under_believer

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Posts by under_believer

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  15

  Rock The Vote: my secret is discovered

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a while back, i registered to vote.

  i even voted in our primary (nonpartisan issues only at this point--i'm still finding my "center.

  at the time, my wife asked me if all this voting stuff we were getting all of a sudden was some new thing the state was doing--maybe you just get enrolled to vote when your drivers license renews, or something.

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  under_believer

  One would hope, Chameleon. Time will tell.
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  15

  Can i get caught Voting?

  by Smoky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am seriously contemplating voting in the november elections.. if a curious/nosy jw wants to find out if i participated in the election process, can he/she get this information?.

  i would like to do this, but in secret, my conscience does not bother me and i think it will be kinda cool to do it for the 1st time.. smoky.

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  under_believer

  Some counties call up juries based on driver's license registration.
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  15

  Can i get caught Voting?

  by Smoky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am seriously contemplating voting in the november elections.. if a curious/nosy jw wants to find out if i participated in the election process, can he/she get this information?.

  i would like to do this, but in secret, my conscience does not bother me and i think it will be kinda cool to do it for the 1st time.. smoky.

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  under_believer

  My wife found out. They send you a lot of mail.
  
  And yes, they can find out if you register to vote. It's public record. Political parties and candidates can use that information for mailing campaigns. Anybody can make a request and find out your name, address, and political affiliation, at least in the US.
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  32

  College Degree = $23K more a year salary

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  check out the news on this recent press release from the us census bureau.

  here's the google news listing for it (so you can see all the places this story has been covered): click here.. .

  lest anybody think the society is taking a softer stance on this issue, well, they're not.

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  under_believer

  SirNose, great post.
  
  College isn't about money. I mean, it CAN be about money, and some people try to make it about that, but that's a disingenuous argument that colleges and high school guidance counselors make to convince people to go.
  
  College is about learning. About reading. About expanding your mind. About developing socially. About living on your own. About, supremely, learning how to think. Learning to be a whole person. It's about many things--money and a career being one of the less important.
  
  The thing is, the focus on College = Money is also valid. As others have pointed out, you need a certain amount of money to be happy. You don't need to be rich, or even middle class--but you need to be able to cover your needs. But this truth, that college does mean more money, usually, also allows the Society to demonize the choice to go to college as a choice for materialism. It's not exactly a strawman argument, but it's damn close.
  
  The illustration I like to use is this: Is reading about money? Do you learn to read to make more money? Well, no. Reading is a basic tool of life. Not being able to read is a huge handicap. Reading enriches you, prods your imagination, and makes life better. You will also probably make more money if you can read, and making more money is one reason an illiterate person should learn to read; but if the Society started claiming that learning to read was the same as materialism and should be put off for the New Order, people would think they were nuts.
  
  It's the same with college.
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  15

  Rock The Vote: my secret is discovered

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a while back, i registered to vote.

  i even voted in our primary (nonpartisan issues only at this point--i'm still finding my "center.

  at the time, my wife asked me if all this voting stuff we were getting all of a sudden was some new thing the state was doing--maybe you just get enrolled to vote when your drivers license renews, or something.

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• 

  under_believer

  A while back, I registered to vote. I even voted in our primary (nonpartisan issues only at this point--I'm still finding my "center.")
  
  At the time, my wife asked me if all this voting stuff we were getting all of a sudden was some new thing the state was doing--maybe you just get enrolled to vote when your drivers license renews, or something. "Um... yeah, maybe so..." I lied, feeling guilty the entire time, but not willing to either tell her the truth (and face the music) or give up my precious act of disobedience.
  
  I was a fool. Don't lie to your wife, at least not if you still love her. I lied to my wife.
  
  In the end, she found out anyways, and the results were absolutely shocking--SHOCKING, I say--to me.
  
  LAST WEEK:
  
  "Here, this came in the mail for you," she said, handing me the ballot and voting info for the next election.
  
  "Huh, cool. They sure have been sending us a lot of stuff lately," I muttered, tossing it nonchalantly into a pile, for later sneaking out to my car.
  
  "Yeah, they have. Listen, did you register to vote?"
  
  Uh oh. "Welllll.... okay, yes, I registered to vote. I just don't think it's wrong. In fact, I have decided it's wrong NOT to vote."
  
  "A year ago," she said, "we discussed this. We decided that the Society says it's a conscience matter."
  
  "Well, they SAY that, but from what I've heard you can still be punished for it. That was mostly for people in countries like Brazil, where they have mandatory voting laws. Anyways, even if it's not a conscience matter, I decided I still want to do it. I think that teaching is wrong."
  
  And what she said next took my breath away: "I agree with you. The Society is wrong to forbid voting--these are issues that affect us all, and we should have a say in them. It's not being no part of the world to help decide how your country is to be run."
  
  **********
  
  So. I was a fool to lie to my wife. How a woman with no college education, very little time for intellectual pursuits, and an institutional dislike for civics issues came to that point of both A) disobedience to "God's Channel" and B) a mature understanding of what democracy means is beyond me. I underestimated her.
  
  She'll never read it, but: Baby, I'm sorry. I underestimated you. I won't do it again.
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  52

  THE UNSEEN MAGIC and THE MYSTERY of the MUNDANE

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've known two professional magicians in my lifetime.. one was a friend and the other was a very close friend.. both would discuss magic with me at different times.

  each was devoted to protecting the secrecy necessary to maintain the brotherhood of illusion.. however, i am a curious person.

  i am challenged by the unknown.

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  under_believer

  He only wants to distract the feeble human away from God.

  But it doesn't work with smart people like you, who know what o'clock it is.

  Is that it, TopHat?
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  14

  What % of active elders do you think go peek on XJW forums?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  assuming that all elders have the internet, i'd say that 25% of active elders in the us went to a xjw site just by curiosity.. what do you think?.

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  under_believer

  Most of the elders in my hall barely know what a computer is, let alone those internets (they're a series of tubes, right?) So, probably more like 2%.
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  32

  College Degree = $23K more a year salary

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  check out the news on this recent press release from the us census bureau.

  here's the google news listing for it (so you can see all the places this story has been covered): click here.. .

  lest anybody think the society is taking a softer stance on this issue, well, they're not.

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  under_believer

  Good question, VM44. But even if they did report these facts, the report would be followed by a quotation of Matt 6:19-21 .
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  11

  Why do the WTBTS and Illuminati have similar beliefs?

  by Gill in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  'the illuminati are believed to be the brains behind the events which supposedly lead to a new world order in which the world will be run by a single fascist government and a large postion of the human race will be eliminated.'.

  i found this quote in wikipedia, to be interesting down to the wtbts much quoted 'new world order.'.

  i don't think this phrase is used so much nowadays but i do remember it being bandied about a lot in the past.. other than that....they seem to share the same aspirations..

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  under_believer

  The term "New World Order" is very commonly used. Neither the Witnesses nor the "Illuminati", such as they are, invented the term. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_world_order for more information.
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  15

  GoOdy NiGht!

  by TheKings in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i don't know if that's the universal jw term for potluck nights or if all congregations have them but all the ones i went to had a potluck night at the book studies once a month.

  does anybody have any good stories related to these occasions?

  tonight my family is going to a potluck night and as usual they asked me to make something for it.

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  under_believer

  megsmomma, yeah "pot-luck" wasn't used by anybody. They always said "pot-share."