Yes, it's crazy, it's like watching a train wreck. Idiots like Carson and Trump are getting all the attention, when they don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected (well, I HOPE not, I guess anything is possible) forcing more moderate candidates to pander to the same demographic. Not only is it not working and they look stupid, they are painting themselves into a corner, they will have an uphill battle when it come to the general election. Jeb! (Registered trademark) was considered a virtual lock for the nomination, but he can't seem to get his act together. Cruz totally shut him down in the debate, it was almost painful to watch him stand there getting schooled by his younger rival and former protege. The Republican party seems to be on self destruct.
LisaRose
JoinedPosts by LisaRose
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16
Interesting Factoid - Religious Decline
by WireRider inon the news today - pew research center study on religion.
(sampling size about 40,000. us samples.
margin of error +/- 0.6 %)americans who say that are "absolutely certain" that god exists2007 = 71% 2014 = 63%americans who say they are "religiously affiliated"2007 = 83% 2014 = 77%americans who consider religion is "very important"2007 = 56% 2014 = 53%i just thought it was interesting to see.
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Interesting Factoid - Religious Decline
by WireRider inon the news today - pew research center study on religion.
(sampling size about 40,000. us samples.
margin of error +/- 0.6 %)americans who say that are "absolutely certain" that god exists2007 = 71% 2014 = 63%americans who say they are "religiously affiliated"2007 = 83% 2014 = 77%americans who consider religion is "very important"2007 = 56% 2014 = 53%i just thought it was interesting to see.
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LisaRose
The south is well known for having more church going people, it's called the bible belt for a reason. The North east and west coast people tend to be more liberal and less inclined to religious belief, the mid west tends to lean more conservative politically, but they are not as religiously inclined as the south.
Ten most religious states per Gallup pole:
Mississippi
Utah
Alabama
Louisiana
South Carolina
Tennessee
Georgia
Arkansas
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Kentucky
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Being interviewed by police tomorrow
by moley inwell tomorrow is a big day for me.
i'm finally going to be interviewed by the police about what happened to me as a kid.. im running the whole gamut of emotions at the moment.
sad, anxious, angry, guilt, fear and many more that cannot be quantified.. i feel physically sick, cannot sleep, have lost my appetite and i am desperately trying not to self harm.. i've got my sister to thank for getting this far.
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LisaRose
I hope everything goes well and good for you for having the courage to come forward and tell your story.
If every JW child abuse victims did this it would a serious blow to the a Watchtower.
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Special Pioneer Sister-in-Law and Husband just got their letter.
by cappytan inwell, my sister-in-law and her husband, special pioneers for only a couple of years, just got their letter.. her comment was along the lines of, "they're having to do this because they forgave all those kingdom hall loans a few years ago and the brothers aren't donating anymore.".
when my wife told me, i laughed so hard i farted.
;).
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LisaRose
That hilarious. The local brothers didn't make the decision to forgive the loan, they were not even given a choice, the fact that it didn't work out is entirely the fault of the Watchtower. They have been playing a shell game, fleecing the bank accounts of the congregations to cover their financial mess and pretending they are doing them a favor to forgive the loans. You can't blame people for thinking the Watchtower had plenty of money and that they could contribute less, since they didn't have a mortgage anymore.
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Converts
by Alive! ini've noticed there seems to be a higher percentage of born-ins here....who are the converted jws?.
does anyone care to share how they got converted?.
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LisaRose
Converted at 13 along with my parents, my sister converted a few years before us and got us all to join. I like to think that if I had been an adult I wouldn't have fallen for it, but there is no way to know for sure.
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About 'Regular' Pioneers
by Gayle innow that district overseers have been deleted, now that bethelites are being devalued and increasingly dismissed, now that special pioneers are being deleted in u.s., and maybe elsewhere gradually.
who would have ever thought?.
yet, now what is the value to be a regular pioneer to the org?
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LisaRose
I would guess that their only contribution is whatever magazine's they place and the money they donated for them, plus whatever contributions to the world wide work they collected. Not that that could be very much , but since they don't cost the org anything, any amount is a plus for them.
