Terry

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Posts by Terry

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  9

  The embarrassing history of the misnomer called JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the scriptures portray a person named stephen who is termed the first "martyr.

  " the greek word means "witness.".

  ( greek : , martys , "witness"; stem -, martyr- ).

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  Terry

  CITATION:

  "The year 1914, therefore, marks the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory." Watchtower 1933 Dec 1 p.362
  
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  1

  EIGHT COMMON SENSE PRINCIPLES EX-J-DUB's can use for benefit

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1. intellectual honesty:.

  willingness to be wrong when confronted with error.. courage to take the blow of our errors and move forward.. 2. skeptical optimism:.

  embracing an idea new to your mind; trying it to see if it works.

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• 

  Terry

  1. Intellectual Honesty:

  Willingness to be wrong when confronted with error.

  Courage to take the blow of our errors and move forward.

  2. Skeptical optimism:

  Embracing an idea new to your mind; trying it to see if it works. There is more failure in those who never try.

  3. Refusal to deny reality:

  Never hide anything from yourself you feel you aren't emotionally ready to accept.

  Look facts right in the eye. Stand silent in the chamber of liars and shout loudest when your ears hear a lie.

  4. Refuse to divide others into camps:

  Every group thinks it is right. Those who would conquer us with evil must first divide us with fear.

  5. What we Hate, we Become:

  Do we see enemies or do we see people just like us who have lost their way? Will we wound them as they have wounded us, or will we seek healing and reconciliation? Can we take their blow and rise above it or will we become the thing we have learned to hate?

  Will we wound them as they have wounded us, or will we seek healing and reconciliation? Can we take their blow and rise above it or will we become the thing we have learned to hate?

  6. Defeat bad ideas with BETTER ones:

  Saying someone is wrong means nothing. Insults mean nothing. Pointing to the better path, the higher ideal, the workable plan makes us a beacon and not a whimper. Living a better life than those who accuse us repudiates them one and all.

  Pointing to the better path, the higher ideal, the workable plan makes us a beacon and not a whimper. Living a better life than those who accuse us repudiates them one and all.

  7. A Better Life means World Repair:

  Grasp the smallest opportunities for praise, encouragement; help and commonality. In Judaism, the purpose of life is to "repair the world."

  Stoop to help someone smaller than yourself. Find the kind word and speak it; you might lift a heart when that lift means everything. You and I leave this world a better place than we found it while the empty-headed ones abandon ship only to drown in their own fears.

  8. Ask yourself each day, "Am I the poison or the antidote?":

  Commitments beat complaints like Aces beat a deuce. Have you ever heard the expression, If you aren't a part of the solution you are a part of the problem? Try thinking about that sometime.

  Be the hand that builds and not the fist that bruises. The smile that encourages and not the scream that deafens. Hope is a rough sketch, but a life well-lived is a thing of great beauty.
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  18

  A frothy question ABOUT DEMONS

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  have you ever been to a circus and seen a "clown car"?.

  the little "bug" volkswagon drives out and clowns get out.

  lots and lots and lots and lots of clowns!.

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  Terry

  I think you've hit the nail on it's head, eyeuse2badub!

  A WORD THAT CAN MEAN ANYTHING means nothing.
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  87

  What is your "INTUITION" about THE SECRET "law of attraction"?

  by Terry in

  1. social
  2. family

  ever hear somebody say, "trust your gut..."?.

  or, like obe wan kenobe: "trust your feelings...."?.

  have you ever followed that "little voice" that whispers to you that you should or should not do something?.

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  Terry

  I like to take a look at the etymology of words. The birth of concepts often springs from sources which clue us into what kinds of minds created the original idea.
  

  Sure enough, INTUITION has a dead giveaway in its sourcing.
  It has Theology written all over it.

  intuition (n.)

  mid-15c., intuicioun, "insight, direct or immediate cognition, spiritual perception," originally theological, from Late Latin intuitionem (nominative intuitio) "a looking at, consideration," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin intueri "look at, consider," from in- "at, on" (see in- (2)) + tueri "to look at, watch over" (see tutor (n.)).

  
  You see, I could go along with the word "insight" because it isn't coated with the slime of religious mysticism--but--intuition reeks of it.
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  34

  The Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body are Elitists (Here is why)

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  an "elite" group is one which has special privileges not granted to others.. and obscurantist elite, is a group which hides information by virtue of its own claim to be special and a sole source in dispensing necessary truths.. to wit:.

  the gb's elitism shines through in articles such as this:.

  “thus the bible is an organizational book and belongs to the christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals , regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the bible .

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  Terry

  We all forget to do that, Marina :)
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  7

  A WRITER (me) looks at the "character GOD" from the standpoint of bad writing

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i pay attention to what other writers write about writing.

  writers always have limits--even writers of fiction.. do you choose to live in a world where pigs fly and deuces are wild?

  that would be an imaginary world.. do you choose to live in a world where god rules?

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  Terry

  I had a friend who once said out of nowhere:

  "We are God's soap opera."

  That stuck with me.
• 
  12

  A very short short story

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wanted to see how short i could make a story and it still would be effective.

  you be the judge.

  did i succeed?.

