Van Gogh

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Posts by Van Gogh

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  32

  Prostitution and Marijuana

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i feel that as a country we waste so much time and money fighting prostitution and marijuana use.

  not that i think these things are something everyone should use, but the fact that we make these illegal and yet other things happen that are the same thing, or worse.

  for example, in nevada, outside the city limits, it is legal for prostitution.

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  Van Gogh

  Great to hear (ex)jdubs discussing the real world.
  I'm from the Netherlands - so what is there left to say for me..?
  Sex slavery/degradation of young girls/lives, together with the dangers of soft drugs to the mental health (schizofrenia) of - again - young lives, in this case mostly young guys though, however, are very worthwile considerations IMO.
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  5

  Revealed: the pill that prevents cancer

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article335359.ecerevealed: the pill that prevents cancer by jeremy laurance, health editor published: 28 december 2005 .

  a daily dose of vitamin d could cut the risk of cancers of the breast, colon and ovary by up to a half, a 40-year review of research has found.

  the evidence for the protective effect of the "sunshine vitamin" is so overwhelming that urgent action must be taken by public health authorities to boost blood levels, say cancer specialists.

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  Van Gogh

  Sunbathing and the benefits of its vitamin D are indeed essential - just do not get sunburned - sunbathing can actually counter the effects of all sorts of cancer.
  
  You must be aware of the dangers of overdosing on all kinds of vitamin D.
  
  You must be aware of the dangers of synthesized vitamin D (as in pasteurized milk).
  
  Best source of vitamin D during winter time is a good quality cod liver oil.
  
  Cod liver oil has all the added advantages of containing essential Omega 3 fatty acids.
  
  
  You must, however, also look into balancing out Omega 3 fatty acids (fishoil has no vit D while cod liver oil has) with the Omega 6 fatty acids from all vegetable/polyunsaturated oils (NOT monounsaturated oils like olive oil).
  
  Most people get way too much omega 6 fatty acids from overdosing on Omega 6 vegetable poly-oils - even worse is the heating and frying of Omega 6 veg poly-oils or the effects of turning them into trans-fat containing hardened plant oils.
  
  Doing some homework for yourself on this issue can IMHO be crucial for long-term health and longevity - which as such could be considered "food at the proper time" - especially considering that such longevity could not after all be provided through the spiritual diet books of the pseudo-scientific Botch Tower Society.
  
  
  Personally, though I am NOT a physician, want to wholeheartedly recommend:
  www.mercola.com
  
  He has a health e-newsletter and searchable database, and among other things, you can order your cod liver oil there.
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  23

  Doubts

  by lazuli in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm an 18 year old girl, i started studying with the jws 9 months ago.

  i was dating a guy that was a jw and i chose that i also wanted to study.

  we were together for 2 years and broke up four months ago.

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  Van Gogh

  Welcome to the board lazuli!

  My advice? Religion and love can be a poisonous concoction.

  Doubting both, however, can be very revealing - very liberating.

  Emancipate yourself...Get an education... Investigate your man and your church.

  Operate from an independant mindset - then take crucial life-altering decisions like committing to baptism or marriage.

  Read Crisis of Conscience by Ray Franz. It'll take your mind of your sorrows - for a long time to come.
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  29

  Hi- New here.

  by sassafras in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello, i've been lurking around for a few months now, finally registered a few weeks ago, and figured it was finally time to post.

  first of all, let me give you a little background so you know where i'm coming from.

  i'm 24, married to my soulmate, and mother to a 2 year old boy.

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  Van Gogh

  Welcome sassefras, You've come to the right place.

  Point your mouse at the post title and click on "edit" in order to change your post and format. I think you then have to check both boxes at the bottem of the message input window (or something like that).

  IMHO, the trick with jdubs like your HB is to make clear that the faithful & discreet slave or GB is a false concept of which jdubs are captives. History research can be very revealing here. It was to me after 35 years. Did you know that a connection was once made between inch-measurements of a pyramid and 1914 (Studies in the Scriptures)? There is a direct relation between 1914 and 1919, which date is crucial to the special position of the GB. The myth of 607 BCE in relation to 1914 is also very compelling.

