Posts by Gretchen956

Where did you get that quote, the Watchtower? Christians can lay claim to many more lives than were lost as a result of what these "wise men" did. Perhaps they thought a little bit of bloodshed could save a lot of bloodshed later?? Even the god of the dubs is a bloody jealous god. For all the talk of forgiveness and love, that is not shown by their actions. Lying and deceit are all too common in order to further their agenda. They call it theocratic warfare. The only difference between the witlesses and other christian denominations is, the others will actually go and fight a war. The dubs are more what you might call passive agressive. And, if you took your basic psych 101 you will know just how dangerous that type of thinking is.

No, christians have no stranglehold on this type of bloody history, there are many others, including patriarchal paganism. But you will note one theme in common..... religion.

The other blood on the hands of the society is for the thousands that have lost their lives because of their ever changing teachings. Those in my age bracket will remember the persecutions in Malawi when the society told the rank and file in that country not to buy the political cards. Thousands were driven from their homes, beaten, raped, and killed. At the VERY same time, halfway across the world in Mexico, the society told the rank and file it was all right to buy the political card.

We won't even get into the blood issue. Remember when they wouldn't let you have blood derivitives that could save children from RH factor? Then later it became a matter of conscious. We all know what that means, the ones that came before that died as a result, oh well... as of now there is new light. They don't even apologize for it!

Another case in point, sexual abuse by elders and others in congregations all over the world where no one will listen to the victims who are children and women because they will take the word of the brother everytime. Because they think that there should be two witnesses to the crime. Well if you know anything about rape, it is an act of power over the vulnerable. This crime is done in secret, there will never be witnesses to the act unless someone stumbles upon it accidently. The victims, in the case of the thousands of cases currently being investigated and litigated, are then disfellowshipped in order to keep them from warning others about the perpetraters. And, due to the society's policies, police departments are kept out of it, the matter is hushed up and covered over. This is called aiding and abetting, where I come from.

Much better case for "duped," don't you think?

Gretchen

22

Joanie the Jehovah's Witness Stripper

by blondie in

want to hear paul thorn sing this song?.

http://www.houstonjones.com/cds_&_samples.htm.

select the mp3 marked "joanie..... blondie

Gretchen956

this is just TOO funny! Bouncy 3

9

Torturing for Christ

by MegaDude in

jw
friends

just sick.

various ways of torturing the non-believer or sinner in the good old days.

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/murderers.htm

Gretchen956

It's true that many of our ancesters were pretty sick bastards, and many of them did those atrocious barbaric things in the name of religion. Christianity, though has been one of the bloodiest of all time.

Personally I think everyone is entitled to their personal path to spiritual enlightenment. As long as they leave me the hell alone!

Gretchen

24

Help/Advice getting out of a talk..

by Mysterious in

jw
friends

for some reason they lost my name or something for talks, haven't done one in a year.

anyway i got assigned one and i sure as hell don't want to give it since i'm trying to get out as is.

i also don't want to make the talk but there is no way i can turn it over to someone else with my mom around.

Gretchen956

Mysterious, you get a G for realism in your presentation.

14

Advice needed in regards shunning

by Ron1968 in

jw
friends

i am trying to help someone and need some advice.

when i left the jw's, i was one of the fortunate ones in that i was never shunned.

my family has unconditional love for all their kids which seems to be a hard concept for a lot of active jw's to grasp.

Gretchen956

She is doing the only thing that will help, the therapist. If her family never sees the fallacy of the organization they will continue to treat her this way. But with time and with the therapy she will see that she can have closer family that will love her unconditionally that are not related by blood but by spirit and soul. I know that may sound trite and it probably doesn't help too much in the moment, but for so many of us this is what we have experienced.

Gretchen

26

Do any of you preach on yahoo or MSN chat rooms?

by Singing Man in

i have caught myself preaching while in a few of those rooms, till i had to tone it down a bit and say just tell them what you personaly think, not what the wt says.

Gretchen956

what rooms, singing man? could you be more specific? are you going to WT rooms?

Gretchen (who is blonde but needs clarification anyway)

4

WT seals it's own fate

by Waymores Ghost in

jw
friends

in it's quest to be the spotless, shining beacon for all the world to see, the wt's continuing policies regarding sexual/child abuse have produced the opposite effect.

common sense would tell you that if a religious organization had a policy of immediately requesting police to investigate when a victim comes forth with an accusation, outsiders could see that this kind of behaviour is not tolerated in the least.

people would welcome that kind of transparancy.. actually, the wt sealed it's fate when it decided it could declare itself the only religious organization without blemish, because of course, it is the one true religion.

Gretchen956

Problem is the rank and file see the news stories and they just think they are being persecuted. I think the circular reasoning has fried a few braincells. Its all just lies, you know, because Jehovah's people would never do such a thing. And even if they did you have to believe in Jehovah, not in his earthly organization.... gag me...

6

Mel Gibson's film about Christ and his faith

by AJN in

mel gibson movie about crucifixion of jesus christ

mel gibson brings movie to city's church leaders.

by kamon simpson- the gazette.

Gretchen956

Its no surprise to me that Mel is hanging out with the evangelicals, he has their same hatred of gays and lesbians. I won't see this or any other film Mr. Gibson makes.

Gretchen

6

Self esteem/acceptance and Christianity

by AJN in

jw
friends

i've been in therapy for some years now (on and off - currently on) and during that time have managed to build my self-esteem and self-acceptance to a level where i am actually starting to like and value myself (after having abuse issues to address).

about 12 months ago i started reading conventional christian literature and web sites, by this time i had forgotton most of the jw beliefs (although the fear of armageddon still ran deep, disturbing my inner equilibrium.

i (re)discovered that to call oneself christian one had to admit to being a sinful human being who is deserving of death because of my very inbuilt nature.

Gretchen956

I was reading on one website that made a good point. Christianity holds that everyone is a sinner and treats them accordingly. Whereas some asian religions hold that since there is a bit of God in everyone, everyone is worthy of respect and fair treatment. It's a much better principle to treat someone with respect than to treat someone as a sinner who is unworthy until they prove themselves by the WTBS' standards.

This whole subject is one that I have issues with as well. I do not believe that I am inherintly sinful. I don't believe in a god that would destroy me for being authentic or for not fitting into the tight strictures of the christian faith. This is, imho, only one path to the divine. There are many others.

In my faith, as mysterious said, I believe that there is a piece of the divine in me. I believe that I am a whole person without need for redemption. When I need help, my higher power has always been there for me. When I pray I feel a deep connection with that power. I feel much more connected to that spirit and to my spirituality than I ever did as a witness.

I have been to many other christian churches too. When it came down to the time they all lined up to take the eucharist, I said, hey, no thanks! Don't need it. I already know I am blessed. Do I make mistakes? Hell yes. Am I going to hell for them? No, because mistakes are gifts to learn from. If you learn from them you are stronger.

I also don't think christians have a copyright on morality or treating others with respect. In my life karma reminds me that doing ill to someone else always comes back threefold.

You too have a piece of the divine. Be happy, know peace. Life is GOOD!

Gretchen