GentlyFeral

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Posts by GentlyFeral

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  8

  Blood Needed

  by Sam Beli in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the american red cross has issued an alert that large amounts of blood will be needed for the large numbers of victims of burns and other injuries from todays tragic events.. id like to see a thoughtful explanation from brooklyn or a loyal jw on how the no-blood strategy can reasonably work in horrific situations such as we are seeing this morning.. .

  sam beli.

  i have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind.

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  GentlyFeral

  Dammit! I just gave blood July 20, won't be able to do so for another ten days yet.

  Gently Feral
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  21

  Watchtower Article Titles We'll Never See

  by COMF in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw redhorsewoman's thread title, "the time is at hand", and knew why she picked it: because the society uses that phrase all the time (or used to when i was in, anyway... i'm betting they still do).

  it reminded me of a district assembly part from along about 1983 called "now is the time" (can any of you brighter types guess which song they chose to accompany it?).

  this got me to thinking of how the society has these pet phrases they use over and over again, often featuring them in some thinly reworked format (like going from "now is the time" to "the time is at hand") as article titles.

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  GentlyFeral

  Oh, my favorite game! Only last time I played this it was "Assembly Talks We'll Never Hear." Two of my best ideas:

  Symposium:
  Serving God in This System of Things...
  ...With Atheists
  ...With People of Other Faiths
  ...With People of Other Sexual Orientations

  And, public talk at an international convention (for maximum impact!):

  God's Eternal Purpose Is More Complicated Than We Ever Imagined

  Love & Kisses,
  Gently Feral
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  50

  Considering Leaving? Consider Larc's comments..

  by DannyBear in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  maybe this is the time, to stand up and be counted.

  larc says it so well in this e-mail to me:.

  ****thank you for your kind words and your recognition of me via e mail, on.

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  GentlyFeral

  Another illustration:

  Personal attack: "Fuck you."

  Freedom of expression: "Fuck, this is the best spaghetti I've ever had!"

  Thank you.

  Gently Feral
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  7

  Are you Possessed?

  by peacepipe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  warning: though this is very long if you read as much as you can it may lead to some interesting conversation.. seriously, in my battle with good and evil in my life i have come to the conclusion that i am not meant to "know god" and that i was possessed sometime in my early life(ok not exorcist possessed but just possessed meaning "i'm not meant to get it/cut off from god")examples (yes, i realize these are only fictional portrayls but they show what i mean):.

  1) there is an older movie called the rapture.

  it stars david duchovny(pre x-files days)& mimi rogers(an occasional x-file charachter) anyhow she's the main character and it's about this:.

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  GentlyFeral

  Peacepipe,

  I'm with Nathan Natas on this one. I'm a theist -- from personal experience -- but my personal take on it is that god created atheists to keep the rest of us honest.

  You can't force belief, because you're just lying to yourself, and you can't make good religion out of that. We ex-jaydubs know this from experience.

  Salvation isn't an issue. There's no compelling reason to believe you'll go to hell if you don't "get it", is there? That would be both wasteful and immoral on god's part.

  I don't know that "seeking god" is actually of any use. If god wants you so much, can't she just come and get you herself? Make her do some of the work.

  Gently Feral
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  19

  How Easy Was It To Leave?

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i was df, i actually wanted to return which isn't suprising when you look at their brain washing: * http://www.escapefromwatchtower.com/mind.html.

  i think it took me a couple of years to fully get over it and now the scripture "like a dog returning to it's vomit" comes to mind.. i gather some people here came to their senses while still in the org.

  did anyone actually find it easy to leave?.

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  GentlyFeral

  For me, the difficult part was realizing that I needed to leave. That took about ten years of guilt, pain and self-deception, which culminated in an intense week with Barbara Grizzuti Harrison's Visions of Glory followed by Steven Hassan's Combatting Cult Mind Control (I was looking for contrasts with the jaydubs, and of course I found none.) After that I wanted to know what keeps unbelievers honest, so I began reading whatever I could find about comparative religion. Somewhere in there, I promised myself that I would leave as soon as I could find a church where I felt free and safe. After that it was easy, though not entirely painless. There were a few weeks when I ducked and hid whenever I saw a jaydub, especially one I knew. At least I don't hide from them any more, but the prospect of trying to deprogram an active dub is emotionally exhausting. So I don't bother. I don't have any jaydub relatives, which helped.

  Gently Feral
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  7

  How do you end a prayer?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  heres something i've always wondered ,why do jw's insist that you have to say amen to conclued a prayer?.

  of all the prayers in the bible i can't recall one ending in amen (correct me if i'm wrong).. anyway amen means "so be it" so why not say "so be it" at the end of your prayer or words to that effect?.

  most of the prayers in the bible just end with nothing tagged on to the end.. so were does this come from?.

