are like elbows - everyone's got two"
I said, "but what about that brother w/one arm?"
He replied "good point!"

I suppose I always blew off the anointed idea as having authority (to me it's sola scriptura all the way, even Jesus said "Why do you call me good? Nobody is good except one, God" - Jehovah is the authority, Jesus is the authority, the scriptures have authority - balanced w/the need to allow for differences in consciences (to me, focus on anointed is a weak faith which I tolerate). Maybe it was a local phenomenon, but it was mostly weirdos or really old people who partook. Invariably some would just go nuts. I think some people mistake the voices in their heads for being special. The desire to worship the creation has a real pull on people.
The other issues I have with the whole thing (not saying that it's not real) is that there's no objective measurement to determine this thing.
It's not as if you could go to the Bible and establish a diagnostic criteria (a spiritual DSM manual) for cases of being anointed.
In one congregation there were some that had some weird theory about being anointed meant you could see some weird thing when you looked at the sky when the sun was setting. I didn't even bother investigating that. The sister was weird, she'd lost a daughter and her son was a musician and periodically had to deal w/alcohol issues. I chalked it up to distress and wanting to be special in some way. Her belief did at least for a time calm her down. I don't know how she is today.
We used to think that all this was moot. It was simple. If you were at the right place and the right time and the deal was if you became a "true christian", then you were a defacto "anointed".
So all the people from the 1st century on, if they were true, then they were anointed.
I wondered. "Is that even true?" "Why some and not others?". Of course it didn't matter so much to me, because if anyone was it wasn't my business. I never got the chance to ask (I would have if there wasn't so much social pressure to NOT ask).  Ostensibly it was a spiritual job interview process, like they're hiring 144k down at the factory and they need people w/various life skills and experiences. Once the slot got filled (you died w/the golden ticket) it would be 144k-1 and so on.
I still believe that this kingdom and it's rulers will be pulled from humanity, but whether someone is or isn't anointed - that's their problem unless they make it my problem by saying "If you don't believe X, Y, and Z are anointed, you're outta here." I certainly won't argue the point when it's been made manifest.
In any case in MT 25, not one of the righteous had a clue who Christ's brothers were. They treated all men equally. But we claim to know. Huh. Somehow we're smarter than the righteous.
 
 

Reminds me of the guy who tried to steady the ark and got zapped for his trouble.
6  But when they came to the threshing floor of Naʹcon, Uzʹzah thrust his hand out to the Ark of the true God and grabbed hold of it,i for the cattle nearly upset it. 7  At that Jehovah’s anger blazed against Uzʹzah, and the true God struck him downj there for his irreverent act,k and he died there beside the Ark of the true God. - 2 Sa. 6:6-7
Someone didn't follow instructions, someone thought "here! let me help!" - Wrong choice! Thanks for playing.

I have worked with people with Alzheimers - n the beginning they can still function but get disoriented very quickly and unfortunately become very emotional and sometimes depressed. They repeat some older stories over and over and sometimes display anxiety. It is hard to deal with, so you will mentally have to prepare for this. Anger also comes up quickly.  If she loses her faith - Jehovah knows she has been faithful all this time.... He will be just.
I think it will be harder on you to watch this deterioration and on those in the congregation who will not understand what is going on.  I suggest you read a book about Alzheimers or dementia because they often have very similar manifestations.
Do not take her moods to seriously and talk with her calmly and kindly. Go with her through old photo albums and play her favorite old music.  Short term memory is bad and long term memory is good - so she may tell you a few things you never knew - lol

