Gopher

Joined 24 years ago

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Posts by Gopher

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  14

  COBE's Mom Dies And "Eulogy" Was All About Praising Her And It Went For Over An Hour!

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  12 years ago

  i heard it was unlike anything ever heard in a local congregation.

  they even got a bethelite to come sing the woman's praises..

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  Yes apparently if you have the right connections, they will set aside the canned outline and give an actual memorial talk about the person.
  
  This happened with one out of my two JW grandmothers.
  
  Grandmother #1 (memorial service in 2006 in a funeral home) was loyal to the organization for 60 years but had changed halls in the final few years and never pioneered. Still she was a memorable individual.

  Grandmother #2 (memorial service in 2008 at the Kingdom Hall) was a pioneer until the end - and helped established this small congregation in south central Minnesota around 1950. She was known by all in the circuit and held up as a fine example (as in "if she can pioneer, you can too").
  
  
  Guess which grandmother got the flowery talk with warm remembrances, and which one had the talk where the presiding overseer delivering the memorial talk didn't even seem to know her?

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  21

  Cheers! Here's to lost opportunities and forgotten memories.

  by pronomono in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  12 years ago

  it's 1am and i'm halfway through a glass of brandy.

  i've been cleaning out the closet (literally), and reminiscing about old times and decisions i didn't make.

  it's times like these i regret being brought up as a witness the most.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  This is such a good thread. I was raised JW and stayed in it through age 39. What a complete waste. I have played the "what if" game in my mind over and over, but it only leads to further frustration and even anxiety.
  
  The "Train of Life" really hit the spot. You really have to keep looking ahead, especially when a large part of your life was stolen out from under you (or in my case I let it happen).
  
  Diana, sorry to hear of your double-dealing two-faced boyfriend. It's doubly hard when we leave a group who took total advantage of us, then we come into yet another situation where we are taken advantage of YET AGAIN. Still, we must look ahead to try to create a better future for ourselves, sometimes by learning exactly what we do NOT want in our life and working extra hard to keep that stuff away from us, to keep our boundaries and self-respect. Sometimes it is hard to know what we DO want, but it is equally or even more important to know what we want no part of.

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  19

  Is my Judicial Commitee Guided by Holy Spirit?

  by 70wksfyrs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  12 years ago

  i am a newbie to ttatt.

  i have been reading your posts for a few months and joined in a few times.

  thank you so much for taking the time to write you experiences it really helps us newly awakened ones.. so here is my story........ my name is 70wksfyrs and me and my kids are victims of domestic violence at the hands of a so called jw.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  If these committees actually were guided by holy spirit, then my committee would have discerned that my then-wife was telling lies and distortions about me because of her general unhappiness about life in general (I was just a target of her unhappiness). Also, they would have discerned that she was sneaking around on the side with another man while she was pretend-pioneering at the time. (When she got pregnant by that other man, she finally fessed up and so they kicked her out too.)

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  42

  July 2013 WT Sunday ? Who is now the FDS ?

  by Legacy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  12 years ago

  continue on wt july 2013...a question to all...so, the congregation gets fed spiritual food by the fds (past & now), right?

  the great tribulation and beyond.. but the article says, the fds will not come until after the un will attack christendom, jehovah will cut short the attack on false religion; god's people will be saved, then...jesus will judge people of all nations as sheep or goats, then.....jesus will appoint the faithful slave over "all his belongings ....so, have the fds been appointed as of yet & if not who has been given the congregation the spiritual food upto now...i'm confused...no i'm not..i do understand...i think a bunch of guys been feeding us.... i spoke to one of the sisters & she said, that jesus will appoint the slaves & give them additional duties...uh ?

  the floor is open...will welcome all thoughts..... legacy.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  :what happens when one of the fds raises a new light....do the others throw him put for apostasy?....or do they conspire with him to spread apostasy?
  
  
  From our viewpoint, we'd probably say the latter "they conspire to spread apostasy" is true.

  As Ray Franz pointed out in his book Crisis of Conscience, no WTS doctrine or practice is changed unless by a majority of the Governing Body. The minority yields to the majority. If the majority votes for some change, that's the direction they take. If someone in the minority starts teaching a different thing (like Ray was accused of doing in the late 1970's), then they would view THAT as apostasy and move against that person.
  
  By their definition, nothing that the majority agrees on is "apostasy". They say they're just going by the guidance of holy spirit. (Cue laugh track.)

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  42

  July 2013 WT Sunday ? Who is now the FDS ?

  by Legacy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  12 years ago

  continue on wt july 2013...a question to all...so, the congregation gets fed spiritual food by the fds (past & now), right?

  the great tribulation and beyond.. but the article says, the fds will not come until after the un will attack christendom, jehovah will cut short the attack on false religion; god's people will be saved, then...jesus will judge people of all nations as sheep or goats, then.....jesus will appoint the faithful slave over "all his belongings ....so, have the fds been appointed as of yet & if not who has been given the congregation the spiritual food upto now...i'm confused...no i'm not..i do understand...i think a bunch of guys been feeding us.... i spoke to one of the sisters & she said, that jesus will appoint the slaves & give them additional duties...uh ?

  the floor is open...will welcome all thoughts..... legacy.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  That's exactly right, TD. Whatever crap they said before is now glossed over by new teachings, to which the loyal must kowtow or else....
  
