AllTimeJeff

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Posts by AllTimeJeff

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  25

  Cardinals or Steelers: who you got?

  by JimmyPage in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  AllTimeJeff

  GO STEELERS!!!!

  Check out the first song, none of these kids are over 13, and the girl who sings hits all the notes Pat Benatar did. The other is just an old fashioned Steeler song.... Here We Go!!

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkTflRQzCZg

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3uiCRr3dGE
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  51

  Well this didn't take long.

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  washington: only five days into the obama presidency, members of the new administration and democratic leaders in congress are already dancing around one of the most politically delicate questions about the financial bailout: is the president prepared to nationalize a huge swath of the nation's banking system?.

  http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/26/business/26banks.php.

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  AllTimeJeff

  So Republicans are the only party that isn't Socialist/Communist?

  I don't mean to be trite, but this kind of advance labelling of a stimulus package is the kind of thing the GB does with apostates. They try to get everyone to hate it in advance, before it even hits the floor.

  Spending money on people is not comunism.

  I am tired of the GOP acting like they have the only vision for how to run America, as if they forgot who has been running the show for 8 years now. If that is what the GOP believes, (Obama's plan is socialist) then the GOP is the biggest of all. Freedoms taken away, spending run amok under Bush and the sit there and do nothing Congress.

  I guess it takes one to know one.
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  63

  WT 15th April apostates / new light on miscarriages

  by dozy in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  study articles have strong counsel against apostates - modern day apostates display characteristics similar to those of the devil.

  their mind may be poisoned by a critical attitude towards individuals in the congregations , christian elders or the governing body.

  some apostates oppose the use of the divine name , jehovah.

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  AllTimeJeff

  “modern day apostates display characteristics similar to those of the Devil. Their mind may be poisoned by a critical attitude towards individuals in the congregations , Christian elders or the Governing Body.

  Thats rich. It took me several months to understand that this was a cult. I called them a high control group at first because I couldn't allow myself to admit that I was in a cult.

  To criticize that which deserves to be criticized, the GB, is of course wrong, according to the GB! Notice they put themselves last on the list (after individual pubs and elders). How humble of them.

  We have to expect this, the poisoning of their flocks minds by the GB. The only way to keep control of peoples thinking is to demonize the critical thinking abilities all of us have.

  *sigh*
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  44

  What steps did you take to stop your association with the congregation?

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i finally knew that the wts didn't have the truth,i decided to take steps to slow down and become an inactive member.

  ( i still have my whole family in.......so..... i prefer to remain inactive).

  i took these small steps :.

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  AllTimeJeff

  My route was a little more surprising:

  As an elder I.....

  Read "apostate" (i.e. truthful) information about the cult I was in

  Reported about 40 more hours per month then what I was actually doing.

  Read more "apostate" literature and started lurking here and other JW internet forums

  Realized I was trapped in a dead end marriage in a cult.

  Got an apt.

  Got a job (ironically, through a message left at a KH)

  Wrote a Dear John letter to the ex AND the borg.... (I needed two seperate letters, but they both had the same idea)

  Left without warning, because none of them deserved it. (not true, but thats how I felt at the time)

  Haven't missed one superstitious thing about the cult since.
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  3

  The Idea of Religious "Truth" and its Spiritual Merits

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i promise to try to keep this less wordy then usual.

  (i can't guarantee that i won't "quote" a lot though).

  its a basic idea.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Ironically, it is me, Stephen Colbert. Yes, it may be hard to believe, but I used to be a JW! Then I switched teams and became a Republican... (jk)

  Funny, someone who was on this board and saw me at my JW worst when I first joined, PM'd me and said that at my absolute worst, I reminded him of Colbert, but without the irony. LOL. I couldn't disagree....
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  36

  I want to thank the Atheists here. I have come to realize I was wrong.

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hillary_step, nvrgnbk, superfine apostle, and others that have helped me so much.

  they said i would be an atheist within two years, but my metamorphosis has happened virtually overnight.

  'how many fingers, burntheships?'.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Just to state the obvious: Atheism is not a belief system and doesn't pretend to be. There is no path, no enlightenment, although it can be liberating. It simply acknowledges the fact that god doesn't exist as organized religion teaches him. It is an acknowledgment, a rejection of claims that can't be proven in the institutionalized kiosks of organized religion.

