Posts by AllAlongTheWatchtower

23

UN finally announces end of Religion

by NotaNess in

jw
friends

this seems to be a topic on the beginning of the big a, that i dont see on this forum.

a jw i work with seems to live his life waiting & emphasizing this one sign.

whats deal, im tired of hearing.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Considering how recent pronouncements of the pope have stirred up some cross-faith discontent, it's extremely unlikely in the near future, but IF the UN were to attempt any such thing, I would imagine that it'd be far easier to institute some sort of watered down ecumenism than it would be to ban religion outright. Of course, that assumes somebody could find a way to deal with the radical religous elements such as the Islamic terrorists and such. Something along the lines of the Orange Catholic religion depicted in Frank Herbert's "Dune".

Inevitably, if THAT actually happened, every dub from here to hell and back would be screeching about how it was the prophecy fulfilled, the beast is here, blah blah blah. Speaking from a purely secular point of view, it might not be a bad thing if such a thing happened, and indeed might be a required step on the way to what I believe to be the best case scenario for mankind: universal atheism. What better way to make religion obsolete than to make it universal, and minimally invasive or important?

11

For the ladies:

by AllAlongTheWatchtower in

is it ok to lie, or lie by omission of information, to your wife, if the motive is saving them stress or grief?.

i feel that my wife and i have a very good relationship, very open, we usually tell each other everything.

as i revealed in someone else's topic recently though, i am a pizza delivery driver...and last night i escaped an attempted robbery.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Thanks ladies, you've basically confimed my thoughts on the matter. I guess that was all I really was after, validation or whatever you want to call it.

For the record, of course nobody is going to think to ask 'were you almost robbed tonight?', what I was feeling might be dishonest was that I got home a bit late, after talking to the police extensively; giving what description I could, relating the incident, etc. So I just said something about work taking longer than usual when she asked why I hadn't gotten home on time. True...to a point.

11

For the ladies:

by AllAlongTheWatchtower in

is it ok to lie, or lie by omission of information, to your wife, if the motive is saving them stress or grief?.

i feel that my wife and i have a very good relationship, very open, we usually tell each other everything.

as i revealed in someone else's topic recently though, i am a pizza delivery driver...and last night i escaped an attempted robbery.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Is it ok to lie, or lie by omission of information, to your wife, if the motive is saving them stress or grief?

I feel that my wife and I have a very good relationship, very open, we usually tell each other everything. As I revealed in someone else's topic recently though, I am a pizza delivery driver...and last night I escaped an attempted robbery. It wasn't that big a deal, I was not injured in any way. Because my wife just gave birth a few days ago, and the labor was very hard on her (4th degree episiotomy tear, for those who know what that is) and the baby, I decided not to tell her about this. I didn't want to stress her out. I can't help but feel a little guilty about it though...I could tell her at a later date, but she might get just as upset at that time, or more so, for me witholding the information in the first place...thus defeating the purpose of trying to spare her emotions.

I realize that the times when men used to say inane things like you see in old movies such as "don't you worry your pretty little head about it" are long gone, and rightfully so, but I kinda feel like in this case maybe silence is indeed golden. There's a law for 'justifiable homocide'...is there a relationship rule for justifiable lying?

35

Cat is in trouble- advice?

by Insomniac in

jw
friends

my mom's cat got into some of her embroidery floss and swallowed it.. this was maybe three days ago.

her vet won't see him, too busy.

he's not eating much at all now, and i fear the worst.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

A friend of mine who was a dog owner stayed with me for a short time once a few years ago...his dog got into the garbage one day and swallowed those red plastic circles you're left with after you peel them off some brands of bologna. About a day later, he had to messily and disgustingly assist the doggy when it passed them, but all was well. So there is hope for kitty.

26

Michael Vick Indicted On DogFighting Charges!

by SWALKER in

it looks like there is some strong evidence, at least enough to charge him with numerous counts, including cruelty to animals.

if found guilty he could face prison time.

it's hard for me to believe that he was willing to risk his hard earned success for this dispicable behavior!

