Posts by AMNESIAN

39

Struggling to keep balance

by Lee Elder in

jw
friends

dont overstate matters.

the situation in oregon is a terrible tragedy.

the watchtowers policy on shunning likely contributed to the tragedy, it may have even been a primary factor but there are any number of other factors that could have contributed as well - too many to even mention!.

AMNESIAN

Like most situations there will be a number of contributing factors and combined they caused a tragedy.

Undoubtedly, and yet...

I don't think anyone besides those closely involved with the situation (police, family, and close friends) could possibly attempt to pinpoint the cause of this tragedy.

...of note is that none of the published comments (that I've read) to date from any of these folks likeliest to have a clue---i.e., police, family, close friends, even an insurance agent with whom Robert had mentioned his situation--- have cited a single other possibly contributing factor aside from the JW affiliation.

Though it's all speculation at this point, it certainly does not fit into the outrageous, wild-eyed category. With the family finances seemingly recovered, it's not much of a leap to imagine that the most recent and overwhelming trauma in this family's world---the unraveling of their spiritual/religious/family moorings--- is the logical primary factor contributing to this tragedy. At least, family and others, so far, seem to suspect there is a connection.

AMNESIAN

11

The Greatest Decline - Their Vacuity

by metatron in

jw
friends

while the watchtower has suffered from a number of.

declines in various areas, there is no greater decay.

manifest than in its current publications.. as a teenager growing up, the 'truth' was, to me, a system of.

AMNESIAN

Metatron:

the Watchtower Society is hiding, indeed cowering, behind
a wall of platitudes and increasingly empty magazine articles
because THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY OR TEACH ANYMORE!
They are playing an 'endgame', running out of chess pieces,
and vainly hoping that their ignorant flock fails to catch on.

My husband and I were discussing this very thing just today.

One need not be an "insider" to be able to see in this year 2002 that, clearly, the Society has been in a kind of holding pattern in terms of its teaching(s) in the last, say, 5-6 years. It seems two dynamics have conspired to halt its forward momentum: first, they are well and truly at a loss as to what to teach---no clue as to where humankind is in “the stream of time” and no one in the upper echelons to whom the leadership looks as its oracle/Bible scholar in fredfranz fashion; secondly, they have become extremely gun-shy when it comes to making the kind of bold assertions for which they were previously known and revered by the r&f.

I don't see how this can go on indefinitely...

It has nothing whatever to do with wishful thinking when I say that I honestly cannot imagine how much longer this can continue. Not only is there no “new light,” there doesn’t seem to be anything approaching “light” period---meaning not even fresh approaches to discussing the shop-worn recurring themes. Do you realize that this year’s DC theme is “Zealous Kingdom Proclaimers”! If that doesn’t tell you the bulbs are all completely burned out, nothing does.

As usual, your posts either dovetail something I’d been mulling myself or, most often, offer some insight that enlightens me or keen perspective that expands my own thinking on a particular topic in a direction I’d not previously considered.

-AMNESIAN, forgetting the things learned
________________________________________

Many now dying have never lived...
________________________________________

65

Amazing's Triumph - Mixed Feelings

by Perry in

jw
friends

amazing wrote:.

"i was able to get my wife and children out, and this led to my son-in-law and a close friend leaving at the same time.

so, i am among the more fortunate in that my immediate family, and non-jw friends and relatives were all there with me as i exited.

AMNESIAN

~

32

My Committment to JWD

by Amazing in

jw
friends

i debated the wisdom of making this post.

i have made every effort to make it as neutral as possible to avoid personally offending anyone.

i may be losing my marbles here, but i feel that this needs to be said.

AMNESIAN

Hold the presses. This just in from A(mazing) N(ews) N(etwork):

I debated the wisdom of making this post.

Obviously "wisdom" took it in the shorts.

Let me take a wild guess at how this went---after mounting rebuttal after endless rebuttal against yourself, apologizing to yourself, thanking yourself for your support, and bidding yourself farewell, only to mount additional endless rebuttals, you finally "won," if only for having gotten in the last word, all the while assuring yourself that after you got it in, you would definitely be moving on to other and worthier debates with your selves, that is, after lobbing just one more last, final, ultimate, I-mean-it-this-time word to yourself.

