Posts by manhasbecomelikeoneofus

20

how do current jw's feel about where their contibutions are being spent?

by manhasbecomelikeoneofus in

jw
friends

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

46

You Need To Give Credit To The Society For Your Education

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

you need to give credit to the society for your education.the watchtower and awake magazines have been helping individuals receive a g.e.d .

or high school diploma.

where did you learn the art of public speaking?

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

it drives me mental to give any credit to that ridiculous cult but my career consists of speaking for a living and the tms was the basis for much of my skill set. i wouldnt need this career if i had been alowed to actually get an education but my speaking skills have provided me with a lucrative profession. so...thanks?!?...i guess...dirtbags!

11

Gratitude for shunning?

by JK666 in

jw
friends

we have all seen the negatine aspects of the jw's shunning da/df people.

i have experienced the hardship emotionally of being cut off from friends and family that are still in the organization.

i do not minimize how much this hurts.. but .

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

this may sound weird...but i envy your being shunned. the one jw rule my parents did not follow was to shun me when i left, although the threat was ever-present when i was a child. they chose to continue contact which was nothing but slow torture. being in their company was a constant barrage of dirty looks, silent treatment and pained expressions punctuated with screams of what a horrible sinful ungrateful heatrtbreaking son i was. after fifteen years of dreading the phone ringing and many attempts at honesty and forgiveness my breaking point came at my grandmothers funeral when an uncle, in front of many people, came over and shook my hand and loudly declared what a disapointment i was to everyone. i had had enough of the emotional abuse and disfellowshipped them. motherly pleading and sibling rage followed but i stuck to my principals and mourned the loss of my family. it was not easy and i still resent being forced to do their dirty work for them, but much counseling and serious self-reflection has gradually brought me the peace that i craved my whole life. i guess my point is that leaving the cult is horrible no matter how it plays out but i can understand a sense of gratitude for your family having the rocks to just shut up and let you get on with your life.

7

malawi

by manhasbecomelikeoneofus in

i saw an abc news report yesterday on bill clintons efforts to help poor farmers in malawi.

i had a jw flashback to the seventies when i was taught to end every prayer with "and please help and protect our brothers and sisters in malawi".

it felt like a vietnam flashback!

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

i saw an abc news report yesterday on bill clintons efforts to help poor farmers in malawi. i had a jw flashback to the seventies when i was taught to end every prayer with "and please help and protect our brothers and sisters in malawi". it felt like a vietnam flashback! chills and goose bumps and the same suffocating feeling i had all through my youth!

13

Tony Robbins - huckster or hero?

by lawrence in

i have recently run into a few tony robbins "devotees" at work, so i started doing research on his past, his trials, and his writings; the fiji island resort and the 10 grand fire walking seminars.

do any of you have experience with tony?

i'd like to hear your thoughts.

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

i read a while back that he has been living with a tumor on his pituitary gland for many years. his high energy and ability to function full blast for twenty hour a day is due to the extra adrenalin supplied by his modified brain. hard to mimic but he has some concepts worth considering.

66

So non-creationist - what do you think of those who still accept creation?

by AK - Jeff in

no firestorms please.

but be honest.

do you think that we are of a lower level of intelligence than those who accept evolutionist' theories?.

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

i dont think creationists are stupid, just fearful and lazy. its not a warm fuzzy feeling one is left with when the concept of a big guy in the sky watching out for us is removed. it takes courage to live life to the fullest without dogma controlling ones every move. and if ANYONE, i dont care how brainwashed, would just put down their bible for a couple of days and pick up any middle school biology text book the overwhelming mountain of evidence concerning natural selection would be evident. the only hope of argument creationists have is if they blatantly deny carbon dating, an established technique, NOT a theory. i just recently read a study done by a couple of scientists who have lived on an island in the galapagos for thirty years. they have documented cases of visually evident adaptation in the beaks of birds over their time spent there. beaks lengthen in times of lack of food to better access the limited supply of insects and shorten when food is plentiful. all taking place over a period of decades not millenia. and all documented for your perusal if you can break away from thousands of years of power-hungry priest class propaganda. i think its just plain lazy to not investigate the copious scientific information available to anyone who bothers to look. as for a previous comment regarding faith being an evolutionary function i recommend the book the god gene by dean hamer. rather than an evolutionary compulsion towards faith, superstition comes from the successful breeding history found in any sociey/tribe with the protection of shared belief. the safety of a group of like believers made for higher birth rates and lower infant mortality. we all share these common ancestors and the hardwired dogma passed down to us. we all share the genes of the superstious monkeys who came before us. i however, choose to let information rather than compulsion dictate my beliefs.

