Cognitive_Dissident

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Posts by Cognitive_Dissident

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  30

  HOW MANY SECRET APOSTATES ARE THERE IN CONGREGATIONS?

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  any ideas?

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  Cognitive_Dissident

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  116

  A Customer really pissed me off yesterday at work: SHE WANTS TO PRAY for me

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i work in a bookstore that specializes in buying its goods directly from the public second-hand and reselling them at half price.. .

  it is a large chain of 83 stores in 8 states and does about 100 million a year.. .

  i'm in charge of the religion and the philosophy sections.. .

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  I don't think that was an overreaction, Terry. It would have pissed me off, too. If someone hears that I have a broken leg, or a family member in the hospital, and tells me they are going to pray for me, I have no problem with that. But that's an entirely different thing. When a person offers to pray for someone to alleviate physical or emotional suffering, they (most of the time) don't assume that the prayer is going to miraculously heal the person, it's more a show of support and compassion. But when someone spouts off like that lady did, it's just maddening arrogance. The assumption that you just don't understand, like a parent talking to a child in simple platitudes, is absolutely infuriating. Personally, it's not the praying for me that makes me mad, it's the arrogance, assumption, and condescension. And that applies across the board, no matter what the topic of conversation.
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  13

  What did the "Godly Obedience" District Conventions really achieve?

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is a re-print of a post found on e-watchman's discussion board, a public forum.

  it has a few interesting tidbits in there.

  thought you might be interested.. by the way, does jwd have a policy about using posts from other boards, even if credit to the original author is given?.

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  after attending saturday's morning session for reasons completely other than wanting to be there, the line of nonreasoning that stood out to me in glaring relief was this one - questioning the elders is tantamount to questioning the congregational arrangement, and since the congregational arrangement is from Jehovah, questioning the elders is the same as questioning God. They didn't even try to hint at it - the speaker actually said the words "questioning the elders is the same as questioning God." I wanted to frisbee toss my songbook from the balcony.
  
  The only way the WTBTS makes sense is as a business model. Completely devoid of human compassion and integrity, and concerned only with its own propagation.
  
  I definitely agree that there seems to be a note of desperation as of late. And I think it's tangible in everyone that's still inside. Since 1975 there has been no year to set everyone's sights on(obviously because they don't want to add another failed prophecy to the list). And I think that feeling of speeding forward in the dark, with no idea of how far or how long, is beginning to stretch everyone thin.
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  42

  Being pressured to goto meetings,

  by crankytoe in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hi everyone, all i wanted was a bible study, now we're at the point where we read 2 chapters in knowledge book, and the discussion turns to how i forsaking the inciting with others to worship,(something like that).

  is there anything i can say to get them to accept that i'll go when/if i feel like going?.

  this past weekend, they kept asking me what obstacles were in my way, i said i haven't had time, they go yeah you say that but there has to be something else, .

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  hey Crankytoe, as Oroborus21 said, try to get a feel for ALL of the doctrine and practice that is involved with being a JW before you commit to meetings, or for sure before going over the questions for baptism(depending on how quickly they want to move you along). Disfellowshipping is definitely one that is rarely, if ever discussed in any detail while you're still studying but which is the whip that is forever at your back once baptized. And keep in mind that right now, since you are only studying, you are given much greater latitude to ask questions and disagree. If you should choose to go to meetings, as you attend more and more, the expectation that the others in the Kingdom Hall have of you will go up. With more exposure to "the truth", your thinking is expected to start aligning itself with the group mind. And the longer you're around, any questioning or disagreement becomes evidence that you are not one of the sheeplike ones that who will become a member of the "great crowd" that will survive Armageddon.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  33

  What Are Things JWs CAN'T Do?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is there anything?

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  Yeah, you could do whatever you wanted, but like steve said, be prepared for the consequences. And although for stuff like fornication and voting the consequences were pretty spelled out, it was that grey area(that wasn't really a grey area) of matters of conscience that was just stupid. It was the ol' "We'll leave it up to your consciences to decide, BUT YOU SURE AS HELL BETTER MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION!" guilt trip. Which was all the time.
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  104

  Deny this! Brooklyn! I dare you

  by stevenyc in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i'm to angry right now to write a complete synopsis on the following article from the watchtower.

  it regarding child molestation and repressed memories.

  i'll put in one quote, and leave this rest for you to read at your leasure.. ps, probably worth copying this because i would be surprised if they will leave it up much longer!.

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  Ok, so correct me if I'm wrong on this one, but a person can actually be disfellowshipped if two witnesses see that one coming out of the home of a person of the opposite sex, if it is known that they were alone together, especially after dark, even though the two witnesses didn't actually see anything happen. But when it comes to despicable criminal behavior perpetrated on a child, the witnesses are required to actually witness the event? I really hate those policy writing mothe!$%&*ers in Brooklyn.
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  122

  Very good apologetics for honest seekers

  by Shining One in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  are you tired of the arrogant assertions of the elite ex-jw clique here?

  here is some powerful ammunition to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of god"!

  http://www.carm.org/evidence.htm .

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  : Doing what JWs do is not my idea of good exgesis.
  
  Rex, the impact of pretentious diction is lost when you don't spell the word correctly. Not that you're going over anyone's head anyway.
  
  
  Regarding miracles and their given definitions, peaceful pete, you made an excellent point when you said "Miracles are not unexplained events, they are events being explained as supernatural." That is a huge distinction. By calling something a miracle, you've then closed the door on further discovery. A person who has tied their belief in miracles to the strength of their faith is going to resist scientific refutation of a so called miracle with everything they can muster. Because who wants a scientist telling them they lack faith, right? Oh, shoot, gotta go, my dog is chasing his tail again.
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  24

  Is this what dubs do on a convention night now??????

  by BLISSISIGNORANCE in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hi everyone.. there is a huge dub convention on this weekend where i live.

  i can remember how spiritually full i felt on those weekends as i enjoyed a spritual banquet and an abubdance of spiritual food at jehovah's table, in the spiritual paradise, surrounded by spiritual people.

  so what's going on these days???????

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  That's hilarious. Just imagine the reaction if you were lucky enough to get a convention speaker on camera, and then put 8x10 blowups of him outside the convention center showing him with his arms wrapped around a belly dancer. I think I'd actually go to a convention to see that.
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  35

  OMG - Part 18 of my exit story EXPLODES !!!

  by Amazing1914 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am in the middle of publishing my book on my exit from the jws.

  it is still hosted on freeminds, but is undergoing revision to clean up grammar, spelling, split a couple of chapters and add a couple of chapters.

  i will also be adding an appendix of correspondence with the watchtower society.

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  Wow. Now that is the definition of irony. Right on, Jim. I hope all goes smoothly with getting the book published.
  
  CD
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  78

  "You guys are the most preachy atheists I've ever met!"

  by GetBusyLiving in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a christian friend of mine had a melt down this weekend and screamed at my roommate about both of us being "preachy atheists".

  he also said, in talking about me, that "i can see it in his eyes, he think's he's right!

  " it was after a bunch of drinks at a bar and my roommate said that he was nearly in tears.

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  Cognitive_Dissident

  :He got stoned for the first time ever a few weeks ago and I screamed "GOD IS DEAD" in his face sporadically during a NIN concert DVD. Little things like that I think have been maybe getting to him.
  
  OMG, that is hilarious! I love even more that you refer to screaming "God is Dead!" at a stoned fundy during a NIN dvd as a "little thing". Hilarious. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall for that one.