1.) Shunning (D/F)
2.) Blood Doctrine
Really those two being elminated would make the religion more palpable.
adjusted knowledge
JoinedPosts by adjusted knowledge
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63
What is your biggest gripe with the WT and it's teachings?
by FL_Panthers inas the title says, please list what you find annoying with the organization..
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162
True Stories from the Tower - Part 1 "From Anointed to Pedophile to Bethelite"
by BluePill2 inbefore i dive into the actual write-up of this experience, let me put some things straight.. i have thought long and hard if i should write more about my experiences during the 10+ years at different branches.
during these years i worked from financial department, service department, home office and different it assignments.
as you can imagine one sees and hears and reads a lot of stuff going through different stations in different countries.
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adjusted knowledge
It is naive to think that the legal system works the same in poor countries as it does in the Western world. Even in Canada, USA, and Europe the arm of justice doesn't give fair punishment to child molestors. I understand villagegirl outrage but the Holier-than-thou, personal attacks, and irrelevant facts (such as having a degree in 1977, a brother with a law degree, and living in developed/wealthy nations) does little for her arugements.
Having a brother as a Lawyer or using Google doesn't make you an expert on laws nor having any understanding on what happens in very poor countries. First, there are SOL on sex crimes, including child molestations. SOL vary by States and some may not have SOL on sex crimes. Most states seem to not have SOL on minors but then again what they define as minor can vary. SOL are being changed as I know in Florida it was modified in 2010.
Now for a personal story and no I will not give names. When I was 12 yrs old my parents moved to a new town. Our neighbor was very wealthy and lived alone. He was 79 years old at the time. After developing a friendship with me and my brothers he started giving us liquor. It was my first time drinking Rum and coke. He then moved on showing me pornographic magazines. Soon he got comfortable enough to try to grab my penis. He told me he wanted to check how hard I was. Because I pulled away and got mad, he never tried it again. At that age I really didn't know anything about child molestation. Even though he never tried to touch me again I later learned he did have relations with young boys in the neighborhood. The first part of this story is being told so you know what he told me was probably very true.
He would leave four months of the year to travel to Nepal. He had lots of money and could do this and has done it for decades. Though he never tried to physically touch me again he would sometimes move the conversations to sex. In his own admission he would go to Nepal to have sex with young boys. The parents would allow it because he would give them gifts. The authorities would look the other way too with bribes if he was reported. Do I know for a fact thist took place? no, but I do know for a fact he was a child toucher, went to Nepal every year till he died, and not ONCE ever was arrested in Nepal. I have no doubt he molested boys in Nepal. It was much easier and less riskier for him in Nepal.
I've visited other countries as an Adult. One of the countries I visited was the Philippines. I've stayed in Manila, Cebu, and Bohol. Let me tell you that the officials there are very corrupt. Child rape happens there by Americans, Australians, Europeans, Japanese, ect... all the time. The officials will look the other way. Hell, I've seen someone get run over and laid in the street with his brains on the sidewalk for hours before the authorities arrived. Does this mean I'm calling Filipinos uneducated? no, Most I knew could speak three languages. But I wouldn't be surprised at all if there was molestations happening in Kingdom Halls there. The ones that get caught seem to be because they got caught up in a USA FBI sting for international child sex trafficking.
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True Stories from the Tower - Part 1 "From Anointed to Pedophile to Bethelite"
by BluePill2 inbefore i dive into the actual write-up of this experience, let me put some things straight.. i have thought long and hard if i should write more about my experiences during the 10+ years at different branches.
during these years i worked from financial department, service department, home office and different it assignments.
as you can imagine one sees and hears and reads a lot of stuff going through different stations in different countries.
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adjusted knowledge
"Had you contacted the authorities with what you know, they would have closed down the Bethel Branch and thrown the WT out of the country."
yeah, right lol... The Catholics and JW get caught here in America and nothing happens.
I understand your outrage though.
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Where do we go when we die?
by bsand20 inmy best friend of 14 years and maid of honor passed away 2 months ago at age 32 after battling breast cancer for 6 years.
i haven't been the same since for many reasons.. as a jw kid i believed 144,000 chosen went to heaven, the good people would be resurrected including those who didn't have a chance to hear about jehovah, and the rest, which were of other religions and bad people, died and would cease to exist.
again, because i was a kid when i left, i never really understood the jw position on death and why they came to their conclusion.
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adjusted knowledge
"Now if there is, in fact, no awareness in death, but it is like sleep - the kind in which the sleeper does not even dream at all - then death would seem to be a marvelous gain" - Socrates
This is a question from the ages... Again, a fear of which leads to enslave the minds of so many. I say embrace death and accept it as a gift. Follow your passions as so few do. Cherish the memories of your friend and be happy death ended her pain.
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adjusted knowledge
seems to be a lot of peeps from Florida
So much apostasy in Florida.
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Turing Test Has Been Passed
by metatron inhttp://www.businessinsider.com/computer-passed-the-turing-test-2014-6.
this could be the epitome of disruptive technology.
when 'watson' pounded contestants on jeopardy, i was stunned.. .
