Alpaca

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Posts by Alpaca

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  47

  Jehovahs Witnesses - Mainstreaming, Like It Or Not

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it used to be that pioneers supported themselves with free literature and magazines and put in 100+ hours a month.

  then 90, then 70.. a publisher had to put in at least an hour a month to be counted.

  now 15 minutes.. they used to hand out a written review and collect it and grade it!

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  Alpaca

  Easyreader has an excellent point about an end-times cult needing a date.

  Dates are what made the BORG successful for so long.

  And, what made the dates believable, to those who bought into it, were the seeming scholarly examinations of the scriptures which led to the fanciful numerological contortions to make the predictions. It is a formula they have used over and over, with success. Of course, the pseudo-scholarship was accompanied by self-proclamations of having God's spirit exclusively.

  The problem now is that they have painted themselves into a corner with dates that are immutable with respect to the foundations of the whole set of doctrines.

  Of course, it would be foolish for us to count them out. They could always pull something creative out of their ass and feed it to the faithful who are hungry for anything that would bring Armageddon back onto the horizon.
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  64

  Has anyone lost a friend or known of someone who committed suicide over BORG-induced guilt?

  by Alpaca in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am not going to use any names for this because i don't want to cause potential hurt to anyone.. there was a very nice family in my congregation when i was a teenager.

  step-dad, mom, and her 4 kids.

  the dad became an elder, had a great business, the mom spent lots of time with the kids.

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  Alpaca

  So sorry, Jeff.

  Sunspot, you are the second person to mention Puternut.

  What else can you tell us about how the BORG affected him/her?
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  24

  What did Noah and his family complain about during 40 days/40 nights?

  by asilentone in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i will start.

  .

  animals shit odor.

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  Alpaca

  I am guessing seasickness might have been an issue.

  Probably not being able to go to the gym, too.
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  13

  Dubs and homeschooling-- coud the BORG begin promoting it for more thought control?

  by Alpaca in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you guys think the borg will begin to encourage more home schooling of dub kids as a means to control independent thinking?

  that's what other fundies do to keep their kids from being exposed to the evils of evolution.. most dub kids who attend public schools (especially the really smart ones) will get at least a modest exposure to critical thinking in their science and literature classes.. with all of the weird changes and tightening of the screws on the dubs being able to think for themselves i could easily see the borg "suggesting" that parents "prayerfully consider" the "spiritual advantages" to schooling their kids at home.

  then they would go into a discussion of how the ancient israelites did not have formal schools for their children but it was the parents responsibility to teach them....blah, blah, blah..... when i was still in the borg there were lots of kids who were home schooled and at one point a bunch of dubs from 5 or 6 congregations actually started their own school.

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  Alpaca

  It also occurred to me that canning the Book Study could be a prelude to "suggesting" home schooling. They have given the Dubs a little more free time and after allowing the dust of the recent changes to settle they could hit them with that. You know the line...the big A will be here any time now and the wisdom of this world will be useless then anyway ....blah, blah, blah.....ad naseum.

  It makes sense too because the young ones are where they are suffering the worst attrition.
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  24

  Its All About Them Until We Remember Our First Name

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been told by more then one person of my propensity to use the phrase "...it's all about them.

  " when it comes to the governing body.

  them and their authority that is.

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  Alpaca

  This was a great thread but I don't think it got the attention it deserved.

  I thought I would resurrect this post for the newbies who are struggling with their post-Dub identities.
• 
  13

  Dubs and homeschooling-- coud the BORG begin promoting it for more thought control?

  by Alpaca in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you guys think the borg will begin to encourage more home schooling of dub kids as a means to control independent thinking?

  that's what other fundies do to keep their kids from being exposed to the evils of evolution.. most dub kids who attend public schools (especially the really smart ones) will get at least a modest exposure to critical thinking in their science and literature classes.. with all of the weird changes and tightening of the screws on the dubs being able to think for themselves i could easily see the borg "suggesting" that parents "prayerfully consider" the "spiritual advantages" to schooling their kids at home.

  then they would go into a discussion of how the ancient israelites did not have formal schools for their children but it was the parents responsibility to teach them....blah, blah, blah..... when i was still in the borg there were lots of kids who were home schooled and at one point a bunch of dubs from 5 or 6 congregations actually started their own school.

