Posts by AllTimeJeff

24

Harold Camping suffers a stroke

by moshe in

jw
friends

could this be a message from god?

a california broadcaster who wrongly forecast the return of jesus last month is now hospitalized after suffering a stroke.. harold camping, 89, of oakland, calif.-based family radio was reportedly taken by ambulance thursday night from his home in alameda, calif.. "he had a stroke, it was on his right side," a neighbor of camping's told the oakland tribune, noting that she and her husband helped and comforted camping's wife, shirley, as the event took place.. "his speech appears to be a little bit slurred but otherwise he's ok," the neighbor said, after her husband spoke with shirley yesterday.

"(shirley) said he was doing good ... and the only thing that's affected is his speech.".

AllTimeJeff

He probably just reallized he spent the last 30 years believing in something he heard in a Blondie song and keeled over....

24

Harold Camping suffers a stroke

by moshe in

jw
friends

could this be a message from god?

a california broadcaster who wrongly forecast the return of jesus last month is now hospitalized after suffering a stroke.. harold camping, 89, of oakland, calif.-based family radio was reportedly taken by ambulance thursday night from his home in alameda, calif.. "he had a stroke, it was on his right side," a neighbor of camping's told the oakland tribune, noting that she and her husband helped and comforted camping's wife, shirley, as the event took place.. "his speech appears to be a little bit slurred but otherwise he's ok," the neighbor said, after her husband spoke with shirley yesterday.

"(shirley) said he was doing good ... and the only thing that's affected is his speech.".

AllTimeJeff

If only he became a JW....

Sounds like he is a distant relative of a certain Jaracz we are all familiar with....

51

SURVEY: Is a JWN members post count a reasonable indicator of their theist/atheist position? If so what can be learned from that?

by nicolaou in

i've done no research on this but i suspect that a members belief or absence of belief in god may have some correspondence with the number of posts he or she has made.. my tentative suggestion is that members with fewer than 500 posts are mostly believers while members with more than 3000 posts are mostly non-believers.

of course there are exceptions, maybe quite a few, but i'm only dealing with generalities here.

so how about a survey?

AllTimeJeff

Nicolau, I rarely think on this subject and feel I have only 2-3 options to choose from anymore, although this post does give me a chance to reveal my own evolution in thinking.

I left JW's an agnostic. I was an angry atheist (almost) for a while. (read some early debates I engaged in, I was pretty pissed off)

For the sake of your criteria, here is where I am.

I DO NOT BELIEVE IN THE EXISTENCE OF GOD THE WAY THAT MOST ORGANIZED RELIGIONS TEACH, CHRISTIAN OR NON CHRISTIAN.

I DO BELIEVE IN THE AUTONOMY OF EACH OF US AND ESPECIALLY LOVE. (don't mean to be weird there, but that does inform my views very much)

I CAN'T PROVE IT AND WOULD NEVER FOR A SECOND ARGUE FOR MY POSITION, BUT I BELIEVE "GOD" DOES EXIST, BUT NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST WAY AS SHE IS GENERALLY UNDERSTOOD TODAY. (a clarification, I hear no voices, receive no visions. My "beliefs" if you want to call them that are purely anecdotal with a large pragmatic view that believes in general, humans are happier when they follow a higher purpose of some sort)

I HAVE A HUGE AMOUNT OF RESPECT FOR THE HONESTY OF ATHEISTS AND AGNOSTICS, BECAUSE THEY ARE RIGHT.

I ONLY BELIEVE IN "GOD" BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN LOVE. I REALLY DO THINK GOD EXISTS IN ALL OF US, AND FOR WHAT THIS IS WORTH, THIS FAITH SHOULD NEVER BE IN CONTROL OF A RELIGION, GROUP, PRIESTS, LEADERS, ETC.

Having said all that, those are merely personal beliefs that I have. I would still fall on the side of an atheist/agnostic in a debate over Jesus, Christianity, the bible, religions in general, because the honest point of view and observations athiests/agnostics are in general, correct.

I think I have ranted enough, and hope you catch my drift. :)

10

Wake up CALL! It's time to shake off the JW's attitude/personality!

by StephanieH in

this weekend i found myself again working on my day off, not because i had to i just didn't want to sit at home alone.

when i told my mom on our daily phone call that i was working again over the weekend she told me that she was worried because over the past few months i have been "over working" myself.. when i got home i sat in my apartment alone, tired, and depressed.

i phoned my mother once more and we talked for a long while, and cried together.

