http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212316676.shtml.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2010/0809/breaking15.html.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7935362/taliban-death-squad-kills-a-pregnant-woman-after-public-flogging.html.
(small sigh) Yes. It was incredibly horrible and there are just no words.
However, to say that the Taliban represents Islam is like saying Jehovah's Witnesses represent Christianity. The Taliban are a small militant fundamentalist group that have many earmarkings of cultic activity. Do not condemn an entire religion and segment of society based on this group. They are NOT one and the same.
Full disclosure: I am neither Christian nor Muslim. Just educated.
i scream out sometimes.
am i angry at a 'being' that i don't think exists?
or the embedded concept?.
@Ziddina - that was hilarious! I think I prefer your goddess!
To answer the original question - oh yes, I cry out Oh God but it's usually in reference to an activity (grins).
I am much more at an open universal energy that ties us all together, along the lines of what Agonus is saying. Leaning much more toward a Buddhist type of philosophy.
And although I think some people are well-intentioned...anyone who hears invisible people speaking to them most likely has some type of neurological or emotional issue, however kind they may be. However, until the invisible being tells them to pick up a weapon and start smiting others in the name of the "Lord", it's harmless and whatever floats your boat. On another level, it is also vaguely offensive to the billions of people who aren't christian yet still believe in the divine.
Anyway - no, I'm not angry anymore at anyone. Sad for those who build their lives around a harmful concept? Absolutely. But sad? No. My involvement is this cult has taught me many wonderful and valuable lessons. Putting the experience into perspective helps me be the best person I can possibly be - and I think there WAS a purpose to it all.
was there an official or unofficial reason that anyone knows of?.
it seems to me that pretty much every publication was studied at the book study, but we never did that one..
I also seem to remember studying it. Maybe it was through the School? I'm sure I wouldn't have studied it on my own - I wasn't THAT dedicated!
i have been pointing out that the shunning doctrine is unscriptural and unloving (jw speak).
he texted that my whole family stayed in the "truth" it was me who left.. please give the concise words to answer him.
i know it won't really do any good to try to reason with him, it will just feel good to "nail it.".
Hell. I'd call the police and take out a restraining order. So sorry for what you've been through.
i am surprised how many active jws there are on facebook.. has the society ever put anything in print discouraging facebook in particular?
would someone on facebook be viewed as "weak spiritually"?.
was facebook named in outlines of convention talks?
I wonder how just how hard they are coming down against FB in non-US countries. If you look at that crazy JW Cafe page, it seems the majority are from other countries (or maybe I just hit it on the wrong day?)
i got an email from a jw relative.
they reckon that they have read a indepth report about the us oil spill and according to that.. the oil spill is too big to be plugged.. its going to posion all the earths oceans.. which means they won't be able to produce o2.. which means that all life on earth is going to die.... which is a fullfillment of the scripture " unless those days were cut short no flesh would be saved".
which means... duh duh duh!
Gee...what happened to the king of the north and the king of the south and wild beast/UN turning on all religions etc etc etc? Trumped by oil.
i know this may be a touchy subject, but it's something that i think has been so obvious for the last few weeks at the meetings.
let me start by saying that i do understand the "headship" arrangement, and agree that it is biblical.. but it seems that the tendency is to take it way too far.
whenever speaking about training children, i've noticed that the boys are told to be trained by their fathers in various types of work, including trades.
@Palmtree - last I heard - yes and no. There are brothers assigned to the housekeeping department, but only in a ...
(wait for it)
Oversight capacity.
(sigh)
she was about 13 or 14 when i first started having serious doubts about the wts.
when i informed her of my doubts a couple years later, she took the information and ran with it.... she never looked back.
i told her she could be whatever she wanted to be if she only worked hard enough.
That is so wonderful!!! Congratulations! What a great gift you have given her - she is well equipped to have a happy and productive life!!! :)
bro.
jaracz died this morning, wednesday, june 9, 2010 at about 7:30 am.
he was 84 years old.
Ah, Alice dear. Because people like you come along to amuse us.
i ask because i'm confronted to that and i really don't know what to do.
i always pointed out that the bible and not the book we are studying together is god's word, but now i really don't know any farther.. the 2nd problem is that we don't only study the bible she is now a friend of mine, our children are of the same age?
were some of you in the same situation?
I havent, but in my old congregation, years and years ago, I remember a prominent pioneer couple who "went apostate". They had several studies. They sat down with each study, explained what they had found and why they were leaving, and then left the organization. Not a single study continued (although a few in the congregation tried - but of course, the questions that had been planted - the elders just kind of gave up on them and didn't really encourage any ongoing studies. Also, the speed and zeal with which they were DF'd was kind of shocking to the studies). (I know this because my dad was an elder.)
I guess the question is - do you want to fade or just get out? How much "progress" has your friend made? The answer to those questions will really determine where you go from here.
