fiddler

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Posts by fiddler

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  14

  Tennessee-JW Angela Montgomery sentenced today to 40 years in prison for raping her own children

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://wkrn.com/2015/05/06/murfreesboro-mom-sentenced-to-40-years-for-raping-own-children/.

  murfreesboro mom sentenced to 40 years for raping own children.

  by larry flowers published: may 6, 2015, 4:59 pm updated: may 6, 2015, 6:53 pm .

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  fiddler

  Steve, I wasn't taking a hard nosed stance. I've felt the same about some allegations against men as well. The fact that the mother didn't have anything to say was significant to be sure but some of the monster women (and men) that I've either known or read about seemed to be pretty vocal in their defense. I will look up the case as I should have done before commenting here.

  edited to add: looked it up and yes, she sounds like a monster. It was the reference to breastfeeding that seemed out of place.
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  14

  Who are the people in JW TV videos?

  by HappyDad in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  out of curiosity, i have caught a glimpse or two of the "drama" style videos.

  are the ones in these televised "dramas" jw's or did they hire actors for the job?

  i can't see the average jw being able to do acting as good (if you will call it good) as some of these people.

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  fiddler

  Hey, Acting is what a lot of JWs do best. Reading scripted talks and putting together mock D2D skits...acting like they are the 'happiest people on earth'. They're actually pretty good at it! Being in a drama is for some, who actually do have acting talent but will never get to use that talent, the highlight of their life sadly.
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  14

  Tennessee-JW Angela Montgomery sentenced today to 40 years in prison for raping her own children

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  http://wkrn.com/2015/05/06/murfreesboro-mom-sentenced-to-40-years-for-raping-own-children/.

  murfreesboro mom sentenced to 40 years for raping own children.

  by larry flowers published: may 6, 2015, 4:59 pm updated: may 6, 2015, 6:53 pm .

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  fiddler

  I know there are horrible people out there so I'm not saying this didn't happen but I would like to hear what testimony really sealed the case. Just the man saying things happened could also be because he is the 'horrible person'. I don't know and if he indeed did endure this at the hands of his own mother then she deserves to be locked away but he also mentioned her breast feeding other people's babies. That is not rape and in times past, being a wet nurse was common practice...just saying....something didn't sound right in the little bit I saw on that news report.
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  13

  Stephen Lett admits income/expenditure shortfall as he reminds Witnesses to donate “valuable things”

  by defender of truth in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it's well worth taking a look at the article, it will only take you a few minutes.

  but i would particularly like to highlight this part: .

  if you are going to divulge a shortfall in funds, particularly with the aim of leveraging more donations (or valuable things) from a pool of supporters who are already lagging in this regard, the least you can do is treat them like adults and give some hard numbers.

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  fiddler

  The fact that the congregations in the 'wealthier' countries are comprised of older long time Jdubs might just make this latest ploy for donations a bit harder for the very reasons already stated. A lot of us HERE are in that age group and we remember the attitudes LisaRose sited...'no plate passed' and the pride that was taken in the NOT asking for donations. Actually, the accounts report was always, though a necessary business, an uncomfortable part of the meeting once a month when it came up. So, I'm thinking that there's going to be a LOT of discomfort over Lett's TV spot. Yes, this IS making televangelist look like amateurs!
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  24

  They only care about themselves......

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've watched the reaction to the nepal disaster for the first time with eyes opened.

  lots of comments about praying for the brothers and sisters affected.

  the official release on the website references only the sister and her two children that died, along with the impact on the brothers there.

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  fiddler

  Just one more thought...

  my last student today is from the region that was hit. She told me that her family is safe although they've lost much. She also told me of so much love and bravery that occurred...I can't recount the stories with accuracy but suffice it to say that there was much love and self sacrifice from young and old. Humanity is not the evil wicked thing JWs always pound on. There is so much goodness also.
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  24

  They only care about themselves......

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've watched the reaction to the nepal disaster for the first time with eyes opened.

  lots of comments about praying for the brothers and sisters affected.

  the official release on the website references only the sister and her two children that died, along with the impact on the brothers there.

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  fiddler

  JWs appease their minds by thinking 'Oh, the end is SO close and all those 5,000 dead will now have a chance at resurrection'

  done!

  No more needs to be said or done.

  jehovah will fix it.

  But what about these? I remember these as a JW child and the thinking was the same

  -- Feb. 29, 1960: Southwest Atlantic coast in Morocco; magnitude 5.7; some 12,000 killed, town of Agadir destroyed.

  -- Sept. 16, 1978: Northeast Iran; magnitude 7.7; 25,000 killed.

