dedalus

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Posts by dedalus

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  26

  An e-mail I received this morning

  by borgfree in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a friend sent this to me this morning.

  i know this kind of e-mail is circulated a lot, and maybe this one has, but i have not seen it before.. as one of jehovah's witnesses i would have simply ignored the message in this e-mail.

  now as an ex-jw i see it in a totally different way.

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  dedalus

  Okay, I'm gonna be the big bad bear and say that the story, to me, is a piece of mawkish tripe and I regret having wasted the time it took to read it. It represents everything I hate about what we vulgarly call "spirituality": more than anything, I'm turned off by its vague, incomplete ideas concerning individual purpose and meaning, ideas which are heralded as profound epiphanies. I dislike the way the characters in the piece are weak, with no volition of their own, pathetically led on by the voices in their head. It's degrading to think that there is in any of that some portrait of altruistic integrity or heightened spirituality or whatever you'd like to call it.

  Some old fart littering the landscape with cheaply bound paperback bibles. Some dumb nut cheating his employer by chatting it up with an self-made lunatic. Whoopie.

  Of course, it's all just my personal opinion, so there ...

  Dedalus
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  30

  Evolution is not the answer.

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  evolution is not the answer to most of the important questions about life and how it got here.. if current evolutionary ideas are true they only tell a very small part of the story.. simply how random changes to animate and inanimate things can be mechanicly selected by sutible enviroments and prosper in them.. there is still lots about us to explain.. what is the source of the matter in our universe, what caused the "big bang"?.

  what is consciousness and how does it work?.

  what causes the fundemental forces and how do they work?.

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  dedalus

  REM,

  Yeah, as usual, I totally agree with you. People who use Pascal's Wager are like people who still believe the earth is flat. Pascal's Wager is as philosophically bankrupt as the flat-earth theory is scientifically bankrupt.

  Oh well. It gets to a point where all you can say is, "go read a book, for christsakes; familiarize yourself with the debate before you end up repeating discarded shit as if it's original."

  Hope you are doing well, by the way. I'm finishing a bunch of projects this week (end of the semester, end of my student career) and plan to be in touch after that.

  Dedalus

  P.S. Oops, just realized there was a page 2 to this thread. WTF is wrong with City Clash Whateverthefuck, anyway?
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  36

  So I guess it's finally my turn <grin>

  by noidea in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well i had a visit today from an elder (related through marriage) about my non-meeting attendance.

  he let me know that the circuit overseer is due in for a visit in 2 weeks and the elders in my congregation felt that it would be good for them to pay me a visit.

  i have already declined other such offers.. he asked me why i was not attending the meetings (didn't reply to that) and that if i had a problem that i could talk about it.

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  dedalus

  "When we were baptised, we were baptised in the name of the holy spirit." (I think that's a closet apostate myself)Elders are appointed by holy spirit (ROTFLMAO here, internally anyway)and so our dedication means cooperating with the elders, because if we don't we can actually block the holy spirti."

  It's unfortunate that the holy spirit frequently appoints pedophiles, wife-beaters, liars, cheaters, manipulators, and idiots to these positions of authority.

  What -- you weren't expecting perfection from the True God's Active Force, his Holy Spirit, were you?

  Dedalus
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  25

  Cult?

  by bchapp in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jw's claim they are not a cult because their kindom hall meetings are open to the public.

  what are your thoughts on this?.

  ~seeking answers

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  dedalus

  JW's claim they are not a cult because their kindom hall meetings are open to the public. What are your thoughts on this?

  Does it matter if they are a cult or not?

  If it can be demonstrated that Witnesses aren't a cult, does that mean they're not in any way bad? If the answer is no, why waste time asking questions about whether they are or aren't a cult?

  Isn't this all a stupid semantic game that only makes people gloss over what it means to be a Witness?

  Dedalus
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  74

  I'm thinking of applying for reinstatement

  by Cygnus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, here's how it is.. i just finished reading the "dead" thread.

  now, listen.

  i do not believe in life after death.

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  dedalus

  Believe it or not, one, I sort of know what you're saying, and there is a way it makes sense. Or maybe that's just me reading your post the way I want to read it.

