Posts by inkling

20

six billion dead bodies?

by inkling in

ok, i am having a bit of an friendly argument with my wife, and i need your help.. (ok, fine- feel free to help her if she turns out to be right).

does the watchtower actually teach that all others besides witnesses will be.

killed at armageddon?

inkling

Ok, I am having a bit of an friendly argument with my wife, and I need your help.
(ok, fine- feel free to help her if she turns out to be right)

Does the Watchtower ACTUALLY teach that all others besides witnesses will be
killed at Armageddon?

I find that when pressed, many witnesses will say that NO, they don't belive
that 6 billion people will be killed. What is the official WT stance on this?

I say the WT implies and encourages the only-jw-saved model, but my wife
thinks that is NOT officially taught, and that only a few witness think and
preach that.

Is there some reference you can point me to where this doctrine is explicitly
taught?

[inkling]

28

Comments You Will Not Hear at the WT Study (10/22 Merciful)

by WT Comments in

soliciting your comments as well!

please take a moment to post a comment, even if brief.

share your experience and keep the topic active.. .

This study was SOO frustrating to sit though. Everyone was talking about David's "consequences"
and "discipline" and all these other euphemisms, and no one even acknowledged what this "just
punishment to the right degree" was.

I was one hair of sanity away from getting the mic and going: "He slowly killed a f~~king BABY!!!
what the hell is WRONG with you people????"

sigh... sorry for that, I just had to rant.
I feel a bit better now.

[ink]

40

Freemasonry?

by inkling in

ok so my cousin (raised as a witness but never took it serious) recently has.

become a freemason.. i have always thought of them as a odd but likable and harmless "club", but.

all this thinking makes me wonder if there is anything dark and sinister my.

inkling

Ok so my cousin (raised as a witness but never took it serious) recently has
become a Freemason.

I have always thought of them as a odd but likable and harmless "club", but
all this thinking makes me wonder if there is anything dark and sinister my
cousin should be worried about.

sheesh, now I'm starting to sound paranoid.

Anyone know anything about them?

[inkling]

29

High Def TV ..This is bad

by Connaughty in

jw
friends

i recently attended our special assembly day and the visiting speaker put down hdtv because he didn't think we needed it.

he said that we've been watching tv for many years now without it.

i don't know what bethel is going to do when the tv networks switch to that system.

inkling

Maybe they expect the N ew System ä to be here before the new system.

LoL

15

Photos of Big Foot on Associated Press Just Days Ago!!!!!

by Lady Liberty in

jw
friends

dear friends, "happy tuesday",.

just found this article and photo that was taken from a hunter just days ago.

certainly doesn't look like any bear i have ever seen!!.

inkling

You've never seen a juvenile bear with mange, then. :)

I think I speak for every skeptic when I say Thank You for a dose of sanity :)

ink

29

NEW U-TUBE VIDEO, XJW STYLE

by hubert in

jw
friends

hey friends, please check out the new video on u-tube and let me know what you think, so we can debate it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfdirpdbqgw.

no, it's not mine, i just feel like debating it.

inkling

There was a thread a few weeks back on this video, so I will re-post my comments here:

I'm not sure this video is entirely fair... every witness I know would
readily admit that the cross was once used as a symbol. It's in the
PROCLAIMERS book for goodness sake. When encountered at the door with
this objection, no JW well-read in their own literature would claim it
was an "apostate lie" that the cross was used.

The shunning thing... Well, I guess some witnesses might be dense enough to deny that disfellowshiping = shunning, but when pressed, I think they would admit they are effectively the same, and agree that "not talking" to a DF is Org policy, not a personal choice. The video makes some very valid points, and even a few funny ones, but overall, I find the video slightly bitter and uninformed, with an unpleasant aftertaste of the pedantic and preachy. I LIKE parody. I think the absurdity of Witness thought and behavior is a rich well of mostly untapped humor, and I very much enjoy a well done and witty expose of such absurdity and the underlying nasty ego required to be loyal witness... However, for parody to work, it has to be insightful. I guess living 25 years disconnected from the witnesses has left the maker of this video with only a tenuous grasp of the nuances of witness thought, and what is left is a caricature shell of lingering anger and injustice. I hope making this video made her feel better, becuase I sure don't. [ink]

13

of that warm and fuzzy feeling after a long day of field service

by inkling in

(this story fits a late 90's me) --- it's a dreary grey afternoon and the last desperate drops of rainare splattering themselves against the window of the small town cafe.

i stare into the bottom of my coffee and swirl the speckleddark grounds into a tiny hurricane in a pale chipped cup and smile.

the sisters across from me are laughing.

inkling

Dude, that's decaf! There's the problem right there.

