My husband is sitting here with a mate drinking beer. This guy is an old friend who left the jw's 10 years ago, but whom we have only just started being friends again with since we've left. Annnnyyyyway ... I tuned into a conversation they are having about someone they know who lost his virginity to his aunt (I love it when guys talk beer). Our friends' take on it is "No relatives, no animals, no kids". Now, I love this guy, but he is not the smartest person on the planet - but still I love him because he has a great heart and manages to always keep things fundamentally simple. I thought of this post - there are just some things that shouldn't be clouded by emotion - and this is one of them.
zensim
JoinedPosts by zensim
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90
Would you date someone with a history of INCEST?
by kristyann inhey everyone!
i hope that at least someone missed me or noticed that i was gone!
i have been so busy, and i don't think that i've really been on here since june.
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i take some C.O. for a hour and half ride
by johnny cip in(not telling where) into an hour and half conversation.
he knew his aposatate stuff.
it was heavy.
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zensim
Abandoned - you're brilliant! Do another one, do another one ...
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Letter from my mom. What do you think of my response?
by reneeisorym ini invited my mom two months ago to my wedding.
she never responded and then today i get this.
what do you think of my reply?
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zensim
Renee, I think it is a beautiful letter and you are a wonderful daughter.
I am sure you have spelt it all out before and, personally, I don't think this is the time to have another out and out about who's wrong and right. Much better sometimes just to reflect the spirit of who you are and why you left the org. This is a very painfully difficult time for your parents right now. Rightly or wrongly, whether they have brought this upon themselves or not, they are still blinded. Yet that makes their emotional pain no less real. I feel genuinely sorry for your Mother.
You will actually get through to your Mother more by not reacting about the witnesses, so she has to be in her pain and it hits home hard. The more you speak to your mum about org stuff, the more she will use that as an escape to this pain of losing her daughter and the precious moment that all mothers look forward to (the wedding). It will actually just more deeply entrench her in the org's teachings, because she will find comfort in what she 'knows to be right'.
Deep down, I am sure she does have a spark of unconditional love. By you being happy and loving and reflecting your current state, she will find it in her heart (even if it is a small, hidden part) to be happy for you. Better to flame that spark, work on getting her to a state of acceptance and reasonableness before bringing up the witness stuff again (imho).
I also agree with Greymatters: just reframe slightly the relationship you have with your new family, so it leaves the door open to your parents always.
Congratulations on your upcoming Wedding - may it be the most special day
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Assistance needed on issue of birthdays
by Peacekeeper ini am currently reviewing various doctrines of the wt.. would it be possible for this thread to focus completely on the issue of birthdays and avoid other subjects & also any digs at the wt over their current policy.. personally, i believe that birthdays are acceptable but i need concrete reasons / facts to counteract the arguments provided by the wt for their refusal to celebrate birthdays.. thanks .
peacekeeper.
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zensim
This is something that I have learned to loathe about WTBS, they pick and choose their secular evidence to suit them:
The ancient Anglo-Saxons celebrated the birthday of the "Lord Moon", spoken of as meni at Isaiah 65:11 (margin), by making cakes "called Nur-Cakes, or Birthcakes"
There is also evidence to support the fact that the birthday cake is merely a reproduction of the placenta. In older cultures, where women had much more traditional means of dealing with the cycles of life (eg, even in Israelite tribes they had the red tent where women would retire to for their menstruation time) they would actually honour and respect life's conditions. This wasn't veneration, just their way of being in tune with life and celebrating life. They did things differently back then because of their limitations. Today, the WTBS would write an article on "Jehovah's marvelous life giving creation - the placenta", or a pregnant women would spend time reading about the miracles of life, the baby's growth stages, the job of the placenta etc and be in awe and gratitude for it. Back in older times they expressed it in a different way, not with written word, books or the internet, they did it the only way they knew how, by marking occasions, passing down wisdom from generation to generation - in song, stories and celebrations.
No doubt the Anglo-Saxons also had their own reasons for doing what they did. But for every 'pagan' example they can come up with, there are also other examples that aren't pagan, just cultural or traditional.
Shit, this birthday one bugs me because it is such a meaninglessly obtuse rule they have. It goes against the whole spirit of valuing the gift of life.
