hey randy, maybe a tabbed edit bar on top which take you to other parts of your site would help. Another option would be to put it on the left side going downward. I like the colors, they seem friendlier than the black colors you used before (never liked those colors, way too dissonant) thecarpenter
thecarpenter
JoinedPosts by thecarpenter
-
45
Please I need your help! evil site
by Dogpatch inevil for some at least!.
now that i shamelessly hijacked your attention folks, i could, pretty please use some suggestions.. a dear friend, who is a website designer recently volunteered to redesign my sites.
he succeeded in creating a great design, especially for www.freeminds.org .
-
-
-
24
Worlds Apart
by truthsetsonefree inwe are just back from watching worlds apart.
we all thought that this is the best, most accurate movie on this topic that we have ever seen.
i hope to post more on it once i've gotten some rest.
-
-
thecarpenter
I was very surprised how accurately the witnesses were portrayed. The movie didn't shy away from the emotional toll the dictates of the watchtower has on it's members. From a outsiders perspective, it show the absurdness of the flip-flops on a personal level. Interestingly, we met a group of young witnesses and encouraged them to research their own faith.
I fill in more details later.
-
10
Video re-edit Part Two Pioneering with SKip and Bobbby part II Not at Home
by Wasanelder Once inhere is part two of the ongoing pioneering with skip and bobby saga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo4yfsxgz-m this one is about going back to that not at home... w.once.
.
here's part threehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqnwegvwksg watch for more in coming days and hours... it's fun..
-
-
thecarpenter
oh man, this is so funny!!! I just saw all three. keep them coming...
-
28
Impalement or Crucifiction? Opinions please?
by Tired of the Hypocrisy inas we all know, the jw religion teaches that christ was impaled on a torture stake rather than crucified on the cross.
i have my own views on this and have recently been approached by a friend who also has certain views on the murder of jesus.
from my own reading of history and some recent internet sources, the discription of what the bible says happened to christ bears little resemblance to what impalement on a torture stake actually was.
-
-
thecarpenter
Incidentally, the manner in which Christ died (from a pathological standpoint) also points to a crossbeam mounted to a pole. The scriptures mentioned that it took approximately 6 hours for him to die. This manner of death would be consistent with hypovolemic shock. If he was hung from his hands in the way the society depicts it, his manner of death would has been from asphyxiation and it would have happened much more rapidly. Concentration camp prisoners in WWII who were hung by their wrist with their legs tied down, died within ten minutes because they couldn't lift their bodies to respirate. Those left dangling from their wrist, died in about one hour.
For a more in-depth discussion, see the link below
-
12
See "Worlds Apart" Danish Film about Dfd JW girl, New York City April 25...
by AndersonsInfo inthe important and popular danish film, "world's apart," which was shown at the berlin film festival recently, was selected for the tribecca film festival and will be screened publicly (with english subtitles) five times during the coming weeks at village east cinemas and amc village vii in new york.
please pass the word.
this film depicts the story of a witness girl who steps outside of her religious community by falling in love with a "worldly" young man.
-
-
thecarpenter
the NYC Ex-JW meetup group will be having a meetup on May 4th. We will be seeing the film after dinner.
For details, go to this linkto purchase tickets, go to this link
When Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 5:00 PM
Where Holy Basil (thai restaurant) 149 2nd Ave, New York 10003 (bwtn 9th and 10th st) New York , NY 10019
At 7:30 pm, we will walk to the theater (2 blocks away) to see the film.
-
26
How did you build a new life outside of the JWs?
by Sirona in"if you leave jehovah's organisation, where will you go?".
no doubt many of us have been asked that question.
so where did you "go" when you left the jws?
-
-
thecarpenter
1. How did you build up a new social structure after leaving the JW religion?
Well, I started building my social structure before I left. I started associating more with the non-witness side of the family, joined clubs, cultivated friendships at work, and went back to college to finish my degree. It was a bit of a adjustment period opening up to non-witnesses and I made a few bad selection that I promptly corrected but all and all, things have been going very well. There is hardly a weekend where I'm not involved with some sort of social activity with some friends or meeting new friends.
2. Have you made fulfilling friendships and where did you find those friends?
Probably my best friend would be my non-witness brother, we have gotten a lot closer. Other than that, I am slowly building a friend lists, it is not a easy task but takes slow steady work. I figure that this is something that will take me years to accomplish but I enjoy meeting new people and some will be acquaintances, others transient friends and still others (only a few) good close friends.
3. Do you have a spirituality now and if so, how do you compare it with the JW religion?
I still feel that there is some sort of higher power and I think about it and also think about higher elevating principles. I try to be accommodating to different religious groups, even the witnesses (although I still recognize they are a high control christen cult). The way I look at it, use the time you have now to reach your potential but also to do good to others. After that, if there really is a thereafter, then i'll leave it in gods hands and not worry about it.
4. What is the best advice you can think of to give to someone who has recently left the JWs - in terms of how to rebuild their life?
Take it one step at a time, rebuild your social structure, develop real and worthwhile goals, read good books, educate yourself and make it your determination to continually progress. Also, don't mediate on what you lost but rather on what you have and what you want to gain in life and then start pursuing it.
-
20
Here's how the Society can get out of the "anointed" dilemma
by sir82 inthere's been several posts the past few days about the issues raised when the society dropped the "1935 as the end of the selection of the anointed" doctrine in may 2007 and reinforced the teaching with the 1/15/08 wt.. many ideas have been thrown out regarding how the society will be able to "spin" the almost assured large jump in memorial partakers this year and in following years.. it suddenly hit me how they can do it, and come out smelling like a rose:.
