Gopher

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Posts by Gopher

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  2

  All Polar Bears ..... are Irish !

  by *lost* in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  news.sciencemag.org.

  genetic evidence shows they are descended from irish brown bears.. .

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  Gopher

  Here is a clickable link to the "polar bears" article on that site:

  http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6079/344

  I friggin' love science!!!
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  33

  Do you feel guilty?

  by new hope and happiness in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i have recently been having a feeling of guilt for having escaped the w.t while so many friends and family remain trapped.. has anyone else ever had similar feelings?.

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  Gopher

  Most of them think they're happy inside the wacky Watchtower-world. Try to talk a little reason with them, and they grow angry and suspcious with you.
  
  So with the exception of minor children living under their parents' roof, they mostly are there by choice. There's no need to go on a guilt side-trip over our former friends.
  
  The emotional separation that they're forced to enforce is one of the most frustrating things, but what can we do? Move on and live a happy life. Eventually the old friends fade way into the background.
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  53

  Jws and urban myths!

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jws sure love urban myths.

  the jws have their own collection built up over many years, part of their own unique worldwide jw culture.

  i've come across the same ones in america that i've heard in australia, and they pass from legend to myth and finally reality as quoted from the platform.

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  Gopher

  Nobody mentioned "Smurfs" yet. They're demonized, and one time they jumped up and ran out of a Kingdom Hall.
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  5

  I have a friend in a tough situation

  by YoursChelbie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have a friend who just got married by the courthouse.

  her husband and her were to have a church wedding but the very day before the wedding she tells me he begins to behave in odd ways.

  first she sees he has strange marks on his back but he cannot explain how they got there.

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  Gopher

  Your friend expected rainbows, light and happiness from a person who can only deliver darkness. The man is all about appearances - as is shown by his being "attentive and nice" while you were present. He is incapable of having a realistic two-sided relationship. Your friend needs to see that - and if you cannot get through to her on this point, she will probably need counselling to straighten this all out in her head. Some people lacking self-esteem are gluttons for punishment in a relationship (as I know from my own early experience).

  This man didn't "suddenly change". He only revealed his true colors.
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  87

  Bible Writers not just ignorant "goat herders"

  by applehippie in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  really, the bible was written by nothin' but goat herders?

  i don't post much but this does irk me.

  yes a few may have been shepherds or fisherman, but a fair amount were far more educated and were professionals in their fields of occupation.

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  Gopher

  It's obvious Este believes the Noah flood legend because he wants to.
  
  The earth's history is so full of floods and catastrophes, it would be hard to go to any large region on earth that doesn't have some famliarity with flooding. And this would include even hugely catastrophic flooding, such as the 2004 tsunami that crushed villages close to the Indian Ocean's coast.
  
  Besides, this Black Sea event is not scientific evidence of a worldwide flood such as is recounted in the Bible. Really there is no scientific evidence of a WORLDWIDE flood. This is why certain believers go with the "huge localized flood" theory.
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  44

  The first of many 2013 District Conventions is over . . .

  by bats in the belfry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  was it worth attending?.

  is your survival more sure now?.

  which part of gods word is truth!

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  Gopher

  I think many of the single guys go to these to meet someone like Mary Rose, a JW who advertised her availability on loveme.com.

  
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  32

  Hello

  by ctrwtf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought it was time for a formal introduction.

  i've lurked here for literally years, sometimes posting sometimes not.

  but i've never told my story and now seems as good a time as any.

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  Gopher

  NeverKnew:

  Presiding Overseer - the then-used name for the elder who presided over the body of elders in one congregation

  Circuit Overseer - A travelling representative of the Watchtower Society, he keeps an eye on about 20 congregations in a "circuit", visiting them usually twice a year and making reports to the Society, recommending men for appointments, etc. He also oversees the annual "circuit assembly" where those 20 or so congregations come together to hear a pretty-much canned program prepared by the Society.
  
  I've been out since 2000, if anyone who was in the organization in this century has any corrections to what I said, feel free to add them.
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  15

  Prince to Be Honored at Billboard Music Awards tonight

  by orbison11 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  prince is to receive the icon award at the awards tonight.. does anyone know if he is or is not a jw?.

  thanks.

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  Gopher

  Oh yes he is still a believing JW. How much he's been door to door recently, I am not sure.
  
  Here's an article from 2010: http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/w0004412.html
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  10

  What are some things you can get MARKED for that you wont be DF for?

  by BU2B in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know of one case of a woman being marked for marrying a non jw.

  do you know of other cases where someone did something and were marked and not df?

  were any here ever marked?

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  Gopher

  It must be very rare. I was in the JW"s all the way up to age 39, and don't remember it happening ever.
  
  From what I've read, either marrying or having a romantic relationship with an outsider is the most common way to get marked. You can't be DF'd for that.
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  15

  Wallkill is it a Commune?

  by PaintedToeNail in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  after reading how many people live at the wallkill facility, it made me ask the above question.

  after looking up what 'commune' meant in secular sources, it seems that wallkill has all the hallmarks necessary to actually be a commune.

  meals complete with assigned seats and required attendance, dress requirements, wake up times, music and tv restrictions, work assignments, heirarchy making all decisions, no money being earned by the workers, the vow of poverty.....

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  Gopher

  The Wikipedia entry for "commune" has a section where it talks about Ron E. Roberts' three main characteristics of communes.

  The WTS facilities have grades of social status ("Bethel elders" leading each table) and bureaucracy directing the lives of the inmates, erm, Bethelites there. So while the Bethel homes (Walkill included) do share some of the restrictions of communes, they don't seem to share their egalitarian qualities. Just my 2 cents.

  From the Wikipedia article:

  Roberts' three listed items were: first, egalitarianism - that communes specifically rejected hierarchy or graduations of social status as being necessary to social order. Second, human scale - that members of some communes saw the scale of society as it was then organised as being too industrialised (or factory sized) and therefore unsympathetic to human dimensions. And third, that communes were consciously anti-bureaucratic.