The FDS, as was in former times embodied in one man (Charles Taze Russell) with the slightly different moniker, faithful and wise servant (of course before the bizarre and strange wording of the NWT came to be.) I always thought they used it for the 144k, the GB especially. It does have a life of its own, it creates this picture in the mind of a special relationship to God, his faithful slave. It's using Jesus' parable (there isn't a man walking around claiming to be the Prodigal Son, now is there? Because its an illustration. Of course there can be manifestations characterizing this illustration in a practical way) as a power tool! It doesn't even make sense.
Just because Charles Manson thought he was Jesus, and preached about "helter skelter" didn't make it so. It just made him a lunatic. And a murderer.
It's absurd, when Jesus says to "become like sheep" he doesn't mean you actually sprout hooves and develop a fluffy wooly coat and become startled about everything. Its an ILLUSTRATION!
smellsgood
JoinedPosts by smellsgood
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The GB is a cloaking device for the FDS
by cultswatter ini spent my first 25 years in the jws and could never figure out who the fds was.
today it was bugging me - why can't i relate to the fds even though i now know it is nonsense, but even more important, why can't jws understand who the fds really is?.
let's look at some facts.
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smellsgood
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"But he wasn't a REAL Christian!"
by FireNBandits injimmy swaggert (a "swaggert" is a swaggering braggart btw), jim and tammy fakker, or any well-known christian that "blows it" big-time in a public way is sure to elicit that response from the fundagelicals around you.
"but he wasn't a real christian!
" what a convenient psychological device to keep ones fantasy image of ones religion intact!
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smellsgood
er, can't edit my damn post, so I'll just need to admit to being a nincompoop
Sorry, I'm terrible with anograms (GMC=Gorgeous manly cosmetics?) so, when I see COG I automatically go 'Church of God' as I refer to the "Children of God" as 'The Family.' Ok, I swear I'm smart. Really! I know the names of all 5 continents!! I can convert Farenheit into it's liquid form! I read Fran Dreschers autobiography,,,in under a MONTH!
soooo, forgive that teensy weensy ickle bitty slip of the keyboard. I'm so busy furiously working out complex quantum physics calculations in my head that I don't pay close enough attention sometimes.
Annnnd *exits, voooom* -
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CULT LEADERS & 'APOSTATES'
by DannyHaszard incult leaders, in religion and politics, demand fealty.
san francisco chronicle - san francisco,ca,usa.
it seems that nearly all cults follow a predictable program: there is the charismatic leader, who is dynamic and promises love and paradise for his adepts.
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smellsgood
"Last week, Fox News interviewed some man who said he is the 'reincarnated' Jesus Christ. The commentator didn't make a big issue because he knew it was ALL bull. It was however interesting, especially when he questioned him about the amount of money and property he owns."
Was it Donald Trump? "I'm a ratings Messiah,,oh, and,,,Rosie's fat!!" er, j/k
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess for real that it was::::Sun Myung Moon (da True Father)
Owns the Washington Post,,,,gets a little intimate with the Bushes, from S. Korea. I didn't see it, but he's one who thinks he's doing what Jesus couldn't (er, own a media conglomerate?) and is just cute as a button. Scratch that, he's like gangrene. -
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Christ controls GB by his "right hand of applied power " - bollox
by yaddayadda inspotted this weird statement in the april 1 2007 wt, pg 24: .
(revelation 1:16, 20)" .
this whole statement is almost word for word the same as the last sentence of the following paragraph: .
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smellsgood
"As in early Christian times, a small group of spirit-anointed Overseers make up the Governing Body of Christ's followers on earth today. By means of his "right hand" of applied power, Christ, the Head of the congregation, directs these faithful men as they supervise the Kingdom work. (Revelation 1:16, 20)"
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Going to speak to my parents about the 'Truth"
by ThomasCovenant ini am going to approach my parents (dad an elder) later this summer with my true feelings about the wt society.
i have the cd rom and a lot of society books (plus of course the off limits wonders of google) but i happen to have just one bound volume of the watchtower 1953. it's a real gem!.
i intend to bring this book to my meeting with them as they won't be able to say it's apostate.
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smellsgood
3 Strange as it seems, we are living in a similar condition today. Many people do not use their minds, but rather let others think for them. When sound reasoning is presented that disproves a popular conception or what someone has taught them, they refuse it. They live and die, still clinging to what is false ."
Awesome quotes Thomas, I don't think I've seen that many about the dreaded thinking for yourself!
It'd be good to juxtapose those with their contrary counterpart...no independent thinking! -
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Memorial Day, 2007
by SixofNine inashbah.
the ghosts of american soldiers .
wander the streets of balad by night, .
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smellsgood
I'm always amazed that every year there's more to learn about WW2
I was watching a Bill Moyers piece on a few of the Veterans last nite. I'll tell you nothing gets me a boo-hooing like when soldiers recount their experiences. To think of the day to day life, seeing so much death and carnage, and to survive with those memories like a ghost of the past, always there as a shadow. They were incredibly courageous.
God Bless the Veterans, we are forever indebted and our gratitude is unending! -
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How the Religious View Homosexuality
by serotonin_wraith infor people who are still religious, what are your views on gays?.
for me (an atheist) it goes against my own morality to think of them as sinners or somehow doing wrong, and yet in the bible it teaches that it is wrong.
it's one of the main reasons i could never go along with the jws.. i'm curious how religious people address this issue.
