Jez you said: ?Nice example of the black and white thinking that exists amongst JWs. That is a bunch of bullshit. I think an elder said to me once, "If you had sex outside of marriage, you commit adultry, you should be disfellowshipped." Is that what you think? With no understanding of any other factors? See, they KNEW that I lived in an abusive relationship for 14 years, in silence, for them, for Jehovah, for my family, until one night he was arrested and thrown in jail and I survived with my life. They KNEW that the turmoil I was in, they KNEW everything, they knew I met and fell in love with someone way after the seperation, not DURING the marriage, they knew I married him.......etc...they knew intimate things, but you know what it comes down to? YOUR kind of black and white thinking. There is no grey area for a dub. You say you are not a JW anymore? Well, that certainly is a carry-over, you hypocrite.?
Then to Odrade you said: ? I was riddled with guilt my whole teenage years and into my adult years. I was in constant conflict over who I knew I was 'suppose' to be and who I really was. I was a normal teenage girl going through normal teenage stuff and doing normal teenage stuff. You were and are obviously one of those self-righteous holier than thou kinds that love to bury people alive under a mountain of labels, false accusations and assumptions.?
Well! It seems Jez has a way of turning around an argument ? lesson well learned from the Mother Organization. Talk about bullshit. ?I stayed true to myself?? OH wait? ?I was in constant conflict?... then the label??Self-righteous holier than thou?. Jez, you started this with your assertion that you ?stayed true your self? - like the rest of us didn?t little girl? Are you better than the rest of us, somehow superior?
You were living a dual life ?not true to your self and not true to anyone else. I call that two-faced.
Start something? label the naysayers ? make a plea for sympathy ? conquer.
Score for one for Jez.
Berean
JoinedPosts by Berean
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124
social retard
by MerryMagdalene ini finally figured out why i'm so socially retarded...it just hit me.. here i was sitting and wondering why i have such a hard time meeting new people, making friends, thinking of relevent things to say, and so on.
it really is painful and scary for me.
i was told who i could talk to, who i couldn't talk to, what i could say, what i couldn't say.
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Berean
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124
social retard
by MerryMagdalene ini finally figured out why i'm so socially retarded...it just hit me.. here i was sitting and wondering why i have such a hard time meeting new people, making friends, thinking of relevent things to say, and so on.
it really is painful and scary for me.
i was told who i could talk to, who i couldn't talk to, what i could say, what i couldn't say.
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Berean
Jez,
When I grew up I can literally count on two hands the ?events? we (in the so called TRUTH?) had in the congregation I was in growing up in the 60? for social contact. Next nearest congregation 36 miles, next to that 74 miles.
Why? Our biggest concern at that time - Vietnam. That consumed our (the males- and the females tried to help us) whole direction in the 60?s. Field service so you could qualify as a minister, nothing else mattered. At least for those that truly beleived in not participating in war.
You said:
? Diamond: Give over! LOL. I am simply offering another alternative. Don't TELL me to try and be a little more sensitive. Don't TELL me that my childhood was utopian. Grow up? Offering another point of view is a healthy way of seeing different perspectives thereby gaining more understanding of your own situation. Not everyone grew up a JW retard. Why are ppl so afraid and so ready to attack anyone that does not neatly fit into their preconcieved notions of what a JW is/should be/will be???????????
Your childhood utopian? Evidently by JW standard it was.
You also said:
?I was NOT a hypocrite. I lived true to myself my teen years. ?
Well, if it looks like a hypocrite, talks like a hypocrite, you know the rest of the story - then it?s a hypocrite. To me you have all the indications of a hypocrite. True to yourself in you teen years ? uhhh ? hypocrite!
Berean -
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If JWs Are A Cult, I Believe Roman Catholicism Is Too
by minimus ini believe that jehovah's witnesses are a "cult".
to be a "good roman catholic" you have to be "cultic", that's for sure!
their beliefs and practices, rites and ceremonies are simply weird!
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Berean
Cult
1.
1. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. Comment: This fits the Catholic religion following the Pope.
2. The followers of such a religion or sect.
2. A system or community of religious worship and ritual. Comment: Once again, the Catholic religion follows ritual - it is obvious to anyone that Catholocism is based on ritual.
3. The formal means of expressing religious reverence; religious ceremony and ritual. Comment: See point 2.
4. A usually nonscientific method or regimen claimed by its originator to have exclusive or exceptional power in curing a particular disease. Comment: The adhearents, and leaders in the past, to Chatholocism many times claim healing powers in idols, virgin Mary idols abound with so called healing powers.
5.
1. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing. Comment: Well duhh - need I say more.
2. The object of such devotion. Comment: See 5-1.
6. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric, usually artistic or intellectual interest.
The Catholic Religion is one of the largest Cults ever in existence.
Berean -
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Terri Schiavo petition on site
by missy04 ini was reading through the terrisfight.org site and ran across the section "how you can help".
there is a petition to sign on the site to save terri.
here is the link to it for those who want to sign it.
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Berean
I just re-did my living will and specifically mentioned the Terri Schiavo case. If qualified medical persons determine that my body is in the vegetative state that her body is in, my instructions are to cease keeping my body functions going. My personal conviction is that is the only humane thing to do for everyone concerned. If you do not agree, then you need to make a living will stating otherwise. To fail to make that decision now will lead to the conflict that Teri Schiavo?s survivors are faced with now.
There have been many harsh things said about Terri Schiavo?s husband, but if you look into the truth of things that he has done for her over the years; you will find that he has done extraordinary things thinking she would regain some functions. It was only after years of convincing by qualified medical personnel that he decided to cease life support. And no, I do not know him personally, there was a news report interviewing people that knew both sides of the family and the facilities where Terri Schiavo was housed.
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Believe in 607 BCE or you are not one of Jehovah's Witnesses
by VM44 inif a jw states that 607 bce is incorrect, how long will it take before the elders announce from the platform to the congregation that the person is "no longer one of jehovah's witnesses"?
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Berean
Sheri, you said "I can remember elders saying from the platform that after so many years (can't remember the years, I think it was 2 years) that if we read all the material the society gives us, that we would have the equivalent of a four year college degree."
I remember when that came up in the study. I raised my hand after everyone got through with their gushing comments on how smart they were due to reading the Society Publications and said that I would be careful who I made that claim to, otherwise I might get "horse-laughed" right out of the room. An elderly sister argued with me after the meeting about my comment and said that she had already told several householders about the article and the householders were impressed .... riiiiiiight.
jeanniebeanz, I asked "Scholar" that same question a couple of weeks ago and never saw an answer.
Berean (BA MA BS AKA ESQ UN NASA LOL Studies in Religion issued by Watchtower Bible and Tract Society graduated 1971) -
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Should I "picket" the JW assembly with my "apostate" friends or not?
by booker-t inevery year since i da'ed myself i have two good friends that are ex-jws that beg me to come and "picket'' the jw assemblies with them.
i have turn them down every year but i kind of think i want to do it because my reasoning is that if i picket i will finally be telling jw's and the wts that i am not afraid of them.
i didn't realize how much "fear" the wts puts into its members until the other day when i ran into my jw sister at the supermarket and she literally left her 1/2 full shopping cart and ran out of the store without speaking to me.
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Berean
mouthy
you said "Berean!!! Isn?t it wonderful to agree to disagree..((hug))"
That's no kidding. In the Borg, if we didn't agree, one of us would be dis-fellowshipped from this site. Buh-bye.
There is more fellow felling here than there ever was in the Christian Congregation of Jehovah?s Witnesses. I can't tell you how many "cruel" things were said to me when I was an elder; and the same person would then turn around and claim that if a publisher were to say something "about an elder", they would suffer consequences ? mouthy hypocrites. Everyone has been very considerate to me here; much more ?Christian?, imagine that, ?apostates? more Christian! Can?t tell you how glad I am to not be going to meeting anymore. -
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Jehovah's Witnesses and mental illness
by seattleniceguy ini just read an excellent article on the issue of mental illness and jehovah's witnesses by psychologist named jerry bergman.
the link is:.
http://www.premier1.net/~raines/mental.html.
