Gopher

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Posts by Gopher

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  6

  A thought

  by turtleturtle in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a thought regarding a recent public talk i heard:.

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  if christians are truly supposed to be odedient & faithful in all things (to the organization), because jah has always used an organization, then shouldn't the jews around jesus days have done the same thing towards the sanhedrin/priests (even though they were corrupt)?.

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  Gopher

  : shouldn't the Jews around Jesus days have done the same thing towards the Sanhedrin/Priests?
  
  By and large, they did. The common folk (amha'arets) lived in great fear of being put out of the temple by the Pharisees.
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  160

  NFC & AFC Championship Games - Who Wins & goes to Super Bowl ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  great time of year for us football fans !

  so let's have your picks !

  now that we know it will be baltimore ravens vs. new england patriots in the afc championship and atlanta falcons vs. san fransisco 49ers in the nfc championship - what do you think ?

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  Gopher

  Congrats to the NFC champion 49ers. They played excellent defense in the 2nd half, and that helped put them just past the Falcons.
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  160

  NFC & AFC Championship Games - Who Wins & goes to Super Bowl ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  great time of year for us football fans !

  so let's have your picks !

  now that we know it will be baltimore ravens vs. new england patriots in the afc championship and atlanta falcons vs. san fransisco 49ers in the nfc championship - what do you think ?

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  Gopher

  Hardly anyone believed me when I said the Falcons would win this game because the 49ers would have trouble containing Jones and White, the great Falcon receivers.
  
  Now, this game isn't over yet - and the 49ers could mount a 2nd-half comeback. HOWEVER - the Falcons have been underappreciated for how good they are at home - the Seahawks learned that last week. They just refuse to lose in their dome. We'll see!
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  24

  Just yelled at my mom today

  by trujw in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  sorry to post this but for some reason after a year of not talking i got drunk this morning(yeah i know no lecture) and called my mom and blew up.

  i tolded her she was a false prophet and a horriable christian mother who never even came to her grandson's birth by my wife.

  my words came out like a river of rage from which i never knew.

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  Gopher

  Everyone has their own way of dealing with shunning, hostile JW parents. We can never know all the particulars of someone else's relationship with their parents. We can only superimpose a rough template based on our own experiences. The extent to which some JW parents extend the organization's cruelty and apply it to their own kin varies depending on many factors, including their devotion to the old men at Brooklyn and their status in the organization, and even their background and culture.
  
  I could never do what trujw did because I tend to steer clear of confrontation. However at the end of his original post, he said his nightmare of silence is over. So this is what worked for him. For me, I tried various ways of dealing with my JW parents and it seems that any time I ever addressed beliefs or practices (good, bad or indifferent) with them - things would always get worse.
  
  So I only talk to my JW parents once every year or two now (they are aged 80 and 75), by long-distance telephone only, and I'm not sure why I even give them that much attention because it seems so hollow and empty.

  I guess the main idea of the above three paragraphs is there is no easy answer, and at least we have each other here to sound off about it. (I was on this board very often 10 years ago, take a look at my post count.)
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  17

  Rock Center 1/17/2013 Expose on Scientology drew JW similarities

  by RagingBull in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did anyone watch the nbc program "rock center" last night?

  it dealt with scientology defectors and the stories, (shunning, tax-exempte etc) sounded very much like the watchtower/jehovah witnesses!.

  i sat with my family...and there was dead silence throughout the report.

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  Gopher

  I saw that, and sat dumbfounded at the horror stories, repeatedly and methodically denied by the unfeeling robots at the top of the Scientology food chain.

  I also imagined the cognitive dissonance going through the head of a loyal JW watching this -- something like "Scientologists are being exposed / persecuted - hey wait a minute, isn't persecution a sign that a religion is doing something right? But wait - the accusations against their group is factual and the accusations against us are from Satan. Whew, I almost lost it there!"
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  16

  Lance Armstrong - what does it mean for devoted fans to hear him admit he was a cheat

  by MMXIV in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anyone interested in sport will be aware of lance armstrong's final admission to taking banned substances to win the tour de france 7 times.

  he was a fraud.

  his many fans, fans of cycling and people who also suffered cancer that looked up to him and his incredible achievements have given lots of different reactions to his confession.

