Posts by Phantom Stranger

88

Are Jehovah's Witnesses REALLY Welcomed Here?

by minimus in

jw
friends

in view of the fact that there are mostly ex-witnesses on this forum, the question is," are jw's truly welcomed here?".

it seems to me that if a poster supports the witnesses in any way, that they will know about it.

Phantom Stranger

So, mini, I take it your answer to the question is "no"?

15

Sticks and stones -- break your bones; but words CAN REALLY hurt you

by Gopher in

news from an australian study.

good things to remember when it's tempting to insult an individual rather than deal with issues.. http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/4158295.htmlhurt feelings really do hurt physically.

michael woods, block news alliancepublished october 19, 2003. the old nursery rhyme was wrong.

Phantom Stranger

Well, not to seem like I'm whining, but just so y'all don't think I was seeing things that weren't there... it was a poular topic:)

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/60134/1.ashx

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/60431/911178/post.ashx#911178

Regards,

PS

15

Sticks and stones -- break your bones; but words CAN REALLY hurt you

by Gopher in

news from an australian study.

good things to remember when it's tempting to insult an individual rather than deal with issues.. http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/4158295.htmlhurt feelings really do hurt physically.

michael woods, block news alliancepublished october 19, 2003. the old nursery rhyme was wrong.

I noted on another posting of it how I found it odd that it was posted so many times, yet each time the thread dies right away. I would have thought it would have been more discussed... and this contributes to why it's not noticed by others and reposted.

BTW, my post turned out to be dupe #2:)

15

Sticks and stones -- break your bones; but words CAN REALLY hurt you

by Gopher in

news from an australian study.

good things to remember when it's tempting to insult an individual rather than deal with issues.. http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/4158295.htmlhurt feelings really do hurt physically.

michael woods, block news alliancepublished october 19, 2003. the old nursery rhyme was wrong.

Phantom Stranger

hehe - this has now been posted FIVE times. Obviously touches a nerve...

37

Noah...that drunken boat builder?

by shotgun in

i've learned a ton on this forum and elsewhere which pretty much disproves noah's global flood to me personally?.

long before this as a dub though one thing always bothered me about the account and how unreasonable it seemed even if you discount the animals.. .

noah had three sons in 600 yrs (noah got it even less than me), his sons did not have any children before the flood.

Phantom Stranger

I've been thinking about your question, heathen, about what's easier to believe.

I believe that biologically, evolution is an expression of greater and greater organization, and that some principle or force must account for this. In such a case, it's all part of a roughly continuous progression.

For there to be a discontinuity such as a dramatic change in the amount of time it takes a human fetus to be ready to come into the world...that is much harder for me to beleive than a continuous progression. Discontinuities are harder to explain.

ANyway, not arguing for it, just explaining why I could believe one and not the other.

32

Higher Educaton

by franklin J in

jw
friends

what is the current thinking of the watchtower society concernng higher education these days?

in 1977 i entered college from a full pioneer status and was duly criticized from the local elders.

back at that time, higher education was actively discouraged.

Phantom Stranger

Glad to hear it, herk. Best wishes on building your business... do you have a website for your business?

Jeez - a 70-year-old who is building websites - I dunno about the rest of us, but that inspires me to keep on learning.

Regards,

PS

88

Are Jehovah's Witnesses REALLY Welcomed Here?

by minimus in

jw
friends

in view of the fact that there are mostly ex-witnesses on this forum, the question is," are jw's truly welcomed here?".

it seems to me that if a poster supports the witnesses in any way, that they will know about it.

Phantom Stranger

It depends on your intention, doesn't it, Bradley?

If your intention is to be right, and to demonstrate how you are "righter" than they are, then by all means, play their game. However, I feel that in part that is a sort of revenge, a striking back at an organization through a person. iT can often be driven by our desire to prove the WTS wrong, which has nothing to do with how we deal with a particular individual.

If your intention is to show them what it's like on the other side, then being "right", winning an argument, is not needed - building relationship is needed. Building a relationship is always hard, but winning a zero-sum argument is often impossible - it's too often lose-lose.

88

Are Jehovah's Witnesses REALLY Welcomed Here?

by minimus in

jw
friends

in view of the fact that there are mostly ex-witnesses on this forum, the question is," are jw's truly welcomed here?".

it seems to me that if a poster supports the witnesses in any way, that they will know about it.

Phantom Stranger

So are we.

I do not believe that any person avoids hypocrisy.

Let the one who is always consistent throw the first stone...

16

I'm glad I was a JW!

by iiz2cool in

jw
friends

yep, you heard correctly.

i'm glad i was a jw (from a certain standpoint).

you're probably thinking i've finally lost my last remaining brain cell, if you haven't thought that before.

Phantom Stranger

I'll give a different perspective on this:

Do I like who I am? Do I love myself? Do I completely accept who I am? (Please note that this addresses us, not our behaviour).

If I can answer those questions in the affirmative, then I have to note that to change any of my past is to change who I am. Every single experience I have, whether "positive" or "negative", has shaped who I am. I may not want to repeat those experiences, but they are a part of me, and to reject a part of me is to reject myself (we are not divisible).

Again, another perspective: Does everything happen to us for a purpose? I would say no. Does everything happen for a reason? Yes, but we don't know what it is. Oftentimes it's the laws of physics:)

Events do not happen to me for me to learn from them. They are just events. I experience them and decide what they mean to me - I am responsible for that assigned meaning. If I see a little kid hit by a car, it is the height of narcissistic ego to think that that tragedy happened in order to remind me of the transitory nature of life. But if I witness this tragedy, and I do not take the moment to remind myself of the transitory nature of life, I have missed an opportunity to derive whatever positive effect that tragedy might have conveyed.

So, no, IMHO the universe is not conspiring to teach us lessons. The universe is providing lessons 24/7 - and sometimes we pay attention.

22

Mother Teresa's beatification- JWs and Good works

by pravda2004 in

after hearing of mother theresa's beatification today, which is a recognition of her tireless lifelong devotion to ministering to the suffering of others, i was wondering why the jws have no works of charity as a witness to christ's love for mankind.

is jw doctrine confined to the idea that all "good" public works should be in witnessing and proselytism alone?

with the amount of money the watchtower has, why is there no public witness of charity?

Phantom Stranger

It would fall under the huge amount of doctrine derived from the line in Ecclesiastes about not belonging to man to even direct his step. Any short-term good will only be wiped out by man's folly, so spend your efforts (and cash) in helping convert them, which is the only long-term good you can do.

The preceding is not the opinion of the management.