Posts by caliber

67

Atheist in U.S. poll 4% ------ Atheist on JWD 90 % ?

by caliber in

( one recent post indicated this 90% figure) .

i don't wish to debate the pro's and con's of atheism, just help me understand your personal.

reasonings for this huge difference in figures.

caliber

FHN,

Thanks for opening my thread again,I always worry about beating a point to death ,but you sparked a whole new angle!

A good question to ask ourselves as below........ What is our personal expectation of God ?

My therapist told me something interesting to think about: God is not an enabler. If he stopped everything painful, humankind wouldn't learn a blasted thing. People cause all kinds of messes. God doesn't get us out of every scrape that people cause. God didn't let anyone down. People let you down.

Caliber

21

The name "Jehovah's Witnesses" is NOT scriptural!

by Nathan Natas in

it is not infrequently that jehovah's witnesses make the statement that the name of their organization is "scriptural.

tony wills, in his book "a people for his name" makes an interesting point about the misrepresentation of that name as "scriptural" and the appropriateness of this name-change by the impostor "bible scholar" rutherford -.

[rutherford] showed the need of a new name by such texts as the following:.

caliber

Post 2965 of 5136
since 07-Mar-01

There's a bit of history behind this. When Rutherford christened the Bible Students "Jehovah's witnesses" in 1931, they claimed that they weren't a religion at all. "Religion" was somehow by definition false. Instead they said that their devotion to God was "worship". Calling themselves by the generic term "witnesses" with a lowercase "w" reinforced this idiotic notion. Further, using the generic term "Jehovah's witnesses" allowed them to argue that Bible characters like Abel and Jesus were "Jehovah's witnesses" because they were among the greatest witnesses of Jehovah. The 1959 'history' book Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose contains a good deal of idiotic argumentation along this line, claiming that Abel was the first of Jehovah's witnesses. That all began to change in the early 1950s when the Watchtower Society finally admitted that the religion called "Jehovah's witnesses" really was a religion.

Given the above, it was a big deal to many JWs to say "I'm one of Jehovah's witnesses" as opposed to "I'm a Jehovah's witness". The latter doesn't even make sense in standard English; it's like saying "I'm a Julie's husband." I know all this because it was drummed into me as a kid by my very anal ex-Bethelite dad, who knew Rutherford personally.

The situation began to change again around 1977, when for the first time the Society itself used the term "Jehovah's Witnesses" (with uppercase "W") in The Watchtower. Then the JW community began using it as well. There was no need to argue that the term with the capital "W" was generic like the one with the lowercase "w". The new term was a proper name, and as such, one could properly say, "I'm a Jehovah's Witness." It seems that during the past 25 years much of the JW community has adopted this thinking, and most JWs I know have no problem using that phrase.

AlanF

6

Acts of God

by belbab in

i recently posted a reply in the thread god mauls children with bears in answer to questions posed by the author of the thread.

in my reply i brought up the subject of acts of god.

i spent about five hours of my time on my day off from responsibilities to research and write my reply.

caliber

Everyone deserves respect, I agree my dear friend ! All the power to you, speak your truth !

Disrespectful jack ass's made my blood boil also !

Caliber

68

What's the dumbest thing you've ever heard a JW say?

by Renegade in

jw
friends

alot of you maybe stuck for choice so you can say as many as you want.

caliber

This is more humorous than dumb .... At a WT study a conductor is pointing to the back row & says .. yes Sister" Pain in

rear " your comment please ! ( of course her name was Pain ) he he he

Elder prayer..... and Jehovah forgive us for our falling shorts (short-comings )

Caliber

27

Have you read "Signs of the last days?" by Carl O Jonsson?

by Awakened at Gilead in

after seeing h4o's thread today (about hassans book), i decided to open up this one.

i have only been out of the org since 3-29-08 so i have a lot of reading this past month and a half.... i'm halfway through reading the "signs of the last days" book.

in some ways it has impacted me more than some of the others i have read.. as i read cofc, for example, i could see that the inner workings of the gb showed that there were not spirit guided but very misguided.... as i read isofcf i could see logical biblical arguments that refuted jw syances on blood, holidays, jesus, etc.... i read the gentile times reconsidered, and was very impressed with the logic about 587 bce.

caliber

This is such a good topic for countless lurkers to hear. Old timers to the board may say this is such old news, but its

time to refresh it for others to see. It's easy to say just go back to topic history, but it's just not the same, there's

no back and forth input ! Others get to see the raw emotions and feelings as they surface .References and proofs

document your doubts.... to reaffirm their shocking reality ;As other have already well said ..The implanted idea's

have always appeared to be almost like a letter from God (semi-inspired was mentioned ).First this idea itself must

take a tumble. All your investment in time and money and learning, plays on your mind. Your sense of self-pride

says... why couldn't I see this before now ? Your trust as a whole is shaken, your whole world view must now change !

