under_believer

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Posts by under_believer

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  53

  Witnessing at school

  by I-follow-the-narrow-path in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was in class and by these two women (one who was a christian and the other student i am unsure of).

  i asked them, randomly, "do you know much about jehovah's witnesses?

  " -- they both said "yes" and the non-christian said "i had a jw friend and he really hated it... he disaproved of what they taught" -- i started to talk about shunning and disfellowship.

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  under_believer

  Elizabeth, You are a good person. The fact that you are asking these questions AT ALL proves that you are a naturally good person and that you realize that everything is not quite... kosher. I want to congratulate you for wondering if this was a good idea after all. You have more presence of mind than a lot of people your age, and more self-awareness to look back on the situation and realize what you did that was wrong. Keep up the good work, and keep asking yourself those questions. I think you're going to be fine. And yeah--Witnessing anywhere is problematic, but witnessing at school raises special concerns.
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  19

  I.P. Address

  by 5thGeneration in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  any way the society could ever get the ip addresses of those of us that are still active?.

  scary stuff!

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  under_believer

  I know a great deal of these matters--enough said about that.
  It is conceivable that SOMEHOW the Society could get ahold of the IP addresses of the people that post on this board. This forum software logs the IP address each post comes from. It then encrypts them in hash form (you can see the hash next to each post, actually.) They can't do anything with that hash, but it's possible through social engineering, outright skullduggery (hacking,) or betrayal on the part of the proprieters, that they could get the addresses. I'm not saying likely--in fact it's very, very unlikely. Just not completely impossible.
  The next question you should ask is -- could they do anything with those addresses? Yes, in fact they really could. There is a branch of network analysis called "geolocation." Geolocation basically takes your IP address and looks through databases to figure out where you are coming from. At the very least, geolocation will yeild your hometown. In many cases, it will reveal your actual neighborhood.
  
  Don't take my word for it. Try a couple of experiments. First of all, go to http://www.hostip.info/index.html. This page will take your IP address and tell you, at least, your hometown. Now, if you'd like to REALLY freak out, copy your IP address off of that page, and go to http://www.parsec.it/whereis/. Paste your address in there, and hit "locate." Not too scary yet, right? Well, switch to "map" and use the little plus button to zoom in. In my case, this pinpointed a location about half a mile from where I am physically located.
  Someone could conceivably take that information, plus clues you left in posts and so on, and possibly figure out who you were.
  Now a final question--would anybody do this? That's a judgement call on your part. I dunno. If you were still anonymous, like a lot of us are, and were particularly pugnacious, and made the Society really angry, like that Quotes guy did, maybe they would.
  There are ways around this. They are far beyond the scope of this post. Some are quite technical. If you really want to be anonymous on the Internet, well forget it. It's impossible. You can get pretty close to true anonymity with a tool called Tor, however. Free software available for townload at http://tor.eff.org/. You also might want to check out torpark, at http://torpark.nfshost.com/, which makes Tor a bit easier to use.
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  52

  Apparently...

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my computer may be running counterfeit software.

  oh my gosh, how did that happen?

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  under_believer

  *** w89 11/1 p. 19 par. 8 Do Not Yoke Yourselves With Unbelievers ***
  
  8 Jehovah is deeply concerned about our lasting welfare. Did he not, at great cost to himself, give his Son as “a ransom in exchange for many”? (Matthew 20:28) Is he not ‘the One teaching us to benefit ourselves’? (Isaiah 48:17) Does he not promise that ‘he will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear’? (1 Corinthians 10:13) Reasonably, then, when he tells us not to yoke ourselves with unbelievers, he must have our best interests at heart! Consider how this warning is an expression of his loving care for us.
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  52

  Apparently...

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my computer may be running counterfeit software.

  oh my gosh, how did that happen?

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  under_believer

  "Evidently" is another Society favorite:
  
  *** re chap. 29 p. 199 par. 4 Singing the Triumphal New Song ***
  
  4 John sees not only Jesus but the complete body of the 144,000 fellow heirs of the heavenly Kingdom standing upon the Mount Zion. At the time represented by the vision, many, but not all, of the 144,000 are already in heaven. Later in the same vision, John learns that some of the holy ones still have to endure and die faithful. (Revelation 14:12, 13) Evidently, then, some of the 144,000 are still on earth. So how is it that John sees all of them standing with Jesus on Mount Zion? In that, as members of the congregation of anointed Christians, these have now “approached a Mount Zion and a city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem.” (Hebrews 12:22) Like Paul when he was still on earth, they have already—in a spiritual sense—been raised up to be in union with Christ Jesus in heavenly places. (Ephesians 2:5, 6) Additionally, in 1919 they responded to the invitation, “Come on up here,” and in a figurative way “went up into heaven in the cloud.” (Revelation 11:12) In view of these scriptures, we can see that all the 144,000—spiritually speaking—are located on Mount Zion with Jesus Christ.
  
  SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING, mind you.
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  22

  How do you deal with JW's knowing they will shun you?

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i went to the grocery store yesterday, and i saw a jw who was looking at me with a sort of sad face.

  i said hello, and he didn't reply.

  so why does he stare at me for if he knows he won't reply to me when i say hello?

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  under_believer

  *** km 8/02 p. 3 par. 4 Display Christian Loyalty When a Relative Is Disfellowshipped ***
  
  4 What about speaking with a disfellowshipped person? While the Bible does not cover every possible situation, 2 John 10 helps us to get Jehovah’s view of matters: “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, never receive him into your homes or say a greeting to him.” Commenting on this, The Watchtower of September 15, 1981, page 25, says: “A simple ‘Hello’ to someone can be the first step that develops into a conversation and maybe even a friendship. Would we want to take that first step with a disfellowshiped person?”
  
  /sigh
  
  Of course that is a ridiculous way to apply that scripture, but who cares. Don't want to go down the slippery slope, do we?
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  52

  Apparently...

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my computer may be running counterfeit software.

  oh my gosh, how did that happen?

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  under_believer

  *** re chap. 20 p. 125 par. 18 A Multitudinous Great Crowd ***
  
  18 During the 1920’s and early 1930’s, the John class had stressed the heavenly hope, both in the publications and in the preaching work. Apparently, the full number of the 144,000 had yet to be filled. But increasing numbers of those who heeded the message and who showed zeal in the witness work came to profess an interest in living forever on the Paradise earth. They had no desire to go to heaven. That was not their calling. They were no part of the little flock but rather of the other sheep. (Luke 12:32; John 10:16) Their being identified in 1935 as the great crowd of other sheep was an indication that the choosing of the 144,000 was then about complete.
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  52

  Apparently...

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my computer may be running counterfeit software.

  oh my gosh, how did that happen?

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  under_believer

  Ap·par·ent·ly
  adv.
  1. Visibly. [Obs.] Hobbes.
  2. Plainly; clearly; manifestly; evidently.
  If he should scorn me so apparently.
  Shak.
  3. Seemingly; in appearance; as, a man may be apparently friendly, yet malicious in heart.
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  1

  Morally Bankrupt Blood Policy

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in my usual didactic fashion, let's go through the logical steps here.. 1. the society allows witnesses to use many blood fractions: albumin for burn victims is an example.

  these medical supplies come from the donated blood supply.. 2. the society forbids witnesses to donate blood.. 3. therefore, individual witnesses who accept treatment from the blood supply are hypocrites.. this is really a horrible situation.

  i'm sure they felt up at brooklyn that they were becoming more liberal in relaxing the blood ban; in fact, they created a situation where any witness that accepts any of the arbitrarily allowed blood fractions is taking part in a horrible hypocrisy.

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  under_believer

  In my usual didactic fashion, let's go through the logical steps here.
  1. The Society allows Witnesses to use many blood fractions: albumin for burn victims is an example. There are many others. These medical supplies come from the donated blood supply.
  2. The Society forbids Witnesses to donate blood.
  3. Therefore, individual Witnesses who accept treatment from the blood supply are hypocrites.
  This is really a horrible situation. I'm sure they felt up at Brooklyn that they were becoming more liberal in relaxing the blood ban; in fact, they created a situation where any Witness that accepts any of the arbitrarily allowed blood fractions is taking part in a horrible hypocrisy. NO Witness' conscience should allow them to accept something they would not give to somebody else, and I believe that unless a Witness could prove that they were a blood donor, the medical system should refuse them access to the blood supply. Of course this isn't how it works, because the medical system has that "worldly" Hippocratic Oath that they're working off of.
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  7

  Use of the term Borg

  by grissom6471 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some have unaffectionately referred to us as the borg, the brooklyn organization.

  but i don't see that as a bad thing.

  consider the borg.

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  under_believer

  I'm calling bullshit. No way is this guy for real.
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  25

  How To Make Espresso--By The Faithful And Discreet Slave

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1. go to http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1997/11/8/diagram_01.htm.

  2. read instructions.

  as they wisely point out at the related page, http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1997/11/8/article_01.htm: "your perseverance, however, will pay off when you delight your friends with espresso drinks that rival those in your local coffee shop.

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  under_believer

  1. Go To http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1997/11/8/diagram_01.htm
  
  2. Read instructions. As they wisely point out at the related page, http://www.watchtower.org/library/g/1997/11/8/article_01.htm: "Your perseverance, however, will pay off when you delight your friends with espresso drinks that rival those in your local coffee shop. You may even come to agree that espresso is the very essence of coffee."
  
  3. Allow mind to boggle about why God's Channel is giving holy inspired delightful, correct milk-steaming instructions on their holy web site.