Posts by SAHS

48

What Do You Stand For?

by Corvin in

honestly now, either you stand for something, or get knocked down for nothing.

brother, it seems absurd to be hammering pith like a poet with a loss for words.

trying to describe and angels face .

SAHS

I stand for:

Living life with a measure of hapiness and fulfillment, and allowing others to do the same.

?SAHS

58

Jehovah Says:"Shut up,, you are giving me a headache,,, down there!!!!"

by frankiespeakin in

as a self ordained spokes person for his majesty jehovah,,i would like to dutifully carry out my comission faithfully,, so as not to incurr the wrath of his most highness.

now for those of you who do not believe me to be jehovah's self-appointed spokesman,, just ask jehovah for yourself,, if he don't answer you,, it means youv'e probably pissed him off,, and in that case he ain't gonna answer you so you'll just have to take my word for.

this is what jehovah of armies says:::: " you guys are starting to really piss me off,, who told to you can examine the bible,,, to see if this is my word,, or not,,, you have such little faith,,, you keep searching the scriptures,,, to find out if there are faults,,, well,,, you know how i feel about faith,,, and you people are not exercising that right now,,, why if i had a lightning bolt right now,,, i smite every one of yus,,, your'e a noisy,, lot!!!

SAHS

Frankiespeakin:

after this experience,, sex is just nothing. Talk to me jehovah I just love your deep booming voice shaking all my,, well I'll let you use your imagination

Sounds like you got the idea from that movie a few years ago about Howard Stern ? you know, the one where he?s on the radio talking to this young woman who is sexually frustrated, and he tells her to take one of her big hi-fi speakers, lay it facing up, and ?have a seat? whilst he makes a loud, low-frequency sound into the microphone with his mouth. (That?s what it reminds me of, anyway.)

I think that if God were on the radio, he?d probably be a cross between Howard Stern and Dr. Laura. Just my 2 cents (Canadian).

?SAHS

30

Which Doctrine Convinced You That This Wasn't Right

by ignorance is strength in

what wt doctrine convinced or made you doubt your faith in the wtbts?

for me it was the 144,000 and the nature of christ's resurrection.

i seriously could not believe that there were two classes of christians when it was not stated implicitly in the bible, but was expected to be believed in as absolute truth.

SAHS

The thing that convinced me that something is rather fishy about the FSD is their attitude of pompousness and high-handedness. It is most interesting to compare Jesus? scathing denunciations of the hypocritical Pharisees at Matthew Chapter 23 with the legalistic and hard-line stance of the GB. Another interesting exercise: try substituting the words ?God? and ?Christ? in their literature with ?the Organization? and ?the Watchtower.? It really makes their underlying self-serving attitude light up just like shining an ultraviolet light on certain mineral rocks in the dark (fancy iridescent colors from nowhere!).

My favorite Scripture is Matthew 7:1 ? I believe it mentions something about not judging if one doesn?t want to also be judged in like manner. Well, I have never heard of any other religion that passes so much judgment against all other religions and groups (i.e., all non-JWs). Come to think of it, they also sure do a lot of judging of their own people (i.e., if they don?t follow all the rules about birthdays, clinking glasses, burning incense, wearing beards, watching things like Married With Children, etc., etc., etc. . . .).

Also, their treatment of women has always bothered me. You would think that the one true religion would treat everyone with respect and dignity regardless of their race or gender. It doesn?t make any sense to me why someone can be the president of a large corporation, or even a country for that matter, and then not be allowed to even operate a sound mixer or microphone simply because they are female. (This bothers me even though I am not a woman myself because I?ve always believed in justice and fairness.)

Actually, if it weren?t for the fact that I started believing that I had quite possibly been condemned since around puberty, I would never have recently decided to check out Web sites like this one. Looks like that particular doctrine backfired!

?SAHS

32

Which was scarier... the torture scenario or the Armageddon scenario?

by Gopher in

for those of us who grew up in the jw's, there were a couple of scary scenarios presented, one supposedly to happen before armageddon, and armageddon itself.. before armageddon, all jw's were going to be chased around by worldly nations because they would be the only religion left on earth, satan's system having destroyed "babylon the great" (all religions outside jw's, we were told).

so as part of that, jw's would be persecuted worldwide for being religious and proclaiming the "kingdom".. now -- connect that with the actual persecution that happened to the jw's as documented in the annual "yearbook" and in the pages of the watchtower magazine.

sometimes the details of what happened to jw's when in confinement were quite graphic and frightening.

