My wife and I just got an invitation in the mail from an elder's family to attend a get-together in a couple weeks at their place. It's some sort of bonfire, fall-themed deal. I might just go, but here's yet another indication that the ban on large witness gatherings is either not true or being ignored. Or maybe there will be a local needs part coming up in a couple weeks about large witness gatherings or what not.
erandir
JoinedPosts by erandir
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My Cong- "Large Witness Gatherings are Banned!! And fancy dress? Why?
by Witness 007 ina year ago in my cong, an elder who must be hitler's love child, gets up and tells us how some brothers are planning a fancy dress party, a large social gathering.
sounds fun i though!
"brothers a sincere christian would not attend such a gathering, we are warning you not to go near it.
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erandir
Yay! Happy Birthday, fifi40!
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Is belief in God just the ultimate in CYA?
by nvrgnbk inpascal's wager.
blaise pascal offers a pragmatic reason for believing in god: even under the assumption that gods existence is unlikely, the potential benefits of believing are so vast as to make betting on theism rational.
critics in turn have raised a number of now-classic challenges.
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erandir
'How did man, if come to earth sans divine intervention, develop conscience and the universal concept of worship?'
Some would argue that this makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. It would be a positive thing for the gene pool to have a group of primitive men and women striving for a higher purpose and being rewarded for that unity of purpose/thought. It doesn't matter what that initial purpose was or what it developed into later on. So eventually humans having the traits of some common purpose for mankind and a conscience dictating what is good or bad for the whole of society would serve to increase the population and well-being of mankind. It wouldn't really make a difference early on how this inbred purpose and conscience were interpretted, i.e. belief in Allah, Yahweh, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Baal, etc. I'm having a rough time explaining this concept, so I hope you get what I mean, CoCo (and others, too).
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What's wrong with JW's in a nutshell.
by JeffT ini was pondering this after an aa meeting the other day.
a couple of the 12 steps involve working constantly to improve our conscious contact with god.
they do not seek him out, go into a guide place to seek his guidence.
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erandir
What?...but but but but but...they say they don't follow men...they say it!
Look! *points*
From The Watchtower March 15, 1998, pp. 10-11
Dangers
ofFollowingMenA "sect" has been defined as "a group adhering to a distinctive doctrine or to a leader." Similarly, those belonging to a "cult" have "great devotion to a person, idea, or thing." Actually, the members of any religious group who strongly adhere to human leaders and their ideas are in danger of becoming slaves of men. A strong leader-oriented relationship can lead to an unhealthy emotional and spiritual dependency. The danger may be compounded when a person is reared in a sectarian atmosphere from childhood.
Those who have such concerns about a religion need reliable information. Some may have been told that the Witnesses belong to a religious organization that enslaves its members, exercises authoritarian control over them, unduly restricts their freedom, and throws them out of step with society as a whole.
Jehovah’s Witnesses know that these concerns are unwarranted. Therefore, they invite you to check for yourself. After careful consideration, draw your own conclusions. Are the Witnesses servants of God, as they claim, or actually slaves of men? What is the source of their strength? The two articles on pages 12-23 will provide satisfying answers to such questions.
So who writes down all this stuff and tells its members to follow it all, thereby giving it the status of doctrine...and decides to disfellowship them if they don't? Men or God? So are the JW's following doctrines of men or of God? Why is the Watchtower even necessary if the answers are found in the bible? Why is the Watchtower necessary if its members aren't to follow doctrines of men?
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Do "Apostates/ex-jws" picket their "new" churches if they disagree?
by booker-t init seems that every ex-jws now has so much rage at the wt society for the way they were treated and all of the scandals.
i was wondering though if an "apostate/ex-jws" found disagreement or scandal in their new church would they picket or get on the internet or get on tv warning people about the christian church?
i can answer that question with one word no.
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erandir
It could be "rage" but maybe it's righteous indignation at an arrogant organization that calls itself God's only true organization on earth and yet doesn't live up to those claims and ends up bloodguilty for many thousands of its members. Maybe it's righteous indignation at a whole nest of false prophets, hypocritical pharisees, and blind, unreasonable followers who are quick to shun an individual for speaking his mind? What other church in Christendom is like this? What other church in Christendom kicks out its members for having a differing opinion and telling their family members to shun them in order to coerce them back into the "right way of thinking?"
Is this righteous indignation on the part of the so-called apostate justifiable? Or are you saying they should just shut up and suck up?
And I don't believe that most ex-jws, as you say, join another church. From what I infer, it seems like most ex-jws steer clear of organized religion because the JW's have taught them by example that "religion is a snare and a racket."
Also, could you provide proof in your claim about battered wives of second husbands. I've never heard of this.
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grateful to my Elders..No talks, no FS time, no privledges....no problem!
by oompa inso one year of lots of questions and showing doubts, and missing quite a few meetings but still going out in service, doing mics, reading, hall projects...then i get the new light from society regarding the letter i sent them (wow, stunned me, blew me away) and i let them know how i felt about it and i quit the ministry after 40 active years.
nobody says anything about this, no counsel, no will you go out with us on saturday.
not a single "were is your time for the month" phone call.
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erandir
I thought it was strange and not the norm, really expected to be harrassed, but then it looks like the same has happened to more than me!
Yep...same here.
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More Silly Speech ...
by compound complex inwith thanks to clam for getting the rall bolling:.
1) magnificence: big coins.. 2) cantaloupe: inability to run away with paramour.. 3) familiar: truth-challenged relative.. 4) majority: smallish military officer.. 5) lollygag: candy stick down one's throat.. 6) lohengrin: squat squab smiling.. 7) noachian: absence of pain.. 8) lordship: noble boat.. 9) parapets: man's best friend times two.. 10) adverse: to increase length of poem.. .
please join in!.
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erandir
One more for the road:
Pantomime: The uncontrollable urge to hit a street performer over the head with a cast iron skillet
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What is your favorite Simpsons episode?
by Lloyd Braun inok, so we did the seinfeld thread, now how about homer, marge, bart, lisa and maggie?.
my favorite one has to be the one where bart gets help from homer to read a card at a presentation before mr. burns.. homer: "oooh boy card read good".. .
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erandir
The one where Marge and Lisa go out to get a new door bell and then the Jehovah's Witnesses come to their door. But they don't ring the bell.
Didn't one JW say to the other, something like, "Why are we doing this? Let's stop
bothering people."There is another where Marge is feeling down and she is relating to Homer how she was so lonely that a couple of JW's stopped by and she talked to them for hours. She got up to get some lemonade or something, but when she got back, they were gone.
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What is your favorite Simpsons episode?
by Lloyd Braun inok, so we did the seinfeld thread, now how about homer, marge, bart, lisa and maggie?.
my favorite one has to be the one where bart gets help from homer to read a card at a presentation before mr. burns.. homer: "oooh boy card read good".. .
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erandir
Well, let's see...out of nearly 20 years of episodes, I have to decide which one is my favorite? Hmmm...
The one where the Springfield dam bursts and all the water comes rushing down the street past the Simpson's house. Then at the tail end of the water comes floating Ralphie in his bed. He wakes up in bed in the middle of the street and says, "I think I wet my bed."
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I am going to an Atheist banquet w/ my girlfriends!
by sweetface2233 inthe atheist alliance is having their "crystal clear atheism" convention in dc this weekend.
my girls and i are going to the banquet tomorrow evening.
my role model, julia sweeney, will be giving a speech and receiving an award.
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erandir
Lore,
LMAO