Happy 51st Ian!
Midget-Sasquatch
JoinedPosts by Midget-Sasquatch
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50
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANSK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
by Alleymom inhappy birthday,
ian !!!!
(when ian wakes up, it will be his 51st birthday -- saturday, december 18th.
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33
What happens when you die??
by mysterio91 init's been over a year now since my dad died.
i feel sad about it a lot because i don't believe i will never see him again.
i realised today that being raised a dub has closed my eyes to different views on death.. what do some of you believe happens after death??
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Midget-Sasquatch
Once we start to view our lives as finite maybe the human race will focus more on making things better right here right now. Because really you may not have a tomorrow. So stress and stretch your humanity today.
I hope for that kind of a realization too among those who fail to do something now and just say it'll all be fixed in the afterlife. Whatever the case, why shouldn't we do our best for a just humane world now? I think there'll always be those though that see a finite existence as an excuse for indulging in their nihilistic bents, wrecking havoc on the rest of us. So for the unfortunate people that don't see justice in this world, or have suffered horribly, I really do wish they can get some comfort somehow upon death.
Editted to add: here's a link to a prosaic explanation on NDEs.
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Freedom or Bondage.....a Hard Choice for Many
by gumby inlately something has bothered me as regards to many on jwd who wonder what to do, once they have found the organisation to be a destructive, mind controling sect.
aside from these ones deciding how to exit without causing a judicial meeting nor a stir among the publishers, it whether or not they want to risk their marriage and or family ties.. many on this site have related how their marriage fell to pieces because the dub mate could not accept their loved one "leaving jehovah", and they could never meet in the middle to save the marriage.
others who leave, push their dub mate away by their constant verbal expressions against the organisation...because they think they should....hence, the marriage falls apart.. here's the hard part i don't know the answer to.
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Midget-Sasquatch
I've never been married or have children. But growing up as a dub, I always wondered if my Dad would allow a blood transfusion for me or really let me die. I knew he loved me, but.....I'm siding with Alan here, deep down I know that the cult is first and foremost for my Dad and I'd wager for many other JWs as well.
Several posters have raised the key matter of personal integrity. Those expressions have resonanted deeply within me. I've always been drawn to the character of Thomas More in the play A Man for All Seasons. I've seen many people on JWD making a similar sort of principled stand. I admire you all.
Gumby, I also appreciate the question you raised.....paraphrasing: couldn't one still have personal integrity despite they're putting on a facade? That was a nice sentiment, and I'm not touched so much by the thought itself (because personally I don't feel that it could be), but from the empathy that must have been behind it. I have to honestly say that every time I go to a meeting I feel so hypocritical. I can live with the lack of freedom. But when compared to the children of others both inside the JWs and even with family outside the Borg, I've mostly been a disappointment and a source of sorrow to my folks, I don't want to add the further disappoint of being an apostate loser to boot.
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Are we having an impact on the WTS?
by Maverick inthanks to pro-active people like simon i do believe we have an impact on the wts.
i think ex-witnesses are better adjusted and recover quicker because of these web sites.
i know i was able to deprogram and come to terms with being in that cult for 24 years much quicker than being divorced after 15 years.
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Midget-Sasquatch
The net has threatened many other publishing companies and cults as well. We have a very powerful medium to let the facts be known and we're distributed across the globe so let them try and target each and every site.
If I only had the public and school libraries to go on, I'd never have heard about the UN scandal, or the Jimmy Swaggart/donation arrangement connection.
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Merry Christmas from Blondie and Irreverent
by blondie in.
http://ww12.e-tractions.com/snowglobe/globe.htm
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Midget-Sasquatch
Merry Christmas Blondie and Irrev.
edit: Its a good thing I'm not a god over some planet. Shaking that globe from time to time was fun .
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Do you know of any "baptized" JW's that committed suicide or attempted?
by booker-t ini remember one of my childhood friends was found dead and the police said he committed suicide.
i just could not believe it because my friend was a "devout" jw almost franatical about it.
now years later since i have seen both sides of the coin i am beginning to wonder if my friend did indeed kill himself.
