CalebInFloroda

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Posts by CalebInFloroda

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  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  Hey KateWild,

  Out of the cult but still in the Tribe! Cool.

  Peace.
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  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  Fukitol

  I only bring up my sexual orientation for this story because it is about being what JWs said I could never be. It is not meant to project any negativity to people of other orientations (and my responses to DJS at the beginning were tongue-in-cheek regarding another exchange and misunderstanding we settled before I wrote my story).

  In reality, my sexual orientation, ethnicity, current convictions, etc. mean nothing really. They are mentioned here to remind others that whatever you are, whoever you are, the Watchtower is wrong if they judge you adversely for it.
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  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  Shalom Lois Lane,

  Encantado. Soy bien, munchas gracias.

  Dio bendiga.
• 
  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  FayeDunaway,

  I decided to dismiss myself of the JW notions of "faith," and basically adopt the Jewish view of "G-d," and it doesn't fit the normal Christian norms at all.

  Jews don't teach a concept of "belief" or mental acknowledgement in God or any of their doctrines. Unlike Christianity, "belief" holds no special power or reward for the Jew. This is likely what James was building upon when he used the illustration: "You believe in one God, am I right? All and good, but so do the demons, and their belief gives them a feeling of doom." (James 2.19) James' epistle, say scholars, was written to Jewish Christians, and their theology was built upon belief that only the Gentiles were free from observation of the Law. (Acts 21.15-26) To be brief, Jews don't believe in God as much as they respond to God.

  That is why you have Jews who are atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, secular, Orthodox, Reform, and even Hebrew Catholic. The question is not whether God is real, but whether one chooses to trust or believe in God. Regardless of how one responds, you remain a Jew (though some argue this point). Thus at your Passover Seder you will find all of these Jews at the same table. The Abrahamic covenant entitles Jews to a place in the world to come, or so they believe, thus there is no need for a salvation doctrine and therefore no amount of mental acceptance that this or that is real has any affect.

  Jews argue with the God Concept and have been doing so since the days of Abraham who debated with God and Jacob who wrestled with God's messenger. We get up in God's face like did Job, and even abandon him when the going gets tough like the apostles did in the person of Jesus Christ. All relationships are like this (by the way I am currently single). None stay at a constant, and none are automatically over just because one side stumbles or chooses to relate to the other in a different manner.

  Slowly Jews are just beginning to accept that some of their number can be followers of Jesus of Nazareth and still remain Jews as long as they are Torah observant or, if secular, do not abandon their cultural identity. Since the 1960s the Roman Catholic Church has quietly re-established a Church in Jerusalem made up of "Hebrew-speaking Catholics who live among the Jews culture." This wording of theirs translates to Jews who are Christian but still live like Jews. My relatives follow the unique customs and religious calendar of this group.

  This is why my siblings and I left so easily and completely. Regardless of how one responds to the concept of G-d, leaving such a rich culture as our family built to exchange it for the dry and boring JW Watchtower world was just stupid. I have a brother who is atheist, but that doesn't change how we live and celebrate life together. The rich family ties of uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents were not severed, and one by one we kids just gravitated away from our parents who literally destroyed themselves with drugs and self hatred.

  Since simple mental belief has no value to Jews, there is no argument about whether one believes this or that. Some among us accept Jesus as Messiach and others do not. Without the "faith=salvation" in our culture, it's no big deal. If there is a God say Jews, then God is going to save us because God loves us, not because we merely mentally acknowledge he exists or not. You don't have to believe someone exists for that person to exist or love you.
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  47

  Regional Convention 2015 - Program

  by Designer Stubble in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  friday morning9:20 music9:30 song no.

  5 and prayer9:40 chairmans address: imitate jesuswhy and how?10:20 symposium: lessons from jesus word pictures observe the birds and the lilies have salt in yourselves build your house on the rock11:10 song no.

  120 and announcements11:20 follow jesus patternkeep on asking, seeking, and knocking!11:45 keynote address: concealed in him are all the treasures of wisdom12:15 song no.

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  CalebInFloroda

  I have a feeling that a theory I had that the JWs would eventually go down the path the Worldwide Church of God did is happening. I believed that they would learn from the mistake the WCoG did by changing things too fast and slowly, very slowly change things until they became comparatively mainstream too.

  The changes in doctrines of late (with the complex typology based on Old Testament figures now trashed), and especially that odd comment a few years ago about following the Governing Body even if it seemed to go beyond reason seems to be a setup not for a Jonestown-like mass suicide but a gradual acceptance of typical Christian theology.

  The change to John 17.3 in the revised NWT would have disfellowshipped any who suggested it back in the 1980s, and this Jesus-centric convention program would have "smacked" of Trinitarian worship of Christ had it been proposed.

