smiddy

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Posts by smiddy

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  36

  How ballroom dancing helped our exit

  by Finally Left in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just wanted to say hello and thank you for all of your comments.

  when i finally figured out this was not the truth it was nice to know i wasn't the only one - it was a surprise to learn how many there are.

  february was my last month of service after 43 active years.

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  smiddy

  Welcome to the board Finally left & your hubby to be free of a cult after so many years
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  23

  How Do You Get Most of Your News?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i read that many people get their news from facebook.

  i look online mostly at fox news and the drudge report.

  very seldom do i look at cnn.😎.

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  smiddy

  Their is not one news source I rely on .I watch and read news from a variety of different sources as I try to get a balance on things.
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  38

  Talk to my Dad about beards.

  by LovingLifeNow in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i spoke to my elder dad the other day, and he asked if i still am sporting a beard.

  i said yes, then i said, "i thought the society said its ok to have a neat trimmed beard now?

  " he said "no, no, no..if you read the article , it says in countries where it is accepted" so my response was "ummm, its pretty accepted here in america"..which he says "it reflects your spirituality" "if another wittness saw you, they would know you are weak"...i was like, "ok, i don't get it, and i follow christ/god, not men..." then he said in his hall" if a brother came in with a beard , he would not have privelages" then i just gave up, and tried to change the subject..ugggggggggg if these people would just listen to themselves , they would see the sillyness of there teachings...

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  smiddy

  Jehovahs Witnesses claim to follow the Bible except , where beards are concerned .

  I knew a sister who had a beard and she wasn`t told to shave it off ?
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  6

  My last talk

  by Normalfulla in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so i was recalling my last talk , it was something to do with finding jehovah's treasures or something anyhow in my prep i decided to google "real life treasure maps " and i came across the copper scroll which was found with the dead sea scrolls https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/copper_scroll and i described the real life treasure map etc and of course likened it to the bible as if it were a treasure map to life (duh) anyway afterwards an elder present at my talk said "i wouldn't believe everything u read on the internet" .

  i was totally pissed off by his comments as though if it didn't come from a wt publication it can't be trusted as true , this was before i woke up but i was so incensed by his comments it messed with me that he would doubt my research and then ..... i woke up but that wasn't what did it just an.event along the way.

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  smiddy

  Priceless
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  2

  Church of the Subgenius / jehovah1

  by lancelink in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  while reading the morning news, i came upon a story about this church and the name grabbed my attention :.

  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/church_of_the_subgenius.

  some aspects are just too close to the mark with the witnesses.

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  smiddy

  Any religion/belief that celebrates Klaatu cant be that bad surely.
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  41

  48% Capacity at Kingdom Halls - A post on reddit

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there was a letter read this week, followed by a talk about all the changes that are coming in the next couple of months regarding merging congregations in the area (va/md/dc) - the letter said that the kh's in the area are only being filled to 48% capacity.

  this was music to my ears as i have noticed the decline in attendance in all the neighboring congregations.

  they will sell some kingdom halls and merge some congregations.

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  smiddy

  Wasn`t it just a few short years ago they said they would need more KH`s because of the expected increases ?

  And they had a program to fullfil this need ?

  On the one hand they quote the scripture that says something like ",In the last days 10 men out of all nations will take hold of the skirt of a jew and will say we will go with you people because we have heard Jehovah God is with you people".

  An expected increase /influx of many people wanting to join this religion.

  And then on the other hand we have ," In the last days the love of the greater number will cool off " obviously denoting a decrease in believers.

  A great exodus of people leaving the religion

  Which is it Watchtower ?

  Remember they also said for decades that the annointed numbers would decrease as we got closer to armageddon ,then for about 35 years the number never dropped below 8000 annointed ,then lo and behold the numbers actually started to go up so that at this date they are well over 14000-15000 annointed or maybe even more.

  So if their are any thinking JW`s left in the organization its no wonder the attendances are dwindling
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  14

  Asking a Jew about the Name "Jehovah"

  by David_Jay in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah's witnesses...that's the trademark of the religion, the use of the name "jehovah.

