Now in my 60s and learning so much I learned in school, on the news and at JW meetings was total "malarky". I have learned to question my own opinions and ask myself, "on what information and source did I form this opinion". Question everything.
Balaamsass2
JoinedPosts by Balaamsass2
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Do You Believe The News Media Is Trustworthy?
by minimus inrecently a friend and i were having a conversation about the news media.
he is a democrat but he’s also a very reasonable person.
i’ve known him for many years.
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Upset and Concerned!
by The Bethelite ini'm very worried.
i just took out two slices of dave's killer bread out of the bag this morning, to make some toast.
i bought the bread almost 2 weeks ago.
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Balaamsass2
Yes stillin, I watched a fascinating documentary on the Glysophate - celiac connection on PBS tv. Many US farmers use Glysophate to prep grains so they are ready for harvesting machines early and uniformly. The producers claim it kills the good gut flora making it less digestible and triggering allergies. Eating active cultures pro-biotics helps but does not fully offset the damage. It is claimed in areas that don't use this harvesting technique, Gluten sensitivity is much rarer.
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Article: Window for Child Victims Act sex-abuse lawsuits opens Wednesday: What it means
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://www.silive.com/news/2019/08/window-for-child-victims-act-sex-abuse-lawsuits-opens-wednesday-what-it-means.html on friday, attorney irwin zalkin held a news conference in manhattan announcing that two alleged victims, heather steele and michael ewing, will file lawsuits in state supreme court in brooklyn on wednesday.
the lawsuits will name as defendants eight members of the governing body of the jehovah’s witnesses (jws).
now located in tuxedo park, n.y., the jws world headquarters occupied a building with a large watchtower sign in brooklyn.
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Balaamsass2
Thank you!
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A Must Read Update on WBTS and Darkspilver from reddit
by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara inmany of us know that watch tower (yes, two words in this case) has issued a subpoena to reddit to try to gain darkspilver's identity due to accusations of copyright infringement:.
tl;dr: on april 9, watch tower filed a response to the eff's motion to quash (filed march 26) regarding the subpoena submitted to reddit in an attempt to find /u/darkspilver's identity.. the wt response is publicly available here as a pdf, from the site court listener.. a number of other documents relating to the case are available on the same site, here.. and the eff's motion to quash is available on the eff's website here.. details: as i'm sure many of us know, watch tower (yes, two words in this case) has issued a subpoena to reddit to try to gain /u/darkspilver's identity due to accusations of copyright infringement.
specifically, watch tower is claiming copyright infringement for two things: first, darkspilver posted the back page of the november 2018 watchtower which was an article entitled "what gift can we give to jehovah?” which explained how to donate.
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Balaamsass2
Fascinating story. Obviously, Watchtower wants to know WHO darkspilver is and is tossing some $$$ into the quest. I was digging around on the news site looking at the filed papers.
Watchtower's Attorney has no easy to find photos. Even on the BAR site. Has a crappy old house in downtown San Mateo, get his mail from a commercial P.O. Box, has a "rent a conference room" in San Mateo. No co-workers or partners. No complaints, no rants, no raves, no YELPS from happy or sad clients. A nebulous resume' of bouncing around from job to job.
State Status Acquired Updated NY Currently registered 2012 07/11/2019 DC Active 2011 10/14/2017 CA Active 1986 04/02/2019 http://members.calbar.ca.gov/fal/Licensee/Detail/124840
Is this mystery guy a frontman for the Watchtower's "squeeze a widow for all she is worth" before she dies and dam her kids' program?
Does anyone know this guy?
Glad to see a well funded ACLU/ Silicon Valley affiliation has taken up DarkSpilvers cause.
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50 years ago today
by frozen2018 inbuzz aldrin and neal armstrong landed on the moon and fulfilled jfk's ambitious goal.
i've watched some of the programming about the event.
i think the best was on pbs's "the american experience.
