garybus:
are you talking about "eating with sinners" ie "apostates"? whether literally eating a meal with them or eating the virtual food of "apostates" on the internet (the evil internet...)?
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heart2heart
JoinedPosts by heart2heart
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What Are "Sins" That Are Unique To A Jehovah's Witness???
by minimus inhere's one to start the ball rolling.
if you are not feeling well, have a headache, a backache, whatever but you would go to work but didn't go to a meeting or in "field service"---then you "sinned" against jehovah.....any others?
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51
What Are "Sins" That Are Unique To A Jehovah's Witness???
by minimus inhere's one to start the ball rolling.
if you are not feeling well, have a headache, a backache, whatever but you would go to work but didn't go to a meeting or in "field service"---then you "sinned" against jehovah.....any others?
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heart2heart
Not arriving on time at a meeting for the opening song and prayer, or leaving before the concluding song and prayer, or using the bathroom during a song or prayer.
Brothers shouldn't have any alcoholic drinks before a meeting they have a part in.
Not attending meetings at the congregation you're assigned to (instead of the meetings at another cong. that are more convenient for you).
Taking too much time at coffee break during service (even when it's -40 out).
Not becoming a pioneer since you don't work outside the home / have plenty of time to use for service. (I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I got several subtle hints about this one).
Not answering at the meetings (or not answering enough).
Not using your vacation time to pioneer.
Not using your precious youth after leaving school to pioneer.
Not "ratting people out" to the elders if they've done something "bad".
Not telling the elders if you've done something "bad". (Excuse me, but a pedophile doesn't have to be reported to the authorities or even the congregation because he has worked it out with God, but I have to tell you if I've done something minorly "wrong" even if I've worked it out with God too? Not to mention the leaks in the confidentiality of the elders circle....)
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Marking...?
by Gill indoes anyone out there remember 'marking'.
the principle being that if you saw something that you thought 'weak' or 'inappropriate' in your brother you didn't tell others but you 'marked them in your heart' and this person became someone that you personally kept contact with down to the minimum.
talk about judging your brothers!
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heart2heart
Brothers would not completely shun him, for Paul advised them to "continue admonishing him as a brother." Yet by their limiting social fellowship with him, they might lead him to become ashamed and perhaps awaken him to the need to conform to Bible principles. Meanwhile the brothers and sisters would be protected from his unwholesome influence.?2 Timothy 2:20, 21.
I'm sorry, but if people limited their contact with me because I was considered "spiritually weak" for wearing a certain style of clothes or hair, or indulging in certain entertainment, do you really think that would make me feel 'ashamed and perhaps awaken me to the need to conform to Bible principles'? More than likely I would feel lonely and left out, depressed and would stop coming and therefore become even more "spiritually weak" (from a JW standpoint), and eventually leave (good for me, but goes against what they are trying to accomplish). Or, worse, I would feel lonely and left out and depressed, which would cause me to live a double life so I would appear to have a 'wholesome influence' to the congregation and therefore would get more attention, but on the inside I would be totally miserable and more depressed because I have to pretend to be something else in order to feel loved and appreciated (bad for me, but exactly where they want me). Did it ever make you love someone if they pushed you away and made you feel horrible? Their logic of marking and shunning is so twisted, and makes people go back for all the wrong reasons. It doesn't solve anything at all - just makes more problems for the marked/shunned person.
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"Bless You!"
by kaykay_mp in...is something any decent person would say if you sneezed.
but i was thinking, "surely some of the dubs would see something wrong with saying this.
" if you were at the hall, one of them would probably would cut in and say something asenine like, "you're not blessing him, jehovah and his holy spirit is...".
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heart2heart
"Bless you" has always been a big no-no for Witnesses anywhere I've been, as well as "Good Luck". This past year though, one brother during a talk said that it was ok to say "Good Luck" because now it simply means that you wish the person well, you want them to succeed, etc. - nothing superstitious at all.... so why can't you say "bless you" then, since people today do not say it with superstitious intentions? "oh my God" is definetly something you don't usually hear JWs say - except for one brother who yelled it out at the beginning of his talk! (it was supposed to be coming from someone else, like he was telling a story). The whole auditorium went quiet - I think everyone was shocked! Needless to say, it didn't go over very well.
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Whats Your View on most JW's
by XBEHERE inits safe to assume that many jw's come on here and just read posts.
in fact i did it for several months before posting anything.
i have seen many, many helpful posts giving encouragement, etc.
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heart2heart
I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses and I am not brained washed into thinking that the WTS is Jehovah's "organization".
The last few years I have felt similarly. At first I was sure that it was God's org... but then I saw how much they put the org. above God and my perspective changed. I do feel that most JW's are honest, good people, and have a lot of faith, even if it is blind. I stayed in the organization for a while because of the usual JW responses "everyone's so happy" "the worldwide brotherhood" "they use the Bible" "they teach Bible standards" etc., and when I first left I struggled with the scripture where Jesus told his followers about the Pharisees (correct me if I'm wrong) "Do as they say and not as they do". But, just as I left the Roman Catholic church 8 years ago, I couldn't stay with an organization that was so hypocritical. I think JW's have lost their "thinking ability", and their normal human reasoning, but are not aware of it. It could be that many are like I was - searching for answers and when given answers to my little questions, I readily accepted everything that came after that as solid, infallible. I feel that JWs are a product of the WTS, but this is so well hidden from them (I know it was from me).
