Posts by zen nudist

21

shakedowns

by bavman in

has anyone else noticed shakedowns in their area.

in my state whole service committee's (presiding overseer, service overseer, sectretary) have been replaced in many congregations including our's.

also, at the green bay convention and in many talks locally it seems there is a lot of hammering on the faithful and discreet slave.

zen nudist

wonder if this information could help with the molestation cases to demonstrate agency, and therefore make the WTS liable for the actions of the elders.
Right now the WTS argues in court that they have no control over the elders and that the elders are acting on their own... the fact that the WTS can move in and replace an entire body of elders that does not follow instructions seems like agency to me.

I saw somene recently post a portion of the instructions given to elders, first thing they are told to do is call the legal dept.

11

how much did you give up?

by zen nudist in

i completely lost it and could not keep the tears back and my throat choked with grattitude to these men and my country.

i had missed feeling patriotic soooo much!

pasted from another thread...but got me thinking, how much did you stop doing as a jw, not because you really believed it but because you could not do it and still be a jw?

zen nudist

I guess you could say I gave up my youth and my freedom. I was raised in the org so pretty much had everything taken away at a young age.

to clarify, I am asking how much did you go along with voluntarily because you actually accepted and believed, and how much did you do out of fear of being cast out

11

how much did you give up?

by zen nudist in

i completely lost it and could not keep the tears back and my throat choked with grattitude to these men and my country.

i had missed feeling patriotic soooo much!

pasted from another thread...but got me thinking, how much did you stop doing as a jw, not because you really believed it but because you could not do it and still be a jw?

zen nudist

I completely lost it and could not keep the tears back and my throat choked with grattitude to these men and my country. I had missed feeling patriotic soooo much!

pasted from another thread...but got me thinking, how much did you stop doing as a JW, not because you really believed it but because you could not do it and still be a JW? how much did you give up to stay in while you were in?

I personally do not remember giving up very much as the reason I joined was because they were people who saw many things the way I did see them and still to a large extent do continue to see them... the things like birthdays and such, I could take or leave...and still do.

21

shakedowns

by bavman in

has anyone else noticed shakedowns in their area.

in my state whole service committee's (presiding overseer, service overseer, sectretary) have been replaced in many congregations including our's.

also, at the green bay convention and in many talks locally it seems there is a lot of hammering on the faithful and discreet slave.

zen nudist

When theological implants fail and a BORG cannot be repaired, they are disgarded and anything useful is harvested.

***********

We are BORG, lower your intellect, surrender your will. Your physical and financial resources will be made to service us... resistance is futile.

---------after a few beers---------

I am drunk of Borg, resistance is floor tile

12

Going For A Song

by Englishman in

jw
friends

they say that memory is all about association.

when we recall a happy or desperate time in our lives, a song or tv programme or even an ad can bring the era concerned flooding back.. these are my "leaving the dubs" selections:.

my song was "beautiful sunday".. my tv programme was "monty pythons flying cicus".. my tv ad was "click on here and turn up the speakers.

zen nudist

R.E.M. "Loosing My Religion"

was on the radio when I made my escape from the BORG

8

Belief and experience in religion

by Markfromcali in

have you ever noticed how you have belief and experience in different proportions when it comes to religion?

on the one hand you might have the fundy that just crams every experience into the interpretation of a static belief system, and on the other you have the typical new age kind of mindset where every kind of belief is conjured up to support your experience.

for those who have seen the movie office space, remember the game "jump to conclusions"?

zen nudist

This brings up the debate of whether the mind is a tabala rasa(blank slate/tablet) or if ideas/beliefs are some innate knowledge derived from birth. I'd think that people that believe in god would side with the latter and people that are confused or do not believe in god would believe that we aren't born with innate beliefs but that they are shaped through experience(our five senses).

