AllAlongTheWatchtower

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Posts by AllAlongTheWatchtower

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  10

  Where there is a garage sale sign, so shall there be a Witness...

  by pmouse in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is that written somewhere in the nwt?

  or is it "have a garage sale and they will come" the hollywood horror movie?

  i don't recall seeing it, but sure enough, hang a garage sale sign out and you will get them, all dressed up carrying book bags with a casually rolled up watchtower trying to place it to distract you while the other one tries to throw you off by offering 10 cents instead of 25 cents for your junk.

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  "What I could never understand, is how much they frequented garage sales. But, yet they were paranoid as hell about the "demons". Anybody so afraid of demons should avoid garage sales, right? Why even take a chance bringing anybody's junk into your house." - LongHairGal

  "I never understood what the appeal was for witnesses. Is it the fact most of them have low income jobs? Not a lot of time to go shopping at unique stores so they like to go where junk is in all one place? A borderline way of having some normal human interaction beyond dubdom?" - Mysterious

  Yardsales were a big hit with WCG members, too. I think it was kind of a way to cash in early on picking over 'worldly' peoples' belongings...like a promise of things to come, since the Big A just kept inconveniently not happening. Of course, there's always the poor factor, too

  I frequently compare my past experience in the WCG with JWs, but there is one major way they differ; there were no demon stories in the WCG, even though we often were told to throw out the same types of things because they were 'of the world' or satan-influenced (rock records, praying hands, crosses, or anything else which was 'idolatry of the whore of Babylon'). As far as why a JW would take a risk buying secondhand stuff "knowing" there was chance of demons...I'd hazard a guess that it was psychologically a NEED for exactly something like that to happen. To put it in modern street lingo, they were being 'drama queens'. Buy used stuff, get demons, be able to tell great stories about it, that sort of thing. A way of proving how faithful you were, because of course if the demons are after you, you're doing the right thing.

  I'd often see stuff like that in the WCG, only it wasn't used goods and demons, it was being fired from a job, or health problems (which of course, you didn't go to the doctor for), whatever. Bitching about it was sort of like bragging, really. "Oh, woe is me, look how downtrodden and persecuted I am for being in the one true church". Or, the person would sometimes take the other angle...it wasn't satan and "this world' that was after them, it was "god is surely testing me". I think a lot of them would flirt with disaster, so to speak...purposely doing things to raise their persecutionbragging rights drama levels.
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  10

  The first murder - the concept of worship

  by changeling in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, assuming the genesis account is real, reliable and accurate, think about the first murder.

  why did he kill him?

  he was jealous.

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  I've read various articles about the whole Cain and Abel story that support a theory that the real lesson contained in it is one of lifestyle. Nomadic shepherds (rural and wandering) vs stationary farmers (urban). Depending on your level of cynicism and skepticism, that would mean the Cain and Abel story is purely propaganda designed to force people to accept the 'proper' lifestyle, or on a more benign level, more of a subconscience mindset they couldn't help but show in their writings.

  Cities and/or civilization in the bible often are depicted as sources of evil, things to be destroyed. Sodom and Gomorroh. The whole world in the flood. Egypt and the 10 plagues. Jericho. The Tower of Babel. Don't forget, the whole world (again) at Armageddon. Cities = progress and civilization, lack of morality, ungodliness, etc etc. The 'righteous' in the bible are often just the opposite. It's often been said that "cleanliness is next to godliness", but it seems to me that the writers of the bible had in mind "countryness is next to godliness".

  In my opinion, little has changed. Evangelical types today often spew their nonsense about the horrors of cities...San Francisco is often mentioned in connection with homosexuality. Recently, New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina-punishment of a vengeful god. The nickname of Las Vegas is Sin City...dunno where that came from, but it fits the theme.
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  8

  Car Insurance: Policy or Scam?

  by Yizuman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  last week i called my insurance company to find out whether or not i can get a cheaper rate for my step-son who is 18. .

  he had just recently purchased his first car, a 1988 chevy.

  he turned in the title for the car at our local bmv.

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  Unfortunately, I don't think there is anything illegal about what your insurance company did, but empathize with you. Years ago, I had Progressive, and thought they were great...up until one day while on the phone with a customer service rep, she asked me if I had time to take a brief survey. Since I liked the company at the time, and wasn't particularly busy, I said "sure, no problem". One of the questions was 'If you live in an apartment, do you have a roomate?', to which I answered yes.

