googlemagoogle

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Posts by googlemagoogle

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  24

  The Concept That Holds Jehovah's Witnesses Captive.

  by Blueblades in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it isn't what jehovah's witnesses believe about the bible that has made them captives of a concept.

  it is what they believe about the watchtower society that has done it.. there are two things that are necessary to compare.. 1) the society's interpretation of matthew 24:45--47, the most important scripture in watchtower theology.. with.

  2) watchtower history as it relates to their interpretation of matthew 24:45--47, the most important event in watchtower history, 1919 jesus's appointment of them as god's organization.. from don cameron's book, "captives of a concept".. if you haven't read it yet, it's right up there with 'crises of conscience'.if you have loved ones that you want to help get out of this organization, this book is the key.. blueblades

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  googlemagoogle

  hi hannover fist,
  
  i first thought you were joking, but reading your other posts i saw you are serious about it.
  
  i am a JW, my family is JW, my friends are JW. but after doing some research it's clear to me that there's nothing special about the JW, they do not have "the truth". in fact, there's no religious truth at all.
  
  why some people feel that it is captivity? now take my case. if i simply leave, as you suggest in another post, my friends are not allowed to talk to me anymore, not even greet me when they see me. my family is not allowed to talk to me more than necessary, that is, as i don't live with my parents, not at all. my family and some of my friends would break the rules though, but they'd be in serious trouble then. they could be disfellowshipped, if they don't repent hanging around with me.
  
  now i am stuck between two options: losing most of my friends and family or staying a JW and pretend believing it is the truth. i chose the latter option, although not pretending good enough, you don't know how hard it is to be a hypocrite. so i am known as a person "with serious doubts", which means "bad association". i'm in the lucky situation though, that most of my friends got their doubts too, so they don't care.
  
  lots of love,
  google
  
  ps: don't take any life-changing decisions without checking both sides first. please.
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  3

  Heaven's Gate leader was ex-JW? Mass suicide was 8 yrs ago today........

  by WingCommander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was just reading that the heaven's gate cult in california mass suicide was 8 years ago today.

  i was reading some quotes from their so-called prophet applegate from a videotape he had made at some point.

  he is talking about the end times, etc, and mentions 1975, an odd coincidence if i ever saw one.

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  googlemagoogle

  it's all in the pyramids...
  
  hey, you wt-correspondents out there, i got a good idea to save your ass about the '75 issue:
  make it two end-times. 1914 to 1975 was the first fulfilment of the end time and now we are in the real thing. how does that sound? i accept paypal.
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  82

  Ten killed in US school shooting

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  .

  another tradgedy ... .

  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4370617.stm.

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  googlemagoogle

  bowling for colombine.
  
  yeah, it's the videos, the videogames, heavy metal music. how come millions of people watching movies, playing video games, listening to heavy metal have nonviolent behavior?
  
  couln't be the parenting that really is to blame, could it? or the society? no... that sounds too stretched, right.
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  16

  Free will?

  by mjl in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  we are taught that jeh.

  created all of us as free moral agents.

  meaning we are able to decide to serve him or not to.

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  googlemagoogle

  we have a very limited and random amount of free will, if at all. all our decisions base on things we couldn't influence. starts with genes, goes on with how family treated us, which friends we had/have, which religion we were born into, the worldview we were tought, the things we saw along our way, and and and. it's an almost infinite mixture of variables that makes us decide this or that.
  
  to the case of judas: the question is, what was the bad thing he supposedly did? the day before jesus rode into the city with a huge multitude seeing him, everyone knew where he was.
  
  but then again, there are always errors in made up stories.
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  16

  Do your dreams affect your life....

  by Crumpet in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ...or are they just a source of nightly entertainment?

  alternatively how directly do your day to day activities insert themselves into your dreams.

  the reason i ask is because i had a dream last night which i think might actually be life changing.

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  googlemagoogle

  i almost never recall my dreams, most of the time i don't even know if i dreamed something or not.
  
  but lately i had a lot of very "real" dreams, and it usually was about confrontations about the spoof. and i think it does have an impact on my life. i've got no problem critizising mindless "arguments" with my family anymore.
  
  one dream i can remember, wich felt so real i wasn't sure if it really happened when i woke up:
  
  bookstudy, "draw closer to jehovah"-book. question was along the lines of what a loving god geehover is. i comented something like "if you'd ever read the bible, you'd find something really different than that wt nonsense. this guy spent all his time killing people, he's not mr. nice guy at all". the conductor responded something like "this of course is not true, may someone give the right answer please". i stood up calling him names, walking out the hall shouting froggin sheethead and stuff, hell it really felt good. remember my moms totally pale face watching me walking out...
  
  but that wont happen anytime soon.
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  56

  YESTERDAY'S WT STUDY

  by Mary in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  oh lordy, at yesterday's botchtower study, paragraph 17 (i think) asked what we personally found "encouraging" about the 2004 stats that are listed by country in the wt.

  anyway, someone finally put up their hand and remarked about how wonderful it was to see that ethiopia had a 5% increase......ya, i guess if you're starving to death, who wouldn't want to hear that paradise is right around the corner.

  one bro put up his hand and actually mentioned the fact that there was 0% increase in virtually all the industrialized nations, but that we "shouldn't let that discourage us".

