OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  7

  Bug out bags?

  by SpeedRacer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my son sees his grandparents who are active jw's and has told me that they now have bugout bags by the door by direction of the society.

  my question is, if s*&t hits the fan where are they bugging too?

  everybody meeting at the hall?

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  OneEyedJoe

  Yeah, they're more or less reasonable about the bug out bag thing, but I don't think they're encouraging it due to reasonable concern for the well-being fo the 'flock.' They're doing a local needs part about what to do in a disaster about once a year (in spite of the fact that there's never been a large-scale disaster in the area) just to keep a certain level of fear in the R/F. They want the R/F constantly paranoid about when the GT might start so as to keep them in control.

  It's never said in the disaster preparedness parts where people should go in an emergency, but in the "do as you're told even if it doesn't make sense" type talks, they tend to put across the idea that the GB is going to have an inside scoop as to when the GT is starting, and they're going to call us all to the KH for refuge.
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  71

  BORG running low on $$$??

  by fader77 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  dear brothers:.

  re: personal literature supply.

  reducing existing stock at the branch office before the revisions are released.

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  OneEyedJoe

  So if I contributed for the literature when I got them, do I get a rebate when I turn it back in?

  You have a great point...the org is not only trying to save money by getting people to use less literature, by having people turn in old stuff and re-use it, they're also trying to maintain the current level of "literature donations"
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  9

  Why Do Religions Lack A Sense Of Irony?

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iranians-behind-tehran-version-of-happy-sentenced-to-six-months-in-prison-and-91-lashes-9741014.html.

  good grief.

  the more fanatical the religion, the more it seems to lack a sense of self reflective irony.. .

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  OneEyedJoe

  A sense of irony requires a certain amount of objectivity. So the wackier the belief system, the less objectivity the adherents have and therefore the less they're able to take a joke.

  The lack of objectivity is enforced by the fact that a) people instinctively know that if they look at things objectively their belief system will fall apart and b) those that have a certain level of objectivity are the ones that eventually leave behind the wacky beliefs.
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  52

  I loathe authority

  by punkofnice in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  now i'm not preaching hatred here i am just expressing how i've felt for years even when i was a jw.. i totally loathe the police/policticians...any authority......anyone that is over anyone else.

  i have a total hatred of them all.

  i wonder if it's because i was raised a jw?.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I don't loathe authority per se, but I do loathe misplaced and misused authority, which seems to be the most common form. Hipocrites are also up there on my list, and there's a lot of overlap.
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  16

  My Wife Now Questions God

  by Jon Preston in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  well my wife and i have been through a roller coaster of life since i convinced her the dibs werent the truth.

  the hardest tests have been lived but we are closer than ever now.

  now recently shes read "the shack" nd watched some movies about god and just cant seem to inderstand why god would allow all of this suffering just to prove to satan that hes "the man" (or woman).

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  OneEyedJoe

  This comes up time and again, but it boils down to this: religion is man-made and thus morality is too. Clearly morality doesn't require a judge/jury/executioner in the sky. There are devout Christians that cheat on their wives, murder their neighbors and steal from their friends, just as there are atheists who are genuinely moral people. Belief in an imaginary friend doesn't automatically make you a better person, and even if it makes you behave a little better, I'd still contend that you'd have to be a pretty shitty person if it takes threat of eternal torture to get you to be nice.

  Once you give up belief in god(s) you may reevaluate aspects of your morality (views of homosexuality is a common one) but most will remain intact because it just makes good sense. There may be a period where you feel a bit lost, but once things settle down you realize you're the same person you always were, if not better off.
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  25

  Was Charles Russell delusional or just a con artist?

  by keyser soze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've seen him referred to as both on this forum.. did he sincerely believe that he was an inspired prophet whose end-time predictions and biblical interpretations came from god?

  or was he just a shrewd businessman who saw a market of disillusioned christians who believed that armageddon was imminent that he could exploit?.

  i personally lean toward the latter.. .

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  OneEyedJoe

  He lied under oath in court over the Solon Society and got caught red-handed. That was not the actions of a conscientious believer.

  I don't know, sounds like theocratic warfare to me
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  17

  Goal for new service year

  by Daniel1555 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the secretary of the congregation said in a talk, what the congregation should have as goal for the new service year: attend field service meetings!.

  he explained in a sad tone, that he visited all of our 3 or 4 service groups.

  and what happened at the field service meetings.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Maybe they knew he was coming, and didn't want to get stuck in his car group.

  You might be on to something. At least in my cong, getting stuck out in serve-us with the serve-us coordinator (or whatever they're called these days, since they seem to like changing titles for no reason) is about the worst fate there is.
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  25

  Was Charles Russell delusional or just a con artist?

  by keyser soze in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've seen him referred to as both on this forum.. did he sincerely believe that he was an inspired prophet whose end-time predictions and biblical interpretations came from god?

  or was he just a shrewd businessman who saw a market of disillusioned christians who believed that armageddon was imminent that he could exploit?.

  i personally lean toward the latter.. .

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  OneEyedJoe

  Probably a bit of both. Things are hardly black and white. From what I've learned since waking up, it seems as though the cult started out much more benign under CTR. It wasn't till the Rutherford took over that things started getting super culty and oppressive. I tend to think that Rutherford was a con-man who'd deluded himself into believing he was doing god's work just so he could sleep at night. Not a particularly unique story.
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  5

  Yet Another "Worse and Worse" Thought

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/09/child-mortality-rates-have-dropped-in.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed%3a+blogspot%2fadvancednano+%28nextbigfuture%29.

  worldwide, child mortality has plunged remarkably...................because of the success of human efforts !.

  "worse and worse" yup, yup, yup..... .

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  OneEyedJoe

  This old system can't last much longer.
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  122

  Scottish independance in two days what do you think?

  by barry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one thing i would like to say is will the union jack be changed because the scottish flag is incorpreted in it.

  if the union jack is changed will we change our australian flag because the union jack is in our flag?

  even hawawi has the union jack also fiji and many other commonwealth countries.. .

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  OneEyedJoe

  It doesn't affect me much, but if it will cause scotch prices to go down in the US I'm all for it. From what I understand they're planning on keeping the pound as their currency so that's not likely to happen...