freeman

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Posts by freeman

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  28

  More Rand Corp.Info

  by OUTLAW in

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  2. friends

  as some of us know wbts owns 50% of rand cam corp.i was watching cnn and they said rand corp operates a military think tank.does anyone know anymore about this?...outlaw

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  freeman

  HOLD IT PLEASE:

  I’m no defender of the Watch Tower by any means but lets not say things that are not 100% true or correct please.

  RAND is a military think tank, but the Watch Tower has nothing in the world to do with this RAND.

  The Rand in question here is: RAND Cam Engine Corp.

  They are not a think tank but do have an interesting military connection. Rand Cam Engine Corp. does not manufacture any military hardware that I am aware of, however through an acquisition they do now own technology that is currently being used as part of smart bombs.

  On balance it should be noted that the Watch Tower has no say in how their technology is used, and they have no voting proxy. I’m sure (I hope) they would rather it was not used this way. However it should also be noted that they do profit with each and every smart bomb dropped. The stock was a gift, and they cannot sell the stock on the open market, so the only way out for them is to walk away from it. This would mean a loss of millions in equity and future earnings.

  A high price to pay? Yes but integrity sometimes requires a high price. So far they have not seen fit to extricate themselves from this situation, perhaps if their infidelity were more widely known they would receive “New Light” and sever their unholy alliance. Only time will tell.

  Just my two cents

  Freeman
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  7

  Xmas story

  by buffalosrfree in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when in the borg, my wife and i were invited to this elder's house for a bite of supper on xmas eve.

  we went over there and guess what, turkey dinner with all the trimmings and just a hint of the orient thrown in.

  supper was great, we talked about life in the service, both of us were retired military.

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  freeman

  TR,
  I know exactly what you are saying: “I just ached to be with family on the holidays when I was a 'hovah”.

  I am in the same boat, I had 21 years as a normal human, and then I was transformed into a ‘hovah’. Each and every year since my mutation, I have ached to be with my dwindling family, (many are up in years and I’ve lost some). I feel robbed, bastards!

  Recently I was talking to my aunt, a very close aunt. She is now about 80 and lives with my mom. She is more like a grandmother then an aunt. We were talking and she had remarked how my nephews were flying in for the holiday and would just love to see our family, but you don’t do any holidays at all right? I have known for quite some time that I was in a cult but have never told anyone in my family, but I chose then to tell my aunt, my well-guarded secret. I told her she was right. I said, what you told me when I was 21 was dead on, there is something very wrong with this religion I joined. Tears welled up in both our eyes, as I told her I would love to see everyone over the holiday but I must keep peace with my wife. She cried oh god, and the children? I told her; well I put my foot down and my 12 year old is not being indoctrinated any more. Thank god she said. And my other boy? I’m sorry they got him and my wife too but I’m trying, I’m working every day to get them out. I have to stop here I can’t write anymore today, this is just to much for me to handle today. sorry

  Freeman
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  7

  Xmas story

  by buffalosrfree in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when in the borg, my wife and i were invited to this elder's house for a bite of supper on xmas eve.

  we went over there and guess what, turkey dinner with all the trimmings and just a hint of the orient thrown in.

  supper was great, we talked about life in the service, both of us were retired military.

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  freeman

  Hello Buff,

  More or less the same thing happened to me and my then girlfriend (now wife) when we were studying. We were not baptized at the time and it was going to be our first Xmas eve in the “truth”. Our study conductor invited us to his house for dinner so we would not have to face all the Xmas stuff with our "unbelieving" families.

  No exchange of gifts at his house, but the atmosphere was very holiday like, and the dinner was exactly as you described. Someone else invited us for Xmas day and it was the same thing, only with lots more red and green candles, and better wine this time. Same thing at Thanksgiving time too. Not that anyone was celebrating, mind you, it’s just that turkeys are cheap then and well you know….

  Is it hypocrisy? I guess you could say that but I would cut them some slack here, after all they are fighting the natural and proper desire to be with their own families and join in the fun that the rest of the planet is experiencing.

  When you think about it, the Borg just sucks the life and fun out of everything, and I guess this is the way some people deal with this affront to normalness. So is it hypocrisy? Yes, but it's the type of hypocrisy that (for me), is easy to forgive, it's their humanity crying out.

  Freeman
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  7

  About stumbling

  by crownboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how many of you were ever "stumbled" as a jw?

  i always thought that claiming you were "stumbled" was just an excuse to stop going to meetings etc.

