garybuss

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Posts by garybuss

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  26

  Would you consider marrying outside your ... ?

  by Celtic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  race, creed, religion or having a girl/boyfriend from same, what are your views?.

  peace.

  celtic

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  garybuss

  I would only marry in the human race.
  
  gb
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  34

  Any athiests here had a demon experience?

  by Marilyn in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've made friends with a mormon lady, and she told me that her 14yo daughter has thrown out all four harry potter books because she's realised they are dabbling in and encouraging demons.

  then she told me about her demon experiences herself.

  has any exjw, of sound mind, had a proper demon experience (as opposed to improper!!)?

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  garybuss

  Hi Marilyn,
  
  In my younger days I had a service partner who saw a donut shop that was not there. Does that count?
  
  gb
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  15

  What if the elders dont come see you at all?

  by knight in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was looking at the post of,another member here and he stated how he hates when the elders come to harass his wife for not coming to the meetings,but what if they never come?

  my wife has been missing from the meetings for almost a year now due to illness,and i have been missing the meetings dueto my relocating after the 9/11 attacks we get a phone call once every 2 months from one elder,and thats about it.we got a shepherding call only out of fear of what the circuit overseer might say to them for not seeing us.what to do?

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  garybuss

  Hi Tina

  Yes I am responsible for writing the Okies. Randy is responsible for marketing them. Glad you like my stuff . . .

  Hey Farkel,

  Thanks for the kind words. I likewise am your fan. Thanks for being here.
  
  gb
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  15

  What if the elders dont come see you at all?

  by knight in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was looking at the post of,another member here and he stated how he hates when the elders come to harass his wife for not coming to the meetings,but what if they never come?

  my wife has been missing from the meetings for almost a year now due to illness,and i have been missing the meetings dueto my relocating after the 9/11 attacks we get a phone call once every 2 months from one elder,and thats about it.we got a shepherding call only out of fear of what the circuit overseer might say to them for not seeing us.what to do?

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  garybuss

  Hi knight, All,
  
  I did not receive a phone call or a visit during the first 10 years of my absence from all group activities. They obviously were indifferent. I worked in our cabinet shop with my father who was a local group leader. My wife had been a pioneer for years and continued with the group on various levels. We were both believers.

  I was so busy trying to make money to help support our family that now included 4 beautiful sons that I did not think too much about religion. I did think of 10 questions for those two elders who visited. The elders were Greg Herrboldt and Loren Matz and they never did answer one of my questions nor did they try to get back to me on them. I did certainly return to them and several others including the CO and my father, requesting answers I had been promised.

  Greg and Lorn invited me to the upcoming memorial and I did go. I hired Greg Herrboldt to paint my house right after that 10 year meeting and he was there on the day he told me he would be there and he did a good job and finished on time. I was very pleased with the job.

  I really did want them to successfully answer my questions and show me how my concerns were my fault so I could go back to the only life I had ever known. I know now that I was holding them to the platform promises of answering questions and I was expecting something from them that they could not deliver. I was not aware then that the internal promise to answer internal questions was a teaching but not a practice. I was not aware then like I am aware now that serious questioners are snubbed and shunned as a strategy to end the questioning. My approach to the whole thing would be very different today. Then they were dealing essentially with a believing Jehovah's Witness. Today I am informed and secular.

  Eventually I think they saw my lack of willingness to shelf my questions as pride and rebellion and they gave up on me. My son Brice told me I was not worth the time it would take to answer my questions. My exit was a very slow progressive thing. They had many opportunities to keep me as a group member. Their strategy of dodging my questions and flatly denying facts antagonized me and I started to dig deeper and my questions became more pointed.

  Eventually they could not even begin to deal with my questions dealing with the authority of the Governing Body and the things contained in the prolific library of Watch Tower Corporation literature I have access to.
  
  I guess they had never met anyone who had real all 7 of the Studies In The Scriptures, six written by Charles Russell, and who had read all of Rutherford's books. In the few face to face meetings I had with them, I called the meetings and I countered their every point with a reference to the Watch Tower publications. Their frustration turned to marking me and refusing any more meetings with me.
  
  In a way I don't blame them. Their encounters with me had to be frustrating and unfun for them. They like fun things like building Kingdom Halls and having meetings. They had to have seen me as a mountain they could not climb and they just moved on.
  
  I wish I could have had the resources like the internet and the Society's reprints and old books available from Randy Watters and Duane Magnani and others that are available now. I believe I could have completed my exit without making so much of a fuss and I may have been able to avoid many of the relationship ending confrontations I initiated with Witness friends and relatives.

  My word to current questioners and soon to be walkaways is this. Understand that the teachings about the practices and the actual practices and not the same. Do not hold the Witnesses to their own teachings if you hope to slip away.
  
  Happy day to all,
  
  gb
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  21

  I hate JW's

  by ashitaka in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hate all jw's for making my wife upset when they send their commanders (elders) to harass my wife for not going to meetings.

  i'd like to say f**k you to all people who have hurt my wife and i and continue to do so.

  these f**king c***s continually try to hurt my wife because she won't kiss their asses.

