Maybe we should start keeping track of our 'calls' - I know where there are some great forms......
Seriously...this is great. Just like bringing people into the borg - getting them out is a one at a time proposition....
TallTexan
JoinedPosts by TallTexan
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18
Sharing the Joy... of Open Mindedness, and Apostasy
by RichieRich ini work with a few young witnesses.
actually, they work for me.
but that's not the point here.
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DAMNED CONSCIENCE:JW Hypocrites Who Take Blood Products
by steve2 inthe blood letters by r jensen made riveting reading.
thank you to the posters who advised about the availability of these letters: a lone elders attempts to elicit some sense from the rigidly nonsensical watchtower's pick-and-choose blood transfusion doctrine.
the guy was probably doomed from the start, but i so admire his persistence and courage!
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TallTexan
Just like many other things. They can't donate to the Red Cross, but they will accept aid from them. They will not donate to the Salvation Army, but they will accept aid from them. They will not donate blood, but they will take fractions made from that blood.
The ultimate in hypocrisy....
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My Letter RE: Beaumont Article on JW's "disaster relief"
by badwillie inhere is my letter to the writer who authored this piece: .
http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15921650&brd=2287&pag=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=8 .
dear jamie,
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TallTexan
And here is mine.....
This is in response to your recent article on Jehovah’s Witnesses and their efforts to help rebuild the homes of their fellow believers.
As a former Jehovah’s Witness with over 30 years as an active member, my family, friends and I have spent many volunteer hours in doing this type of work, as well as building Kingdom Halls (as Jehovah’s Witnesses call their ‘churches’), door-to-door evangelizing, and other organization-related activities. I know from experience that the people you talked to most likely have a sincere desire to help their fellow believers, many times at their own expense – both monetarily and in time taken from families and leisure activities.
However, I feel that your article, while pointing these things out, paints a glamorous picture of an organization that is corrupt and dishonest at the expense of its individual members. Visit websites such as www.freeminds.org, www.jehovahs-witness.com, and www.silentlambs.com for detailed information about how the Jehovah’s Witness organization, known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society based in Brooklyn, NY protects pedophiles within the organization, forces an inconsistent and unscriptural blood ban on its members that results in thousands of deaths, and uses its perceived standing as God’s only ‘true’ organization to heavy-handedly rule the most intimate details of its members lives.
Your article highlights the proclaimed love shown by the members of Jehovah’s Witnesses. What is left out is how conditional this love is. The organization uses an unscriptural, unloving, shunning procedure (known as disfellowshipping) to ‘discipline’ any member who chooses to exercise any amount of free will in their own lives. This means that anyone associated with the organization, even the offender’s own family members, cannot speak to or even acknowledge this individual. Anyone critical of the organization is labeled an ‘apostate’, is removed from the organization, and subjected to shunning. I guarantee that none of these individuals received any assistance from the organization.
Further, the gentleman that stated that they would ‘like to help’ members of the community is at best naïve, at worst a complete falsehood. Witnesses are discouraged over and over again from spending time or money on anyone outside the organization, unless it is to preach to them. Joining, or even donating to, ‘worldly’ organizations such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the YMCA or others will result in disciplinary action against that individual. The WBTS has repeatedly railed against organizations such as the Red Cross in their magazines, The Watchtower and the Awake!, which makes their acceptance of aid from these organizations the utmost in hypocrisy.
Your article also states that “ Jehovah's Witnesses who can't drive to Southeast Texas donate money to help the cause, Avila said, which is used to buy supplies and food.” This is not technically true. Congregation members are not allowed to donate to individual ‘causes’. They donate their money to the “Worldwide Preaching Work”, which is collected by each congregation, sent to Brooklyn, and then the money is dispensed by the WBTS as it sees fit.
