Posts by itsallgoodnow

24

HOW WOULD A WITNESS ANSWER THIS?

by Mary in

jw
friends

ok, i responded on another thread about a blood issue, but i suddenly thought of a new point of view that, as far as i know, hasn't been touched on yet (i apologize if it has been) and i wanted to get your opinion.

as we all know, the governing body refuses blood transfusions based on the scriptures that talk about pouring the blood of a dead animal "out on the ground" because the life is in the blood, yada, yada yada.

they have stated openly that there is no difference between eating the blood of a dead animal, and taking blood from a live human, even to save a life.

itsallgoodnow

from ajwrb.org

Some Jehovah's Witnesses believe that a blood transfusion is a liquid tissue or organ transplant, not a meal, and hence does not violate the biblical admonition to "abstain from [eating] blood." The Watchtower Society attempts to deny these members, many of them born to JW parents, a free choice in their medical care by means of controls and sanctions - namely enforced shunning by JW family members and friends. They have been persecuted for their conscientious beliefs by their own religious organization which presents itself as a champion of human rights.

from wikipedia...

Some feel there are two inconsistencies in the current policy that groups such as "Associated Jehovah's Witnesses for Reform on Blood" are attempting to have addressed. They feel that accepting blood fractions does not adhere to the principle that blood be poured out. Furthermore, they also believe that if blood fractions are accepted then Jehovah’s Witnesses should also be allowed to donate blood.
When asked the question, can Jehovah's Witnesses accept blood fractions? The official answer is "We can not say. The Bible does not give details..." [31] Thus it is left to each member to make their own conscientious decision. This is because the Bible itself does not define the Greek word, "HAIMA" rendered blood. This would not pose an issue back in Bible times. However, today blood can be broken down into components, and now even further into smaller fractions. Are these tiny fractions "blood"and thus to be "abstained" or are they no longer "blood"? Witnesses will vary on how they decide and feel.
An essential point to keep in mind while trying to understand their view on blood is that the fluid blood per se is not the real issue. The real issue is respect and obedience for God’s personal property- blood. [32] [33] That the matter blood is not at stake, is seen in the fact that members are allowed to eat meat which will still have some blood left in it. As soon as blood is drained from an animal, the respect has been shown to God and then a person can eat the meat even though it will contain a small amount of blood.
It is also important to realize that an Israelites could give, or sell an animal which was not bled to a foreigner who was not bound by the same laws. [34] Thus a foreigner could eat blood (in the animal) whereas an Israelite could not. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not donate blood since they do not see how doing so shows the respect God asks for the substance. With the above in mind, some do not see any inconsistencies in the official blood policy. Others, however, see the above as cognitive dissonance.
If a person has previously been disfellowshipped for accepting a blood fraction that is now permissible they are not automatically reinstated, as the disfellowshipping is considered to be a result of showing disrespect for the leadership of the Organization as much as the issue of blood.

Just a couple of resources. Enjoy!

3

WTS getting better prepared to handle AWOL witnesses?

by itsallgoodnow in

jw
friends

under the guise of being able to "find and aid" brothers who are displaced due to natural disasters in the gulf coast this summer, we are receiving great pressure to provide our elders with names, addresses and phone numbers of where we will be in case of evacuation.

i'd like to think it's because a few good witnesses in louisiana managed to become "lost" and what a way to escape!

i don't know if i'm just reading too much into it, but the pressure to provide the information is quite intense and it really makes you wonder.

itsallgoodnow

Under the guise of being able to "find and aid" brothers who are displaced due to natural disasters in the gulf coast this summer, we are receiving great pressure to provide our elders with names, addresses and phone numbers of where we will be in case of evacuation. I'd like to think it's because a few good witnesses in Louisiana managed to become "lost" and what a way to escape! I don't know if I'm just reading too much into it, but the pressure to provide the information is quite intense and it really makes you wonder.

16

clearing my computer.....................my daughters visiting

by vitty in

jw
friends

im not very knowledgable with the computer and my daughter is comming to stay and house sit, i know she will want to use the computer.

so how do i get rid of all the history of jw stuff.

each time i put www.je....................it all scrolls down exjw websites.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

itsallgoodnow

I

have found that clearing your history doesn't get rid of the auto-completion feature showing you what you have typed. Guessing that you are using some form of Windows I think you can go into the AutoComplete tab in Internet settings and clear it all there.

thanks for that tip, stapler99! go to internet options, content tab, auto complete button. I never knew that.

22

WTS says no confession to men necessary

by TheListener in

i ran across this the other day and it caught my eye.. w85 12/1 pp.

6-7 righteousness before god

neither catholic nor protestant "justification".

itsallgoodnow

as someone already said, it's just yet another instance where they are talking out of 2 sides of their mouth. that information is meant for a catholic person, not for a JW. once that catholic person becomes a JW, that information no longer applies to him or her.

75

The faithlessness here

by grissom6471 in

jw
friends

it is a shame that people are here portraying themselves as jehovah's witness as having some knowlege or going to meetings.

what exists here is a complete lack of faith in anything.

and a great amount of stupidity.

itsallgoodnow

It is a shame that people are here portraying themselves as Jehovah's Witness as having some knowlege or going to meetings. What exists here is a complete lack of faith in anything. And a great amount of stupidity. The statements of "I'm a former Witness and people don't talk to me". Well Duh!!!. Why would anyone want to. Can all people do here is complain? No one has any backbone anyway. Stop complaining and do something to increase your faith and appreciation for God's word and his people on earth. This group will not do that.