Again, even though it has been said. The whole aspect around marriage (celebrating anniversaries, which in my mind is celebrating the 'birth' of a marriage. And the rings, which can be argued, have pagan origins) is proof that they just pick and choose what suits them.
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Musing over What is Karma, Rebirths, and the Illusions of the Senses
by frankiespeakin ini have finally had a little time to pause for some reflection, lately been either sick(flu) or fighting fatigue to get work done while sick with the flu.. one of my favorite pastimes is to tune into jwd and read all your arguements for and against things of the paranormal nature, mysticism, evolution, and things like these.
i do enjoy those that are of a scientific shaped logic and lean more heavily towards some of their well thought out replies, i see them as open minded for the most part, and know i would never be able to research to the degree they do the subject of evolution and patiently try to deal with some rather set in their ways creationist.
they have brought a wealth of information to our board, that no doubt help many rid themsevles of the god(of the bible) delusion, a rather mean and nasty delusion that many jws need to shake to make thier coming out of mind control more complete.. while i have given up on the god delusion pretty completely, i have not become a complete materialist.
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zensim
I have found my kindred spirits on this board! I am ashamed to admit I did limit this board and thought there wouldn't be people here discussing this kind of thing (and my first experience with slammers on a much milder topic kind of reinforced that). So I'm opening up again after being contracted.
Narkissos: I love the way you view the world and the way you express it. Most of the time I am struggling to understand what you are saying - even though I do understand what you mean (I think?). You just have such a different way of expressing it - good exercise for my brain.
I recently had an archetype reading and the guy doing it kept saying my face was changing according to which type I was in. Apparently he experiences that a lot. I have had similar experiences. Once when I was WIDE open I spent two hours on a plane with another girl who was in the same state and at one point I was looking at her and she looked so much like me. It freaked me out.
And no, we weren't on drugs. I have never done drugs. My understanding is that you can achieve those kinds of states without drugs. It is just in the past those experiences seemed to be reserved for mystics, shamans, teachers etc. Now I think human evolution is at the stage where many are awakening to that consciousness. For me, Jesus was just an advanced person talking about these very experiences. Unfortunately, given the limitations of people at that time, they could only reference it from their unevolved consciousness and, quite frankly, got most of it wrong.
Also had another experience with another friend I made briefly. Again, both of us were in a really egoless state, we hugged and it was the strangest sensation of our molecules merging and feeling like one body - there was no me and no her.
Now, after all the journeying and experiences I have had I kind of take that stuff for granted. But it is still a diligent path. There are definitely things that lower or raise my vibration - even as simply as the food I eat.
Namaste!
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funeral talk script
by candidlynuts ini know its been posted before but i did a search and cant find it..does anyone have it linked or have it saved?.
i searched and looked under the " best of" section but have yet to find it .. thanks.
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zensim
Even when a die hard witness I used to think the funeral talks were pathetic and sad. I could never understand why they didn't talk more about the person. I thought it was just the 'quirk' of the bro giving the talk. Of course I should have realised there was an outline for this too. That is just too cold hearted for me.
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Did feel that you were at a mental breaking point at the point of leaving?
by jambon1 inprior to you leaving the org did you come to the conclusion that if you didnt actually take the step and leave, that you would run into serious mental difficulty.. i really feel that for 5 years proir to my finally leaving i was quite impaired mentally by the teachings and practices of the org.
it was coming to a head though when i finally announced that i was leaving.
i really felt that i was under intense mental pressure and that if i didnt get out then i may end up doing something serious.
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zensim
That's true Tetra. But I wonder how many people leaving quickly replace it all with other safety nets of belief, instead of facing the dissonance head on?
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Did feel that you were at a mental breaking point at the point of leaving?
by jambon1 inprior to you leaving the org did you come to the conclusion that if you didnt actually take the step and leave, that you would run into serious mental difficulty.. i really feel that for 5 years proir to my finally leaving i was quite impaired mentally by the teachings and practices of the org.
it was coming to a head though when i finally announced that i was leaving.
i really felt that i was under intense mental pressure and that if i didnt get out then i may end up doing something serious.