AllAlongTheWatchtower

I say the following knowing full well I risk being flamed, but:

I've never seen the big deal from the beginning of all this hype. Oh, I know, the PETA types and other bleeding hearts get all bent out of shape that the poor doggies got killed. But animals get killed in other pastimes that are legal, and considered "sporting". Oh sure, PETA types still get upset if a thoroughbred is 'put down', but nobody would give a damn if Vick owned racehorses. Nobody would give a damn if he was a hunter, and shot deer every year...well, maybe a few would, but he wouldn't have federal agents climbing up his arse with a flashlight.

What it all boils down to is money, and pet ownership. People more readily sympathize with animals that are kept for pets, the average citizen doesn't own a horse these days, and certainly not a thoroughbred-it's outside their consideration. But many people DO own dogs, so when dogs die, people are upset. I highly doubt that the government has made dogfights illegal out of the goodness of their heart, either. If it weren't for the fact that big money is bet on these fights, the government wouldn't give a damn either...oh wait, but horseraces are bet on too...OHHHH yeah, that's at LEGAL racetracks where the government can cash in and collect taxes.

For that matter, there are many more concerned over this issue than who care about the human 'animals' we call professional athletes, some of whom die also. Wasn't it just last year that an offensive lineman in the NFL died of heat stroke or something during practice? Probably on page 6 of your paper, buried in the sports section. But Vick had something to do with dogfights, holy cow, that's front page news.

34

Watchtower deliberately lying?

by AllAlongTheWatchtower in

i remember a topic a couple months ago, something about whether the gb actually believed in what they taught.

other topics have been similar lately, and today i noticed the topic about google 'proving' that the wts deliberately lies.

but is it deliberate?

AllAlongTheWatchtower

To Sarah Smiles: I noticed that ad too, and clicked on it out of curiousity. Apparently it comes up because it's a religious blog, and one of the first couple paragraphs contains the word "cognizance", it appears that is close enough to "cognitive dissonance", which was used in my post, to make Google key on it.

So far it seems the overwhelming majority believe that the higher ups in the tower are indeed deliberately lying...still interested in hearing more opinions.

34

Watchtower deliberately lying?

by AllAlongTheWatchtower in

i remember a topic a couple months ago, something about whether the gb actually believed in what they taught.

other topics have been similar lately, and today i noticed the topic about google 'proving' that the wts deliberately lies.

but is it deliberate?

AllAlongTheWatchtower

I remember a topic a couple months ago, something about whether the GB actually believed in what they taught. Other topics have been similar lately, and today I noticed the topic about Google 'proving' that the WTS deliberately lies. But IS it deliberate? Oh sure, I'm convinced they're deliberately misleading, such as how they leave out sources of quotes and such. And I've seen folks here on the board demonstrate how the society has flip-flopped on doctrine, and they strongly discourage researching old literature to prevent people from discovering the changes. All of which can be said is lying, to a degree.

But I want to cut straight to the chase. Do you actually think that overall, the society deliberately lies to people? Meaning, do they themselves actually believe what they're saying? In their minds, is Armageddon really right around the corner, and all that. Obviously, most of the rank and file are sincere; or they would leave. They may be at the point where they have doubts that might one day wind up bringing them here and be suffering from dissonance because of it, but they're probably at least trying to go about their lives as ~~they~~ the WTS think they should.

What I'm getting at is much more blatant than cognitive dissonance, though. I want to know if anybody thinks that the upper echelons are simply outright lying, to maintain monetary advantage, power, or any other reason. It would seem impossible to me, if promotion is from within, for anybody to get to that high a level in the organization, and simply not believe any of it on that large a scale, though. Yet somehow, it seems odd that some of the things they have done could have ever been done, if somebody at or near the top didn't just think the whole thing was a farce. Like the UN for example. Though, I suppose, one could argue that was similar to the Moses and the water from the rock incident...the leadership simply got a bit uppity with themselves, but were still sincere.