(warning: speculation ahead!).
go back to the "2 class" heavenly calling!.
-
-
thecarpenter
I'm thinking along the same lines as Forscher, the book of revelation is highly symbolic anyway. They just have to say they got even brighter light and now the 144,000 is a symbolic number. Then they declare that they don't know how many will go to heaven but it will be a "complete number" as god see's fit. Problem solved, the great crowd will slurp up this delicious new pile of crapola and be refreshed in this new light.
-
26
To all those that are seriously thinking about going back to JWism...
by nvrgnbk inmaybe you should.. apparently the reasons some had for leaving had nothing to do with truth or reality or what's factual.. some left because they got discouraged or were offended or felt slighted.. if that's why you left- an unkind word, not being invited to some social function, nepotism in the hierarchy, being overlooked for privileges, annoying personalities, etc.- you're in a very unsettled place.. you'll soon discover that people that aren't jehovah's witnesses can be unkind, lack hospitality, show favortism, and be obnoxious.. then what?.
you'll go crawling back?.
if on the other hand you left because you realize that the extraordinary claims made by the religion are completely without support, you may occasionally miss friends and family lost and reminisce about some random happy memories experienced but most likely never feel tempted to return.. the jw religion, like most any other religion, is full of people that want to be told what to do and what to think.. it's easier that way.. thinking can be exhausting.
-
-
thecarpenter
Interesting you mentioned this. I was looking at article regarding personality traits of certain groups of individuals and I came across a study done in a Slovak Republic. Interestingly, many cult members are quite happy in their groups (Hare Krishnas, Jehovah Witnesses) as well as sectarian religious groups (Devout Catholics) compared to those without any religious affiliations.
Here is the abstract...
Abstract: Compared the personality traits of male and female members of sects and cults vs nonmembers aged 17-58 yrs in the Slovak Republic over an 8-mo period. 20 Jehovah's Witnesses (Experimental Subgroup 1), 20 Hare Krishnas (Experimental Subgroup 2), 40 devout Catholics (Control Group 1), and 40 nonreligious Ss (Control Group 2) were administered the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF). The results indicate that, compared with nonreligious Ss, sect and cult members generally were closer to other group members, more yielding, more trusting and relaxed, more thoughtful, more self-disciplined and self-controlled, more insightful, more relentless, more conservative, and less prone to suffer from guilt, fear, and anxiety.
- Personality characteristics of members of sects and cults. Kintlerová, Tatiana; Ceskoslovenská Psychologie, Vol 44(2), 2000. pp. 180-189. [Journal Article]
Religion, even if it is totally bogus (I know some of you thing all religion is bogus), does provide a emotional shield to the weak. If you look at Applegate's group, they were quite happy before they all committed suicide (they happily spoke about what they were about to do). The same can be said of Jim Jones' group.
You are right nvrgbk, some people really need the high control, high structure the Watchtower society provides even if much of their doctrine is bogus and even unethical. These are minor issues compared to the internal turmoil they would experience in trying to control their own lives. Thinking for yourself requires taking responsibility for yourself and not everyone is willing to do that. But I think that if someone wanted help in controlling their life, it would be better to look at a religion that is less dominating, and more holistic that the Jehovah's witnesses.
-
41
So who here has seen Russels grave? Weird huh?
by oompa ini just found out my 67 year old elder/dad has been there too, with his sister who used to live up that way.
it is freaky-deaky weird/scary.
why the hey would jesus pick a weirdo group that thinks pagan egyptian pyramids (who used to enslave and torture gods people) could give the answer to his second coming....pathetic...................oompa
-
-
thecarpenter
Here are some pictures
Very weird!
-
71
ARE YOU PRO-UNION OR ANTI-UNION?
by Mary inwould you rather work in a unionized or non-unionized environment?
the place where i work recently voted 'no', we don't want a union in here (after being harassed by a very large union for the last 5 years).
there were some who voted 'yes', but the majority of us voted 'no' and those that were pro-union are quite pissed off that the rest of us 'fail to see the light'.
-
-
thecarpenter
I'm a union carpenter working in NYC right now and I have to say that the carpenter's union has made a huge difference in providing better conditions, benefits, and pay. Before I joined, I had to work under some really tough conditions, sometimes even dangerous. Since I joined, job security has gotten better, I make more than twice what I was paid before (I kid you not), the overall benefits package is unbelievably good (I had virtually no benefits before), and I have a great pension plan in place. I also noticed that the engineers on my job work more hours and make less money than I do. They also have a very weak union. So it really depends on the solidarity of the workers and the type of union.
To be fair, there are some negatives (hard to fire lazy and incompetent workers, obnoxious posturing of union officials, some strong handed tactics, etc...) but overall, I am glad I joined.
With that said, the situation in Detroit and other places losing jobs, is really a unique situation. Because other non-union countries are competing, it really isn't a level playing field. A thirty dollar a hour worker isn't likely to provide the same value to a business as a 2 dollar a day worker (all other things being equal). Because globalization isn't going to go away, it would be kind of foolish not to adapt in some way. The US auto industry isn't going to be able to compete unless they make changes (which we see happening). Even giving up wages isn't likely to stem the outflow of work to other countries. I can't blame this on the union or the worker as much as I blame the situation. Eventually though, these other countries will unionize and the playing field will get a little more level but this will take years.
