Posts by tetrapod.sapien

21

Closure? What has been your experience?

by ljwtiamb in

what has given you the greatest peace of mind?

must one initiate their own exit or does it matter that a jc pushes an issue?

df or da or fade?

tetrapod.sapien

i agree with the sentiment that in the end, it doesn't matter how you approached it, as long as you are out. kudo's to everyone who gets out.

for me, closure came knowing that i had made my loved ones (friends and family) doubt their belief system/faith for at least a moment by going the DA route. i felt that without evangelizing to them, this was the most powerful statement i could make that, to me, it was not the truth. and it still may work, i have hope.

but in the end, after thinking about it, i would be just as proud being DF'd for breaking their rules, as i would leaving on my own or fading.

36

Would you give your life to get your family out of the Watchtower?

by zugzwang in

jw
friends

i asked this question as part of another thread but i thought i would ask it in a new thread.

if there were some way to assure that your death would result in your family and friends learning the truth about the wts would you be willing to die to 'save' them?

tetrapod.sapien

no. IMO, all of us alive, regardless of our worldviews, is good enough for me.

24

Meat Tree

by EvilForce in

there was an elder that i was out in service with one afternoon and durin lunch we got into a discussion about vegetarianism.

i am a vegetarian and have been since having a "bad experience" with meat.

(i don't care if others eat it, i just don't like it...so no judgements from me.

tetrapod.sapien

oh yes, lot's of disconnects. most witnesses have atrophied imaginations. when someone with an active imagination comes along, they don't know how to take it, and usually turn the conversation 'off' in their heads.

33

What is the Real Financial Cost of a Circuit Assembly?

by FairMind in

jw
friends

my congregation along with about thirty others attends circuit assemblies at a facility that is owned by the organization (a converted school).

this building also has a section that serves as a kh for three local congregations.

i have noticed that when the financial reports are read at the assemblies that the expense (which is not detailed) is always around $4,000.

tetrapod.sapien

just a thought: perhaps the rest goes to "demon tax"?

but seriously, i agree with AlmostAtheist, they are usually a couple of thousand bucks in the hole before the doors even open at 8 A.M.

27

unforgivable sin

by MerryMagdalene in

tijkmo's post on watson's "hypothetical" thread got me wondering again...just what the heck is it to sin against the holy spirit according to jw beliefs/teachings?

for something so important as to be "unforgivable" it has always seemed awfully vague to me (so vague that i was sure as a kid that it must be masturbation and for years i felt the great weight of ultimate doom heavily upon me).

is it intentionally vague, do you think, just to keep everyone on their toes and hyper-paranoid or am i missing something?

tetrapod.sapien

ya, i was always taught that if someone apostasized, as per the WTBTS definition of "apostacy", then one has commited the unforgiveable sin. "working against the holy spirit". but their definitions are hazy, and all over the place. i would say, IMO, that based on their writings, many of us have commited the unforgiveable sin. sweet!

18

Any experience with spirits?

by hartstrings in

.

have you ever had experience with the supernatural?.

.

tetrapod.sapien

Just the alcoholic kind. If there are demons, they leave me alone. There are enough living, human demons to deal with.

same here. i have attempted to investigate the "supernatural" (ouija boards, demon metal, haunted houses), and i have never experienced anything that could not be explained naturally. i am not denying the experiences of others as real, but i am also asserting that mine were as well real. if there was a gust of wind or the sounds of foot steps in a haunted house, others in the group would immediately conclude in their minds that it was supernatural, and get freaked out. i stayed calm, however, open to the possibility that there are strange physical processes at work in these old houses. i came out of the experiences unimpressed (where others were greatly impressed), and still a skeptic.

also, try using a ouija board blindfolded (with someone else recording results), it mostly all comes out total jibberish, IMHO.

54

What made YOU drop Christianity?

by GetBusyLiving in

after i read coc and left the dubs for a short while i considered myself christian.

the way franz explained it, all that is required is to have faith in jesus and to love your neighbor as yourself and then you will be 'saved'.

the more i started pealing away at the onion though the dumber the premise of someone dying for my 'sins' seemed, and i just lost faith in it altogether.

tetrapod.sapien

secular work on the historicity of the bible.
scientific method, science and specifically evolution/paleontology.
philosophical/logical arguments again the christian's omnimax god.
concluding after all this, that the JW's are just another right-wing conservative fundie cult.

21

Giving your life for a Brother or Sister, would you have done it?

by JH in

jw
friends

often, we hear that jw's would give their life for a brother or sister anywhere in the world.

the more i know jw's, the more i say, "heck no"!

since jw's believe in the resurrection, why bother?

tetrapod.sapien

sadly, i must admit, there was a time when i would have given my life for any bro or sis. after all, i always had the ressurection, what would it matter!

it makes me sick to the stomach now to think of how little i valued life back then because of some mythology.

30