Again, to be clear, the individual Witnesses that you interviewed are doing what they feel is right at great personal sacrifice to themselves. They are very sheltered from the reality of the organization that they are a part of since they are not allowed to talk to ex-members or read anything negative about their organization. The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is a multi-billion dollar corporation built on the backs of ‘volunteers’, such as I used to be. Volunteers who are told that this is their way to salvation. Please do some research into the other side of being a Jehovah’s Witness and I think you’ll be shocked and appalled of the reality of the lives of the ‘happy’ workers you met.
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My Letter RE: Beaumont Article on JW's "disaster relief"
by badwillie inhere is my letter to the writer who authored this piece: .
http://www.southeasttexaslive.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15921650&brd=2287&pag=461&dept_id=512588&rfi=8 .
dear jamie,
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TallTexan
Nice. Very well done and well said.
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Birthday card from my uncle!
by THE SHOOTIST inthis week on jan.11 i turned the big 55, you know, senior citizen stuff.
i'm not real happy about the age but life if good.
i been out of the jws now for 5 years with no contact from witness relatives.
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TallTexan
Good experience and something that I think many on the board can relate to. One interesting statement you made about the fact that you've never been so 'readily forgiven' as you were by them. "Readily forgiven" is not something in the JW language, so it is a foreign concept to us. Most worldly relatives tolerate the JW beliefs, even though they realize what it can and does cost them in relationships. They are probably just so happy you're out that they can't and won't hold it against you.
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EVERYBODY START BLOGGING !
by DannyHaszard inblogs r' us
modblog - blogging redefined
weblog host also offers users a bulletin board, forum, and intrasite messaging.. www.modblog.com/
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TallTexan
Dude, I'm in.....
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Some questions about Michael Jackson
by Lady Lee ini don't know what was up with me this morning.
i was woken up with a tractor outside my window so i haven't slept well.
but while waiting for this tractor to disappear i was doing some thinking.. some people have heard of body dysmorphic disorder.
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TallTexan
Then I'd feel obligated to have sympathy for him, and I couldn't stomach that !!
On some level, how can you not feel sorry for the guy. He is obviously one messed up dude.
I saw the thing on VH-1 about him the other night. It talked about how his dad would sleep with the band's groupies, how the older bros would sleep with groupies in front of the younger boys, including Mikey, how his dad would tell them that the Bible says to "Obey your parents" and then order them not to tell his mother. So Mike was torn between being honest w/ his mother and disobeying his father. Between meeting his father's demands for them to succeed, and his mother's and the WTS demands to be 'no part of the world'.
It's kinda funny, but back a few years ago his being a Witness was simply mentioned in passing. Now that a lot has come out about the pedophilia, etc, there is more attention being paid to his background. I'll bet that if he had never been a JW, his craziness would be at a much more 'normal' level.....
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Thinking of leaving? Do you have a good Reputation?
by M*A*S*H ini've had an idea, a cruel and malicious idea.
want to hear it?
well, what i'm hoping is we can find someone who's thinking of leaving the jw's, has a relatively good standing in the congo and is a good actor.
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TallTexan
My thoughts exactly. Richie has the stones to pull this one off, except I think he's on reproof.
So...who are the elders to mess with the Holy Spirit???
how about partaking and then 'speaking in tongues'?....
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WTS view of Red Cross, etc
by blindersoff inhttp://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/105666/1.ashx .
"this is probably the one organization you will see that will see this project to the end," farrow said.
(seems somewhat arrogant).
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TallTexan
As Blondie (nice new avatar) said, do not think that one comment made 54 years ago can be said to be a representative view of the Red Cross. .. I am sure that if any reporter contacted Brooklyn today for a comment, he would receive something far more polite.
And your point is???? If you contact Crooklyn and ask if they harbor pedophiles, were a member of the UN, or know that 607/1914 is bogus, do you think you'll get an honest answer. As for the article being old, well, yes. However, just because they've become more 'polite' and 'positive' in their recent magazine does not mean that their overall feeling has changed. They just hide it much better. Remember, the ones in control now 'grew up' with the harsh views represented in the WT quote - do ya really think they've changed???
