Too funny! I could only reasonably wait for the first one since I'm on 56K.
So thats why eating a helluvalot of beans got me saying "Oh God" over and over again...
I was full of it!...like him.
[ Editted to add: Many of these televangelists are cons, so I still stand by what I posted...but on reading something else a little while ago, I just want to apologize for my crassness to those on this DB that really feel there's a holy influence on them. ]
hello,im 14 years old and i am a jehovahs witness.i have done research after things happened that didnt make sense to me.my sister has been disfellowshiped and is now out of the organization married wth 2 sons.my brother stopped going to the meetings and is engaged to be married to a non wittness in march of 05.my other brother has been reading apostate material and now doesnt believe this is the right religion and is very confused as am i.my mother is a avid witness was baptized in 1975 and pioneered for a while in the 80's.i love my mom very much,but i know this isnt the right religion and i want out.im not baptized but i was born in the truth so im on the ministry school and everything and im an unbaptized publisher.when my mom finnally finds out im leaving the truth it will break her heart as she really believes this is the right religion,and shes already had 3 kids do so.how can i leave without breaking her heart?i would stick it out for the next 3or4 years,just for her,but i really dont want to.plz help me figure things out.
Hi Confused,
I really empathize with you. You've gotten alot of great advice so far. Only thing I can think of adding is to try and get yourself a part-time job in your highschool years, whether you stay with your mom or whatever.
That way if you're stuck with the JW life for a while longer, you can hopefully get the job to conflict with alot of field service and meetings. If you can contribute some cash to the household (its a nice thing to do in and of itself), you'll be getting some leverage to keep it.
But don't lose focus and forget about your schooling. Thats the real ticket to long term freedom. Keep the endgame in mind. Best of luck to you kiddo.
tonight on cnn was an interview with an anguished mother visiting thailand who was unable to find her missing daughter.. when the tsunami waves hit they became separated and now was frantically searching for news of her.
in her heart she knew she had died but wanted (needed) to know of her fate.. when interviewed she was about to board her flight back to sweden.
we could feel her pained heart as she told her story.. but now what would you have done?
Do I have other younger children that depend on me? The probability of her being taken out to sea and never finding her again. Am I being immoral in staying and using up a portion of the clean water/food that could have gone to a definitely living and already malnourished local child?
I'd like to think that I'd be that thoughtful to consider such things, but I may just as easily let my own grief and bond to her keep me there till I got an answer, one way or another. I have no children by the way so this is all very hypothetical to me.
i thought i'd pose a question especially (but not exclusively) for the girls regarding sexual harassment.
what would you deem as unfitting behaviour?.
is it appropriate for a guy to ask if you are wearing any panties?
How would you react if you saw a woman being treated like that? Would you intervene? Are there extenuating circumstances like if the guy is drunk?
I'd definitely get right in there, all 5' 2" of me, and tell the jerk to leave her alone very loudly (that way there'd be alot of eyes and hopefully some surrounding "muscle" that could back me up). I could care less if he's drunk or not. The person still needs to be told he's gone too far. If they were drunk then hopefully when they get sober they'd be so shamed about it that they'd be more attentive next time.
What about a guy in drag: Would it be appropriate conduct towards him? Is it a little fun, maybe? Bear with me now. What about a guy in a kilt? Is he asking for it?
Oh this brought back to mind my visit to a Montreal club called "Soma" (spelling?). All of the guys in drag that we ran into in there, were quite liberal with the innuendo but it was all done tongue in cheek. Its common decency and respect to that person's dignity to keep any sexual innuendo or jesting to a level that's a bit more reserved than theirs....so that you definitely don't cross their boundary (even if they're quite free about it) and you can moderate their level as well to some extent.
A guy in a kilt is not ipso facto asking for it. They shouldn't have to bear that question about whats underneath. But really I don't see much harm in people asking it to a guy out of playfulness or jest. It certainly shouldn't go beyond that though and if its obviously too sexual then its become harrassment.
Does his silence on the subject give an open license to be abused?
That should be any right-headed person's cue to cut it out, respect the person's choice to silence and go elsewhere with the conversation.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/110444609128.htm
it's amazing how as witnesses we used to just rip on other religions and organizations, not the least of which was the catholic church.
i was reading another article listing donations from various organizations and companies, and it looks like we're going to have a record outpouring here.