58

Newbies - Give us your stories....

by AK - Jeff in

most of old posters have hashed and re-hashed our backgrounds, history, and method of discovering the 'truth about the truth'.. your turn newbies!.

those who are lurking without the benefit of registration - it only takes a minute, and you too can give us your stories!.

those registered lurkers - what holds you back?

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

btw for some reason none of the spaces i put in between paragraphs show up in my posts...sorry for the eye-straining solid block of words. any advice on how to space?

58

Newbies - Give us your stories....

by AK - Jeff in

most of old posters have hashed and re-hashed our backgrounds, history, and method of discovering the 'truth about the truth'.. your turn newbies!.

those who are lurking without the benefit of registration - it only takes a minute, and you too can give us your stories!.

those registered lurkers - what holds you back?

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

i was a third generation dub with a PO/assemblyO father and uncles also in prominent positions (one of whom ran the WT africa cartel). i was privy to the behind the scenes power base and the special treatment they received. i also had the advantage of a heating vent intercom in my room that allowed a full monitoring of the elders meetings held in my house. being young i didnt completely process the hypocrisy i was being exposed to but the information garnered would prove valuable later. my family jw library was extensive and at a young age i began digging into the old books and began seeing weird and contradictory things. all of these were brushed aside when i inquired about them but my curiosity was not abated. things reached a turning point when reading my nwt bible one day i came upon genesis 3:22. "And Jehovah God went on to say:"Here the man has become like one of us in knowing god and bad, and now in order that he may not put his hand out and actually take fruit also from the tree of life and eat and live to time indefinite,-" 23 With that Jehovah God put him out of the garden of eden....." i went to a (bus driver) "elder" and asked what could this possibly mean. his reply: jehovah was being sarcastic! even at the age of twelve i realized that sarcasm was not a tone used by the almighty. this was god being a vindictive dickhead. the only thing keeping man from being a god was time. this also contradicted the whole satan being a liar thing because he predicted in verse 5 of the same chapter: "....your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like god..." this was where i stopped believing in god and the bible. if the bible was truly the word of god then i wanted nothing to do with such a horrible creep! i was unable to leave at that time due to the social/family pressure that im sure all of you are all intimately familliar with, so my double life began! when i was eighteen my best friend was busted for fornicating one too many times and turned "states" evidence against me. the elders called me into a meeting and confronted me with all of the "sins" my "friend" had ratted about. however the aforementioned vent intercom had taught me the power of a bold faced denial. no i wasnt smoking. no i wasnt fornicating with my worldly girlfriend. no i wasnt smoking pot. no i wasnt shooting heroin...that one was easy because i really wasnt, my friend had thrown that fiction in for, i dont know, drama, insurance. the elders have no power over a bold faced lie so i was let off with stern looks and a warning that i was being watched. watch this, fool! i didnt set foot in one of those unholy halls until my grandmothers funeral fifteen years later and after that horrible experience i never will again. for those of you who are afraid of the backlash of leaving i say: get the hell out now! your silence is aiding and supporting an evil, soul sucking cult which destroys lives and kills/maims children. only with the support of the masses can those twisted old men in brooklyn continue their unholy acts.

25

I am so angry.....

by minu in

jw
friends

i am so angry and since i am some of this may not make sense.

i have a sister in law who has recently taken up the pentecostal religion.

before this she was devil/goth child.

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

its taken a great deal of practice (i used to be easily baited into religious arguments) but i have over time developed a system of complete silence when confronted with a religious debate. ive found that no amount of reason, evidence or historical context can ever convince a religious adherent that their positions are incorrect. so ive taken myself out of the debate. a blank stare followed by a silent pause followed by a complete topic change is the only way ive found to keep me from driving myself crazy arguing with a zealot. its like yelling at a retarded person. youre never gonna convince them into being un-retarded and youre never gonna convince a religious nut that theyre a nut. "you have to have faith" is an unassailable position for anyone who doesnt have a seed of doubt already. ive found that those who do have doubt within themselves will follow my silence with a revealing statement of the issue they have doubt about, opening up a substantive conversation. however, if they are a zealot ive found it better for my sanity to save my breath and talk about puppies!

20

Video based on DC talk on "Superiority of Education by Jehovah" It's short

by Wasanelder Once in

it's only three minutes or so, let me know what you think.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctu6zjasupa.

thanks,.

w.once.

manhasbecomelikeoneofus

perhaps if the speaker had had a little more education he would have known that "....if we was to persue higher education." should be "....if we WERE to persue higher education." i guess proper use of tense isnt covered in the pioneering school. keep 'em stupid! brilliant strategy used by any cult!