As for most of these "rules" if you caused enough stink and asserted some chutzpa you could get away with them. Once the WT reader didn't show up so they asked me to read the WT. Then 5 mins. before the meeting started they said, oh you're not wearing a suit, just a jacket and tie, you can't read afterall. I was like, oh well, but I coulda said "Can you show me in writing where it says that?" Sisters were encouraged not to use too many props in their #3 talks and they just sheeply went along with it. Once my dad got counseled for wearing a bolo tie and he basically said, Up yours, I'll wear what I want. Pre- air conditioning some elders would give a Public Talk in just a shirt a tie, no suit jacket. Where's the written rules?, I'd ask now. It must put the elders on such a power trip to make unwritten rules and see the sheep carry them out like good little flocklings. Sad that so many don't stand up for themselves. Once I had to write a talk in haste and found out my counsel point was on dress and grooming and I hadn't gotten a haircut so the school overseer thought he was being helpful by warning me I'd be getting a W before the meeting started, so I said OK, find someone else to give the talk then, cause if I've already been counseled, no sense me giving me the talk. He backed down and I gave the talk and got my G. If people were just tough and told the COs and elders where to shove their rules, or threaten to quit or not participate, there'd be less rule-making. Power to the people!
Posts by Cygnus
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97What silly rules did your congregation make up?
by weinermcgee inelders were famous for making up stupid rules with no bible base at all as an ego trip i guess, what were some of yours?
i am not talking about the stupid rules that we all had to follow, just the congregation specific silly ones.. 1. having to button your jacket while on stage (this was later changed due to all the elders having a beer gut).
2. suits only or no privledges.
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369
Why naturalism is irrational
by Shining One inirrational naturalism (#201) .
by henry morris, ph.d. .
abstract .
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Cygnus
BTW (yay I have 3 posts left now), it's my understanding that only mathematics are provable. Other things may be real, but you can't perceive 2 and 2 being 4, it is a provable fact that it is.
So this whole business of proving gravity or comprehending the reality of the colors of walls are assertions made that provisionally they can be accepted but aren't proven by any scientific method.
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The Bible...trust in Faith or trust in Fact?
by jgnat ini read the most extraordinary claim the other day.
"the bible is factual.
" i wondered, how could the speaker possibly back up such a claim?
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Cygnus
Many have taken the great leap from disagreement with the Watchtower to extreme, liberal scripture interpretation and outright unbelief.
And others might suggest you've jumped from the frying pan of JWism into the fire of Fundamenantlism (or a variation thereof).
Rex, like I've always said, the Watchtower and Jesus/Moses are essentially the same. They all say "we speak for God and if you don't do what we say our God will kill you." They all have the same amount of evidence backing up their claims: None. There is a difference however. The existence of the Watchtower can be proven. Not so with the others.
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Pollution, the earth will die in 10-12 years.
by void ini have been reading wt quotes etc, but i have not seen this issue raised.
i dont have a big box of awakes to search through, but i distinctly remember the cover of an awake with a picture of the globe and factories producing smog.
well the mag was about pollution; the core message/prophecy was that the world will mot be survivable in 10 -12 years so we can expect god to step in the next few years.
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Cygnus
Hmmm well the jury is out whether a timescale can be put on how long it'll take at current pollution rates for the earth to become uninhabitable or at least far less habitable than what we're used to for human beings, but the earth itself isn't going anywhere. We might make ourselves extinct but mother earth will still be here faring pretty well. It had been through a hell of a lot before we even got here.
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Elder not calling us "brother or sister" at the book study
by JH ina few months ago, i went to a couple of book studies, and i hadn't set foot there in years, but what stuck me was when the elder called people by their first names when he asked questions at the book study.. instead of saying brother rat, he just called me rat .
instead of saying brother smith, he just said gary, and so on..... .
either the elder was making it more friendly by using our first names in stead of saying brother or sister so and so, or it was a change in the way they operate.. .
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Cygnus
In my experience, pre-1990 at the book study sometimes familiar baptized people would get called their first names. This promoted a family atmosphere. Then, as others have said, COs and KMs put their foot down and said everyone had to be called brother or sister. I always felt bad for the unbaptized 'studies' who would comment and get called by their first names -- adults in their 40s, 50s and even 60s! How embarrassing when everyone else was addressed by their surnames.