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  googlemagoogle

  i wanted to comment that the increase of memorial-parttakers was very encouraging, because that means that the end still aint that nigh... didn't do it though, just whispered it to the front row...
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  36

  Jehovah's Witness Oddities

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i now enjoy telling people about the things jehovah's witnesses can and cannot do.

  for instance, witnesses can work in a store that sells lottery tickets and tobacco but they can't own the store themselves.....whole blood is forbidden to be transfused yet blood fractions are acceptable.

  donating blood in any form is wrong but accepting blood fractions is a conscience matter.........can you think of other jw oddities????

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  googlemagoogle

  @honesty: could you back up that claim about the "satanic ritual"? i've found that most of the stories about satanic cults are utter BS...
  
  ok, another oddity:
  
  we say, we are all brothers, there's no difference, we are all the same, there is no clergy. YET you have to show me another religion (except hinduism) that has so many different CLASSES as this society. yeah we are all the same, we just don't share the same "privileges", the same popularity and what not.
  
  if there's no difference, why the hell doesn't a pioneer do 70 hours a month without the pioneer label? and if we are all the same, why does the congregation show it's best face when the CO and/or DO comes around? why is everyone so proud to have a relative in bethel, an elder son or what not?
  
  "... and they lived happily ever after" changed to "... now he is baptized, stopped drinking and even serves as an elder in his congregation".
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  8

  hypocrisy

  by rebel8 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  well my beef for the day is this.

  my mother, who claims to be a faithful dub, attends weddings and funerals in other churches, but she sits down when we are supposed to stand (ie, when a prayer is being said, when the bride is walking down the aisle, etc.).

  she is proud of herself for "making a stand".

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  googlemagoogle

  yeah, JW moms don't seem to understand valid points.
  
  at the risk of getting caught i'll tell you what happened to me recently:
  
  after eating lunch with my family after meeting, we got into some talk about blood types, because someone didn't find his medical documents, so i said "why don't you go donate some blood, i'm sure they tell you what type you are", just if it would be the most normal thing on earth.
  
  armageddon broke loose... "are you trying to be funny?" and that stuff, you know. i said, if someone accepts blood fractions, which are made of blood which someone donated instead of pouring it out, then it's only fair to go donate blood too.
  
  even more armageddon broke loose!!! oh my god. their mostly used counter argument was "no! you have to do what the bible says". i don't care what the bible says, but they don't know it, so i said, the bible doesn't say anything about the issue, it's only watchtower teachings.
  
  now armageddon really broke loose... after that i said, what a pity we can't have serious talks about issues like this. response: we can, but you are just not right on that. you gotta read the mags. you do read the mags, do you? i said, why, no.
  
  managed to escape shortly after that, and managed to not come up with a topic like that in the last few days, so i'm alright.
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  81

  The King James Version is Perfect

  by blabbermouth in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i don't know about anybody else,but i love the beautiful king james version.it contains no error and is perfect.there are no mistranslations in it,and none can be proven.i don't read or study anything else for spirituality.im like a tree that is planted by the water,i shall not be moved,amen,amen,hallelujah,praise jesus!!!!

  !

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  googlemagoogle

  Little Toe is wrong that Jehovah should not be in the NT, by the way.
  
  the name "Jehovah" does not occur in the NT. only in some translations. but not in the sources.
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  23

  Who else is not going to the memorial for the first time this year?

  by Pole in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  well, it's going to be the first memorial i'll miss out on.

  no big deal, but i guess it has to be considered one of the final stages of "apostasy" :-).

  i remember i used to see some df-ed people at memorials.

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  googlemagoogle

  i will go. and i know i will feel as bored and disgusted like last year. well no.. last year i was thinking about drinking the wine and eating the bread, as i still believed all the jesus thing. this year i'll think about eating and drinking the "symbols" just for fun. but i'll just think about it, wont do it.
  
  and they'll have the same old "if you want to know more about jehovah's witnesses" talk in the final part as always. and my stomach will turn as always.