You help your mom and those few other sisters, or you and those few other sisters help your mom? The wording is not clear. 
It does remind me, though, of a local situation of an elderly sister who moved in with family that built an in-law apartment for her. She has never fully integrated with the congregation and I’m not sure why. Somewhere there is a disconnect with her unbelieving family who say, in the person of a daughter-in-law that they want to help spiritually (there is no question that physically she is cared for) and yet somehow there is no follow through. How hard can it be to physically get her connected with Zoom meetings, and yet somehow it doesn’t happen. Believe me, I personally have tried, and I am not the only one.
Complaints filter down through that daughter-in-law that the congregation does not do enough. That daughter in law tells me she studied with Witnesses in another country for several years but the friends here are not loving like they were there. While that may (or may not) be true, I told her, that is not why someone pursues a relationship with God. It didn’t help when a local elder went to visit and got bit by one of several yappy dogs on the premises. 
The elderly sister has the beginnings of Alzheimer’s. Even when she did not, she was very reserved and not easy to get to know. A local couple would pick her up for meetings. Something about the situation eventually wore them out, particularly as they began to cope with the ill health of their own parents. 
I’ve visited this sister. The house is massive and new, with as many as six cars in the driveway. When the sister took a fall and broke an arm, the congregation provided meals for several months, at the suggestion of the daughter-in-law. It may not have occurred to them otherwise because plainly she lives among relatives that physically care for her. My wife coordinated that campaign. It seems like it might have run on forever, far longer than with anyone else, until my wife said ‘okay, glad that we have been able to relieve pressure, give the family a break, etc, and no doubt you can take over again as before.’ It is possible that we were being “used,”—it is not nothing to provide meals every day, particularly when it is not clear why family can’t do it themselves—but that’s not the important thing. I can even picture unbelieving family muttering about “cults” and so forth, but it has never been to our face, so it is just a possibility.
She gets some phone calls, some cards, she is connected on Roku, I’ve been there to see that, but somehow things do not gel. I don’t know the answer. We do what we can do, but cannot do everything. Whatever family interplay there is was established long ago in another area, and there is only so far you can go in unraveling the oddities. There is a believing daughter that visits from time to time and hopefully alleviates matters.
This is the only situation I know of, but it is reasonable to think every congregation has one or two parallels. On the other hand, there are also several old ones not tech savvy who have come up to speed with Zoom, usually with help, but it has happened. One who was never much in the physical ministry has blossomed in the virtual one. In short, I don’t think anyone has been “left behind” any more so than what would have happened prior to Covid.
If you have @Araunaoffering to call all the way from Albania, Matthew, sounds to me like you should take her up on it. You, too, have some dysfunctional background, I recall. Didn’t you say your folks fought like cats and dogs and shouldn’t have had children? It’s to your credit that you provide for her, that being the case. Not all children do.
This may be so, or it may be your interpretation of what is so. You say you don’t read the current material. If you did, you would notice at the latest midweek meetings how such a fuss was made over “there at Chebar a vision came to me,” with application that even if far removed from the physical organization, one is not removed from God.
I’m not sure we do know this. I’ve heard several old-timers say they don’t care if we ever go back to physical meetings. It saves massive amounts of time and energy, which is not boundless at their age, and you can do nearly as much on Zoom as in person. I think pandemic is harder on young people than on old. As for me, I have unchained my inner hermit and he is doing just fine.
You act as though the organization forsakes physical meetings because they care not about anyone’s concerns than theirs. Forgive me for saying it, but this smacks to me of the complaining victimization spirit of the day. When circumstances change, you have to adapt. The reason KHs are closed is, not as a personal affront to you or your mom, but because it is thought, and authorities continually advance the view, that it saves lives. Forgive me again for saying it, but if the KHs were open I can picture you complaining  how the organization doesn’t care if members die. It is kind of what you do, and I would be happier if you didn’t.

Why on Earth would the GB suddenly decide that ONLYTHEY are the Faithful and discreet Slave ? When the teaching was that ALL ANOINTED ONES were the Faithful and discreet Slave
Why on Earth would the GB then say that the Anointed SHOULD NOT GATHER TOGETHER as it would be WORKING AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT ?  
Why ? Well I think it shows jealousy or fear on the part of the GB and maybe others too. 

What are you talking about? Nobody is saying anyone should avoid the anointed.
 
You can accept the anointed without inquiring about their anointing surely? Or do you need them to talk to you about their anointing before you accept them? As for talking to them about how they feel about the truth, why on earth should you not be able to do that?