DakotaRed

Joined

• started 81 topics
• posted 2,836 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by DakotaRed

• 
  28

  Who Draws The Line and Why?

  by hillary_step in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wish to present three situations that are true to life and open up a discussion on these different scenarios and how would would personally act toward them.. 1) a 75 year old person has been a jw for the past 40 years.

  most of their friends are jws.

  they look forward to the fellowship at the meetings and though the congregation is far from perfect, they are pleased with the fact that they have a purpose in life.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  Would you try to inform them of the failings of their religion if you were given the opportunity?

  By the same exact token, how many people in real life look forward to the exact same scenario you describe, but in "christendom?" I have personally witnessed many such things as you describe, outside the JWs and their church members were doing all they could for them.

  Yet, isn't it the JWs that will go to their door and tell them the failings of the religion that is bringing them comfort? Why yes, it is.

  The one thing I have come to absolutely hate in religion is their bottomless pit of negative resources to spew against each other.

  However, allow me to point out a few things you forgot to mention with your hypothetical situations.

  1. A 75 year old that has been in the org for 40 years is probably beyond helping. They have been used and abused for all that time and have come to look forward to it. But, since God reads hearts and man doesn't, their fate is in his hands as to they receive resurrection or not.

  2. A home bound cripple would be expected to at least "phone witness" as much as possible. The pressure would be there to get in the hours and witness any way possible. After all, the ragazines have numerous accounts of people worse off doing more.

  3. The former hooker may have less abuse than she did when on the streets, but there would also be the pressure to get out more and pioneer. Her sex starved JW hubby just might sense that he is missing what she used to sell on the streets and pressure her there. Old biddies that sit in the back of the KH every Sunday just to gossip about sister so and so would most likely never let her forget that she was once once a hooker (to be fair, all religions have an abundance of these old gossip biddies). With pressure coming from all sides and then being told how to properly raise her children by a group of spiritually unqualified brothers, who cannot even agree amongst themselves, just might be somehting that could turn her back onto the streets.

  All hypothetical, you understand!

  So, are those three individuals really better off? If the situation described is so calming and good, why do the JWs try to pry people in the same exact situation, with the same exact calming effect you describe, away from their religions?????

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  18

  CLEAN HOMES,YARDS,AND CARS

  by Ranchette in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  remember how we were taught that if we kept our homes, yards and cars clean it would bring honor to jehovah and serve as a witness to our neighbors?.

  we really thought people would look at our freshly mowed lawn and they would think, "those people must represent the true god jehovah?".

  those people never connected god to any of those things!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  Remember how we were taught that if we kept our homes, yards and cars clean it would bring honor to Jehovah and serve as a witness to our neighbors?

  You've obviously never met my JW wife and her JW brats! An act of congress couldn't get them off their lazy asses to clean the house, much less help with yard work or cook a decent meal. But, there is always time to go and suck in more Watchtower shit and decive decent folks into believing they must change.

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  28

  Open Letter To Jehovah's Witnesses

  by Outaservice in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  you may not remember, but i know you very well.

  i met you a long time ago when you came to my house with your smiling faces, your neat clothes, and your soft voices, and a bible tucked neatly under your arm.

  you told me many beautiful stories of a "paradise earth," and a "righteous new system" which would be established shortly.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  Very powerful words, Gaila, well written and to the point!

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  57

  Ignorance of Silent Lambies

  by proplog2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what a bunch of wall paper.

  99% of the people on this forum are hopelessly believers in one sided non-sense.

  i am tired of the abusive language that has been dumped on me by otherwise respectable participants.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  I am tired of the abusive language that has been dumped on me by otherwise respectable participants. It is assumed that if you aren't for the Silent Lambs cause then you are automatically and advocate of child molestation. In fact not a few in this forum have called me a child molester. What utter stupidity.

  And just what cause is it that upsets you so? That the Watchtower policy advocates sheltering known child molesters? That innocent victims be further victimized by the one source they should be able to turn to for support? That pedophiles can continue to get away with it?

  It was just a couple years ago that the Watchtower published scathing remarks against the Catholic church for harboring and sheltering these type of low lifes. Yet, all the while, they were doing the same!!!

  Make no mistake, the problem is not localized to the JWs, but they too have their share of blame in the debacle. Regardless of reporting laws, these jerks need to be held accountable, in a court of law!

  As one who was abused as a child and received even more abuse from the JWs as an adult, including false reports of abusing others, the Watchtower should be held accountable just as much as any other religion! Any report of abuse, especially sexual, should be immediately referred to the proper authorities, not swept under the rug by the "good old boy club!"