As for donations? I am sure that witnesses are not barred from donating money to them. It would be called a "personal matter" . Of course we know that charitable giving of all kinds is rather discouraged so that there is all the more for the good old Worldwide Work Fund. I suppose it is a competing charity..
Unless things have changed in the 6 years since I've been inactive, donating to the Red Cross is NOT a personal matter. Roll up on a group of elders and pioneers and say "Hey, I gave $500 to the Red Cross because they gave our brothers in Louisiana and Texas supplies" and see how well it works out for you....can someone give a definite answer on this? What is the WTS "present truth" on donating to the Red Cross? Blindersoff, thanks for the quote......
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Beaumont Article
by TallTexan ini read this on another post, but there are so many things wrong with this article.
beaumont - each weekend since october, danny farrow has driven about 90 miles to the golden triangle, where he lives in a trailer and feeds thousands of homemade meals to volunteers.
he could be golfing.
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TallTexan
I read this on another post, but there are SO many things wrong with this article.
BEAUMONT - Each weekend since October, Danny Farrow has driven about 90 miles to the Golden Triangle, where he lives in a trailer and feeds thousands of homemade meals to volunteers.
He could be golfing. He could be fishing. (Uh, no...he'd be out in service, mowing the lawn at the hall, studying for his next meeting.)
Instead, he's feeding hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses who come to the area to rebuild hurricane-damaged homes. (A welcome break from the above mentioned activities.)
They arrive at the area Kingdom Halls from all over the state - and some from beyond its borders - to repair more than 850 homes that belong to their "brothers and sisters," other Jehovah's Witnesses. (They need to define 'brothers and sisters' - no one being shunned or inactive)
They will stay until the work here is done, about three to four months, J.C. Avila Beaumont hub coordinator at the North Major Drive site, said. And after that, some volunteers likely will help out in Louisiana, he said.
"This is probably the one organization you will see that will see this project to the end," Farrow said.
I agree - definitely arrogant. Hmmm....sounds like some Pharisees praying on the street corner to me....
Jehovah's Witnesses who can't drive to Southeast Texas donate money to help the cause, Avila said, which is used to buy supplies and food. Also, several nonprofit groups, like the Red Cross, have donated frozen and canned foods. Uh, please clarify. My understanding is that they are NOT allowed to donate money to a specific cause, rather they donate it for the worldwide PREACHING work, it goes to Brooklyn, and then is distributed. So this paragraph should read "They donate it to a few people in NY who, if they can spare a few bucks, send it this way." And WHY on earth would the Red Cross be willing to give them a dime?? And WHAT HYPOCRISY for them to accept it after years of villifying the Red Cross.
Since early October, the volunteers have completed more than 400 homes. About 260 homes remain in Beaumont and Orange, with another 150 in the northern counties, Avila said.
No one is paid. No one is forced to work. (Of course not. They can count time. I'd rather rebuild a few hundred homes any day and count time then knock on some doors. Although, I'd rather amputate any given body part with one of those little 'spork' things than go in service)
They volunteer their weekends because the Bible tells them to, Avila said. (No, the volunteer their weekend because they are told to preach every weekend by their 'handlers', but since they can do this instead, they do. Someone, ANYONE, show me in the Bible where it says "volunteer your weekends for the FDS").
The Bible instructs people to love each other, Avila said before quoting John 13:34-35:
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (Wow....a Witness knows this scripture....guess this means you can know something and not have any practical use for it.)
Helping someone rebuild a home is the best way these men and women know how to show their love right now, they said. (And to get out of going in service.)
Jehovah's Witnesses also rebuilt homes damaged during Hurricane Allison in 2001 and Florida homes damaged in recent hurricanes. (Yes, I even helped in this a couple of weekends. My parents helped EVERY weekend for months.)
"I can't fix everything in the world," said Michael Perham, 47, of Rosenberg. "My little contribution is the best I can do."