  " if there is anything jws and non-jws can agree on is that this one thing sets them apart from everybody else.. i have only had witnesses come to my door less than five times since i left in the 1990s.

  i guess they don't work the territory i live in often, or perhaps after that first time (which was still after the year 2000) they have marked the words "jew who knows a lot" or something in their notes on my address.

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  smiddy

  Thank you David Jay ,

  I appreciate the Jewish perspective coming from someone who obviously understands better than Christian scholars how the Jews view things relating especially to the Old Testament / Hebrew Scriptures.and the use of the Tetragrammaton.

  I can understand but dont agree with the Christian Scholars having an agenda in playing down the Jewish view while promoting Jesus Christ in the New Testament /Christian Greek Scriptures.

  They are looking after their own interests.

  However

  With regard to Jehovahs Witnesses using the name Jehovah in the new testament /Christian Greek Scriptures they published a word for word translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures ( The Kingdom Interlinear ) a couple of decades ago and nowhere is the tetragrammaton ,the four hebrew letters representing Gods name found their .Nor is their any Greek letters that substitute for the four hebrew letters representing Gods name found in the word for word translation.

  So their is no basis for the WTB&TS to insert the name Jehovah in the Christian Greek Scriptures using their own publication. ( KI)

  None of the Apostles or any of the Gospel writers or anyone else including Jesus ever uttered the name Jehovah nor did anyone utter the four hebrew letters of the tetragrammaton to infer such in the Christian Greek Scriptures.
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  8

  Serena Williams engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian

  by ttdtt in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  wonder if tony or splaine will be invited to the wedding :).

  i am sure it will be at her kingdom hall to praise her great dod jehober.. http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/29/entertainment/serena-williams-engaged-alexis-ohanian/index.html.

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  smiddy

  Now that it has been confirmed Serena is pregnant and expecting a girl according to Venus ,i wonder if Serena is thanking Jehovah for her pregnancy as she used to thank him for her wins on the tennis courts.

  I also wonder if the Governing Body of Jehovahs Witnesses are now appreciative of Serena Williams praising Jehovah for her wins now that she is an unwed woman and pregnant to an unbeliever ? or worldly person.?

  Will they remain silent ?

  OK , she may not be baptised ,but she has been outspoken about her beliefs and praising Jehovah her God on the world stage

  and the JW religion have been silent about that

  Will they remain silent ?
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  14

  Can we talk confidentially?

  by wheelwithinwheel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the lot video shows what most elder’s offices are like.

  actually it a pretty well-equipped one and with the video context is, without a doubt, org-approved.

  but let’s face it.

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  smiddy

  The thought that Elders dont speak confidential matters with their wives ? I almost choked in my beer.

  OK ,some dont ,but I believe they are a minority.
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  7

  Walking The Line

  by millie210 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a recent comment in another thread inspired this one.. the comment concerned a family who owned a bakery and got counsel on the icing and cake decorations.. the cakes reflected the theme of worldly holidays of that time.. the family was told to sell the bakery.. then, we have the case of jalessa castillo, a young u.s. journalist who happens to also be a pioneer in a congregation.

  she was covering religious topics (among other topics) and it seems that got stopped?.

  at least when you look online now it is very hard to find her name in the byline of anything religious in nature.

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  smiddy

  We all know the obvious ones, such as being a policeman/woman

  I personally knew two policemen who were JW`s and one was a motor-cycle cop.who carried a gun ,the other was re-assigned to desk work and he was an Elder in good standing.

  this was back in the 70`s-80`s in Australia.

  In an adjoining congregation was a self employed sign writer who was doing work for a butchers shop at Xmas and was harrassed by the Elders for doing Xmas decorations on the butcher shop window ,and was DF. for defending his position of being employed by them .

  It was common knowledge back then if you were self employed as a tradesmen you would not do any work for any church organization .

  As I said this was back in the 70`s-80`s.,how different it is today when the GB sell their properties to religious organizations for $$$$$$$$$$