I was a teenager at a low point in my life. My parents had just divorced. Mom moved us a long way from what I thought of as home. Dad wasn't ponying up the child support, so we were living in poverty. That was the situation when the JWs came into my life.
By the way, some of the posters here ARE college profs. And others do have advanced degrees.
Forscher
Forscher
JoinedPosts by Forscher
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23
I want to say...
by robhic ini have been reading this forum for a couple of years now and i know this point has been made before but i truly think it needs to be repeated.
i am not, nor ever was, a jw and only arrived here to acquaint myself with "jw-ism" because a friend had joined up.
i needed to study up on stuff so i'd be prepared to (try to) understand where she was coming from with all her new oddball dogmas.
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Forscher
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41
What will be the next big 'new light'?
by yaddayadda init's been a while since the watchtower overlords made any serious doctrinal changes.
wts 'new light' seems to be somewhat cyclical, around every ten years or so.
it's been just over 10 years since the 1995 'this generation' change.
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Forscher
Thanks.
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Comments You Will Not Hear at the 1-22-06 WT Study (Obey)
by blondie inwhom do you obey - god or men?.
2006 year's text--obey god as ruler rather than men.
(a) when ordered to stop preaching, how did peter and john respond?
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Forscher
Your commentary was great. The article was more boring WTBTS fluff! The more they go on, the worse it gets.
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15
A Room with a View
by Lady Lee inyou just never know what you might wake up to.. .
i can usually see the skating rink in the park below my window.. i can usually see the river between those trees in the background.
i can usually see the mountains beyond that.. as you can see, i can't see any of those things today.
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Forscher
Beautiful picture LL. Wish I were there!
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Remember When D8TA Was..."Crazy"?
by D8TA inokay, so it's not "jw related"...but a little "redemption" (again) has come to pass.. remember waaay back in 2001-2002?
( i know there's a bunch of new people here and i post every 6 months, but do your research on the board).
when i posted about the coming abuses from the united states government when they passed the patriot act?.
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Forscher
Well, hello D8TA!
I wasn't around then, but I wouldn't have thought you crazy on that. Within months after the patriot act was enacted, the Justice Department set up seminars all around the country to teach law enforcement folks how to use the provisions to go after more than just terrorists. They really enjoyed the expansion of powers!
I agree with you that the Bush administration wants to go after Iran, but for different reasons. I think people miss the boat on many things because they misunderstand the motivations behind what he does. It is not at all about crass motives of capitalistic expansion. Where folks misunderstand him is that they persist in labeling him as a radical right wing idealog just like many did by considering Clinton a Commie. Iraq and Iran are not about making Haliburton richer, it is all about paybacks.
It was all about Iran from the begining. Of all the nations on earth, who gave the U.S. its biggest black eye? It wasn't really Vietnam as much as we'd like to think, they were just part of the cold war struggle and had plenty of help from both the Soviet Union and China. No, it was little Iran with it's takeover of our embassy. They made us look like impotent wimps! And they didn't do it just once. They were behind the bombing of our troops in Lebanon which caused us to go running for home with our tail between our legs. They've also thumbed their nose at us every since, like they are doing now. Yes, the leaders in Washington have wanted to put them back in their place for decades. So paybacks are due. Bush has been the only one to have the stones to set things in motion.
Bin Laden gave him the excuse. It enabled him to first place our troops on Iran's eastern border. Then came Iraq, it also gave Bush the opportunity to payback Sadaam for his attempted assasination of Bush Sr., an added bonus! The intent was to place
U.S. troops on another border with Iran, the western one. With our Navy covering the Gulf, that would place our armed forces on three borders. I assume that Bush intended to find a way to place troops on the last border, the northern one, before invading Iran on some pretext.
Note how neatly that fits in with oriental strategies for warfare. It's almost like playing a gigantic game of Go. But then, I've noted from the beginning that somebody in Bush's team is an expert in Sun Tsu and other oriental strategists. That is how he won his elections and managed to get things done. The plan is kind of elegant when one thinks of it.
However, the Iranians are orientals as well. They descend from the Persians and understand that game quite well themselves. That is why Bush is having such problems reaching the goal. They saw the encirclement and set up the insurgency in Iraq to stop it long enough for them to get Nucs. They know full well that they cannot stand up to the U.S. war machine no more than Sadaam could. After all, they fought his army in a stalemate that lasted a decade or more. So they are no better. Their salvation is to be found in Nucs. They know that if they don't get them, they're toast.
Bush has long been misunderstood. His enemies made the mistake of believing their own rhetoric about his lack of smarts. And they paid the price. Sun Tsu said "I can predict the outcome of any battle based on the following: If one knows his enemy as well as he knows himself, then he will win every battle. If he knows not his enemy, or himself, then for every battle won, one will be lost. If he knows niether his enemy, nor himself, then every battle will be lost." Sun Tsu is the key to Bush. His enemies haven't recognized that, and they have lost. I believe the Iranians have. That is why bush is having such a tough time in Iraq. It will be interesting to see if they understand well enough.
Cheers!
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41
What will be the next big 'new light'?
by yaddayadda init's been a while since the watchtower overlords made any serious doctrinal changes.
wts 'new light' seems to be somewhat cyclical, around every ten years or so.
it's been just over 10 years since the 1995 'this generation' change.
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Forscher
I think the problem is that they don't have anyone of the intellectual stature of a Fred Franz associated with the GB anymore. It's a bit like what happened with the Soviet Government. At first they had Lenin, their carismatic founder who gathered some luminaries around him. Then came Stalin, who only wanted yes men who wouldn't compete with him. Finally, the central committee was reduced to "company men" with no real brilliance since the only way to reach the top was to mindlessly conform. The process weeded out the innovators! We see the same thing going on with the Borg.
The Governing Body is now nothing more than a politburo filled with bureaucrats who jocky for a piece of the power. The discouragement of getting an education combined with allowing only those folks who will not rock the boat to get into the upper echelons of power combine to insure that there are no fresh ideas at the top. So don't look for any meaningful changes in the organization. It is stagnating.
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29
Did you ever get any "Bad Advice" from Elders or Ministerial Servants?
by JH in.
i remember once, an elder told me that i could become a full time pioneer.
i was working 40 hours a week, and had a seasonal job 7 months a year.. the way he figured it out, i could work 8 hours during my day, then go to my meetings, and still find 3 or 4 hours to preach that same day...... i told him to go climb a tree.
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Forscher
They told me to break off my engagement and not marry the lady I had promised to marry. We've been married 24 years!
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Forscher
Listen up people! I just went for a blood draw for a blood test. Four times they stick the needle in! they went into a vein every time. Four times they come up dry!! So, right now, Iam not a very nice person!
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32
What's The Difference Between A "Worldy Person" & JW???
by minimus injws tell their flock that they are superior to "worldly ones".
that they're better.
how would you refute that??
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Forscher
Worldy people have more fun! Hee, hee, hee!
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Forscher
Faded Whatever that makes me.
Forscher