Welcome rolliepollie and please keep an open mind. There is much good information to be learned here from a multiplicity of deep thinkers. I for one would like to believe in a higher power but find I am unable to reconcile reality with wishful thinking. If there was a God or Higher Power and he was really concerned about the human race, his message to us should be clear, concise, convincing, and conceivable on a rational level. Instead we are offered the Bible as holy scripture and it's message is cloudy, conflated, confusing, and crap. On top of that, we are told that we need a third party religious authority figure to interpret it's arcane message. No thank you.
sparky1
JoinedPosts by sparky1
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sparky1
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18
What’s Your Favorite Song and Musical Group?
by minimus ini love soul , r @ b and funk.
one of my favorite songs is al green’s let’s stay together.
i love the philly sound and tom jones still has it!.
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sparky1
Neil Young - The song LAST DANCE
That song reminds me of being a Bethelite and that if I had chosen to I could live my own life.
"You can live your own life
Making it happen
Working on your own time
Laid back and laughin'
Oh no, oh no.
No, no, no."
Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders - The song KID
That song reminds me of unrequited love from when I was 23 years old.
"You think its wrong
I can tell you do
How can I explain
When you don't want me to."
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I am a proud Jehovah's Witness Defender
by Matthew Jefferson inmy name is matthew j and i have just ended my study with the jehovah's witnesses.
no, i did not stop studying because i believe the jehovah's witnesses are a 'cult', i left due to the minor beliefs that i hold that remain separate from the organization.
i called my elder who is still an amazing man and great counselor, affirming that i do not wish to continue my studying.
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sparky1
Welcome Matthew. I found your post intriguing at best and naïve at worst. You say that you are a 'Jehovah's Witness defender and friend' and your loyalty is an admirable trait. However, since you are not a baptized member of this religion, they feel that you will die in the impending Armageddon. They are not your real friends. They just tolerate you with their false façade in hopes that you will join their religion and become just like them. Cofty has made an excellent point in saying that you are now 'among experts'. You were exposed to this religion for 9 months. The combined months of the posters association here runs into the thousands. Please stay and learn from those posting here that have far more lifetime experience with this religion than a mere 9 months.
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121
What Are Your Rights?
by Simon inrights seem to be everywhere nowadays.
say hello to someone in the wrong way and you've violated 101 of their human rights.
people imagine they have the right to all sorts of things - food, healthcare, housing, internet ... so many things are labelled basic rights and then you get onto their human rights - a favourite of the do-nothing bodies such as the un to declare.
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sparky1
"You have the right to remain silent." - Miranda warning in the United States
Some may want to consider that warning before they post here in order not to elicit replies that they find unpleasant , distasteful, or in direct opposition to their 'pet' ideas. That would include those who accuse others of bigotry, Nazism, and Watchtower 'cult' thinking.
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This was UNQUESTIONABLY "food at the proper time"........
by The Fall Guy in...in 1951, but unfit for consumption for those jw's children & grandchildren.. w51 12/15 pp.
763-764 - paul was known as the “apostle to the nations.” he produced “the signs of an apostle”.
(2 cor.
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sparky1
Great post, JW Gone Bad. Insight on The Scriptures on pgs 354-355 under the heading of MATTHIAS says the following: " Joseph Barsabbas and Matthias were put up for selection; after prayer, lots were cast, and Matthias was chosen. Occurring just a few days prior to the outpouring of holy spirit, this is the last instance reported in the Bible of lots being resorted to in determining Jehovah's choice in a matter." (italics mine) So who is more important in choosing an apostle, Jehovah or the holy spirit? Just one more instance of Jehovah's Witnesses writing department not checking what was written previously and making up scriptural interpretations on a whim.
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I Am Still Here! Another Birthday look back at one helluva lifetime
by TerryWalstrom inwhen the doctor pulled my screaming body out of mom all those 7 decades ago, i landed in a post-wwii world.the world of 1947--compared to today's world--an alien planet.. the world i live in today has nothing in common with the world in which i grew up.. there were no cell phones back then--there were black telephones with a dial-tone and an operator who placed your call.
everywhere you found telephone booths!
a call was a nickel.where did all those telephone booths go?i dunno.where did my whole world go?i dunno.. tv sets were huge boxes with tubes and small screens.
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sparky1
We had this exact telephone when I was a little boy. At 63 I am a few years behind you. But I still remember my mother making me memorize the old phone number Riverview 9-0033! Thanks for the walk down memory lane and Happy Birthday.
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Reflecting On Death
by Charles Gillette inreflecting on death.
i can't remember, maybe steve jobs before he died.i thought i would share it with you and see what you think about it, and i'm quoting i think from his book.. "i'm about fifty-fifty on believing in god.
for most of my life, i've felt that there must be more to our own existence than meets the eye.. i might be overestimating the odds 50/50 out of a desire to believe in an afterlife.
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sparky1
One of the issues that I see with us 'older ones' is that we belonged to a death denying religious cult. We were told that 'Millions Now Living Will Never Die' and so we never had to work through the reality of our own deaths. Remember our parents telling us that Armageddon was 'just around the corner' and we would never have to finish elementary school, then junior high school and then high school? Or they would put things off such as medical care or financial planning and savings because we would never need to take care of such things because Armageddon was so close? As young children we were programmed to put death out of our minds by the Jehovah's Witness religion because death would not be a part of our human experience. We were promised that we would be the first generation of humans not to face death. And yet here we are. Growing older by the day (I'm 63 years old ) we must now admit to ourselves that our time on this earth IS LIMITED and there probably is nothing else beyond this. We have been the victim of a cruel hoax and now must deal with the consequences.
These two books have helped me immensely in coming to terms with death and life. I learned a lot about the human condition from them also. I have them in my personal library and highly recommend them. (My post pertains mainly to those who were born in to this religion and those who joined pre-1975.)
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The Society is Blocking Research On their Web Site
by new boy init seems, you can not research many of the older publications on society's web site anymore.
for the obvious reasons, that they don't want people to go back and read about all the false prophecies, changing guide lines (new light that became old light that became new light once again) and the just plain stupid stuff they have said over the years.
i not quit sure what publications they have blocked.
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sparky1
The older (subjectively speaking) publications are found at the Watchtower Online Library page. Go to the JW.ORG homepage and scroll down to the bottom of the page. The link to the library is found on the lower right hand corner. Click on the link and you can do research from there. Printed books and AWAKE! go back to 1970 and WATCHTOWER magazine back to 1950. I could find nothing previous to those dates.
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Who else had to sit though last weeks WT study, 6th Jan 2019 - "Buy Truth and Never Sell It"
by skin inthat title, “buy truth and never sell it”.
is that not our goal has jw’s, to try to sell the truth to those who have the right heart condition to accept it?.
para 9: “when the fishermen peter and andrew were invited by jesus to become “fishers of men,” they “abandoned their nets.” (matt.
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sparky1
And my name could be Sparky.......'cept it ain't!
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WT Study October 2018....spinning ''layoffs'' into ''reassigning'' ex-Bethelites ''to the field''
by RULES & REGULATIONS inwt study october 2018. maintain inner peace despite changing circumstances.
lloyd and alexandra learn that they have been reassigned to the field, they at first felt sad.
after all, they had been serving at bethel for over 25 years.
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sparky1
"anybody know if Bethelites get any kind of severance?" john.prestor . When I left in 1976 I had the clothes on my back, my personal belongings, the mornings breakfast in my stomach, and a letter of recommendation for employment. I had to ASK for the letter of recommendation.