I think everyone has the right to believe what they want, and I don't want to push what I've learned about the "truth" on my JW friends and family, but I don't know how to do that without the consequences of being pushed aside. How do you argue with someone that the information you have is worthy of their attention when they think you've abandoned God (because you've left "his visible earthly organization") and they think that any info outside the WTS is tainted by Satan himself? It's heartbreaking to see the control that this group has over people.
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Deja Vu?
by heart2heart indo you ever experience "deja vu" - the feeling of having experienced the exact same moment before?
sometimes this happens to me - usually when it happens i can vaguely remember having a dream about it, and sometimes i can remember exactly what is going to happen next because the dream is so vivid (funny...when i remember the dream, i can remember thinking "this is going to happen...i remember this too..." deja vu of deja vu???).
does anyone know anything about deja vu or have any explanations?
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heart2heart
Missy04,
don't beleive in living more than one life,
neither do I - seems kind of against her Catholic faith too... thought that was weird.
Elsewhere,
I have read where researchers have concluded that this is caused by a delay between ones sensing region of the brain and one's consciousness part of the brain. Basically they are not in sync, so you perceive the present as though it is the past.
That makes a lot of sense to me - I've never thought of that before. A time delay between reality and your perception of time. I guess it is possible to literally have a "short fuse" in the brain..
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The "REAL" world
by boy@crossroads in.
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i know minimus has probably asked this question before, but after leaving the witnesses what did the real world become to you as opposed to the world the witnesses choose to see it as?
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heart2heart
I see the world the same way as I saw it before I became a Witness - most people are good, some people are bad. The biggest change of view I've had though is that "wordly" people are much warmer, genuine and hospitable than Witnesses claim they are ( I hadn't had much experience meeting new people because I was 16 when I was baptized, left all my "wordly" friends behind). Even when ideas and goals differ, I have a much easier time conversing and sharing my time with non-Witnesses than I ever did with my "brothers and sisters" who I was supposed be friends with simply because we share the same belief and value system (not to mention they were the ONLY people I was supposed to spend time with.)
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Deja Vu?
by heart2heart indo you ever experience "deja vu" - the feeling of having experienced the exact same moment before?
sometimes this happens to me - usually when it happens i can vaguely remember having a dream about it, and sometimes i can remember exactly what is going to happen next because the dream is so vivid (funny...when i remember the dream, i can remember thinking "this is going to happen...i remember this too..." deja vu of deja vu???).
does anyone know anything about deja vu or have any explanations?
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heart2heart
Do you ever experience "Deja Vu" - the feeling of having experienced the exact same moment before? Sometimes this happens to me - usually when it happens I can vaguely remember having a dream about it, and sometimes I can remember exactly what is going to happen next because the dream is so vivid (funny...when I remember the dream, I can remember thinking "this is going to happen...I remember this too..." deja vu of deja vu???). Does anyone know anything about deja vu or have any explanations? My Mum thinks you experience deja vu because you are reliving your life over and over until you get it right... any other ideas? (and don't tell me I'm possessed! lol)
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What RULES Do Jehovah's Witnesses Enforce Upon Their Members???
by minimus injws love to say they are a "free" people.
they are not enslaved by man made rules and regulations like other religions....how would you refute that idea?
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heart2heart
I hated wearing skirts or dresses and pantyhose to every meeting - especially in the cold or wet weather when I really wanted to wear warm pants!! And the poor brothers who have to always wear a tie and jacket, even when it is so hot outside! Kwin always hated it that men aren't allowed to have beards even though every illustration of Bible characters portrays men with beards! It's ok for women to dye their hair and cut it like the latest styles, and wear cool *modest* clothes, but men have to stick to short hair, clean shaven faces (or just a mustache, no beard/goatee), can't dye their hair and up until the last few years, weren't allowed to wear any other colour shirt except white.
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heart2heart
Does anyone know - in the baptismal pre-study (tm) , did anyone say what "in the name of " was about ?
I don't remember anyone saying specifically what "in the name of" means (and I couldn't find anything in the Organized to Accomplish our Ministry book), but here's what I think:
What's in a name? Don't names usually have meanings? Also, if someone has "made a good name" for himself, it means that he has done good things, accomplished much, etc. His "name" comes to represent what he stands for, what he does. So I think that to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit means to agree to live your life according to, not be their literal names, but what they represent, what they do, who they are.
On that note, a few people here have discussed the point that Jesus never specifically said God's name in the Bible...but Witnesses will argue that he used the Divine name because he said "I have made your name known" (John 17:26). Could it be that what Jesus was really saying was that he had made his Father's name known, not just by telling people his name, but by telling them what he stands for, who he is, and what he does? That makes more sense to me - after all, Jesus didn't go around simply saying "God's name is Jehovah" and leave it at that; he taught people about who God is and what he wants, and lived his life as a reflection for our example.
heart2heart (aka Mrs. Kwin - finally got my own registration)