Posts by outbutnotdown

33

What's your nicest souvenir of your time spent as a JW?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

can you still recall nice moments you spent as a jw?

do you remember ever being happy there?

outbutnotdown

The winter hockey, ringette and broomball games... those were a blast.

The teen parties and Weddings when I would finally be able to come out of my shell a bit and dance with the JW cuties.......

Brad

47

The reason why the deceased are buried facing east.

by Schizm in

jw
friends

if you click on the link below what you'll see is an aerial view of the llano cemetery, located in amarillo, texas -- the place where i'll probably be buried.

the gravestones can actually be seen.

they are the white specks, all layed out in rows.

outbutnotdown

Schizm,
Nasty??!! My comments were quite polite.

You're not only a nasty person, you lie a lot. Now, politely stop hijacking my thread.

First of all, I stand by what I have said regarding dealing with people with your type of personality.

Secondly, this is a discussion board. Do you think you should be able to make a comment about people facing east when buried, say that it is because some people believe that Jesus will come from the East, make a comment about whatever floats your boat regarding their belief in that, implying that YOUR interpretation of his return being more accurate and NOT expect people to disagree with you?

What have I lied about? Call me a liar without any evidence to back it up and then say "politely stop hijacking my thread."??!!

With each comment you have made in your last couple of topics, you have showed yourself to be more and more of the personality I have described.

Brad

14

how many people make a "comeback"

by stopthepain in

i personally am ashamed of my so-called comeback.. hers the story.brainwashed from infancy on,got out at age 16-17-really started hating the religion.tried lots of drugs,sex ,selling drugs ,fighting,partying,gambling-soup to nuts.at a fragile and emotional point in my life,i looked back to the religion{for all those sappy and emotional reasons-ex-my life has no meaning,i dont like the way my life is}i had a short lived comeback,and fell into all the traps of believimg a cult again.thinking i needed "structure"in my life.my mom kept sayimg how i would find a nice sister,blah blah blah.... .

after 5-6 months of going to meetings i* stopped,i realized most of the people there{especial;ly young ones raised in the troof}were living lies,and acting very immature.that was 3 years ago.i havent been to the kh since and never plan on going back.. i guess im embarrssed about this and feel stupid about my "comeback".wondering if this is natural to have a comeback considering my circumstances,or if anyone has done this?.

please forgive me...........it will never happen again

outbutnotdown

stopthepain,

I agree with others here. It sounds like you KNOW where you need to head now. That clarity of mind is beautiful. You may think you have wasted time there but, as you have heard, you are way ahead of some of us in that category.

Brad

54

THE GENERATION OF 1914

by Mary in

jw
friends

it makes you wonder when exactly the governing body and their lawyers decided to change the "generation of 1914" doctrine.

the first quotation below is from the 1992 wt and the second one from the 1993 brochure the purpose of life, just two lousy years before they imfamously dropped the whole idea:

*** w92 5/1 p. 7 the 1914 generation?why significant?

outbutnotdown

The years getting towards the 70 to 80 years, 1984 to 1994, (Psalms quote) was a relatively peaceful period of time on earth. I think if anything major (on a world scale) had happened during that period, they would likely have shown that this was in fact the very beginning of Armageddon. (They did the same with World War One, changing their doctrine to Jesus taking over in Heaven and tossing Satan out, rather than Jesus coming to Earth as they had predicted earlier.)

It seems that the "best" way out of this latest failed prophecy was to change the interpretation of "generation". A lot of people are leaving because of it, but not nearly as many as I thought would. I can picture the Governing Body sitting there and the conversation goes like this..

Head honcho GB member- "OK, here are our choices.. 1) we gamble that something significant enough will happen in the world in the next ten years that we can sell it to the people as the start of Armageddon....... 2) we explain the "new light" interpretation of generation. (wink, wink, chuckles all around at how they are still amazed at how 6 million people still buy their egotistical crap...)

Brother Optimistic - "How about my suggestion about admitting that we now no longer believe in a catastrophic Armageddon as it has been taught?"

Head honcho (with a look of intimidation towards Brother Optimistic) - "You do remember 1980, don't you? OK, votes everyone."

And the rest is history.

Brad

47

The reason why the deceased are buried facing east.

by Schizm in

jw
friends

if you click on the link below what you'll see is an aerial view of the llano cemetery, located in amarillo, texas -- the place where i'll probably be buried.

the gravestones can actually be seen.

they are the white specks, all layed out in rows.

outbutnotdown

Schizm,

Nasty??!! My comments were quite polite. Besides that, your responses seemed to validate my viewpoints. You made an assessment based on TWO cemetaries that gravesites point East becuase of your own pre-conceived belief that Jesus is coming back... and of course, that would be from the East.

You have made very rude comments to Gumby, for example, and then when people took offense to them you have pretended that you had NO ILL WILL WHATSOEVER.

I have learned how to deal with people of your mentality in the past. You are abusive by nature but when people stand up to your abuse, you quickly pretend that you are the victim. Sorry, buddy, it won't work here.

Your relating of the "story" does not irritate me. You are even entitled to have your own opinion, which by your own admission, was created by being very selective in your finding of evidence.

What I do find rude is that you have refused to acknowledge that people other than yourself MIGHT be right.

