Francois

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Posts by Francois

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  14

  Introduction

  by Kathy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hope you'll indulge me for a few minutes here.

  i've been reading this board with great enthusiasm for a few weeks now.

  i must say i am so impressed by the depth and breadth of experiences all of you are sharing.

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  Francois

  I've always heard that you can't convince someone against their will, and it seems your bf's sister has her mind made up. I'm sorry about that.

  Having said that, however, I intuit that you don't want to give up the "fine fight" for your bf's sister. In this you might want to consider choosing your battles carefully. So along with the others, I suggest the trinity perhaps isn't the battle you're looking for.

  I personally think that religion is an emotional matter, and you might want to consider discovering what about your bf's sister's emotional makeup the JWs appeal to and work on that component of her interest in them. She might even be willing to disclose what so attracts her if you ask in the right way. Like a straightforward "what is it about what you're studying that attracts you so much?" At least then you'll have a place to start.

  Eric Hoffer posits that there are known personality types that are attracted to cults. You might want to get his little book "The True Believer" and see if it gives you any clues or insights about what's motivating this person. Can't hurt. And it's better than the shotgun approach of attempting to devalue everything she's being told. That approach likely makes you just appear negative. Perhaps there's a positive approach you might use? I hope so.

  Best of luck to you.

  Francois

  My $0.02
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  9

  Ratcheting down the pressure on the WTS

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please take a look one of the new layouts we are working on:.

  http://www.ajwrb.org/newindex.shtml.

  will it make them squirm?.

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  Francois

  Way, way too soft. Those kids didn't die from their parents following irrational advice. They died because their parents betrayed them to the religious DEMANDS of the WTB&TS.

  Way, way too soft.

  Francois

  My $0.02
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  14

  Suppose . . .?

  by patio34 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  didn't know where to post this, but i thought it might be fun.

  it was in ann landers or some such place years ago.. if you had your life to live over, say from age 16 or 18 onward, what 5 things would you do differently?.

  my choices might be:.

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  Francois

  Zounds, what an interesting question. But only five?

  1. I would have never been a baptised JW.
  2. I would have not married whom/when I did.
  3. I would have been a better student, and would have pursued a Ph.D.
  4. I would have had no children.
  5. I would have seriously studied piano (really).

  Francois

  My $0.02
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  20

  OPERATION TALKING LAMBS

  by silentlambs in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  well finally it is done, a new brochure to freely distribute anywhere any time and you can simply download and print it off right from the website.

  also several new posters you can print out and put up on local bulletin boards or any public place.

  the lambs are speaking and wt is going to have to listen.

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  Francois

  Humble:

  There was a reason that for decades, centuries even, child sex abuse was refered to as the "silent crime." It's because no one discussed it.

  What did you expect in your six congregations? The pedophiles were going to wear name tags? I didn't know there was child sex abuse going on in my congregation near Atlanta, either. And didn't know until fifteen years after I left and began dating one of the former sisters in that congregation. She had been horribly sexually abused by a pair of special pioneers, and had the proof, too.

  All this was going on right under the noses of our "glorious ones" who intoned darkly and knowingly from the platform about the dangers of associating with worldly people at a local skating rink. So much for putting untrained know-it-alls in a supervisory position over anyone or anything.

  And just for the record, I challenge you to show where anyone on this site has ever accused ALL JWs of being pedophiles. You can't do it. More hyperbole from the Borg.

  Francois

  My $0.02
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  28

  Why does the WTBTS survive?

  by Skimmer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  back in late 1973 when i got my fatal doubts about the wtbts, i was sure that the society would crumble soon after 1975 when yet another prediction failed.

  i was not alone with this thought; a british author by the name of stevenson (an exjw that had written an expose) allocated an entire chapter in his book about the likelihood that there would be a very major falling away in 1976 or soon thereafter.. but it didn't happen.

  yes, there were several years of consecutive worldwide declines.

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  Francois

  Eppie, your sentiments about allowing the JWs to go quietly about their business would be fine, as Gopher says, if going quietly about their business didn't include destroying families, killing people with their policies, and generally being destructive, devisive and dangerous.