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  Gopher

  :what would it be like for it's followers to hear an admission of guilt that they had misled people

  I suppose many JW's would probably just view this as new light and still look to them as a spiritual "mother". Such a confession might scare away only those who were on the fringe and considering leaving.
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  191

  Have You Prepared For The "Flu" And Do You Get A Flu Shot?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i try to keep my hands clean regularly and stay away from areas and people that i know are sick.. i have never gotten a flu shot and i do know that many that do get one, get the flu anyway.. still, the flu is considered very very bad this year..

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  Gopher

  The media in Minnesota have reported the latest influenza statistics through the end of January's 2nd week, and they are shocking. It's up to 60 dead and over 1,800 hospitalized since October in this state alone.

  http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/187343251.html

  Where I worki they've posted signs on bathroom mirrors suggesting lathering up for 20 seconds to kill as many germs as possible.
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  160

  NFC & AFC Championship Games - Who Wins & goes to Super Bowl ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  great time of year for us football fans !

  so let's have your picks !

  now that we know it will be baltimore ravens vs. new england patriots in the afc championship and atlanta falcons vs. san fransisco 49ers in the nfc championship - what do you think ?

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  Gopher

  Interesting in that photo recovering by posted, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has no sleeves. Usually has something up them!
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  191

  Have You Prepared For The "Flu" And Do You Get A Flu Shot?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i try to keep my hands clean regularly and stay away from areas and people that i know are sick.. i have never gotten a flu shot and i do know that many that do get one, get the flu anyway.. still, the flu is considered very very bad this year..

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  Gopher

  There is no perfect remedy to the threat of influenza. The scientific community studies the viral strains that are likely to attack the population during the upcoming season, and production is ramped up on vaccine based on scientific recommendations far enough ahead of time so that they can try their humanly best to get ahead of the virus.

  Do any of the doubters really believe that all this effort is just done by the scientific community, the producers of the vaccine, the CDC and the WHO for selfish gain or to try to harm us? Really?
  
  Actual evidence shows that the vaccine has been 60% effective. That means if everyone would just go ahead and gain the immunity, we'd see a lot fewer deaths and hospital visits. In Minnesota alone this season (through 12/31/2012) we've suffered 27 deaths (including people in the prime of their life) and 1,100 hospital visits. Vaccine would have not reduced those numbers to zero. But I'd feel a lot better going out in public if more people were taking the vaccine seriously and thus reducing the probability of spreading this year's virus. There are 47 American states where this is a serious issue.
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  160

  NFC & AFC Championship Games - Who Wins & goes to Super Bowl ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  great time of year for us football fans !

  so let's have your picks !

  now that we know it will be baltimore ravens vs. new england patriots in the afc championship and atlanta falcons vs. san fransisco 49ers in the nfc championship - what do you think ?

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  Gopher

  I understand the 49ers are the popular and sexy pick to win at Atlanta on Sunday, due to the emergence of Colin Kaepernick. It looks like an easy choice. However the Falcons are 8-1 at home this year, the only loss being a meaningless game against Tampa Bay in the last week.
  
  The last time I remember the Atlanta Falcons was in the 1998-99 NFC championship game against my Vikings, who had just set the NFL record for points scored in a season, with the potent combination of QB Randall Cunningham and WR Randy Moss. Atlanta won in overtime.
  
  I know this is a totally different Atlanta team, but when they play at home this year it seems nobody can stop their passing barrage of Matt Ryan to Roddy White and Julio Jones. If the 49ers can figure out how to do that, they will advance. If they don't, it may not matter how well Kaepernick plays.