done4good

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Posts by done4good

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  46

  Dan Sydlik

  by done4good in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  morning warship - he was the only restraint and i'm not saying that lightly.

  i know there are a dozen others here who were in bethel back in the early 2000's who know what i'm talking about.

  he actually kept me thinking this was jehovah's org because of his sincerity as if the holy spirit was operating in him.

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  done4good

  Thank you all for your comments so far. I will read them to greater detail either this evening after work, or weekend.

  d4g
  
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  46

  Dan Sydlik

  by done4good in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  morning warship - he was the only restraint and i'm not saying that lightly.

  i know there are a dozen others here who were in bethel back in the early 2000's who know what i'm talking about.

  he actually kept me thinking this was jehovah's org because of his sincerity as if the holy spirit was operating in him.

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  done4good

  Morning Warship - He was the only restraint and I'm not saying that lightly. I know there are a dozen others here who were in Bethel back in the early 2000's who know what I'm talking about. He actually kept me thinking this was Jehovah's org because of his sincerity as if the holy spirit was operating in him. All others were/are about power and control. Did you notice a major shift in organization matters since 2006 and not for the better but more cult-like since then? Yeah that was because Dan was the only restraint holding them back from demanding complete obedience and loyalty to the only faithful slave. Sound familiar? Some of us felt Dan was a secret apostate who died with that secret. God bless him wherever he is now.

  I didn't want to derail Orphan Crow's thread, so I am starting a new one concerning this GB member.

  I have a JW friend that knew Dan well when he was alive. This friend and I have been very frank about both my reasons for leaving 10 years ago as well as his own very serious doubts he currently has. I know his one big hangup with leaving himself has to do with what he thought of Dan Sydlik, whom of which he considered to be a sincere person. I am after specific conversations, actions, etc. that at least anecdotally support the argument that Sydlik was an anomaly. Many people have mentioned he was "different" in some way, but none of the information I have read here or elsewhere over the last several years gets specific enough to build a discussion around. I would like to use that sort of information to support the argument to my friend that Sydlik just happened to be a "good guy" at best, in a flawed human made system. Can you or anyone else offer such?

  d4g
  
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  71

  Sophie gives even more than ice cream money to the WT

  by OrphanCrow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs
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  done4good

  Morning Warship - I was a Bethelite. I know how they operate. Which is why I am now an apostate. Thanks Dan. Anyone interested can now openly ask why the GB has gone full ape sh1t since the death of Daniel Sydlik in 2006. Go ahead I dare you. Jehovah's chariot has left long ago and is never coming back.

  
  I met Dan and his wife Marina many years ago, through one of the very few good JW friends that I had. He did have sort of this quiet rebelliousness about him, for lack of a better description. A bit of an enigma for sure, if nothing else. I too am curious what you know about him personally.
  
  d4g
  
  
  
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  108

  Heil Trump. Sieg Heil.

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  crowd looking like they're doing the heil hitler salute to trump when he asks for a pledge and swear their support while calling for broadening torture laws.

  trump asks backers to swear their support, vows to broaden torture laws.

  http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/05/politics/donald-trump-florida-pledge-torture/.

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  done4good

  I'm not sure he meant it as in the political-economic philosophy of low spending across the board. Would be better put as a fiscally responsible government instead. There is no need to reduce spending across the board, but there is a need to focus spending where it's needed, instead of the gross mismanagement of public funds we see now.

  Yes, agreed. There is much waste and fiscal mismanagement, and this needs to be corrected. That said, "the all government spending is bad" dogma of the extreme right is not fiscally responsible either. When infrastructure such as road systems break down in one country, companies begin to look elsewhere to invest and open shop. This hurts long-term tax revenues, job prospects, etc. The negative effect on the economy over time is far worse than not making the necessary investments. The same can be applied to R&D, the education system, etc. Steady investment is required over time, to maintain the health of the economy for the long-term. Austerity measures applied to these areas never works to improve the health of the economy, especially in the long run.
  

  In the corporate world, a 20% reinvestment of profits into R&D, has long been considered the benchmark of maintaining the long-term health of any company that produces a technologically evolving product. When companies place too much importance on short term profitability margins, (usually to appease shareholders), at the expense of this level of reinvestment, the long-term effects on the business are almost always disastrous. This is what happened to the US consumer electronics industry in the late 1960s/early 1970s. Companies such as Scott, Fisher, Marantz, etc. all ended up going bankrupt because of this lack of investment, and were either closed or bought out by foreign companies. This didn't happen overnight, but rather was the product of years of under-investment. The austerity approach we are taking with our public systems will have similar results, if not corrected soon.

  d4g
  
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  108

  Heil Trump. Sieg Heil.

