Happy Valentines Day. :)
(My first.)
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JoinedPosts by Eyes Open
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HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!
by sacolton ini love everyone!
have a great day!.
one watchtower to rule them all,.
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Thank you, my friends
by Doug Mason indear friends,.
i would like to say thank you for the gratitude expressed for the scans i have been providing.. i had the time to do this while i was sitting at my computer during the hours, days and weeks that i cared for my very sick wife.
at the moment, my partner of 46 years lies very ill in hospital, so you will understand that i currently do not have the time to scour the various threads and posts.
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I haven't had time to read much material yet I'm afraid but I've seen your name mentioned around the forum, Doug. Thanks for all your efforts.
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Bye for now
by freedomfighter into everyone who is part of this forum.. i won't be on here for a while as i am seperating from my wife.
i have found a place with a workmate.. thanks for your comments and support through difficult times.
i am starting a new chapter in my life.. jw's have "destroyed" my life and seperated me from my friends and family.
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Bye for now then freedomfighter.
Best wishes for the time you'll need to deal with the ending of the last chapter of your life, and all the very best for the next one - wherever that may take you. -
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Am I the only one that didnt realize about the GB?
by yourmomma inhere is a question for you.
i'll give a little back ground.
i was raised in the witness organization however in about 1993 i encountered much hypocrisy and left for about 3 years.
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I realised they wanted obedience and submission, and went ahead and got baptised anyway. I wanted it to be true and mentally justified it along the usual lines of "reasoning".
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How Jehovah's Witnesses Control Your Mind - Controlling Your View of Truth
by flipper infor those of you, newbies or perhaps others who haven't read steve hassan's book - " combatting cult mind control" here are some very important things to remember of how jehovah's witnesses and other " mind control" cults operate .
it may help you to understand some things to see how we were all faked out at one time in our lives.
hassan's book states , " in totalistic cults , the ideology is internalized as " the truth ", the only "map" of reality .
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I have Releasing the Bonds by Steven Hassan, but have yet to make real progress with reading it. I feel it's important I do so as a) I have family still in, and b) I wish to more clearly define in my own mind how I was misled since birth. Thanks for the points you brought out Mr. Flipper.
I can obviously relate to a lot of what others have posted already. Eventually, my doubts ended up resurfacing to the extent that I needed to educate myself about the bible using non-WT literature (by scholars; not by "apostates" as that was something I didn't feel comfortable with). From talking with different elders in my congregation about my desire to sort things out for myself once and for all, I received conflicting messages, sometimes from the same elder. On the one hand, they like to be able to say that honesty is commendable and that a desire to satisfy one's questions about the bible shows that one is concerned about doing what is right; at times I was told not to feel guilty and to carry on with my research. On the other hand, they will also intimate that anything non-WT is of this (Satan's) world, and the next worst thing to apostate material; I was indirectly asked why I would want to cover research that would do anything other than build up my faith.
Logic dictates that these two modes are in direct conflict with each other.
As I had already determined I would do proper bible study, I did just that until the JW theology collapsed like a house of cards. Although this took me a substantial length of time, I feel it was the right way for me as it completely and utterly destroyed the basis on which the Watchtower Society ostensibly sits. -
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The Skeptics' Annotated Watchtower - What Does the Bible Really Teach?
by B_Deserter ini'm going to start a project.
i'm going to do a paragraph-by-paragraph rebuttal of as much watchtower literature i can get my hands on.
i've been inspired by v's watchtower comments, so i'm going to do the same with books and brochures.
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The question "What Does The Bible Really Teach?" is a mad-making one. In some respects, the question is easily answered; but in others, you are at the mercy of interpretation (e.g., try plainly finding the teachings in the Book of Daniel or Revelation). So much of the Bible is written in a symbolic manner that it becomes hard to tell where symbolism ends and "plain" expression begins. That's why there are so many interpretations and anyone who claims to have identified what the Bible really teaches ends up in the very same trap others have fallen into: After a while it is simply one person's view against another's.
I understand your point, but nonetheless, I think if more people honestly covered the material in these books there would be far less disagreement:
Daniel (Forms of the Old Testament Literature)
Daniel (Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible) (more detail than the book above)
Apocalypse (New Testament Message; A Biblical-Theological Commentary)
I like the wiki idea. Perhaps you could get a team together of those with the necessary track record, knowledge and lack of susceptibility to emotional outbursts from this forum to make a central source of WT rebuttals.
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The Skeptics' Annotated Watchtower - What Does the Bible Really Teach?
by B_Deserter ini'm going to start a project.
i'm going to do a paragraph-by-paragraph rebuttal of as much watchtower literature i can get my hands on.
i've been inspired by v's watchtower comments, so i'm going to do the same with books and brochures.
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Nice idea B_Deserter. All the best with it, and I look forward to seeing how your site goes.
My suggestion: keep your rebutting comments free from emotion and logical. For example, is "I wonder who that "help" is going to be?" necessary at the end of comment 3?
Also, I don't think 2 qualifies as love bombing, but I'm not certain of the exact definition.
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German Government Trying to Ban Agnostic Children's book
by GermanXJW inin october 2007, author michael-schmidt salomon and illustrator helge nyncke published the first german agnostic children's book "can you tell me the way to god?
asks the piglet".. a piglet and a hedgehog live together in a house, enjoying life, one night, someone puts a poster to their house which states "those who do not know god are missing something".
the piglet and the hedgehog decide to find out what that means, .
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Nice book. The illustrations look good. I'd be interested in an English version, too.
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Do you believe that the majority of JW's will be saved?
by JH inif there is a god, do you think that the majority of jw's will be saved at armageddon?.
i'm not asking if they have the only true religion, i'm asking if you think they would be saved along with others who do god's will sufficiently to satisfy him.....
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If there is a God, it certainly isn't responsible for the literature in the bible
2 Tim 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.
Eyes Open: All scripture is written by humans and may or may not be beneficial for any number of things. :)
I'm just very saddened that people are worried about some divine being causing mass destruction having once believed the same thing and since come to understand that Daniel told the Jews under the Greeks they would be saved and that Revelation was foretelling the destruction of the Roman empire by God.
Armageddon didn't happen then when it was supposed to, and it ain't gonna happen now or in the future. We have to sort our problems out ourselves... problems like people believing in fallacies of which certain types of interpretations lead to high control groups.
But in answer to your question, I don't think they would be saved. They perform works in Jesus' name, but he would call them workers of lawlessness. I don't know about their children, though...
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What are you drinking right now?
by stillajwexelder ini am drinking real russian vodka (not stoli) mixed with vermouth on ice
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Adam's Ale.