The way He promises such grand things in my life, backs down on His promise, and then expects me to act as if He had fulfilled it anyways, I have a new word for Him:
BAGHEAD
WTWizard
JoinedPosts by WTWizard
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What Do You Call God?
by sweet pea inhaving prayed to 'jehovah' all my life i feel a little strange right now as whenever i use that name i think of being a witness and i don't really want to have those associations.
also it seems that friends and family think its a big deal that the borg has taught us god's name and we ought to be eternally grateful to them for that alone!
however, i have suddenly realised that even though my mother has a 'name' i always call her mum and would never dream of calling her by her 'name' as i wouldn't feel as close to her, so i starting to just call my creator my heavenly father - i do know a christian who calls god 'daddy' but that is just a step too far for me just now.... thoughts?
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THE NEW SYSTEM WILL BE OVER CROWDED ?
by vitty inim following along a little from the above topic.
i remember in a book study reading that there are more people alive on the earth today than have ever lived in the past.......6 billion.
so is it true that less than 6 billion people have ever lived up to this century?.
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WTWizard
I could just see it now. A janitor tries to build a rocket, and uses window cleaner to propel it. The rocket simply sits on the launch pad, while all the window cleaner just sits there and pours out onto the ground. And they wonder what went wrong. They try more window cleaner, and the same thing happens. After a billion years, they give up. No one is able to put together a rocket that actually gets off the launch pad (or one that doesn't blow up on the launch pad), let alone one that can reach the stars in a reasonable amount of time.
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What exactly does it mean to be "marked", anyway?
by Amber Rose inwhat are the concequences of being marked?
what qualifies a person to be marked?
who determines whom shall be marked?
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WTWizard
I believe being marked means that you are not supposed to be taken as a friend, but you are still supposed to take counsel and be hounded into doing ever more. You do not get any of the "fun" (as if there was any: this "fun" has been getting phased out since the mid 1980s). However, you will still be hounded and harassed if you miss the meetings, and you are still supposed to go out in service.
What do you get marked for? Basically for things that are not serious to warrant disfellowshipping. Marrying an "unbeliever", masturbation, watching porn or R-rated movies, listening to rap and heavy metal music, or playing dirty video games are the most obvious offenses that will get you marked. You can get marked for disobeying counsel, also. This means if they see you attempting to meet a sister when they counseled you to just meet other men, you might also get marked for that. Or, if they see your collection of CDs and don't like some of them, they might mark you for failure to throw them away. Excessive materialism, stinting on donations, and not putting in "enough" service are also potential marking offenses. Whether you actually get marked or not depends on the kangaroo courts of the hounders when they have those hounders' meetings, and when the hounder-hounder is cracking down. And some will get away with things for which another will get marked for.
Does a marking expire? Not in the same way a disfellowshipping does. They will not announce you as unmarked. The hope is that gradually you will change your ways (this is another way they control you: they could keep you always one step away from being unmarked). Then they see the change, and you are no longer deemed weak. What all too often happens is that the requirements escalate, and a person will stay marked for life. Or some will never see the person as improving at all.
I, personally, would rather be disfellowshipped than active/marked. Getting disfellowshipped cuts off all association, including those harassing houndings to go to the meetings and out in service. Get marked, and the houndings will continue. And you will still not get good association either way. Better to totally blow them off than be marked so they can keep dangling the unmarking in your face.
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The Spanking Hall?
by WTWizard inchildren in the jehovah's witness religion really have it hard.
to compare, look at other churches.
most of them have sunday school, and this is geared to children that are not able to really comprehend the deeper things.
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WTWizard
Children in the Jehovah's Witness religion really have it hard. To compare, look at other churches. Most of them have Sunday school, and this is geared to children that are not able to really comprehend the deeper things. They have simple activities, and they usually have to sit quietly for about an hour. There are activities around for children to play with in most churches. And after, they have play equipment for the children.
Compare with the Kingdumb Hells. As a toddler, one will have to get dressed in a suit that means they cannot get dirty (what else is second nature to toddlers?). Then they have to walk past those beautiful flowers and plants, right into the Hell. If it's raining or there is snow on the lot, they are not allowed to play in the puddles or snow banks. Instead, it's right in the hall.
Once in the hall, they have to tag along with their parents. Running around in the hall is strictly prohibited. They may or may not be allowed to mix with others of their same age group or those who take a legitimate interest in them. Instead, they have to walk like miniature grownups. This can last as long as half an hour.
