Chuck, I know you feel like you have tried being loving and trying to let your family live their lives and just agreeing to disagree, but I wonder if this might not be a better way to deal with your dad. One of your posts mentioned that you record country/western music. Do you remember Toby Keith's song, "Love me if you can" In part it says: I'M a man of my convictions, call me wrong, call me right But I bring my angels to every fight You may not like where I'm going but you sure know where I stand Hate me if you want to, Love me if you can. Sometimes I think we confuse our convictions and become caught up in right and wrong. What is right for you may or may not be right for your mom and dad. What is right for them obviously isn't right for you! Do you remember the phrase: Discretion is the better part of valour. Basically it means you may be better off not saying something than taking the risk of saying too much.
blindfool
JoinedPosts by blindfool
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64
Long last letter to dad...please comment-not mailed yet
by dawg indad, .
i doubt youll even read this letter since it comes from your son, a son youve abandoned over your religious views, but i wanted to write you one final letter to see if theres any hope that you can come to your senses as far as this religion goes and we can renew our relationship.
im doing this because i care for you and mom deeply and feel very much distressed that you two refuse to see anyones opinion as being factual other than your own when it concerns the jw religion.
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Cousin agrees, Questioning the FADS isn't wrong...now he wants more.
by dawg inok, so all of you know about my letter writing campaign; i've had several break throughs and just as many disappointments... about what i expected.
i'd say the response to my letters has been 50/50.. so, the last few weeks, i've been recieveing e-mail replies from one of my cousins.
he conseedes the fact that it isn't "apostacy" to question the fads.... this after much coaching on my part.. but i gave him three things to look into, one was why it is apostacy in this dumb assesd religion to question the men in the gb.
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blindfool
Dawg, The reasoning from the scriptures book say's basically that Jesus shared this meal with eleven faithful deciples (remember according to the FDS Judus had already left). Luke 22:29 say's, "I make a convenant with you, just as my Father has made a convenant wth me, for a kingdom." According to the WTBTS, all those at the Last Meal were being invited to share with Christ in his heavenly Kingdom. So, all who partake of the bread and wine today should also be person's whom Christ brings into that conventant. The reasoning book also talks about John 6:53, 54. It answers the question brought up by John basically by saying that eating the flesh and drinking the blood are to be done figuratively. This is done today by exercising faith in the redeeming power of Jesus flesh and blood, not by partaking of the emblems. I hope this helps. BF
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WHAT'S THE WORST JOB YOU EVER HAD?
by Mary inthe worst one i ever had was working in a frozen chicken factory.
there were about 30 of us in a freezing cold room and my shit job was to feel the half-frozen chicken breasts up, to see if there were any little bones in them.
well after the first 5 minutes my frigging fingers were frozen stiff, so i couldn't tell if there were any bones in there or not........after 20 minutes it felt like my hands were having an out of body experience and if they weren't in front of my frozen face, i would've thought they had dropped off.
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blindfool
LOL @ Seven
My worst job was selling plumbing repair parts. The company I worked for specialized in hard to find parts. Our best customers had old fixtures or highly secure fixtures.
My best customers were prisons and nursing homes. I'd go call on a medium or high security prison in the morning and then I'd be off to some old nursing home in the afternoon. Once, I had to go into the solitary confinment area of a medium security prison cell to look at some unusual parts that this prison needed replaced. I was with the head of maintanence behind a block wall that seperated us from the prisoners. The prisoners were getting upset and hitting their walls and saying things like, "Who the hell is f---ing with my toilet."
I was sooo happy when I was able to quit that job!!!
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blindfool
Elsewhere,
No State income tax in Texas?
Florida and Tennessee don't tax income either (unless Tennessee changed recently)
One reason why so many professional athletes live in Florida.
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12
The Yellow Rose Of Texas
by Englishman inseems to be lots of songs about texas.
even us uneducated english wallahs know them.. so.... is there a song about every state in the union?.
what are they called?
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blindfool
Ray Charles: Georgia on my mind (Our official State Song)
James Taylor: Gone to Carolina in my mind
Rocky Top Tennessee (not sure who to credit with that one)
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blindfool
I'm just wondering:
How are income taxes done in other parts of the world. Here in the State of Georgia, USA, I pay:
6% state income tax
a minimum of 10% federal income tax
7.5% FDIC tax (Social Security tax that is matched by my employer) if I'm self employed I pay the full 15%.
So I basically come out paying a minimum 23.5% of my income in taxes. 31% for self employed individuals.
This is the tax on just my income. We also pay 4% State sales tax, and another 2% local option sales tax. Meaning, I pay 6 cents for every dollar I spent on taxes. Gas is taxed at a higher %: I can't remember but I think it is something like 25 cents per gallon in Georgia.
According to my phone and utility bills, I'm also taxed for things like, telecomunications tax? delivery tax? These may not be real "taxes", perhaps just a way for the utilities to make more money.
How does this compare?
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Lost, Confused, and Hurting .....
by Daizzy inhi everyone, i don't mean to burden anyone with my problems, but hope that i can get some feedback.
in sept. i met a guy whom i assumed was happily married.
we worked together for 4 weeks at the first job and became pretty close friends.by then i already knew how much i was liking him.
