Posts by Xirian

30

What can 25,000 members on this board do?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

what can 25,000 members on this board do?have you ever wanted to do something really great and re-.

ceive recognition for it?

one thing that many of us on this board have in common is .

Xirian

Surgical Technologist, Medical Transcriptionist, I have learned how to run a phpbb forum, a php Nuke forum, I'm learning how to build websites and use FTP clients to do so. I play several musical instruments, I sing, I have made jewelry in the past.

213

How do you feel about Tatoos?

by Fisherman in

i feel very offended and distrurbed when i see people covered with tatoos.

some people have tatoos all over their bodies, even on their faces.

there are also tatoo programs on the tlc channel that children can watch without a forewarning before the show comes on.

Xirian

I personally think tattoos are fine. I have one that I spent about 2 1/2 years designing exactly as I wanted it. I wanted it to be a reflection of my outer and inner personality and as a protective animal totem, so to speak, since the animals I chose are ones that I feel protect me in a metaphysical sense.

If you're offended by something, then that's all on you and I could care less why you feel that way. You are obviously forcing your morals on me, and I have fine morals thank you very much.

Why don't you try worrying about something that actually matters, like sickness, homelessness, famine etc... and stop worrying about what people do to their own personal property. What you are saying is exactly the same as me saying that your JW suit offends me when you come to the door in the middle of the summer in super hot weather. You offend me that you don't take into consideration my feelings on how you dress and hurt your body by not allowing it the proper exposure to the outside elements at that time of year. That offends me. I could also say it offends me when I look at how you force your children to wear the same sort of outfits in the summer and how that's tantamount to child abuse. I could say I'm offended by the fact that you shave your face and keep your hair short because those are god-given gifts that shouldn't be altered. Shall I go on.

Of course, none of these things offend me because I would be wasting time worry about something I couldn't change and something that was based on my own moral standards.

Please for the sake of you and your family, Fisherman, get a life and go live it and stop worry about things that you can't control.

36

Who Will Be Celebrating Thanksgiving & XMas This Year???

by minimus in

jw
friends

funny thing about jws----many celebrate thanksgiving but say they're only eating turkey with all the fixings by coincidence.

god made the food to be consumed everyday.

then you get witnesses who celebrate christmas the day before or after with all sorts of presents but they won't give it on the 25th because that day is pagan.

Xirian

I really don't celebrate any Christian holidays or pagan ones for that matter. Not that I probably wouldn't, but it just doesn't seem right to me to take on the celebrations of other religions, because I didn't celebrate them when I was younger. I'm not saying that's the reason others do, but these are simply my reasonings.

I find that when I have tried to celebrate in the past, I didn't have any reason for it. These holidays don't really matter to me and never really have. I don't even celebrate pagan holidays even though I consider myself a practicing witch. However, I don't claim any relgion because I don't feel that it's needed to prosper spiritually.

I do hope you all enjoy the time you'll be spending with your families!!!

55

PROOF THIS JW Religion COULD BE THE TRUE RELIGION

by Dark_Princess in

well in the bible it says said by jesus christ himself... that "the true religion will be the relgion everyone despises and hates.".

is this not the relgion of jehovahs witnesses?..

look in the bible itself it says in john 15:18-19. jesus says, "if the world hates you, you know it has hated me before it has hated you.

Xirian

PROOF THIS JW Religion COULD BE THE TRUE RELIGION

Does anyone else see the logical fallicy in this statement. Proof that the religon could be the true religion. Either it is the truth and can be proven. Or it is not the true religion and can't be proven.

I think you might want to work on your debating or logic skills first and foremost. I do not understand why people continue to use publications from the very thing they are trying to understand or prove to someone else and expect that person not to see through it. If you're going to try to prove something to me, you will have to step outside of the box you're in and prove it from another angle and with many more sources than you've quoted here. You're using circular logic here. You simply cannot make a valid case if you only use one source, in this case, the Jehovah's Witness publications and the Bible. Find another way to prove your point that something could be true.

14

need help for a dissasociation letter!

by aikido1914 in

jw
friends

please help me write a dissasociation letter to the elders and whoever else i need to let know, that i dont want to be involved or recognized as a jw.

tonight was the last straw for me, thought fading away was the answer but making a formal stand is necessary at this point... dont respond if youve only heard of the process, i have no more patience for wishywash answers, i need real comment by real ex jws and ill know right away if your the real deal.

i appreciate any responses to my request...

Xirian

I don't even believe that I tried to fade away. I made up my mind and stuck with it. I am thankful for doing so.

When I wrote mine, it was very short and sweet. I was only 17 at the time.

I believe it was something like the following:

"Dear Congregation,

I wish to disassociate myself from the Jehovah's Witnesses. There are many things about your religion that I simply do not agree with. I can no longer sit on the fence and ignore this doubt. I appreciate the many things I have been taught over the years, but it is not enough to make me feel comfortable being a "yes" man.

Sincerely,"

Hope this helps a bit.

22

Welcome to xirian

by BlackSwan of Memphis in

jw
friends

xirian:.

good to see you made it here.. you have a pm.. .

(lady fey).