I'm so happy you posted that link SNG! And I'm not the least bit surprised.
Every year at the RC highschool I went to, there was a volunteer "starvathon" to raise money for one need or another in the Third World. There would also be a volunteer "walkathon" for other charitable causes. I've only rarely seen a JW be as caring about other non-cultists.
in the pretty miscellaneous "global flood" thread there were a couple of exchanges on the value of "apologetics" per se.
i think this subject is worth a thread of its own.
i will here recall some statements in the aforementioned thread:.
Too much of what is written in the Gospels (e.g. miracles, alleged history) is implausible and can't be rationally accepted as objective truths. To try and defend them, detracts from the impression others would have of the person and other parts of the Christian message. I personally would consider them at the very least unaware of several facts, and I don't find any pragmatic value in error.
But if I saw a person, who simply lived what I Iike to consider the core Christian faith (that the divine operated through one man's way of life, and that it can be similarly propagated through others by their way of life), I wouldn't need an explanation to be moved to accept that message as valuable.I'd have a tangible experience of the most valuable part of the whole faith. Who knows it might even move this cold agnostic antisocial prick to act accordingly....now and again ;)
okay, if anyone's seen my last post i'm doing a research paper on adventist groups.
right now i'm reading revelation since it's a big thing amongst adventists.
my own conclusion is that revelation had to do with the time it was written in.
Under74
My first exposure to the insight that Revelation was dealing alot with Imperial Rome was from the catholic bible we used in highschool. It had footnotes to many of the verses which made it all seem so obvious I felt like an idiot. If you do a google search with the terms "preterist" and "Revelation" you'll get alot of what you're looking for.
I think it was written as an assurance to the Christians back then who were being severely persecuted. Since people basically haven't changed, many today who for whatever reason feel that things are terribly twisted, want that assurance that it will all be made "right" in the end...preferably in their lifetime.
I don't see it that way only because in my experience with the WTS, I really only saw them coercing, cajoling, and deceiving people into consenting to that spiritual liason. They manage to fool people into "hooking-up" with them. So its more like a "Player" sucking dry as many easy "marks" as it can in the game.
Its an unscrupulous attitude to abuse the weakness or naivety of others mind you. People are still victims and are rightly enraged to learn of how they were "used". Maybe "spiritual rape" best applies to the budding spirituality of children growing up in the dubs like Tigerman pointed out? Ever notice how many of them are completely atheistic after their experience with the JWs?
Czar
You've almost got me to reconsider my position. But maybe I don't want to admit such a thing, because I am personally still in a situation which you mentioned. I think one could also objectively say that in the case of family being held hostage, the other person grudgingly consents to being "used". At least thats the take I'll settle for at this time. Very good points though man.
i've just read an intersting article on the flood to do with dates and whether is was truly global or a regional flood.. http://www.commentarypress.com/essay-flood.html.
my father used to be an elder for many years and the flood was one of the things that made him walk away not just from the jw but also belief in the bible.
he was hung up on issues like the flood taking place about 3500 bc and how that fit in with the pyramids.. i don't know much about egyptian history or the ages of the big pyramids, but his reasoning was if the flood wiped out every human on earth except noah etc then at 3500 bc there were only 8 people on earth.
PeacefulPete
Would you be my guru while I'm on my quest for "reality"?
Seriously, the post hit the heart of the matter for me.
.
when i read of the many natural calamities that have killed billions of people over the centuries i wonder if god is interested at all?
when i see the importance that the bible makes of just one death of god's sons, when he was resurrected and given a higher position just 3 days later, what about all those millions of human sons.. i guess we are like an ant hill to god, if you happen to step on it, who cares.. ken p.
A person who truly does care will be searching for the root cause of the sort of problems you mention. A person who is unwilling to consider the root cause of a problem is a person who really doesn't care to find the solution.
Schizm
So in your opinion, what are the solutions to all those natural disasters? Can't you see the best we can do so far is to try and detect the warning signs. What can someone who is powerless to stop such things do, but grieve with the losses, and do whatever they can to help those in the aftermath?
