AlmostAtheist

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Posts by AlmostAtheist

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  28

  Just a thought-Has anyone ever wondered?

  by redhotchilipepper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  maybe 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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  AlmostAtheist

  I agree with DY, but my wife feels that this kind of reasoning is like a child waiting for something. The parent may be CAPABLE of providing what the child wants right now, but is instead choosing to delay for some reason that the child doesn't yet understand. When God fixes everything, or takes people to heaven, or whatever he's going to do, those that suffered will forget their sufferings and enjoy whatever eternal reward he has in mind for them.

  I don't buy it, but I can't argue against it. It's essentially a "God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts" kind of argument, so no matter what you say, you'll get nowhere.

  Not that I would want to argue that belief away from her. It makes her happy, and that's all that matters to me.
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  50

  What Is Your Biggest Regret Because You Were a Jehovah's Witness?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  growing up as a witness makes it nearly impossible to deal with the "world", as a child.

  constant pressure is put on witness kids to conform.

  most lead a "double life" out of necessity.

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  AlmostAtheist

  Gina and I met at a QuickBuild. If we hadn't been witnesses, we'd've never met. So all in all, it was worth it to get her.

  But my biggest regret is the overall life view of "this is all temporary" which allowed me to have no retirement plan, wrack up stupid amounts of debt, and not be concerned about the "worldly" people I may have snubbed along the way. At least I learned at 35, instead of 65.
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  35

  Subliminal pictures in the WTS artwork ??

  by bull01lay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just been looking through ebay - and came across this.

  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebayisapi.dll?viewitem&item=5541757312.

  anyones seen these sort of things before ??.

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  AlmostAtheist

  If I may be permitted a bit of flip-flopping...

  I just ran through the images over at watchtower observer. I have to agree with Gumby, those images and the accusations made that they were intentionally placed there could only serve to make all ex-JW's look like kooks. 'Notice that if we clip out, enlarge, and rotate this section, you can clearly discern "JAH" inside an elongated skull!' What baloney! There's an image of King David's hand that they claim has "a Satanic S" on it. Sure enough, the veins on his hand have an "S". For Satan, no doubt. Or maybe "Stupid". Or perhaps "Suspicious". Every alleged "subliminal" image that I saw looked like a simple pattern in the image. You could find the same thing in any picture.

  I think this is a fun thread, and any chance to have a laugh at the Watchtower's expense I'm all over. But to put this lame stuff out as actually proving anything about the dubs makes us all look like fanatics.

  (Which is not to say that if we published a magazine, the dubs wouldn't have a field day doing the same thing! But then, they ARE fanatics...)
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  35

  Subliminal pictures in the WTS artwork ??

  by bull01lay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just been looking through ebay - and came across this.

  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebayisapi.dll?viewitem&item=5541757312.

  anyones seen these sort of things before ??.

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  AlmostAtheist

  There is enough valid proof to show the world this Organisation is a destructive cult without resorting to nonsense that make us apostates look like....well........apostates.

  True, but it's still interesting and just plain fun. Trying to tease something out of an image just for kicks. I agree, though, that you wouldn't want to hold up something like this and say "See? They're a mind-control group! They use subliminalistic whats-its to get inside yer head!" Discussing it from a "that's neat" or "hee hee" standpoint is ok, I think, but to promote the idea that the supposed subliminal images are there by some GB policy is counter-productive. And almost certainly wrong.

  Imagine if you dumped a bound volume into one of those "Bible Code Search" programs! Think of all the crap you could dig out of it. Or played the "Photo-drama" records backwards.
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  35

  Subliminal pictures in the WTS artwork ??

  by bull01lay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just been looking through ebay - and came across this.

  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebayisapi.dll?viewitem&item=5541757312.

  anyones seen these sort of things before ??.

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  AlmostAtheist

  I just can't quit staring at that last picture, Nancy. It's the most disturbing of the three, by far. With a 9-11-like destruction going on behind them, they're all smiling. Mrs. Roscheck that owns the deli, Bob the mailman, Miss Royce the kindergarten teacher, all being killed horribly, screaming. And they smile through it all.

  <shudder> I can hardly believe I once drew hope from images like these.
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  10

  Ray Franz cash pay off...?

  by Gill in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when ray franz left brooklyn, he and his wife were given a $10,000 pay off according to crisis of conscience.. was this an act of christianity or was it a pay off to keep him silent about the 'inner workings of the borg'?.

  i wondered this because he put up with a lot of defamatory gossip before, after two years, deciding to write his book?.

  any one any ideas?

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  AlmostAtheist

  GB, DOs, COs & ELDERS = PHARASEES

  That is so obvious now, it's like saying water's wet. So how did I not see it for nearly 20 years? Mind-boggling.
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  35

  Subliminal pictures in the WTS artwork ??

  by bull01lay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just been looking through ebay - and came across this.

  http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/ebayisapi.dll?viewitem&item=5541757312.

  anyones seen these sort of things before ??.

