felix a

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Posts by felix a

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  14

  Biopure's Announcement (PURE SPIN!!!!!!!!!!)

  by hawkaw in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in another thread maximus ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=10757&site=3 ) posted an upbeat announcement about biopure's hemopure - hemoglobin based product derived from stored cow's blood that the hospital information service of the watchtower has said a witness can take, conscience premitting of course.. well, don't get your hopes up too fast.

  this reminds me of the congressman gary condit (or should i say "con-did-it") interview the other night.

  he denies an affair with two women but the "facts" say otherwise.. below is what the street.com has to say about biopure's announcement.

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  felix a

  Damn!!!!

  I knoew I should have purchased there stock when I first heard about them.... I could've made a small bundle there....

  Oh well...

  felix a (David P)
• 
  119

  Validity of 607 BCE date

  by stevieb1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone on here ever come across the tiniest shred of evidence supporting this date for the fall of jerusalem.

  i understand rolf furuli is about to but something out on this subject (see elihubooks.com), however even a table of contents has been a long time in coming from this site.

  if no evidence exists what can he possibly be writing about?

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  felix a

  Just a quick question.

  How many other religious organizations have considered 607 BCE to be the date for the fall of Jerusalem? If there are any groups who also feel this is the correct date for the fall, did they publish their position prior to or after the Watchtowers contention that this is the date of Jerusalems fall?

  To Scholar and StevieB1:

  I believe several others have already asked you this, but I'll ask as well. Could you please provide your mountain of evidence to support the date claimed by the WBTS and yourself to support the date mentioned?

  Regards,

  felix a (David P)

  "Vision is the art of seeing things invisible"
  Swift
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  4

  Are JW's Christians. Will They Go To Heaven?

  by stevieb1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know there is a huge gulf between the doctrines of the wtbts and the bible, many major doctrines minor beliefs all contradicting scripture but that being said can we say categorically that jw's are not true christians in the sense that their belief system is corrupt.

  if they genuinely believe that they are footstep followers of christ and try to display the fruitages of the spirit then will they not equally qualify for everlasting life?

  isn't god above orthodoxy and can he not forgive them individually especially since the society keeps the truth of the bible hidden from them?.

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  felix a

  JW's are as Christian as any other bible based religion. As for going to heaven? They have as much chance of that as any other group who believes they will or won't go to heaven.

  The variety of Christian faiths are varied. People will make as much or as little of the bible as they wish and still call themselves Christian. What's important is that to each group they have the "True Faith". Actually I think to many it really all about what makes them feel good. I guess it makes you feel good to believe that the truth about the bible is hidden from them. Hmmm...

  Are there sincere true believers amongst JW's? Absolutely! I've known many of them. I believe I can say I was one of them at one time. Are there good people amongst this faith? Again, I believe the answer is yes! Does this mean they're right? NO! Does the fact that their are over a billion professing Christians in the world make the Bible true or being a Christian of any faith the proper course for one to take? I would say no. All it will do is make you a part of a larger community, it will make you a part of the mainstream belief system found in many countries. But it does not make your professed beliefs true or accurate. If being socially acceptable, part of the mainstream is what is important to you then continue on as you are not questioning the foundations of what is or what was your faith.

  I believe that looking critically at the beliefs of this religion or any other religion is an important act. If you are going to profess to a faith and lay claim to it's tenants then you need to accept the good and the bad that is there and know that you are doing it. If you care only for what you deem palatable to believe and will not look at what may not be so palatable or just dismiss it selectively, then you are all the more a fool.

  I would add more but I have to leave my home to go to work.

  Regards,

  felix a (David P)
• 
  141

  JW Kids Leave the Organization: Facts

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the october 1 watchtower 2001 features articles on training children "properly" and dealing with a "prodigal child.

  the latest inside u.s. figures reveal that 86% of jw children leave the fold, with some 29% who eventually come back for reasons of family ties, most never "reaching out.

  " that means over half leave permanently.

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  felix a

  Max,

  Thanks for the reply... I'll be catching up with you a little later.

  Cheers

  felix a (davidp)

  "Vision is the art of seeing things invisible"
  Swift
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  Spookily familiar

  by felix a in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  while out on an errand the other day i spotted an artical titled, " faith in exile mormon identity and the excommunicated" on the cover of a free local paper.

  living here in mormon country and being an exjw i couldn't resist the hook.

  so i thought i'd share the first couple of paragraphs.