  About a week later, I got a letter from the company saying my insurance was going up, unless I got my roomie to sign a statement saying he would never drive my car. I was outraged. Tried to explain to them that I was soon moving, that my roomie and I were barely on speaking terms at that point due to something that was absolutely none of their business, etc etc, but to no avail. I switched companies very soon after that, and I hate progressive to this day.
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  39

  How much do you tip?

  by Nathan Natas in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm pretty sure minimus hasn't gotten to this one yet.... .

  i'm curious about how much you tip for various services.

  what is your usual tip percentage for:.

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  This could probably 'out' me, but what the hell, I've been thinking of just identifying myself anyway, I have nothing to fear from the WT, and my experience in the WCG was decades ago, my parents are probably the only ones who would be upset by things I've posted here, and they don't own a computer.

  I'm a pizza delivery driver, something I've been doing for the last year after getting injured at my regular job. I've seen other drivers come and go, I understand that not every driver is deserving of a tip, but I just want to share some info with you that might change your thinking.

  I get paid 20% commission, NOT hourly. If a customer orders $20 worth of food, (PRE-tax, NOT total), then I get $4, plus $1 (untaxed) "gas compensation". The average order is only about 10-15 dollars, so on that I only make 2-3 dollars. IF I get 3 orders an hour (which only happens on weekends, the weekdays suck, and I look at working weekdays as just a requirement or placeholder to the weekends, which make it worthwhile), averaging $15 an order, then I make $9 an hour, plus $3 gas comp. I fill up on gas about twice a week, average about $60 on gas.

  Furthermore, many customers don't tip at all, especially if their order is $10 or less...they seem to think it's "not big enough to require anything" or something of the sort. Despite that, the government taxes all people assumed to be in a tip-earning job based on their income, PLUS 5%. Meaning, that if I make $30 in a night on paperwork, the government taxes me based on 31.50 assumed income. So, if I get no tips, I actually am shorted. Speaking of shorted, a small percentage of people will actually do that to me too- "Oh gee, it's $20.75? I've only got a twenty". Much as I hate it, I usually accept this, to do otherwise is worse (cancel the order, lose all the commission? wait 15 minutes while they break open their piggy bank? wastes more of my time, the faster I get back to the shop, the faster I can take another order).

  Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating big tipping for crap service. But please, don't stiff a driver!

  Things that deserve consideration:

  A driver deserves a little extra if: You live in a third floor apartment, you order by credit card, and he or she always has a pen handy for you to use to sign the slip, they bring you the little extras without being asked, like napkins, paper plates, condiments, etc. Above all us, TIME. The faster you get your food, the looser your purse strings should be. (Trust me, all drivers worth their salt have a mental checklist, they remember who the good tippers are. Sometimes during a rush, a driver will have to take a double or even triple run...guess who gets their food first???)
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  39

  Why There Will Always Be JWs

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think it's pretty simple.

  jws will never completely die out.

  because there are always going to be people who stay in a rut, don't like to adjust, are lazy.

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  Speaking of WCG, I read on a cult exit support site the other day that they recently bought some web domains in advance of a potential name change, because "their old name was tainted". One of the things the website speculated about, was whether that would free the WCG of any liability from lawsuits from previous members who had been DFed, had family members who died due to medical doctrine, or had other gripes with WCG. I'm no lawyer, so I don't know if simply changing a company's name dissolves the existing corporation...can't sue them if they no longer exist? But it makes me wonder, and I bet the WTS would be willing to do something similar if it saved them some lawsuit money. In fact, I seem to remember some folks here saying the WTS has started adding the word 'christian' to their name...interesting food for thought.
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  24

  Dr. Who question for British posters

  by Insomniac in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  in the episode i just watched, the doctor was fiddling with rose's cellphone and used the term "jiggery-pokery.

  " i'm pretty sure that's what he said.

  what does that term mean?

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  It's been a long time since I watched Dr. Who, but I think the word you're looking for is tesseract, and it's a real word for a (hypothetical?) 4 dimensional cube. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesseract
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  15

  Anyone else have an aversion to singing?

  by AllAlongTheWatchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was reading the threads http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/129051/1.ashx (remember the song make the truth your own?