How close did I come?

<snip> I may be losing my marbles here

H’boy. Decisions, decisions. Kiss this one off the glass or take it hard inside for the slam???

So, here is my personal committment as a participant on this forum. If I ever in any way say something that offends, or causes feelings that I am being manipulative, or using inflammatory words, or exhibits some state-of-mind that I am acting in less than a genuine manner, then I agree to the following:
< snipped remaining "oblah-me, oblah-my, oblah-myself, oblah-I" libretto >…

Okay, just brainstorming here. Instead of JWD, I’m thinking why not "www.amazing-discussion.com, Discussion Forum for All Things Amazing-Related"?

Eh, yeah, yeah?

You know, "all 'AMEZING,' all the time."

How’s that sound? Cool, eh?

AmazingSpeak for Dummies, 144,000th edition:

Enough said by me. Now, I will end all further comments about this issue, and move on to other things.

Translation:

"But, enough about me. Let's talk about you. So tell me, what do you think about me?"

What ever made me think you lacked a sense of humor, Amusing?

-AMNESIAN

36

Hi there Island Woman

by Julie in

jw
friends

greetings island woman,.

i see you had some words for me at the time i took a short sabbatical from this board.

thought i'd address a few of your thoughts.. :ignorance comes in many forms.

AMNESIAN

hillary_step:

I have followed these threads closely and can see that both ‘camps’ have made worthy points, can we just not agree to respect other opinions while holding differing viewpoints without the provocative exchanges?

Ah, how perfectly reasonable and mature. That's precisely the lofty direction to which I have aimed since His Nibs' "Lunatic", ... sorry "Legacy" scrolls (still cracking up at that subject). In fact, toward that very end, I chose to forego reading it even, just so as not to be enticed ---in an ego-driven mania--- to pointless rejoinder. Besides, how much rotf knee-slapping entertainment can a gal expect to milk from any one subject, i.e., topic or person, no matter how tempting ?

So, in the spirit of your sage counsel, HS, I remain modestly determined to continue satisfied with being merely shamelessly amused by what has transpired, rather than provoked to further duel.

For the time being, anyhow.

-AMNESIAN

16

Hard To Keep Silent

by Frenchy in

jw
friends

was visiting this week and in his talk he got on the subject of movies.

he began by admitting that he was not familiar with the rating code but that it was wrong for a christian to see an r rated movie.

he stayed at least five minutes on the subject.. afterwards there was the usual, abbreviated wt study and i found paragraph four particularly interesting:.

AMNESIAN

What that idiot who admittedly didn’t even understand the rating system failed to understand is that it was not his job to tell me how to exercise my God-given conscience. <snip>
I found the movie: “Saving Private Ryan” to be especially moving. There was some very graphic violence and some rough speech. The movie was not glorifying violence and adult language but rather it was an honest effort to portray the situation as it actually was. The movie was rated “R”...

Imagine sitting in the audience at a CA---less than a year ago---, listening to a clownishly-animated, though humorless, little DO lecture on the evils of modern entertainment, particularly "R"-rated movies. Care to hazard a guess as to the example he imperiously cited to seal his argument?

"Schindler's List." You heard me. "Schindler's List!"

Even coming from a JW platform, that one stunned me.

To the credit of some in the audience, I did detect some faint wtf undercurrent as I flitted my glance around the auditorium.

Though extremely difficult to watch---as a general rule I avoid war films like the plague---, I made the conscious decision to see “SPR” and was deeply moved by it (betcha can guess the immediate application FUBAR conjured! ). I've seen a good number of "R"-rated movies that were rated such mostly due to the intensity of the subject matter. This is especially true for independent and/or art-house fare. The message to be drawn from many of these stories actually engenders introspection and reinforces Christian convictions. Otoh, I find quite a lot of PG-13 stuff---that, because of not being rated “R,” and, therefore, technically, not off-limits to them, JWs in my area flock to in packs---too objectionable, mindless, and pointless to endure. That’s the problem with stone-tablet religious tenets---they actually serve to undermine opportunities free will affords to sharpen one's conscience.