SAHS

My dad used to tell me when I was quite young, ?Just wait till the Great Tribulation. You?ll really be shaking in your boots then!?

Since childhood I?ve had a re-occurring dream that there was a literal big, dark storm in the distance with multiple funnel clouds coming my direction, and I was trying to run away from it (I used to be scared of tornados). It doesn?t take too much of a genius to make the connection with that re-occurring dream and Armageddon.

It is Armageddon that I?ve always feared most because since just before puberty, I?ve never thought of myself as surviving it. My dad used fear of the ?sin against the holy spirit? to keep me in line. (He even used to tell me, referring to himself, when he was frustrated and having fits of temper, ?You?re looking at a man that definitely will not survive Armageddon.?)

Since I had some unnatural desires (who wouldn?t being a JW at puberty in my house), I thought that I must have already been condemned, and therefore ? well, like I said, it is Armageddon that was the big adrenaline producer for me. Nice ?future? for a young child to have to think about.

?SAHS

25

Brainwashing

by Lady Lee in

brainwashing

from perfect victim by christine mcguire and carla norton.

in the book perfect victim a man kidnaps a grown woman and keeps her in his home as his slave.

SAHS

Another example of the Society?s ?food control? now is that at district conventions, everyone is supposed to bring their own lunch and eat it within the convention premises. I remember the chairman announcing for people to not go outside the stadium premises to eat at restaurants because it is a ?worldly environment? and doesn?t ?contribute to the peace and unity? that is apparently experienced among God?s people. The thing that really gets me is that they say that you shouldn?t even get a hotdog at one those portable hotdog stands outside the stadium. If that isn?t control, then I really don?t know what is!

?SAHS

108

My Story... please don't freak out on me...

by Big Shooter in

my story .

well, i am new here, and i have a very long story.

i don?t even know where to begin.

SAHS

Greetings and welcome, Big Shooter! I wish I were able say a bit more, but my eyeballs are tired and giving me much misery (I?m near-sighted and have been reading all day long at work?right now I wish I could just throw my eyeballs in the garbage and buy new ones). So, I?ll just have to give you a hug (the manly, square-bracketed hug as opposed to the round-bracketed type). Here it goes:

[[[Big Shooter]]]

Just hang in there. Everything will become clearer to you at an exponential rate as you take a fresh (i.e., objective) look at the ~~Society~~ ~~Organization~~ Corporation in light of its own record (in relation to the Scriptures and common sense), and focus on the direction you know in your heart is best for you and your new family. Take care.

?SAHS

35

Does the faithful slave exist?

by XQsThaiPoes in

i have known a few anointed and a few bethlites.

after researching pubilcations and the watchtower websites i belife the faithful slave does not exist in a tangible form and is a ghostwriter for the entire org.

everything is subcontracted from mostly the great crowd now billed as corespondants.

SAHS

XQ?s idea that

?I belife the faithful slave does not exist in a tangible form and is a ghostwriter for the entire org. Everything is subcontracted from mostly the great crowd now billed as corespondants?

reminds me of an episode of The Simpsons where Homer Simpson found out that his boss, Monty Burns, was employing a loophole whereby technically the registered owner of the nuclear power plant was actually a budgie bird kept on the premises in a cage. This was so that in the event of a visit from the nuclear inspection team, any scandal or fiasco would legally be the fault of the bird. (If you must know, Monty ended up getting Homer to accept that position of ?designated? owner of the plant, which didn?t work out too well for him. The Simpsons is a popular animated series, in case you didn?t know.)

The similarity to the GB is that they purport to assume full responsibility for their ?work? ? which, of course, they say is passed down the line of command directly from God and Jesus ? however, since no one puts their name on any of their articles, and anyone they might consign as a ?ghostwriter? also doesn?t put their name on any of their work either ? well, there is no way of knowing who is really responsible for what. In practical terms, the ?faithful slave? is really an anonymous, ambiguous entity that everyone points to as the ?designated? custodian of belief and procedure, but in reality . . . well, it might as well be that bird in a cage.