  (should have thought of it myself .

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  freeman

  I guess it is possible to be stumbled but I often think it’s used as an excuse.

  Here is my own story: An Elder and his wife that we knew very well found themselves in a bad way finically because they had to come up with some cash fast, and we thought we would help them out by temporarily lending them the sum of $1,000.00. At the time (1978) my wife and I were “in the truth” about one year, had no savings, and since I could not work as an Engineer or even a Tech. in the defense industry anymore, both of us were now resigned to low paying jobs. Oh the joys of being a self-employed janitor. :(

  We obtained the money for them by getting a cash advance on a credit card. And like a trusting dumb ass, I the so-called head of this enterprise, never so much as even asked for an I-Owe-You. Why would we have to, after all, we were all “in the truth”, we baby-sat their kid, we went to shows and dinner together all the time etc. Trust your brother, right?

  Well they paid the first two months OK but then we started to get late payment notices from the Credit Card company. The Elders wife apologized and said it was just a slip-up and that she would take care of it. Everything was back on track, or so we thought. But after a while, we could sense the relationship was starting to get cooler. Then the big wake-up call came when they moved hundreds of miles away with no forwarding address. Oh how nice! Making a long story short, I had to eat the $1,000.00 and it took me literally years and years to pay it off. God only knows how much I paid in interest; I don’t even want to think about it.

  So there you have a true story, (Old Hippie will say I’m making it up, but I’m not). And no my wife and I were not stumbled, we just kept on going like good little WT drones. After all, Jehovah was still God, we were in the last days, the end of the world was so very near etc. I think if I were ever to be stumbled, this would have done it. Just my two cents.

  Freeman
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  a thought on the united nations

  by refiners fire in

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  2. friends

  back in the seventies i recall the wt was always on about the un.. the un is going to turn on religion.

  the un is going to assume a world dominant role.. of course the un was nothing back then,no big power, but the witnesses.

  were always on about its coming role.. in the 80s the uns role seemed to fade into obscurity, not mentioned much anymore.. then in the early 90s george bush came along with his new world order.

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  freeman

  Hello refiners fire,

  Unfortunately I believe you may be correct; but no matter what, their hypocrisy is quite blatant. If one were to examine the output of publications from this time period it would show that the Awake had nothing but positive U. N. stories. The Watch Tower magazine and other publications of course could still have had some negative U. N. stories, not 100% sure on this, however remember those publications are overwhelmingly religious in nature and largely written for internal consumption.

  It’s amazing that they could get away with this duplicity for so long, but I surmise that human nature being what it is, the U. N. obviously never fully checked these people out. My guess is the scarlet beast relied on material the WTBTS chose to feed them. Incidentally, you will also find only U. N. stories with a positive slant in electronic form on their web site from this time period as well. Anyway, you raised some good points, I have to check and see if your theory is correct.

  Freeman (embarrassed that he was ever part of this organization)
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  40

  JWs CAN CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS!

  by Sirona in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when a jw tells you christmas is pagan, therefore you shouldnt celebrate it, you can refer them to this article.

  it is discussing wallpaper and other home decorations and what sorts are acceptable.. *** g76 12/22 14 are they idolatrous decorations?

  so the christian needs to be primarily concerned about what?

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  freeman

  Sirona,
  I love it, great job! I will put this info to good use, thank you.

  Freeman
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  17

  How to wash your dishes properly

  by spacegirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remembered the other day reading in an awake, oh it must have been about five or six years ago, an article on how to wash your dishes properly.

  for god's sake, do jw's not know how to do that and do the borg think they have to tell them how to do it.

  it's cracking me up just thinking about it.. to make you laugh even more, in the next issue of awake someone had written a bloody letter thanking them for the article and how it had helped them so much and had a query on whether to rinse dishes with water or not after washing.

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  freeman

  Why is this so surprising that Dubs need to be told how to wash dishes? Are they not also told:

  1. What type of sex a husband and wife can have?
  2. What level of education is correct for a mature Christian?
  3. How to spend their free time.
  4. What fields of employment are proper and which are not?
  5. Who is deserving of their prayers and who is not?
  6. Who they can and whom they can’t speak to, eat with, or even say a greeting to.
  7. What type of medical treatment they may undergo.
  8. What they may read, and what they may not read, and what movies one may watch or not watch.
  9. What they may think about and what they may not think about.