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smellsgood
"Whatever chemical reactions are going in the brain, they make it hard for us to ignore a crying baby, for example. We have no need to kill off anyone who doesn't 'measure up' because the human race isn't going to die out as a result. We are trying to find cures for these 'defective' people."
Are all biological and chemical functions simply a way of 'preserving' the species? -
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How the Religious View Homosexuality
by serotonin_wraith infor people who are still religious, what are your views on gays?.
for me (an atheist) it goes against my own morality to think of them as sinners or somehow doing wrong, and yet in the bible it teaches that it is wrong.
it's one of the main reasons i could never go along with the jws.. i'm curious how religious people address this issue.
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smellsgood
"Are you suggesting morality comes from the Bible? Why then, have we moved away from slavery, stoning disobedient children, persecuting homosexuals, treating women as inferior, etc etc?"
Not even slightly. I believe there is a "law" if you will, that is very present, and we recognise, regardless of what we have or haven't read, when a person is doing something AGAINST that law.
In fact, it always makes me cringe when I hear religious folks saying that atheists "can't" be Moral. That's absolute nonsense. What such an observation as Morality seems to be innate and objective entails,,,that should be the real focus. So many things that are esteemed as "good" morals, even if you were to remove the "right and wrong" of them, and take a second look, can then be reevaluated to be "good" in a different way. Good for the environment, good for health, good for society et cetera, and this is part of the "law of Nature."
What is interesting to think about is why do we have that standard. I can only read the works of those who can cognitively realise the consequences of certain beliefs. "If this is true, then..."
It seems to me, that we all owe it to ourselves to try as best we can is take the ego out of the very ideas that float through our head. Meaning, that we don't become so involved with our ideas to the point where they are our whole identity, that we cannot step aside and rationally think "If then..."
I think one should never get to comfortable or complacent, always testing the veracity of their beliefs at the time. What is interesting is trying to comprehend the true and inavoidable consequences default in such a belief as atheism. To reason that if evolution is true...then...is just as valid a criteria for it's worth as all biological and Scientific evidence.
No, I'd rather the bible be taken out of the discussion completely. It's not about religious texts. That's why I said Neitschze had it right in the end. :) -
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"But he wasn't a REAL Christian!"
by FireNBandits injimmy swaggert (a "swaggert" is a swaggering braggart btw), jim and tammy fakker, or any well-known christian that "blows it" big-time in a public way is sure to elicit that response from the fundagelicals around you.
"but he wasn't a real christian!
" what a convenient psychological device to keep ones fantasy image of ones religion intact!
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smellsgood
Smellsgood, after my involvement with the Dubs came a short stint with the COG. "Flirty fishing" did not involve sex with minors. That's an evangelical slur and myth. Flirty fishing involved sex between consenting adults of at least eighteen years of age. There probably were people in the COG who were pedophiles just as there are in the Dubs. Pedophilia is not public policy in either.
Hey, Fire N'Bandits,
How old ARE you then, if that is you in the pic you look way too young to have had that much religious experience!
Ahh, but my dear young looking man, the Church of God has nothing to do with David Moses, you are confusing it with "The Family." Pretty sure they had a pedophelia policy in place, the source I heard first about that particular horror was Dateline, have never heard anything from an evangelical. You can look up Datelines story on David Moses, and the young man who was going to kill his mother, but ended up killing another woman and himself after being identified as a "special" kid by David himself. He was part of a book they put out graphically illustrating adults and himself and other children in sexual poses.
It was pretty damn disgusting. Pretty hard to say it never happened when they printed a whole book about it.
Anyways, I think sometimes I see too many comparisons of WTism and mainline Christianity. It's like comparing Taco Bell burrito before and after it's eaten. (Ok, maybe they're a little more different than that) -
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Will I Be Breaking Any Laws?
by smellsgood ini intend in the future (when i get a cam and can post all the hijinks online) to infiltrate a "meeting" of a certain religious organization which will remain anonymous (no guessing!).
now, i need to know if there are any laws governing the er "interruption" of a religious gathering?
for example, if i ask a bunch of akward hard to answer questions at inappropriate times?
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smellsgood
Thanks everyone for your replies.
Blondie, I agree, truly my aim is to bring people out of the org, not reinforce the truthiness of their religion by behaving in a way that they would believe that I was the tool of the devil.
I was thinking not of interrupting the speech, but just like someone said, raising my hand at every opportunity at the Q&A portion.
The camera would be out of sight :) to avoid a confrontational appearance. Also, at the end when I took off my jacket, it wouldn't say JW's are a Satanic Cult or anything, rather, there would simply be a humble www. directions to a contraband site.
I wouldn't be trying to cause a scene, and I don't want it to be about me. I would however like to experience a Witness meeting as I never have before, and at the same time, they would wonder why the first timer is asking all these questions (awkward in the sense they are hard to answer.)
I think it would be fun. I'm completely anonymous in Witdom, so that's an advantage I have. :)
I'm just trying to think of more ways to get the message out there, be pro active about things. I can't stand sitting back and doing nothing, and this isn't my masterplan by any means. Just something to experience.
I think that if I'm polite, and feign a sort of curious ignorance, things could go smoothly. I think if the police were called they'd laugh at the Witnesses "You're telling me this girl asked some questions about your religion?" hmm. Clap her in irons.
Appreciate all the input. I do want to see that documentary about Courtney you mentioned just because! And I love Da Ali G show! Big it up!
smellsgood