AllTimeJeff

Stephanie, this really resonated with me, and I know exactly what you mean. I turned from the fun loving teen I was (I did smile a lot. I REMEMBER!) to somewhat of an ego fed borgbot as an adult.

Now that I left, how can I have fun and enjoy life? Still working on that. At least now I am happy. If I could only smile more.... :)

I am still trying to figure out how to be loose, let go, and enjoy life. I realize that much of my outer persona, though serving me well in some venues, was forged in the Borg. I don't know if I should accept that, modify it, or learn to just let my inner me smile a lot more, and to embrace the decision I made to just be happy.

Wishing you the best!

31

So What's the Point?

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

i am back after several months to tell you all that i am cured!

that's right, i am no longer an ex jw.

i can go around and pretend that i was never knocking on doors.

AllTimeJeff

Flipper, I continue to admire how you embrace life so positively.

Outlaw, hell yeah my friend! lol!

69

How big is a demon?

by Terry in

jw
friends

things which exist are real enough.

we can measure them.

they are just this big and no bigger or smaller.. they are here and not there.. imaginary things have the luxury of being any size.

AllTimeJeff

Sorry Terry, I thought this was a thread about JW ex wives....

216

Religious Reform

by Maze in

as a bible based organization, how do feel jehovah's organization should be reformed?

the answer is quite simple in christendoms churches:.

1. reject false doctrines like the trinity and 'all christians go to heaven' and use of images in worship.. .

AllTimeJeff

Ok Maze. So what are you doing here? I mean, you do know you are hanging around a bunch of apostates. Right?

Just in case you don't, here is my resignation letter. (if you are an elder, here is something that should amuse you, I kept it to one side of one page....)

ATJ's Resignation Letter

I am a former missionary, someone you are taught to stay away from. Yet, you flaunt your righteousness among those whom you have been taught to be condemned. I mean, we are hopeless. Jehovah isn't more powerful then us apostates is he?

Soooo,

A) What's your beef?

B) We already know what JW's think about us anyway. Did you think we forgot?

We disagree. You cool with that? I don't have a problem with you being a JW. I don't agree with anything you believe in, and esp do I not agree with your self righteous posts, but other then that, you seem like a typical JW to me.

43

Seven Thousand Year Creative Day still being taught (as of 2005)

by VM44 in

here is a photo of a gilead instructor (br.

liverance) teaching a class on chronology.. the photo appears in a blog entry dated 5-21-2005.. note the "6,000" and "1,000" periods in the timeline drawn on the whiteboard.. i thought the 7,000 year creative day was no longer taught, but apparently it still is at gilead, at least in the year 2005.. (picture cannot be embedded here for some reason, so here is the link to it).

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ydnht0xya-4/sbukuolyzei/aaaaaaaaacs/t-rgxaammbg/s1600-h/chronology+%28br.+liverance%29.jpg.

AllTimeJeff

During that lecture, Liverance said that the period between '75 and the start of the Great Trib would be the time between the Creation of Adam and Eve. Oh, that's what they missed in '75. Riiiight.

Keeping in mind that this was the first real lecture we got after two weeks of touring Bethel, I was left feeling pretty cold. Being born in 1974 myself, I didn't really care at that time about 1975. This was the first time that I really understood why so many people in 75 were pissed. I understood and agreed with them. It was the start of a lot of bullsh*t proposed as fact.

And I now know I am officially "out out" as a JW. They changed this and I had no idea. I feel like a veteren apostate! lol

216

Religious Reform

by Maze in

as a bible based organization, how do feel jehovah's organization should be reformed?

the answer is quite simple in christendoms churches:.

1. reject false doctrines like the trinity and 'all christians go to heaven' and use of images in worship.. .

AllTimeJeff

So Maze, you still want to be a JW, right?

43

Seven Thousand Year Creative Day still being taught (as of 2005)

by VM44 in

here is a photo of a gilead instructor (br.

liverance) teaching a class on chronology.. the photo appears in a blog entry dated 5-21-2005.. note the "6,000" and "1,000" periods in the timeline drawn on the whiteboard.. i thought the 7,000 year creative day was no longer taught, but apparently it still is at gilead, at least in the year 2005.. (picture cannot be embedded here for some reason, so here is the link to it).

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ydnht0xya-4/sbukuolyzei/aaaaaaaaacs/t-rgxaammbg/s1600-h/chronology+%28br.+liverance%29.jpg.

AllTimeJeff

Hey VM44

Yes, Liverance and Bowen are no longer instructors. I think they got kicked off the island.

I am not sure what if anything is being taught about the 7000 years.