  10. (Place you favorite rule, regulation, or restriction here)

  So tell me Sir Fred / YouKnow /Friday / OldHippie et al., tell us why this is not a controlling cult!

  Freeman
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  23

  NT Only for the 144,000?

  by ItsJustMe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is the lightbulb that just clicked over my head correct?

  does the society teach that the entire new testament is written only to the 144,000?.

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  freeman

  See if you find this reasoning somewhat absurd:

  The great majority of first century Christens, many hundreds of thousands of them, including thousands upon thousands who were martyred for their faith, are to be considered second-class citizens of the Kingdom. Such ones don’t even have Christ as their mediator. These poor souls will never be members of the “144K-club”. And it gets worse as time goes on; somehow after almost 2000 years since he was on earth, and after literally millions were martyred in his name, only 144,000 lucky persons will ever join his exclusive 144K-club.

  Fortunately for some who happen to have been born at just the right time when Christ returned, well sort of returned, not that every eye would see him like he said because he did it invisibly this time, although it was taught that he returned at an earlier date, but never mind that, and so what if these same persons were promulgating a bunch of false teachings at the time, and dabbling with the occult just a bit, promoting the sale of war bonds and prayers for victory during a war at one point, and mixed in with much of Babylon The Greats traditions, they still get to join the 144K-club because ‘they were at the right place expecting the wrong thing at the right time’.

  So you want to be a member of the 144K-club do you? And oh how you wish you were born earlier so you could have been expecting the wrong thing at the right time. Well fear not, it’s not to late. Yes, you too just happen to be born at another of the right times. New members are still being added at this time so as to keep the number around 8,000 or so. And the really cool thing is that today, unlike earlier times when millions who were martyred could not even get in, you can just start eating the cookie and drink’n the wine and *bam* your in the 144K-club. No fuss no muss.

  Folks, I am sorry to say that if you remove the sarcasm and the attempt at levity from the above, you have the basic belief that a loyal witness must conform to.

  Freeman (shaking his head in disbelief that at one time he did not find this teaching so utterly absurd)
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  23

  NT Only for the 144,000?

  by ItsJustMe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is the lightbulb that just clicked over my head correct?

  does the society teach that the entire new testament is written only to the 144,000?.

  ____________________________________________

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  freeman

  I think you pretty much got it correct. IMO those of the lesser class don’t have an invitation to the ball as it were. Not that we don’t get to help ‘our betters’ by doing some of the grunt work, like selling books, magazines etc, paying for traveling elders expenses, mortgages, interest on the loans, new buildings, Patterson, settling pedophile lawsuits etc. That is part of our “privilege” of associating with these chosen ones. As I understand the WT theology, the NT was written for this select group and we, the “great-crowd” are just riding on their coat-tails. They, the anointed, are the intended recipients, and thus only they truly understand the deep things written within. Fred / YouKnow Do I have this understanding correct?

  Freeman
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  12

  Hubble Unveils a Galaxy in Living Color

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in this view of the center of the magnificent barred spiral galaxy ngc 1512, nasa hubble space telescopes broad spectral vision reveals the galaxy at all wavelengths from ultraviolet to infrared.

  the colors (which indicate differences in light intensity) map where newly born star clusters exist in both "dusty" and "clean" regions of the galaxy.. this color-composite image was created from seven images taken with three different hubble cameras: the faint object camera (foc), the wide field and planetary camera 2 (wfpc2), and the near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer (nicmos).. ngc 1512 is a barred spiral galaxy in the southern constellation of horologium.

  located 30 million light-years away, relatively "nearby" as galaxies go, it is bright enough to be seen with amateur telescopes.

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  freeman

  Wonderful images from the Hubble Space Telescope! Thank you so much for sharing some of them with us. What a marvelous instrument the Hubble has turned out to be! I remember when the flaws in the mirror were all anyone talked about. Do you remember this time? I sure do.

  The heat from this error was just so intense on anyone connected with the program. I removed any connection with the Hubble from my resume because of all the negative comments I received in connection with it. As it turns out, my connection with Hubble had nothing to do with the mirror. My job was to insure the security of the remote command and control. I was the so-called computer security expert NASA hired to try and hack into the operations control center, to find and correct any security flaws before hackers could exploit them.

  I really miss my NASA days so much now, and at times I feel a bit guilty that I ever removed mention of the Hubble from my resume. Seeing these images brings a wonderful sense of satisfaction knowing my work back then played even a small roll in its success. I was really feeling kind of blue today and this picked my spirits up. Thank You!

  Freeman