Steve Lowry

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Posts by Steve Lowry

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  14

  Is the WT a parasitic organistion?

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what do you think?

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  Steve Lowry

  The Watchtower Society needs the JW. The JW doesn?t need the Watchtower Society. It kinda reminds me the animated film, ?A Bug?s Life?. The grasshoppers realize that it is they who need the ants to be able to survive, and they wanna keep the ants ignorant of this obvious fact. When the ants finally grasp this understanding and fight back, it?s all over for the Grasshoppers.

  Without the follower, the Watchtower Society would have to close-up shop. In the movie the grasshoppers accomplish what they need from the ants by threatening them with annihilation. And in real life the Watchtower Society threatens the JW with alienation from God. About the same thing when you think about it. Fear is all in the mind, but it can be as real as life, even if it?s only imagined.

  Oh, that people could be so smart as ants sometimes.
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  211

  Go Get Em COSBY!!!

  by Flash in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  cosby has harsh words for black community

  by don babwin, associated press writer

  chicago - bill cosby (news) went off on another tirade against the black community thursday, telling a room full of activists that black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and "going nowhere.

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  Steve Lowry

  Forgive me for thinking someone of his stature (Bill Cosby) could do better.

  I think he's doing just great! Keep up the good work Bill!
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  211

  Go Get Em COSBY!!!

  by Flash in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  cosby has harsh words for black community

  by don babwin, associated press writer

  chicago - bill cosby (news) went off on another tirade against the black community thursday, telling a room full of activists that black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and "going nowhere.

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  Steve Lowry

  However, playing the blame game, though an inverted version in this case, is divisive and won't get anything done.

  Why is it that when someone takes an action towards a problem there are those so quick to attack that action as ?non-effective?? Seems like Bill has done quite a lot and is continuing to do so. He obviously has a passion for education, and his own people.

  I work in an area (a city of four million) where the Ebonics dialects can be so thick as it can be difficult to understand a person. I recently had a grown woman when asking me if I made something ask me the question this way, "Did you made this?" (sounded like, "Diyu may dis?") I don't think this is a very good example of how to converse, to younger folks regardless of race. Of course since I'm white, if I was to say anything I would be labled a racist. And when Bill Cosby tries to say something about it, he's either an Uncle Tom or he gets accused of playing the "blame game". He's spot on in his criticism. Maybe he'll have an impact in this area? I hope so.

  I think it has been said here more than once that these are problems encountered by the youth of all races in this country.

  Sounds to me like you're the one who is playing the blame game. Or at least, evading the issue. It kind of reminds me of how a JW will respond in defense of his religiion when someone shows him an obvious problem or issue concerning his faith. He often will respond, " What about the Catholics? Look at what THEY'RE doing".

  Just because I can't save the world, that dosen't mean I can't be effective in reforming the JW religion. That's where my passion is. And Bill has his passion. You go Bill.
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  32

  May I look inside your heads for a moment?

  by SwampThing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello again, forum members.... well, as many of you have suggested, i?ve been reading, and reading, and reading... i?ve even purchased the book several of you recommended, "crisis of conscience.

  " it should be delivered next week.

  some of your stories are absolutely heart-wrenching.

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  Steve Lowry

  I was raised a JW (from the age of about seven), so I guess I?m disqualified from answering. At that risk, I must say that even after being raised a JW and fully understanding the mind control and all the baggage that only a JW can understand, I still cannot imagine myself as an adult volunteering to be a JW. I left the group when I became a man (about 23 I think it was), because even though I didn?t completely realize it at the time, I could no longer allow that kind of control over my life by another (or group). It is a completely foreign concept to me now to allow such a thing to happen to me. Maybe, BECAUSE of the experience itself, I can?t imagine becoming one as an adult. I dunno. I know my JW mother likes to fantasize that I was never really a JW in the first place. Maybe she?s got something there.

  Anyway, I?m always reminded of this analogy when this point comes up. (How do people hand over their lives to someone or some group?):

  If you put a frog into boiling water, he?ll quickly jump out. But if you place him into cool water and then slowly turn up the heat, he?ll sit there and let himself cook to death.

  It?s kinda like that. It sounds so nice at first (cool water) but by the time the truth of it sets in (boiling), its too late for the JW (frog).
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  11

  Unseen Spirits do they help us or do they harm us?

  by Celtic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone else remember this booklet?

  if you do remember studying it as a child, what were the affects of this study on your imaginations?

  how did this booklet play your fears?

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  Steve Lowry

  Sleep paralysis or not, there IS something there. I have talked to it via the Ouija board, and I can tell you that there is some kind of intellectual existence that we cannot see with our physical eyes. I dunno exactly what it is for sure. But THAT it is, I am sure. Oh yea and it ain?t very nice either.
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  211

  Go Get Em COSBY!!!

  by Flash in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  cosby has harsh words for black community

  by don babwin, associated press writer

  chicago - bill cosby (news) went off on another tirade against the black community thursday, telling a room full of activists that black children are running around not knowing how to read or write and "going nowhere.