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  garybuss

  Hi ashitaka

  Sounds like you have a reason to not be shunned. Sorry. You are in a tough spot.

  Hope it all goes well and may all your wishes come true:-)
  
  gb
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  26

  2/3 of all JW's are women and what it implies

  by Mindchild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a few weeks back, kinsman posted a link about a recent survey of religion in america which showed that 68% of all jehovah's witnesses were female, which is the highest ratio of women to men in any religion in the usa.. i believe the reason for this unbalance in adherents in favor of women comes down to two fundamental reasons.

  the first is shunning and the second is the appeal of the "family type atmosphere" that the witnesses pretend to offer.. we all know the power of shunning keeps a lot of people trapped inside the collective, and just due to the fact that women are enculturated more with having emotional bonds with others, makes it a bit tougher to leave family and friends behind.

  this doesn't mean that men don't suffer emotionally, but the general trend is more for men to suppress their feelings and damn the emotional torpedoes and go full speed ahead out of the bad dream.. this suggests to me, that if there is a major modification of the shunning policy, the largest exodus will be in the female ranks.

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  garybuss

  Hi Makena1

  My words. The book is coming . . .

  Have a great week
  
  gb
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  15

  The Unforgivable Sin

  by expatbrit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one of those phrases that jw's always seem to (amusingly) lower their voices when saying is "the unforgivable sin".

  this is defined as, i believe, grieving the holy spirit.. when i was a witness, it was generally assumed that adolf hitler had committed the unforgivable sin.

  presumably because he wasn't taken in with the wt's brown-nosing of the nazis.

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  garybuss

  Wish we could start a debate on the nature of sin.
  
  
  Sigh . . . .
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  26

  2/3 of all JW's are women and what it implies

  by Mindchild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a few weeks back, kinsman posted a link about a recent survey of religion in america which showed that 68% of all jehovah's witnesses were female, which is the highest ratio of women to men in any religion in the usa.. i believe the reason for this unbalance in adherents in favor of women comes down to two fundamental reasons.

  the first is shunning and the second is the appeal of the "family type atmosphere" that the witnesses pretend to offer.. we all know the power of shunning keeps a lot of people trapped inside the collective, and just due to the fact that women are enculturated more with having emotional bonds with others, makes it a bit tougher to leave family and friends behind.

  this doesn't mean that men don't suffer emotionally, but the general trend is more for men to suppress their feelings and damn the emotional torpedoes and go full speed ahead out of the bad dream.. this suggests to me, that if there is a major modification of the shunning policy, the largest exodus will be in the female ranks.

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  garybuss

  Hi All,

  I gotta wonder if the female ratio feature is unique to the Jehovah's Witnesses. It seems to me that it is not. I have visited more than a few churches and religious groups and the majority of them seem to have a similar male to female ratio. The most balanced of groups I have seen is the Mennonites.

  My reasons for attending group activities was different than my wife's. I attended as a pragmatist. I had perceived problems and I received promised solutions. I am goal oriented and I received promised rewards. I was receptive to ego strokes and recognition, my wife was not.

  My wife was receptive to social invitations and used the group as a social nucleus. Doctrine and philosophy was less important to her than finding a group of friends to socialize with and less important than finding perceived suitable playmates for her children.

  I studied the literature in hopes of achieveing the reward of salvation from a cruel and punishing god. She studied the literature to parrot the answers back in order to fit in and feel a part.
  
  Openness to religious thought requires magical thinking. It seems to me more males than females tend to evolve to rational objective thought. With the loss of the ability to engage in magical thinking, religion is an unacceptable concept and the rational person moves toward reality.
  
  There is a lot of social activity available on a real level but it requires some effort and is not automatic nor a benefit of membership in a group. A healthy life attracts healthy friendships and healthy associations. A high control group has nothing to offer a healthy rational person, male or female.
  
  gb
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  12

  PolyHeme Update-WTS foolish policy

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  northfield labs has run into some difficulty with their application .

  from human red blood cells.

  it looks to me like jws will have to.

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  garybuss

  LE wrote:
  <My suggestion to to anyone who has a medical need for packed
  red cells is to take them unless the WTS can show you where in the
  Bible Jehovah forbids the red cell membrane.>

  I might just want to add . . . can show you where in the inerrant, infallible Bible . . .

  The Watch Tower Corporation's New World Translation has been *revised*. What does that mean? What did the editors *revise*? Error? Do I want to risk my life on the possibility the text that I am willing to die for might contain error and may be *revised* soon after my death? Am I willing to take the risk to follow a Corporate decision to follow an errant, fallible book to my death?
  
  Naaa! I want a direct revelation from the diety herself.
  
  
  gb
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  35

  What did you do to free your mind from WBTS??

  by Nicolas in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i ask you this because i saw a lot of hypocrisy in the org but i still have sometime this old fear of armageddon with a feeling a culpability.

  should i do some research on my own about all the lies of the wbts?

  what did you do to find a goal in your life?

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  garybuss

  Hey SS

  Oh, that:-) <Jewish reflections of ethical dualism> Made me break into a cold sweat.

  Just e-mail me some time. Be nice and I might tell ya the theism hook.

  gb