Mandrake

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Posts by Mandrake

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  61

  Did the flood happen?

  by BlackWolf in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so we were talking about noah for our family worship tonight and it ended with a little debate between me and my parents about how the flood was possible.

  you know, where did the water come from, how did all the animals fit, etc.

  of course it led nowhere and my parents came up with some strange theories like that there was "an expanse of water in the sky" and that's where all the water came from.

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  Mandrake

  I remember that my first visit to this site was looking for information regarding the flood!
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  9

  Thank you WT!

  by Mandrake in

  1. social
  2. humour

  well here's the thing... my brother-in-law needed some marketing boost for his dental clinic (i'm a dental student by now, her sister, my girlfriend, also), so i designed some brochures and today they were ready at the print studio.. i told him... "look, i spent 20 years in that cult, they have a very boring message, and they still managed to achieve 7m or more adepts, so i will distribute this brochures in the area this way: just like in field service, drawing some territories and "preaching" block by block... just to know were and when our advertising is being delivered".

  so i started preaching the "dental good news", it was so easy compared to field service!!!

  everyone were very receptive in the clinic's neighbourhood (it's in a downtown area in santiago, cl).

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  Mandrake

  Nevuela, maybe I didn't expressed myself clearly because I'm a spanish native speaker so my punctuation instinct seems to be more suited for spanish than english, and also my english grammar is developing right now as I'm using the language more for communicating in this forum and reading all the english content that I can hahahaha!! The thing is that I'm a dental student, and my girlfriend also is (we met at university). My girlfriend's brother is the clinic-owner, in other words "my boss", (we three are very close and do a lot of stuff together), so it's been three people all the time, my brother in-law, her sister that is my girlfriend and me.

  ILoveTTATT2, it seems that authorities have been more relaxed in the flag thing over the last couple of years, specially after 2010 was our bicentennial celebrations, years before that and that one in particular everyone had out flag hanged... Anyhow I will be paying attention to some halls I know and upload pictures if a catch them or even better: Bethel with our shiny flag on top!!!

  scratchme1010 everything is better than actual FS!!!

  
  Zoos are you in the dental field also? May the Great Odontoblast bless you and deliver you from periodontal pathogens! Or are you a well informed patient?
• 
  61

  Did the flood happen?

  by BlackWolf in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so we were talking about noah for our family worship tonight and it ended with a little debate between me and my parents about how the flood was possible.

  you know, where did the water come from, how did all the animals fit, etc.

  of course it led nowhere and my parents came up with some strange theories like that there was "an expanse of water in the sky" and that's where all the water came from.

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  Mandrake

  Consider this, all of it under the WT theology...

  1) It's supposed that the only animals that survived were on the ark...

  2) WT teaches that no second creative act were performed prior to the flood...

  Then you ask... Did Noah took all the sub-species found in america and endemic varieties of animals? Clearly no, since 6.000 years ago continents looked almost just the same as now, and he didn't make it for example, into america... So there's 3 possibilities regarding our current biodiversity...

  1) Our current biodiversity came from evolution (clearly not, because it's not that fast and also JW doesn't believe in it)

  2) The bible isn't telling the whole story and there were places in the earth not flooded (this is the simplest explanation)

  3) God directly recreated all the species diversity (according to WT something like that will happen only in paradise in the -recreation- o restoring to eden-like conditions...)

  So? How do you explain endemic species around the world (those only find for example here in Chile 999999999999999999 away from ancient middle east?
• 
  9

  Thank you WT!

  by Mandrake in

  1. social
  2. humour

  well here's the thing... my brother-in-law needed some marketing boost for his dental clinic (i'm a dental student by now, her sister, my girlfriend, also), so i designed some brochures and today they were ready at the print studio.. i told him... "look, i spent 20 years in that cult, they have a very boring message, and they still managed to achieve 7m or more adepts, so i will distribute this brochures in the area this way: just like in field service, drawing some territories and "preaching" block by block... just to know were and when our advertising is being delivered".

  so i started preaching the "dental good news", it was so easy compared to field service!!!

  everyone were very receptive in the clinic's neighbourhood (it's in a downtown area in santiago, cl).

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  Mandrake

  Yes the rebel! I was able to answer many many questions about treatments and it seemed people did believe! :)
• 
  9

  Thank you WT!

  by Mandrake in

  1. social
  2. humour

  well here's the thing... my brother-in-law needed some marketing boost for his dental clinic (i'm a dental student by now, her sister, my girlfriend, also), so i designed some brochures and today they were ready at the print studio.. i told him... "look, i spent 20 years in that cult, they have a very boring message, and they still managed to achieve 7m or more adepts, so i will distribute this brochures in the area this way: just like in field service, drawing some territories and "preaching" block by block... just to know were and when our advertising is being delivered".

  so i started preaching the "dental good news", it was so easy compared to field service!!!

  everyone were very receptive in the clinic's neighbourhood (it's in a downtown area in santiago, cl).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Mandrake

  Well here's the thing... My brother-in-law needed some marketing boost for his dental clinic (I'm a dental student by now, her sister, my girlfriend, also), so I designed some brochures and today they were ready at the print studio.

