Posts by AlmostAtheist

Sorry I don't have any references on it. But I thought they were named as beneficiaries
of the stock, not the owners of it. So they don't have controlling interest, or any vote.
They just get the dividends.

Of course, they could always return the checks.... ;-)

Dave

45

Today I am officially lonely

by wings in

jw
friends

so i plan to post on this site for the next few days until i make you all sick of me.

that is my first idea, maybe i'll get better.

i don't get lonely easy, often, hardly ever...okay never.

AlmostAtheist

So why would you figure the ad at the bottom of this thread is from Target, and it's for men's incontinence pants?

Unless -- and for the love of god, lie to me and tell me it ain't -- it's just directed at me!

Dave

18

HAVE YOU EVER RECEIVED LETTERS FROM THE WATCHTOWER.

by badboy in

jw
friends

any takers?

AlmostAtheist

Gopher, I just rolled through the link you provided about the Watchtower letters on the Noah's Flood bit. Wow, that was some serious research. Thanks for that link!

Dave

18

HAVE YOU EVER RECEIVED LETTERS FROM THE WATCHTOWER.

by badboy in

jw
friends

any takers?

AlmostAtheist

While still in, I wrote a letter asking a question. I don't remember what it was, but they never responded.

Later, I wrote again asking a different question. This time I enclosed a contribution. That time I got a response!

Unbelievably, my faith in the bOrg wasn't shaken a whit by it. I was a true ~~believer~~ idiot.

Dave

5

Did you take the "Burn in Hell" quiz? Don't bother!

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

hey all, .

you may have seen the "are you going to burn in hell?

yes/no" ads at the bottom of some threads.

AlmostAtheist

Hey All,

You may have seen the "Are you going to burn in hell? Yes/No" ads at the bottom of some threads. Looks like a fun little thing, doesn't it? Click it, and you'll find yourself taking a short, well-laid-out quiz. The interface is marvelous, I was very impressed.

After 10-15 questions, it said, "While you're waiting for your results" -- because of course it takes TIME to answer such an important question as one's eternal destiny -- "please look at these sponsor's offers". They list a ton (20-30) of sponsors that you are expected to answer Yes or No to about your interest in seeing their sites. While it is labeled as voluntary, if you select No on all of them, it prompts you, "You must select at least one of these great offers" or something on that line.

Fine. You pick one.

Then it prompts you for some personal info. You're signing up for something! So being the god-fearing, law-abiding netizen that I am, I entered a bunch of fake info. Nope, we're smarter than that. Try again. So I tried slightly less fake data. Yes, that passed. Sweet! I finally get to find out if I'm hell-bound or not!

Nope, not yet. The same list came back up. I began to think it must be a ruse -- there really IS no answer. They'll just slap me with ad after ad until I give up. Well, I was almost right. By this time, it was a challenge. I decided to just click and click and click and see what happened. "Skip", "Skip", "No thanks", "Pass", "I stupidly refuse this great offer", etc.

Eventually -- many, many clicks later -- I was told I'm 34% likely to wind up in hell. Clearly the d*mn quiz doesn't even work, since I've been in hell all this week and it didn't even notice!

Word to the wise from the not-as-wise -- don't bother with the hell quiz! (Or any quiz bearing the "World of Quizzes" logo, would be my advice)

Dave

48

Do You Believe In "God" In ANY Way, Shape or Form?

by minimus in

jw
friends

does god exist at all to you?

AlmostAtheist

No. I think there's something difficult to nail down that some call spirituality -- what gives a painting or a rock or a song its beauty to us -- but that's not even remotely the same thing.

Dave

14

Any ideas on how to reply to my old JW buddy?

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

hey all, .

i happened upon an old email address for a friend i knew back in my jw days.

a very close friend, in fact.

AlmostAtheist

I was letting a little time pass, holding out hope. But no dice.

He replied, but he pressed the "So... are you disfellowshipped or not?" issue. He apparently didn't want the wiggle-room that my initial reply was offering. So I told him what I said in my first draft, essentially that I was told a JC would be held which I didn't attend, and that presumably an announcement was made.

I haven't heard back. And unless he manages to claw his way out of the bOrg, I don't suppose I ever will.

Fare well, Joe. Enjoy your "paradise".

Dave

41

The (missing) brackets in the NWT

by kifoy in

it was a great day, that convention day they announced that the new world translation now was to be released in the norwegian language.

first the greek scriptures in 1991, and in 1996 the whole bible.

finally we too were able to read the best translation ever made!

AlmostAtheist

It's part of the Watchtower style-guide that when quoting from the NWT, they don't include the brackets. So the NWT might say, Dave 1:1 "Give me [another] beer", but when quoting Dave 1:1 in the Watchtower they would say, "Give me another beer."

Maybe they excuse it on that basis?

Dave