Ah HA! I knew I was missing something... Jehovah's TRUE channel of holy spirit is through Caffeine! [ink]

7

My essay on blood transfusions (Eng 101)

by inkling in

the following is an essay i wrote for my eng 101 class a few years ago.. this is an example of pre-doubt me.. although my theological motivations for writing this piece were clearly.

suspect, i stand by the medical information i found.. (sources) available upon request.. comments and criticism welcome.. .

"bloodshot".

inkling

do we have an idea of how many people, say in the US or in Europe, die owing to transfusion refusal, as compared to how many die because of transfusion ?

I REALLY wish I knew. That would be a great test of the theory that Jehovah gave us this command FOR OUR OWN GOOD.

If more die from REFUSING, then its clearly not for the good of our physical health, and the doctrine must be defended solely on its spiritual merit, and they need to STOP saying it is a "protection" in a practical sense.

[inkling]

7

My essay on blood transfusions (Eng 101)

by inkling in

the following is an essay i wrote for my eng 101 class a few years ago.. this is an example of pre-doubt me.. although my theological motivations for writing this piece were clearly.

suspect, i stand by the medical information i found.. (sources) available upon request.. comments and criticism welcome.. .

"bloodshot".

inkling

Excellent criticism, all. Thank you. I thought there might be solid bias problems with my essay, but I did not know how to see them seeing as this was a mostly new subject for me to research in any depth. To all of your objections, I have one simple answer: I have no idea. Seriously, this was a fairly shallow essay, and was for a Eng class, not a Med class. It was mostly an exercise in research and notes and citations and essay form, so hard science was not required for the essay to be successful. (I got an "A" by the way) Nevertheless, I have wondered ever since what I was missing on the subject, and your comments have been enlightening. Thank you.

13

of that warm and fuzzy feeling after a long day of field service

by inkling in

(this story fits a late 90's me) --- it's a dreary grey afternoon and the last desperate drops of rainare splattering themselves against the window of the small town cafe.

i stare into the bottom of my coffee and swirl the speckleddark grounds into a tiny hurricane in a pale chipped cup and smile.

the sisters across from me are laughing.

inkling

(this story fits a late 90's me) --- It's a dreary grey afternoon and the last desperate drops of rain are splattering themselves against the window of the small town cafe. I stare into the bottom of my coffee and swirl the speckled dark grounds into a tiny hurricane in a pale chipped cup and smile. The sisters across from me are laughing. Something about a bluebird. Or maybe it was another good natured Polish joke. Sometimes I zone out during this part. In a few minutes we will pay for our coffee and under-tip the waitress who is glaring at us from the corner of the kitchen where she holds a stained but warm glass pot with a blaze orange handle. She only pretends to like us coming here, and she wouldn't even do that if she had a better set of customers to choose from, but it is 3:30 on a Wednesday afternoon and she has to take what she can get, even if all she gets is three dull quarters and a brightly painted picture of a panda sitting on the other side of a page holding a string of feel-good words. I wonder if she wonders if the panda would pay her rent and take her kids to the ear doctor if she asked him nicely enough. As we gather our coats and head for the door, I am suddenly stuck with the distinct awareness that we have accomplished exactly nothing all day. One mud puddle, two polish jokes, three return visits, four hours, 13 doors, and zero impact. Even the few people who didn't ignore us were just pretending to be nice because the lessons they learned growing up included the one where when you feel like being a jerk you should lie because Jesus is watching you, and doesn't like jerks. Or liars, for that matter. The strangest thing is that even as I honestly admit to myself that from a practical perspective I have done NOTHING worth while all afternoon... I feel good. I simply have this warm and fuzzy feeling of a job well done, which is totally irrational considering I haven't even done a job, say nothing about well. And yet, when I get home and find a bag of doritos and log in to whatever online role playing game I happen to be addicted to at the moment, I feel I have discharged some vital responsibility, and hence enjoy my evening of hedonistic escapism to the full without a hint of guilt. Faced with no other explanation, I decide the sense of fulfillment, meaning and well-being must be a gift from God. Looking back, This is the reason I went out the week before, and it is the reason I would continue to go out for many more years worth of weeks. Even in the face of doubts this feeling of warm satisfaction would drive me to keep "dosing" myself with field service. Am I alone? [inkling]