?SAHS

13

Why JW's Stand Out

by new light in

it just hit hit me why so many jw's stand out!

it's because so many work menial jobs!

you put a jw in an office setting where everyone has to be well-groomed and he/she will blend right in (mostly).

SAHS

Around ten years ago, I grew a beard while my parents were away for a week, and I decided to keep it. The elders said that I couldn?t remain on the Theocratic Ministry School TM unless I shaved it off. I felt that this was an affront to my personal dignity. I was even more pissed off because a brother in the other congregation had a goatee and was still allowed to give talks in the school.

I was considering legal action, and I actually paid one of the biggest law firms in the city to do a lengthy opinion letter and send copies to the congregation secretary, my dad, and the Canadian Bethel! It cost me near a thousand dollars. (I was working as a legal secretary at the time with another law firm, and my job involved typing opinion letters, so I thought I would have a lawyer do one done for me.)

As a result, one of the top brass at the Bethel phoned the local elders and advised them to allow me to be on the school with my beard. My dad said it was a victory!

(About a year after that, I decided to shave it off for my own reasons. I was regularly walking a dog living at the house where we had the Book Study TM , and I rather enjoyed when it licked my face with its warm tongue, so I wanted to feel it more on my skin. But that?s just me.)

?SAHS

20

JW perception of Armageddon's Iminence

by FirstInLine in

i am wondering how iminent did armageddon seem when you were jws?

how iminent does the wts feel it is today?.

i recall that for me it seemed that it could happen at any moment.

SAHS

I was born and raised in a JW family for 37 years, all the while with armageddon hanging over my head like the proverbial ?sword of Damocles.? I believed it right up to pretty well this year (after some productive Internet time). The thing is, I?ve always assumed that I would be destroyed at armageddon anyway because I thought that I probably sinned against the holy spirit back when I was in my early teens.

My dad, a prominent elder for around 40 years, always scared me about committing unforgivable sin if I ever ?deliberately? did anything wrong. He was always saying that I would be ?shaking in my boots? when armageddon comes. So, because of some very ?private transgressions? around the age of puberty (you know, . . . ?that,? . . . but accompanied by some rather deviant thoughts), since then I have never really saw myself as surviving, but instead lived with the constant anxiety and sadness of finally meeting my fate. I used to cringe when my parents would discuss news events relating to so-called prophecy (Oh no, this is it! Here it comes!).

Ironically, this unreasonable fear that has been foisted on me has no doubt resulted in a self-fulfilling prophecy in that if I even think that there?s a good chance that there?s no hope for me anyway, then I might as well live accordingly ? which, of course, would in the end bring the doom I have always feared. All well, I guess you just can?t win in such an oppressive system of belief. Ah, what the f---, eh?!

?SAHS

13

Has anybody seen the photo in the '03 WT on marriage?

by SAHS in

has anybody seen the little photograph at the beginning of the study article in the september 15, 2003 watchtower (on page 10) about marriage?

i have scanned, annotated, and attached it here.

notice the large discrepancy between the eye levels depicted of the husband and wife.

SAHS

Has anybody seen the little photograph at the beginning of the study article in the September 15, 2003 Watchtower (on page 10) about marriage? I have scanned, annotated, and attached it here.

Notice the large discrepancy between the eye levels depicted of the husband and wife. The wife is looking way up at her husband, and he is looking across toward ~~Jesus~~ ~~God~~ the Watchtower.

Although I myself am not a woman (yes, I?m male), it still sickens me to look at this type of imposed stereotyping of the ~~God-assigned~~ Watchtower-assigned roles for men and women. I would imagine that this would be rather offensive to women with any shred of dignity and sense of fairness and justice. (I suppose I?m sort of a ?male feminist? in that I have empathy for anyone who is forced to be disadvantaged by others, whether it be related to gender, ethnicity, orientation, or the like. I?m NOT gay, or overly effeminate ? just sympathetically indignant.)

I just thought I would run this by you folks here to see what you think of this example of the Borg?s not-so-subtle ?guerilla marketing? tactics to purvey their brand of political correctness.

?SAHS