B_Deserter

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Posts by B_Deserter

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  17

  Article by Morman Organization about JW'S

  by whereami in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  watchtower and awake!

  ' not so with the watchtower and awake!

  the watchtower and awake!

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  B_Deserter

  " Best Convert Retention Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-day Adventists (LDS)"
  
  I think that clinches the fact that this e-mail is false. Obviously it's cooked up by a JW who read the CNN article (which listed JWs and Seventh-Day Adventists as having the worst retention rates) and wants to counteract it before it gets around.
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  30

  Bottom Line: What's Going To Happen To The Jehovah's Witness Religion?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is it going to become mainstream?.

  will it become more cultish?.

  will it splinter off and re-create itself?.

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  B_Deserter

  It's tough to say where it's headed, really. The direction they take seems to depend on whoever's running the show. Right now, rumors are Jaracz is the defacto president, so I'm betting that the organization is going to take a radical turn when he dies. From reading Franz's book, not all governing body members agree on everything, and some undoubtedly hold views that would be seen as "apostate" if a rank-and-file member had them.
  
  I think the internet is going to be a factor for sure. They're definitely going to attack it increasingly in the coming years, but since they're expanding their presence on it, I don't really see an outright ban. The way witnesses are hemorrhaging people right now, I could see their numbers shrinking in about 20 years as they run out of third world countries and low-income uneducated people to mow through.
  
  One thing I don't share is the view that they're going to be gone anytime soon. That's just not a realistic expectation. Groups like Scientology thrive despite negative information about them on the internet. The mormons have been here for almost 200 years now, and JWs nearly 150. They're not small movements anymore, they're institutions. The downfall of Jehovah's Witnesses (if it ever does happen), will simply be a lack of funds. Going on the donation-only scheme really had its effect: the phasing out of hardcover books, elimination of lunch service at assemblies and conventions, subscriptions coming to the local congregations instead of individual mailings, and most recently the scaling back of Watchtower and Awake publishing. Now, there are rumors of selling the Brooklyn facility, the real estate alone worth many millions. The JWs will die a slow death as long as their sources of income disappear.
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  41

  Is Satan actually the good guy, and Jehovah the evil usurper?

  by 10p in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a few years ago i read genesis again, and with a more objective mind, got the sense that satan was actually telling the truth, and that god was just trying to have humans be his slaves.

  and god's reign over humans hasn't been all that pretty, in fact, its been downright awful.. 'course, i'm atheist now, so i wouldn't believe it even that way around - not literally anyway.

  but i wondered if the writer/editors of genesis may have actually had this thought.. anyone know of any sources that explore this idea in depth?.

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  B_Deserter

  I've had the same thoughts. The ministry of Jesus is a fundamental paradigm shift from the vengeful, blood-thirsty God of the Old Testament. Consider Jesus' thoughts on Leviticus 19:18
  

  " 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." - Leviticus 19:18

  "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," - Matthew 5:43, 44

  Though the text in Leviticus doesn't say to hate your enemy, it's obviously that is what Jesus took it to mean. Then, he contradicts Leviticus, telling his followers to do the opposite. Also, notice that throughout Israelite history, God punishes them over and over for breaking his commandments and some for disobeying very minor rules. He kills a man for touching the ark of the covenant to stop it from falling. He has another killed for spilling his semen onto the ground instead of impregnating his sister-in-law. In Jesus' time, it appears the Jews have finally 'gotten their act together.' They're practicing the strictest version of Judaism yet, and then Jesus comes to rebuke them for being TOO strict. It seems the Israelites couldn't win no matter what they did. Jesus was preaching an end to the viciousness of Jewish dogma, yet he is supposed to be the same God that set it up, or at least in complete agreement. The facts show otherwise.
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  21

  When a JW, what did you think about human fossils of 1.2 million years

  by LouBelle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was in and documentaries came on the telly about human fossils being found dated 800 000 years old or 1.2 million years old i would always say - they surely must have the dating process wrong (hello - i'm not expert) or would try find a loop whole to make sure that the belief of mans' 6/7000 year existance.. i also used to reason that they were probably a species of apes or forgeries - anything to make myself believe we as jws' were right - i did this without even "thinking" really - like breathing.. i even studied science & biology at school and would also have to come up with ""excuses"" for this or that.

  ag what did we know we were only kids, but when you become an adult and have adult reasoning faculties one can't ignore the facts.. so what did you create as a safe bubble when things like this came up?.