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blindfool
Daizzy,
I enjoyed talking to you in chat today. A couple of things.
Your boyfriend will be upset with you for talking to people on this web site. In his mind, we are apostates. You may not be familar with that term, it basically means we oppose The Watch Tower Society (the legal name for the Jehovahs Witnesses).
The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society says you should not watch, read, or listen to anyone other than them when it comes to religion. They have all the answers. A talk given at a local Kingdom Hall is really prepared for by the Watch Tower and the speaker is passing the information along. He may add a little here and there, but he follows an outline given to him. He is also told which talk to give and when to give it. Even the songs sung at the meetings are prearranged by the Watch Tower Society.
This is why I asked you about religion in general. If you like everything the same at every level, you might just like the style of the WT. If you like to think for yourself, you may think this sucks.
I think your boy friend would like to catch his JW wife cheating to use it against her. She also would probably like to catch him cheating. After what you said today in chat, she now has the goods on the two of you.
Your bf is in trouble on two fronts:
One, he committed adultry. Two, he is seeing someone outside his faith (not a Jehovahs Witness)
Even if his legal divorce was recognized by the JW's, he would still be in trouble for having a relationship with you.
To really understand what he is going through, I'd recommend you read the WT's own literature. Ask you bf to let you read what his copy of "Insight on the Scriptures". Read about marriage and divorce. This will show you what he is up against. If he does not have a copy of this book, he can get one from one of his family members, its in most JW homes. Also ask him for a copy of "Reasoning from the Scriptures". Read what it says about marriage and divorce. This may answer a lot of your questions about what he needs to do to remain in good standing.
I wish you all the luck in the world.
BDF
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Neutrality of the WT
by blindfool inone of the issues i have with the wt teachings is that it is taught that a true believer must not engage in warfare.. the problem is: evil does exist and someone must be willing to stop evil.
if not good people then who will?.
many years ago, i asked a sister this question: "if no one had stopped hitler (the best example of evil at the time) what would have happened?
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blindfool
One of the issues I have with the WT teachings is that it is taught that a true believer must not engage in warfare.
The problem is: Evil does exist and someone must be willing to stop evil. If not good people then who will?
Many years ago, I asked a sister this question: "If no one had stopped Hitler (the best example of evil at the time) what would have happened?" Her answer is the standard answer most JW's give: "If everyone were JW's, Hitler would not have been able to get anyone to fight for him."
The problem is, everyone does not have this attitude. Someone must be willing to stand up to evil.
Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
Should a Christian not be willing to defend what is good?
I have no problem with a Christian, or a member of any other faith, declaring themselves objectors to a war that is not just(as many believe about the US war in Vietnam). But if you believe in the cause, is it wrong to pick up arms to defeat evil?
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Best Bible Translation?
by mywifeisaJW inmy wife has been a jw for about 10 years (we have been married 15 years).
over the years i have tried various strategies to deal with this, which i won't go into here...except that i have agreed to "read the bible" with my wife...and i get to pick the translation.. what translation would be best recommended to help highlight the errors of the nwt and jw thinking in general?
i have seen here that today's english version has been recommended...anything else?
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blindfool
My wife is also a JW. We have tried a lot of things also to try to see each others point of view.
If you are going to try to read the bible and point out some things JW's have wrong, I'd start with Galatians. The WT teaches that we are saved through our works and they use James 2: 26 which says "faith without works is dead."
Galatians (Ephesians also) show how important faith is. It also can be shown how "works" is more than going out in service like the WT would like you to believe. Paul explains in Galatians 5: 22 how the fruitage of the holy spirit "works" in the Christian life.
This is a major difference (to me) in what is taught by the bible and the WT. Paul explains how Jesus set Christians free.
One other benefit of reading the bible with your wife is that it gives you a chance to put a bible verse in context. Many times the WT will quote a bible verse and you don't get a good idea what the context of the verse is.
Also, using a translation other than the NWT may help your wife see a scripture differently. I use a translation called The Good News Bible. It is not a literal translation, but it makes understanding the bible easier. For example the NWT quote of Galatians 5: 1 For such freedom Christ set us free. Therefore stand fast, and do not let yourselves be confined again in a yoke of slavery.
The same scripture from the Good News Bible. Freedom is what we have-Christ set us free! Stand, then as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.
Both versions of the bible contain the same message, one is just somewhat easier to understand.
It is my belief that many JW's have become enslaved to the WTBTS. They do not understand that they have traded the laws of Moses for the laws of the WT.
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Slip of the tongue and other embarrassments
by target inlove it when someone is trying to say something and the tongue chooses to rearrange the wording.
i think my favorite was one sunday a particular ms who had a thing for perfectionism was announcing the song to be sung "jehovah's happy people".
it came out "jehovah's happy peepee".
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blindfool
This reminds me of the following joke:
Two men talking, one says to the other, "I was so embarressed yesterday, I went to the airport and meant to tell the attractive airline employee, ' I need two tickets to Pittsburg", but instead I said, " I need two pickets to tittsburg.
The other man replyed, " I know exactly what you mean, the other morning I meant to ask my wife, " will you please pass the jelly" , but instead I said , " You f*$@ing bitch, you ruined my life."