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Handing out candy
by mikeypants ingrowing up my parents would barricade our home off by parking vehicles bumper to bumper - you would have to crawl under the cars or over the bumpers to get to our door.
also, we would turn off all the lights and hide in the back room away from the street.. that was the norm for me.
isnt that insane?
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LisaRose
my husband and I and some of our fellow minions. -
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Handing out candy
by mikeypants ingrowing up my parents would barricade our home off by parking vehicles bumper to bumper - you would have to crawl under the cars or over the bumpers to get to our door.
also, we would turn off all the lights and hide in the back room away from the street.. that was the norm for me.
isnt that insane?
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LisaRose
I had a great time. We always think we bought too much candy, but then they start to really come. And come. And come. We gave out every last piece, 600 or so. Our neighborhood is popular for trick or treaters obviously.
We took lots of pictures and had our pictures taken. We dressed as minions which was a big hit with the little ones. We got one picture with a whole family of minions. We gave out all the candy then walked over to our neighborhood bar for a nightcap. Met a very nice Lt. Uhura and Captain Kirk.
I remember the days of hiding out in the back room, all lights off and a note taped to the door asking people not to ring the doorbell. How silly we were. I hear Pat Roberson said Halloween was children were "celebrating Satan". Whatever, we had a blast.
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On respect for the belief of others. Sorry for the long post
by StarTrekAngel ini am inclined to start this thread in response to some comments made in other threads.
i have been coming around these forum for quite some time now so whatever you find in here is not just related to something someone may have said this week.
it can go months back as well.. i have seen many who claim to respect the belief of others but when it comes down to applying it into practice, things take a whole different tune.
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LisaRose
Tenacious, thank you for giving examples. In reading through them, I find some went over the line in making a point, but others I don't see the problem. I don't have the context, so it's hard to know on some of them
For example
It's somehow comforting to see that stupid posters are still proud of their ignorance and still posting away, proving stupid is something we can't fix, like a mental disorder
I feel this comment went too far. If it were my forum I would probably not allow that kind of thing, because it is insulting the person, not the comment, but it's not my forum. But as Simon pointed out, it is a discussion forum, if you cannot handle criticism, you should probably not be discussing your beliefs on it. I also don't know the context, perhaps the person was being deliberately obnoxious, I've seen some pretty stupid things posted here.
I always make sure that I can back up what I post. You're lack of ability to do the same is not my problem.
I don't see the problem here. There is no name calling, the person is simply pointing out that the person did not prove their point. The tone was a bit insulting, but if we didn't allow that kind of thing there wouldn't ever be any discussion of weighty topics. There isn't a forum on the internet that doesn't have that, most are a lot worse.
I have criticized other in the past for being insulting, but then I noticed that those getting the most ridicule were often people who refused to engage in any meaningful discussion, they simply wanted to spout nonsense and not be challenged. That isn't going to happen here and I wouldn't want it to.
All ideas and opinions are not equally valid. What the insulting posters are trying to do is to make people think, and to do that you sometimes you have to be blunt. If it distresses you to read that kind of thing, then you should stay out of controversial threads, or go to a different forum, there are plenty of them out there. I personally don't usually like insulting people, it's not my style, but I do think those people who do that often have very valid points. It might be good to just read their posts, with out any judgement about tone or manner, and see if there might be something for you to learn.
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Halloween / Birthday celebration
by River Song innew to the board, first time posting a topic.
i just wanted to say how refreshing and sometimes funny it has been lurking here.
so much so that i decided to sign up to this message board.
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LisaRose
Welcome river song, glad you found us. Yes, it's hard for a non JW to understand what it's like being in a controlling and destructive religion, but we have all been there, done that and get it.
I also am into Halloween big time, I am very much looking forward to it, my husband and I are going to be minions, not very original, but I think the kids will like it. We get tons of trick or treater, like 600, so we just sit on the porch and hand out candy all evening.
If you are able to do it we would love to hear more of your story.
my husband and I and some of our fellow minions.