garybuss

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Posts by garybuss

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  20

  For those who chose not to have kids--any regrets?

  by Alpaca in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was younger i didn't really have any second thoughts about deciding not to have kids.. when i think about the great relationship i had with my non-dub dad, i now wish that i had at least one child.. the decision was based on the borg's encouragement to put "spiritual interests" ahead of personal interests.

  this is just one more of the long-lasting detriments to my life caused by the borg..

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  garybuss

  I'll bump your thread. I have 4 sons and one grandson and I'm extremely glad I had the four I have. There have been challenges and sometimes grief, but it's been worth it for the blessings.
  
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  50

  May 15th Watchtower - New Light?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the new watchtower asks the question: "when was satan cast out of heaven?

  - rev 12:1-9".

  and the answer it gives is: "so, then, the bible does not reveal the exact time when satan and his demons were expelled from heaven.

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  garybuss

  Here's what we wanna know: Did Jesus do that battle with Satan wearing clothes? Or did he do it naked?
  
  
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  63

  Mom says "You will die at Armageddon" - good replies?

  by serendipity in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother retired from her full-time job recently and has started attending meetings again.

  she also has plenty of time to think about her wayward children, including me.

  one night, we were talking and she asked me, again, why i wasn't going to meetings.

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  garybuss

  How have you/would you reply when being told "You're going die at Armageddon".
  
  I actually laugh. I've had lots of Witnesses tell me that. One of the "brothers" left me a phone message that said: "Jehovah's gonna git ya!". Hahahaha!!! They been readin' too many comic books!
  
  
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  11

  where have all the JWs gone

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember the days when the jws came round practically every weeek, nowadays you can go months without seeing a jw.. what has happened that they don't came round so often?

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  garybuss

  I only see them canvassing neighborhoods during tabloid campaigns. One day I picked up 5 Awake! magazines laying on the sidewalks around my building like the penny shoppers. I don't ever remember going in service in my active Jehovah's Witness days, and seeing anybody throw Watchtowers or Awakes! on the ground at stranger's doors. That's happening now.
  
  I see Witnesses gathering every week for breakfast break mid mornings Saturdays and Sundays at the local "no tipping required" food court.
  
  
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  20

  WHATEVER HAPPEND TO THE JONADAB CLASS?

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  are they still around?.

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  garybuss

  
  The Witness dogma asserts that for every part, there is a counter-part. There is a typical type, and an a-typical type. Virtually every Bible character, pattern, dream, event, and prediction has a significant (to them) second meaning only known by the Watch Tower Publishing Corporation's owners.
  
  And they have the exclusive ability to change their minds any time they want. The Jonadabs were the immortal race of Witnesses. Then they became the mortal, "other sheep", and now, since the other sheep won't be identified until Armageddon, they are the "sheeplike ones".
  
  That's the beauty of religion, nothing has to make sense.
  
  
  
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  33

  I got invited to the KH for the Traveling Circuit Overseer's talk

  by lavendar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first let me say, i've never been a jw and never will become one.

  i'd rather stick needles in my eyes.

  my son has invited me to his kh to hear the co's talk.

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  garybuss

  You wrote: . . . personally I would rather shovel manure than step foot in a kh but that's just me
  I hear that! If I had my Witness relationships to do over I would make many more concessions than I did. My writing is from the standpoint of my own failures, rather then my successes. At this point, I wouldn't advise anybody to do what I did. I didn't have the advantage of being outside the group. I was seen by the group members as an incredible defective.
  
  Now, if I go in a Kingdom Hall, I want a camera crew with me cause I gotta think we're gonna make the 10 o'clock news:-)
  
  
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  33

  I got invited to the KH for the Traveling Circuit Overseer's talk

  by lavendar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first let me say, i've never been a jw and never will become one.

  i'd rather stick needles in my eyes.

  my son has invited me to his kh to hear the co's talk.

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  garybuss

  You wrote: "like he suffered brain damage in a auto crash"

  Good one! Wish I'da wrote that! Thanks!
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  33

  I got invited to the KH for the Traveling Circuit Overseer's talk

  by lavendar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first let me say, i've never been a jw and never will become one.

  i'd rather stick needles in my eyes.

  my son has invited me to his kh to hear the co's talk.

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  garybuss

  You wrote: But don't you think I should DO SOMETHING to help him see the deception of the WTS?
  
  No! He sees it and is self denying he's seeing it. Keeping rapport is doing something. All Witnesses I know become angry when I tell them what they already know and are denying. The ritual meetings' main purpose is to reinforce the denial that's required in order for the person to continue. Initially they were called "consolation" meetings and the attenders were in morning because their expectations of the promised apocalypse were not met. They "re-set" each other at meetings.
  
  They can also "re-set" by chanting, talking to one another (called up-building), and reading their books and tabloids. Whenever I have been so foolish as to challenge a believing Witness, they have always chanted, lashed out in anger, walked away, or all three.
  
  The question is: what's so lacking in your son's life that he's getting his needs met by a religious high control group like Jehovah's Witnesses?
  
  You wrote: By gently and lovingly asking strategic questions about the WTS, don't you think he will eventually realize he's been duped?
  My dad was born in 1921, raised by Bible Student parents, became a zealous Witness adult, saw every single thing the Witnesses ever taught fail, saw the new teachings fail, saw the excuses fail and he saw it all as a test by a cruel and punishing god. He died as a rabid Witness, shunning me the last 12 years of his life. The failures he saw as a Witness made him a STRONGER Witness.
  
  About the only consistent thing that I see in helping Witnesses to quit the group is a social setback. There is hope, because those do happen pretty frequently. That was my catalyst to quit the group. Of course the shunning and snubbing ensured I wouldn't return.
  
  My dad had several serious social setbacks but he was able to separate the Witness people from the Jehovah's Witness ideology and carry on. Every single thing that would make a normal person quit the group, like seeing failed predictions like he saw, and being socially disrespected like he was socially disrespected, made my dad a better Witness.
  
  I finally realized my wishes for my dad to see the group for what it is, and quit was selfish of me. I entertained a fantasy in my head that someday my dad and I would have a good relationship. But that's all it was. A fantasy! I decided to let it go and accept reality. The reality was my dad would stay a Witness and he would not become a better father but he would become worse. With that expectation, I had a concept that he could live up to and we both could find peace apart. When he died, I didn't cry.
  
  
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  33

  I got invited to the KH for the Traveling Circuit Overseer's talk

  by lavendar in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  first let me say, i've never been a jw and never will become one.

  i'd rather stick needles in my eyes.

  my son has invited me to his kh to hear the co's talk.

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  garybuss

  Do you have any advice for me?
  
  Go to the meeting. Try to keep rapport with your son. Forget all about ammunition and forget the questions forever. Ammunition is for war. Never go to war with your sons and daughters. I'd much rather have rapport with my children than win a war. Besides, it's a battle you can't win.
  
  It takes a LOT more brains to keep rapport with a Witness than piss one off. Any idiot can piss off a Witness.
  
  
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  27

  The name Jehovah and the April Study edition of the Watchtower

  by seek2find in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in the 1st study article of the april watchtower, a statement is made about some apostates opposing the use of the name jehovah.

  i would like to seriously ask this question to lurkers and active witnesses.

  why is it that in the new world translation the name jehovah apears in the greek scriptures (aka new testament) only 237 times and yet in the watchtower magazine between the years of 2000 to 2006 the name jehovah appears an average of about 3000 times per year?

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  garybuss

  I like the name Jehovah. I had a cat named Jesus and a hamster named Jehovah and Jesus ate Jehovah.