Then the meeting starts. Now, it's time to sit still. But first they have to stand and sing that awful s*** that is called "music". Prayers follow, and then the talk which is directed at the mature audience. Subjects like how there is going to be a massacre in the very near future are common. Most of the children are not able to comprehend any of it. Of course, they are not able to read the Bible at this stage, especially the big difficult words. Some may be provided with pens and scratch paper, but the parents will be hounded if they supply any distractions. Those children must then pay attention to the material that is too advanced for them. Falling asleep is not allowed: often, the parents will get out the wooden spoon to beat those children for falling asleep or for getting fidgety.
For the next hour and 45 minutes (save for the break to stand and sing the other piece of Kingdumb S***), the children are supposed to sit quietly in their seat and pay attention to the program. More theocraptic minded parents will often quiz them after; this happens especially after the summer assemblies. By comparison, most grade schools do not expect children to sit still for more than 50 minutes at a time.
Now you'd think after this time, the children would be allowed to play after. NOPE! They have to stay with the parents and basically follow them. Running or playing games are not allowed in the Kingdumb Hells. And this can be another half hour. If the father is a hounder, it can be even longer--as long as a whole hour or even more! And then there is often service immediately following, so there goes the whole day! Most churches are done for the day after the session is finished. If it's an evening meeting, bedtime is next (usually long gone; most meetings let out past 9:00 PM and sometimes 10:00 PM and even later on school nights.
I have heard the many threads on sexual molestation of children in this organization. This form of abuse is worse. By preventing the children from playing, you cut off any development of a Friday night essence (which is the activity that they would be preoccupied if there was nothing to do and infinite opportunity). Little children do not get bored--they find, or make something to do. But the Witlesses effectively cut this off. Often they get bored at the meeting, so they make something to do (this is when the fidgeting or doodling start). And then they get pulled in the back room to get beaten with that damn wooden spoon (congratulatons Blondie, for busting that spoon on that other thread).
This kind of abuse is inexcusable. Physical abuse can break a bone. Sexual abuse can break a trust. But this abuse breaks the whole spirit of the child. And, unlike sexual or physical abuse, this abuse affects every single child that is raised in the "truth". That is why it's so dangerous and must be abolished: someone who comes into the "truth" at an adult age has had their primary development, but children raised in it are deprived of it. They know only spankings and beatings. They have to sit still all day. They have no time to play. And they grow up to be non-thinking drones that are not capable of surviving outside this cult. To me, this is the worst form of child abuse I can think of.
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Attention former elders and ms: I have a question.
by R.F. ini'm currently a ministerial servant and pioneer in my congregation.
i want to begin my fade soon.
i'm going to get off the pioneer list first instead of quitting both positions at once, hopefully to ease potential gossip.
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WTWizard
You could try moving in the borderline between two congregations, preferably one that would make you switch by maybe a few hundred feet. You go to some of your old meetings and some of the new congregation's meetings. Of course, you should never officially switch congregations--that way, you technically belong to the old congregation but occasionally go to the other one's meetings.
Once you establish this pattern, you might start missing meetings. Each congregation will think you went to the other's meeting, when in fact you blew the whole thing off. In the meantime, start decreasing service so you no longer meet the quota for pioneering (then, getting off the list will be less of a problem). For some reason, I don't think you will have much trouble getting deleted as a ministerial servant if you are floating between two congregations and fake having a hard time deciding between which to stay with (and ultimately falling through the crack between both). This procedure can take several years, and with the 2008 Craptower arrangement looming ahead, pulling off a fade might be more difficult after they start cracking down. Obviously, you should start now.
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How Do You Now Console Someone Who Has Lost Someone In Death?
by minimus inmy dear friend's 34 year old son recently was found dead by a girlfriend after calling him repeatedly and never getting a call back.
meanwhile my friend was on his way back from florida when he got the awful news.
he asked me for some encouraging scriptures to share with him for some consolation.
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WTWizard
This is a very tough one to answer. It does no good to try to pick up the pieces and move on quickly since the grieving process does take many years. The closer a friend you are at the time, the longer it takes. And Scriptural counsel is useless if one party doesn't believe in the Bible.
The best I can say is that death is unnatural and unfair. In the animal realm, death is something that happens when the animals' bodies stop working or they run into a predator or other mishap. But for man, who is conscious of what is coming, death simply is wrong. The medical research is making strides in finding out why we stop working, but that is not going to do much good in this case (and especially if the cause of death was an accident or homicide). Besides your good friends at the FDA have effectively banned so many potential cures for many diseases that could have prevented a good many of these deaths, and people are getting p*$$ed off at them. I don't know what, if any, good that is going to do in your case.
