Mormons are freaks too.
Mormons than womens.
Freaks I dunno but they do seem impressionable, gullible, and vulnerable. What I can’t figure out is why the confessed members of those sects don’t witness here. There are plenty of shut-ins and lonely readers/members of every message board, so why not reach out to them in this format? That’s what the Great Debates section is for, right? So let’s hear it, Witnesses and Mormons, step up to the plate and give me your best. I’m usually busy with family things on the week-end, but I’ve got plenty of time to read and consider your pitch here.
What say you?
Do some searching. A long time ago, right here on this board, there was an Ask the Mormon Girl thread. IIRC, she got excoriated pretty badly and basically stopped posting on it. I bumped into some of her posts a few years later (I think in another Ask the thread related to mormonism) and learned that she has since left the church. I was so not surprised. 
Anyway, there’s been a lot of debate and discussion about mormonism and some very vocal posters have come in to defend their faith.
I used to post “how to understand this for nonmormons” reviews after episodes of Big Love. There were a lot of mormon-related behaviors and things depicted on that show and I noticed there were a lot of questions about certain things. So I’d try to clear up what is mainstream mormonism and why they do XYZ, what is fundamentalist mormonsim and why they do XYZ, and what was Hollywood and was kind of made up and meaningless so don’t read too much into it. Occasionally there was a bit of a hijack/debate with a couple active mormons (I am a resigned former member and do not hide the chip on my shoulder about cults), and some differing opinions on some points, but for the most part, we kept it polite and respectful.
Here’s an “Ask the Former Mormon Missionary” thread.
Here’s an even older thread.
TL;DR: it’s been done.
PS and BTW: I want to thank you for your brilliant post on page 4. I copied and kept it. I hope you don’t mind. That was… just really well said. Thanks.
30 years as a witness and you don’t realize that not all individuals share the same level of fervor within the Kingdom Hall? Not all blithely disregard fact and refuse to apply critical thinking? Some do, yes, but not all. And I’m not comparing the organization to churches of Christendom - simply pointing out that the individual members will exhibit similar behavior at times, albeit aimed in a different direction.
#1, that’s not “begging the question”.
#2, 30 years as a witness and you can’t answer this yourself? Really? Were you too busy “fighting the brainwashing” to listen during the meetings? I can answer it if you want, but it seems disingenuous for you to bring this up - or you’ve chosen to forget a lot.
Did you say Cherry Picking and Double Standards??? I knew someone just like that, also a JW. She had a shitload of kids, all by different fathers. She didn’t believe in celebrating Christmas, Easter, birthdays, or anything that invovlved presents for the kids. But she spent a shit ton of welfare money on beer and cigarettes for herself.
I forget, are Jehovah Witnesses the ones you offer a beer to or offer a blood transfusion to?
It was hurried and off the cuff and I’m embarrassed by the missed words. But thank you for understanding that I attempted to explain why we don’t want any, but somehow I’m certain they have an approach for every cold opening and non-starter. Never seen such a sales pitch as that sallied forth by a couple peculiar and disconnected senior citizens which hit my front stoop every couple months in the nineties. Wonder Woman was less prepared to deal with barbs; I swear those two brittle seniors were indelible and impervious to doubt. Annoying as fuck but such agile champions of their cause I wouldn’t be surprised to find grad students among their converts. But I don’t see that happening here…
I’ve looked at those threads, but what I can’t find is anything from Uber, dougie, Monty, or any other current Witnesses or Mormons. Why don’t they witness here?
Blood transfusion. Offer the beer to mormons, but only if there’s more than one. If there’s only one, he’ll drink all your beer! (Old mormon joke.)
AFAIK, JWs are allowed to drink, but they frown on drunkenness. I guess, as long as it doesn’t go all wild out of control, a beer or two here or there is fine.
If you really want to scare off mormons, offer them coffee. It’s The Devil’s Beverage™.
