AlmostAtheist

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Posts by AlmostAtheist

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  41

  No KHalls for Hurricane relief

  by SadElder in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  eldubs in florida (maybe elsewhere too) have been told that the kingdom halls should not be used for relief efforts or for shelters.

  liability and insurance issues were stated as the reason.. will try and get a copy of this letter.. of course the kingdom halls are supposed to be the center of true worship and a place of comfort but i guess only in fair weather.

  what a crock.

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  AlmostAtheist

  >> i wonder if churches still stay unlocked.. anyone know?

  When I was a kid I walked up to some church in town (small country town) and tried to open it. It was locked.

  Hardly definitive evidence one way or the other, but wuddaya gonna do. This is the same church I eventually went to for Methodist Youth Fellowship, sort of an after school play time for teens. We ran around, made out in the pews, played "piano wars" by banging on the piano, and stole some stuff.

  Sounds like UNlocking the door was the mistake.
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  25

  The first thing out of a JW's mouth

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  although i like to keep the afterlife unknown..... what do you think the first thing out of a jw's mouth would be when they discover they went to heaven (or hell) instead of paradise erf?

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  AlmostAtheist

  The Onion had a beautiful piece about the 9/11 Hijackers finding themselves in Hell, despite their great acts for Allah. The article isn't available anymore, but here's a copy of it:

  http://www.angelfire.com/home/pearly/htmls1/onion-terror.html

  Funny stuff.
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  Anybody on TVG? "Something To Share"? (Email lists of yesteryear)

  by AlmostAtheist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there were a few witness email lists around.

  i don't know if there are any still operating.

  witnesses.net had one while the admin was "losing" his faith.

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  AlmostAtheist

  There were a few Witness email lists around. I don't know if there are any still operating. Witnesses.net had one while the admin was "losing" his faith. (Actually, he gained one, I believe)

  Were any of you on any of these lists? Are you on any now? Do you run one? (THAT would be interesting... :-) )

  Dave
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  35

  JWs and voting. Is it okay now?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know there has been lots of discussion on this issue in the past year but i have been unable to find it.

  i need to know where to find the questions from readers that talked about it being okay for people to vote if their concience allows.

  i brought this issue up with a couple of people, one a rank and file dub and the other an elder.

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  AlmostAtheist

  I was 17 when I became a witness. Freshly baptized, I mentioned in passing to an elder (my then best-friend's dad) that we had elected a class president. I don't remember at all how the conversation went, I probably mentioned all the "Oaf of Office" joking around we did. (Our "class" had about 10 people in it)

  The next week I was in a Judicial Committee! I didn't even realize that's what it was, but there were three of them. We chatted awhile, then they brought up my "voting". Nobody trotted out any verses where Jesus warned against electing a class president or any such thing, they just wanted to establish that I had voted and that I admitted it. It was only my very reasonable bible study conductor (an elder, one of JC) that managed to keep it from becoming a "reproof" situation. He basically used the "he didn't know, it's obscure, he knows better now" defense, and it worked.

  Of course, I was a full-on Party Member then, so I was glad to have had this light shown on my ignorance. I look back now and think, wow, this is the best thing we all had to do with an hour of our time?

  Dave
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  23

  friend getting DFed tonight and my upcoming meeting....

  by red so deep in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  well it looks like my friend's dfing is getting announced tonight.

  she decided not to try an appeal because she really doesn't want the stress of telling the story all over again, and she's heard horror stories from one of her friends that was dfed about 12 elder appeal committies and whatnot.

  i've really been trying to help her out and let her know that it's going to be incredibly difficult but that i'll be there for her even though i'm baptized (when i was 11 years old..great decision...) pretty much all of her friends will be cut off from her, except for the few "worldly" friends she has, but it doesn't sound like her mom will really allow any association with them either.... so we'll see how the weeks ahead turn out... i also have a meeting thursday night with two elders in my hall.

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  AlmostAtheist

  You're more likely to regret something you say to those two elders than to regret anything you fail to say. Please, be careful here. Someone earlier said to 'fade on your terms'. Agreed! Don't give them anything to make your decision for you.

  Play your cards right, and you'll never experience somebody in the store purposefully looking away from you, like they're afraid they'll catch the plague from making eye contact.

  If you want to 'take a stand' at some point in your life, there's always time for it later. For now, you have time -- take it.

  Dave
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  26

  Quotes website can "confuse newly interested": so says my Elder/Father

  by Quotes in

  1. social
  2. family

  hi gang, .

  i went to visit my parents last weekend, taking my lovely wife and her mother (who is visiting us from overseas and happens to be a sincere devout catholic and a wonderful person, and speaks almost no english).

  recently my mother mentioned (via telephone) that she wished my father would buy a new computer (theirs is a vintage 1987 ibm ps/2 25 mhz) so at the last minute i decided to give them one of the old ones i have sitting around, complete with 17" monitor -- a kind of "peace offering".