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  B_Deserter

  I'd always do the "radiocarbon dating is flawed" line to myself. Then I studied how they date things and discovered how they compensate for those "flaws" now, as well as using different dating methods.
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  34

  JW weddings gone bad. A story from my old congo.

  by uwishufish in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  middle tenn late 70s.

  first there was the child the high school girl had out of wedlock.

  the term rape was bandied about after she began to show.

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  B_Deserter

  This woman I used to know was desperate to get married, but unfortunately very picky about who she liked, which could be a good thing I guess. Anyway, she started dating this young brother who had problems with homosexuality in the past. They got engaged very quickly. The night before the wedding, he calls it off. Turns out he wasn't just "struggling" with being gay. The night before the wedding was supposed to happen, he went off to a gay bar and had himself a man-orgy.
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  17

  Red Sea Chariot Wheels?

  by MissingLink in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey guys.

  there is an email making the jw (and other christians) rounds right now that is basically a copy of this article.

  that claims that artifacts found in the red sea prove that egypt's army was wiped out when moses and friends crossed.. is this true, or a hoax?.

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  B_Deserter

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  12

  AND you think you pay to much for GAS...

  by zeroday in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i drive truck for a living and this is just one fuel ticket my company paid last week and i fuel this much 3 times a week.... .

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  B_Deserter

  In the UK your gas is taxed more than ours in order to pay for the socialist government programs like national health care that we Americans have to provide for ourselves.
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  9

  opinions on song lyrics please

  by loosie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am just doing a reality check here.

  i want to see if i am holding on to my old prude jw feelings or if this really isn't appropriate.a re the following lyrics ok for a 10 year old to sing for a chuch choir program.. .

  colbie caillat bubbly lyrics.

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  B_Deserter

  I was a very naive fourteen-year-old when I met this girl from a different congregation. I ended up having a crush on her. We were both into grunge music (this was the mid 90's after all) and I played guitar and sung. So when we had her and her family over, we broke out the guitars. I decided in my infinite wisdom to sing and play the song "Heart-Shaped Box" by Nirvana for her and her parents. There is a line in that song, if you're not familiar with it, that goes "broken hymen of your highness, I'm left back"
  
  Me, being the naive, innocent virgin boy whose parents had opted him out of the sex part of health class (and didn't bother to educate me on the subject of women's anatomy, I didn't need to know such things until I was married!), had no idea what a "hymen" was and thus sang the line clearly and loudly in front of her, her elder father and her mother. I can't remember the reaction on their faces, but obviously I found out what it was later. A couple years ago I remembered that experience and realized what I had said all those years ago. It didn't stick with me because for years I thought nothing of it!
  
  *sigh* It's always fun realizing something you did years ago was actually embarrassing and you didn't know it at the time.
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  26

  "Bad" songs at JW weddings

  by B_Deserter in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  when i was in my teens, jw weddings were quite the social affair.

  of course, the music was strictly regulated by the elders.

  somehow though, in each wedding, someone managed to get the song "you shook me all night long" by ac/dc into the dj's rotation, and all of the "bad" witnesses would have a blast dancing to it.

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  B_Deserter

  When I was in my teens, JW weddings were quite the social affair. Of course, the music was strictly regulated by the elders. Somehow though, in each wedding, someone managed to get the song "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC into the DJ's rotation, and all of the "bad" witnesses would have a blast dancing to it. Naturally, the next special needs talk would be about appropriate music at witness gatherings. The song became notorious, even legendary. It was kind of like our little local JW wedding tradition. Were there any such songs you had as a dub that, despite drawing the ire of the elder body, still managed to sneak into just about every JW wedding reception or party?
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  14

  Will A JW pick his religion over raising his own child?

  by HYM in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  my ex was disfellowshipped and then he was going to go back to the religion, but he met me and fell in love... i kept trying to push him away because i knew that jw's were only to date jw's.

  he insisted that we stayed together.

  now 9 months later, i am pregnant and he decided he needed to go back and renew his faith.

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  B_Deserter

  His congregation will likely encourage him to raise the child. They want him to because it's another child they can indoctrinate into the church. Trust me, if he does come back to take care of the baby, the Kingdom Hall will drive a wedge between you and the child. Fight for sole custody, use the blood issue, do whatever you can to keep this child because it will be hard enough to undo a biweekly JW brainwashing, let alone an entire lifetime of it.