"Your probe rolling around on little wheels has made us very angry. [heavy panting] VERY ANGRY INDEED!" --Marvin the Martian
Draconian
JoinedPosts by Draconian
-
7
Mars Spirit rover is communicating again!!!
by Elsewhere init's not back 100%... but at least it is transmitting again.
it recently sent 20 minutes worth of data at 120 bits per second... let see here... that comes out to 144,000 bits.
i'm convinced that jehover had something to do with it!
-
-
-
84
Awake!: Caption Time!
by Stephanus inhere's a typical awake!
cover showing the sorts of problems we have that won't be solved until 99.999% of the population die at armageddon:.
here's the cover with the text editted out to help you in your captioning quest:.
-
-
Draconian
"QUEER EYE FOR THE FALLEN WOMAN: a truly deranged worldly TV show"
-
44
Another Awake! Caption Thread
by Stephanus inhere's an awake!
cover that tries to give the impression that the demand for bloodless surgery comes from other than the dubs (strange that they should try to find support for such a "scriptural" doctrine by saying "everybody else is doing it!
here is the "blank":.
-
-
Draconian
Let me try it again
-
44
Another Awake! Caption Thread
by Stephanus inhere's an awake!
cover that tries to give the impression that the demand for bloodless surgery comes from other than the dubs (strange that they should try to find support for such a "scriptural" doctrine by saying "everybody else is doing it!
here is the "blank":.
-
-
-
35
Watchtower Captions
by Stephanus ina typical 'tower cover depicting a before and after shot of "da good life", watchtower style:.
with the text (rather sloppily, i'm afraid) editted out:.
and some contributions by me (towards the worldwide work, natch!):.
-
-
-
23
When does it get better?
by MonkeyPrincess inwhen will the guilty feeling of leaving the org go away?
i am feeling at my lowest point right now, and its terrible.
this after visiting my parents and feeling that awkward tension building between us.
-
-
Draconian
The guilt about celebrating birthdays is particularly sad. The JW doctrine against celebrating birthdays is ASININE. I'm sure they would cite some twisted interpretation of the Bible to justify it, but you know what you are robbed of when you DON'T celebrate birthdays?
Each person is an individual. A long time ago people lived in monarchies and dictatorships and life was cheap, but now we have a general sense that potentially anybody can do great things regardless of birth and class, given the chance. Lincoln was born in a log-cabin, a big millionaire like Andrew Carnegie (the steel baron of the 19th century) was a dirt-poor immigrant from Scotland but ended up endowing a good number of the United States' public libraries with his charitable donations.
So, potentially, the world is a little better with you in it than without you. I dunno, you MIGHT end up being a mass-murderer, but let's just ASSUME the world's a little better. :-) And since your arrival in the world is a significant step for betterment, it is worth it for your family and friends to commemorate it and say, "Hey! You're here. You've been here for exactly x years and the world is a little better for it. We love you." It doesn't mean you're practicing astrology or some junk and demons will leap into your eyeballs the moment you blow out some candles. Geez!
Christmas, the birthday of Jesus, we don't know exactly when. Most people back then couldn't track the exact day of the year they were born anyway (when you were a primitive or a farmer you were not into calendars of any sort). Dec. 25th will serve as good as any other day. It's cold and dreary and people need cheering up. Never mind overblown stories that Dec. 25th is descended from occult observances. You observe it for your OWN reasons, you're not secretly or unwittingly venerating El Diablo, just like a guy celebrating his own birthday on Sept. 11th is not unwittingly celebrating Muslim terrorism. There's just so many days in the year, evil events share dates with good ones!
-
23
When does it get better?
by MonkeyPrincess inwhen will the guilty feeling of leaving the org go away?
i am feeling at my lowest point right now, and its terrible.
this after visiting my parents and feeling that awkward tension building between us.
-
-
Draconian
MonkeyPrincess, hang in there. I was never in the JWs but recruiters for cults were a problem on university campuses in the 80's and so in response my university held Cult Awareness Weeks for us.
The book MOONWEBS by Josh Freed spoke of the famous case of "Benji", a Canadian caught in the Reverend Moon's Unification Church (the "Moonies"). It was a silly cult but claimed to be the Only Way, and Benji came to believe the smiling Korean was the return of Jesus Christ, but even after his ordeal and being exit-counselled and returned to normal society, "Benji" still had intense anxieties and guilt over doing anything that contravened the will of "Father" [Reverend Moon]. He had to take time out, live by himself, take it slow, read some anti-cult information but also general "worldly" books and newspapers, for many months to shake that awful feeling. Of course many years afterwards it helped that Moon was arrested for tax-evasion and spent a few years in prison washing dishes, so the "Heavenly Father" tarnished his halo. The hardcore followers that are left will probably work it into the theology as Moon's "martyrdom" period, and so it goes! "Benji's" story was also made into a film called TICKET TO HEAVEN.