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  AlmostAtheist

  >> Well, I wonder if your dad will feel bad about getting a free copy of WT library and feel compelled to donate the $50 to $100 they suggest?

  A little OT, sorry, but I had forgotten about that. When they first released it, the KM said something like, 'Worldy CD's containing information of much lesser value sell for $50, $100, or even more.' Then they left the 'donation' to your conscience. I remember thinking even then, as a loyal dub, "They can't believe it costs them $50 to stamp out these CD's. Volunteers wrote the software, wrote the data, assembled the data, printed the labels. These are costing the Society $5 max." Wish I woulda thought it through a little more then...
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  3

  Are your Kingdom Hall "at the door" contributions tax deductable?

  by hubert in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was raised a catholic.

  every sunday at church, we can pick up a weekly bulletin that states the amount of money taken in from collections of the week before.

  we also have envelopes that we can use for our donations, and also we recieve a statement from this information in the mail showing how much money we have contributed to the church for the previous year, which can be used as a tax deduction.

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  AlmostAtheist

  There's some threshold amount you can contribute on a given day ($250?) that the IRS will let you deduct without a receipt. I always counted it as a deduction and no audits yet. (Always used checks, too, though, so I have a receipt anyway.)

  -Dave
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  72

  Rationalism and religion

  by Narkissos in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've not been too good at creating topics thus far, but for my 1000th post (in case you wouldn't notice .

  we often oppose reason (ratio) and belief, as if those were mutually exclusive.

  reason always works from presuppositions.

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  AlmostAtheist

  You're right, you have to have some facts before you can reason, and once you've listed something in your fact file, it's hard to talk yourself into re-evaluating it.

  Did you ever see "Galaxy Quest"? It's a spoof on Star Trek, and how all the actors are famous only in the fact that they were on that show, not that they were great actors or went on to any other great things. There's a part in it where some die-hard fans want to discuss with the "captain" some minutia about the control mechanism built into his chair. They contrast the controls usage in one show with the same control in another show. They want him to resolve the contradiction.

  That 'quest' world was real to them, and any excuse he offered would have been acceptable. Real Star Trek actors have spun tales to explain away supposed contradictions in their show, to the satisfaction of fans.

  Once you've defined your universe -- Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, or Jehovah's Bringin' Somethin' Better -- you'll tend to believe anything that supports it.

  Once I finally got my head around that, I was able to start the process of breaking free. (But I still believe in Hobbits, and nobody's tellin' me otherwise!)

  -Dave
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  5

  Married to a JW, how do you handle teaching the kids?

  by AlmostAtheist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm fading away from jw's, and i hope my dub wife will fade with me and we can teach our children to be free thinking humans, not mindless automatons.

  but there is certainly the possibility that my "falling away" will spark something in my wife to make her take the jw religion more seriously and she'll wind up going the other way.

  for all i know, she'll turn me in and get me disfellowshipped.. surely some of you are already in this situation.

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  AlmostAtheist

  I'm fading away from JW's, and I hope my dub wife will fade with me and we can teach our children to be free thinking humans, not mindless automatons. But there is certainly the possibility that my "falling away" will spark something in my wife to make her take the JW religion more seriously and she'll wind up going the other way. For all I know, she'll turn me in and get me disfellowshipped.

  Surely some of you are already in this situation. You're out, your spouse is still a dub, and no doubt the dub is trying to indoctrinate the children. If you have another faith, you probably want your child to at least be exposed to it. If you're an atheist, then you at least want your child to be given an opportunity to consider that the universe might not have a personal creator.

  How have you worked this out? Has anything worked, and given your family some peace?

  Thanks for any insights.

  Dave
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  12

  i can't believe this.....

  by red so deep in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  well, looks like one of my best friends is getting df'ed.

  unbelievable.. aah, to begin with, her parents split up when she was about 11 and her dad is more or less a deadbeat who wasn't really a part of her life even when she was suicidal....and her mom is rarely there for her, and sometimes gets drunk and physically abusive.

  her mom remarried and she lives with her and her stepdad who are never at home.

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  AlmostAtheist

  Apparently nobody dreamed up the disfellowshipping concept in time to shun the "prodigal son". He was greeted by his father with gold rings, a new robe, and a feast. His brother was even chastised for not joining in the celebration.

  Today when Johnny came home all hang-dog and sorrowful, begging for a job, Dad would be obliged to tell him to go talk to the elders and leave it at that.

  You ARE a good friend for supporting your buddy, and I understand that you are treading a fine line between supporting her in her beliefs and wanting desperately to dissuade her of those beliefs. Maybe asking that great question would be appropriate, "What would the WTS have to do to convince you it doesn't represent God?" Or maybe not. You're a better judge of if she's ready than any of us could be.