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  Terry

  As the 3 stooges might say, "Soit-un-ly!"

  Thanks!
• 
  7

  Should I stay or should I go?

  by olongapo joe in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hello all, i love reading all of your experiences, and trials and tribulations ( isn't that very jw'ish)?

  while most of my life experiences have almost nothing to do with jw's, as i was never baptized and never believed( in the bible) past the 5th grade, it makes me feel good to contribute a post or two here, i tend to go off on subjects that are probably not very jermaine to the main subject of this site.

  i do really enjoy all of your comments and the time and effort simon and the other moderators spend to make this a truly inspiring site.

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  Terry

  Hard to believe, but it took me from 1979 to about 1995 to finally break my addiction to Watchtower thinking patterns.

  I had time to kill in the local Public Library and I wandered into the Philosophy section.

  Well, I had zero interest in philosophy. However . . .

  I saw a book whose author I recognized and whom I admired.

  Mortimer J. Adler had been the fellow behind the Encyclopedia Britannica volumes of THE GREAT BOOKS of the WESTERN WORLD that I adored so much!
  
  Adler had also written, HOW TO READ A BOOK which proved invaluable.
  
  

  So, I thought to myself--let me see what Adler has to say behind this intriguing title:

  10 PHILOSOPHICAL MISTAKES

  I read the entire book in one hour and immediately went to a bookstore a bought a personal copy for myself!

  I re-read it and took notes.

  I was on fire!

  That book started me on a process of rooting out the philosophical errors buried deep in Watchtower teaching which I would never have detected on my own (without Adler's excellent ideas and concepts stirring in my brain.)

  From that moment on, I've been scrubbing my brain of every trace of indoctrination. fallacious reasoning, ideology and false premises.

  I highly recommend this book to anybody who has been an intellectual victim of a group such as Jehovah's Witnesses.

  ______________________________________________

  
  
• 
  21

  NWT...how accurate?

  by Theburstbubble in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i'm sorry if i'm covering old ground here.

  but is the nwt bible a credible translation of the scriptures?

  i'm not asking if you believe in the bible or not.

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  Terry

  Just a SIDEBAR here.

  In a court of law, a handwriting expert will testify whether somebody's writing is authentic or not ONLY if an original specimen, called an "exemplar" is available for analysis.

  Without an original version, nothing can be determined to the court's satisfaction.

  I recall now with amusement the day I discovered the fact there are no originals for the Bible--no exemplars--nothing in the way of "autograph copies" (in other words, in the actual handwriting of the author) in any museum, church, repository, safe, or private collection. There is NOTHING.

  Why do I mention this?

  The question: HOW ACCURATE IS THE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION is a question

  without meaning because there are no exemplars for comparison.

  There are only approximations of approximations of copies of copies widely divergent with others.
  
  To make a long story short, THERE IS NO THERE THERE.
• 
  12

  A very short short story

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wanted to see how short i could make a story and it still would be effective.

  you be the judge.

  did i succeed?.

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• 

  Terry

  I wanted to see how short I could make a story and it still would be effective. You be the judge. Did I succeed?

  ____________SPENDING TIME WITH STRANGERS______

  He sat on the edge of her bed and wept.
  Her head rested on the pale blue pillow. An angelic halo of hair shone illumined by the silver moon.

  His trembling hand clasped the old woman's slender wrist. Her fragile arms were so carefully arranged across her chest. He choked and sputtered his words.

  "Mother, I'm so sorry. I know I've been a disappointment to you. . ."
  The young man's words trailed off into a whisper.

  Outside, the storm scattered deafening splashes against the window panes; rattling as though hell itself were breaking loose.

  "I know you don't wah-want me spending time with strangers. . .um wuh- .women. . ."

  He stuttered and kept his eyes downcast so as not to confront his mother's face.

  " I hoped you wouldn't think. . .I would dis-disobey you. . on purpose."

  A flash and thunder punctuated his awkward confession. All at once the rain subsided until the only sound was that of his own sobbing.
  Minutes passed.

  Finally, he lifted his hand and dried his tears and stood to full height beside his mother's bed.

  "Don't worry. I won't talk to her--that woman-- again unless it's about business."

  
  

  He turned toward the door of the musty bedroom and remembered the light switch, flicking it on and wincing at the expression on his mother's face.

  "Don't be ang-angry mo-mother. . I'll behave like a gent-gentleman."

  He was about to exit the room when he whirled suddenly around. . .

  He cocked his ear and the dripping leak next to the hall banister made itself known.

  
  "Wha-what did you say, Mother?"
  He listened in the way priests listen for the voice of god.

  "Oh--her. . her name?" He froze in place and forced a twisted smile of nonchalance.
  
  

  "She said it was Craine. Marian Craine. . . sort of like, um the bird."

  He stole a glance at the taxidermied owl he'd given his mom for Mother's Day all those years past.
  

  Silence filled the murky room as he fidgeted and darted his eyes about.

  Finally, the young man shrugged diffidently.

  He entered the hallway and swiftly skipped down the carpeted staircase toward the front door where he paused and took in a deep breath, slowly exhaling--then proceeded into the humid night toward the motel office.

  There were things which must be done.

  Mother would be pleased.
  _______
  

  End