Your case is different; it is many years since the founders of the Jehovah's Witness cult. The founders lived pretty ridiculous or objectionable or hypocritical lives, but the machinery of the cult is established and discrediting the founders has less relevance for today. But it helps; their foibles are in government court records and the JWs can't just waltz in and erase history.
But the problem is that the human mind is very, very flexible. It can be trained to do anything. You may be amazed and wonder at those guys who do feats like watch a train go by, add up the serial numbers on all the boxcars and get the total exactly right. It's a fact they can do it, and HOW they did it is a slow painful story of practice and starting with simple things. This flexibility of the brain is an evolutionary trait to help us survive by learning to do any of the things we need to survive, even things we haven't thought that we would need before. I took advantage of it, learned to draw with pencils (and sometimes colored pastels) only this year. It's neat, I do a portrait, they say how long has it been since I've been drawing and they are amazed that I say, "June".
But the human mind can be trained to BELIEVE anything as well, exploiting that same mechanism. By careful steps you were led down a certain path, with an elaborate set of reward/punishment tricks built in. Outsiders can help you rejoin them, you snap out of it back to reality, but you are still hurting because the rewards are gone and the punishments are in full force (that is, since you BELIEVE there was some reward in being a JW in the first place, and likewise the threats and punishments are what you believe in.) What will help is to realize that the apocalyptic calamities or the implied threats of a dire life outside the JWs is an ILLUSION. Life is not so bad among the Great Unsaved, really! :-)
The exit phobia that is instilled in every JW is, "This is God Orginization, and if you leave us it is the same as leaving God. And every bad thing that happens to you is God punishing you and in the end....God will KILL you!"
Someone else mentioned the above. It occurs to me, isn't that just the sort of thing an evil organization bent on DISTANCING people from God might say? The best way for someone to spread evil is claim he is acting ultimately for good, all the evil stuff he is doing is actually for good, and you would understand too if you were only sufficiently educated in the doctrine. It's icky reverse psychology, the wolf in sheep's clothing. Like the Communist who impoverishes and oppresses the common man even as they claim they will uplift him. Now I'm not saying Satan founded the Jehovah's Witnesses, we don't know that for sure, since none of the Jehovah's Witness publications are signed! :-)
As for joining a different religious group, be careful, you are as vulnerable as a lover on the rebound after a break-up. At least join members of a religion who are serious about brotherly love and are, say, a little more easy-going than the JWs.
-
45
Social Skills 101 for Newbies
by codeblue in.
pettygrudger and i jokingly chatted about writing a book about this subject...maybe just a "thread" could be of help to newbies that are having problems in learning how to associate beyond jw's.. any suggestions for this new topic?.
codeblue
-
-
Draconian
Bahahahaha. "...For Dummies" books also have a section "The Part of Tens", a set of chapters at the end sort of like top-ten lists: different chapters for top ten tips, top ten extra projects, whatever. Anyone want to do Top Ten Lists for JW Refuseniks?
I count that some chapter numbers were used over, we are actually up to Chapter 30.
Chapter 31: Lord of the Rings: Catching Up and Appreciating Multi-Million Dollar Occult Hollywood Imagery
Chapter 32: Dungeons & Dragons: Tips on Rolling Satan's Bones
Chapter 33: Why the Devil Won't Poke You, Man, For Playing Pokémon
Chapter 34: The Ivy League: Universities Are Not Evil (But They Will Still Suck Out Your Soul!)
Chapter 35: Blood-Donor Clinics: Sharing Your Sinful Bodily Fluids
Chapter 36: Beyond Square-Dancing: From Elvis Presley to Tupac; Catching Up on Satanic Music History
-
49
More decption in Feb 1 WT
by why144000 inhow is this for deceptive writing.
in the feb 1 2004 watchtower under the title 'how can you satisfy your spiritual needs' the artice gives three examples of professional people who have become witnesses, a doctor, a lawyer and an architect.
all come complete with two pictures each.
-
-
Draconian
Sirona: Freddy Mercury? I thought his music was pretty pointless, but okay, with your other examples like Van Gogh and Einstein I get your point. :-)
JWs, take heed. You don't need a religious cult or an extremist political group to give your life MEANING. It's all up to you.
-
35
Watchtower Captions
by Stephanus ina typical 'tower cover depicting a before and after shot of "da good life", watchtower style:.
with the text (rather sloppily, i'm afraid) editted out:.
and some contributions by me (towards the worldwide work, natch!):.
-
-