Thoughts?

22

..new things in my area...

by all_along_the_watchtower in

hey, im not sure if anyone knows of this, but recenetly (well actually like about 3-4 months ago) jw's in my area have been told to create emergency preparation kits for themselves or thier familys, and to give the elders phone numbers of non-witness relatives for emergency contacts.. also one thing that they've just started doing is the elders are going around giving "sheparding calls" to everyone in the congragation and asking them questions such as *( they said this from the platform) "what do you find the hardest about being in the truth" or something along those lines.. i think that just might be a local thing, but it is strange and over the many years they have never really done any thing like that.. and the emergency thing i thik is strange too.. maybee they think a disater will happen here.... just thought i would mention this 'cause i find it a little strange.. well not that strange, their always on to something new and crazy...

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Heh...I clicked on this cause I was like...'hey, I don't remember starting a topic lately'. Welcome to the forum.

AATW, of the 'this is gonna get confusing' class.

117

Do you have to pay federal income tax? Is there a law requirering you to?

by frankiespeakin in

jw
friends

i haven't payed mine for almost 3 years because i don't like what the government is doing with its war machine and taking away our civil liberties with the patriot act:.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5981720328972328609&q=irs+tax+is+illegal+-+no+tax+law+exists%21%21&total=1&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1623838328974046647&q=law+federal+income+tax&total=77&start=30&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_arguments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_avoidance_and_tax_evasion

I used to have a friend who was a Libertarian, he used to make much of the fact that at the beginning of the tax booklet you get in the mail, there is a phrase that goes something like this: "millions of Americans voluntarily pay their taxes each year". He stressed the 'voluntary' part, saying it was not required. This same guy used to give me 'Social Insecurity' cards, printed to look like the real thing, but actually a protest about the sorry state of the social security system, which I liked and kept a few of. You can say what you like, disagree with how the money is spent, or whatever...freedom of speech is in the constitution, but if you don't pay your taxes, expect to end up in court.

Of course if you're rich, you can pay a flock of CPAs to do your taxes for you, and find every loophole in the book. That's perfectly legal, even though I think it's a crock. Which is why I'm a proponent of a flat tax system, make it so the average person can actually do their own taxes, and the rich have no loopholes. Put the lawyers out of business.

9

Christrians: Why are JWs so aganist being born aganin/Salvation?

by A-Team in

in the past 3 weeks, i have had 2 jws deny salvation or say that only the 144k have to be born again and 1 even going as far as asking "what do i need to be saved from?

" but yet, there are several bible scriptures that says otherwise.

please discuss.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Bear in mind, this is purely my conjecture, but hopefully an educated guess, not just a shot-in-the-dark guess. Most people in high control groups like the JWs, WCG, LDS, etc, have been taught that WORKS is their path to salvation. They must DO. They are also told that being in this group, they are now 'special', part of the "truth", the "flock", the "one true church". Why? Because they have received the message that works are what is important, and have acted on it.

Then along comes your born-again, and says 'no, you have it all wrong-just repent and have faith, and all is well'. Knocks the wind right out of their sails. All the works they did...nice maybe, but worthless as far as salvation goes. Also, to accept this new belief, they now have to accept they are no longer in that 'special' group, ANY Joe Schmoe can come along and have faith, for cryin out loud. Suddenly, their whole self-image becomes valueless.

That 4dr car they bought...not needed...those hours in service...wasted time...the relatives they shunned... grandma dying when she refused blood...why?! All worthless. The alternative is too much for them, so they continue to believe what they were taught. Just my opinion.

I guess in a bizarre way you could also consider it a form of elitism...like two schoolkids with abusive parents arguing over which one's daddy hits the hardest...MY religion/daddy makes me suffer more, so it must be the best.