In the end it all comes down to "intent", what is the intent behind the WT ?

My advice though, is to try to pace yourself,an opening mind ( once intentionally starved for free thought) wants to devour

all the food at once! Take long walks, take time to reflect & slowly accept & absorb!

Caliber

88

Has a song "GRABBED" at you pulling your soul in?

by FreedomFrog in

jw
friends

it doesn't happen to me much but when it does i can't get enough.... i was driving home from a friends house trying to figure out how to work out my finances/home/college/kids and then the song "eye of the tiger" came on.. i've heard this song many times.

this was one of my fave's growing up but it didn't catch my soul like it did tonight.

i was in awe to the point of needing to hear it 6 times already.

caliber

To classy lady, with the classy hat , (sugar plum)

Take this as consolation always !...... those who feel and hurt deeply, also love deeply !

Caliber

40

hi newbie to this great place

by freespirit67 in

sorry this has turned out longer than i thought.anyway i lived the life of a single mother fell away from the organisation,and eventually met a (worldly) guy who is the most loving guy i have ever met,my best friend,lover and soulmate.i was disfellowshipped 4 months ago because we live with each other and plan to get married in september,unacceptable to the society hence my disfellowshipping.it has broke my mum and dads heart and im so so sorry for this,i love them so much,but no longer want or believe in the jw beliefs.

i still believe in god but dont know where im bound as regards my faith,i really do want to have something.

apart from my mum and dad and the shunning arrangement im so happy,the happiest i have ever been in years,and my 2 youngest ones are happy as well..my eldest daughter is 16 and planning on getting baptised in july which is tearing me apart,she is so like me,but is being brainwashed by a certain crowd of witnesses,need i say anymore...my eldest son who is 18 isnt in the truth and feels the same way i do... anyway thanks for this forum and hope to hear from likeminded friends soon.

caliber

guy who is the most loving guy I have ever met,my best friend,lover and soulmate.I was disfellowshipped 4 months ago because we live with each other and plan to get married

Here is your key to happiness , time will take care of everything else ! WELCOME

Caliber

88

Has a song "GRABBED" at you pulling your soul in?

by FreedomFrog in

jw
friends

it doesn't happen to me much but when it does i can't get enough.... i was driving home from a friends house trying to figure out how to work out my finances/home/college/kids and then the song "eye of the tiger" came on.. i've heard this song many times.

this was one of my fave's growing up but it didn't catch my soul like it did tonight.

i was in awe to the point of needing to hear it 6 times already.

caliber

"Fear & Love" with the word flashings! Interesting chart below contrasts the frequency of love 500 to fear 100 on the Enlightenment

scale !

http://members.shaw.ca/yofrizb/

Caliber

36

Something Else I Was Thinking About...

by str8?so is spaghetti..until you heat it up in

sometimes i look back at my 27 years as a witness and am astounded by the amount of double speak that goes on in the organisation.

god loves unconditionally, but only certain ones, god is going to save the world from its downward spiral, but first of all he is going to destroy millions of evil people.

it is all so fatalistic and unkind.

caliber

Here's what the W.T. has learned in a hundred plus years of trial and error ...........that just as the

army does..... if they quickly jump on the almost trivial things, it keeps people far away from the much

bigger things . (uniform button undone, shoe lace untied ) If you are always kept on the edge of your

"comfort zone " you tend to obey much more readily ! (To ass/u/me makes an ass out of you (u)

and me !)

Caliber

56

What's the BEST thing about being "out" of the "truth"?

by B_Deserter in

for me, it's having friends that i don't have to hide my lack of meeting attendance/service from.

it's amazing how they teach you that only jws can be your real friends, but in reality, it's all contingent upon your religious "performance.

" sure, if you're not going to meetings, they'll try to be "friends," by encouraging you to go back.

caliber

FREEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/882018/braveheart_freedom_speech/

Clip from Braveheart Freedom speech!

Caliber