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.
Cognitive_Dissident
JoinedPosts by Cognitive_Dissident
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24
Is this what dubs do on a convention night now??????
by BLISSISIGNORANCE inhi 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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OMG - Part 18 of my exit story EXPLODES !!!
by Amazing1914 ini 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.
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"You guys are the most preachy atheists I've ever met!"
by GetBusyLiving ina 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. -
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TOP TEN SIGNS THAT YOU ARE AN UNQUESTIONING JEHOVAH'S WITNESS
by nicolaou in10- you vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of your god - jehovah.. .
9- you feel insulted and 'dehumanized' when scientists say that people evolved from lesser life forms, but you have no problem with the biblical claim that we were created from dirt.. .
8- you laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in multidues of demons, angels, cherubs etc.. .
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Cognitive_Dissident
11. You actually believe that you don't take the bible literally, yet repeatedly use your literal interpretation of 2 Peter 3:8 that "one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" as proof of this fact.
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"You guys are the most preachy atheists I've ever met!"
by GetBusyLiving ina 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
Sounds more like he's battling with his own beliefs than he is having trouble swallowing yours. I know that I personally went through a few similar breakdowns when I found out someone very close to me was visiting this site. It was a mix of anger, betrayal and pain, but ultimately the reason it pissed me off so much was because it was threatening my insular little world. And in the end, here I am. And I love where I am now. Regardless of what I believe now, I'm infinitely better of than I was when I was blinded by fundamentalism, because I'm more peaceful now. Which is not to say I spend each day cross-legged and contemplating my navel, but I don't feel threatened by the beliefs of others any more.
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Do JWs give you the creeps?
by sonnyboy ini'm not sure if anyone else has experienced this, but i've recently begun to get the willies when i'm around an active jehovah's witness.
this didn't happen until after i started posting here.. when i stop by my parents' house on a saturday morning and the witnoids show up, i get a sinking feeling in my stomach....a mix between sickness, fear, and anger.
i used to try and put on a happy face and be sociable when they came in, but now i just wave goodbye and as i'm walking out.
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Cognitive_Dissident
:Write down some words. Or express yourself here. Write a letter to a creepy person here. It may do some good to alleviate your fears by putting definite words to them. --anewme
I think that is great advice. I know I've done some ranting since I got here, and it has helped quite a bit. It's allowed me to organize the hundreds of thoughts that all bounce around inside my head when I start to think about the witnesses.
When it comes to that feeling of nausea and anxiety, I can completely relate. What I think it is for me is this - Being raised as a witness I was constantly watching what I said and did, so that it would not be misinterpreted by another witness as having a "bad attitude" or evidence of some sin that needed to be dealt with by the elders. So for almost my entire life I never really relaxed and just let me be myself, I was always on guard, always worried that something I did was going to get me in trouble or "stumble" someone. And now, since leaving, I've discovered how wonderful it is to not have that constant worry, that people exist who DON'T judge. And when I'm around witnesses again, I start to feel that old tendency to talk and act a certain way creep in, and THAT'S what makes me feel nauseous and gross. Because after experiencing the freedom to think, speak and act without fear of unjustified punishment or reprisal, exposure to that mentality is a disgusting reminder of what I left behind. -
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being...
by Cognitive_Dissident inso i'm reading milan kundera's the unbearable lightness of being at the moment, and i just had to share a few of the passages that stood out to me today.
i would like to preface all of this by saying that i am not calling anyone a communist, ok?
the reason i included some background and history is so the passages from the book will not be out of context and cause misinterpretation.
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Cognitive_Dissident
So I'm reading Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being at the moment, and I just had to share a few of the passages that stood out to me today. I would like to preface all of this by saying that I am not calling anyone a communist, ok? The reason I included some background and history is so the passages from the book will not be out of context and cause misinterpretation. I wanted to start this thread to see what everyone thought of the two following passages, and what relevance, if any, they felt they might have to the JW's and religion in general. The comments in red are the ones that jumped out at me.
Brief backstory - Tomas, one of the main characters, is a Czech citizen living in Prague before and during the Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1968. Tomas is a surgeon and outspoken intellectual.
