Posts by AlmostAtheist

37

reinstatement

by sugarbritches in

jw
friends

hi does anyone know what the procedure is for reinstatement?

i love this forum- you guys are all great.

sugarbritches

AlmostAtheist

Ugh! I hope you don't mean you want to go back!

The procedure is to write a letter to the judicial committee that DF'd you and ask to be reinstated. Explain that you are sorry, you love Jehovah, you hate the Smurfs, the whole bit. Then hand it to the judicial committee chairman. They will arrange to meet with you and discuss it. Chances are good you won't be reinstated, but will be told to keep coming to meetings and studying. Then you submit another letter in a couple of months and try again. After 6 months to a year, you'll probably be reinstated.

The elders I've seen (and dealt with) were not hard-asses about the shunning thing. They will talk to you pretty freely so long as it is about the reinstatement procedure. I called two of the three guys on my JC when I was disfellowshipped. They both spoke with me at length and were very ... understanding is the wrong word, but maybe tolerant.

I hope you aren't the one looking to be reinstated. I'll soon be DF'd for "apostasy" and it will be a chilly day in Gehenna before they get to suck me into another judicial committee. I won't be attending the one where they DF me, either.

Dave

56

Who cares if the JWs are right?

by new light in

this is by no means an original idea, but even if the jws have been right all along, i don't care.

if pleasing god means not knowing what to think or feel without checking with headquarters first, then i don't need him.

who would want to be caught up in an eternal nightmare where the entire population was a braindead mass of clean-cut yes men?

AlmostAtheist

"...provoking the lions..."

Hehehe! "C'mon, ya big sissy! Spit out that straw and taste a little meat for once in your God-forsaken life! Kill me already!"

14

Have you ever been marked?

by Dustin in

jw
friends

when i first met my wife, she was not a jw.

i was baptized at the age of 12. to make a long story short, some of the other youths in the congregation followed my lead and took non jw boyfriends and girlfriends.

well the brothers decided to point me out specifically as i was the only one who cared.

AlmostAtheist

How do you get un-marked? Is there something akin to a reinstatement?

11

Swede Criticism Over Tsunami Delay

by Agape_24 in

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/world/asiapcf/12/31/quake.sweden.reut/

AlmostAtheist

This link works, is it what you were referring to?

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/31/quake.sweden.reut/

11

How to handle dubs [stupid lack of] reasoning

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

when i discussed birthdays with my ms father-in-law, i brought up how eye-makeup has pagan roots, is only mentioned twice in the bible, and both times it is associated with someone wicked guilty of murder.

in every way, it is identical to birthdays, yet it isn't condemned.

he said, "we're not talking about make-up, we're talking about birthdays.".

AlmostAtheist

Blondie, The Oracle of [Ex] Jehovah's Witnesses!

Very, very good! Thank you for this!

Dave

45

newbie seeking others thoughts

by brokenfairy in

basically i have been reading the bible lately & doing extensive research on the web and have come across many things in my search...any imput put on various scriptures or sites i would appreciate.... .

first of all i found more than a few religions that resemble the teaching of the jw's...so can they honestly say they are the only ones with the "truth"?

scriptures i came across in my studies this week (if you have any other translations of these same scriptures please quote them in ur response i have 2 kjvs as well as the nwt that i am using...thanks!

AlmostAtheist

My wife and I have found that as we discuss the Bible without the Watchtower teachings hanging over us, there are more truths there to be found than we'd heard at the Kingdom Hall. Birthdays, Blood, Holidays, Counting Ministry Time, so many totally made-up Pharisaic doctrines.

(I don't buy the Bible anymore, but my wife does. I discuss it with her out of curiosity, and to have useful information to share with the JW's I run into to.)

Dave

11

How to handle dubs [stupid lack of] reasoning

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

when i discussed birthdays with my ms father-in-law, i brought up how eye-makeup has pagan roots, is only mentioned twice in the bible, and both times it is associated with someone wicked guilty of murder.

in every way, it is identical to birthdays, yet it isn't condemned.

he said, "we're not talking about make-up, we're talking about birthdays.".