  I can't help wishing them the absolute worst that can be imagined.

  Francois

  My $0.02
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  6

  The JW box of Pandora

  by beroea in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the jw box of pandora.

  as some of you maybe know i still inside the borg waiting for the right moment: i try to take care of my wife and two children that a love very much and try to do things easy and gentle not harming anyone.

  do you remember the story about the box of pandora from the greek mythology?

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  Francois

  Since the JW's entire house of cards was based on the 1914 business and that particular rug has now been jerked out from under the organization, I personally don't see how it can continue.

  All the failed prophecies of the past taken together don't even come close to the failure of this central tenant. Of course, religion being a largely emotional phenomena, I suppose there will always be hangers-on. Like the folks who kept on sending money to Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker after the fall.

  And there are still those out there who admire the Nazis.

  Ah humanity. Ain't it amusing?

  Francois

  My $0.02
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  34

  how's the weather?

  by riz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi guys,.

  how's the weather where you are?

  it's nice here.

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  Francois

  Clear and bright in Savannah, Georgia today. Very windy with gusts up to thirty mph or so. Afternoon electrical storms in the forecast for the next ten days.

  Hope that's accurate since we've had drought for the last four years and the change in salinity is destroying the shrimp population, which keeps the fish from coming in, which keep me from pursuing my favorite past-time.

  How's everything in Oz?

  (Returning Pleasantries)

  Francois

  My $0.02
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  9

  What is your opinion?

  by Gianluca in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a few days ago there was a post which had a link to a we site with an article entitled "the 13 illuminati bloodlines" written by a certain by fritz springmeier.. in there was this comment .

  "the wt society performs a secret ritual every year which is their primary ritual.

  this ritual is actually the ancient gnostic (satanic) ritual of saying no to the.

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  Francois

  My only reaction is that I don't belive that gnosticism is satanic. Certainly the gnostics had a different version of christianity than did the church fathers in Jerusalem, as did the christians in Antioch, but that doesn't make them satanic.

  Similarly, Wiccans are not satanic either. Since the church destroyed all the Wiccans, or at least most of them, only the church fathers were left to write the histories of the times and painted the nature religions including Wicca as satanic, participating in such horrors as killing and eating children. This was a well-used tactic of the church. It tarred the Jews with the brush during the Inquisition.

  A similar phenomena is taking place today as the WTBTS claims that those who oppose it called, um, apostates (who we all recognize as the very salt of the earth) are led by satan.

  francois

  My $0.02
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  44

  New Poster....Long time lurker

  by ticatoo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello all.....after months of lurking....both here and on h2o...i have decided to take the plunge and become active here.

  i am a former jw.....3rd generation.

  i walked away and haven't looked back.

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  Francois

  Tica, welcome. I'm sure you'll discover a real intellectual smorgasbord here. Have fun.

  Francois

  My $0.02
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  4

  To: Francois re racism and real estate

  by Amazing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi francois: i was going to reply directly under my first thread, but felt that this needs to be separated from my larger post.. you said with respect to my refusal to cooperate with aiding people in real estate decisions and assisiting them from a racial perspective, you said:.

  essentially, you are going to force your viewpoint and outlook on people whether they want it or not.

  i cannot agree with you in this connection.

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  Francois

  Thanks for clearing that up. I should have figgered that the feds were involved in some way.

  You understand my problem with all this is the element of force, including what you characterized as, essentially, lying and deceit on the part of federal inspectors who engage in entrapment and such in an effort to achieve their goals. This "end justifies the means" approach in my opinion is immoral and unethical.

  Any government that essays a noble end via ignoble techniques in my opinion is dangerous. Communism, for instance, does this exact thing, doesn't it? "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need," was the underlying creed of the Soviet Union for 70 years, and it ushered in one of the most repressive, murderous, evil empires the world has ever known.

  And before I am labeled as something other, I purchased my home in Decatur, GA in an area characterized as the "frontier" between white and black from a black guy when I got there, and sold it to same when I left. It's not the integration I object to, it's the approach.

  And I hope that clears up my end of this conversation.

  francois

  My $0.02