Carmel

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Posts by Carmel

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  29

  The Dalai Lama said it all!!!

  by Zep in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what attracted me to the wt....i read too many of their magazines from 15-19 basically....it almost got me buying into their stuff, but then, just when i had just started getting into it all, i stopped and dropped it with the idea that i'd look into it later.. i remember reading the book of revelation at age 15 and wondering what it meant, all those dragons and horned beasts...then i got hold of some jw literature and there it was...it was all explained, nice and simple.all those prophecies about the end time seemed so good to a kid....i mean, i never really could understand their blood doctrine but you can over look that...after all, the truth is a powerful weapon, you can make people do anything when you have "the truth"...even murder!..

  another thing attracted me to it.....they seemed not to be preaching that bad people would burn in hell for all eternity, that there was no hell, that there was going to be a resurrection of the good and bad......yeah, seems pretty good, a caring religion eh!...everyone is going to be given ample chance to learn the truth and change.

  but things change, i started questioning as i got older...gave the bible study guy a hard time with all those questions, then we had an argument and i just cut it off....decided to look at it later.... but their stuff was always in the back of my mind.. well, later is now....6 months ago i wander into h20 rather casual like, couple that with the fact that i find out a friend has fallen in with jw's and i get sucked into studying up about it all.....its very interesting.its amazing how much you chance your world view from age 19 to 27......things are all different now, jw's look like nothing more than a high control totalitarian cult with some rather wacky world views and prophecies??????????

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  Carmel

  Waiting,

  Was I sounding sexually frustrated?

  carmel
• 
  29

  The Dalai Lama said it all!!!

  by Zep in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what attracted me to the wt....i read too many of their magazines from 15-19 basically....it almost got me buying into their stuff, but then, just when i had just started getting into it all, i stopped and dropped it with the idea that i'd look into it later.. i remember reading the book of revelation at age 15 and wondering what it meant, all those dragons and horned beasts...then i got hold of some jw literature and there it was...it was all explained, nice and simple.all those prophecies about the end time seemed so good to a kid....i mean, i never really could understand their blood doctrine but you can over look that...after all, the truth is a powerful weapon, you can make people do anything when you have "the truth"...even murder!..

  another thing attracted me to it.....they seemed not to be preaching that bad people would burn in hell for all eternity, that there was no hell, that there was going to be a resurrection of the good and bad......yeah, seems pretty good, a caring religion eh!...everyone is going to be given ample chance to learn the truth and change.

  but things change, i started questioning as i got older...gave the bible study guy a hard time with all those questions, then we had an argument and i just cut it off....decided to look at it later.... but their stuff was always in the back of my mind.. well, later is now....6 months ago i wander into h20 rather casual like, couple that with the fact that i find out a friend has fallen in with jw's and i get sucked into studying up about it all.....its very interesting.its amazing how much you chance your world view from age 19 to 27......things are all different now, jw's look like nothing more than a high control totalitarian cult with some rather wacky world views and prophecies??????????

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  Carmel

  Sorry Waiting,

  (Notice I can spell your name?) I was addressing ZEP and his/her claim that religion isn't the problem, just the "hands it falls into". I think I mentioned I can be somewhat circumscribed at times..

  carmel
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  34

  Disassociated

  by Scorpion in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it has been an experience to say the least.

  i accepted eagerly the teachings of the watchower bible and tract society over the last 7 years.

  i have been a dedicated pioneer for four of those years.

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  Carmel

  SC,

  I commend anyone who takes a stand and faces the music, whether it be going back to Mama, or cutting the apron strings and stiking out on his/her own.

  May your life be rewarding and remember the rear view mirror is not a good guide to drive by...

  carmel
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  8

  ARE we The Seed of Satan?

  by Martini in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how do you react when the brothers are quick to point out that the error of those in the org.

  today who 'shrink back' on their faith and obedience to the faithful and discreet slave class are the seed of satan and rebels similar to korah ,dathan and abiram also miriam.

  the inference is that the fate or end result for todays rebels will be similar to that of those rebels of old where they incurred 'god's wrath' upon themselves and their offsping which led to god's annihilation?.

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  Carmel

  The seed of a vain imagination? The idea is copted from paganism and should be religated to the trash heap.

  carmel who's satanic fancies are of his own making
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  67

  Purgatory, Limbo or the Twilight Comfort Zone

  by SolidSender in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  no offence meant but is this place some kind of waystation inhabited by beings neither in nor out of the lie?

  this is not a criticism just an observation.

  i know it can take time to make up your mind-solidsender

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  Carmel

  Thanks 7o9,

  The one thought I had early on was that if God (Jehovah) was as forgiving as the bible indicates, He surely would be patient with me while I visited all the churches, a synagog and read about all the other religions. Isn't a searching heart a sincere one? The many years I was a professed agnostic were ones of absolute honesty about not knowing and not professing to know.

