kurtbethel

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Posts by kurtbethel

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  31

  The Elders "want to meet with us"

  by finally awake in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just ron and i were sitting outside on our porch, enjoying the beautiful late afternoon weather when our middle son came outside with the phone.

  it was brother lazy slacker calling.

  just ron took the phone before he knew who was calling.

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  kurtbethel

  I never had to deal with this, but I imagine agreeing to a meeting and then showing up as agreed. Then when the questions flowed, I would meticulously jot them down but not answer them. When asked about that I would reply that "I will research each of these topics in Society publications and get back to you" and I never would get back to them.

  But that's just my idea of theocratic warfare.

  I am a certified theocratic warrior. During my studies I would get my wannabe teachers to blather on about a topic and then spring a passage from a WT publication that said the opposite of what they were telling me.
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  21

  My nephew is awake!

  by redvip2000 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my 17 year old nephew is visiting from florida and to my surprise, last night in conversation, he revealed that for the last 2 years, he has come to realize that the watchtower society " is a bunch of bs" and that he can see how people are brainwashed in the organization.. interestingly, he has come to realize this, without knowing any of the facts and scandals that we all know about - he simply can see things don't add up.

  naturally our conversation progressed to discuss the inconsistencies in the org which he had no idea about, and the flood gates were opened.... he now wants to read the ray franz's books, and get as much information as possible.. he told me that the young people in the hall are beginning to speak to each other about " the issues", while keeping these conversations away from the parent's ears.

  sadly, my sister still expects and somewhat forces the kid to attend the meetings, but i told him that he should be wise and patient in the process of stepping away from the cult, to avoid too much collateral damage.. i often feared that the kid would be pressured into being baptized in the cult, but he seems determined to make sure that will never happen.

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  kurtbethel

  It seems to me that the bright kids, who really have some potential to do something with their lives, are seeing the Truth as a roadblock to their dreams. On the other hand, the kids who are a bit "slower" seem to find the approval and acceptance they need within the flock and tend to excel "spiritually". They are no doubt the future Elders.

  Ah, Jehovah is sifting the flock!

  
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  11

  Bethelite

  by Scarlouie in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse
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  kurtbethel

  Also Opera - Works great! Safari - posts text and links, no text markup working.
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  15

  2 Dubs at the Door

  by Farkel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  two dubs are just leaving a door in field service after a householder throughly demolishes one of their doctrines.

  one dub says to the other:.

  "i hate it when they ask me questions i can't answer, when i've answered them so many times before.".

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  kurtbethel

  I have when they ignore the question I ask and give me a lengthy answer to a question I did not ask.
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  39

  Breaking News: Neil Armstrong Died Today

  by NewChapter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  he was 82, and died from complications of heart surgery he had 3 weeks ago.

  .

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  kurtbethel

  It was an amazing time. Armstrong and NASA controllers were very excited to land on the moon.

  Moon Landing excitement
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  20

  Jehovah's Christian Witnesses

  by LoisLane looking for Superman in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  how much do you want to bet, that in the next year or two, the governing body will get "new light" and change their name to jehovah's christian witnesses"?.

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  kurtbethel

  Jehovah's Christian Witnesses, sure.

  You could put a sign on Anthony Morris III's desk that says "Respected Bible Scholar" but that does not make it so.

  
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  21

  Say It Ain't So, Lance!

  by Quendi in

  1. social
  2. physical

  [if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><!

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  [endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"table normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"century schoolbook","serif";} </style> <![endif].

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  kurtbethel

  If someone has evidence that he doped, let them bring it forth. The burden of proof is on them.
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  57

  "Reddit Atheism"

  by botchtowersociety in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is there such a thing as what this article describes?.

  http://www.vice.com/read/hey-atheists-just-shut-up-please.

  hey atheists, just shut up please.

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  kurtbethel

  The 15 y/o atheist boy who is angry because he was forced to waste so many Sundays in church is so overplayed. Perhaps there is something in that experience that makes them so vocal. I suspect moth atheists quietly fade away from religion and have nothing to say about it.

  One thing I have noticed about atheists who do programs and podcasts is that they talk about religion so much that I suspect they are obsessed with it. I used to tune into a radio show about 20 years ago and hear some positive things about the benefit of being an atheist and how wonderful it is. Nothing of the sort, instead it was show after show of bashing on religion.

  It reminds me of when I got on the Moral Majority mailing list and found out over 50% of the column space in their publications was devoted to obsession with sex. Even Playboy doesn't have that much sexual content, though their's is much more interesting.

  There are some atheists who are not angry and sometimes enlightening, so I don't mind plugging their podcast.

  http://mnatheists.org/news-and-media/podcast

  It is a good rule to avoid the toxic angry people in any group.
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  15

  Texas Republican preparing for Civil War !?!?

  by Resistance is Futile in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a conspiracy about un troops invading the united states; has this guy been studying with jw's recently or is he just bat-shit crazy?.

  http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/23/us/texas-judge-warning/index.html?hpt=hp_t2.

  obama, head said, will "try to give the sovereignty of the united states away to the united nations.

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  kurtbethel

  One thing you need to know about Texas, as that they do not consider themselves to be part of the US in a legal fashion. They have their own president and seperate national government, and are only involved with the US as a neighborly courtesy.

  Their culture and business practices are like a law unto themselves.

  As far as UN taking away US sovereignty, that meme has been around for a long time. 50 years ago it was the Birchers banging that kettle, 20 years ago it was Daddy Bush that got the rap for that, then Clinton, but somehow Baby Bush avoided it, since he tended to be such a rogue about international action. The UN takeover is perpetually "just around the corner" and there is always some sort of "evidence" that it is afoot. Sound familiar?
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  24

  Anyone watch "Grimm" ?

  by Glander in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  i have never seen an episode but my wife loves the show.

  we just heard today that our 18 yr. old granddaughter will be an extra in an episode filming now.

  guess i'll have to watch it.

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  kurtbethel

  Yep, Grimm is great fun. Interesting backstory developing and lots of plot twists. Some of the talent from "Buffy" is involved in it, and it has some of the same attitude.

  I wouldn't say it is "better" than True Blood. But I would say both of them beat the hell out of Twilight and its kind.