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  Alpaca

  Do you guys think the BORG will begin to encourage more home schooling of Dub kids as a means to control independent thinking? That's what other fundies do to keep their kids from being exposed to the evils of evolution.

  Most Dub kids who attend public schools (especially the really smart ones) will get at least a modest exposure to critical thinking in their science and literature classes.

  With all of the weird changes and tightening of the screws on the Dubs being able to think for themselves I could easily see the BORG "suggesting" that parents "prayerfully consider" the "spiritual advantages" to schooling their kids at home. Then they would go into a discussion of how the ancient Israelites did not have formal schools for their children but it was the parents responsibility to teach them....blah, blah, blah....

  When I was still in the BORG there were lots of kids who were home schooled and at one point a bunch of Dubs from 5 or 6 congregations actually started their own school. They didn't get any flack from the BORG about it but the school ended up flopping after a few years.

  Do lots of Dubs home school their kids now or do most of them still attend public schools?

  Just a thought.
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  6

  Do You Suspect WT is STILL Affliated with UN Millenium Development Goals?

  by cameo-d in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i do.. .

  there are many wheels within wheels....committees, divisions, split offs of ngo's (ingo's, etc etc, ad nauseum) and there are many spokes as well.. the thousand points of light refer to the evangelical illuminaries.. my intuition tells me wt is disguised and well hidden somewhere among the spokes.. .

  what does your gut feeling say?.

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  Alpaca

  No doubt in my mind.

  But, I'll bet that they have disguised it so that they are associated through one of their many corporations.

  The corp. probably has some obscure name that wouldn't suggest a connection with the WBTS, so the only way to find out would be with a lot of digging and research.
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  64

  Has anyone lost a friend or known of someone who committed suicide over BORG-induced guilt?

  by Alpaca in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am not going to use any names for this because i don't want to cause potential hurt to anyone.. there was a very nice family in my congregation when i was a teenager.

  step-dad, mom, and her 4 kids.

  the dad became an elder, had a great business, the mom spent lots of time with the kids.

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  Alpaca

  Thank you all for sharing your painful stories.

  A question for "no more kool aid"....how credible is Jerry Bergman?

  Seems like I saw some discussion on here a while back that suggested he was somewhat of an charlatan. I don't know anything about the guy, that's just what I remember reading and if I remember correctly I think the criticisms were backed up with some examples and proof.
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  88

  Amazing Grace/how sweet the sound-some of my favourite gospel/worship music

  by Guest with Questions in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this song has always been one of my favourites.

  wintley phipps tells the history of the song.

  very moving.. amazing grace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmf_24cqqt0&mode=related&search=.

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  Alpaca

  Amazing Grace is one of the best musical compositions of all time.

  Even as an agnostic, I am moved by it.

  But, I am moved because of the triumph of human spirit and the eternal desire that some of our species have to see us all treated as equals.

  It must be remebered that the secular humanists (to the chagrin of many of Christendom's churches) in the 19th Century were at the vanguard of the movement to end slavery and see the concepts in the "Rights of Man" adopted by our society.
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  69

  best JW Cult words & phrases

  by still_in74 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1 - "new world order".

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  Alpaca

  "mature" Dubs always referred to the big, summertime district events as "conventions" and the other smaller circuit events as "assemblies" or "special assembly days"

  "immature" Dubs didn't make any distinction and would frequently refer to the district event as an "assembly"

  listening to the lingo was one of the way's you could ferret out the "spiritual babes" from the those who "understood the deep things of God"

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  how about all of those damn servants:

  magazine servant

  territory servant

  literature servant

  sound servant

  circuit servant

  district servant

  zone servant

  special servant

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  After there was a study (can't remember if it was a WT or one of the books in the CBS) about Satan's demons dividing the earth up into territories some of kids used to talk about the:

  circuit serpent

  district serpent

  etc.....you get the idea