Eh, for those of us without HBO, can you go into a little more detail? I strongly admire Maher for contesting the puerile belittling of the 9/11 hijackers by pundits in admitting their heinous act was in fact the opposite of "cowardly." Here is a man unafraid to speak the truth. Although I don't always agree with his views, I'd like to know what was said.
MungoBaobab
JoinedPosts by MungoBaobab
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Bill Maher mentioned JW's on his show last night
by Mulan inreal time with bill maher plays on hbo throughout the week.
the new show was on last night, and during the discussion, he started in on religion and talked about jehovah's witnesses and michael jackson's upbringing, including no birthday celebrations.
try to catch it, if you can.
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The pope
by Stromboli inthe pope was admitted to hospital and on the national tv (rai) they were saying that he has an entire apartment right in the h just for himself, not only that but the room just below was emptied just to avoid noise for him.
unbelivable!
recently a man in italy died because the ambulance could not find a bed for him in a hospital so by the time they arrived to the one bed that was available 200kms away he was dead.
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MungoBaobab
One of the single strongest advocates for social justice in the world, currently, is dying in the hospital... and you fools call him a relic.
Yeah, well the Governing Body tells you to love your neighbor and pay your taxes, too. They don't live half as high on the hog as the Pope, either. Not even a quarter as high on the hog.
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The Myth of Unconditional Love
by frankiespeakin in.
i here this a lot all the time.
i think it is one huge myth,,based on a self-biased view.
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MungoBaobab
A dog's love is not unconditional. Give it a chance to live among its own kind and it'll go Call of the Wild on your ass faster than you can say "Jack London." There is also no universal unconditional love between a parent and child, else there would be no deadbeat dads, no abandoned babies, and dare I say it, no abortions.
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Is it appropriate for a jw to say these things
by ayo ini am sorry, i am not a jw, but i have a freind who is.
i am a female.
i respect your rules etc.
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MungoBaobab
Well, what can I say, rwagoner? Dating and/or marrying a non-Witness is not grounds for disfellowship, at least not anymore. The idea behind it is that having non-marital sex is worse than marrying an unbeliever. According to SOP your elders had no right to threaten you with being disfellowshipped. It was a legal loophole I was eager to exploit, and I knew I could get away with it.
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MungoBaobab
Yeah, but the idea of the Holy Grail as a utensil that dispenses eternal life isn't that far from the idea of ambrosia, which I suppose, is very much like the tree of life mentioned in the Genesis account. Then the story gets told again as the fountain of youth. You can find echoes of pagan religion anywhere you want to, and the WTS finds them anwhere they want.
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Is it appropriate for a jw to say these things
by ayo ini am sorry, i am not a jw, but i have a freind who is.
i am a female.
i respect your rules etc.
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MungoBaobab
That's not true. A Witness cannot be disfellowshipped for dating outside of his religion. The worst that will happen is he will get a stern warning from one or more of the congregation elders; certainly an awkward situation to begin with, and this will lead to gossip around the Kingdom Hall. I know because I did date a girl who was not a Witness when I supposedly was one in good standing.
As a man, I'm inclined to agree that if he's known you for ten years, he most probably cares for you. When I was dating the non-JW, our families were constantly on us to pick a religion. I always thought, can't we just believe what we want to believe? Why do we have to change? As an atheist now, I can tell you it's a damn shame when so much nonsense comes between two people. Whether you believe in him or not, the love of God never kept anyone warm at night.
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JWs and Clothing
by the_classicist inwhere i live, its not usual for people to "dress up," especially business people and executives, you are more likely to see them with a button up shirt, khakis, and one of those fleece vests on.
so, on the whole, jws look very out of place wearing their cheap suits (though a few elders didn't wear cheap suits and they made that known, "look at this, i got a spot on my new $200 designer shirt" -- really, something like this happened).
but what i did notice is that, in my area, dressing guidelines usually weren't followed, or enforced for that matter, for good looking women.
