OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  14

  Questions about Non JWs attending a JW baptism

  by TTWSYF in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i attended my brother and sister in laws' baptism at a kingdom hall a number of years ago.

  i was [am] not a jw so when i arrived i was bombarded with attention from the flock to which i politely stated that i was there to see my brother and his wife.

  it seemed like the distraction was intentional.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Most JWs don't even realize that they're baptized in the name of the organization, so on an individual level I can't imagine that they were intentionally trying to distract you from that. As a JW I never heard any direction specifically around engaging non-believers at a baptism, but there's a constant reinforcement of the need to welcome any new ones and ask personal questions, etc. So my guess is that you just experiences run-of-the-mill love bombing that just so happened to result in your missing the baptism.

  Plus, I'm sure any pioneers there were counting their time. Pioneers love to count time when they'd be wasting their time at meetings/errands/etc anyways.
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  35

  Memorial attendance up or down on last year?

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as per the title.

  and was the one you attended at an early or late time of the evening.. any partakers?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Everyone said they were shocked at how low attendance was this year, though it may have been due to the 9:00 time slot that we got. Even so, it was easily the smallest group (by probably 20-30 people, down roughly 10-15% from the previous low) I've ever seen at a memorial in this congregation. Previous years in the 9:00 slot have never been so poorly attended.
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  284

  I'm an ABSENTHEIST. Are you also?

  by EdenOne in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it just dawned on me.

  the existence of god can't be proved, neither is there evidence of god's inexistence.

  so, i'm neither theist neither atheist.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I went from agnostic to atheist when I realized that the only way to get to a god that could possibly exist and fit the observable evidence would have to be so watered down that there would be no reason to call such an entity "god."

  God is certainly not necessary to explain anything. Even if some entity exists that kicked off our universe, he did little more to earn the title of god than Jacques Clouseau did to earn the title inspector. What's the point in having a god that deserves neither worship, nor respect?

  When you add it all up, an absentee god is equivalent to no god. Since no god seems to be much more likely (not to mention the more useful and intellectually honest theory) what's the point in jumping through hoops just to say that god might exist?
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  19

  Thoughts on "Going Clear," the Scientology Documentary

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i managed to find a copy of "going clear" on the internet.

  i won't post a link because most are loaded with pop-ups and you have to be careful about accidental downloads.

  mine was no exception, but i managed to keep the computer clean.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I watched it the other day. My wife had actually already watched it and when I talked to her about it she seemed to have made zero connection to her chosen cult. I think she's a lost cause.

  The part that hit me the hardest was watching the 4 women going on TV badmouthing their exhusbands. That may well be my future (minus the tv part)
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  22

  The 50 Ways to Be Disfellowshipped

  by Wild_Thing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was wondering ... what are all of the "official" reasons provided by elders for disfellowshipping someone?

  i know the most common reasons are adultery and fornication, but what about the others?

  a couple of years ago i traveled back to my hometown` and one of my old jw acquaintances told me that her grown son had been disfellowshipped for refusing to stop associating with another disfellowshipped person.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Well as is often said here - anything 3 elders agree on.

  Some specifics - sex, alcoholism/drugs, badmouthing the cult or doctrine, being tangentially involved in fraud (happened to a personal friend of mine - he was innocent), porn, blood transfusion, misc bloodguilt, misc crimes (theft assault, etc), joining another church, joining any political group, smoking, voting, any form of military service... I'm sure there's lots more but I'm drawing a blank now.
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  59

  Worst Memorial Talk Ever!

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i honestly have never heard such claptrap being delivered in a memorial talk.. the speaker repeatedly put down the way other religions administered the bread & wine, and claimed that witnesses do it exactly as the bible describes.

  oh yeah????.

  he forgot to mention - when reading aloud 1 corinthians 11:25 - that after passing the bread, a full meal was to be shared, before the wine was passed around!

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  OneEyedJoe

  Sorta like the cultists say "the most important meeting is the next one" the worst memorial ever is always the next one. So far (about 15 minutes in) it's all standard fare, except they got the most monotone elder to do it this year (oh and I'm about 4 bourbons deep haha).
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  6

  Just to see...

  by SoJo16 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i walked by the local double hall this afternoon on my way home from work at about 4:30 pm.

  you would never know it's a special night.

  no cars in the lot, nothing swept, no flowers or decorations...totally dead.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Makes sense. Memorial can't start till after sundown. What did you expect?
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  23

  HBO Scientology Documentary

  by tresdecu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone else seen the hbo scientology documentary 'going clear' - wow...cults are just mind-blowing you wonder how people can fall for that garbage, then you (those of us former/fading jws) look in the mirror.. i would love for someone to make a major jw documentary like this.

  'going clear' is getting a lot of press.

  poor tom cruise...he looks like quite the whack job in it too.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Watched going clear this morning. I lost it when they showed the interviewees' exwives badmouthing them on TV.

  My wife actually had already watched it - I don't understand how an active jw could be so unaffected by it as she was. When I talked to her about it she talked about how crazy it all was without a hint of irony. Actually her tone was more of relief that she didn't have to deal with the difficulties of living in a cult. I think she's a lost cause.
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  8

  JWs as described by Cracked

  by Vidiot in

  1. social
  2. humour

  http://www.cracked.com/blog/4-religions-youve-got-all-wrong-because-hollywood/.

  the article describes four different religions (rastafari, jws, amish, and scientology); jws are #3.. the jw entry is pretty accurate (and as usual, funny), but surprisingly doesn't mention the two-witness-rule-related legal troubles the wt has been having lately.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I hate when people act like JWs must all be clamoring for one of the 144k spots in heaven. It's that sort of small misunderstanding that makes an active JW dismiss all the other criticism.
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  13

  144,000

  by freein2004 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  okay so the number is literal but them coming out of israel is not?

  huh?

  what am i missing?

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  OneEyedJoe

  Literally every statement about the 144k is taken to be figurative, except the number itsel . Not only that, but essentially ever other number in revelation is taken to be figurative. I'm with you - how did I ever believe any of it? Oh, right, I was a child and had intrinsic trust in my parents...