I recall in the mid90s an older sister complaining to an elder, "Even in casual conversation, what's wrong with calling someone their first name?" And the elder said, "Wouldn't it be nice if we all addressed each other as brother and sister?" In other words -- DO WHAT WE SAY, BITCH!
How pathetic. I'm 33 and all the adults I know that were adults when I was a kid I address by their first names and they love it. I hate such rules.
Edited to add: Also this business of calling God by his name - I think there's plenty of precedent in the Bible to do so. Just 'cause Jesus didn't or it goes against one's cultural taste doesn't mean it's wrong for Christians to do so. The Bible does say literally "I am Jehovah your God" not "I am the LORD your God."
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Just blagged my way out of the evening service...
by Sam the Man inwell an elder had the nerve to tell me that i 'wasnt doing enough' and that i should 'really start' by coming out on the evening service on monday night.
'yeah, ok mate'.
there is a lie to get out of anything!
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Cygnus
I agree with 'I quit!'. What's so hard about just saying no thanks?
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369
Why naturalism is irrational
by Shining One inirrational naturalism (#201) .
by henry morris, ph.d. .
abstract .
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Cygnus
but how does mapping areas of the brain define what an emotion is?
'Round and 'round she goes, and where she'll stop, nobody knows. Edited at 4:48 EST: I'm out of posts as Simon reduced me from 75 to 25 again so I'll have to wait a day to make any more substantial comments.
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369
Why naturalism is irrational
by Shining One inirrational naturalism (#201) .
by henry morris, ph.d. .
abstract .
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Cygnus
Hows and whys are not tangible constructs, but whatever paradigms they fall into can be studied via the scientific method. What are my states of being half-awake/half-asleep? Or my sleep paralysis? It's my brain playing tricks on me. It's not some demon, or spirit, or ghost, or my own soul. Same thing with near death experiences or UFO abductions.
Jesus, this is so easy to explain. "Super"naturalism does not exist. Everything is natural, even that which we don't understand. That's not reductionist thinking; that's just how it is.
If the Ghostbusters were real and could visit haunted buildings in New york and zap spirits into little boxes so we could study them, the spirits would be "real" and not supernatural anymore.
The only supernatural that could by definition exist exists outside of our scope of ability to comprehend it and study it. Therefore it's irrelevant. Which happens to be my position on God or whatever IDers want to call their first cause.
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MY NAME IS EARL
by Cygnus inlast night i downloaded the first two episodes of this show and the last time i laughed so hard was when i watched jay and silent bob strike back, a movie from 2002 which happens to include jason lee who plays two characters resurrected from past kevin smith movies, mallrats and chasing amy.. who else thinks this is the best thing to happen to television since seinfeld got really good?
if you're familiar with jason lee and mallrats, you can see some of his character brodie in earl.
the only thing that disturbed me was when i saw jason lee on carson daly's show and he said some disparaging remarks about movies he's been associated with, which makes me wonder if he's had a major falling out with smith.
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Cygnus
YES!
I just read what Kevin Smith said about "My Name Is Earl" in the blog he writes. To wit:
“Earl” is a great, original show, and both Lee and Ethan are fantastic in it. There’s a “Raising Arizona” flavor to it, and Lee is pitch-perfect in the single-camera show. Mercifully, there’s no laugh-track, so it plays like a feature, and the premise – Earl has over two hundred mistakes he has to make up for in order to balance his karma – is such that if the critical gods keep smiling down (or up) at the show, it’ll run for years. This is one time you can believe the hype; even without my boys on the marquee, I’d still think this is the best sitcom I’ve seen since “Seinfeld”.
What did I say in my first post? WHAT DID I SAY? Smith and I are on the same wavelength here. That's an awesome feeling.
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32
Ever wonder why...........
by knot4me injw's never get dfed for being fat?
please don't take this offensively if you are overweight, i'm a little chubby myself.
i'm not judging.
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Cygnus
Schne, obesity isn't the problem - gluttony is. I suppose a really obese person could be observed by at least two 'witnesses' going to dinner at an all-you-can-eat joint every night and tell the elders and then the elders might have something to work with. But just because you're obscenely fat doesn't mean you're a glutton.