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Balaamsass2
Sunday, July 20, 1969, at 7:56 PM PST. I remember it well.
I was stuck at my grandmother's that day after the meeting and she only had a 19" Black and White TV with rabbit ears and aluminum foil.
I was glued, but Grandma would not stop talking she was so upset! She was sure it was going to trigger ARMAGEDDON!
#1. Apollo was a demonic god. #2. Like the tower of Babbel Jehovah would certainly confuse them to thwart their reaching to the heavens!!! #3. The Bible prophesized there would be signs in heaven and blood on the moon!!!
She got so upset mom thought Grandma would have a stroke, so mom turned the channel (probably to Lawerence Welk)....and I missed an hour of it until I could get home. I will never forget missing THE MOON LANDING. That was HUGE for me!!
PS. They didn't die and Armageddon didn't come. Grandma and mom both died before they could pet Lyons or picnic in the Alps with the fruit lady.
(I was quite the amateur astronomer as a kid. I had a little 50mm refractor scope and snuck over to the City Recreation center to take a class on telescope making by John Dobson of the San Francisco sidewalk astronomers (he was a "worldly" hippie & catholic seminarian).
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Will Watchtower ever allow Jehovah's Witnesses women equality? Jimmy Carter's thoughts.
by Balaamsass2 inran across this interesting read today penned by former us president jimmy carter.
he is "losing his religion" over it.
he makes reference to historical evidence that women played a much bigger role in early christianity.
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Balaamsass2
I found Jimmy Carter's following quote profound:" The carefully selected verses found in the Holy Scriptures to justify the superiority of men owe more to time and place - and the determination of male leaders to hold onto their influence - than eternal truths. Similar biblical excerpts could be found to support the approval of slavery and the timid acquiescence to oppressive rulers.
I am also familiar with vivid descriptions in the same Scriptures in which women are revered as pre-eminent leaders. During the years of the early Christian church women served as deacons, priests, bishops, apostles, teachers and prophets. It wasn't until the fourth century that dominant Christian leaders, all men, twisted and distorted Holy Scriptures to perpetuate their ascendant positions within the religious hierarchy.
The truth is that male religious leaders have had - and still have - an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world." end quote.
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Will Watchtower ever allow Jehovah's Witnesses women equality? Jimmy Carter's thoughts.
by Balaamsass2 inran across this interesting read today penned by former us president jimmy carter.
he is "losing his religion" over it.
he makes reference to historical evidence that women played a much bigger role in early christianity.
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Balaamsass2
Ran across this interesting read today penned by former US President Jimmy Carter. He is "Losing his Religion" over it. He makes reference to historical evidence that women played a much bigger role in early Christianity.
(I watched a program about this some years back on the history channel. Historians were talking about many "banned" books of the bible (some penned by females or extolling women) that were in common use before the Roman Ceasar Constantine's Council of Nicaea made Christianity "legal"- the same Councils Watchtower picks and chooses from.
It is easy to condemn Islam or Fundamental Christians about bronze age attitudes towards women..but what about Jehovah's Witnesses?
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/losing-my-religion-for-equality-20090714-dk0v.html
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/first/women.html
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Did being raised a Jehovah's Witnesses result in psychological damage? An interesting read in the New York Times.
by Balaamsass2 ininteresting read in the new york times book review.
food for thought on a subject 3rd gen and i have discussed between ourselves and with our daughter.
in our case, the answer is yes.
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Balaamsass2
Thanks for insights, everyone. I had a lengthy set of phone conversations this week with an old high school friend and neighbor who has been a PIMO (Physically in mentally out) and (POMI ) back and forth, JW for the last 10 years. He said last weeks Watchtower outlining it's new, new, old, stand on child abuse was the last straw and Sunday was his "last meeting". Fingers crossed, leaving a lifelong death cult can be difficult.
I re-read the NYT story before bed, and asked 3rd gen "at what age do most kids stop believing in an all-knowing magical guy named Santa Claus who rewards good children and knows when you've' been bad?" She thought...for a minute and said "about 6".