  -- July 28, 1976: Tangshan, China; magnitude 7.8-8.2; 240,000 killed.

  -- Feb. 4, 1976: Guatemala; magnitude 7.5; 22,778 killed.

  There were others as well and JWs mostly just watched the news and said the same as they are saying now and doing virtually nothing. (After all, the JW money is tied up in lawsuits right now....)

  just a thought....

  (Quoting from James 2:16)

  James 2:14-23 (PHILLIPS) | Whole Chapter

  The relation between faith and action

  14-18a Now what use is it, my brothers, for a man to say he “has faith” if his actions do not correspond with it? Could that sort of faith save anyone’s soul? If a fellow man or woman has no clothes to wear and nothing to eat, and one of you say, “Good luck to you I hope you’ll keep warm and find enough to eat”, and yet give them nothing to meet their physical needs, what on earth is the good of that? Yet that is exactly what a bare faith without a corresponding life is like—useless and dead. If we only “have faith” a man could easily challenge us by saying, “you say that you have faith and I have merely good actions. Well, all you can do is to show me a faith without corresponding actions, but I can show you by my actions that I have faith as well.”

  Nuff said!
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  48

  The shift: from follower to wanting to leave

  by paradisebeauty in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this week has been the week when my whole way of thinking shifted.

  i still cannot believe how this can happen so fast.

  over a period of seven days i went from not even imagining that i could ever not be a witness to wanting to get out of this organisation.. .

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  fiddler

  I've been out for 17 years now but I look back at how one week I was a 'forever JW' and the next looking around at an assembly and shaking my head that I'd fallen for such craziness for so many years. In actuality it was also a gradual awakening but a critical mass was reached and yes, like an explosion the scales came off my eyes in what I call my 'aha moment'. I've never gone back but I will warn you that there were trigger words probably instilled in you and when those triggers are pulled a moment of fear might grip you. For me it was listening to the news and hearing the phrase 'peace and security'. Giving yourself a chance to take a deep breath and think logically on things you'll be able to see things like this as just very common phrases that were appropriated by the Watchtower society...like the word 'apostate' that to anyone else is a pretty benign word but to a JW strikes absolute fear in the mind.

  May your journey be filled with wonder!
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  10

  100 Years Ago, 1.5 Million Christian Armenians Were Systematically Killed. Today, It's Still Not A 'Genocide'

  by fulltimestudent in

  1. social
  2. current

  whatever the reasons, whatever the excuses, whatever the denials - its still a tragedy:.

  100 years ago, 1.5 million christian armenians were systematically killed.

  today, it's still not a 'genocide'.

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  fiddler

  It was from the website of Serj Tankian (of the band System of a Down) that brought my attention to this atrocity and yes...it WAS genocide. If you go to his website there is a haunting video called "100 Years".

  I'd never heard of it in school history.
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  39

  I've just been disfellowshipped!

  by maksutov in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  apparently it was announced last night.

  i was not informed (for 'legal reasons'), but they phoned my dad and told him.

  i understand it is due to my apostate book.

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  fiddler

  Well Mak, they obviously didn't READ your book. They'd be here with us if they had because you presented things in a very factual way with plenty of references. It's a cowardly and bullying religion. So sorry Maksutov.
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  41

  Jehovah kicks a puppy

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  technically incorrect, but effectively he does .... if we're to believe the genesis account the serpent deceived eve and made her eat of the tree of knowledge.

  it all went pear shaped from there on in, although most people believe it was an apple (boom tish).. but anyway .... either it was a literal serpent that could talk on it's own behalf or, as people typically believe, it was satan who was the puppet master and possessing the creature.. the first raises all sorts of questions that contradict the whole bible narrative (another creature that could reason, talk, debate existence and law etc...) so let's go with "the satan theory".. how does got react to his 'perfect' creation immediately being completely imperfect as soon as he takes it out of the box?

  (he's like 0 for 4 ... satan, serpent, woman, man ... all break his rules).

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  fiddler

  The Genesis account, IMO, is a mishmash of ancient stories that were taken from oral traditions going way back in time...farther than the 6,000 years JWs claim...think Catal Huyuk and Nevali Cori in Anatolia...serpent like figurines have been found in those places and they date back to 8,000 BC. Maybe the 'Serpent' was just a man, a Shaman, dressed like a serpent. I read that in some books a long time ago, 'From The Ashes of Angels' and also 'God's of Eden' by Andrew Collins. These are not so much scientifically accurate books so much as they simply pose a different view of ancient history. I found some of what I read at least more believable and logical than the JW version I was brought up with. Serpents have long been venerated or demonized throughout ancient history.