  I told him... "look, I spent 20 years in that cult, they have a VERY BORING message, and they still managed to achieve 7M or more adepts, so I will distribute this brochures in the area this way: just like in field service, drawing some territories and "preaching" block by block... just to know were and when our advertising is being delivered"

  So I started preaching the "dental good news", It was so easy compared to field service!!! everyone were very receptive in the clinic's neighbourhood (it's in a downtown area in Santiago, CL). He's very pleased of the "professional" approach on delivering our flyers around the area, I have to admit that I used the "persuasion" skills from the field service, but not having to use any fallacy, just our clinic's rates, approach to treatment and etc...

  So, thank you WT for the know how!!!
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  30

  Do you remember this WT calendar art?

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  these are of early '70s vintage, i recall.

  my job was to sort through thousands of these and be sure they were not "off register.".

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  Mandrake

  The first picture of baptism from the 1970 calendar is painted in a HUGE format in a wall at the side of the platform of Chile's Betel Assembly Hall... I looked at it all my childhood....
  
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  17

  I need help, I'm falling in love with a JW girl

  by nebula-- in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  so i met her at my last job that i worked & we started off as friends.

  i didn't know her faith at the time & i honestly couldn't have cared less, seeing as i'm agnostic.

  after about a year, i began developing emotions for her & sure enough, we ended up dating for a little while.

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  Mandrake

  Mmmm... Time ago I was the boy in this religion and she was the girl out (she was *very* catholic)... We always hit the same wall... It was 3 torturous years of relationship, of being "friends" but at the same time given the I-will-love-you-forever-even-if-I-say-and-act-the-opposite-look. I never had the courage to confront my parents or to break this religion's system... She couldn't wait for me, my doubts, guilt, and existential trouble would not find a solution quick... That was until my family were shattered by my parents ugly divorce... I left the cult... Few months after I broke up with her I started dating other girl, that is my girlfriend to this date and now we have been *very* happy the last 3 years...

  What lessons did I learn?

  -We get used to that constant angst and turmoil derived from me being a JW and going against the stupid rules, I regret all the time wasted and constant delay of the conflict, there were 2 obvious conclusions, she will never leave the Catholic Church because they don't imposed her stupid rules and punishes, and that I was dominated by the cult induced fear and guilt

  -Maybe if a were a little braver things could have ended up different, even we could broke up anyway, but not from religious pressure

  -I will never forgive myself for listening others in what to do with *my life* (maybe she will regret too)

  -Our relationship would never work the way it was, she in a ever-waiting-for-me-to-leave-or-break-the-rules or me in a I-feel-guilt-for-leaving-my-whole-life-in-the-cult-and-family-behind

  -If my parents never divorced maybe I would still be in and alone

  So... My friend, chances for you two are very slim, but as you are in love I'm sure you will take the risk... You won't listen any counsel in the opposite direction, but at least learn from my experience and don't linger there, you may be trapped for life in a once-beautiful now toxic relationship. Sometimes I think that dumping me was good for me and my ex herself. You won't succeed while she's in that religion. It's been 3 years outside for me, and I'm still in the middle of the healing process from that dangerous cult.

  Well... What happened? I never talked to her anymore, then I left the cult, started a new relationship, we are happy now, I learned my lesson, behind is a past full of "maybe", and I'm trying to heal completely from my cult and toxic-relationship past. Anyhow I'm grateful of her, she was important in my life and in my way out.

  
  

  And remember that other religions may tolerate inter-religious couples, JWs don't!

  
  http://unusualplaces.org/graves-of-a-catholic-woman-and-her-protestant-husband-2/
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  5

  Watchtower and The X-Files

  by StarTrekAngel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've been watching the show all over again, with my kids.

  we are in season 6 and there has been at least 3 mentions of jw in the show.. in one episode, mulder and scully get to a house and when they get there they realize the doorbell button has been ripped off.

  they look at each other and mulder says "frustrated jehovah's witness?".

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  Mandrake

  Ex-jw writers I think!

  The simpsons also have a reference or two...
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  22

  Howto: get access to scientific papers

  by Anders Andersen in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  since most people are not aware on how to get (free*) access to scientific papers and journals, so here's a short list of resources.. search http://scholar.google.com for the paper.

  maybe you'll get lucky and find it somewhere for free.. if you can only find a paid for version of the paper, get the title, doi (sort of like an isbn number) and link to the download page of the paper on the paysite.. if you don't know the doi, find it by searching your paper's title on http://crossref.org.

  go to the libgen site (links here: https://sites.google.com/site/themetalibrary/library-genesis ) and search for the paper.

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  Mandrake

  Sorry Village Idiot but i'm not taking any courses this year! :( next march maybe if I make it in again to finish my degree!
• 
  22

  Howto: get access to scientific papers

  by Anders Andersen in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  since most people are not aware on how to get (free*) access to scientific papers and journals, so here's a short list of resources.. search http://scholar.google.com for the paper.

  maybe you'll get lucky and find it somewhere for free.. if you can only find a paid for version of the paper, get the title, doi (sort of like an isbn number) and link to the download page of the paper on the paysite.. if you don't know the doi, find it by searching your paper's title on http://crossref.org.

  go to the libgen site (links here: https://sites.google.com/site/themetalibrary/library-genesis ) and search for the paper.

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  Mandrake

  Mmmm... I use the VPN of my university and that magically grant me access to most scientific journals and most articles for free... even the paid ones ...