Paralipomenon

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Posts by Paralipomenon

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  31

  Relationships....

  by RichieRich in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i never posted a big to do about it, but myself and my girlfriend of quite a while ended our relationship rather abruptly not too long ago.

  it sucked, but luckily it wasn't really ugly or anything.. .

  anywho, ole richierich is back in the dating game.. .

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  Paralipomenon

  You said there's friendships with women you know that you don't want to jeopardize. I learned a great lesson.
  
  In my late teens I had a friend that was a girl that we were best of friends with. We never dated, though we ended up dating each other's friends. It was pretty cool, she was the person that I would talk to about girl problems and she'd talk to me about her man problems. We were both content to just be friends.
  
  Then we both moved away and still kept in touch. One day I got a call from her telling me her great news. She was getting married.
  
  It was at that point that I realized that we couldn't keep our friendship at the same level. It just wouldn't be appropriate. So because neither of us thought of the other as potential dating material we ended up losing our friendship.
  
  Then a few months later her fiance cheated on her and she called off the wedding. Opportunity rarely knocks twice so I jumped at the chance.
  
  We've been married for over 8 years and it really couldn't be much better. We discovered that since we met being friends we got to see each other's real self, not the fake front that we all put up to some extent when pursuing someone else.
  
  Yes you can lose a friendship, but weighed against the potential of finding a soul mate, is it worth the risk?
  
  Always go with your heart, missed opportunity can be very haunting.
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  45

  ARE YOU PSYCHIC..........................AND WHAT DID YOU THINK AS A JW ?

  by vitty in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think all people can communicate at a higher level for eg how many can times do you and your partner think of the same thing at the same time?

  or you can be thinking of a person and they ring you?.

  but if you really feel that you are psychic or that you communicate with "dead people" how did you cope with it when you were a witness?.

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  Paralipomenon

  I'm not psychic, but I could definitely trick people into thinking I am. I can't explain it, but my body is wired in a weird way that is affected or affects radio waves/energy. I could claim that I have super powers or psychic but I really think that my vein structure/nervous system is just laid out in an ideal way that it can affect certain wave harmoics.
  
  Among my "super powers" I can do the following:
  
  1) Detect an incoming cell phone call 1-2 seconds before it comes in. It needs to be on my hip, if it's sitting next to me I won't pick it up.
  2) Either interfere with portable radios, reducing the signal to static by getting too close.
  3) Amplify a radio signal by touching the antenna, usually this will strengthen the signal to the point that it's about 50% louder than the volume is set for.
  
  Conversely I can't stand microwaves or power lines. When using a microwave I need to leave the room because it gives me a very creepy feeling. I don't feel like I'm getting cooked or anything, it's just ... creepy. The exact same feeling is present around high voltage power lines.
  
  Researching it a bit, there's people who get fillings that start to pick up radio stations due to their body being wired "just right". The other thing I noticed was that the devices that affect me or I can affect them are usually poorly shielded so they emit a EMF. The larger the EMF the more likely I am to disrupt it with my presence. I just try to stay away from cheap electronics.
  
  In short, I don't think I'm going to doning a cape and cowl and fighting crime with my "powers" anytime soon, but most people don't believe I can do this so I give others a bit of leeway when they claim they can do certain unique tricks. If they want to chalk it up to being psychic, all the power to them, but deep down I think there's a perfectly normal explanation for it.
  
  As for the JW aspect, I like to freak my wife out by moaning "demons, demons ..." while moving my hands ominously around the device's perimeter. The signal will fade to static or get loud or if there's a two signals close to each other they will start to intermix as I wave my hands around. She knows exactly what I'm doing, but it creeps her out every time.
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  35

  URRRRRRRRR

  by Missanna in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am getting so tired of people telling me what is wrong with me and that i have left jehovah!!!

  i'm so angry.

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  Paralipomenon

  I say you should start hitting on him.
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  11

  Former elders: need some info

  by bethel anorexic in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  when a publisher has just moved into a new cong, i understand that the secretary sends a request to the pubs former cong requesting their info and records.

  is this a wt form or just a regular typed letter?

  if it's a regular letter does it have to be on wt stationary to be legit?.

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  Paralipomenon

  Usually it starts with a phone call. Call up the presiding overseer of the congregation to get the name and phone number of their congregation's secretary. Talk to the secretary and make a few passing inquiries about the type of individual, then finish up with a formal written request to follow procedure.
  
  Easy as pie.
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  53

  What is driving change at WTS? What is the GB? Has it failed the flock?

  by yaddayadda in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been wondering a lot about this lately.

  what drives changes to policy and interpretations?

  what processes are in place, if any?

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  Paralipomenon

  They really need to adapt to the rest of the world. The more they try to control the congregation the more they lose thinking individual. Currently it looks like their plan is to grip tighter, but that's only squeezing more people out.
  
  In order to survive they need to silence the apostates. They will only achieve that via major policy reform.
  
  They can retain high control of people's minds, but need to loosen up on some of the extremist stances.
  
  What would I do?
  
  Give them holidays. Christmas, Birthdays etc. New flash of light shows that these holidays have really become commercial enterprises and lost all religious meaning. Make them a individual matter but lay down some ground rules. No nativity scenes and try not to go overboard with decorations.
  
  They need voting members. As an organization they cannot afford to be politically neutral. No politician would champion their cause because it would be representing a group that won't help him get re-elected. They could twist it that Satan is trying to control the governments to frustrate the kingdom work. With that in mind they will open voting as a form of theocratic warfare. Suggest that people only vote when trying to prevent someone with "Satan's Views" from getting into power.
  