  (Edit to say: I think the second comment of cheezy's message is very important)
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  22

  When you were a JW, which would you have prefered living on earth or heaven

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when you were a jw and believed that either you could live in heaven or on earth eternally, which did you prefer and why?.

  although we were told that heaven was a better place to live, that we would see god, and that we would live eternally and never die, i prefered living on earth, never see god, and not 100% sure of living eternally, cause we would still be mortals forever, even though we could live eternally on earth.

  most jw's i know said that they would have prefered living on earth eternally in perfect health than living in heaven.

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  Van Gogh

  G,day Oz,
  
  So lets keep the Brooklyn boys to their own rule-books and apply the onerous bits to themselves: We can kick 'm out with them not being able to touch us (faulty logic - I know).
  
  But seriously now, I very much appreciate your input here ozzie. Things are starting to fall into place for me much more now. IMO, the WTS sacrificed the designations of "God" and "Christian" so as to set themselves apart from the "so-called Christians" or Christians "in name only," together with the perception these others had of the concept of the God of the Bible. In doing so, they had to revert back to the OT God-concept and his supposed name, implanting it into the NT.
  Paradoxically, the consequence of this is that "the great crowd" - who "cannot" be full brothers with Christ, and do not have a direct mediator in him, and are thus theoretically further removed from God - can actually BYPASS Christ altogether and are being sold the direct and immediate friendship with God that only Abraham was said to have.
  I find this concept of direct "friendship with Jehovah" to be more heavily promoted in the WT lately. In one of the recent WT's they actually went so far as to portray God-Jehovah/God-the-Father as being humble. This is one of the essential qualities that Christ was supposed to display as HIS example to follow.
  Furthermore, WTS (formerly known as Fred Franz) is able to bore the living daylights out of the R&F with their esoteric OT-bible-commentary-style-prophesy-exegesis of Hosea/Daniel/Isaiah etc. Consequently, the R&F are not only saddled with the depressing and incomprehensible account of mass murder and mayhem of the OT, but in the process are also deprived of identifying with the more modern Greek-style boy and girl-brothers of Christ and his upbeat message.
  Somehow, not having to share a boring heaven with 144.000 religious zealots of the Brooklyn kind OR having the prospect of an eternal outdoor bear-cub & cobra patting district assembly picnic with the trimmed paradise perfection and fluorescence of virid fields and the true blues of perfect skies, ANY future prospect sounds a lot more appealing...
  (I'll dig in to my earthly existence now. Just to be sure.)
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  31

  Does it shock you that there are so few people on this board?

  by free2beme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read once that the witnesses loss between 30,000-50,000 members in the united states alone each year.

  i know the numbers for worldwide exits, must be even larger and times that by all the decades of people leaving and you come to a fairly nice size number.

  i realize some of these decreases are deaths, losing track of correct totals or a percentage returning right back into the congregation.

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  Van Gogh

  Please feel welcome icare4u! Theo Vincent
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  17

  One Good Reason to Register and Post Here

  by YoursChelbie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  whe i came across this forum at first i just read the various posts for a month or so.

  deep down, i knew the real truth was not with the watchtower organization, but i couldn't pin point exactly why i felt that way, and why i had so many doubts.

  then i saw something that made me want to jump right into the conversation.

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  Van Gogh

  Funnily, not the UN-thing.
  Somehow, also for me a "muddy, unclear voice calling out to me through a pane of glass," that is to say, "progressively" for most of my schizophrenic JW life.
  I was always an idealistic true believer, though never a truly zealous one. Sort of a cowardly quiet sideliner from a violent and self-destructive elder family. So, I knew a too much already.
  Never was trusted with more than reading the WT during the WT-study on the platform and being a mike boy.
  Finally somehow got into reading M. James Penton's "Apocalypse Now" and found out about the 607/1919 fraud (Don Cameron's "Captives of a Concept"). I am forever grateful to whoever gave me this stuff. Lurked here on and off with much sympathy cause I'd grown to quietly despise everything about the bOrg for many years already. Have only started reading CoC - really only a formal "blue pill" now. Seen the BBC Panorama thing on child abuse only last week. The puzzle is complete.
  This board has been crucial in my deprogramming.
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  29

  Self Mutilation - In A "Spiritual Paradise"? Awake Feb '06

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i found this latest article in the awake to be quite remarkable.

  while they try to explain cutting yourself as a sickness in the world, it.

  nevertheless makes clear that some witness kids are committing this self multilation, too.