  Your certitude about the love you feel from Him, is a healthy and fruitful place to start.

  cheers,

  carmel
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  67

  Purgatory, Limbo or the Twilight Comfort Zone

  by SolidSender in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  no offence meant but is this place some kind of waystation inhabited by beings neither in nor out of the lie?

  this is not a criticism just an observation.

  i know it can take time to make up your mind-solidsender

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  Carmel

  Interesting conversation! I think the "dream" for me was closer to a "nightmare" and not at all difficult to walk away from without any tug to return. The claim that the Society was the only place to find true love and unity was a belief I quickly became dispossessed from. In fact at the tender age of 15, I had many more friends that were "of the world" than I had within the Society. Most of them were not living a life of hypocracy by expousing one thing and doing another.

  For those who are in dispare as "where to go" I can only say that I spent nearly fifteen years searching and not until I "gave up" did I come to the realization that for me the search was equally an internal process as much as it was a search for all the answers externally. Life "outside" as I found it was more a projection of my own inner state, I could focus on all the darkness or I could look at what was good and pleasant. When I chose to focus on the latter, all kinds of good things began to happen. The process has not failed me for the past thirty years.

  carmel
• 
  29

  The Dalai Lama said it all!!!

  by Zep in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what attracted me to the wt....i read too many of their magazines from 15-19 basically....it almost got me buying into their stuff, but then, just when i had just started getting into it all, i stopped and dropped it with the idea that i'd look into it later.. i remember reading the book of revelation at age 15 and wondering what it meant, all those dragons and horned beasts...then i got hold of some jw literature and there it was...it was all explained, nice and simple.all those prophecies about the end time seemed so good to a kid....i mean, i never really could understand their blood doctrine but you can over look that...after all, the truth is a powerful weapon, you can make people do anything when you have "the truth"...even murder!..

  another thing attracted me to it.....they seemed not to be preaching that bad people would burn in hell for all eternity, that there was no hell, that there was going to be a resurrection of the good and bad......yeah, seems pretty good, a caring religion eh!...everyone is going to be given ample chance to learn the truth and change.

  but things change, i started questioning as i got older...gave the bible study guy a hard time with all those questions, then we had an argument and i just cut it off....decided to look at it later.... but their stuff was always in the back of my mind.. well, later is now....6 months ago i wander into h20 rather casual like, couple that with the fact that i find out a friend has fallen in with jw's and i get sucked into studying up about it all.....its very interesting.its amazing how much you chance your world view from age 19 to 27......things are all different now, jw's look like nothing more than a high control totalitarian cult with some rather wacky world views and prophecies??????????

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  Carmel

  Are you thinking He should have appeared on Mars rather than the northern Galilee? or rather to the Phillopines rather than the Philistines?

  Carmel wondering who's hands you mean
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  59

  What is the WT afraid of???????????????????

  by Zep in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, since it was so easy to get on here i'm assuming that this place is also over run by wts critics...but anyway!.

  i've read a plenty of wt mags and got sucked in enough by the whole thing to go to a few meetings and do a bible study( which i wouldn't really call a study, since we just read one of their books).i soon broke of the whole thing and didn't even read another mag for about 6 years...6 months ago i wandered into h20 out of curiosity and ended up reading up on the arguments against the wts.. i have a simple question, and its probably very naive to ask this...but why is wts so afraid of debate?...there are plenty of sites arguing against the wts...but none for, apart the official site which doesn't address the issues raised by so called "apostates" anyway.. if the wt has the the truth why dont they just refute the the arguments against them instead of shutting up shop and labelling anyone who questions them an "apostate?

  " or from satan or something.. i'm really beginning to think that all this wt business is just waste of time, that if i were to go to kh and ask questions that i have, i'm more likely to be labelled a trouble making agent of satan rather than be taken at face value as someone with serious questions.

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  Carmel

  Alleycat,

  It seems to me that choosing between unity and truth (not thee "truth") is a false dichotomy. When the WTBTS makes it so, then that should be a hint as to the real nature of its reality. I choose to have unity and diversity, not only in race, ethnicity, class, culture and nationality, but in ideas and methodologies. One does not have to decend into chaos to accept differences. Perhaps you are confusing unity with "uniformity".

  carmel on his soap box
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  6

  Breaking news from the front lines...

  by Roamingfeline in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  from http://www.ajwrb.org/basics/breaking.shtml.

  breaking news .

  dateline: june 15, 2000 .

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  Carmel

  Hey AlleyCat,

  This is the third site I've seen this posted. Where is it originating from? Sorry for the preposition, I usually end my sentences in propositions!

  carm
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  33

  What Has Happened To Us?

  by Frenchy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a few months ago during the elders' meeting with the c.o.

  i could not help but express myself to him when the subject of meeting attendance came up.

  now this is a nice guy as far as c.o.

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  Carmel

  Dear Thorns,

  I come from a family of seven brothers and left the "truth" before I turned 15 years old. All of my five older brothers (sixth died) remained as JWs, BUT, only a couple of my multitude of nephews and neices remain. Of the 18 or twenty, the only two that are active JWs, one is severly emotionally retarded and the other is extremely obese and socially marginalized. Not a very good track record in our family and from what little I have gleaned, my old congregation has virtually no youth attending, only the dried up hope-filled goldenagers.

  carmel