---(Narration) "Anyone who thinks that the Communist regimes of Central Europe are exclusively the work of criminals is overlooking a basic truth: the criminal regimes were made not by criminals but by enthusiasts convinced they had discovered the only road to paradise. They defended that road so valiantly that they were forced to execute many people. Later it became clear that there was no paradise, that the enthusiasts were therefore murderers." --pp. 176
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(The following passage takes place after the Russian occupation, and refers to a letter, published in a widely circulated reformist Czech newspaper, that Tomas had written prior to the occupation, in which he harshly criticized the non-reformist element of the communist government. Tomas has been approached by the chief surgeon of his hospital and told that in order to keep his job he must write a letter retracting his statements that were published before the occupation.) (For more on the history of the Czech republic during this time, go here.)
---'The chief surgeon went on: "The pressure to make public retractions of past statements-there's something medieval about it. What does it mean, anyway, to 'retract' what you've said? How can anyone state categorically that a thought he once had is no longer valid? In modern times an idea can be refuted, yes, but not retracted. And since to retract an idea is impossible, merely verbal, formal sorcery, I see no reason why you shouldn't do as they wish. In a society run by terror, no statements whatsoever can be taken seriously. They are all forced, and it is the duty of every honest man to ignore them. Let me conclude by saying that it is in my interest and in your patients' interest that you stay on here with us."
"You're right, I'm sure," said Tomas, looking very unhappy.
"But?" The chief surgeon was trying to guess his train of thought.
"I'm afraid I'd be ashamed."
"Ashamed! You mean to say you hold your colleagues in such high esteem that you care what they think?"
"No, I don't hold them in high esteem," said Tomas.
"Oh, by the way," the chief surgeon added, "you won't have to make a public statement. I have their assurance. They're bureaucrats. All they need is a note in their files to the effect that you've nothing against the regime. Then if someone comes and attacks them for letting you work at the hospital, they're covered. They've given me their word that anything you say will remain between you and them. They have no intention of publishing a word of it."
"Give me a week to think it over," said Tomas, and there the matter rested. -
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WHY AREN'T YOU OUT IN SERVICE THIS MORNING??!!
by Mary in.
seeing as you're reading this thread, can i assume that you're not going out preaching 'bout dis gutt news uf de king-dumb this morning?
what do you do with all your free sattiday mornings now that you don't have to sell magazines for 2 hours?
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Cognitive_Dissident
"I had the option today of going out in service, or chewing a ball of tinfoil. My dilemma is regular or heavy duty."
Stealyourface, I love it.
My morning started at half past twelve and then followed a strict schedule of enjoying the beatiful weather outside with no hidden agendas or mind-screwing scriptural interpretations whatsoever. I've soaking up the free time I have because once school starts in less than a month I'll be a busy little heretical beaver. -
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What's your favorite classical music?
by DanTheMan inof course beethoven's fifth is tops for me, and the ninth close behind.
also sprach zarathustra - strauss.
fanfare for the common man - aaron copeland (what a nice thing that was for him to dedicate such a great piece of music to plebeians like me *sniff*).
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Cognitive_Dissident
Chopin - I'm in love with all of his etudes, preludes and nocturnes
Mozart's Requiem
The Rach 3
Debussy and Liszt
Erik Satie - gymnopedies 1-3 specifically
and although he's not classical, I really like Autumn by George Winston
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Dogma - The Movie (Directed by Kevin Smith)
by Black Man inhey y'all,.
i recently got this film on dvd and it is so on-point with its cynical look at religion and belief systems.
i laughed 'till i cried.
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Cognitive_Dissident
Absolutely love that movie. I too love the exchange between Matt Damon and the nun in the airport.
"What I don't understand is that you know for a fact that there is a God, you've been in his presence, but I just overheard you convince that nun that he doesn't exist. Why?"
"I just love f#%@ing with the clergy."
Priceless. I watched it for the first time while still a witness and thought it was freaking hilarious, the other JW's I watched it with were very squirmy throughout. In retrospect that was probably an indication of the direction I was heading.
Kind of funny, I was hanging out with some of my neighbors today, and one of the guys said that when he was in kindergarten, he forged a note from his mom saying that she couldn't leave the house due to an injury and that it was ok that he bought cigarettes for her. And the guy at the gas station actually sold them to him! Instantly made me think of Clerks. And if we're talking about Kevin Smith, we can't forget Mallrats. Another classic.