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zensim
I actually felt more insane after I left. I spent the year I left on the computer exploring so many different ideologies, beliefs, conspiracy theories etc and in the end fell into terror and paranoia. Looking back though it was really the process of breaking down all those long held existing beliefs that made up my reality that created the mental breakdown. And that is the whole idea, to break down the mental stranglehold. I think there is always a feeling of mental breakdown when any belief system breaks disintegrate, even if it is your belief about your marriage, or job identity etc. But given that jw belief shapes your view of all reality, it is the biggie. I used to think those who 'fell away' were weak. Boy, once I started down that path I realised I was so wrong. Definitely not for the weak or fainthearted.
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Bug turns women smart, men slow
by zensim inbug turns women smart, men slow"it can make men behave like alley cats and women behave like sex kittens.".
photo: simon schluter.
a common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid, an australian researcher says.. about 40 per cent of the world's population is infected with toxoplasma gondii, including about 8 million australians.. human infection generally occurs when people eat raw or undercooked meat that has cysts containing the parasite, or accidentally ingest some of the parasite's eggs excreted by an infected cat.. the parasite is known to be dangerous to pregnant women as it can cause disability or abortion of the unborn child, and can also kill people whose immune systems are weak.. until recently it was thought to be an insignificant disease in healthy people, sydney university of technology infectious disease researcher nicky boulter said, but new research has revealed its mind-altering properties.. "interestingly, the effect of infection is different between men and women," dr boulter writes in the latest issue of australasian science magazine.. "infected men have lower iqs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans.
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zensim
Damn Unconfused, I thought if I cropped my eyes out of the picture no one would recognise me!
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Bug turns women smart, men slow
by zensim inbug turns women smart, men slow"it can make men behave like alley cats and women behave like sex kittens.".
photo: simon schluter.
a common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid, an australian researcher says.. about 40 per cent of the world's population is infected with toxoplasma gondii, including about 8 million australians.. human infection generally occurs when people eat raw or undercooked meat that has cysts containing the parasite, or accidentally ingest some of the parasite's eggs excreted by an infected cat.. the parasite is known to be dangerous to pregnant women as it can cause disability or abortion of the unborn child, and can also kill people whose immune systems are weak.. until recently it was thought to be an insignificant disease in healthy people, sydney university of technology infectious disease researcher nicky boulter said, but new research has revealed its mind-altering properties.. "interestingly, the effect of infection is different between men and women," dr boulter writes in the latest issue of australasian science magazine.. "infected men have lower iqs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans.
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zensim
Bug turns women smart, men slow
"It can make men behave like alley cats and women behave like sex kittens."
Photo: Simon SchluterA common parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid, an Australian researcher says.
About 40 per cent of the world's population is infected with Toxoplasma gondii, including about 8 million Australians.
Human infection generally occurs when people eat raw or undercooked meat that has cysts containing the parasite, or accidentally ingest some of the parasite's eggs excreted by an infected cat.
The parasite is known to be dangerous to pregnant women as it can cause disability or abortion of the unborn child, and can also kill people whose immune systems are weak.
Until recently it was thought to be an insignificant disease in healthy people, Sydney University of Technology infectious disease researcher Nicky Boulter said, but new research has revealed its mind-altering properties.
"Interestingly, the effect of infection is different between men and women," Dr Boulter writes in the latest issue of Australasian Science magazine.
"Infected men have lower IQs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women.
"On the other hand, infected women tend to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls.
"In short, it can make men behave like alley cats and women behave like sex kittens".
Dr Boulter said the recent Czech Republic research was not conclusive, but was backed up by animal studies that found infection also changes the behaviour of mice.
The mice were more likely to take risks that increased their chance of being eaten by cats, which would allow the parasite to continue its life cycle.
Rodents treated with drugs that killed the parasites reversed their behaviour, Dr Boulter said.
Another study showed people who were infected but not showing symptoms were 2.7 times more likely than uninfected people to be involved in a car accident as a driver or pedestrian, while other research has linked the parasite to higher incidences of schizophrenia.
"The increasing body of evidence connecting Toxoplasma infection with changes in personality and mental state, combined with the extremely high incidence of human infection in both developing and developed countries, warrants increased government funding and research, in particular to find safe and effective treatments or vaccines," Dr Boulter said.
AAP