  Like Pepsi-co did to get people forget that they were eating fried food at Kentucky Fried Chicken by changing its name to KFC, so it seems Jehovah is seeing his first notch down in almost 100 years with this program along with the fact that even God's name is likewise being phased out: Jehovah's Witnesses are now JW. The "importance" of knowing and speaking the Name of God reduced to a single letter! If Franz could see them now!
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  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  Oh, yes, "Floroda" is an inside joke kinda. I live in the Atlantic Beach area near Jacksonville right off the Atlantic Ocean. Someone I know pronounces "Florida" that way.
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  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  Shalom, oppostate. My ethnic connection to the Nazarenes was recently uncovered when a member of my family was helped by researchers connected with Ancestry.com learned that there was a unanimous tradition that an ancestor or several of them were likely Christians before the Second Temple fell.

  Also in my lineage is, according to the same, Maimonides, and possibly (according to constant legends) King David (but those are hard to substantiate until some DNA can be found from David's line).

  As to customs, It's funny how we kept them going even while JWs, mostly I think because we never talked about them or felt it was significant. We too just did things because, well, everyone else in the family did.

  And hey, Zoos...Yes, just another gay Jewish genius who secretly wanted to be a comedian like Steve Martin when he was a kid.
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  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  SafeAtHome,

  Thanks.

  Except for those controversial parts like John 1.1 it is quite on the spot. But its English is terrible, wordy, and sometimes so bad (even in the 2013 revision) that it ruins the good they did accomplish. But those controversial renderings, most are just possible on a technicality, outweighed by critical methodologies.

  It is the opinion of a colleague of mine (well he's not really a professional, but he's one of those genius types who studies etymology for fun--I know, weird) that many of the NWT revisions are lifted or based on the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). While I don't have a complete list here, there are several phrases that are unique to the NRSV that suddenly appeared in the NWT 2013 version. These phrases and word choices don't appear anywhere else and some of them are a little controversial for conservatives like the Watchtower and seem an unlikely choice by "translators" who have no formal training. In other words it is unlikely that anyone would use such terms outside the liberal editorial choices of the NRSV translation committee, but some appear in the NWT of 2013.

  I think it is plausible to conclude that they merely compared the NWT to new translations like the NIV, NRSV, ESV and even the Catholic NABre and lifted what they liked, pasting it and working it into their "revision." As a philologist I have to admit that I can see what circumstantially looks like this is what they did.
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  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  Giordano,

  Hi, thanks for the welcome.

  Yeah, it's the boring stuff you see in Bible footnotes and footnotes in things like study editions of Shakespeare. It can be useful to non-theists in a lot of their arguments because it shows how ridiculous a lot of Watchtower teachings (and those held by many religions) really are.

  One thing the Jews rarely did was speak directly and clearly. Remember Jesus of Nazareth who when asked point blank if he was the Messiah by the High Priest answered: "You yourself said so." In Jew speak, that means, "Duh!"

  So for a bunch of people to run around and think this stuff is meant to be literal is ridiculous. Jews were never direct, not even in their holy writings. It's like the joke where the kid goes to the rabbi and asks the rabbi:

  Kid: Rabbi, do you know the meaning of life?

  Rabbi: Sure.

  Kid: What is it?

  The rabbi then proceeds to mutter something in Hebrew.

  Kid: (not knowing Hebrew) What does that mean?

  Rabbi: I'll tell you for $200.

  Kid: Why $200?

  Rabbi: Because that's how much I charge for Hebrew lessons.
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  43

  How a Gay Jewish Boy from New England Came to Be and Leave the JWs (and what he did next)

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  born in cambridge, ma to a liberal couple that escaped the conservative south, my parents raised me better than to become a jehovahs witness.

  funny thing was they got mixed up in it first.. while that is a story for another time, i myself had to go along as the third of five children in my family.

  dads job transferred him to texas and my mom worked fulltime herself, but eventually we found ourselves drinking the kool-aid of ambiguity intolerance and full-fledge belief that the bible was literal fact and that salvation was found only by those who were smart enough to enter the confines of the watchtower.. its weird how many people claim they fear children raised by two gay parents will grow up to be gay.

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  CalebInFloroda

  Hi LisaRose,

  Yes, I am of that same group. My folks were Catholic before the JWs came a knocking at our door. When I lived in Texas I thought I was Mexican-American because I have dark skin and the name "Caleb" is also used among Latinos. But as I aged and grew tall, thin, and my Jewish nose grew in it became apparent that something was very different.

  Most of my relatives are Catholics, all Sephardic Jews from Spain. We were recently invited by the governments of Spain and Portugal in their recent "law of return" call to Jews they expelled in 1492 (we didn't take them up on their offer, but I do understand many Hispanics in the U.S. and Mexico are coming to terms to realize they are Mizrahi and not Latin).