  Dedalus
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  74

  I'm thinking of applying for reinstatement

  by Cygnus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok, here's how it is.. i just finished reading the "dead" thread.

  now, listen.

  i do not believe in life after death.

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  dedalus

  Joel, quit whining! No one attacked you!

  If I were as sensitive about my opinions as you, I'd never have a conversation with anyone.

  All of the things you site as "logical" are so obviously matters of faith that it's very strange for you to catagorize them as matters of "logic." And none of the things you site are unique to the Witnesses. Other religions believe that the soul is mortal, that hell doesn't exist, that God is not part of a trinity. Sheesh.

  If there is a God, what difference does it make whether he's part of a trinity or not, anyway? How does that stupid question have anything to do with your life, Joel?

  Dedalus
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  18

  How would you counter these common JW arguments?

  by Leander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as i mentioned before in previous posts i'm trying to prepare myself for an exit of the borg.

  so what i've been doing over the last few days is thinking of ways to counter the questions that i know will be directed to me.

  in particular how would you go about responding to the following questions?.

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  dedalus

  In a way, Flower is right -- how you answer won't matter to them. But, it certainly matters to you, and you want to make sure that you can look back and feel good about the way you handled things.

  If you leave the truth how will you be following the scripture "do not be forsaking the gathering of yourselves together"?

  "You are welcome at my house anytime, and I hope I'll be welcome at yours. Whatever happens, I'm certainly not going to shun people for following their Christian consciences."

  In turn that questions is usually followed up by them loosely quoting Peter where else are you going to go to?

  Just because you don't know where to go doesn't mean the place you're in is okay. Being uncertain about the future doesn't nullify the fact that you are certain about other things.

  A few months back I was speaking with an elder about the scripture in Deuteronomy pertaining to false prophecy. He basically tried to pass it off by saying that scripture only applied to the false prophets of the other nations during that time period. While I disagree with his notion that the scripture has only a limited scope I would like to be able to use other scriptural texts of idenitifying false prophets. Any suggestions?

  Sorry, but no. I try to avoid talking with Witnesses about the Bible, because they only hear the verses they want to hear, in the way they want to hear them. Plus I don't believe in the Bible, and if perchance that comes out, I'd be really screwed.

  I realize some of my questions and posts are a bit rendundant, but please bear with me. I'm still kind of nervous about the whole ordeal, this is probably the biggest decision I've ever made in my 29 years.

  You're going to be left behind for making this decision, whether you are marked or disfellowshipped or whatever. Just make sure you are comfortable with the way that happens.

  Dedalus
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  2

  Jesus is ALWAYS with you, children...

  by Michael3000 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://catholicshopper.com/products/inspirational_sport_statues2.html .

  "any day spent not knocking on doors is a good day!

  "

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  dedalus

  The third time this has been posted.
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  26

  Do you blame your parents?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you blame your parents for bringing you up as witnesses?.

  do you tink they sould have known better, or do you feel sorry for them?.

  i used to think how lucky i was to be born into a family that had the truth.. now i wonder, how could my parents have fallen fot it?.

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  dedalus

  Like Englishman said, it wasn't my idea to be brought up in this shit. So yeah, I blame them, mostly for being emotionally or intellectually weak at the time. They were pretty young and vulnerable though ... but that doesn't explain to me why they persisted in it when it so obviously made me miserable. Thank goodness my mother is out, though I admit I wish she'd been honest about her "real" feelings back when I was basically reciting them to her.

  But I try not to hold onto the angst. It gets old.

  Dedalus
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  24

  WT 4-01-02 article

  by DB in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in the april 1, 2002 issue of the watchtower, an article appears entitled "keep on serving jehovah with a steadfast heart".

  paragraph 14 of this article states: "if jehovah's organization knowingly endorsed false teachings, advice to read the bible would never be given to jehovah's witnesses and those to whom they preach.".

  i am withholding comment on this statement, because i'd like to hear from any who would like to post a response.

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  dedalus

  What a horribly worded sentence.

  Dedalus