LOL!
I did 49 states in under four minutes (would have been better but my spelling is terrible) and then got totally stuck for the last one, which was connecticut. After looking at the results of the most missed states it looked like it was #1 for those people have a hard time remembering. I wonder why...
drew sagan
JoinedPosts by drew sagan
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32
Let's see how many American States you can name
by JH ini tried this quiz and found it fun .
i'm sure i did better than some americans .
http://www.sporcle.com/games/states.php.
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drew sagan
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41
They Push You In,,,,Then Punish You If You Go!
by new boy inthey brag about the fact that they the don' t baptize their babies because "how can a baby 'know' what religion it wants to believe in the rest of it's life!".
but a 14 year old does?.....they put so much presure on their children to get dunked, that if your not baptize by 18 years old there is something really "wrong" with you.. so the poor kid does it, just to get everyone off their backs.
legally a minor can't be held to a contract if they are under 18 years old and why?
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drew sagan
looks like I killed this thread, lol
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41
They Push You In,,,,Then Punish You If You Go!
by new boy inthey brag about the fact that they the don' t baptize their babies because "how can a baby 'know' what religion it wants to believe in the rest of it's life!".
but a 14 year old does?.....they put so much presure on their children to get dunked, that if your not baptize by 18 years old there is something really "wrong" with you.. so the poor kid does it, just to get everyone off their backs.
legally a minor can't be held to a contract if they are under 18 years old and why?
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drew sagan
In my opinion the Watchtower holds two contradictory ideas regarding baptism at the same time. I think the story is changed depending upon who they are talking to.
If the person is an adult who is a potential member, they will bring up that they don't baptize babies because they want to make a point about how their religion is different from other Churches. This is the argument most are familiar with, but they do add to it.
The way they add to it is through their suggestions on when children should be baptized. The Watchtower views baptism as a deciding factor as to whether or not an individual comes under congregational authority. If you grow up JW but never get baptized you have the chance to have your family as well as stay away from all of the "requirements" to being JW. I believe the organization really dislikes this possibility. Because of this I think they feel it is important to bring children into the arrangement before they grow up into their late teens and early twenties because there is a bigger chance that they will not stick around. Locking them in while they are young seems to be an important part of their organizational goals
Of course once you compare their desire to baptize kids along with their views of infant baptism contradictions become ever apparent. -
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New Here
by *Incubus inhi guys,i appreciate the welcome you extended my little sister(firefox).ive been out for 10+ years but still like reinforcing my lack of faith in all that is dub related..... .
i havent heard from my sister in a few days,im a bit worried shes getting pressure about her research.so hopefully shes still reading....
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drew sagan
Welcome
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Stop buying things made in China
by joelbear69 inreasons.. 1. china has a horrible human rights record.. 2. they are evaporating the us economy.. stop buying.
tell your store manager you won't buy their products..
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drew sagan
Only changes in US trade laws could really have an effect. Consumers will always go where prices are cheaper. Right now the US is way to dependent on China to change anything. We need their money...
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1914- What's the big deal if it's the wrong date?
by cognac ini hear it a lot on this board that the 607 date is wrong... i figured that out while i was a jw... never really thought much about it though.
just thought, ok, if it's wrong then everything is moved up about 20 or so years.... and for that matter, why is it such a big deal to the society?
why can't they just fix the date so it's right.
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drew sagan
As all the others have said, it's a pretty clean cut case.
The 1914 date is tied directly to their all important centrist narrative, namely that now is a time of mankind's history that is more important than ever and it directly correlates to the Watchtower divine appointment as the true religion.
Without the narrative they attach to 1914 (and 1914 for that matter) out time in history is no more important than anybody else's. The excitement and importance is gone, there would be no real reason to be a Jehovah's Witness other than agreeing with some theology. Everything they teach about how important it is to be connected to their organization is out the window. -
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Thinking of becoming a Witness again and my reasons for doing so :(
by reniaa ini've been a faded jw for 10 years i left because of my failed first marriage, i'm no hypocrite and realised i had left completely so i embraced the world and dived in, only christmas and birthdays i could not get into, they were too foreign to me having never celebrated them, like if i suddenly tried to do ramadan or something like that.. 1/ all the criticisms of the people in the truth you say on here, i've found in the world, warts and all only in the world nothing holds them back from being utterly horrible to you.. 2/ i got stabbed by a worldly boyfriend, i got married 2 times of my own choosing to men outside the truth, the first smoked and was an alcoholic, the second gambled every penny we had and defrauded me out of money after we separated, 2 divorces later i am currently pregnant and a single mum since current boyfriend decided kids was to much of a responsibility and he needed his freedom and i was 'too selfish to expect him to give up his life'.. 3/ parents-in-law!