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  Steve Lowry

  Bill Cosby may be cute as a crochety old black man "telling it like it is" but in dollars and cents it is the fact that balck people rarely bully their way throguth college with brute cash and are ingorant of what it takes to hip and hop thought the financial aid hoops with out having to play hoops or hip and hop because music and sports are still probally the more utillized schoolarships for african americans.

  This comment is based on non-reality. When I went back to school in the late seventies, I also couldn?t afford an expensive college. So, I went to the local community college for something like a hundred bucks a semester. The classes were filled with black kids who were all too familiar with intuition aid and the whole community college thing. So please, that old argument about how black kids don?t know about what?s available to them is simple non-sense. Anyway, I didn?t qualify for aid so I had to pay for my education out of my own pocket (not like it was a great deal of money though). A good friend of mine got his CPA degree going to community college, BTW.

  You gotta wanna. Anything else is just a lame ass excuse. Sorry, but that?s the way it is.

  There's plenty of black kids (and anyone else who really wants it) going to college at night getting their future together. But it ain?t the path of lest resistance, ya know?

  Stop making excuses for what you don?t have, and go get some.
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  38

  What First Stumbled You?

  by glitter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what was the very first thing that "stumbled" you?

  mine was: i was about 5 or 6 years old and of course i used to find it really hard to find things in my bible at meetings (couldn't find the books quick enough before they moved onto the next paragraph and used to get frustrated).

  i had the idea to make little tabs for the edges of the pages so i could tell where the books were - so i asked mum to help me neatly write out the book names on tiny slips of paper and tape them inside.

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  Steve Lowry

  Stumbled? Nah, I jump!

  But I guess the first time I realized things weren?t quite right was when I was about 10 or so. I was talking to an old JW who actually went through the 1914 experience. He told me that they had believed completely that that year was to be the end (of this system of things), and they had it figured, right down the actual day. When I asked him how he felt the next day after and nothing happened, he said, "Oh, we all just laughed about it". Even at 10, I realize that I wouldn?t be laughing about being deceived that way. That was about 1965, and was to be a foreshadowing of my own personal experience when 1975?s false predictions rolled around. I had forgotten all about that encounter. In 1975, I too believed completely that the end was coming that year. When it didn?t, I didn?t laugh about it. It was the thing that helped me out.
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  20

  Update: The meeting with my mom....

  by desib77 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just an update for those of you who read about my decision to send my mother a letter.. my mom received my letter yesterday and then today she met me for lunch.

  all through lunch she didn't mention anything that would be considered witnessing.

  i was shocked.

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  Steve Lowry

  It's all about modifying someone's negative behavior and setting boundaries, and it sounds like you're well on your way in helping her to see what is acceptable and what is not. I think your reponse to her was well balanced and respectful.
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  14

  To where can a witness go?

  by hooberus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the following is from a previous post.

  i post it here again for new persons who may be wondering where else is there to go besides the wt organization.. to where shall i go?

  this is a question that many jws seem to have when they are contemplating leaving the wt society.

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  Steve Lowry

  Hey swamp,

  I visit the site because of the common bond found between former JW?s. I am not in any way (mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc) attached to the Watchtower Society. I also enjoy being able to give assistance to those who may be struggling with the mind control of the organization.

  As to your other comment, I am in agreement with you. I have long believed that there exits the type of personality that needs to be told what to do, think, say, wear, behave, etc. This is the prime reason why I left when I became of age. I didn?t know who I was as a kid, but looking back in retrospect, I could have never been a JW by my own choice. My mother heavily influenced me, as well as the JW engine that drives the whole thing. I am not the type of person that can be told what to do with my life. I make my way in this world and nobody can tell me what to with my life, anymore. However, I do think that there does exist the type of personality that needs this kind of structure in their life. It?s these poor folks that have the hardest time with leaving the cultic groups like the Watchtower Society.
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  14

  To where can a witness go?

  by hooberus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the following is from a previous post.

  i post it here again for new persons who may be wondering where else is there to go besides the wt organization.. to where shall i go?

  this is a question that many jws seem to have when they are contemplating leaving the wt society.

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  Steve Lowry

  I was raised a JW from the age of about seven or so, and left officially at about twenty-three. I am now forty-eight. In all the time hence, I have ventured into a number of religious ideologies (including Christianity). I see my spiritual connection with God as an evolutionary one. I pick up, and I discard ideals concerning Him as my life continues to unfold, and this learning process will probably never end (at least I hope not). I will never again allow anyone or any group to "tell" me who God is, and that includes those fellows who wrote the bible. That doesn?t mean that God can?t be found in the old manuscript, but I keep in mind that it still was written by flesh and bone. It seems to me that people tend to worship the scriptures as much or maybe even more in some cases than they do God Himself.

  I hold this belief, and it is cardinal to me: I know, in every fiber of my being that God is real and exists. I know that He knows who I am. And I know that He loves me.

  Everything else to me is just religiosity