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adjusted knowledge
Ray Kurzweil predicted the technological singularity will happen in our life time. He is thinking 2045 and is hoping to be alive by then (he is 66). He thinks this will give us immortality. He is obsessed with death. Personally I can't wait to see what crazy sex robot the Japanese build with this technology.
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How old were you when you left the Watchtower - SURVEY
by usualusername ini believe that the older you are the harder it is to leave the watchtower.. .
i am attempting to get a list of ages people learnt the "truth" and what age they left.. .
uun.
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adjusted knowledge
6 to 18
I was five when my parents began studying and six when we attended meetings. I was 15 when baptized but faded at 18. I attended off and on till I was 22. All my siblings are inactive including my parents. My mother still believes and attends once in a while but no field service.
Overall the religion didn't have any major impact on my life. The congregation actually helped my family out a few times; so I hold no big grudge against them. I went to college and for the most part the Elders left my family alone. I belonged to a congregation that had lazy Elders and Elders that were busy with their businesses.
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Are Christians more or less likely to be in favour of stronger gun control than atheists?
by Seraphim23 ini have no agenda with this post, if anything i am suspecting the results will be against what i would want to hear as a christian.
however im asking the question as i am curious as to the results.
my personal position is in favour of a total ban but i do live in the united kingdom, however many of my friends live in the states.
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adjusted knowledge
"adjusted knowledge are you an atheist or a Christian?"
I believe there is a strong possibility of a Creator and try to live by most Christian values. I don't agree with all of the teachings.
So I guess a theist with Christian influences.
My position on gun control/laws is I don't care. I own many guns both hand guns and what the media would label assault guns. If I was told to turn them in to the government, I would not object. I don't believe they would reduce over all murders. I enjoy shooting guns but I don't hunt so it is not a big deal to me. It is a big deal to many and the reason why there is extreme opinions. Take guns from people and we will find other ways to kill. Never doubt mankinds ingenuity to kill our fellow man/woman/child. If Cain existed I don't think he had any trouble killing Abel with the lack of technology.
I don't think the radical proposals that LisaRose made will happen anytime soon. None of those opinions are original or very practical. Gun owners belong to both the Democrats and Republicans. It might as well be part of the Holy Grail of politics. Politicians won't make major changes in Social Security or Gun Laws any time soon.
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Are Christians more or less likely to be in favour of stronger gun control than atheists?
by Seraphim23 ini have no agenda with this post, if anything i am suspecting the results will be against what i would want to hear as a christian.
however im asking the question as i am curious as to the results.
my personal position is in favour of a total ban but i do live in the united kingdom, however many of my friends live in the states.
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adjusted knowledge
In China they have many mass killings done by knives.
On March 23, 2010, Zheng Minsheng (郑民生) [ 7 ] 41, murdered eight children with a knife in an elementary school in Nanping, [ 8 ] Fujian province.
April 2010 Leizhou, [ 11 ] Guangdong another knife-wielding man named Chen Kangbing, 33 (陈康炳) [ 12 ] at Hongfu Primary School wounded 16 students and a teacher
May 2010 An attacker named Wu Huanming (吴环明), 48, killed seven children and two adults and injured 11 other persons with a cleaver at a kindergarten in Hanzhong, Shaanxi on May 12, 2010
I could keep going but you get the point.
I propose the following on knife control.
Owning a knife should not be an automatic right. Every knife owner should have to pass a knife safety class, a background check and be licenced, with biometric functionality, so no one but you can ever use your licience. There will be a licence fee to cover the cost of this. Every knife should be licenced as well. All knives would be tracked from time of manufacture. All knives have a unique signature, microscopic imprints it leaves on every wound in the victim. All knives would be test stabbed at the factory and the markings entered into a database, so that if it is ever used in a crime it can be tracked back to the owner.
:)
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Question for believers in the Bible/God
by not bitter inmy question basically is - why believe?.
now as a non believer i find it hard to understand how anyone in their right mind can believe in the supernatural and more to the point, live their lives according to an old book.
not just christians obviously.. my intention is not to offend people.
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adjusted knowledge
It is not surprising why people believe in a god and follow some spiritual book. It isn't that difficult to understand. People fear death. That is the simple explanation. If you take time to ponder on being Mortal it can be quite frightening. To KNOW you will die and it is forever is hard for many to accept. To accept means there is no justice and life is not fair. A belief in something more than a finite existence gives comfort to many.
The idea of seeing a child in another life after losing your child to a horrible disease, is more appealing than accepting that nature is both cruel and beautiful. Evolution is an important breakthrough in science with the transitional fossils being found to help answer our origins, but it doesn't answer the questions people have.
Why? and What? Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? In the science world these question are meaningless but to the average person they mean everything.
Then there are many who see how complicated life is and how so many things have to be in place for life to exist, and they just can't accept life is done without intelligence. Science can explain the transformation of life but the very beginning they still have not answered. The planet has only one Gensis and life is not spontaneous being created now. The study of abiogenesis is making great strives to answer these questions but scientists still have been unable to demonstrate life generation from non-living matter. Spiritual books answer these questions and offers simple explanations.