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  AlmostAtheist

  Crap, is it? Well, look what I found just by zooming in on your avatar! (And applying some simple flitering algorithms, of course)

  

  Oh, you'd like to believe we'd never notice it. You thought you could push your subliminal agenda without consequence! Well, Simon will hear of this, my friend!
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  22

  Please help me understand

  by lonelymom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my daughter was not brought up jw.

  her husband and his family are jw's.

  once married, my daughter began going to studies and has now converted.

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  AlmostAtheist

  The watchtower web site has a few articles on their view of Christmas and other holidays:

  http://watchtower.org/library/w/1998/12/15/article_01.htm
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  22

  Please help me understand

  by lonelymom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my daughter was not brought up jw.

  her husband and his family are jw's.

  once married, my daughter began going to studies and has now converted.

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  AlmostAtheist

  When I was a JW and my mom wasn't, Mother's Day was a very hard time for her. My dad told me she cried because she worked at a bank and all the other mom's had cards and flowers and what have you, except her. JW's claim they don't damage families, but it just isn't true.

  As another poster mentioned though, you won't make it any easier by coming after her or her beliefs. And quietly trying to un-indoctrinate your granddaughter will almost surely result in you getting to spend less (or no) time with her. The Watchtower does a good job in keping those on the inside from becoming "tainted" by those on the outside.

  I don't mean to paint an overly grim picture, here. When my wife and I were JW's (up until only a few months ago) we still visited my non-JW parents regularly, though not at holiday times. As long as they don't perceive you as a threat to their spirituality, they will probably continue to visit you. Saying something like, "I was talking to some former-Jehovah's Witnesses the other day, and they said..." is a sure way to close that door! :-( Be careful what you say.

  I'm sorry you're hurt by the loss of the holidays. My wife and I are very frustrated over the response of her JW family to us leaving. Their attitude toward us has changed greatly, and if we're ever "caught" by the elders believing and acting the way we do, we'll be disfellowshipped. At that point, my wife's family will simply refuse to talk to us anymore. You feel powerless when someone else's beliefs so strongly impact your own life. I feel for you.

  I'm sorry I can't offer much more than sympathy.

  Dave
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  22

  Not in the truth, but haunted by it...

  by confuzzed in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am having trouble dealing with this little voice in the back of my head telling me that if i don't go back to meetings i won't go to the new system and everything i am doing is wrong blah blah blah.

  although i have agreed to a study i believe it is more to shut up this little voice rather than because i want to be a witness again.

  but if i don't go back i have to deal with this horrible feeling all the time.

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  AlmostAtheist

  I think what I found attractive about JW's was that they could disprove what other religions believed, and they could prove what they believed, using the Bible. That seemed so powerful to me at the time (I was 16). Trouble is, I never went to those other religions and asked them to explain it. I talked to a few members of those churches, but they weren't well-informed about their faith and didn't have any answers. It seemed that the Witnesses were bang on right.

  Only years later did I begin to question those doctrines. Doesn't the Bible warn us not to go beyond what is written? (1 Cor. 4:6) So where does the Bible tell us not to celebrate birthdays? They have a lame excuse for it, but the Bible never tells Christians not to do it. It's a made-up rule, going beyond what is written. (See full write up on birthdays at http://www.thebentinel.com/jw-birthdays.html)

  What about blood? The Bible says to "abstain from blood", right? (Acts 15:29) Not exactly. In Acts 15:29, it says to "keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication." Note that they were being told to 'keep' doing it. It wasn't a new law, or a revision of a law, it was telling them to keep following these laws that they already obeyed. So by saying 'abstain from blood', they were continuing the law given to Noah to not EAT blood. Some carry that 'abstain from blood' phrase to the point where you'd think we weren't even allowed to touch it. But if a strangled animal was on your doorstep, do you think God expects you to leave it there forever, to 'abstain from it'? Hardly. The law was meant to keep Christians from eating unbled meat.

  Of course, Witnesses say that a blood transfusion is like eating the blood. After all, it goes into your body either way, and if a doctor told you not to drink alcohol, would it be ok to inject it into your veins? Well, that's an illustration OF their point, it doesn't MAKE their point. For instance, if a doctor told you not to eat liver, would you still be able to get a liver transplant? Blood is an organ (a fact acknowleged by the Watchtower) and a transfusion is a transplant of that organ. Just like the liver, you aren't "eating" blood when you accept a transfusion. There may be medical risks inherent to accepting blood, but they have nothing to do with the religious issue.

  There's two central doctrines of their faith that you can easily blow away using the Bible and some reasoning. Why not ask the person conducting your study to explain them? But don't just accept whatever reasoning they give you, really think it through. Does it make sense? Do the scriptures they cite actually support the position they take?

  I believe that after you look at them critically for awhile, the fears you have of going against them will lessen.

  Take care,

  Dave