Posts by Balsam

39

Spinning the Noah Story WT Style

by Farkel in

for as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away?

note that jesus said nothing about noah doing any preaching or doing any warning to others about the coming flood.

?evidence?

Balsam

I used to sit at the KH listening to my then Elder husband give the talk about Noah and the flood. Giving all the details of how it took 40 years to build. Well I would sit there and wonder how the timber and tar they used 40 years earlier was holding up by the time the finished the whole thing. Wouldn't they have had to go back and redo places that say got termites in the wood, or where the tar had dried out and broke off. I remember asking my husband about that and he said of Jehovah just kept all the work on the ark fresh and didn't let the termites eat it or the tar become dryed out to cracking. Just like he had the shoes and clothes of the Isrealites didn't wear out over their 40 year trek across to the promised land in the desert.

Well I thought about that and said so why didn't Jehovah just make the ark appear all finished load everyone up and off they all went with out all the hassle. Well I was informed God does not do it the easy way. I said Why? He is God Almighty, why does he make everything hard on humans? And why did he want to destroy all those people in Noah day because they were eating, marrying, and drinking and enjoying life. Well I got some dirty looks and was told I needed to do some bible study. No one could answer those questions. And none of the publications addressed my thoughts.

JW love to use the Noah and the Ark story to teach that Christians today need to preach. I doesn't say anywhere he went out to the people and preached them. Only that he was a preacher of righteousness. Thanks for those thoughts Farkel.

Balsam

115

A Cup of Urine A Day Will Keep The Doctor Away

by minimus in

jw
friends

according to yahoo news, if you drink a cup of urine a day, you can get rid of dandruff, graying hair can turn black, sinus trouble can vanish and even cancer can be cured!

in thailand, buddhist monks do this regularly and swear by it!.....what do you think?

?

Balsam

Well pee is waste material from our bodies, just like poop is, should we be consuming our own waste products like dogs do. Yick big time!!!!

70

Today, I'm Going To Bring The "Crisis of Conscience "Book To My Mother

by minimus in

jw
friends

my mother has been expressing to us how she reluctantly is beginning to see that the organization indeed has some problems.

she is starting to "feel" that things aren't right.

this past thursday, they gave a "marking" talk for my daughter who hasn't attended a meeting in years.

Balsam

Minimus,

Know it is hard dealing with someone elses ignorance, even if it is a parent we love. People believe what they want wheither it is true or not. I used to say to my family "you can believe what you want but you are wrong" and leave it at that. I just would not engage in a dispute with them when they were pig headed and just plain stupid talking. So far I have won over all those important to me. Hope your Mom wises up. I gather she has never even picked up the COC and read any of it.

Balsam

27

Would you spit at his mother?

by Amazing1914 in

jw
friends

as scott peterson's mother exited the courthouse, where she heard the jury pronounce her son guilty of murder, the crowd moved in on her, jeered and booed her, and some spit at her.. scott certainly appears guilty and the jury who heard the evidence thought so.

i believe in the death penalty, but not in purely circumstantial cases like scott peterson's.

so, i favor life in prison, to give him opportunity either repent and pay his punishment, or to prove his innocence ... if he can.. however, to stand outside a court house to cheer at the verdict seems rather inane and ludricris.

Balsam

Ignorant and cruel behavior by the public never ceases to make me sick. Spitting on Scott Peterson Mom is just vile. I believe the death penality has it's place, but I have to agree all the evidence was not complete. Here someone who had all kinds of evidence against him like OJ Simpson got off. It makes no sense to me. I didn't hear the court trial of Scott Peterson but feel he probably did it, but evidence is just not very great or doubtfree.

I feel sorry for his family and Laci's family, this whole thing is terrible. But it happens all the time, this case just got publicized more than some.

92

A religion with nothing to Celebrate

by eyeslice in

jw
friends

how sad that the witnesses have nothing to celebrate.

the more i think about it since i stopped going to the meetings, the more i feel that spirituality and religion are about opportunities to give thanks and to celebrate life with family and friends.

christenings or name giving ceremonies celebrate the gift of a new life to a family.

Balsam

Having celebrated 20 years of holidays and birthdays I loved it. Then I went on to spend the next 30 years as a witness and it aways felt so desolate and empty of life markers. I still look back on my years growing up with fond memories of Christmas, Thanksgiving, birthdays with my family and friends. But I always felt bad for my sons growing up with out these special times. I would try to inject some way to recognize them on their birthdays, but it took some thinking to do that. And I missed Christmas, the sense of family and unity. Here we were going out in the door to door on Thanksgiving and Christmas instead of enjoying family and friends ourself. My ex would say oh this is how we unite our family serving JW by going out in his work on worldly holidays. It always made my heart sink. Later on I began to refuse to go out on holidays, it just felt so wrong.

Rutherford is one that really increased the hatred for anything and everything, increasing the fear of the witnesses that everything was demonic and evil. So sad that his legacy still continues in the JW religion long after his death.