  Drop the blood issue. Completely. Never admit it was wrong, just stop putting out medical alert cards and dissolve the liaison committee. Each witness will be responsible for their own actions. Secretly tell the BOE not to pursue judicial actions against people that get transfusions.
  
  Reword shunning. Keep disfellowshipping for control, but only advocate shunning for people that actively opposed to Jehovah's organization. This could be masterfully done by pulling references to 1950's watchtowers stating that you shouldn't shun someone for leaving the witnesses, but rather keep a distance from those trying to poison their minds with false teachings. This would make 75% of the apostates go away. Without an effective counter witness people would be more apt to stay in the organization. Really, what would they have to lose?
  
  Change the focus on pioneering to something similar to the Mormons. Push hard for children to dedicate at least one year after graduating to kingdom ministry but after that encourage them to get training via secondary education. This will result in a wealthier base and enable congregations to start to become self sufficient. JW doctors will look after patients, witnesses will petition for their children to be assigned to JW teacher's classes, JW bankers will start to look after the interests of congregation members. This would make leaving harder because the congregations would have deep intertwining roots.
  
  At this point they could buckle down for the long haul. Now would they be much different from any other religion? Not really, but they'd still have their ministry and could still condemn other religions and they'd have more of a push. The burning desire to prove them wrong would have lost it's fuel.
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  8

  Funny things people have done, that still have you laughing...

  by ButtLight in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a long time ago, my sister and her girlfriend came for a visit.

  her girlfriend wakes up and heads to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

  next thing you know she is screaming, followed by some upchucking!

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  Paralipomenon

  At a meeting they used the scripture of Jehovah's reaction to persecution of his people with the old "Like they touched my eye"
  
  I turned to my friend to make a sarcastic comment and he was sitting there with his finger on his eyeball rubbing it all over. I lost it and started laughing out loud and had to go to the bathroom to recompose myself.
  
  He joined me shortly after with a rather sore looking eye. I have no idea how he could do that, just the thought of it freaks me out.
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  61

  Name Things Witnesses Make Big Deals Over

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have you ever seen a witness get absolutely giddy over placing a measly tract with a neighbor and get up on the platform and tell the "experience" of how the neighbor actually said that he'd read it!

  big deal!!!.

  in our hall, they loved to applaud over the dumbest things!

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  Paralipomenon

  A Sister in the hall saw a disfellowshipped person smoking. Isn't is sad what happens to people when they lose Jehovah's favor?
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  2

  Mormon "apostates" more reasonable?

  by Paralipomenon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.pbs.org/mormons/talk/ .

  looking at the feedback from both current and ex-mormons, while there isn't an open dialog, there seems to be a fairly sane overtone to all the comments.

  contrast that to the knocking forum that they had to shut down due to the endless arguments from both sides.

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  Paralipomenon

  http://www.pbs.org/mormons/talk/
  
  Looking at the feedback from both current and ex-mormons, while there isn't an open dialog, there seems to be a fairly sane overtone to all the comments. Contrast that to the Knocking forum that they had to shut down due to the endless arguments from both sides.
  
  Do witnesses do a bigger mind job on it's members than the LDS?
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  37

  The Person you were Engaged to Marry had an Accident & became a Paraplegic

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .................would you go through with the marriage or back out of it?

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  Paralipomenon

  If they were fine with allowing extra-martial affairs I would be fine with it. If they expected me to not enjoy sex because they weren't capable, then that would be quite selfish and would provide me with an answer.
  
  If the situation was flipped, I would try to force them away. I would have such guilt in trying to keep someone to myself for the sole purpose of alleviating my boredom/looking after me without being able to offer them anything in return other than conversation.
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  40

  Home Schooling - Yes or No?

  by winnie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what are your opinions?.

  it seems that alot of jw's are into this.. i think there is a time and place for this, ie if you don't have access to a public/private school.. it doesn't seem regulated to me.

  my mother home schooled my sister because she couldn't be bothered taking and picking her up from school.

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  Paralipomenon

  I would suggest trying home schooling over a summer time.
  
  It requires a ton of time, patience, dedication and work. I would hazard to say that most that consider homeschooling just aren't cut out for it. Yes it can be very successful but that is usually the exception not the rule.
  
  1) Dedication, the kids need a schedule set in stone of when they are expected to learn
  
  2) Work area. A part of the house should be set aside for study. Do you like to listen to music while cleaning or watch a TV show in the afternoon? That may be an interference with the children's concentration
  
  3) Errands. While you have the flexibility to go at any time you will need to bring all the children with you. Not bad for just one, but if you have more than one things can start to get strained.
  
  4) Aptitude. Are you suited to be a teacher? Do you understand the subjects well enough to help someone else learn? Are you willing to do the homework after "school hours" to keep ahead of your children's studies as they get older and into more complex subjects?
  
  5) Expense. Most school districts will provide you with an "education allowance" but you will need to have alot of trial and error for which learning style suits your child the most.
  
  6) Humility. Your child may not be suited for home schooling. They may have a learning disability or just not able to focus at home. You need to be able to recognize if your child would actually be better in a school environment.
  
  7) Partnership. After a full day of interacting with the kids you need some time to be an adult. Your spouse needs to be on board to help with the housework and give you a break. From what I've observed this it one of the biggest issues. One spouse is so focused on the kids, their needs, education etc. that their spouse gets little to no attention.
  
  In all, it's not something to jump into lightly, understanding all the angles and to be truthful with yourself. Evaluate yourself and see if you have the resources and atributes in your life right now. If you don't, I would suggest working on those attributes BEFORE attempting home schooling.