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  9

  Had Dinner with my Daughter

  by Undecided in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my paternal daughter is going to college to learn to do sonograms.

  she has finished her schooling for xray and likes sonograms better.

  she is married and seems happy.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  I know just how you feel, Ken. I have two daughters myself, 27 and 29. I have told them both they are the high points in my life. I recently made them both a set of CDs of favorite music from the summer of 1984, the second summer I brought them to Florida. I printed pictures from the summer for the CD cases and wrote on the inside how special they were to me.

  Thankfully, neither of them ever were interested in the JWs. Since I am out, we get along just as good as we did before.

  I even had one elder tell me that their raising didn't mean much since they weren't JW. He wore out his welcome in my home, real fast!

  Of all the faults I saw in the JWs, the lack of love is probably the biggest.

  Hopefully, one day, your daughter will reward you with as wonderful of grandchildren as my oldest has me.

  Lew

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  8

  New World Translation Examined

  by ThiChi in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am in a reading mood!

  !has anyone read the role of theology and bias in bible translation: with a special look at the new world translation of jehovah's witnesses?.

  many claims have been made here regarding the reliability of the nwt.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  Personally, I don't see the NWT as any better or any worse than any other Bible. All of them have their translators personal bias translated into them. Personally, that is why I use multiple translations and still, consult dictionaries and such.

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  5

  My brother's anniversary (*spoiler warning)

  by lauralisa in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i posted this previously.

  tonight is the anniversary of his suicide.

  sorry to any who are unduly provoked.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  So sad to hear of this, Laura. Suicide is such a permanent end to what is usually such a temporary problem. The pain and suffering of those left behind is unimagineable.

  My heart truly goes out to you.

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  8

  The end: so what?

  by larc in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i first heard about the end of the world when i was 5 years old.

  that was in 1945. when i left the jws, i was in my 20's and never cared much for end time predictions ever since.

  i have heard how man will destroy himself.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  If the end is truly coming soon, what control do we have over it? None! If it isn't, then we still have no control over it. Personally, I try to just make it through one day at a time and live my life. If it happens as the JWs say, we have nothing really to worry about. I don't believe in a fiery hell, so I don't worry there, either.

  If you actually researched it, the end time doom and gloom crowd have been failing at predictions for two thousand years anyway, so why worry about it? Take care of your families and enjoy them while you can, life is short enough as it is. No need sitting around worrying to death about something that may never happen in our lifetime.

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  1

  The Military Book Club - true mom and apple pie?

  by expatbrit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i received in the mail and invite to join the military book club, together with a sample catalogue ("take 19,568 books for 3 cents, then just buy 1 more book in the next 568 years!")..

  it is, of course, an american book club, with the consequent fixation on american military exploits throughout history.

  they include a small section for canadians ("was canada really a haven for nazi war criminals" etc etc), and have a strange fixation on the sas.. following are some excerpts from the catalogue, with my nasty comments at the expense of americans in blue.. guns illustrated 2002. photos of thousands of guns fill the pages of this incredible book.

  1. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  Well Brit, you have received the standard American idea of capitalism. Like many others, they are set up to make money, and books on war seem to sell real well. Most of the books aren't worth reading, though, unless you like revisionist history and sloppy novels. Few are written by those who actually fought in the wars. Those of us who have tasted war seem to have a different outlook and don't find it so grand and glorious.

  I get offers from the same group a few times a month and just throw them away. Most Americans are peace loving and not all that different from others around the world. Of the majority of gun owners in this country, I would have to say their guns sit and rust in a closet.

  If you really wish to read a good novel based on an actual account of Vietnam, though, I recommend Red Bird Down by Bruce E. Carlson. It is available through Amazon.com and although a bit lengthy, shows the Vietnam perspective from a helicopter pilots point of view. No glorification or excessive hype, just how we became frustrated at the handling of it.

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
• 
  10

  APOSTATE NOT SHUNNED - HUH?

  by Trotafox in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, i certainly am confused!

  my jw neighbor just waved "hi" to me from her driveway so i went ahead and bit.

  i hollered "my washer just broke down" (i was carrying a load to my other neighbors washer).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  DakotaRed

  SInce she is such a long termer, maybe she feels like an "elderette." If so, maybe she thinks she can sweet talk you back and earn a bit more of God's grace.

  Regardless, I think it would be worthwhile to "test the waters" and see what her motive is.

  If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?