Gary, first and foremost THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOUR CHILDREN. Ok...did you hear me? This is one of the control leverage points they have over you. If your kids were perfect and mute 24/7, then they would find something else. Dirty car. Bad haircut. Not enough field service. Whatever.
This is part of the insanity game they play. No matter how hard you work. How much you go to meetings, or service, or "reach out for priveleges" (ugh, I think I threw up a little in my mouth just typing that tripe) isn't the point. They will ALWAY....repeat ALWAYS find something to make you feel unworthy. To feel guilty. To feel undeserving of God's love. This is how they control you. They beat you down!
I was counseled for so many STUPID things. Never about spirituality. Always about going out in field service with the same people a lot, sitting in the same area of the KH all the time, buying too "sporty" of a car, needing to wear a suit for my #4 talk, not a sports coat. On and on and on. The JW's openly mock the Pharasis of Jesus day, yet are the most inane, micro-managed group anywhere.
Do yourself a favor and step down as an elder TODAY.
Enigma One
JoinedPosts by Enigma One
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It Seems That My Children Are Not Trained
by Gary1914 ini just returned home from the kingdom hall.
i am an elder.. after the meeting all the elders were called to the back room.
i thought this was an impromptu elders' meeting.
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Enigma One
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Why Iraq Is So Desperately Important
by metatron inthe subject of politics often comes up on this board, inevitably.
whatever our opinions on the subject are, most of us share a common.
struggle against the demands of religion(s) that seek to dominate and ruin your life, whether the "truth" or something else.. sad to say, everytime the human race seems to be generally ready to shake off the shackles of controlling religious bigots, something.
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Enigma One
I saw this on another ex-JW discussion board. I asked the poster if I could repost over here. He said yes. I'm cutting and pasting so the links and whatnot may not be active. But it's the message that's important.
For the hundredth time since the US invaded Iraq, the predictions made by those with access to intelligence have proved less reliable than the predictions made by those without. And, for the hundredth time, the inaccuracy of the official forecasts has been blamed on "intelligence failures".
The explanation is wearing a little thin. Are we really expected to believe that the members of the US security services are the only people who cannot see that many Iraqis wish to rid themselves of the US army as fervently as they wished to rid themselves of Saddam Hussein?
To understand why this failure persists, we must first grasp a reality which has seldom been discussed in print. The United States is no longer just a nation. It is now a religion. Its soldiers have entered Iraq to liberate its people not only from their dictator, their oil and their sovereignty, but also from their darkness. As George Bush told his troops on the day he announced victory: "Wherever you go, you carry a message of hope - a message that is ancient and ever new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, 'To the captives, "come out," and to those in darkness, "be free".'"
So American soldiers are no longer merely terrestrial combatants; they have become missionaries. They are no longer simply killing enemies; they are casting out demons. Like all those who send missionaries abroad, the high priests of America cannot conceive that the infidels might resist through their own free will; if they refuse to convert, it is the work of the devil, in his current guise as the former dictator of Iraq.
Gradually this notion of election has been conflated with another, still more dangerous idea. It is not just that the Americans are God's chosen people; America itself is now perceived as a divine project. In his farewell presidential address, Ronald Reagan spoke of his country as a "shining city on a hill", a reference to the Sermon on the Mount. But what Jesus was describing was not a temporal Jerusalem, but the kingdom of heaven. Not only, in Reagan's account, was God's kingdom to be found in the United States of America, but the kingdom of hell could also now be located on earth: the "evil empire" of the Soviet Union, against which His holy warriors were pitched. Since the attacks on New York, this notion of America the divine has been extended and refined.
So those who question George Bush's foreign policy are no longer merely critics; they are blasphemers, or "anti-Americans". Those foreign states which seek to change this policy are wasting their time: you can negotiate with politicians; you cannot negotiate with priests. The US has a divine mission, as Bush suggested in previously: "to defend ... the hopes of all mankind", and woe betide those who hope for something other than the American way of life.
The dangers of national divinity scarcely require explanation. Japan went to war in the 1930s convinced, like George Bush, that it possessed a heaven-sent mission to "liberate" Asia and extend the realm of its divine imperium. It would, the fascist theoretician Kita Ikki predicted: "light the darkness of the entire world". Those who seek to drag heaven down to earth are destined only to engineer a hell. -
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What is Zen
by Enigma One inafter dumping the dub's i was against all religion of any kind.
slowly but surely i started to embrace a belief system that matched my own internal one.
part of my job takes me to asia.
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Enigma One
"Achieved" may be the wrong word. It makes it sound like you can win a race for it or something. LOL.
You can hope to "attain" a level of enlightenment. That would be more accurate. -
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Debunking Dawkins
by Shining One ina reformed response to: .
is science a religion?, by richard dawkins, the humanist, jan./feb.
the faith of science .
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Enigma One
Jesus is busy finding enlightenment from Buddha.
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What is Zen
by Enigma One inafter dumping the dub's i was against all religion of any kind.
slowly but surely i started to embrace a belief system that matched my own internal one.
part of my job takes me to asia.
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What is Zen
by Enigma One inafter dumping the dub's i was against all religion of any kind.
slowly but surely i started to embrace a belief system that matched my own internal one.
part of my job takes me to asia.