AlmostAtheist

When I discussed birthdays with my MS father-in-law, I brought up how eye-makeup has pagan roots, is only mentioned twice in the Bible, and both times it is associated with someone wicked guilty of murder. In every way, it is identical to birthdays, yet it isn't condemned. He said, "We're not talking about make-up, we're talking about birthdays."

When I was discussing Christmas with an elder from the Hall I attended, I brought up the pinata article and quoted the part that says, 'How something was viewed hundreds of years ago isn't important, it's how it's viewed today that we need to be concerned with.' His response? You guessed it: "We're not talking about pinata's, we're talking about Christmas."

I'm sure if I point this YMCA/UN (see Englishman's librarycard thread) thing out to a dub, they'll respond, "We're not talking about YMCA, we're talking about UN."

So it leads to two questions. Firstly, how are they all able to make this same response? I don't remember the society bludgeoning me with that sort of false reasoning, yet here it is, over and over.

Secondly, what's the best way to defeat this sort of reasoning? I intend to point out that when asked about the End Times, Jesus said, "As in the days of Noah, so the end will be." No one butted in and said, "Whoa, whoa there Messiah-boy! We're not talking about the flood here, stick to the topic." But if you'd had success with something, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

Dave

26

THE WORST THING ABOUT THE BORG ??????????

by vitty in

jw
friends

what was the worse thing while you where in the "truth".

for me, it felt that everynight was a meeting night, the relentlous pressure getting to the meetings.. for my husband, apart from the meetings, it was the never ending assiments.

for my teenage son, it must have been field service.

AlmostAtheist

Constant guilt tripping. Field service, meetings, study, prayer, "widening out", there's so much to do that I couldn't do any of it adequately. All I ever felt was guilt, guilt, guilt. My first three weeks of being out of the organization were so uplifting to me because I wasn't "skipping" meetings, I was simply not going. No guilt at all. Sweet, sweet, [lack of guilt].

Dave

10

An annoying little game I thought I'd share. ;)

by TheSilence in

.

not sure why i thought to share this here, but i did... so here it is.... http://www.tonypa.pri.ee/wheels.swf.

jackie

AlmostAtheist

Muted, so I didn't hear the music but the game is fun!

83

To those that believe in a god; Please help me believe

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

hey gang,.

this isn't a debate-for-debate's sake thread.

i enter with an informed but open mind.

AlmostAtheist

A few of you have mentioned Lee Strobel's "The Case for [Christ|God|Creator|The Bible]". I have read as much as I could stand of The Case For God and a few seconds of The Case For Christ. I really couldn't stomach the guy. (I felt the same way about Dan Barker and his "Losing Faith in Faith" book) He came off as a phony to me, like he was trying to sound unbiased, when he obviously was biased. It would have been better if he'd said honestly, "I believe and here's why" instead of "Maybe I believe and maybe I don't, let's consider the evidence together." This discussion -- the honesty of all of you -- has done much more for my forming an opinion than Strobel's stuff could ever do.

If I understand the concensus here, God is not to be found on a chalkboard of figures or in some overwhelming body of evidence. God reveals himself in hints and ambiguous evidence that if taken as a whole -- and on the "god exists" side -- points to his existence. Moreover, once you make the "leap of faith" to give this evidence the benefit of a doubt, God himself personally acknowledges his existence to you in some immaterial, unexplainable way. You get the "Jesus in your heart" feeling, and you just "know" he exists. Further, many of you say you've gone through atheism on your way to your current destination, which is some form of belief or another.

As you've all acknowledged, you haven't convinced me. But you've at least convinced me that there's a discussion to be had. It isn't closed. And never will be.

I come away feeling like I got my answer, and for that I thank you. All of you. (Even Logan ;-) )

Dave