Posts by tim3l0rd

137

Something interesting!

by John Aquila in

i was invited to a small get-together by a long time friend.

we both served as elders for years.

he is in his late 70s.

tim3l0rd

BTW what about the 30s-40s jws. They are not facebook generation but at the same time they are not the 60s and up who gave up their life. They are like in limbo? What do you think about them?

I'm in that age range of JWs. Some of us adopted facebook and some of us didn't. Some of us are online all the time and some of us aren't. I do think we are in limbo. We were not part of the scholarly generation that studied the bible thoroughly. We were raised as the org was transitioning to "Truth Lite". We bought into the idea that JH was leading this org and that we could rely on what we were being taught as truth. We were also distracted by the numerous foreign language groups and congregations and the repeated requests to move to where the need was greater. Thus we didn't have time for researching the doctrinal changes and the orgs history.

I'm hoping that as some start to or continue to experience hardships and see how the GB and helpers live in contrast to their own lives that more of us will wake up.

30

Pledge for Global Assistance Arrangement - $15 per publisher!

by nmthinker in

last night our congregation read a letter for the global assistance arrangement combined with the traveling overseer assistance arrangement.

the "recommended" amount was $15 per publisher, which was well over $1000 for our hall.. it seemed steep.

our congregation does not have this type of money.

tim3l0rd

They haven't received one dime of my money since Jan/Feb of this year. Their greed and constant focus on donations helped to reinforce that they are not faithful or discreet. My congregation elders can pledge all they want, but someone else is going to have to pony up the $30 for me and my wife. I really hope the congregation just defaults on it's pledge or the elders who pledge it end up making up the difference.

11

Is there actually a valid Translation of the Bible ?

by Phizzy in

i saw a vid on-line awhile ago, i cannot remember the title so can't find it, but the guy was some sort of expert in the languages of the bible, and he made a very good case that there has never been a proper translation of the bible.. what he was saying was that all translators fall into the same trap of an overly slavish use of the etymology of words rather than how language was actually used at the time of writing.. he said that what was needed were scholars who were familiar with secular contemporaneous writings, and knew how language was used at the time.. this looks like a very interesting argument.. any thoughts ?

?.

tim3l0rd

I remember getting into a heated discussion with my dad about the colloquialism in Psalms where it says "your enemies will lick the dust". My dad insisted that this meant that the enemies will be killed as "lick the dust" today implies that, but according to biblical scholars this was a colloquialism that meant someone would be bowed down sort of like "lick my boots". Surprisingly this was a colloquialism that WT got right, at least in ASL. The ASL translation does not say "lick the dust" but is translated as "be made subject to". The problem was that in the English WT there was no explanation of the colloquialism's true meaning.

That was probably one of the reasons for my eventual awakening. I realized that I couldn't just read the Bible and think of it in our terms, but needed to research the context.

12

The Psychological Manipulation of the Watchtower.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

when someone interacts with you they can influence your thoughts and also manipulate your thinking.

i became aware that this is what i was doing with householders on the ministry.

we chipped away at householders with manipulation, and called it a return call.

tim3l0rd

Definitely this. My wife and I haven't been to a meeting in over 2 weeks. She feels guilty about it but otherwise she is more relaxed. She has had the opportunity to go several times, but decided herself that she was too tired or had some other excuse. The less she goes the more open she is to talking about TTATT. Unfortunately we're supposed to go to an assembly this weekend.

I'm hoping my dog's diarrhea problem continues and we're forced to stay home. Who would've thought that I'd be hoping for my dog to have diarrhea??? If we do go, I have a piratebox ready to go.

BTW, my dog is ok. She's getting better. She's still a puppy and likes to eat things that she shouldn't. Acorns evidently cause gas and diarrhea. I try to keep her from eating them, but she is very sneaky and got a few too many recently. I know acorns are mildly toxic too, however, from what I read, she'd have to eat a ton of them before the toxins would make her sick.