• 

  felix a

  While out on an errand the other day I spotted an artical titled, " Faith in Exile Mormon Identity and the Excommunicated" on the cover of a free local paper. Living here in Mormon country and being an exjw I couldn't resist the hook. So I thought I'd share the first couple of paragraphs.

  In September 1993, the Mormon community was astonished to learn that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had excommunicated six of their own. The reasons for the disciplinary actions varied from the speculative theology found in the writings of Paul Toscano and Avraham Gileadi to the feminist theory openly advocated by Lynne Whiteside and Maxine Hanks. D. Michael Quinn was excommunicated for his historical writings and Lavina Fielding Anderson because of her documentation of ecclesiastical abuse within the church. These actions demonstrated an increased effort by the church hierarchy to suppress dissenting voices within the Mormon community.

  The so-called ?September Six? weren?t the only Mormons in jeopardy. Several high-profile BYU faculty terminations were also in progress. David Knowlton, Cecilia Konchar Farr and Gail Houston were the first of many casualties from the ?BYU Inquisitions? that resulted in a university-wide expulsion of all openly liberal professors. In subsequent years, Janice Allred and more recently, her sister Margaret Toscano, were also excommunicated for publishing feminist works. And, though officially the Church denied that it was conducting a purge, the message was clear: fall in line or face the consequences.

  The institutional expurgation was extreme enough to warrant nationwide attention. No other mainstream church in America was banishing and excising its own at the alarming rate and degree of the LDS church.

  These actions created a climate of fear and mistrust in the Mormon community. The church was systematically isolating and stigmatizing several of its members ? many of whom were active tithe-paying believers. Where once an open climate of tolerance toward alternative voices prevailed ? a new authoritarian trump heralded the end of heterodox speech and thought. The popular catchphrases, ?Follow the Brethren? and ?Obedience to Authority? became mantras for the new Mormon faithful.

  Now doesn't all this sound just a little familiar? I guess it's true, we're not alone... :)

  I'll be back tonite.

  Regards,

  felix a aka (davidp)
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  141

  JW Kids Leave the Organization: Facts

  by Maximus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the october 1 watchtower 2001 features articles on training children "properly" and dealing with a "prodigal child.

  the latest inside u.s. figures reveal that 86% of jw children leave the fold, with some 29% who eventually come back for reasons of family ties, most never "reaching out.

  " that means over half leave permanently.

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  felix a

  Maximus,

  The latest inside U.S. figures reveal that 86% of JW children leave the fold, with some 29% who eventually come back for reasons of family ties, most never "reaching out." That means over HALF leave permanently. These figures have been virtually the same for a number of years now. Well known is the fact that many kids lead a double life; that is, they put on a Witness face while attempting to live more normally away from scrutiny.

  Is there anything more specific about the figures that you can share? Publicly or privately is fine by me. I find the numbers interesting and seem higher than what I remember them being back in the early 80's.

  Regards,

  felix a (DavidP)

  "Vision is the art of seeing things invisible"
  Swift
• 
  63

  To All Here..... just a question....

  by 7robert7 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm just curious as to how many ex-witnesses here still believe in the god of the bible ?

  and how many, due to the societies teachings have given up on god all together ?

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  felix a

  I'm just curious as to how many ex-witnesses here still believe in the God of the Bible ? And how many, due to the Societies teachings have given up on God all together ?

  Questioning the teachings of the Witnesses lead to questioning the bible as well. A natural progression of events in my opinion. For me questioning my beliefs meant questioning the source of my beliefs as well. This has meant that I no longer have a belief in the god identified and described by the bible.

  I will add that the teachings of the society had nothing to do with my reaching the conclusion that if there is a god it is not the god of the bible. Rather it was the bible and clear thinking that have lead me to this conclusion.

  As for the question of is their a creator, the jury is still out on that one. I do lean towards believing that their is something beyond us. What that is I don't know.

  felix a (David P)
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  2

  Humorous History Lessons

  by felix a in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i received this in the mail today and thought i'd share.

  i hope you chuckle as much as i did.. regards,.

  felix a. history lesson.

