JW's should be doing background checks but they don't

People dealing with children should be given a background check.

You would think this would be a no-brainer, but the JW organization chooses not to do so.

While not a magical or holy spirit bullet to prevent all wrongs it would help keep members safer.

If JW's are forced to do background checks then they would be liable if the person had a record and they did not take measures to protect their members. If enacted I wonder how many elders and ministerial servants will have to step down to keep them out of positions of trust and authority.

Another step of civilization pushing JW's in a safer direction.
http://www.vice.com/read/an-11-year-old-is-suing-000919-v20n4

http://www.topix.com/forum/religion/jehovahs-witness/TO7LR4JJR96PIHVVU

Jingle Jingle.. Have some Nog

Musical interlude . please be in your seats within the next 15 minutes

The slow sanitizing of extremist thought and actions

My guess is that as the JW religion ages some of it's extreme practices will slowly be sanitized.

They already can accept most parts of blood, give it another 50 years and I would guess that blood becomes more symbolic and the value of life is placed higher than the symbolism of life,  Or some better medical alternative comes along,(ie synthetic blood with nano bots)

Shunning/Disfellowshipping

Watchtower‘s July 2009 “Awake!” magazine, p. 29, No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.
While they don't practice what they preach here , one can hope that eventually it may come to be.

The two witness policy, now(?) the directions are to tell the person they can/(should?) report to the local authorities, or at least I thought I heard this a few years back although I am not sure if they do this in all regions/areas.

A major influence of these  must have been law suits that pressure the organization to make adjustments to protect its flock. Hooray for civilization.

JW divorce

I do until death do us part, OR
-you cheat on me , which is the only valid way out in the eyes of the JW's
But
-maybe you'll die, and maybe you'll get there quicker if I feed you a bunch of crap and encourage dangerous behaviors, I'll invite over some good looking people serve drinks and try to get you alone with them
Or
-I'll just get the divorce and then cry and say how sorry I was for disobeying , who knows maybe they'll reinstate me within the first year or two but if I'm  in love with someone else I might as well sleep with them and do something worth getting disfellowshipped for...  Hmmm while I'm on sabbatical there were a few other no no's I wanted to do.

Or if you aren't sneaky and decide to play it straight you could end up separated or in a fake marriage with abstinence your nightly forte the rest of your life.

Try explaining this to non JW's , watch the eyes role.

A cult?

I was going to a write about this but here is a link for now from someone else

http://www.jehovahswitnessblog.com/cult/is-the-jehovahs-witness-religion-a-cult/

The evil of Magic - Sparlock the Warrior Wizard

My wife believes in Sparlock the warrior wizard - or The evil of magic. 

She had me turn off the Frog Prince the other night because 'there's voodoo in it'.  So per request I changed it to the Lion King, you know the movie with Rafiki the magic monkey in it. Oh and guess what ,  Cinderella,Aladdin, and some others are probably ok to watch too!.

So, why is magic 'bad'? I'd prefer an answer besides 'because the bilble/god says so'. An answer which any religious person should have if they ask themselves 'Why does god say so'?  How do you draw the magic line on which ones are watchable? Is there good/bad magic? Could it maybe be more important as to the lessons being taught? Define magic........

Those are just a few of the questions I wanted to ask, but it was bad timing, so I am shelving the conversation for later. I just said 'you know it's not real'. 

But back to the DVD that is magically ridiculous

If only I'd had me Lucky Charms to eat while watching it might not have gotten such a bad review. Emotionally manipulative, it pulls the 'it makes god sad' card and the you know what happens to those that are disobedient/stick card. Yup I sure do.... a psycho magic using god kills them. You are splitting hairs if you call the holy spirit something other than magic.

I can't blame my wife's reactions to much. She had a strict childhood in that area, with stories that left scars of fear about naughty angels/demons.

When I grew up my family wasn't that strict and I was able to wear a smurf shirt, read Tolken/Chronicles of Narnia/etc..., and see movies that contained magic. I came out the experience still able to consider them pieces of fiction. It wasn't tell later that I figured out that the big black book had bits of magic in it that might just be fictional as well.

I feel like putting that dvd in the trash, it seems like something a dodgy friend would give you. My little 2 year old will learn over the next few years what fiction, fantasy, and reality are. There shouldn't be any reason to make them feel bad or freak them out about this kind of thing, but of course I don't believe in a Satan that is out to get my child via a little purple toy wizard or a god that will smite them because of it.



update: Ooops , I spelled Tolkien wrong