Ingenuous

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Posts by Ingenuous

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  10

  Why am I so happy?

  by jwfacts in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  since i stopped going to meetings about six months ago i have been getting happier and happier and don't know why.

  i don't know who god is anymore, or if there is an afterlife.

  i don't have as many friends as i used to, though i am starting to build new ones.

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  Ingenuous

  Completely owning one's own mind and living with true personal integrity go a long way toward creating happiness.
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  15

  Comments You Will Not Hear at the 9-25-05 WT Study (Reflect)

  by blondie in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  (exodus 14:26-31; .

  " (exodus 19:1019; .

  don't jws who say they are the only true christians want to know christ?

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  Ingenuous

  heretic - a number of blondie's past "Comments You Will Not Hear" are listed here.

  Paragraph 7 says, in part:
  
  

  Most people reject the good news that we preach. This does not surprise us.
  Paul wrote: "If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is
  veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of
  things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers." (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4) In
  addition to Satan's efforts to conceal the good news, many people veil their
  own faces because they do not want to see.

  They completely ignore what Paul preached as "the good news." According to verse 5:
  
  

  For we are preaching, not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as YOUR slaves for Jesus’ sake.

  The "good news" was about "Christ Jesus as Lord", not about "ourselves". JWs miss the point that their preaching is not supposed to be about "themselves" (their interpretation of salvation and "the good news", the Org, how it is the only way to salvation, how they're the only true Christians on earth, etc.).
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  21

  How to brainwash only part of your brain.

  by Ingenuous in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was talking to a mental health professional (don't remember her credentials) about jws.

  part of what i couldn't get my brain around was how jws (myself included, when i was "in") can seem to function so well in other areas, but so easily and completely give up their minds to others when it comes to the org.

  the behavior seems so irrational and deluded, with so many cognitive distortions at work, that healthy functioning in other areas would appear precluded.

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  Ingenuous

  I was talking to a mental health professional (don't remember her credentials) about JWs. Part of what I couldn't get my brain around was how JWs (myself included, when I was "in") can seem to function so well in other areas, but so easily and completely give up their minds to others when it comes to the Org. The behavior seems so irrational and deluded, with so many cognitive distortions at work, that healthy functioning in other areas would appear precluded. Then the prof told me about two interesting phenomena.

  Encapsulated (Compartmentalized) Delusion - A delusion that usually relates to one specific topic or belief but does not pervade an individual's life or level of functioning.

  Folie à deux - (literally "a madness shared by two") is a rare psychiatric syndrome in which a symptom of psychosis (particularly a paranoid or delusional belief) is transmitted from one individual to another. There have been occasional claims of shared visual hallucinations that are near, to exact, duplicates. The same syndrome shared by more than one person may be called folie à trois, folie à quatre, folie à famille or even folie à plusieurs (madness of many).... Folie à deux and its more populous cousins are in many ways a psychiatric curiosity. The current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders states that a person cannot be diagnosed as being delusional if the belief in question is one "ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture". It is not clear at what point a belief considered to be delusional escapes from the folie à... diagnostic category and becomes exempt because of the number of people holding it. While a large number of people may come to believe obviously false and potentially distressing things based purely on hearsay, these beliefs are not considered to be clinical delusions by the psychiatric profession and may be labelled as mass hysteria. [emphasis added]
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  22

  "Stumbling"

  by tall penguin in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  before i disassociated myself a month ago, i sent out a brief letter to a few of my friends to let them know about my choice and my reasons for so choosing.

  the responses varied.

  one of the common responses i received was "i'm sorry you were stumbled.

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  Ingenuous

  tall penguin - great letter. Thanks for sharing it and the response(s) you're getting.
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  47

  Were You Ever Drunk or High At A Meeting Or In Service?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

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  an elder in our hall used to drink his wine before evening meetings regularly, and on more than a few occasions was "buzzed" and laughing up on the platform while giving a talk.

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  Ingenuous

  I never did, but my Dad had an interesting thought about this. He's been prescribed some pretty strong stuff for pain. He's asked the CO, if we can't come to the Hall drunk or high on something illegal, why is it OK to come to the meeting on a prescription drug that has the same effect? After trying to take his meds (as prescribed) and give a talk or two, he now foregoes his meds and goes to the meeting in pain so he isn't on stage "under the influence."
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  10

  WISHING TO LOCATE A NUMBER OF BOOKS AND LITERATURE PUSBLISHED BY WTBS

  by Mr.D.Frost in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i really wish i would have transported the library of information i had, when i moved here.

  but alas i didnt, even if i did, i'm sure i still would not be able to back as far as i'd like.

  i wanted to know where i might be able to find literature ranging from the mid 1900's up to present day?

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  Ingenuous

  Zion's Watch Tower - 1879 thru 1916

  Studies in the Scriptures, Tabernacle Shadows, PhotoDrama - cross-referenced to KJV

  I don't know where to find Rutherford's writings online.
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  24

  pure fluff: Find out which super-hero you are!!

  by kid-A in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fluff alert: find out which marvel superhero you are!!!.

  apparently, i am dr. strange !!!!!

  please report back....... http://www.liquidgeneration.com/quiz/superhero_quiz.swf.

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  Ingenuous

  I'd still rather be a chick.
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  36

  JW Ladies: starved for love?

  by 144001 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, in another thread, a poster referred to incidents of "sisters" out in "field service" attempting to "hit" on the males they encountered at the doors.

  i have personally had this experience, and also noticed that the last time i visited a kingdom hall, the females in the hall were very, very flirty (including those who were married).

  it was as if i had entered a place inhabited soley by women who had been denied male companionship for years!

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  Ingenuous

  What Carol said.

  Add to that the frustration of being single... being single and trying to maintain your chastity... being single and trying to maintain your chastity and being a member of an organization where women (overall) greatly outnumber men...
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  22

  Emerson (That's Me) Urges Forming House Bible Groups To Replace Watchtower

  by J Mason Emerson in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings to all readers of good will,

  i'm mason emerson (nicknamed "joe") and as a yahoo.com group i put the following on some websites there to encourage interested readers (exjws or others) to go ahead and form independent nonwatchtower groups for bible fellowship which can meet in homes instead of in kingdom halls.

  i see myself as a catalyst for action by others, not a founder of groups or a sole leader of them, especially given my current health.

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  Ingenuous

  Jeff - I've attended a few Bible Student meetings that are a lot like JME described. It takes a little looking around to find the right group for one's personality. There are two by me, but the one right up the street takes C. T. Russell's chronology too seriously for my tastes. There's another group a half hour away that doesn't bother with chronology at all and skips around to whatever topics hold their interests each week. I've been told that if I attend a convention (there seem to be about a dozen or so large ones a year and they're all different) I'll encounter Bible Students from both ends of the spectrum (those who deeply respect Russell's writings to those who couldn't care less about them) and everything in between. I hear that at the conventions, after each part, they open the floor to questions from the audience. At the meetings I've attended, everyone talks and voluteers perspectives and is free to agree or disagree, depending on their conscience/understanding. If you're looking into meetings following the "house church" style, this may be a place to start. I contacted the folks at biblestudents.net and dawnbible.com to get help locating meetings near me.
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  38

  I got published!!!!!!!!!!!!

  by Sirona in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  firstly let me say wooohhooooo!

  then i think i might say woooooohooooo!.

  i got two short stories (flash fiction) published in a creative writing magazine.

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  Ingenuous

  It's great seeing someone accomplish goals I've long since watched bite the dust.

  Go Sirona!!!