badwillie

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Posts by badwillie

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  10

  WT video "Protect Your Children" wins Award! (gag)

  by badwillie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://jw-media.org/edu_videos/psa4e2856.htm

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  badwillie

  http://jw-media.org/edu_videos/psa4e2856.htm
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  17

  They lost 7 bible studies

  by caballoSentado in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi friends, .

  i just found out that one of the persons i talked to about the un scandal and .

  the wtbs hypocrisy, a very good & loving person, a real christian, has cancelled .

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  badwillie

  great news! Since I left in Sept 2001 (the UN cover up was my "final straw"), there are 4 others who I have approached that have left or are in the process of leaving the Borg. The most interesting one is a guy I was friends with many years ago who I bumped into about a year ago.He was disfellowshipped a few years back and was currently "making his comeback" - he had already been re-attending meetings for 6 months and was about to submit his letter asking (begging) for reinstatement. When I first ran into him (at a bar), he said right away "I'm disfellowshipped", I said "I know" - which kind of threw him a little.

  Anyway I told him about the UN thing and many other reasons for my leaving the "truth". He told me he knew there were imperfections...Jehovah uses them...blah blah blah. That was it, didn't talk to him again..then about 4 months later he called me and asked to borrow Crisis of Conscience - the rest is ex JW history. Another one bites the dust - I love it!
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  Poem therapy

  by badwillie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i just wrote these words today at work on a scrap of paper.

  anyone else want to share their thoughts too.. "thinking i had all these people around me that loved me... .

  instead it was the thought that i think just like them that they loved.... i exposed my true thoughts - now there's no love.... they never loved me.

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  badwillie

  I just wrote these words today at work on a scrap of paper. Anyone else want to share their thoughts too.

  "Thinking I had all these people around me that loved me...

  Instead it was the thought that I think just like them that they loved...

  I exposed my true thoughts - now there's no love...

  They never loved me."
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  11

  The Watchtower Letters, part 2

  by NeonMadman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here's the next entry in the series of examples of correspondence i had with the wts back during the 1970's (mostly).

  this letter concerns the establishment of the year 1918 as being the time for the "first resurrection," i.e., the resurrection to spirit life of the anointed ones who had died previous to that time.

  what i find interesting about this letter is that no attempt was made to address the question i actually asked.

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  badwillie

  Thanks Neon. They manage to say absolutely NOTHING for a whole page!

  Incredible that I used to lap this crap right up. Damn!
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  10

  Profit of watchtower & awake, can anyone tell me???

  by jamey X in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was raised as a jw until the age of 16, when i supposidly "drifted" to the worldly world (which i love) i am 29 now and have my own family and am very happy.

  in the last month i have stopped feeling guilty & frightened about not being involved.

  i have always tried to compensate to my parents in other ways, but am getting tired never being able to make them really happy.

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  badwillie

  I work as a commercial printing estimator for a very old and large multi national printing company. (So, basically a "worldy" equivalent to the WTS)

  I just ran an estimate on what it would cost my company to produce 11MM copies (I think that was the average printing of each issue) of a WT or Awake! (errr..that stupid exclamation mark).

  The unit cost per magazine is about $0.12 each. Keep in mind that we are PAYING top dollar for labor, also they probably buy the paper a lot cheaper than what I priced it at.
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  20

  Does the president believe he has a divine mandate

  by Ravyn in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  an evolving faith .

  does the president believe he has a divine mandate?

  http://www.beliefnet.com/story/121/story_12112.html

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  badwillie

  Ravyn,

  Good thread. Did you see this from yesterday?

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=46580&site=3
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  4

  President Bush's religious language

  by badwillie in

  1. social
  2. current

  i read this in today's philadelphia inquirer, and i completely agree with it.

  anyone else care to read and comment please.

  posted on tue, feb. 11, 2003jane eisner | president bush's religious language may be heartfelt - but what if it's also exclusionary?.

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  badwillie

  I read this in Today's Philadelphia Inquirer, and I completely agree with it. Anyone else care to read and comment please.