  The evidence of a higher power could be there. I think the definition is often the issue. I respect the premise of an atheists assertion more then the typical theists argument.

  Having said that, if BTS becomes an atheist, then there will be far less entertaining topics here on JWD.....
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  29

  CO's and DO's for the Midwest.

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  however you define the geographic midwest.

  the only do of consequence i had was illingworth.

  also f bartell.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Bland was cool, unless you were an elder (I hear) I liked Koehler, but his style started to crystalize my view that the JW's who were smiling had a secret agenda. Koehler in particular never let on too much to what he really thought of the elders.....

  Btw, all from my list are from Michigan.... But I hear they get around.... :)
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  3

  The Idea of Religious "Truth" and its Spiritual Merits

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i promise to try to keep this less wordy then usual.

  (i can't guarantee that i won't "quote" a lot though).

  its a basic idea.

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  AllTimeJeff

  I promise to try to keep this less wordy then usual. (I can't guarantee that I won't "quote" a lot though)

  Its a basic idea. Why worship unless you are right? Isn't the certainty involved in being the one true religion a heady feeling? They can't all be right! Otherwise, there is no such thing as truth... Or is that the case?

  Can "truth" exist for all despite so many "truth kiosks" selling you their version at the exclusion of the other?

  Truth is defined as "That which is considered to be the supreme reality and to have the ultimate meaning and value of existence. "

  I am not saying that "Truth" as defined above doesn't exist. I am one who believes that it is important for all of us to find and define our own personal truth. Even if for some of us, their "spiritual" decision is that there is no such thing as "spiritual truth".

  But look at the key words from that definition: Reality. Meaning. Existence. ....... oh yeah. ULTIMATE. Thats a heavy word.

  The premise of this definition of truth is to give meaning to ones life. That is the purpose. How many interviews did we all sit through at Assemblies and Conventions and listen to sincere people talk about how lost they were, how meaningless their life felt before this highly structured cult came and knocked on their door?

  Thats the catch. Remember the catch phrases? "This life isn't all their is! Life will be better. All you need to do is believe in Jehovah and do what we say. And knock on a lot of doors, selling our literature. Advertise Advertise Adverstise....." Ok, it basically turned into "Just advertise our current light, we'll let you know when it changes."

  I am reminded of Stephen Colbert's phrase. "Truthiness." It resembles truth, but isn't. Thats what most (all) organized religions offer. Not truth, but truthiness. Yeah, it even has an internet definition. (thank gawd for Wikipedia)

  Truthiness is a term first used in its current satirical sense by American television comedian Stephen Colbert in 2005, to describe things that a person claims to know intuitively or "from the gut" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectualexamination, or facts. [1] Colbert introduced this definition [2] of the word during the pilot episode of his political satire program The Colbert Report on October 17, 2005, as the subject of a segment called "The Wørd". Truthiness was named Word of the Year for 2005 by the American Dialect Society and for 2006 by Merriam-Webster. [3] [4]

  By using the term as part of his routine, Colbert sought to satirize the use of appeal to emotion and the "gut feeling" as a rhetorical device in contemporary socio-political discourse. [5] He particularly applied it to U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and the decision to invade Iraq in 2003. [6] Colbert later ascribed truthiness to other institutions and organizations, including Wikipedia. [7]

  Colbert of course, using satire, is on to something. Truth that appeals to emotion and your gut isn't truth at all. Or at least, it shows that truth can't be institutionalized. Truthiness though, can.

  Thats the point. Truth is what it is, a device that hopefully helps us all to understand our own individuality and place in this world, a way to put context and meaning into our existence. That shouldn't be minimized.

  But is it possible to get the benefits of truth (meaning and purpose, peace in life) without the institutionalized truthiness that organized religion insists upon?

  I say it is. But only if you are willing to do your part. Truth starts with looking into the mirror, literally and figuratively, and seeing who you really are.

  This is just my opinion, and not meant to offend, but when you let your organized religion of choice tell you what truths you believe in, then you don't have truth. You have truthiness. (the kind of truthiness that Colbert was pointing to in all of his satirical splendor.)

