Posts by RichardHaley

43

How old were you when baptized?

by Coded Logic in

i was baptized at the age of 11. like most of us, my commitment wasnt to honor god but rather i was gang pressed into the service of the wtbts.

and, at such a young age, it was impossible for me to appreciate the enormity of my actions.

honestly, how could i possibly have known any better?

RichardHaley

16 and it was because of my rush to go up and become an adult. My parents were heavy handed in all areas of my life and I wanted to break the chains and get out of Dodge. I was not allowed to get a car even though I was holding down several jobs and riding a bicycle over 30 miles a day to accomplish school and work. I was told that I could get a car if I pioneered. Well you have to be baptised to pioneer. I got my car, pioneered one month and was on my own in a year.

To be fair I will add that I did believe it was the "truth" and wanted to be baptised. However I never wated to pioneer or go to bethel and the more I was pressured the more I hated the idea. That was decades ago and although my parents are still JWs they are much better people now. I was just their first child and they had a lot to learn. My other 4 siblings worked them over pretty good.

45

A rose by any other name..............

by sparrowdown in

jw
friends

i'm curious, why and how did you choose your username?.

does it hold any special significance for you, is there a share-able back story?.

for me sparrowdown is a playful reference to matt 10:29 and the title of the movie black hawk down.. matt 10:29 was my go-to scrip to "prove" that god cares about us as individuals.

RichardHaley

Mine is a fake name I used to use when spamming craigslist ads... one that didn't get ghosted permanently. Means absolutely nothing.

11

People Believe Jehovah Is A God Of Love Because He Is A Bully

by frankiespeakin in

yes the god of the bible has done his share of being a murderous bully(according to the mythology found in the book), his holly motto seems to be through out: "do what i say or i will kill you".

of coarse cringing christian's because of their fear of the deity will proclaim that all these acts of slaughter that the bible ascribes to god as an act of love, and chime in with approval and superlatives when 1john 4:8* is read.

and i atribute it mainly to god being a bully in the bible and threatening to kill every one not having faith in him.. 8 l anyone who does not love does not know god, because m god is love.. .

RichardHaley

OK, so... God has the right to destroy whom he chooses... but why make the Isrealites do some of the dirty work for Him?

20

The More I Think, The More I Lose Faith In BIBLE!!

by NoMoreHustle in

sitting through this weeks wt study.

paragraph came up about how "a fire came out from jah & consumed (korah and) the 250 men offering the incense".

i said to myself this supposedly happened couple of thousand years ago.

RichardHaley

Long ago I came to the conclusion that I didn't believe the biblical account of the flood as literal. I knew that archaeological, geological, biological and other evidence does not support the account. My hang up over the years was that Jesus referred to it.

Life has a way of stalling the thought process, earning a living, raising a family etc. consuming all your time. Now that I am older I have a little more time to actually "think about things." One day, a few years back, it dawned on me that if Jesus was willing to create fictional stories to get his point across (good Samaritan etc.) then why wouldn't he be willing to refer to one created (or plagiarized) by someone else to make a point? This brought up an even bigger debate in my mind, how do you determine what is literal true and what is figurative fiction in the bible?

You can see where this was headed...

I started to question everything I had been taught and blindly accepted as "truth" measured against the available evidence. If in the process the Bible falls from being "inspired" to "writings of men" then what is the point of arguing whether or not my religion of birth or any other is the best at following or understand it? One thing the evidence proves is - it is a "tool" that has been and is being used by many groups for their own personal agendas.

I still believe the Bible has value just saying I look at things a lot different now.

59

Want to make Money $ with a Web Site?

by sarahsmile in

has anyone had success with a high traffic website or blog ?.

it might take a team of people to accomplish.. ads pay and people count, lots and lots of people.

does jehovahs-witness.net make money every time someone looks at the web site?

RichardHaley

Simon has a great site here (except for that dam* captcha) but I seriously doubt he makes any real money with it... if he does, more power to him. As far as making money with websites it is not as easy as it sounds and probably less than 1% who try are consistanly successful at it. Sounds like Dis-membered is in that group, I know I'm not but will keep trying.

