Posts by Robert K Stock

sonnyboy is right to point out that the Puritans of New England were just one group in an isolated area and not the founders of America as a whole. His state of Maryland was a haven for persecuted Catholics. Pennsylvania was a haven for Quakers. Georgia was a created as a place for England to deport its criminals.

Only the colony of Rhode Island founded by Roger Williams had true religious freedom.

America is a blending of many different points of view and has been since before 1776.

56

It cannot be denied

by logansrun in

jw
friends

imagine in your mind any "evil" person: rapist, murderer, theif, addict, terrorist...etc.

now, if you were born with that exact dna, had that same brain chemistry and went through the same enviornmental stimuli and life experiences as they did, you would do the exact same "evil" things.

we only think we are "free.

Robert K Stock

Logansrun sounds like he is trying to excuse something he did that he is not proud of.

I deny his assertion.

We are all free if we choose to be and only mindless slaves to our environment and genetics if we choose to be.

58

When Did You Realize That You REALLY Were Going To Die?

by minimus in

jw
friends

and not live forever on paradise earth?

Robert K Stock

September 1990 I finally understood the Watchtower was not God's Channel of Truth but a pack of lies. I then had a Heavenly hope with the Bible Students.

April 1998 I accepted that the supernatural does not exist and there is no Heaven, no God, no spirit world. That is when I understood that I will die one day and cease to exist for eternity.

66

What "Position" Did You Hold While A JW?

by minimus in

jw
friends

??

?

Robert K Stock

I began Regular Pioneering in St. George, Utah at the age of 19. I would place a huge amount of magazines in street work in the shadow of the Mormon Temple. Knocked on the doors of a lot of surprised Latter Day Saints. Placed a lot of books but was never able to start a Bible Study.

Moved to Weatherford, Texas were I continued Pioneering and was appointed a Ministerial Servant at the age of 20. I was in charge of the Accounts, Literature Counter, and Territory. I filled in conducting Book Studies. I also assisted the Ministry School Overseer. In Texas I started several Bible Studies and helped a few people become Witnesses.

I caused a lot of jealousy with some of the Elders because publishers would ask me questions instead of them. The publishers said they liked asking me because I always found a scripture to back up my reasoning. I was not afraid to tell an Elder to his face he was wrong.

64

Do you still remember the date of your baptism?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

i do.

july 9th 1988

Robert K Stock

November 25, 1973 Woodland Hills, California.

Brother Kite (I am not sure of the spelling but he was famous for giving a talk known as "Kite's Quake" Repeated over and over that we should never forget the date of our baptism. He said we would be 100,000 years old in the New System and remmmeber November 25, 1973 as the most important day of our long, long lives.

I was 15 years old and a true believer.

July 1, 1988 was the date of my second and final disfellowshipping. I was nearly 30 years old and still a true believer intending to mend my ways and be reinstated for good. I read Crisis of Conscience a year later and have never looked back.

18

Sam Cooke

by avishai in

i've always loved his music, and was shattered that there was so little of it, due to his untimely death at 33. now i've just discovered his music with the gospel group the soul stirrers.

i'm so stoked.

it's fantastic.

Robert K Stock

Sam Cooke was my mothers favorite singer. You Send Me was my parents "song."

My favorites are, Cupid, "Draw back your bow and let your arrow go straight to my lover's heart for me"

Only Sixteen, "But she was too young to fall in love and I was too young to know"

I asked my karaoke DJ if Cooke's Bring It On Home was among the 35, 000 songs and was very disappointed to be told no. I really wanted to sing that song that night.

The movie, "The Buddy Holly Story" has some great scenes where Sam Cooke helped Buddy Holly when Holly first came to New York from Lubbock, Texas.

9

Questions for God

by the_classicist in

jw
friends

.

let's say that a being appears to you claiming to be god.

what questions would you ask it, or what miracles do you tell it to preform in order to determine whether this being is god?

Robert K Stock

I would not ask anyone claiming to be God a question. I would make a statement instead. I would tell God, "I do not need You. I can decide what is good or bad on my own. Now go away and leave humanity alone."

50

C.S. Lewis statement....

by Shining One in

lewis says jesus' claim to be equal with deity leaves us only one other choice: .

a man who was merely a man and said the sort of things jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.

he would either be a lunatic on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg or else he would be the devil of hell.

Robert K Stock

I love C S Lewis. My favorite books are the Space Trilogy, 1) Out Of The Silent Planet 2) Perelandra 3) That Hideous Strength. The first book is kinda of hokey but each one gets better and the third is my favorite Lewis book of all time. The Great Divorce is also a great book by Lewis.

I have no problem accepting the existence of Jesus. He was a nice Jewish boy who became delusional and in his diseased mental state imagined he was the Messiah.

I agree with Lewis. Jesus was either God or madman. Jesus was a madman.