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Enigma One
After dumping the Dub's I was against all religion of any kind. Slowly but surely I started to embrace a belief system that matched my own internal one. Part of my job takes me to Asia. I have spent a "fair bit" of time in those parts. I thought I'd post my musings on Zen, with various quotes by Derek Lynn.
"Zen" is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese character "chan," which is in turn the Chinese translation from the Indian Sanskrit term "dhyana," meaning "meditation."
Zen, like Tao, cannot be totally explained in words. Much of your grasp of Zen must necessarily depend on your own intuition. Bodhidharma (528 A.D.) had this to say about it:
Not dependent on the written word,
Transmission apart from the scriptures;
Directly pointing at one’s heart,
Seeing one’s nature, becoming Buddha.
Given that’s the case, the closest we can come to describing Zen in words may be as follows:
Zen is more of an attitude than a belief.
Zen is the peace that comes from being one with an entity other than yourself.
Zen means being aware of your oneness with the world and everything in it.
Zen means living in the present and experience this reality fully.
Zen means being free of the distractions and illusory conflicts of the material world.
Zen means being in the flow of the universe.
Zen means experiencing fully the present, and delighting in the basic miracle of life itself.
Paradox is a part of Zen and the teaching of Zen. A paradox nudges your mind into a direction other than the routine. It helps you disengage the rational mind and free up the intuition. It also points to a truth that cannot be rationally derived through the use of logic. Therefore:
Zen is nothing and yet everything.
Zen is empty but full.
Zen encompasses all and is encompassed by all.
Zen is the beginning and the end.
It's easy for some to dismiss Zen as a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, devoid of real meaning. These would be the people who aren't yet ready to move up to this particular level of spiritual development. That's alright. Such things should not and indeed cannot be rushed. Michael Valentine Smith, the main character from Stranger in a Strange Land, would say that one must "wait for fullness" and that "waiting is." -
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15-Year-Old Seen as New Buddha
by Enigma One inkathmandu, nepal, nov 21 - a 15-year-old boy in the hindu kingdom of nepal, who reportedly has been fasting for six months while meditating beneath a tree, is seen as the new buddha.
thousands of pilgrims have been flocking to the dense forests of bara district in the southern part of the himalayan kingdom to get a glimpse of ram bomjon, who began meditating silently six months ago, britain's daily telegraph reports.
a local journalist said there has been no report so far of ram breaking his fast or moving, even to relieve himself.
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Enigma One
Are you refering to Kalu Rinpoche II the 4 1/2-year-old boy from Taipei?
I know the government of China has tried to grasp a buddha as well. Obviously for political reasons. The current Dali Lama is personna non gratis with the Chinese government. -
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15-Year-Old Seen as New Buddha
by Enigma One inkathmandu, nepal, nov 21 - a 15-year-old boy in the hindu kingdom of nepal, who reportedly has been fasting for six months while meditating beneath a tree, is seen as the new buddha.
thousands of pilgrims have been flocking to the dense forests of bara district in the southern part of the himalayan kingdom to get a glimpse of ram bomjon, who began meditating silently six months ago, britain's daily telegraph reports.
a local journalist said there has been no report so far of ram breaking his fast or moving, even to relieve himself.
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Enigma One
Kathmandu, Nepal, Nov 21 - A 15-year-old boy in the Hindu kingdom of Nepal, who reportedly has been fasting for six months while meditating beneath a tree, is seen as the new Buddha.
Thousands of pilgrims have been flocking to the dense forests of Bara district in the southern part of the Himalayan kingdom to get a glimpse of Ram Bomjon, who began meditating silently six months ago, Britain's Daily Telegraph reports.
A local journalist said there has been no report so far of Ram breaking his fast or moving, even to relieve himself.
It was in Nepal, not far from where Ram is meditating, that the original Buddha was born more than 2,500 years ago, later gaining enlightenment while meditating beneath a similar pipal tree.
Says Ram's mother: "God took him to the forest and I have faith that God will feed him."
Recently a snake bit Ram. After five days, Ram told those around him: "Tell the people not to call me a Buddha. I don't have the Buddha's energy ... A snake bit me but I do not need treatment. I need six years of deep meditation." -
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Debunking Dawkins
by Shining One ina reformed response to: .
is science a religion?, by richard dawkins, the humanist, jan./feb.
the faith of science .
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Enigma One
Debunking Dawkins?
LOL. In a cut and paste 4 paragraph post...you the almight Shining debunk an intelligent and thoughtful person like Dawkins? LOL You give yourself too much credit Shining. In all fairness since you are representing yourself as an expert in this field oh Shinola One would you care to share your educational background and certifications with us? Or did you get your BS degree from the Awake? -
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Is Change Possible for Homosexuals?
by nicolaou ini don't know, you'd think we'd be used to reading crap like this but it still gets my goat.. nic' .
*** w74 8/15 p. 487 is change possible for homosexuals?
thinking transformed.
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Enigma One
Yup, and masturbation urges needed to be fought off by avoiding "spicy" foods. The WTBS with their minions of uneducated, unexperienced, untraveled, idiots love to make themselves into experts on science, medicine, and psychology. The only thing they are experts in is evoking guilt and controling 6 million morons.