Xirian

Pleased to meet you codeblue.

22

Welcome to xirian

by BlackSwan of Memphis in

jw
friends

xirian:.

good to see you made it here.. you have a pm.. .

(lady fey).

Xirian

I have heard of Red Oak, IA before, but I'll have to check a map to really know where it is. It's weird. I don't feel like I have a lot of talent. I feel more like I dabble in many things than become skilled at one thing. Ah well, as long as I'm enjoying myself and learning right. lol

Arcana Sphere Website

For the following website, you have to join in order to read any of the content there. You must fill out a questionnaire and must receive Administration Staff approval to become an active member there.
Arcana Sphere Forum

merfi, do you have a specific path that you're interested in or simply just interested in everything you can find out about paganism? Just curious. Nice to meet you!!!

22

Welcome to xirian

by BlackSwan of Memphis in

jw
friends

xirian:.

good to see you made it here.. you have a pm.. .

(lady fey).

Xirian

Thank you for the kind words about my site!!!

Yeah, I play all sorts of instruments. I used to play for the Kingdom Hall when I was younger. I was very proud of my skills because I taught myself how to play the piano. I started teaching myself the bass and eventually took formal lessons from one of the colleges here. When we were angry at our parents or were sent to our rooms, my brother and I played our instruments.

Cheers Dear!!!

22

Welcome to xirian

by BlackSwan of Memphis in

jw
friends

xirian:.

good to see you made it here.. you have a pm.. .

(lady fey).

Xirian

Thank you all who have wished me a happy stay here and greeted me so graciously. It is very much appreciated. I am enjoying myself here and am thrilled to find so many people that I have something that was such a huge part of my life, in common with.

Juni, where abouts in Southwest Iowa were you born, if you don't mind telling me? I was born in Chicago, but moved to Burlington, Iowa when I was two. Very small segregated hick town. Being black in a segregated town, was really traumatizing to say the least, on all sides. The whites, the blacks and being a JW didn't help much. lol

There is not much to tell about disassociating myself, but there is some, so when I get the chance I'll probably write a little something about it.

For now I'll just give some basic information about myself in a bit more detail than the above.

I am the mother of a beautiful 10-year old son, I am in a wonderful relationship and we just got a kitten a couple of months ago whom we named Yossarian. I am PTA mom, a Certified Surgical Technologist and a Medical Transcriptionist. I have my own business and I transcribe medical seminars, conventions and interviews from home. For fun I design pagan websites for folks, when I have the time. I am a student of certain forms of divination and have been learning about herbs and herbology for almost 11 years along with my mother. I also run a web forum named "Arcana Sphere". I have just started herbal healing courses.

I love writing poetry and informative articles on anthropologic subjects, among others topics of interest. I write my own music, play the bass guitar and played in two local rock bands until I went back to school. I also sing, play the piano and any wood flute. I am teaching myself the Italian language and how to cook Italian cuisine.

I've been a solitary pagan for about 6 years in which I have been studying mostly, Etruscan culture and history and have just now found a group of Etruscan reconstructionists that I have been learning much from. I have a fascination with the Italian culture, but more specifically the Etruscan's culture, history and religion and am thrilled to be learning more everyday about them. In general I love learning about history and pagan religions and paths of all kinds.

37

What proof is there that the JWs were chosen by Jehovah to be His people?

by VM44 in

what proof is there that the jws were chosen by jehovah to be a "people for his name"?

growth in numbers is not proof, other religions also have displayed such growth over the last 100 years.. material prosperity is not proof as other religions also have considerable wealth, both in cash, property and real estate.. printing the watchtower and awake!

magazines certainly is not proof!.

Xirian

I found this article very interesting. There are of course some things that I tend to believe and some things that I definitely don't believe.

It's a rather long article and the following is just a portion of it. It goes along with this particular topic and I just wanted to hear your thoughts either about the entire article (link to follow and will open in a new window) or just the following excerpt:

I mentioned earlier that, upon coming out of Egypt into Sinai en route to Canaan, the Israelites would have expected to be made familiar with the laws and ordinances of their new homeland. However, although this appears to have been partially the case, the situation was largely reversed on the religious front, with the Egyptian customs being introduced to the native Hebrews.
It was upon the mountain at Sinai that Jehovah first announced his presence to Moses. Being an Aten supporter, Moses asked this new lord and master who he was, and the reply was "I am that I am", which in phonetic Hebrew became 'Jehovah'. However, for the longest time afterwards, the Israelites were not allowed to utter the name 'Jehovah' - with the exception of the High Priest who was allowed to whisper the name in private once a year. The problem was that prayers were supposed to be said to this new godhead - but how would he know the prayers were said to him if his name was not mentioned?
The Israelites knew that Jehovah was not the same as Aten (their traditional Adon or Lord), and so they presumed he must be the equivalent of the great State-god of Egypt, even if not one and the same. It was decided, therefore, to add the name of that State- god to all prayers thereafter, and the name of that god was 'Amen'. To this day, the name of 'Amen' is still recited at the end of prayers. Even the well-known Christian Lord's Prayer (as given in the Gospel of Matthew) was transposed from an Egyptian original which began, "Amen, Amen, who art in heaven..."
As for the famous Ten Commandments (said to have been conveyed to Moses by God upon the mountain), these too are of Egyptian origin and they derive directly from Spell Number 125 in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. They were not new codes of conduct invented for the Israelites, but were simply newly stated versions of the ritual confessions of the Pharaohs. For example, the confession "I have not killed" was translated to the decree "Thou shalt not kill"; "I have not stolen" became "Thou shalt not steal"; "I have not told lies" became "Thou shalt not bear false witness"; and so on.
Not only were the Ten Commandments drawn from Egyptian ritual, but so too were the Psalms reworked from Egyptian hymns (though they are attributed to King David). Even the Old Testament Book of Proverbs - the so-called 'wise words of Solomon' - was translated almost verbatim into Hebrew from the writings of an Egyptian sage called Amenemope. These are now held at the British Museum, and verse after verse of the Book of Proverbs can be attributed to this Egyptian original. It has now been discovered that even the writings of Amenemope were extracted from a far older work called The Wisdom of Ptah-hotep, which comes from more than 2,000 years before the time of Solomon.
In addition to the Book of the Dead and the ancient Wisdom of Ptah-hotep, various other Egyptian texts were used in compiling the Old Testament. These include the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts, from which references to the Egyptian gods were simply transposed to relate to the Hebrew god Jehovah.
In Bloodline of the Holy Grail I made the point that the modern style of Christianity, which evolved from the Roman Church in the 4th century AD, was actually a created 'hybrid' - a religion based on themes from numerous others, including, of course, Judaism.
Now it transpires that Judaism itself was no less of a hybrid in the early days, being a composite of Egyptian, Canaanite and Mesopotamian traditions, with the stories, hymns, prayers and rituals of the various and sundry gods brought together and related to a newly contrived 'One God' concept.
What is particularly interesting is that, historically, this was not fully contrived in the time of Abraham, nor even in the later time of Moses. It did not happen until the 6th century BC, when tens of thousands of Israelites were held captive by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Until that time, the Hebrew and Israelite records referred to any number of gods and goddesses by individual names, and under a general plural classification of 'the Elohim'.
Through some 500 years from the captivity, the scriptures existed only as a series of quite separate writings, and it was not until after the time of Jesus that these were collated into a single volume. Jesus himself would never have heard of the Old Testament or the Bible, but the scriptures to which he had access included many books that were not selected for the compilation that we know today.
Strangely, though, some of these books are still mentioned in the modern Bible text as being important to the original culture. They include the Book of the Lord, the Book of the Wars of Jehovah, and the Book of Jasher. Why were they not included? Quite simply because their content did not suit the new Jehovah-based religion that was being created. Jasher, for example, was the Egyptian-born son of Caleb; the brother-in-law to the first Israelite judge Othneil; and the appointed royal staff-bearer to Moses. It is generally reckoned that the Book of Jasher's position in the Bible should be between the books of Deuteronomy and Joshua, but it was sidestepped by the editors because it sheds a very different light on the sequence of events at Mount Horeb in Sinai.
The familiar Exodus account explains that Jehovah issued instructions to Moses concerning masters and servants, covetousness, neighbourly behaviour, crime, marriage, morality and many other issues including the all-important rule of the Sabbath, along with the Ten Commandments.
But, in Jasher (which pre-dates the Exodus writings), these laws and ordinances are not conveyed to Moses by Jehovah. In fact, Jehovah is not mentioned at all. The new laws, says the Book of Jasher, were communicated to Moses and the Israelites by Jethro, High Priest of Midian and Lord of the Mountain. In effect, Jethro was the overall governor of the Sinai temple.
In Hebrew, the title 'Lord (or Lofty One) of the Mountain' was translated as 'El Shaddai', and this is particularly significant for that was precisely the name related to Moses when he asked the Lord to reveal his identity. The Lord said, "I am that I am. I am he that Abraham called 'El Shaddai'". "I am that I am" eventually became transposed to the name 'Jehovah', but, as related in Jasher (and as confirmed in Exodus when correctly read), this Lord was not a deiform god at all. He was Jethro the El Shaddai, the great vulcan and Master Craftsman of the Hathor temple.
Apart from the fact that we are taught about certain aspects of the Bible text, I think it is fair to say that not too many of us actually study the books ourselves. As a result of this, our perceived images are generally those conjured by picture-books and films. Hollywood, of course, has done us proud with its portrayals of Moses on the mountain and God blasting the words of the Ten Commandments onto two great, barely portable, granite slabs. In Exodus, however, there is no such depiction, and the Commandments are said to have been written down by Moses himself (at the dictation of the Lord) after he had broken the first tablets that he was given.
As for the other part of the Sinai package, the Tables of Testimony, these are stated in the teachings of the Kabbala and the Midrash to have been held within a sacred gemstone which Moses placed "in the palm of his hand". This was the same Divine Stone of Wisdom said to have been inherited by King Solomon. In the earlier texts of Egypt it was called the 'Tablet of Hermes', which embodied the wisdom of Thoth.

Star Fire: The Gold of the Gods