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  GentlyFeral

  A pagan's "Amen":

  When I have "altar time" at home, I sometimes end with these words:

  "You spirits in attendance on this rite,
  Thanks and farewell;
  And may we meet in peace another night."

  Blondie,
  

  Just be respectful (I wouldn't be eating a sandwich while I'm praying)

  I would -- if it was a really good sandwich. The prayer would go something like: "Gods, this is good! Do any of You want a bite?"

  GentlyFeral
  who has Imaginary Friends in high places

  "There were cockroaches of course,
  but very clean cockroaches."
  -- Julia Vinograd

  (edited for spelling. "nite" indeed!!)
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  51

  satanism, witchcraft and devil worship. . . . . .

  by DCs Ghost in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  contrary to popular belief and what society and the media will portray satanism, devil worship and witchcraft are 3 very independent systems of belief, .

  sure, to those who are afraid of looking into books dealing with the occult, for fear of being possessed or what have you, i write this as a vent because it makes me laugh when i hear people assume that the three are the same, they aren't, .

  and the reality is that even though the three get bunched up as the same, many times it is the ignorance of the practitioners which keeps the ignorance alive.

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  GentlyFeral

  SaintSatan,

  Taoist energy manipulation may be similar to magic.

  You've noticed this too? I discovered this quite by accident when our church had a lay-led service about Tai Chi. The speaker led us in a couple of Tai Chi positions. The one called "Subduing Tiger from the Left" felt extremely powerful and I've begun to use it in "uncrossing" spells. I've been meaning to do more experimenting with Tai-Chi-as-sigil but haven't gotten to it yet. For an eclectic, I think Tai Chi might prove much more "juicy" than traditional Goetian sigils. Comments?

  GentlyFeral
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  34

  Field Service is Officially Over Forever!

  by professor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hereby urge every single one of jehovah's witnesses nationwide to stop going out in field service!

  according to the january 1, 1989 watchtower, our obligation to field service officially ended last year!:.

  the apostle paul was spearheading the christian missionary activity.

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  GentlyFeral

  drahcir,

  I gave up field slavery in 1994. Just sat down one day and said, "Jehovah, I am NEVER going out in service again, and the elders can choke on it for all I care!" The Almighty didn't dare contradict me -- something about no fury like a woman scorned, I guess.

  I disassociated about a year later. Full text of my DA letter: "This is to certify that I no longer consider myself to be one of Jehovah's witnesses." No elaboration; by the time I had reached that point, my reasons were no longer their business!

  Gently Feral
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  73

  Matthew 25

  by Farkel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when did we see you a stranger and receive you hospitably, or naked, and clothe you?

  he was talking about food, clothing, shelter and supplication to the least of the brothers.

  he could not be talking about anything else and here is why: could any human offer jesus spiritual food?

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  GentlyFeral

  Proplog2:
  

  Are any of you prepared to make the monetary contributions needed to feed, house, vaccinate, provide medical care for the poor of the world.

  Yes, of course: a nickel at a time.

  I have two personal rules about charitable giving (other than church):

  1. The first panhandler to approach me on any given day gets one dollar.
  2. I must give to charity as much as I spend on personal adornment (perfume, jewelry and "extra" clothing). It's fun picking a charity and "catching up" in fifty-dollar chunks. The last two were the Southern Poverty Law Center and a personal case of need I happened to hear about.

  Proplog, do you have any such rules? If not, why not?

  Gently Feral
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  73

  Matthew 25

  by Farkel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when did we see you a stranger and receive you hospitably, or naked, and clothe you?

  he was talking about food, clothing, shelter and supplication to the least of the brothers.

  he could not be talking about anything else and here is why: could any human offer jesus spiritual food?

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  GentlyFeral

  You Know,

  When Jesus speaks of his brothers, he is not speaking of all mankind. That's ridiculous. In the 8th chapter of John Jesus said that the Jews that rejected him were from their father---the Devil.

  
  You Know, among the groups of people Jesus lists as "the least of his brothers" are those in prison. He does not specify whether they are there for good cause or not. He simply claims them as his brothers.

  Furthermore, as he was dying, he turned to the "wrongdoer" who was dying beside him, and said, "You will be with me in paradise."

  Only the anointed and the angels are called sons of God in the Scriptures.

  Irrelevant! Jesus does not specify brother Christians who are in jail. He does not specify brother Christians who are naked or hungry or sick. He made the hungry, naked, sick and imprisoned his brothers by definition, when he declared that any act of service to them equals service to him.

  But that's too radical for you, isn't it? I don't think you have the balls or the heart to live up to this verse.

  Gently Feral