  On the Watchtower's compass, every direction they ever took is "north". Their followers just have to figure out where the theocratic "magentic north pole" now is located, and walk THAT direction.

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  18

  The Day The US Drops To #2

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  12 years ago

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380486/the-age-america-ends-2016-imf-predicts-year-chinas-economy-surpass-us.html.

  it may happen in 3 years.

  the us will no longer be #1 in the world.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  To me, the King of the North and the Wicked Witch of the West are similar fictitious evil powers. The WW of the West is just a newer concept.

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  23

  One less celebrity Scientologist

  by Gopher in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  12 years ago

  it makes me very happy when a popular celebrity leaves a cult, because it could give others the courage to do it or start to think about leaving.. leah remini played carrie on "the king of queens", and has also been on "saved by the bell", "the talk" and had small parts in other shows.. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/leah-remini-leaves-church-of-scientology-calls-it-corrupt-report-2013117.

  leah remini leaves church of scientology, calls it "corrupt": report.

  the church of scientology has one less celebrity among its ranks, according to a new report: leah remini.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  Yeah I saw Leah Remini was to be a guest on Ellen's show today. She's fully taking advantage of her appearances promoting her "Dancing With The Stars" participation to also answer questions about leaving Scientology. As implied in the previous post, there are many strong parallels between the born-into-Scientology experience with the born-into-JW one.
  
  I had a sad moment today when I learned that one of my favorite actresses, Laura Prepon of "That 70's Show" and "Orange Is The New Black" said she is a Scientologist.

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  42

  July 2013 WT Sunday ? Who is now the FDS ?

  by Legacy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  12 years ago

  continue on wt july 2013...a question to all...so, the congregation gets fed spiritual food by the fds (past & now), right?

  the great tribulation and beyond.. but the article says, the fds will not come until after the un will attack christendom, jehovah will cut short the attack on false religion; god's people will be saved, then...jesus will judge people of all nations as sheep or goats, then.....jesus will appoint the faithful slave over "all his belongings ....so, have the fds been appointed as of yet & if not who has been given the congregation the spiritual food upto now...i'm confused...no i'm not..i do understand...i think a bunch of guys been feeding us.... i spoke to one of the sisters & she said, that jesus will appoint the slaves & give them additional duties...uh ?

  the floor is open...will welcome all thoughts..... legacy.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  @neverendingjourney -- Now don't go running ahead of the Watchtower, speculating what it might teach in the future!! If you get ahead of Jehovah's chariot you'll soon have wheel marks in your back.
  
  
  BTW - as for that "start of the end times" jazz that got pushed back to 1914, I think that JF Rutherford dreamed up that twist around the year 1925, in the article "Birth of the Nation".
  
  Ever since that article, JW's really believe that CT Russell prophesied that 1914 would be the "beginning of the time of the end". (Heh, he really said it would be the end of the time of the end.)

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  29

  Candace Conti case updated

  by gingerbread in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  12 years ago

  i just received an email notification from the california appellate court hearing the wt appeal of the conti case:.

  the case has been fully briefed.. the case is on the conference list.. the oral argument waiver notice has been sent.. .

  i'm not well versed in the process or these terms.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  The WT Society is quite proud of its record at the US Supreme Court in the mid-twentieth century. While some of their cases they took up were for a self-serving interest, it was good to see the Court rule several times in favor of free speech and freedom of worship -- especially noteworthy was the West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette which established that saluting the flag cannot be compulsory in America's public schools.

  That having been said, I wonder if they'd throw the dice and gamble on gaining a big black mark in the public's view by taking a "freedom to hide child abuse" case all the way to the Supreme Court. Personally I hope they do it - it would make clear the kind of power-hungry sons-of-bitches they really are.

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  18

  The Day The US Drops To #2

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  12 years ago

  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380486/the-age-america-ends-2016-imf-predicts-year-chinas-economy-surpass-us.html.

  it may happen in 3 years.

  the us will no longer be #1 in the world.

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  12 years ago
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  Gopher 12 years ago

  Back in the 1950's, the Watchtower wrote in one of its books that the Communist bloc would be around to oppress God's people right down until the Great Tribulation. (I think the book was called "Let Your Kingdom Come".)
  
  However right around 1989, the Communist bloc melted into the fuzzy annals of history.
  
  The Watchtower is just plain awful at foretelling world history. Their "King of the North/King of the South" nonsense only further shows they have been just making wild guesses all along.

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