166

Mobile Hotspot - JWFACTS.COM - Assembly & Conventions

by thedepressedsoul in

here is an idea i tested.

works at both assemblies and conventions.

i have noticed at the last convention and at my last assembly that when i opened up my wifi setting, tons of hotspots came up for people tethering their tablets to their smart phones.

tim3l0rd

Most JWs don't know what JWFacts is. They will feel tricked no matter what.

They may not know what JWFacts is but if I was a kool-aid drinking JW and saw an open WIFI connection called JWFacts I would not connect to it as I'd know that it wouldn't be WT sanctioned. OTOH if I was starting to wake-up or searching for answers and saw an open WIFI called JWFacts, I'd connect to it out of curiosity and wouldn't feel tricked.

166

Mobile Hotspot - JWFACTS.COM - Assembly & Conventions

by thedepressedsoul in

here is an idea i tested.

works at both assemblies and conventions.

i have noticed at the last convention and at my last assembly that when i opened up my wifi setting, tons of hotspots came up for people tethering their tablets to their smart phones.

tim3l0rd

BTW, anyone looking to build a piratebox that does not already have a device should look at the TP-LINK TL-MR3040. It's a portable router that already runs on battery power and piratebox can be easily installed on it. The battery lasts about 2 - 3 hours, but that could be extended by connecting it to an external USB battery pack.

166

Mobile Hotspot - JWFACTS.COM - Assembly & Conventions

by thedepressedsoul in

here is an idea i tested.

works at both assemblies and conventions.

i have noticed at the last convention and at my last assembly that when i opened up my wifi setting, tons of hotspots came up for people tethering their tablets to their smart phones.

tim3l0rd

I initially thought that tricking a JW into visiting an apostate site or localized version of an apostate site on a piratebox by using an innocuous WIFI name like JW.org or FreeWIFI was a good idea. After reading community responses, I don't think that is a good idea, but I do like the idea of advertising JWFacts.com with your WIFI name or setting up a piratebox with a WIFI name of JWFacts.com and then having Crisis of Conscience available along with other stuff. Tricking them will be seen as underhanded, but if they willfully connect to a WIFI connection called JWFacts.com then on some level they know they are going down the rabbit hole.

18

How was it for you when you had to shun someone?

by Anator in

jw
friends

i remember a good friend when i was in and active who was d'fd.

when he started coming back, for me at that time is was gut-wrenching not to say 'hello' or at the very least encourage him to continue.

i thought even at this time, does this act of shunning really effective?

tim3l0rd

The last friend of mine that was DF'd I would still say hi to. We weren't in the same congregation, but I would frequently be at his work because of my work. I'd say hi and even slipped some encouraging words in. I remembered how I felt when I was DF'd and could not bear to do that to someone else. Unfortunately, I have a friend now that is DF'd and when I reached out to him he basically scolded me and said I shouldn't contact him and should think about my relationship with God. He doesn't know of my fade as he lives in another state and even my relatives are unaware. It's like a reverse shunning.

38

My First Birthday.....

by The Marvster in

i awoken today and realised immidiately i'm 44 today... and after 3 years of being out, decided to acknowledge my birthday.... i'm off out to treat myself to a big hearty breakfast with cup of tea in the local weatherspoon's by the massive pond full of weird bird-life, later today i'm giving myself a gift of a 90 minute relaxation session in a float tank down by canary wharf in london.... only really have 2 close friends (it's a slow process trusting people agian) and they probably won't be able to see me today, but i'm sure i'll have a belated surprise from them both.... the first thing i did when i remembered was to rush to the computer, connect to the web and put on stevie wonder's 'happy birthday', as i listen to it, tears stream down my face... all those years of my life stolen ' but..... i'm free....'.

tim3l0rd

Happy B-day!

26

need input: why does my wife do this. when at the meeting she is always nodding her head in agreement

by goingthruthemotions in

so this is just so nauseating to me when she noddes her head in agreement and in a low voice or sound does a "mmm uh" in agrrement.

but here is the deal, she never aswers at the meetings.

she doesn't go out in service often.

tim3l0rd

It might just be a regional thing. I've been in congregations in the south where JWs did the whole "Hallelujah" and "praise the Lord" bit during the public talk like you'd normally hear in a Southern Baptist church. Took me by surprise at first.