"3rd Gen, at what age did we stop believing in a magical guy that would get even with bad people for us, and reward us with a magical petting zoo in the Swiss Alps, where an African lady would deliver Pineapples on her head to our everlasting arthritis free picknic? "She smiled sheepishly and said ".....our 60s........."
That NYT quote keeps rolling around in my mind:" "indoctrination that so severely limits the formation of an adult psychology that many don’t ever achieve maturity in the way secular society conceives of it, a state of empowered capability that permits complex life choices" bam.
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Did being raised a Jehovah's Witnesses result in psychological damage? An interesting read in the New York Times.
by Balaamsass2 ininteresting read in the new york times book review.
food for thought on a subject 3rd gen and i have discussed between ourselves and with our daughter.
in our case, the answer is yes.
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Balaamsass2
3rd Gen and I are retired now, with a home and squeak by on Social Security from 40 years of work.
We swap stories of some of the bizarre things we experienced at the hands of our "godly" JW parents. To this day we still have some bad dreams based on childhood memories of physical abuse by our parents who got into Alcoholic rages after many meetings and constantly reminded us how bad children in the bible were stoned to death, drowned in floods, or mauled by Bears. (That picture of the little girl on a tricycle being killed by Jehovah in the back of the Paradise book was shown to us many times)
As an example of born in Cult thinking.: My young pioneer JW wife #1 was horrified in the 80s when she saw my paycheck deductions for life insurance, disability Ins., a 401K, and an IRA. My attending night classes at the local JR College on non-meeting nights (work-related) and saving to buy a home was the last straw! She had a hissy fit and accused me of apostasy, "spiritual endangerment" and a lack of faith that "Armageddon was just around the corner". She promptly relayed her fears to the elders who counseled me about working in the "Vortex of Satan's system" and the need for "a simple eye" and "living simply in expectation of the end". She left soon after to pioneer.
An IRA, insurance, and a 401k?- 100% normal adult behavior for any gainfully employed non-cult US adult was "Satanic" to JW elders...in California.
And what happened to the financial genius cult leaders I was counseled by? One Elder died broke living with his "worldly" father-in-law, the other one became unemployed in his 70s after 10+ years working free for the WT Society. His golden years spent in an old rundown mobile home supported by his wife's Avon sales.
My ex-wife #1? She pioneered, went where the "need was great" and returned a homeless California bag lady in her 60s waiting for Armageddon..any minute. -I guess"Jehovah provided" better than that Satanic IRA, 401k, or materialistic faithless husband.
It is hard to even explain any of this to anyone not raised in the JW cult- to an outsider.... it isn't believable.
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Did being raised a Jehovah's Witnesses result in psychological damage? An interesting read in the New York Times.
by Balaamsass2 ininteresting read in the new york times book review.
food for thought on a subject 3rd gen and i have discussed between ourselves and with our daughter.
in our case, the answer is yes.
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Balaamsass2
Interesting read in the New York Times book review. Food for thought on a subject 3rd Gen and I have discussed between ourselves and with our daughter. In our case, the answer is yes. Talking with other Ex-JWs on the phone and in-person...the answer is yes. What about you? Quote: "But the stunted psychology of those raised in extreme religion is another problem altogether. For these children, there is no obvious forfeiture of common sense or flight from existential chaos that informs adult conversion. Rather, they experience a totalizing indoctrination that so severely limits the formation of an adult psychology that many don’t ever achieve maturity in the way secular society conceives of it, a state of empowered capability that permits complex life choices, a state in which contradictory ideas can be held in tension without psychic recoil. Instead, the fundamentalist child, raised on fear and limitation, lives a life of diminished options, constrained by strict dualisms: black and white, good and bad, God and Satan, and (perhaps most alarmingly for the broader culture) us and them." end quote.
Bamm.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/01/books/review/leaving-the-witness-amber-scorah.html