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MungoBaobab
Here's a story: I was always good with languages, and I decided to finish the Spanish I began in college so I could switch to a Spanish congregation and pick up a hot Mexican chick. The only problem was class got out like 10 minutes before meeting, so I always brought a change of clothes. One day I was running late, and decided to skip the change and just go to meeting in street clothes.
An elderette saw me coming in and nosed her way over to me to ask what hte story was. I explained that I was learning Spanish to
bang a hot Mexican chickserve where the need was greater and that I didn't have time to change. She applauded my efforts to come to meeting was quickly moved on togossip withencourage others. Well wouldn't ya know, halfway through the service meeting, guess who raised her hand and re-iterated that *WE* are so much better than the world because *WE* don't demean our worship like the people of the world because *WE* dress up for our meeting and worldly people don't... Seeyouenntee!!!! -
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JWs and Clothing
by the_classicist inwhere i live, its not usual for people to "dress up," especially business people and executives, you are more likely to see them with a button up shirt, khakis, and one of those fleece vests on.
so, on the whole, jws look very out of place wearing their cheap suits (though a few elders didn't wear cheap suits and they made that known, "look at this, i got a spot on my new $200 designer shirt" -- really, something like this happened).
but what i did notice is that, in my area, dressing guidelines usually weren't followed, or enforced for that matter, for good looking women.
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MungoBaobab
Carefully Faded, I figured a female would take issue with what I said, and I guess it turned out to be you! I completely agree that insisting on women wearing skirts all the time is demeaning and weird. Even Dubs think religions where women have to wear skirts all the time are strange, just another example of them pointing their fingers at the world and ignoring the three fingers pointing back. You bring up a valid point about women's clothing being more uncomfortable than men's, but that applies to most of the planet, everything from Islamic burqas to Chinese foot-binding to Western high heels. Generally speaking, though, in the West women have alot more freedom in their choice of dress, also. For example, a woman can wear her boyfriend's jacket or sleep in boxers, but if a man wears his girlfriend's clothes or sleeps in panties he's a crossdresser and lumped in with homosexuals. All of us were fair game for being picked on in the Kingdom Hall, that's for sure, but I still think the females have a little more freedom than the males.
Merry Magdalene, I think you're absolutely right about the elders letting a little eye candy into the Hall. I think also the sisters have it easier because they're not held accountable for their dress in having privilges dangled over their heads. In one of my old congregations the older generations (60s & 70s) were constantly attacking the teenagers and twentysomethings for "stumbling" others, but what could they take away from the girls that they couldn't take away from the guys? By the way, it sounds like you had nice style back then; I love a woman in a hat!
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WTS's explanation of current events based on false premise!
by Schizm inthat scan of the march 2005 issue of our kingdom ministry that someone supplied said the following:
"hence, from january 2006, awake!
will ... highlight more prominently the bible's explanation of current events.
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MungoBaobab
Oh yeah! Ain't nothin' like a pair of cast iron Hanes! Thanks, man!
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JWs and Clothing
by the_classicist inwhere i live, its not usual for people to "dress up," especially business people and executives, you are more likely to see them with a button up shirt, khakis, and one of those fleece vests on.
so, on the whole, jws look very out of place wearing their cheap suits (though a few elders didn't wear cheap suits and they made that known, "look at this, i got a spot on my new $200 designer shirt" -- really, something like this happened).
but what i did notice is that, in my area, dressing guidelines usually weren't followed, or enforced for that matter, for good looking women.
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MungoBaobab
It's ridiculous. You turn what's supposed to be a religious convention into a once-a-year chance for singles to meet, and of course you're going to get things like "the little black dress." In my experience, sisters as a whole really got off the hook when it came to dress and grooming. I was marked for refusing to shave my sideburns a quarter of an inch, while my cousin had a platinum-blonde pixie cut and wore these gothic-looking finger-length rings and black mascara. She wore a bikini when she was baptized, too, and do you think anything was ever said to her? No!