Posts by AJN

24

Arnold Schwarzenegger Movie Can Help Witnesses See Truth

by hooberus in

in the arnold schwarzenegger movie "the sixth day" (not to be confused with "end of days") people are cloned by having their brain memory pattern copied and saved on a disk.

human bodies without memories called "blanks" are also made.

at the appropriate time the duplicate memory pattern is stamped onto the "blank" human body.

AJN

OMG - wierd, that's science fiction. Scary thought indeed.

6

Can humanity live happily without God?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

if science made us eternal, and we could control everything on earth as if we were in the new system, would humanity still need a higher intelligence or god to worship?

in other words, is god only a provider?

Personally no I don't think God becomes unnecessary as it is within human nature to want to be grateful for happiness and joy. I read somewhere that that is why religion started, because ppl wanted to give thanks.

I am not however commenting on whether I believe God exists at all :)

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.

AJN

Thanks everyone :)

Mysterious,

Like the parent that pushes the child to be a perfectionist and distroys his or hers own self worth in the process.

I so agree with you there, it is such a shame that this kind of thing happens.

Mouthy :)

Get up every day & say I am O.K

Thanks for your post, you're very kind. I appreciate getting the non JW Christian perspective as well :)

Gretchen956

This is, imho, only one path to the divine. There are many others.

Yeah - that seems to be one of the key issues, the belief that there is only one way to God invalidates every other belief system and that is just plain unfair.

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.

That must be a wonderful place to be at - thank you for sharing :)

DanTheMan :) groovy hat lol

Fundamentalist religious groups/cults get their membership from people who feel intense self-loathing.

Oh yeah - I totally agree, when I look back to how I was when I got involved I am quite shocked. Self-loathing is something I am working on. Self-acceptance being key.

Navigator,

Our pastor is just as likely to quote from the Bagavad Gita or the Upanishads or the Tao Te Ching as from the bible.

That's really neat. I think acceptance of other belief systems is the way forward.

Thanks again everyone :)

12

Anyone read the Left Behind series?

by AJN in

jw
friends

i've just started book one.

just wondering if anyone has read the books and what they thought of them?

:)

AJN

Rick Aust - check out www.leftbehind.com

25

Do you think the governing body sincerely believe what they teach?

by AJN in

i haven't had a chance to read crisis of conscience yet, it's a 2 month wait here unfortunately for delivery and i feel it will probably answer some of my questions regarding the gb but it occurs to me - i wonder if they *really* believe what they teach, if they *really* believe it's the truth or are they really manipulating money makers operating a dysfunctional mlm scheme that ruins people's lives.

or perhaps somewhere in the middle lol.. oh yeah, and if anyone knows how the 'new light' is supposedly delivered i'd love to hear about it.. what do you think?

if anyone has read coc and has any quotes that might be useful please post :)

AJN

Fascinating! - thank you everyone for your replies.

Hmm, think I'm on the fast-track to understanding - in less than a week I have learned so much from the community members here. Thank you all so much!

24

Bloody E-Watchman!

by czarofmischief in

e-watchman has decided to embrace the unholy watchtower whore and uphold her disgusting burdens on blood transfusions.

for the record, i now have e-watchman's email address and will be sending him copies of my commentary shortly after they are posted.

i have edited the content where necessary for sheer space (his verbiage is excessive and tiresome).

AJN

Has anyone done a domain search on networksolutions.com web site using the 'Whois' facility?

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.

AJN

Hi there

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. This was impossible for me to do as I would have been directly in opposition to the work I have done on myself in therapy. I just *could not* turn around and say "I am an inherently sinful person and I deserve death, I take Jesus as my ransom sacrifice in order to make myself good in God's eyes."

I'm wondering if that is why the WTBTS are wary of psychiatrists and psychoanalysts. Because they build our self-esteem up instead of tearing it down. They help us to accept and feel better about ourselves as we are and encourage us to keep on working on ourselves so that we can lead happy, healthy and fulfilling lives (and make decisions for ourselves). They don't tend to judge us, their approach comes from a place of *unconditional positive regard* .

Sounds rather like unconditional love and acceptance doesn't it? Hmm, not something I remember coming from the 'Society' who proclaimed to be God's mouthpiece. If I recall correctly we never did 'enough' - if we had issues we were told to 'do more' - go out on the work more, read more, study more - generally telling us that we were insufficient and not therefore acceptable. That's really useful for the self-esteem building - NOT!

I am trying not to let my anger drive this post (which I seem to have recently re-activated by deciding to address the JW/belief fear issues that I have). I have to say though, the 'Society' angers me in their approach to psychiatrists and therapists. If I had been seeing a therapist/psychiatrist when I was in the 'Truth' I might very well have been diagnosed a lot earlier than I was. I could have been helped, got on the right meds, dealt with the depression, anxiety and PD traits. I feel that effectively the 'Society' stops ppl healing and getting help. In fact it rips away the very substance of self-esteem and puts fear in it's place. This is abhorrent imo.

Hmm, that's my thoughts for this morning lol.

Anyone got any feedback?

81

JEHOVAH

by minimus in

we all know that we do not know the correct pronunciation of the name of god.

over 6000 times, the tetragrammaton is mentioned in the ot.

yet for some reason, most bibles do not use the name jehovah or yahweh but a few times.

AJN

For those interested. You can download and/or get a hard copy sent to you.

http://www.tetragrammaton.org/itmdnnwt.htm

12

Anyone read the Left Behind series?

by AJN in

jw
friends

i've just started book one.

just wondering if anyone has read the books and what they thought of them?

:)

AJN

Thanks for the opinions, info and links everyone. It's great to get such a diverse range of opinions and perspectives.

I'm kinda fascinated with this prophecy stuff, I think I need to get it 'out of my system' as it were. I'll check out the books suggested too, sounds good :)

12

Anyone read the Left Behind series?

by AJN in

jw
friends

i've just started book one.

just wondering if anyone has read the books and what they thought of them?

:)

AJN

I've just started book one. Just wondering if anyone has read the books and what they thought of them? :)