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Midget-Sasquatch
A couple. One close to my age tried it twice because the other male dubs in Hamilton were aware of his homosexual tendencies and treated him worse than dirt. That group was so homophobic they were even starting to wonder about me because I apparently spent alot of time talking with that guy, but not quite as much with the dub females.
Anyone from the Niagara Falls area will probably know about this other incident better than myself. A man was very depressed and jumped off of a bridge into the Welland Canal. I really felt bad for the family he left behind.
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Just a thought-Has anyone ever wondered?
by redhotchilipepper inmaybe if there is a god, that maybe he doesn't want us to know who he is?
maybe he only wants to know us through prayer.
maybe the bible is a hoax?
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Midget-Sasquatch
Since learning the point of the "telephone" game in grade school, I always thought that the surest way for "god" to give us any message was personally. Never getting one personally was a saddening thought as a child, but as I grew up it was more of a melancholy one. Maybe there simply isn't anyone on the other line. Then the silence wouldn't still be nagging me.
Then again, maybe we've externalized this classical creator "god" and expect a message from the outside and that's all wrong. Maybe, if we're open to it, we can get a personal experiential sense of the divine (whatever its nature) through the thoughts/emotions that motivate us to help one another, and the reciprocal joy that comes from it.
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Midget-Sasquatch
I'd say that it has done an awful lot of damage to a few people I've known. One of them is miserable and attempted suicide twice because he can't deal with his homosexuality. Another person has no positive self image whatsoever (makes me look cocky in comparison) because she's never been "spiritual" enough. I really empathize with her because, I too have always felt bad about myself because I couldn't really sincerely believe anything being said by the JWs. The deficiency must be in me. Not to mention how they stunt a person's critical thinking skills.
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The "bodily reserrection of Christ"doctrine and John 2:19-22
by booker-t ini have been examing this doctrine for a very long time and i must admit it makes no sense at all.
when i talk to born-again christians about this doctrine the first place they always run to in the bible is john 2:19-22. the verse simple states: destroy this temple and in three days i will raise it up.
the jews thought he was talking about the temple building.
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Midget-Sasquatch
Nark
Its so true. In all spheres of human knowledge, there's always been a succesive boom in understanding when someone questioned the accepted view and thought along a different path. I have alot of catching up to do (and I'll have to forget about what I read in Friedman's book Who Wrote the Bible? --- Thats where I first was introduced to the JEPD explanation). There are some great posters with a variety of stengths on this board and I'm glad I found JWD.
LT
Sorry for the confusion. When I wrote my questions, I also wondered if they offered any historically valid insights. If those opinions were plainly out of step with whats known about early christian history, then they could be easily refuted or "blown out of the water". My mistake was referring to myself instead of the ideas. I know you'd never make a personal attack LT, and what I was also trying to say was that you'd probably hold off from saying the ideas were totally bogus out of courtesy.
Does the reformed view opt for a purely symbolic meaning to the eucharist? I'm not attracted to the insistence of the RC church on a real presence in the eucharist. If there's anything positive about growing up in a religiously divided home is that I've learned not to have a dogmatic frame of mind.
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The "bodily reserrection of Christ"doctrine and John 2:19-22
by booker-t ini have been examing this doctrine for a very long time and i must admit it makes no sense at all.
when i talk to born-again christians about this doctrine the first place they always run to in the bible is john 2:19-22. the verse simple states: destroy this temple and in three days i will raise it up.
the jews thought he was talking about the temple building.
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Midget-Sasquatch
Thank you very much for those additional links Nark...I've got to read them as soon as I get the time and am surprised that so much of the mainstream continued on just on repetition. The later dating would nicely explain why there are no direct secular references for Jesus. (or even for Paul then?)
LT
You're too kind a soul to completely blow me out of the water it would seem. I'm just trying to explore beyond the JW and RC views I grew up with ,so if I'm getting "lost" feel free to "yell" out.
Leolaia
Maybe I'm making a very tenuous superficial link with the views on the transubstantiation and how it may have contributed to bringing together the opposing views on Jesus resurrection. I realize that they were/are two distinct aspects of belief, and maybe they never did affect each others development. I'll let your vaster knowledge of history weigh in on this, and your academic bent for accuracy to take precedence.