At least I can celebrate Christmas with my sons now and they with me. Their Dad is left out, but that is by his still feeling it all satanic. Fear is a powerful control of people.

As Golf said, governments, and religions have been instilling fear and control in people since man kinds finally walking upright, perhaps before then. LOL

Balsam

41

JWGift.org: New Watchtower Website for Online Donations

by Mark in

jw
friends

here's the latest effort of the wt in the uk to collect donations.. https://www.jwgift.org/.

i was thinking of posting some comments, but the website really speaks for itself.

mark

Balsam

You know I am not surprised. I would have thought the WTS would use this ploy to get donations sooner. It is so easy for people to pay stuff by credit card.

Congregations must not be bringing in the bucks enough for the society.

18

Disfellowshipping and Shunning- is it scriptual?

by MonkeyPrincess in

tonight my sister told me our dad had mentioned that when you do not associate yourself with a disfellowshipped person, relative or not, you are honoring god and following the bible's guidlines.

i asked my sister if she knew where in the bible it states that.

she said she did not know, but knows that its in there, and knows that it relates something to that affect.

Balsam

Dave,

Basically I don't think Elders really take the time to read the Elders manual. My ex-husband while he was an Elder didn't read it. If something came up he would thumb through it. I remember seeing it, and he had to turn it in when he was deleated as an elder. He kept it hid from me while he was an Elder and we were married. I thought it was kinda funny Elders had a secret manual. I bet they have come up with one more up to date I would think so anyway. Most Elders are really not all that informed as far as I could tell. They pretended to be all knowing but rarely was.

The only family members I saw shunned but not disfellowshipped were ones who took sides with the disfellowshipped person. Suppose it depend on the nuttiness of the congregation itself.

Balsam

18

What do our past Witness friends say about our Christmass tree and lights?

by PinTail in

.

i have always liked the lights of christmass, and some how i still feel weird when they do our our area in the field service.

what do you say to them when they come to condem and roll their eyes at you for it?

Balsam

Because I celebrated Christmas and all holidays till I was 20 and became a JW I loved the seasons and hated giving them up. When I had children I would take my boys out on rides to look at the Christmas lights, and we all drooled with envy. Their JW Dad didn't know I did that. LOL I missed it all the years I didn't celebrate.

I know lots of witness that did the same thing I did, because they loved the lights in the winter time. Their beautiful how could you not love the appearance of it. My ex though used to say look at that house that was all decorated and say how disgusting that is. The boys and I would smile our little secret smiles.

70

Today, I'm Going To Bring The "Crisis of Conscience "Book To My Mother

by minimus in

jw
friends

my mother has been expressing to us how she reluctantly is beginning to see that the organization indeed has some problems.

she is starting to "feel" that things aren't right.

this past thursday, they gave a "marking" talk for my daughter who hasn't attended a meeting in years.

Balsam

That is what I decided to do when I got the book, just read the first chapter and if I hated it I would put it down. But I didn't hate it and actually went on to read it. The fear that the governing body causes of apostates is just unbelieveable. The WTS is terrified on anyone finding out how they have been fooling the followers. Their house of cards will collapse, and the money will quit coming in. Sad very sad that followers of Christ Jesus would live in such fear of an organization that says it represents God Almighty. Know your are dying to know what Mom is doing.

18

Disfellowshipping and Shunning- is it scriptual?

by MonkeyPrincess in

tonight my sister told me our dad had mentioned that when you do not associate yourself with a disfellowshipped person, relative or not, you are honoring god and following the bible's guidlines.

i asked my sister if she knew where in the bible it states that.

she said she did not know, but knows that its in there, and knows that it relates something to that affect.

Balsam

ALMOST ATHEIST

=====================================================================================================================

Here is the comment from the Elders Manual page 102:

The principle set forth in Jesus' words at Matthew 10:
34-38 has a bearing on situations involving disfellow-
shipped or disassociated relatives.

Special and difficult problems may arise in relation to
social gatherings.

Loyal worshipers of Jehovah will want to adhere to the
inspired counsel at I Corinthians 5:11.

Normally, a close relative would not be disfellowshipped
for associating with a disfellowshipped person unless there
is spiritual association or an effort made to justify or
excuse the wrongful course.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But note that this warning is given on the same page:

We need to be especially cautious about contact with
disfellowshipped persons who have apostatized and
those who continue in their immoral conduct. (Titus 3:
10, 11; 1. John 2:19)

These can contaminate the congregation like gangrene.
(2. Tim 2:16-18)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So long as the disfellowshipped or disassociated person does not speak apostate teachings to the active witness then there is some leverage given to talking to them.

My son does not put down the WTS to his Dad and his Dad does not ask him how he views the society. Now my youngest son is facing disfellowshipping and I'm sure it will be handled much the same. My youngest son was caught smoking by his Dad. He's 17 so not talking to him is not something he can't do because he is a minor and would face charges of abuse if he did by me turning him.

Balsam