  Posted on Tue, Feb. 11, 2003
  Jane Eisner | President Bush's religious language may be heartfelt - but what if it's also exclusionary? How to speak of the spirit to all of us By Jane Eisner So here's what I did this weekend: The neighborhood Kabbalat Shabbat was in our home; the davenning was wonderful. There was a fine Havurah service the next day at shul, capped by an interesting d'var Torah on the shape of the mishkan and its relationship to the historicity of the Exodus. There was a shiva minyan down the street for a neighbor whose mother died. I don't usually speak like this in mixed company. In public, before non-Jews or even Jews who are not especially observant, I'd say that the prayers and singing at our Friday night service were wonderful. And the talk on the Torah the next day was interesting. And we gathered for prayers at the home of someone observing the seven days of mourning. Or I might not say anything at all. The haphazard mixture of Hebrew and English (with a smattering of Yiddish) thrown into the everyday lexicon of my private religious life does not easily translate into my secular public life. That's understandable - we all shape our speech to our audience and intuit what to say and how to say it before those who may not share our religion, race, culture or language. It's a balancing act, performed every day by the Hispanic who leaves Spanish at home or the African American who judges when it's safe to use the cadence of the street. Misjudge the boundaries of generally acceptable speech, and you risk alienating and excluding your listener. Consider, on the other hand, President George W. Bush. With his persistent use of the language of prayer and his insistence on speaking from a particular brand of Christianity, he risks not only alienating Americans who don't believe in God. He also risks excluding anyone of faith who doesn't happen to share his theological approach to history. He has forgotten that he's talking to mixed company. I appreciate and respect the fact that he is a man of deep religious conviction. He doesn't wear his faith on his sleeve; it's his entire wardrobe, clothing his worldview in a fabric that seems sturdy enough to give him the strength and confidence to manage crises of global magnitude. That likely reassures Americans who want to believe the nation is led by someone with an explicit, consistent set of faith-driven values. But it's his faith, not mine or necessarily yours. No American is obliged to adopt it. Last I looked, the United States of America was not declared a Methodist nation, or even a Christian one (even though everything closes on Christmas and Easter). Lately, the President has often sounded as if his worldview is normative when, in fact, it is not. For example, although Bush obviously believes in a life after death on this Earth, how can he know that all the grieving families of the Columbia astronauts - Christians, Jews and Hindus - share that belief? Yet at the recent memorial service, he told them, "In God's own time, we can pray that the day of your reunion will come." Another example: Bush obviously believes in a God who intervenes directly in history, who guides, strengthens and, yes, sides with those who stand for liberty and justice in a cosmic struggle between good and evil. Many of us who witnessed the massacres and the miracles of the 20th century have great difficulty with that argument. It is a serious issue on which good people of faith can disagree. To the President, though, there seems to be no room for disagreement. In the State of the Union address last month, he told Americans preparing for war with Iraq to "place our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and all of history." And at last week's National Prayer Breakfast, he told a group of religious leaders: "Events aren't moved by blind change and chance. Behind all of life and all of history, there's a dedication and purpose, set by the hand of a just and faithful God." While that was truly preaching to the choir, Bush speaks this way no matter the audience. That's the problem. I don't question the President's right to such beliefs. I question whether he has a right to frame the foreign policy of this nation in such terms. True, there are political advantages: Now that he has clothed foreign policy in biblical language, which of our brave politicians will choose to pick a fight with the Almighty? Michael Gerson, White House policy advisor and chief speechwriter, defended Bush's ecumenism in a recent interview, noting that the President refrains from mentioning the words Jesus or Christ and adheres to a "principled pluralism that respects the important role of faith, but does not favor any sectarian creed." I appreciate the thought. But Gerson must not be reading his own speeches very closely. Laced throughout the language that Gerson writes are sectarian creeds, approaches and answers that are not even shared by all Methodists, never mind all voters. (A prominent Methodist bishop is in a TV ad preaching that a war with Iraq "violates God's law and the teachings of Jesus Christ.") Bush's religious language seems genuine enough, a natural outgrowth of the well-publicized conversion that brought him away from alcohol and toward a sober, public service-oriented evangelical Christianity. But, with the zeal of a convert, he seems to have decided that all people of faith believe in the same kind of God, the same definition of history, the same trust in grace and Providence. He needs to find a language that includes, not excludes; that unifies, not divides. He needs to remember that, indeed, this is a nation of mixed company. Contact columnist Jane Eisner at 215-854-4530 or [email protected].

  Edited by - badwillie on 11 February 2003 20:44:43
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  10

  Electronic Payments to WatchTower

  by Funchback in

  1. social
  2. current

  from watchtower bible and tract society of pennyslvania.... ti:tk january 20, 2003. dear brother xxxxxxxx,.

  at 2 corinthians 9:7, paul said: let each one do just as he has resolved in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for god loves a cheerful giver.

  " in modern times some have resolved in their hearts to donate toward the worldwide preaching work by means of checks sent to the watch tower bible and tract society of pennsylvania.. however, some have expressed interest in making donations directly from their bank accounts or by other electronic means.

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  badwillie

  Thanks Funch, for posting this. I am amazed at how fast they sent you this info (within 48hrs of your asking for it!) Yet, when I asked about their association with the UN - I had to wait almost 4 weeks for their lame canned response.

  Their is a real sense of urgency and great follow up whenever there are more $$$ to be fleeced from the flock!

  I applaud you WTS - greedy BASTARDS!!!!
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  78

  What song sums up your JW experience?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  its got to be rage against the machine, "killing in the name of" .

  just had the bassline to this song rumbling through my head, havent heard it for ages though .

  you need to know the chorus.

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  badwillie

  GET UP, STAND UP

  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
  Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight

  Preacher man don't tell me
  Heaven is under the earth
  I know you don't know
  What life is really worth
  It's not all that glitters is gold
  Half the story has never been told
  So now you see the light
  Stand up for your rights

  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
  Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight

  Most people think
  Great God will come from the skies
  Take away everything
  And make everybody feel high
  But if you know what life is worth
  You would look for yours on earth
  And now you've seen the light
  You stand up for your rights

  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
  Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
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  116

  Would You Marry A Person Of A Different Race?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yes....no.....why??

  ?

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  badwillie

  We're all Pink inside.. hmmm ..think about it.

  I am an Irish/English/German - American

  My wife is Jamaican (born in the UK).

  We celebrate the cultural differences. We were both very open minded before we met anyway. No two people of the same race are alike in all ways.

  We have been married going on 12 years. We go out in public a lot together - restaurants, movies, malls, the beach, etc.

  In all that time we have heard only 1 negative comment. A black guy said, "hey, couldn't you find a nice brother."