"Violent? You mean by that: accurate?"
Posts by Terry
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25Stupid comment Witness made about the Exodus film.
by Trapped in JW land ini was talking with two brothers at the kingdom hall the other day.
one of them suggested seeing the new exodus movie.
the other brother says, "i heard it's really violent"!
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28
YOU 'THINK' YOU ARE FREE when you leave the Org. . . but it can be an ILLUSION
by Terry indid you know there is nothing more insane than being partly indoctrinated and partly free?.
the level of cognitive dissonance is ridiculous!.
i have told this story before, so i'll shorten it to cut to the chase.. in 1987, i was dating a professional psychotherapist with a view to marriage.
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Terry
Did you know there is nothing more insane than being PARTLY indoctrinated and partly free?
The level of cognitive dissonance is ridiculous!
I have told this story before, so I'll shorten it to cut to the chase.
In 1987, I was dating a professional psychotherapist with a view to marriage. (Much larger story here, eh?)
Everything was lovely.
One day we are having lunch. The discussion wanders to my lady's mother.
She told me how difficult it was growing up under her mother's roof because of the constant efforts to
indoctrinate her by Bible reading.
This is my cue!
Conditioning kicked in!
My "free" mind blinked off. My indoctrinated mind blinked on!
Somehow, in the course of my defense of Scripture, I wandered off into the story of the Nephilim!
Oh yes--I DID!
We are sitting in a restaurant having finished a splendid lunch, sipping wine, gazing into each other's eyes
when suddenly the light begins to dim in the pupils of her eyes!
I'm jibber-jabbering away:
"So, the wicked angels see the daughters of men and begin lusting after them. So, they forsake their position in heaven
and come down to earth and materialize human bodies to have sex! The offspring of this demonic union was the GIANTS of ancient times!"
The expression on her face stabbed me in the heart!
I SUDDENLY REALIZED HOW INSANE I WAS!
And so did she!
The engagement was shortly broken off.
Note:
Not ten minutes ago she walked into this Starbucks where I now sit. I caught her eye and she snubbed me.
Well, why wouldn't she?
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76
From 1 to 10, how do you rate the value of the Internet in your awakening?
by Hidden-Window inas we all know, the internet is a real game-changer in allowing us to know the truth about the watch tower and its history.
i always had doubts and it was the internet that presented me with the ever-growing number of individuals who were going through a similar struggle.. i give the internet a 9 in my awakening.
what about you?.
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Terry
Zero.
There WAS NO INTERNET when I was clawing my way out!
What took me 40 years now only takes a few months!
Little by little I shed indoctrination. Pixel by pixel.
Did you know there is nothing more insane than being PARTLY indoctrinated and partly free?
The level of cognitive dissonance is ridiculous!
Transitioning all at once is much healthier than dragging it out over many years. Trust me.
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28
Governing Body courageously 'Admit their mistakes'
by LogCon inmarch 2015 study article learn from the illustration of the talents.
brothers and sisters worldwide will be overjoyed to know that the governing body finally has the.
courage to admit their mistakes .
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Terry
Billy, this is just beautifully phrased:
WATCHTOWER ORGANIZATION
Current teachings are future opportunities to admit mistakes!
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46
DNA memory
by poopsiecakes inhas anyone here ever researched or thought about dna memory?
there's a lot of weird, esoteric stuff out there concerning this, like you can somehow access your ancestors' memories.
that's not really what i'm talking about - to me, that sounds a little too fanciful.dna is a relatively recent discovery and obviously, there's still a lot to learn.
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Terry
Has anyone here ever researched or thought about DNA memory? There's a lot of weird, esoteric stuff out there concerning this, like you can somehow access your ancestors' memories.
It is my view certain things can be triggered inside of us which taps into hidden repositories of talent, genius, creativity, etc.
If Bobby Fischer's sister had not gifted him with a chess set at age 9, it is likely he'd never have become World Chess Champion.
If Quincy Jones had not broken into his school with a street gang and wandered into the Music Department and placed his hands
on the keys of a piano to feel a sudden thrill of indescribable "connection," he might have spent his life in prison instead.
How many of us have moments of EPIPHANY, not knowing why what just happened, happened?
I think it is the DNA becoming integrated into a consciousness and connectivity with the past.
I could be wrong, but I've always believed this might be the case.
In my own case, I could tell you two stories of epiphany. But, I won't bore you with it; we've all probably been there.
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12
Conversation with a Seminary student over coffee . . .
by Terry inthis is a distilled (and from memory) reconstruction of a chat awhile back.
ive dusted it off for today.. my 81 year old ex-baptist minister friend dub and i went to starbucks for coffee and conversation.
dub likes to start conversations with strangers.. today a seminary student caught his eye.
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Terry
I don't want the burden of convincing that a person is wrong and then not providing a suitable plan B. That is a responsibility that I really can't deal with.
Then, unless we know all the answers to life we can never speak.
I prefer to think of it this way: We each carry one or two puzzle pieces.
We show them to others. They either pay attention or they don't.
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If you see enough pieces from enough different sources, you begin to get an idea of the BIG PICTURE.
But, if we withhold the few pieces we have, and others do the same, we all wander in the wilderness chasing after whichever
mirage looks like real water.
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40
How Long Have You Been Here?
by minimus in12 years for me and before i actually became a member, i looked at this site (jwd) for a few months..
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Terry
See my photo Avatar? Look under it and you'll see "Joined_____."
It also shows how many posts made.
I'll never catch up with you Minimus, I'm too long-winded. If brevity is the soul of wit, you're a genius
and I'm a brainstem!