Yawn. I seriously doubt most people will bother responding to this thread. But it is funny the mere existence of message boards like these obviously is very threatening to these sorts of people.

260

Intolerance - a new breed of ex-JW

by LittleToe in

jw
friends

.

i cant help but think of the analogy of pendulum swings when i think about how vitriolic some are towards religion (of any description), the bible (and other scripture), and christianity (generally, regardless of there being a wide range of denominational flavours) in particular.. it seems to me, from my perspective of sitting here on a remote scottish island, that there are a fair number of folks who may have left an intolerant and generalising religion but forgot to leave those attitudes with it.. just my 2p, coz to be frank i'm getting sick of it.. by all means enjoy some self-expression, it's a relatively free planet, but have a heart....

itsallgoodnow

So when someone expresses a belief I know to be false, I will usually correct it. If they express a questionable belief, I will question it. If they express a ridiculous belief, I may even ridicule it. None of this is intolerance. If they choose to hold an untenable belief, I will still tolerate them. I will not necessarily respect them, or keep silent about their error - but why should I? And why should there be any difference between correcting someone about the origin of a word, and ;correcting someone ;about the origin of the universe?
You have the right to believe whatever you wish - and I will not only tolerate it but would fight for that right. You do not have the right to have your beliefs respected or pandered to - no matter how sincerely you hold them.

I completely agree with this statement. Doing this is not intolerance. That doesn't mean every post I read I'll jump all over someone if I disagree with something. Who wants to do that? But if we are free to have opinions, but not free to express them, what good is that?

Although, I understand the intent of LT's original post was to complain about generalizations that are unfair when used in an argument or even an opinion. But how far are we going to go with that? Freedom of speech works both ways, I guess.

260

Intolerance - a new breed of ex-JW

by LittleToe in

jw
friends

.

i cant help but think of the analogy of pendulum swings when i think about how vitriolic some are towards religion (of any description), the bible (and other scripture), and christianity (generally, regardless of there being a wide range of denominational flavours) in particular.. it seems to me, from my perspective of sitting here on a remote scottish island, that there are a fair number of folks who may have left an intolerant and generalising religion but forgot to leave those attitudes with it.. just my 2p, coz to be frank i'm getting sick of it.. by all means enjoy some self-expression, it's a relatively free planet, but have a heart....

itsallgoodnow

I cant help but think of the analogy of pendulum swings when I think about how vitriolic some are towards religion (of any description), the bible (and other scripture), and Christianity (generally, regardless of there being a WIDE range of denominational flavours) in particular.
It seems to me, from my perspective of sitting here on a remote Scottish island, that there are a fair number of folks who may have left an intolerant and generalising religion but forgot to leave those attitudes with it.
Just my 2p, coz to be frank I'm getting sick of it.
By all means enjoy some self-expression, it's a relatively free planet, but have a heart...

You can take generalizing to an extreme, I'm sure. Generalizing can be used by anyone, whether atheist, agnostic, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, whatever. If someone has used this tactic, point out the flaws in their logic. How hard is that? I hope something didn't start out that way and lead to mob mentality here, that wouldn't be cool.

What specifically happened? ((I guess I should read the thread before I ask stupid questions, huh.))

Leaving the JW religion doesn't automatically make us complete individuals with rational minds and good people skills. That comes with time. I hope.

19

JW spotted at 1:00...

by Jim_TX in

jw
friends

this afternoon, i took my girlfriend and her boy who is visiting her to sonic in a small town near here called castroville.

right next door to the sonic is a pizza hut.

we sat outside sonic at the tables, in the 92-ish weather, with a gentle breeze making the stay nice.

itsallgoodnow

You never know. Could have been a group of people going to lunch after a long day at church. It probably depends on if there were teens or kids and how they are dressed.

63

Some apostates are more equal than others...

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

ever noticed that the most cleverest apostates are the ones that were "brought up in the truth"?

i mean people like little toe, leolaia and narkissos who provide the most intelligent dicsussions on the forum - they never chose the witnesses, but were dragged up in it.

do you think maybe they can't help but look down on the rest of us who were stupid enough to actually choose to become witnesses?

itsallgoodnow

If there is a heirarchy, it's probably more centered around what your position was within the organization multiplied by the amount of time you spend posting on message boards or writing essays.

I try not to look down on people who joined. Nah, we all make mistakes. We're all in the same place now and at least we're not still completely ignorant.

6

Would this 'strategy' work with Zealous mates & 'Faders'?

by AK - Jeff in

there are always a few threads on this forum dealing with one mate 'fading' and the other tight in the 'truth'.

the scenarios are always similar; 'fader' is iching to finally 'get out' - other 'zealous mate' is always anxious to end the marriage or destroy the life of the 'fader'.

'fader' wants to bring 'zealous' out, but thinks he will terminate his/her relationship with 'zealous' in so doing.

itsallgoodnow

the strategy could work, but probably only if you were still very very active in all congregation activities, and especially if you held some sort of position, even MS possibly.

I stopped attending meetings regularly before I figured anything out so even the smallest thing say is met with skepticism because of that. Some logic, huh!