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Berean
An elder counseled a publisher, who was suffering with depression, telling her that it was because of spiritual weakness and probable serious undisclosed sin. The cure was increasing field service, bible study, and that a judicial committee would be formed to determine what serious sin was not being disclosed.
Everyone knew I was being treated for depression and so she came to speak with me. Just so happened that I had local needs that night. Needless to say, the subject of the local needs was changed to what depression was and what it wasn?t. I plainly stated that the body of elders did not treat depression; that only licensed physicians were LEGALY qualified to do so in the USA. I also stated that anyone that wanted to talk about depression could do so without fear of congregational action. There were four of us on the BOE and only the one didn?t agree with me. Guess who got counseled by the BOE? Yep, Billy-Bad-Ass going to grill you till you confess elder. He didn?t like being on the receiving end ? isn?t? it funny how tyrants don?t like being called out for their actions.
However, I heard of other congregations having some bad incidences involving depression and the BOE?s. -
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Should I "picket" the JW assembly with my "apostate" friends or not?
by booker-t inevery year since i da'ed myself i have two good friends that are ex-jws that beg me to come and "picket'' the jw assemblies with them.
i have turn them down every year but i kind of think i want to do it because my reasoning is that if i picket i will finally be telling jw's and the wts that i am not afraid of them.
i didn't realize how much "fear" the wts puts into its members until the other day when i ran into my jw sister at the supermarket and she literally left her 1/2 full shopping cart and ran out of the store without speaking to me.
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Berean
Why would you? You only entrench them in their paranoia. ?My faith was tested today when the Wicked Slave PERSECUTED me; I am a faithful Witness and RESISTED SATIN.? Hence, a stronger and more convinced follower of the ?Gods of This System of Things? - leaders of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society; aka mortal men who have set themselves up as gods today and receive their accolades now.
Your sister ran out of the store leaving a cart half loaded with groceries. You made her ?Christian? day ? no, her month. She will relate that for a long time, it will be convention material.
Go about your business and let them alone, let them feed on their own vomit.
Just my own humble opinion. -
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Personal Accomplishments
by Uzzah infor years, the watchtower drilled into us that we are just specs of unimportant dust.
personal pride was touted as being something wrong and a trait of the devil.
that mentality stifles creativity and initiative, which i suppose is what they want.
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Berean
After growing up "in the TRUTH" in the 60's and not furthering my education because of the prevailing attitudes of the Borg at the time, I am going to finally get my degree this year. I was always financially successful in spite of just a high school education.
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Do you find that you need to shave everday?
by toreador injust trying to be like minimus a little.
;) how am i doing?
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Berean
"the WTS depicted Jesus without facial hair but had to finally admit that he had a beard according to the Bible and Jewish custom at that time. It was difficult for them to admit that in the middle of the "hippie" years." THEY JUST HATE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!
Length of sideburns (I saw a brother measure them once on another brother vying to be an MS) I cut my sideburns even with the top of where my ears attach to my gourd - then it became a fad when I was going to meetings, I was counseled for following the current fads. DAMNIT! I was ahead of my time! I was a fad leader - not a follower, get it straight.
Mustache only for blacks and Hispanics. When I was an elder, a CO said I should not have a moustache (not one of the two mentioned), I told him to shave it off himself if he didn't like it - I got into his personal space as I said it, almost belly to belly. I don't think he like me too much, I never did figure out why.
Men cannot spike their hair (unless they are the POs son). I'm of a older age, just say I'm an AARP member but not near retirement, and I have a spike, people think it looks good. The righteous JDubs stare at it when they briefly talk to me in the store. I'm thinking about an ear-ring just to finish them off.
Berean (smart-ass class)