Brad

12

Tsunami...

by Country Girl in

this is a big if.

if anyone didn't help the tsunami victims, what would happen?.

discuss.

outbutnotdown

CG,

I see the other part of your reason for asking the question.

I would never show the lack of concern that others have posted here regarding how they were too close to the water and therefore "deserved" to die. That having been said, your comments on whether they, if they had not been helped out at all, would just move is a very interesting topic.

I am not a doomsday type of person. Life is beautiful and I love it. I do think, however that humans are very slowly adjusting their lifestyle to fit the Earth's plans that IT has for us. I don't think we can populate as quickly as we have in the past and go on forever. "God" does not need to step in. Men have already started to do so.

In the West, we have gotten over the baby-boom urge and we are self-regulating our population fairly well. IMO, it will likely go even further, with people realizing that one very well cared for child is better off than even two. Humans have never really had a problem with preventing conception, just the killing of those lives AFTER the birth. It is not a huge step, IMO, for the world to cummulatively agree to "prevent" births on a much grander scale.

I respect the fact that every parent that lost a child in Asia is hurting. Their pain cannot be prevented. What can be prevented later is mass loss by simply "moving" to safer places and creating a mindset where 2-3 kids is normal instead of 10.

I have four kids....... I know...... I go against even the present-day North American average, but my point is that I would protect each of my children's lives to the point of dying, if I had to, but I would have also accepted that for the good of humanity, if I was only allowed one child rather than four.

Unfortunately it seems to take great disasters for even the victims to adjust their habits. The world will love, care and support the victims directly and indirectly, with this tragedy. The indirect portion will likely be a long and gradual lifestyle change.

Brad

47

The reason why the deceased are buried facing east.

by Schizm in

jw
friends

if you click on the link below what you'll see is an aerial view of the llano cemetery, located in amarillo, texas -- the place where i'll probably be buried.

the gravestones can actually be seen.

they are the white specks, all layed out in rows.

outbutnotdown

Schizm, buddy,

Did you check any other cemetaries before you accepted this ONE cemetary's story as being valid? Who ran the Cemetary anyway? What about the cemetaries in my city where they mostly face south?

Anyway, I don't want to waste much time on this silly topic but it does seem to go along with your one-track mind. At what point do you begin to realize that these ideas that you get might be more of a "problem" with your mind, rather than verification that your very same mind is functioning properly?

Brad

22

I miss my kids so much I'm hurting!! :(

by outbutnotdown in

jw
friends

i have tried to put on a brave face lately but i think i need to release some tears and emotion.

(ok, it's starting already... .

(i have made posts lately as formerout but i am now back on as outbutnotdown, as i had been for a year and a half earlier...password lost.

outbutnotdown

Thanks Sassy,

I remember your VERY BIG smile in the picture with your son when you saw him for the first time in a long time. It was moving. I hope that you and your kids are getting what you all deserve as well.

It sucks to know that people do this to us and our kids but it also reminds me that very beautiful smiles (like yours) and very positive interaction with our kids can help them and us to keep them on the narrow path.

And in no way in hell am I suggesting any path other than the path that leads to respect for life and love as it exists.

Brad

12

Tsunami...

by Country Girl in

this is a big if.

if anyone didn't help the tsunami victims, what would happen?.

discuss.

outbutnotdown

It certainly is a BIG if.... and it might be why there have not been immediate responses.

Whew, what to suggest and not to suggest......

There would be much more disease than there will be, since much help has been given, in the way of medical supplies and water.

So much more we could say. I will just say that there are some who will suggest that they are great for helping.... others that will do it anonymously, and thus show, IMO, the truest form of giving.

I will say that I haven't given anything yet. I say that not to condemn myself nor to pretend to be the poor widow type of person. I applaud all those who have given and will give. My mind and bank account are occupied with issues that are directly related to my family and they take precedence. It does not mean that I haven't given some of my spirit to the victims and to the very kind people, like those here, who have done more than I can, directly.

I think the fact that your BIG if question did not become reality is that all humans are connected by a certain spirit.

People will help those closest to them. I almost don't want to bring up the JW thing, but I feel that it is warranted. As a JW, only JW's are close to us. It doesn't seem to cross their mind that they should help non-JW's.... we have seen it in their letters released about how only five or so JW's died. I saw the same thing with 9/11.. they felt that them having to see 3,000 people die was traumatic for them.. forget about the victims..... JW's are always the victims, in their own minds........ thank "God" that we are not ALL JW's.

Brad

78

Research on the validity of 1914

by Bluegrass Tom in

here are a few facts that i have recently discovered by doing some research.. the watchtower society uses the date of 539 b.c.e as the date that cyrus took over babylon.

they use the term "absolute date" to define this as an unquestionable point in time.

to do this they had to ignore 586 b.c.e which is the real date for the destruction of jerusalem.. therefore, if jerusalem never lay desolate for 70 years, when does this desolation and fulfillment of this prophecy take place?

outbutnotdown

Scholar,

Where in the Bible is 607 B.C.E mentioned? Not only do you avoid questions other than what you want to answer but your answers are only what you want to hear.

What about the Asian disaster and it's relation to the 1914 prophecy? Are you waiting for the WTBTS to tell you what the answer should be? You shouldn't have suggested to people here, who in contrast to your opinion, look at what happened in Asia as a very sad event.

Brad