i have been shunned by them as equal to anything you accuse witness families of and for the silliest of reasons, i had a disabled son and his grandparents said they wanted nothing to do with him because they didn't want to become attached in case he died.. 4/ i miss the honest friendships of the truth, i had friends of all ages from 14 to 80 years old and they genuinely cared for me, many trying to keep me in the faith a long time after i left but i was determined to fade so moved away completely, but i find friendships in the world so shallow in comparison and very hard to sustain :( i've never been a drinker and sometimes thats what friendship means you being a companion for them to goto pub with.. 5/ my recent boyfriend was in a christian religion, i thought why not find out about it, harvest churches if you ever heard of them, unfortunately it still hasn't stop him leaving me pregnant and alone and when i said to him how does he clear that with god, he replies "as long as i repent it doesn't matter" it's like he has a "get out of jail free card" for any wrong-doing in the bible, this is so alien to me and my witness trained conscience.. 6/ i recently out of frustration tried looking into atheism and joined their forums, it wasn't fun, they are as bombastic and arrogant as their religious counterparts can be from any religion, they make a religion out of not believing in god, it's very weird they talk of saving people from believing in god and offer nothing to replace it.
they said to me "be happy you are in reality now and enjoy it" and i thought "well if this is reality i've had enough of it".
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drew sagan
reniaa,
It seems that you are pretty interested in what many here have to say. I'd like to give you my opinions of what you are really looking at when thinking of becoming a part of the JWs.
I was JW for 7 years. If there is one know more than anything about being in the JW is that their leadership is in the practice of defining what they believe to be important, and ignore the rest.
They will tell you how important certain theological viewpoints are, why they are correct, and why it points to them as the truth. The Watchtower is a totalistic system, meaning that they believe absolute metaphysical truth is contained completely within their group.
While you can say that many religions are like this, the Watchtower is unique in the level of commitment that it demands from its members. I classify the Jehovah's Witnesses as a "high commitment" religion. While there are different levels in personal freedom in other religious structures, within the Watchtower everything is black and white. There is no place for a person who believes some of it, you must believe it all.
The problem that people have is that you come to the point where you ask "what reason do I have for believing everything they tell me?" There are no "prophets" per say in the Watchtower. No abstract narrative or belief structure that simply asks people to put faith in their leaders in any traditional sense. Rather they make a very big error (in my opinion) and say that the reason you should trust them is because they alone "have the true interpretation of the Bible".
Rather than depend upon a chosen prophet who may have had a vision or received special scriptures, the Watchtower instead says that you can see if their religion is true by some sort of logical process (kind of). Problem is that they want to control every part of this process. If you ever steer off the path they have pre-built for you to follow on your way to conversion they will try and get you back. Push to hard for things to be described and proved on your own terms and not theirs and they will eventually stay away from you.
When you are thinking about the "logical" reasons that the Watchtower puts forth as to why it is the truth I think you are better served by not just weighing the issues they bring up (such as "did jesus die on a cross?") but also thinking about the probabilities of such questions actually giving you a proper guide to choosing the "true religion".
I like to think of it this way. After all is said and done, what it the full and complete message that the JWs preach?. I'll give you one tip it isn't about the trinity, hellfire, the cross, or any similar kind of issue. Rather they are selling a story. A story of how well over 90 years ago a small group of men where directly chosen by God to restore his "true church". That in the year 1919 Jesus Christ came invisibly to the earth and selected this organization and rejected all other churches.
Spending time thinking about how rational it is to believe their historical narrative is much more important. The Watchtower doesn't even teach this stuff to its new members (it is in none of their introductory study publications). That is because there is no direct proof for any of it. They can only take you there by leading you on a long and confusing path discussing various theological topics that they feel they are unique with.
Go outside of what they are presenting to you and what they are beings to make much more sense. -
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What Are Your Favorite Web Sites?
by minimus ini love the drudge report, accuweather.com, new york post online, tripadvisor.com, newsfilter.org .
are there any sites that you think are good?
what are ones that are on your "favorites"?.
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Witness Propaganda= Hitler lost the War = He persecuted the Witnesses!!
by Witness 007 inwe were always told that hitler lost the war because of putting brothers in the concentration camp.
yes, jehovah "arranged" the whole thing.
same with the soviet union.
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drew sagan
Yes, the allied forces had nothing to do with it ;)
When you are so committed to an ideology like the JWs are you will invent narratives that support your world view. It doesn't matter if they are nonsense and have no substance. This is why so many urban legends sprout up in the Watchtower. People within that system are ready to believe anything that supports their view. -
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McCain says presence in Iraq for 100 years if necessary. Clinton on Rush
by dawg inyou all have heard from me that hillary clinton will do anything to get elected, she's already distorted obama's record on nafta, while lying about the fact she's spoken highly of it.
and now i hear her husband bill, appeared on rush limbaugh... wtf?
rush recently said that republicans should vote for hillary to upset the party and bill goes on his show?
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drew sagan
Obama is going to win and get us out of Iraq in a year or less anyway.
Don't count on it. Obama has talked about pulling back combat troops, but has not called for a complete withdrawal. It will continue on no matter who gets in the White House.