Open mind

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Posts by Open mind

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  29

  My August Update

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't really have a purpose in this thread, but wanted to share my thoughts and updates.. fading has, at least for now, totally stabilized.

  my jw wife doesn't discuss jw things and, as difficult for me as it is, i haven't been discussing anything directly against jw policy.

  oh, i slip in comments when she tries to judge people or groups based on her jw training- things like gay marriage, medical marijuana, pedophile news stories.

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  Open mind

  Thanks for the update Jerry.

  Sounds like there are quite a few good signs youll at least be enjoying retirement with a "low-key" JW, if not completely inactive.

  om
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  28

  In Memory of Clarice. Musings from the Hills.

  by Open mind in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this weekend i went for a spectacular, solo, saunter in the hills and woods where i live.

  if you keep reading, you'll be heading down the rabbit hole of where my mind went.

  you've been warned!

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  Open mind

  BTTT

  In the words of Duke Ellington & Bob Russell I...

  "Don't Get Around Much Anymore".

  ...at least to JWN.

  There's probably about 5-10 posts I've made on JWN (out of thousands of fluff-stuff) that on re-reading are, IMO, worth pointing out to all the new-comers that have joined since. I know this sounds self-promoting, and I suppose it is to a certain extent, but that's truly not my intent. Just want to help point out what I consider to be a "Best Of" post to save people the hassle of sifting through tons of fluff.

  Now get out and enjoy life!!

  Best,

  om, wife & kids

  (WT-free for several years now)
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  85

  I'm thinking about going back

  by Corboy101 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been out for 22 years.i was raised as a jehovahs witness.

  i was baptized in 1986 but soon after left the religion.

  theres a whole lot to the reasons why i left, but i left.

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  Open mind

  According to the writers of South Park, God's chosen religion is.................................The Mormons!!

  (Tongues were firmly in cheek.)

  Hey whatever floats your boat.

  If JWs disappeared tomorrow, another high-control group like them would be right along shortly to take their place.

  om
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  30

  My story so far

  by brainmelt in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been trying to avoid posting this, due to extreme paranoia but its time to post my story.

  i hope to not post too many details, as we've avoided being df so far, our group elder was young and lovely and cool and i just hope that in time he learns the ttatt.. i'm a regular lurker on here, occasional poster (i can't post much as my phone browser only lets me read but not post, so i only post on the odd occasion i get a time alone on the pc).

  i have been fading since round about last september ( so almost my first anniversary of learning ttatt).

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  Open mind

  Welcome to JWN Brainmelt & hubby.

  Thanks for sharing your story and we're so very sorry to hear about your child's serious health issues.

  My wife and I are also atheists and agree it very freeing.

  If I thought it would help your child, I might be able to bring myself to pray to an imaginary god, but here's the findings of the biggest, most scientifically valid study ever done on intercessory prayer. The patients were all scheduled for nonemergency coronary artery bypass surgery.

  **********************************************

  The results were devastating for the efficacy of prayer. The complication rates were as follows:

  Group 1 patients (received prayer; uncertain that they would receive it) – 52.5%
  Group 2 patients (received no prayer; uncertain that they would receive it) – 50.9%
  Group 3 patients (received prayer; certain that they would receive it) – 58.6%

  http://www.examiner.com/article/scientific-studies-on-the-effectiveness-of-intercessory-prayer

  **********************************************

  Here's hoping that the best, most scientifically valid treatments are successful.

  Best regards,

  om & wife
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  10

  I had to control my laughter...

  by ILoveTTATT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  today at the meeting, during the prayer (to which i did not say "amen" to) the brother said "thank you for everything the faithful and discreet slave do for us.

  we know it is because they love us...".

  to which i had to really control my laughter cause i was about to burst out laughing... i just smiled, thankfully everyone else had their eyes closed and head down.... .

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  Open mind

  "(to which I did NOT say "amen" to)"

  On the rare occasion I'm present during the conclusion of a JW prayer I now say "Gay Men".

  I calibrate the volume of the "G" very carefully.

  om
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  42

  A question for elders and former elders who have served on JCs

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  based on your experience of judicial committees, how would you advise someone who is due to meet with the elders and has asked for the best way to avoid being disfellowshipped?

  is denying everything ever a successful strategy?

  does addressing a letter to the elders threatening legal action if they disfellowship ever work?

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  Open mind

  Sincere repentance.

  Once you've got faking that down, you're probably golden.

  om
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  67

  Another Suicide

  by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  there wouldn't have been any good way to hear the news i suppose.

  it's just so strange to recall the conversation yesterday.

  my "still in" parents are with me and my inactive sister having a pleasant conversation.

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  Open mind

  Billy said:

  "WT puts so much emphasis on perfection that it's unhealthy. For someone like AJ, he decided to end his life because he was convinced that he'd committed the "unforgivable sin". If he wasn't a JW, the incident would have just been embarrassing, certainly not criminal or anything serious. But all the crap that goes with being a JW convinced him that this was worth dying over, since he'd fallen from "perfection". And for me, the striving after perfection made for a life I didn't find worth living. I was supposedly doing everything right but I was exhausted and dissatisfied. Life was bland and everything I said or did was subject to scrutiny. "Perfection" came to mean a torturous, dull pain for me."

  So very beautifully and poignantly stated.

  You are VERY MUCH in my thoughts and those of my wife and children tonight Billy.

  Thoughts. Not prayers. We don't do that anymore.

  BILLY
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  79

  Role Reversal: Placing 1969 Awake with JW's Manning the New Portable Literature Displays

  by snapdragon4 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in recent weeks the jw’s here in the uk have been setting up their new portable watchtower literature displays in my local town square on a saturday morning.

  as they hadn’t knocked on my door for at least five years, and consequently feeling somewhat neglected, i thought that i would pay them a visit instead.. .

  the first thing i needed to do was arrange my literature.

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  Open mind

  Just out of curiosity I tried looking up the article on WT Library.

  For some strange reason, the Faithful & Discreet Slave has seen fit to only include Awake! magazine back to 1970.

  Hmmmm.

  I'm sure it's just a matter of megabytes. Couldn't be that they don't want rank-and-file JWs to read stuff like that.

  Very well done!

  om
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  12

  really cool video

  by Hortensia in

  1. social
  2. current

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xgk84poeynk.

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  Open mind

  Guess I failed at making a pretty subtle, but what I thought was important, point.

  There's zero doubt that Sagan was referring to the JWs. But the fact that he didn't actually name them was important to my "scared of anything apostate" JW mentality.

  Done here.

  om (the nit pick)
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  9

  Yerba Mate: Drink of the gods (not including Jehovah)

  by JamesThomas in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  preface: jehovah's past exploits excludes him from anything that may benefited all of humankind.. .

  please share your knowledge and experience of mate..

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  Open mind

  Mate, in all it's forms, is clearly not for True Christians.
  
  Consider:
  
  Check Mate
  
  Coffee Mate
  
  Marriage Mate
  
  School Mate
  
  and, probably the most dangerous one of all....
  
  UNBELIEVING MATE!!
  
  So, dear Brothers & Sisters, avoid Mate in all it's demonic forms.

  (Nice to hear from you James.)

  om