I had a hard time with all of that too Cofty. It was "independent thinking", but as we all did, I pushed it down with the magic "leave it in Jehovah's hands" or "Jehovah will make it work" thinking. I was good at that until enough of those things built up to where I could no longer do it anymore.
dubstepped
JoinedPosts by dubstepped
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21
Animals, Blood, Food, and JW Beliefs
by dubstepped ini'm just thinking aloud here.
i watched a show yesterday and they were talking about how the largest mammals of the sea (whales) fed on such small creatures (plankton) rather than eating some other large creatures.
anyway, it got me thinking about how as jws we thought that in paradise animals would all be herbivores, that they would no longer eat other animals.
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Would you give up one year at the end of your life if you could relive any one day in the past?
by Esse quam videri inlike the question asks: if you could relive any one day of your life, any age, any place and remember everything about it afterwards, would you be willing to live one year shorter at the end of your life?
one day for one year?.
i realize that someone well on in years would think twice about it, but, what about you younger ones?
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dubstepped
You said we could relive it, but not that we could change it. Maybe if someone had some sort of trauma that they couldn't remember and needed to process, I could see reliving that to get the memories needed for healing. Otherwise no, I'm not giving up a year for memories for one day. If I could change something that day, maybe, like I'd convince my parents to move somewhere other than next door to Witnesses so we could have had a normal life.
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It's about progress, not perfection...
by scratchme1010 ini guess at this point in time and space i'm ok if there's an indication of things going in the right direction.. my jw father, who joined the jws in 1973 when i was 8, has always had all the characteristics of the stereotypical brainwashed born again weirdo.
as a jw he always felt the need to show that he was more devoted than the rest of the crop.
to him, life became very easy from that point on: "the bible", interpreted by the millions of wt publications, along with the information in the meetings and getting involved in all jw activities, were the answer to everything and anything in his life".
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dubstepped
Wow, very well written, so much so that I don't have much to say. You seem like an amazing person, very healthy. Good for you!
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Animals, Blood, Food, and JW Beliefs
by dubstepped ini'm just thinking aloud here.
i watched a show yesterday and they were talking about how the largest mammals of the sea (whales) fed on such small creatures (plankton) rather than eating some other large creatures.
anyway, it got me thinking about how as jws we thought that in paradise animals would all be herbivores, that they would no longer eat other animals.
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dubstepped
I'm just thinking aloud here. I watched a show yesterday and they were talking about how the largest mammals of the sea (whales) fed on such small creatures (plankton) rather than eating some other large creatures. Anyway, it got me thinking about how as JWs we thought that in paradise animals would all be herbivores, that they would no longer eat other animals. So I was thinking about how whales would survive then. What would they eat? Obviously it would have to be plentiful. Then I got to thinking about mosquitoes, something that always bothered me as a JW. I mean, blood is supposed to be so sacred to Jehovah and we're not supposed to eat it, but his creation does (mosquitoes, ticks, bats, spiders, leeches, etc.). What are those creatures to do in the magic new system?
It seems that the animal kingdom really doesn't support the views on blood or the future panda paradise. Thoughts? Anyone else struggle with that when they were still dubs? I just found the subject interesting and my brain kind of ran with it. I know that others here have much more knowledge of such things, particularly the evolution of such critters.
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Automatic Love
by TheFadingAlbatros injehovah's witnesses have a kind of automatic love for all their other co-religionists all around the world.. this kind of attachment can only be the result of a cult machinations.. real love needs real freedom, a strong personal motivation and enough time to be fully developed.. .
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dubstepped
Hey Claude, you should probably know that most people will probably read your title and original post and just talk about that whole automatic love thing, likely never seeing that your son died. If you had started talking about that you would get more support. The subject doesn't seem to fit that. I'm just telling you because I don't want to see you get hurt because people aren't giving you support. You probably should have lead with something more like your third post and told people what happened up front so as to get what you might need or want.
Again, my heart hurts for you. They say that a parent should never have to bury a child. It just seems so unnatural.
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Automatic Love
by TheFadingAlbatros injehovah's witnesses have a kind of automatic love for all their other co-religionists all around the world.. this kind of attachment can only be the result of a cult machinations.. real love needs real freedom, a strong personal motivation and enough time to be fully developed.. .
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dubstepped
Hey Claude, I'm so sorry for your loss, and I can truly say that even though I don't know you. Too bad the JWs that do can't say that, hidden by a warped silence that they call love. I'm glad that you get to grieve with people that knew and loved your son. When my dad died last year I was robbed of that healthy grieving process, all because I had disassociated 6 months earlier. No phone calls, no stories told, never got to see the empty spot where he once sat, not even wanted at his memorial, all because I no longer believed something I was coerced into as a child. I'm glad that you get to grieve. It means that it was real.
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Why are the evolutionist's so upset?
by Esse quam videri inso many evolutionist's on this forum are upset at the terror attacks in europe such as recently in sweden.
it is just a logical step in the evolution of the human race.
should you not rather be celebrating the great changes taking place right before your eyes and constructing detailed explanations of the cell structure and dna development in the human brain.. you can't eat your cake and still have it.
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dubstepped
Anybody else want some cake now? Damn you EQV!
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dubstepped
@Cold Steel- Acts of service are but one aspect of love. It does exist in the organization, of course, but it's not the culture in general. It's not an either/or situation. I remember coming out of a book study one time to find groceries on our car when the factory my dad worked at was on strike. People give each other rides to places. I mean, they aren't devoid of humanity in their entirety. But the emphasis as far as service goes is service like field service, or bible study, those are actd of service that REALLY matter, according to them.
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Has Anyone Ever Just Gotten Mad and "Popped" an Elder?
by Cold Steel init has to have happened.
people get stressed out, an elder or overseer takes just two steps over the line and gets a fat lip for his trouble.. does that ever happen?
or maybe someone "counsels" a brother at the wrong time and tempers flare at the old kingdom hall?.
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dubstepped
^^^^^^^^^^^^Oh man, the basketball games were so full of ego. The elders that I had played with were always the worst too. Heaven forbid you showed one of them up. I had to stop playing at one point because a particular brother tried on several times to hurt me. He would undercut me after I blew by him for a layup and I crashed down hard a few times. There were brothers that broke collarbones, fights that had to be broken up, congregation clashes over games, etc.
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Has Anyone Ever Just Gotten Mad and "Popped" an Elder?
by Cold Steel init has to have happened.
people get stressed out, an elder or overseer takes just two steps over the line and gets a fat lip for his trouble.. does that ever happen?
or maybe someone "counsels" a brother at the wrong time and tempers flare at the old kingdom hall?.
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dubstepped
Okay Cold Steel, yeah the GB say they aren't inspired deep in an article once every 10-15 years, but they also claim to be "spirit directed". They also claim over and over, and talks are given all the time, that elders are appointed by holy spirit. Grieving the holy spirit is a deadly sin. So yeah, as a Mormon visiting this site you get a sound bite here and there, but you have no idea what messages are sent on a daily basis to their followers. It is an authoritarian cult, and elders have authority. That whole GB are not inspired comment is just a get out of jail free card, an an excuse for imperfection, followed by messages of how they're still obviously directed by holy spirit as evidenced by blah blah blah.
Like any good abuser, they send mixed messages. An occasional cry for sympathy to humanize them followed by relentless bullying. An not all messages are in print.