  What if your religion pulls a fast one, and say that they are wrong? What if they pull a JW, and change their truth every other year? Where is the truth in that? You can only have truthiness. Vatican I? Vatican II anyone? The apology to Galileo?

  The point is, that institutionalized religions are at some point in their foundational core, all about the institution. It can't ultimately be about you. And if it is about them, they can never be about truth.

  Do you really think that god puts institutions over you? I can't bring myself to believe that. Do you think that the truthiness of organized religion (which at its core is all about them, not you) is more important then your personal truth? Would god agree that a religious institution is more important then its people?

  Calling organized religion "truth" may make you feel better if thats your thing. But just disagree with them. That will show off the truthiness quicker then a Britney Spears wax job.

  Find your truth, but make it your truth. Truth is all about your existence. God would want it that way. If God is worth anything, (and if she even exists) then she would absolutely put you, the individual, over the Savings and Loans of the truth business, organized religion.

  Unlike the meaning that JW's put into the phrase, you really are allowed to "make truth your own". Make it about truth, your truth, and not the organized religion behind truthiness.
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  14

  Sacrafice, why?

  by VM44 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how did the idea develope among the semite people that sacrafice, the destruction of animal life, would be pleasing to god?.

  what purpose does it serve?.

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  AllTimeJeff

  I have heard many well thought out explanations to this, and it all comes down to human sacrifice, believe it or not.

  Consider the first sacrifice of Abraham. "God" replaced Isaac with a ram. The first recorded "replacement" sacrifice. (and one of the first instances of the prickishness of YHWH)

  There are all kinds of theological arguements on Jephtha and his offering of the first one of his house to YHWH if he were granted victory.

  (Judges

  11:30-31) . . .Then Jeph´thah made a vow to Jehovah and said: "If you without fail give the sons of Am´mon into my hand, 31 it must also occur that the one coming out, who comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Am´mon, must also become Jehovah’s, and I must offer that one up as a burnt offering."

  11:30-31) . . .Then Jeph´thah made a vow to Jehovah and said: "If you without fail give the sons of Am´mon into my hand, 31 it must also occur that the one coming out, who comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the sons of Am´mon, must also become Jehovah’s, and I must offer that one up as a burnt offering."

  .......until it was his daughter who came out. Why else would he be that upset when she came out to greet him?

  Of course, their is JW spin, there always is, but it takes several jumps. Clearly, Israel did get involved with some kind of human sacrifice, whether in imitation of the lands around them or otherwise.

  How were the Israelite religious leaders to seperate themselves, while keeping the concept of a human sacrifice viable? Animal sacrifice.

  Of course, for all of Jehovah/YHWH's hatred of offering human sacrifice's as he stated.......

  (Deuteronomy

  18:10)10 There should not be found in you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, anyone who employs divination, a practicer of magic or anyone who looks for omens or a sorcerer,

  He still (allegedly) showed his great love by offering the only approved human sacrifice, his own son.

  I guess its ok to kill your own kid as long as they aren't burned in the process. Thus, Jesus was "sacrificed". Even though humans are forbidden to do that. Way to set an example....

  The point is, human and animal sacrifice are found throughout ancient religious traditions, as they spill blood to appease the gods. IN ALL CASES, ITS ABOUT BLOOD BEING SHED TO APPEASE AND CALM DOWN THE DEITY. It was to remind you that the animal DIED IN YOUR PLACE. God had a right to kill you, and something has to be killed, because you sinned. Better an animal then you! How loving of YHWH.

  Jehovah/YHWH was no different then the pagan gods around Israel. He was a blood thirsty god, as is evidenced by his surrogates, the priests.

  These sacrifices served their purpose, to maintain control over the multitudes who bought that there was an invisbible god who would only forgive and accept if blood was poured out. Animal blood or your own? An easy choice for Israelites.
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  73

  Freezing rain!!

  by crapola in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, we in southern okla. are finally getting freezing rain.

  i hate it.

  how are things in your neck of the woods?.

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  AllTimeJeff

  It's cold, but then again, I ain't in Florida or Cali.....