How a religious organization professing to be Christian determines that it does not violate the individual conscience of and its true obligation toward its adherents in saddling them with the endless dictates of its own voluminous Law Code(s) still mystifies, even when referencing an organization as iron-fisted in its control as the WTS.

-AMNESIAN

34

Blood cards - before screaming too loudly,

by TheOldHippie in

jw
friends

keep in mind that the blood cards are produced and circulated in all other countries worldwide.

if they are not so in the us, please do not scream too loudly that major changes are occuring etc., because this has got to be some local us thing, if it is true what you say that they are not renewed in the us.

AMNESIAN

SexyTeen wrote:

I think it is important to renew the cards yearly so that it reflects the most accurate information (i.e. address, phone numbers, contact information, allergy info and current use of prescription drugs).

Yes, thanks for reminding me---this is certainly one of the reasons given for the need for the annual renewal. So, those who actually need an updated card this year, for whatever of the various reasons that might apply, are being issued the 3/99 card. I should think, then, that this would be a logical option every year henceforth for each individual based on his/her changed/unchanged circumstances from the previous year---rather than the implied obligation to annually renew. Reasonably, some publishers will infer---in spite of the many advisories and cautions against such reasoning to be expected from the Society---from this year's developments that annual renewal is not necessarily the sacred obligation we'd been given to think.

Well, speculation is a fun distraction for only a brief while. But, in the end, entirely useless. From here I'm satisfied to wait and see. Expectantly, I should honestly add .

Thanks again.

-AMNESIAN

34

Blood cards - before screaming too loudly,

by TheOldHippie in

jw
friends

keep in mind that the blood cards are produced and circulated in all other countries worldwide.

if they are not so in the us, please do not scream too loudly that major changes are occuring etc., because this has got to be some local us thing, if it is true what you say that they are not renewed in the us.

AMNESIAN

SexyTeen,

If I understand you correctly, you state that the announcement was made that an error in "language" or printing---which is not at all the same thing, btw---was the reason for the need to destroy the 6-01 batch of no-blood cards? Do I understand you to mean that cards presently in use should continue to serve as such throughout calendar 2002? It is for certain that the Society will not be forwarding corrected cards in the near future for, say, a March distribution?

Awaiting your response, though I have absolutely no clue what, if any, "adjustment" this development signals, I cannot imagine that, after all these years of making the annual no-blood card renewal ritual a supremely sacred obligation on the part of each Christian who would desire to worship Jehovah free of any dread of incurring bloodguilt, "to the end of fully pleasing him," the requirement can suddenly this year, for no other reason than something as minor and repairable as a printing error, be casually dismissed as a big "oopsie, nevermind..."

Appreciating your input in this,

-AMNESIAN

Just thinking out loud here: If a card signed and dated within the previous calendar year was so critical to its validity over the past couple decades (I don't remember when this ritual began as it has not always been the case), on the basis of what is the decision reached that annual renewal is not critical when such involves the labor and expense of correcting a mere clerical error? If carrying a currently-dated document is so monumentally critical, why not have the correct wording read to the congregation members for them to copy in their own hand and have it signed and dated, with the bsc responsible for checking that no one "cheats" in the wording, so to speak. Another in my long list of don't-gets.

5

AMAZING - THE LUNACY!

by AMNESIAN in

jw
friends

so, why not cowboy up, brother, and get your assets back here.

.

good on you, cowboy.. -amnesian

AMNESIAN

So, why not cowboy up, brother, and get your assets back here.

Good on you, cowboy.

-AMNESIAN

15

1/2002 KM: WT & Awake Sub Campaign

by AMNESIAN in

jw
friends

"april: the watchtower and awake!

magazines.

where interest is found on return visits, subscriptions may be offered.".

AMNESIAN

"April: The Watchtower and Awake! magazines. Where interest is found on return visits, subscriptions may be offered."

------

What's the lead time for material published in the KM? Was the decision to discontinue subscriptions made so recently---possibly just prior to the announcement at the Nov-Dec KM schools?--- that this entry was not able to be deleted from the January KM announcements?

-AMNESIAN