Oh, they love the caffeine. I think a far better test of their fate/spiel would be to impel one to witness in this format. If they can win a convert from a group of relatively educated folks with access to cites and sources, they indeed may have a legitimate platform. So long as they stick to shut-ins and widows though, it’s pretty tough to take them seriously.
Is coke out as well? I could do without my coffee if an eye opener line was acceptable now and then.
Sadly, yes. No drugs, no smoking, no alcohol and no hot drinks. (Caffeine has fuck all to do with the prohibition on coffee.)
Really? It’s the temperature that’s the problem? Why?
Fuck if I know. Here is the actual scripture.
My best guess: at that time, there were all kind of nutty health ideas floating around and it was thought that hot drinks were bad for you.
Did he get that “divine revelation” while reading from the secret book that nobody else ever saw, wearing his magic underwear and magic classes??
It blows my mind, the bullshit people will believe.
The story as I’ve heard it (and I’m feeling lazy and not going to find a cite) is that Emma (Joseph Smith’s primary wife) got sick of mopping up tobacco and vomit every time Joseph and the elders got together to discuss church business. So she suggested that maybe he should receive a revelation banning alcohol and tobacco. One of the Elders (David Whitmer, maybe?) retorted that maybe the ladies should be prohibited from drinking coffee and tea too. Shortly after, the revelation came as a Word of Wisdom[sup]TM[/sup] that discouraged those items [ETA: tobacco, strong drinks, and* hot drinks*] and also copied a few of Graham’s (yes, the cracker guy) diet ideas. Over time, the “not by commandment” became a commandment and the status of caffeine, iced tea, and hot chocolate has been murky.
Ummm… no. The secret book was the Book of Mormon and this revelation is called The Doctrine and Covenants. There very well could have been peepstones involved, I’ve not heard much about the revelation around the D&C. And the magic underwear (stolen from the Masons) may not have been in play yet.
But yeah. The bullshit people will believe. 
Of course you are right that not every JW completely drinks the Kool-Aid, but many do. And the ones who don’t tend to do one of two things: either they hide their questions and doubts so nobody finds out about them, or they end up being ex-JWs. The ones who stay in the organization while hiding their doubts are usually doing so because the organization is, in effect, holding their friends and relatives hostage by the threat of shunning. As a JW, you are told that all your friendships and close associations should be inside the organization. If you break the rules, they don’t hesitate to cut you off from everyone you love. If a friend or family member fails to honor the shunning policy, they will end up in the same boat as you. That’s Orwellian as any system I’ve ever heard of, and it’s not something that is true in very many other religions. Even churches that practice church discipline follow a much more biblical standard than the Watchtower does - reduction of association in cases of church discipline is voluntary and not extreme, certainly never cutting people off from their closest family members. So saying that these Orwellian practices is true of many other religions as well is simply not accurate.
And yes, there are probably some “Kool-aid drinkers” in every religion, but in the JWs, it is mandatory. People who openly disagree with ANYTHING published by the WTS are subject to the disfellowshipping and shunning procedure I mentioned above.
Technically correct, I guess I should have said “raises the question.” However, the term is commonly (mis)used in the way that I did, so I’ll plead mind control ;).
Oh, I know the answer - only the kingdom preaching is important because only it brings people everlasting life; their present lives don’t really matter very much. I only brought this up because YOU suggested that those who dislike the work of the Witnesses would be better engaged in such social improvement rather than pointing out the flaws in the JW religion. Pot, Kettle, Black, and all that. It’s perfectly all right for you to knock on people’s doors and point out the flaws in their religion, but they had better not respond in kind. If we should spend our time in social improvement rather than showing what’s wrong with your religion, then I think it’s a perfectly legitimate question to ask why your group does not follow the same philosophy.
This is heartbreaking. NeonMadman? If you were a part of this system I’m sorry the rest of us failed you. Most of us don’t realize the extent of the brainwashing. Glad you’re with us now, though.
Only because I happen to be straight.