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  Van Gogh

  Yep, friend of mine from way back who was raped by an elder (and kept quiet about it for all those years ever since until this elder from a prominent jdub family died in very good standing) scratched the skin on one arm until it was as rigid as cardboard... touched it myself...
  
  Juni,
  
  You misspelled: it is litter-rature.
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  22

  When you were a JW, which would you have prefered living on earth or heaven

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when you were a jw and believed that either you could live in heaven or on earth eternally, which did you prefer and why?.

  although we were told that heaven was a better place to live, that we would see god, and that we would live eternally and never die, i prefered living on earth, never see god, and not 100% sure of living eternally, cause we would still be mortals forever, even though we could live eternally on earth.

  most jw's i know said that they would have prefered living on earth eternally in perfect health than living in heaven.

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  Van Gogh

  Yep, single most attractive thing about jdubs. It probably also kept me in there way too long.
  
  Never could figure why anyone, including the Brooklyn boys, were ever willing to give us the best deal.
  
  In fact, I gathered that this mysterious incomprehensible yearning must consequently be proof of the supernatural "channel".
  
  I once asked a relatively young post-1935 CO about this. He actually confirmed that he could not really be bothered about earthly life that much anymore (funnily, I have found this lack of zest for life not to be uncommon in many a jdub, especially those of the "elders-with-a-cleaning-career class").
  
  On the other hand, a relatively young post-1935-late-calling-sister I was very good friends with, once told me how she'd fought against the whole anointing thing for years until she'd resigned to it. It scared me shitless.
  
  Also, many exdubs seem to have suddenly taken up the heavenly calling after leaving the realms of the "spiritual earthly paradise".
  
  I really can't get my mind around any of it...
  
  If tickets for earth are/were still available, can I please still make reservations...?
  
  Didn't Jesus say to this sinner guy crucified next to him he'd be with him in paradise? Why would Jesus then be in heaven and this other guy supposedly down here..?
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  68

  Anyone here anointed??//

  by Star Moore in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello friends, i would like to hear some stories of becoming anointed.

  i have been for 5 years now.. been a christian for 26 years.

  i dropped out of the watchtower in september and am learning in leaps and bounds since i left with my new eyes.

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  Van Gogh

  Could you guys for once just elaborate on this and share with us what this secretive "anointing" is all about?

  This whole anointing business has seriously been scaring the **** **** out of me ever since a very trusted friend many years ago once confessed to me how she'd had this anointing feeling for many years and how she had been struggling with it and fighting against it because she really didn't want to go to heaven, until she finally somehow resigned to it. I just couldn't understand how God would do such a thing against anyones will. It threw me into a serious depression.

  Also, Robert King, AKA E-Watchman, has been touting his anointment and how it suddenly gave him miraculous "insight into the scriptures". Designating the serious pseudo-bOrg teachings and tacticts that he and the likes of Donald Burnley (Living Waters) have been churning out as complete BS is putting it just mildly (except for his Awake! article "How to train your dog" bashing of course). His new book must be a tiresome rerun of "Studies in the Scriptures."

  BTW, I came across some stuff on the Unitarian Church which really intrigued me. They claim that no-one will ever go to heaven and that these kings and priests will simply rule ON earth. IMO they really made a thorough job of substantiating this scripturally, which surprised me. IMO this ties with Hebrews, which says the old faithful like Abraham were looking forward to a heavenly kingdom. This would also tie in with OT references that the WTS applies to JW elders for crying out loud. When I read Revelation in another bible than the NWT, it also talked about kings and priests ruling ON earth (not just OVER).

  Could you please answer me, especially considering that the scriptures seem to make more sense to you as anointed?

  Respectfully,

  Theo Vincent