our brain seems to be a neural net like computer and following man made neural nets, they begin with somewhat randomized connections which are modified and changed by experiences... this means that some may be born with just about all the connections that others may need a lifetime to acheive, but most are born somewhat in the middle... beliefs being made of these connections would thus be somewhat innate and somewhat modified by experiences.

now what causes the initial connections is up for grabs... it could be a simple randomizing program in the DNA [the DNA itself has been shown to be insufficient to account for the actual connections, not enough data stored]

it could be an interaction between our true nature and our apparent physicality from some other plane of existance beyond comprehension... or it could be the natural interaction between growing cells, nutrients from the mother, and effects of environment in the womb....

the fact is that some are born with near intact complex programs which allow them to demonstrate early "talents" but it is rare to find those with full mastery.

7

Opinions of MEN?

by Sunspot in

the fds said;.

"the watchtower is not the instrument of any man or any set of men, nor is it published according to the whims of men.

no man's opinion is expressed in the watchtower.

zen nudist

books are mirrors of the soul... no monkey looking into a bible will find God staring back....

what experience you bring with you into the story is what you find while you read it...not what the author experienced, not necessarily anything like what he intended....

then there is the ASSumption that the bible is a coherent work from start to finish...that God is behind it all, so that Author A and Author B cannot be contradicting themselves as your common reading might suppose.

76

Why is there death and suffering?

by hooberus in

why is there death and suffering?

a biblical perspective.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/death_suffering.asp.

zen nudist

Why is there death and suffering? a Biblical perspective
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2002/death_suffering.asp

nearly the same BS [Belief System] as JWs, which over looks some very key points.

1. if God knew everything in advance, freewill is a joke and there is nothing which God is not responsible for, especially the sufferings.

2. just about every law in existance including the biblical ones, hold a person [which would included God] accountable if they knew a crime was about to be perpetrated and they do nothing to prevent it.... see Accessory there is NO valid excuse for a father to not intervene and stop his child from committing murder if he knows what the child is going to do.

3. The bible god has very little respect for life, ordering the murder of any child who will not submit to parental brainwashing [deut 21] and defenseless women and children of non-believers just because they lost wars and pose a threat to believers [numbers 31]

[see also luke 19:27].

4. The earth is a needlessly dangerous planet, not the best example of perfect planning and workmanship for a paradise... if the believers are correct it has been hit by asteroids causing massive devastations, not ever so many millions of years, but within the last 6000 years... not to forget the flooding and earthquakes which routinely end the life of millions every year.... slum lord god[s] deserve no respect

26

A House Built on Fallacies

by Farkel in

here are just a few examples of the kinds of fallacious dub arguments we've heard and used ourselves when we were dubs.

heck, the whole darn religion is nothing but a series of fallacious arguments!.

ad hominem - (attack the arguer, not the argument).

zen nudist

If a person believes in an omnipotent God then he has to believe that everything about a person can cease to exist but that God can raise this nonexistent person back. This is possible by virtue of omnipotence, which means God has the power to literally do whatever he wants.

the thing I found disagreeable with JWs is that they damned other religions for making $#!+ up, but it was ok for them.

why should anyone believe their own religion is wrong because it does not match logic, but JWs can believe in magic where they have no valid explanation?

if God can do anything, then he can make this future copy of you right now, right next to you and you would KNOW that it is NOT you...so how does it magically become you just because it is made in the future instead of now? no explanation other than by magic....God can do anything is the most useless reason because there is nothing which actually proclaims that God can do anything, infact it says in the bible there are things God cannot do.

7

What themes do JW's prioritize and WHY?

by tosko in

there are a lot of things discussed on this forum that could be duplicated here, but i need some answers for a dissertation.

the themes jws prioritize that i know are armageddon, judgement day, christ.

but can you all tell me why they prior.

zen nudist

I was this idealized dub for 33 years.I gave up EVERYTHING! All it got me was a world of hurtfulness,cause they just got jealous.

count yourself lucky they did not nail you to anything (^_^)