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  crowd looking like they're doing the heil hitler salute to trump when he asks for a pledge and swear their support while calling for broadening torture laws.

  trump asks backers to swear their support, vows to broaden torture laws.

  http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/05/politics/donald-trump-florida-pledge-torture/.

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  done4good

  For those that disliked my very sensible post above, care to offer a counter argument? After all, this is a discussion board, right?
  

  I think I will be waiting here a while, but I would really love to be proved wrong...

  Now that I can get behind. It'd be like the Libertarian party, just without all the isolationism and anarchy.

  That was how the Libertarian party was supposed to work, according to its founders. What happened was it was taken over by the same right wing folks that gave us the Tea Party, w/the religiosity and everything else. The reality is a Libertarian utopia does not exist, because it has proven it cannot. What you end up with is feudalism, thus my point about fiscal moderation above.
  

  d4g
  
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  108

  Heil Trump. Sieg Heil.

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  crowd looking like they're doing the heil hitler salute to trump when he asks for a pledge and swear their support while calling for broadening torture laws.

  trump asks backers to swear their support, vows to broaden torture laws.

  http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/05/politics/donald-trump-florida-pledge-torture/.

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  done4good

  sir82 - A fiscally conservative yet socially liberal party would win the next 50 years of elections.

  Agreed for the most part. I would only modify that with "fiscally moderate". Ideological fiscal conservatism is why our roads are falling apart, our space program budget has been cut, our schools in non-affluent areas are woefully underfunded, an across the board "sequester" has been put into place, etc. Ideological fiscal conservatism draws no distinction between spending and investment. No smart businessperson would run their business that way.

  d4g
  
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  74

  What song explains what you have gone through in life?

  by brandnew in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is mine....watch "coolio ft. l.v - gangsta's paradise (official music video)" on youtubehttps://youtu.be/cpgbzylnz7c

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  done4good

  If I had to pick one, (that at least describes the importance of getting on with life after JW), Vienna by Billy Joel would probably be it.

  Otherwise, there are a lot more that depend on mood.

  d4g
  
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  28

  Making friends in the "truth"

  by Jordandemm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what is it about making friends in the organisation am i the only one who had found it tough?

  don't get me wrong there was some good people but unfortunately there was also a lot of egotism, back stabbing, jealousy and gossiping.

  i could never really fit in any group, everytime i thought i had found a group it was as if i would be sidelined or ditched.

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  done4good

  Rebel8 - Horrible story about that young woman, even for JW. Disgusting and evil.
  

  d4g
  
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  127

  The people are mobilizing Mr Drumpf

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  protesters shut down a trump rally.

  massive numbers of people are out in chicago and have shut his event down.

  there were scuffles inside the event.. despite his lame attempt to pretend the violence he instigates is nothing to do with him it's clear that it is as the cnn quotes during the last event showed only too well.. this doesn't happen at anyone else's events - candidates have even given up the stage to protesters, not called for them to be beaten and punched.. trump is an ugly person and this is just a small taste of what a future under his rule would be like.. shame on the gop for not kicking his ass out.

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  done4good

  d4g The GOP has been blowing that dog whistle a long time. The Donald has just lowered the pitch enough so all can hear it.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/14/opinion/trump-is-no-accident.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region®ion=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=0

  I will say it again, good riddance GOP. You had about five decades to change course.
  

  d4g
  
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  37

  After leaving what did you Major in?

  by Luther bertrand in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am curious if my observations are correct.

  i noticed alot of exjws end up majoring in the social sciences.

  i am also interested in what educational choices people have made either while fading or while completely out.

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  done4good

  I also took the STEM approach and did my undergrad long before I left, having two rather liberal, slightly older JW friends that made it possible for me to go college as a JW. I earned a B.S. in Telecommunications Management at the time, (that was 25 years ago). I much more recently earned my masters of engineering in Networked Information Systems with a concentration in business practices. I am quite certain I would not have pursued a masters, had I remained a JW.
  

  I certainly do not regret any of that, as it allowed to be become quite successful over the last 22 years or so. However, if I had not been raised a JW, I likely would have taken a more pure science route and majored in physics. I still plan to work on a doctorate in electrical engineering.
  

  d4g