15

Governing Body Worship in the WT: July 15th, 2014 issue

by Oubliette in

the july 15th, 2014 issue of the watchtower has the "life story" of gb member gerrit losch on pages 17-22.. think about it.

this losch love-fest is 6 pages of the current wt!.

that's nearly 20% of the ragazine.. is this the beginning of a series of idolatrous articles indoctrinating jws with gb worship?

RichardHaley

... ragazine.

I like that!

45

Lying about Shunning! jw.org conceals the "truth"

by Skinnedsheep in

jw
friends

http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/shunning/ .

"those who were baptized as jehovahs witnesses but no longer preach to others, perhaps even drifting away from association with fellow believers, are not shunned.

in fact, we reach out to them and try to rekindle their spiritual interest.".

RichardHaley

What of a man who is disfellowshipped but whose wife and children are still Jehovah’s Witnesses? The religious ties he had with his family change, but blood ties remain. The marriage relationship and normal family affections and dealings continue.

I would say that the above example is at the very least dishonest. It is a best case senerio that allows family interaction because of the WTS not wanting to violate the "family head" principle. Things get a lot more complicated if it is the wife or one of the children or worse yet, one of the kids move out in that state etc. This short article is just a sanitized version and doesn't realy answer the question.

And yes... only DAs or DFs are no longer considered members whereas inactive or walk aways are considered "inactive members" or "spiritually weak members" ones to be re-activated or spiritually strengthened. So the information really is deflection (red herring) and dosen't specifically address the question. IMHO

52

What is the best advise you have ever been given?

by new hope and happiness in

jw
friends

awhile a go i was uptight about a matter i can't remember now and my friend said to me " give the other side the victory".

a while ago my little boy was getting uptight and argumentative with his mum i asked him " to let it go" in effect i suppose " giving the other side the victory".

anyway i am sure our life exsperiences have allowed us both receive and give good advice.

RichardHaley

"If you don't promote it you don't have to defend it."

I was counciled for watching R rated movies... I had mentioned Schindler's List out in service and someone in the car group ratted me out.

Another Elder who admitted to watching Rs told me the above...

It is really good advice and applies to more than you would think.

When asked why I'm currently inactive I used the above line of reasoning in reverse...

I can't defend (from the bible) new lite such as overlapping generations so how can I promote it?

The Elder admitted he didn't understand it either but he was "waiting on Jehovah."

"My sentiments exactly" I said, he gave me a weird look.

152

HOW TO AVOID THE A-HOLE SPIRIT OF SOME HERE...

by DATA-DOG in

1) take meds for your megalomania and delusions of grandeur.. .

suggestions welcome.. .

dd.

RichardHaley

Born-in (well almost, age 3) and active most of life. Now past the speed limit, decided to live the rest of life as "evidence based" (a little late...lol) no matter where that my lead. Have discovered how much I didn't know and this site with its broad membership and openness has contributed immensely. There is benefit from all types of comments and ideas because that's helpful to come to conclusions. However when someone chooses to attack or try to humiliate other posters or overly draws attention to themselves it is noticed and reduces the value of their comments or ideas. Most here avoid that thus creating the positive environment here to be able to grow. I must admit, when logging on to this site there are certain posters that I am drawn too and others I am less apt to view for the above mentioned reasons. This has so far been a very interesting (and revealing) thread. Thanks to all posters.

P.S. I hate that captcha... can't make out the "wigglies" only the addresses

30

Contradictory geneology of Jesus

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

so i'm reading another carl sagan book and he seems to invariably find a way to slam j-dubs in each one.

(i can't say i blame him.).

anyway, in this one he discusses the fact that the gospels give contradictory geneologies of jesus--differing lines back to david from joseph, and a different number of generations.

RichardHaley

I always understood this to be two separate lineages one being Joseph's (legal) and the other, Mary's (biological). One goes back to Abraham the other all the way back to Adam. Throw in some names being left out, some repeated twice and a brother-in-law marriage or two and the contradictions can be worked out. But now I need to shake the indoctrination and do the research... I hold Carl Sagan in high regard, that should raise a red flag in itself.