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22
UNDERSTANDING WHY THE ORGANIZATION is a false idol and a BLASPHEMY
by Terry indo we understand these three words: worship, idolatry, and blasphemy?.
most christians have a vague notion of worship, idolatry, and blasphemy already, but.
a clear definition is necessary.. we must take care to differentiate, however.. how the words appear in original language and how they are defined today might be at odds.. ____________________.
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Terry
It struck me today writing the O.P. how little emotion I ever felt being a Jehovah's Witness, and yet it was supposed to
be about WORSHIP. Worship without feeling is what? It is pretending to feel what you do not feel.
I have truly listened as JW's extoll reverent emotion at the mention of THE ORGANIZATION and it is sickening.
How does that happen? I mean--really?
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Conversation with a Seminary student over coffee . . .
by Terry inthis is a distilled (and from memory) reconstruction of a chat awhile back.
ive dusted it off for today.. my 81 year old ex-baptist minister friend dub and i went to starbucks for coffee and conversation.
dub likes to start conversations with strangers.. today a seminary student caught his eye.
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Terry
I'm not really a people person. Dub loves people.
It is good to find your opposite in life and observe and learn from them.
I think the worst decision we can make in life is to associate only with like-minded people.
How do you grow?
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Conversation with a Seminary student over coffee . . .
by Terry inthis is a distilled (and from memory) reconstruction of a chat awhile back.
ive dusted it off for today.. my 81 year old ex-baptist minister friend dub and i went to starbucks for coffee and conversation.
dub likes to start conversations with strangers.. today a seminary student caught his eye.
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Terry
This is a distilled (and from memory) reconstruction of a chat awhile back. I’ve dusted it off for today.
My 81 year old ex-Baptist minister friend Dub and I went to Starbucks for coffee and conversation. Dub likes to start conversations with strangers.
Today a Seminary student caught his eye. They talked for about half an hour before Dub dropped me into it. Dub described me as an ex-cult member who had spent time in prison! This sucked me in when the student addressed me directly. His name was Jason and he was in his final year in Dallas Baptist Seminary.
He: "Who or what is your idea of god?"
Me: "At one time I could speak confidently that I KNEW within a moral certainty exactly who god was, his Name and his purpose. Now, I have to laugh at my idiotic and egotistical self-deception! Any god that I--a mortal creature--could describe and know would always be unworthy of worship and far removed from reality. You know why—because such a god would be more ME and my imagination. I'm ignorant. I don't and can't KNOW god. Anybody who tells me that they DO is somebody I view with caution. The way you'd treat a person who has been kidnapped and probed by aliens in a UFO."
He: "For a guy with no beliefs you have very strong beliefs!"
Me: "You and I don't use language the same way, I'm afraid. It makes communication accuracy almost impossible."
He: "Why do you say that?"
Me: "Because I live in a Post-Enlightenment world described by science with measurements and descriptions that are testable. You, as a Seminary student, are immersed in a Pre-Enlightenment world described by metaphor utterly elusive to testing except as an interpretation of an emotion."
He: "So you are alone in the Universe without direction, then. Doesn't that frighten you?"
Me: “I came through my mother's birth canal without a roadmap or a clue. Same as you, I suspect. On the one hand, Science had given us medicine, technology, space travel, triple-bypass surgery and antibiotics while religion has given us talking snakes and donkeys, fluttering angels and malevolent devils. Which is closer to reality and progress and health and well-being?"
He: "But, we all die."
Me: "Well said! The religious person does die. No better or worse than the infidel."
He: "But, afterward the judgment!"
Me: "Afterward, the funeral!
Remember Jason, Muslims have the 42 virgins and Mormons have their own planet and Jehovah's Witnesses have a Paradise Earth according to belief--not according to reality. We can test a dead body for life. We can't test a belief; we can only assert it."
He: "We have the promises of the bible."
Me: "And the Koran and the Vedas, and the returning...returning...almost here....Jesus as well. I once had a friend who promised to split his Lottery winnings with me! You'll notice I did not drive up in a limousine!"
He: "Those Jehovah Witnesses really did a number on you, didn't they?"
Me: "I was the one who jumped in to the frying pan. I did it to myself."
He: "Why?"
Me: "Because I was a believer before I was a test-to-prover. I was a person of Faith rather than a person of due diligence. I wanted pie in the sky bye and bye rather than a life of three score and ten and then a cemetery plot. It is called gullibility and greed for more than there really is. I was a glutton who could stuff a tasty promise in my gut and ask for whipped cream!"
He: "I've never heard anything like this before. You're a strange man. I don't mean to be insulting."
Me: "I'm non-threatening and have no agenda to carry out. I won't be spreading any false doctrines to young college students or instructing others to put whim and willy-nilly ahead of a reasonable skeptical inquiry, that's for sure."
He: "And how do you know for sure if you are right or not?"
Me: "The easiest test there is. I look at my own life. We need to be able to spot a phony even if he is staring back at us from our mirror! When I was a bible thumping, door knocking Jehovah's Witness I never improved anybody's life for even five minutes. I just parroted what I was told. It was a job like cleaning the bathroom. I was so busy wallowing in all that "Truth" I forgot to be real. Telling somebody something that isn't true---even if it is beautiful--is a terrible and cruel attempt at making the world a better place. I'd rather mind my own business when it comes to certainty and absolutes."
He: "Well....food for thought. I enjoyed talking with you. I have to go now."
See the kind of day you can have with Dub as your traveling companion? He will chat anybody up.
He'll excuse himself to go to the restroom and return an hour later having stopped to talk to some lady who was sitting reading a book!
Today's coffee shop chat is not unusual. Dub had had a go at the fellow before dropping me into it.
Afterward, Dub insisted that we were "meant" to go to that coffee shop that morning. God had sent us there to give that fellow something to think about.
I smiled.
Here I thought it was because my daughter had given me a gift certificate :)