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

  Thanks for the welcome everyone. I appreciate it so very much!
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  11

  "Neither can salt water produce fresh water." - James 3:12, RNWT

  by 88JM in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i noticed this verse the other night and thought it looked so obviously ridiculously provably untrue that there must be something more to it.

  surely even a bible writer must understand that desalination isn't witchcraft?.

  new american standard bible:"nor can salt water produce fresh.".

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  CalebInFloroda

  The Greek text reads:

  Oute halikon glickie poisay hydoor.

  In English that would be: "Neither does a spring of salt water manufacture sweet."

  Literally the words are: NOT SALT [,] SWEET MANUFACTURE WATER.

  That the text isn't speaking about whether water can be desalinated is clear from the first part which uses the same structure in stating: "a fig tree doesn't manufacture olives."

  A person's mouth is compared to the fig tree and salty spring, and the question is what each produces or manufactures. The implication is that a person's heart is "salty" not "sweet" if the product is like what comes from a salty source. Besides Moses changed salt water to sweet according to the legendary narrative of the trek through the wilderness, so this is likely not a denial of what can be done with water.--Exodus 15.25.
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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

  Post script:

  I didn't say I didn't believe in God. I was explaining that what God is to me and the Jewish culture is not something that get reduced to a mere belief.

  One believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. One believes in a weather report. Christians believe in concepts, and that belief equals faith that leads to a reward.

  The Jewish stance is more of an active response or participation in God, even if one is atheist. One cannot reject something that isn't, because even if the Jewish concept of God is rejected by an individual Jew, who and what they are is so defined by HaShem that even a rejection is a response or participation in what shapes the history and lives of Jews. You are still a Jew if there is no God, and you're a Jew because of God, whether real or imaginary. The belief or no belief thing is too naive to be applied here.
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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

  Why the "G-d"?

  It's how Jews spell "God." In Jewish culture to use a word or name that is holy as often and in the same manner as a mundane one makes that word or name mundane too. This is one reason why Jews rarely pronounce YHWH. We usually say "HaShem" instead (which means "the Name"). And since in Hebrew "Elohim" is also a Name when speaking of the Abrahamic God (sorry JWs, but it's not always just a title) Jews don't spell it out in its complete form in any language in case the object upon which it appears is treated in a mundane or profane manner. So when you see "G-d," be assured you are talking about the Jewish God and the various concepts associated.
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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

  Okay, me thinks me got it, Lois.

  Enkantado. Soy byen, munchas gracyas.

  Se avalando en Ladino, que tal! Adonde estudyar? Eyes Judeo?

  (I win, iPad!)
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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

  Post script to LoisLane,

  How did you get your Ladino spellings in your response so easily? I am on an iPad and I struggled just to write the little I did, and I still couldn't get it all just right. I both love and hate my auto-correct feature, but mostly hate 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

  Hey KateWild,

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

  Peace.
• 
  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.