Yes, I believe religion is a fairy tale. You are promised a reward after suffering on Earth. That is to make up for the suffering and stagnation that we all live through now. And there is no way to test out the scam because no one has actually been to heaven or hell and returned. The few near-death experiences are explained by the lights that seem to flash just as the brain shuts down--if the person is brought back at this point, they claim to have been to heaven. No one in truth has seen God or heaven, so there is nothing to back up these claims. And I refuse to offer hope that I know or strongly suspect is based on a scam. For sure, I will not even cite the resurrection hope because I know that to be the biggest scam--at least if the resurrection is to be done by any God. Any resurrection would have to be through medical advances and science, not God! In the meantime, my condolences to any who have suffered because of this incident.
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Well the Witnesses are right about something
by slimboyfat init seems clear that witnesses have inflated and distorted figures on earthquakes since 1914 in order to bolster their belief in the end times.
their claim that diseases are on the increase also seems a bit incredible when you consider all the medical advances and extension in life-expectancy in the last century.
as for famines, well they are terrible when they still happen, but history shows that this is one problem humans are starting to get to grips with compared with previous centuries.
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WTWizard
I think they are right on one thing I have seen in their articles: Expectations postponed is making the heart sick. And if the things hoped for never come, it is devastating. That far is true.
And then they do their utmost to make sure that things hoped for never materialize. After they just got through saying that it devastates, they go ahead and do it. Just goes to show how much they really care about people.
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WTWizard
I would recommend looking up the subject for yourself on a search engine, since it's highly likely that further discussion on this subject is going to result in deleted posts on this forum. Not my rule: I have seen other threads about this subject deleted. But you can look up the subject by putting it in Google and clicking up the links.
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Why does the WTS insist everyone sign up for the Ministerial School ?
by RULES & REGULATIONS ini never enjoyed giving # 2 talks.
i never enjoyed being at a podium and speaking.
i took drama in high school just to get over the fear of being in front of people and speaking.
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WTWizard
I used to be an assistant to the School. I would time talks. I would frequently see small children barely able to go to school get up and have to read the Bible. Never mind that when I was their age, I was the only one in my class that was reading first-grade material fluently. Yet they would be reading words like Nebuchadnezzar, and would be expected to read it fluently. I have seen many of them reach 5:00 (the allotted time) before getting halfway through, and you could not follow them because they just couldn't pronounce the words fluently. Of course, they would get a W for fluency.
I also saw a few talks that were short (under 4 minutes). When this happened, the conductor would always suggest the addition of more material to round it out. This was normal for those #3 and 4 talks to run short. Very often, there simply wasn't any material that would be worth adding.
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Albums, Tapes, or Videos You Had to Throw Away?
by WTWizard inthere are so many songs that the watchtower society says are "bad".
they are the ones that hint on sexual immorality, violence, drugs, or that have reference to devil worship.
or the ones that have swearing in them, which seems to be common these days.. what really gets me is how they find such petty things wrong with songs that they basically want to clean out your whole library and make you listen to kingdumb s*** all the time.
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WTWizard
They made me relegate a lot of "bad" songs to inactive status. I cleaned (?) up some tapes, and I ended up losing about a third of the albums I had for some borderline-suggestive content. Robbie Dupree's songs Steal Away and Hot Rod Hearts are among them. There are many others like this. They were insistent on cleaning out all the music in my collection and replacing it with Kingdumb S***.
Now, I gained virtually all of it back. I had one Led Zeppelin album (Houses of the Holy); now I have the whole box set on CD. And I got heavy metal and rap CDs that I didn't like before just because they were bad. I got Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult, KISS, AC/DC, Van Halen, and Metallica just because the Witlesses thought they were bad. That's how I started listening to (and liking) rap where every other word is a swear word or that glorifies using drugs. I even gained back the single Do They Know It's Christmas by Band-Aid: if anything, about 5 seconds longer than the version they made me throw away.
Why, the *$ers had the nerve to make me get rid of my We Are the World! That is almost impossible to get nowadays (I had the 12" single that runs 7:23; the LP version only runs 7:02). I had to use LimeWire to get the full length version of this elusive song back. And now that I have it, this time I'm keeping it.