Perham said he would like to help more people who are not Jehovah's Witnesses but added, "You gotta look after your family. You can't take care of everyone in the world." (LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE. They have NO interest at ALL in helping ANYONE who is not a JW, or studying. This just makes my blood boil. Just say "The Bible says do good especially to those in the faith, and you are not in our faith and we must stay seperate from the world. You may stumble me if I work along side someone other than another JW-bot.) Oh, he should also say that we will do this for our 'family', but if our blood relatives who were df'd needed help, we'd tell them - oh wait - we couldn't tell them anything because we can't talk to them.
Taking care of other Jehovah's Witnesses is a large enough task.
On Christmas weekend, close to 1,000 people volunteered, Avila said. On New Year's weekend, about 800 assisted. Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate holidays. (Because the Society wants to make sure that EVERY extra dime goes to NY - not to buying some harmless presents for friends and family.)
So many volunteers and so many homes could become a logistical disaster. (But being part of a high-control group has it's advantages; knowing how to control a large group of people is one advantage.)
The volunteers obviously are experienced. They have set up stations - assessments, food service, administration, first aid, and trucking - to keep everything running smoothly.
Chris Alberga (I know this guy), 28, of Van Vleck in Matagorda County, began volunteering last month in the administration office. He makes sure the programs that chart people's names, phone numbers, addresses and problems are working. (Ahhhh...we've just received a glimpse inside the technology of Big Brother working inside the WBTS. How many OTHER names, addresses, phone numbers and PROBLEMS are on this database?)
At the first-aid station, volunteer nurses, paramedics and doctors take care of cuts, burns and other medical problems. (Why? Lost an arm - don't worry, the New Order is right around the corner. Shake it off and go put a few more shingles on that roof with your good arm.)
When workers were chopping trees off homes a couple of months ago, a few people hurt themselves with chain saws, said Perham, a paramedic. Those people were taken to the hospital for stitches, he said.
Now, most injuries are related to food service, he said. (Yeah - the 'loving' brothers jockeying for position in line. Remember the assemblies when they served food? Don't be in the hallway between the seats and the food section at 12:01)
Volunteer cooks wake at 3 a.m. to start breakfast. Meals must be packaged and taken to other volunteers in Orange, Silsbee and Port Arthur by 5:45 a.m., Farrow said.
On a recent Saturday, volunteers ate Italian sausage for lunch and gumbo for dinner. That was 160 gallons of gumbo - one batch with shrimp and crawfish, another without.
Cooksy work in two trailers equipped with two long grills, 12 low-boy burners, five convection ovens and one char grill.
Farrow won't let the men (the women don't cook) (WHAT????? I thought even in the JW world women were qualified to at least cook - what will they not be able to do next? Talk at the hall, have meeting parts??? ) talk while cooking because saliva could end up in the 20- or 25-gallon pots, making diners sick. (He probably ordered them silent because one of them said "Hey, I heard some rumor about the UN and the Society - anyone heard that?") Plus, all the crap they fed me for 30 years made me sicker than a little spit in some soup.....
Dennis Cantrell, 49, of Houston travels every weekend to rebuild homes.
Usually, dozens of people (as many as 50) work on one home, he said. It makes for a tight work space but gets a house done quickly, he said. (How many JW's does it take to change a light bulb? However many can count time doing it...)
People often have tears of thanks in their eyes, Cantrell said. But that's not why he does the work. He volunteers because it's what the Bible instructs him to do. (No, it's what the SLAVE instructs him to do.)
"We live our lives around our religion," Cantrell said. "Not our religion around our lives." (You know, there are so many things I could say here, but it's so easy, what would be the fun in it?)
Many volunteers want the work here to finish quickly so they can get back to door-to-door witnessing. (WHATEVER. <super eye roll>)
Evangelizing has fallen off since the storm because so many people are busy repairing homes, volunteers said. (This paragraph should read "Evangelizing has fallen off since the advent of the Internet, JWD, freeminds.org, silentlambs.)
I agree with Blindersoff and some others....we need to blitz the Red Cross en masse, and respond to the writer of this article with the 'truth' about the 'love' and how conditional it is and about how much of a crock this article is.....