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  felix a

  I received this in the mail today and thought I'd share. I hope you chuckle as much as I did.

  regards,

  felix a

  History Lesson

  Historical tidbits or truth are always stranger than fiction: Next
  time you are washing your hands and complain because the
  water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how
  things used to be....Here are some facts about the 1500s:

  Most people got married in June because they took
  their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by
  June. However, they were starting to smell so brides
  carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.

  Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
  The man of the house had the privilege of the nice
  clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the
  women and finally the children, last of all the babies.
  By then the water was so dirty you could actually
  lose someone in it - hence the saying, "Don't throw the
  baby out with the bath water".

  Houses had thatched roofs - thick straw, piled high,
  with no wood underneath. It was the only place for
  animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other
  small animals (mice rats, and bugs) lived in the roof.
  When it rained, it became slippery and sometimes the
  animals would slip and fall off the roof - hence the
  saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

  There was nothing to stop things from falling into the
  house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where
  bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean
  bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over
  the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds
  came into existence.

  The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other
  other than dirt, hence the saying "dirt poor." The wealthy
  had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when
  wet, so they spread thresh on the floor to help keep
  their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding
  more thresh until when you opened the door it would all
  start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the
  entranceway - hence, a "thresh hold."

  They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always
  hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added
  things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did
  not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner,
  leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then
  start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it
  that had been there for quite awhile - hence the rhyme,
  "peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in
  the pot nine days old."

  Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel
  quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang
  up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a
  man "could bring home the bacon." They would cut off a
  little to share with guests and would all sit around
  and "chew the fat."

  Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with
  a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach
  onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This
  happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400
  years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

  Most people did not have pewter plates, but had "trenchers",
  a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often
  trenchers were made from stale bread which was so old and
  hard that they could use them for quite sometime. Trenchers
  were never washed, and a lot of times worms and mold
  got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy
  moldy trenchers, one would get "trench mouth."

  Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the
  burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and
  guests got the top, or "upper crust."

  Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The
  combination would sometimes knock them out for a
  couple of days. Someone walking along the road would
  take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They
  were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days
  and the family would gather around and eat and drink
  and wait and see if they would wake up - hence, the
  custom of holding a "wake."

  England,being a rather old and small country, started
  running out of places to bury people. So they would dig
  up coffins and would take the bones to a "bone-house"
  and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins,
  1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on
  the inside. They realized they had been burying people
  alive, so they thought they would tie a string on the wrist
  of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through
  the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to
  sit out in the graveyard all night (the "graveyard shift")
  to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved
  by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."

  And that's the truth... (and whoever said that History
  was boring?!)
• 
  48

  Reply to AF-Part I

  by dunsscot in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  :: he didn't merely suspend it -- he substituted another for it.

  in our case here, therefore, god's telling abraham to kill isaac was by definition not murder.

  : first, i am not sure what i believe in this case.

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  felix a

  I remember pioneering in the early 80's and again in the mid 80's and as a pioneer I was able to purchase my magazines and other publications at a reduced rate from the literature counter. Hmmm... I wonder why that was? Oh wait, I remember now. It was to help us pioneers out in our ministry.

  Granted it was a token amount, and would not really ever cover gas or anything else. However it was an opportunity on a basic level to help recoup ones finances.

  I mean, just think if you could sell a 100 magazines at a quarter you would gross $25.00 and net about $10.00 - $15.00. Yee hah!!!

  I hope you all see the point I'm making here. :-)

  felix a
• 
  116

  most embarrasing thing ever at a meeting ...

  by alliwannadoislive in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey ... i'm just getting into the swing of this great 'apostasy' thing right ... ?

  ... i thought y'all out there might well have a story or two to tell, so ... plz tell me tell me tell me about the most embarrasing thing you ever saw at a meeting ...

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  felix a

  I know of one very enthusiastic Bethelite who was giving a part on the service meeting about appreciating our meetings. During the course of his part he proceeded to speak about how the world has all these acronyms that they use and he rattled off a few of them, including the well known "T.G.I.F.". This of course brought him to what would soon be a very memorable moment for all those who were attending the service meeting at this particular Bronx KH. You see our enthusiastic young friend had dreamt up an acronym that would be special for the Lords people to use as their own. For surely we can say that we are, "S.H.I.T." yes, you've read correctly. We can say that we are, 'S'ure 'H'appy 'I'ts 'T'husday.