  ) and http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/9/136242/1.ashx (the messages are always there), and was reminded that i had been intending to post something along these lines before and never got around to it.

  note: i was raised in the wcg (armstrong), not a jw, but i've found they're similar in many ways, and i believe this to be another one:.

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  I was reading the threads http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/129051/1.ashx (Remember the song make the truth your own?) and http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/9/136242/1.ashx (The messages are always there), and was reminded that I had been intending to post something along these lines before and never got around to it. NOTE: I was raised in the WCG (Armstrong), not a JW, but I've found they're similar in many ways, and I believe this to be another one:

  I can still recall as a kid, having to sing at church services and other meetings, and hating it. For one thing, my natural talent (or more properly, the lack thereof) is not good in this department. I hated the sound of my own voice when singing, could tell I wasn't on key or whatever, but couldn't do a damn thing about it. For another thing, the more I started to question the beliefs I was raised with, the less I could stomach actually singing those damn syrupy lyrics, it was like lying. I even recall one sermon where the elder or deacon berated everbody for not singing loud enough, and cited some passage from the bible or the literature where we were supposed to "make a joyful noise". Guilt and paranoia made me think he was talking directly to/about me.

  It was around that time that I started just not singing, or sometimes mouthing the words to fake it, if I felt like I was being watched by someone, or even substituting my own words-usually naughty things that would have gotten me beaten soundly had anyone actually heard them. After reading the threads that I linked to above, I realized I was not alone in this! Quite a revelation to me. Now I'm wondering, is it just me...or do any of you also have an aversion to singing ANYTHING now? There are few circumstances where it comes into play, but I dislike singing for any reason at all, now. Years ago I had a girlfriend who loved karaoke, and I had to be VERY drunk before she could talk me into it, but occasionally I'd let her so as not to hurt her feelings...hating it all the while.

  After reading those threads, I searched the net and found a link to the songs we used to have to sing. It was amazing to me how the words popped into my head as soon as I heard the piano music, I felt like one of Pavlov's dogs. Not just the words either, many other memories. Ugh. I also found some links to cult exit material, which explained how Armstrong changed the words of traditional Christian hymns to suit WCG doctrine, and erase any reference that could be cited to validate the trinity, or mention things like 'holy ghost'. That was something I wasn't even aware of before, but should have come as no surprise.

  Worldwide Church of God's "Bible Hymnal"

  http://www.cog21.org/hymnal/hymnal.html
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  56

  Bad biblical names for a child

  by erandir in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the practice of choosing biblical names for children is present in many forms of christianity.

  in latin america, countless boys are named jesus either as a first name or second name.

  there is even that singer jesus jones.

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  Any of them. I will be a father soon, and I am purposely avoiding biblical/Hebrew origin names. Been to several baby name websites, it's harder than you might think, so many ordinary names, if you look up the etymology, trace back to the bible or are a variation of something else.
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  27

  Torn over presidential candidates

  by Junction-Guy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  talk about my own crisis of conscience!!.

  im a republican, and have always voted for republican candidates for president, this upcoming election leaves me very little choice.

  this may be the first presidential election since 1996 that i wont vote, nor can i even get excited over.. .

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  I feel ya...I consider myself moderate, not republican or democrat, but if it comes down to a choice between Hillary vs candidate x in 08, I'd go with x. The republican side of things seems to offer slim pickings though. I used to think Giuliani was good, but I've found out things recently about him that changed my mind (scandals, free speech issues, controversy over treatment of emergency workers, etc) I'd like to see Colin Powell run myself, but that seems unlikely at this point. Regarding your statement that Thompson is atheist; in my case, that would be a reason to support him, however, according to Wikipedia, he is a member of the 'Churches of Christ'.

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

  "If elected president, Thompson would be only the second president in U.S. history (after James Garfield) to belong to the Churches of Christ, a small, non-denominational Christian group that emerged from the American Restoration Movement in the 19th century."
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  15

  The Candy Jar

  by reneeisorym in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought i would ask for advice after reading the post about the common refridgerator.. i have a candy jar on my desk.

  for a while i would put candy in it especially around holidays.

  now why can't he buy his own candy?

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  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  I suppose substituting chocolate candy laxative is out of the question, morally? *evil grin*