Gopher

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Posts by Gopher

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  40

  FROM Italy : The 10+1 Urgent Reforms.....to return the trust and honesty in your Organization

  by LaFrancia in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  reform of goverinig body.

  transparency of their regular meetings and reports to the brotherhood.

  creating a committee for biblical reforms.

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  Gopher

  La Francia, I hope you can understand why you are encountering skeptical reactions on this page.

  In my case I grew up in a more liberal era (the 1960's and 1970's) where the Watchtower wasn't quite as harsh about things and had more emphasis on "the Kingdom" and less on "the organization" than it does now. However those friendly reforms were reversed rather quickly in the early 1980s when the leadership including Fred Franz decided they needed to crack down and become less merciful, starting with a purge right at headquarters.

  So - in my case, even if the Watchtower promised to be nicer again - if they are hoping to lure more people back to their organization, they won't get me back because I know how quickly they can change their mind and return to being harsh Pharisees. I know all too well the dangers of putting trust and hope in religious authority figures.
  
  I don't want anybody trying to be some kind of spiritual authority in my life no matter what promises they make. Who is ANYBODY to say they are special and deserve prominence in one's spiritual life?
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  16

  Transfusion Experience from France

  by Bells in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  long story short - my in-laws know that i strongly disagree with their blood doctrine.

  i received 3rd degree burns as a toddler and without blood, i would have died.

  no doubt this is much of the reason that i feel the way i do.. my mil sent me an article, saying that i might find it of interest - in other words, it is an example to 'refute my contradictions about blood transfusions'.

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  Gopher

  Bells,

  You may be interested to know that this is an old story that's been going around the JW grapevine for at least 4 years. Here is a 2009 discussion thread in this forum about the very same e-mail: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/medical/175405/1/HISTORIC-EVENT-IN-FRANCE-JW-EMAIL

  At the end of the above discussion, it is discussed that EPO takes a while to work - usually 3 weeks. This seems to contradict the account in the JW story / fable that good results are coming in 3 to 4 days with infants.

  Another link from the National Institutes of Health from last year sheds more light on this. Here is the link to the public paper issued last year: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22972076

  The "Author's Conclusions" section on this page said "Due to the limited benefits and the increased risk of ROP, early administration of EPO is not recommended. Evidence is lacking for the possible neuro protective role of EPO in preterm infants."
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  13

  China Number One Already?

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-11-26/chart-day-how-five-short-years-breakneck-liquification-china-humiliated-worlds-centr.

  this chart surprized me!

  the chinese are racing towards economic domination.. .

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  Gopher

  "Racing" toward economic domination? Really? We heard the same about Japan 30 years ago. And before that we heard the USSR was going to take over the world. Same fears, different decades.

  This article in TIME points out that China is good at manufacturing but not at managing business and not at breakthrough creativity that is needed to transform a nation into an economic superpower. The article points out that China as a whole is about 50 years behind the USA in terms of knowing how to run large businesses and developing effective research and development.

  The future belongs to the innovators, and the USA has plenty of those and continues to attract them.

  http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2156209,00.html
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  26

  Is it ok for a jw to join a toastmasters club?

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Gopher

  This probably falls under a "conscience decision" which, if you choose it, will not disqualify you as a JW but would call into account your loyalty to them (much like joining a bowling league). Anything like this would be considered too much worldly association, using time that you "should" spend doing JW-like activities.

  Also, since a basic idea of Toastmasters is to make you a better speaker in front of others, the WTS would say they already have the Theocraptic Misery School for that.
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  288

  Is it just me or has this site become a Believer/Atheist warzone?

  by BU2B in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i enjoy the odd thread about evoloution vs creation, etc but lately it seems that a large percentage of threads here devolve into fighting between atheists and theists and distract from what most of us here see eye to eye on, the wt and related things.

  i wish things could be more civil here and fr people to realize that people will never see eye to eye on the topic.

  it gets so tiring to see the contstant bickring and fighting on those threads.. they seem to go on page after page but very little of substance is discussed seeing as the existence or non existence of a god can be proven by anyone.

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  Gopher

  According to Merriam-Webster, an agnostic is:

  a person who does not have a definite belief about whether God exists or not

  : a person who does not believe or is unsure of something

  So this definition focuses on whether or not a person has "belief".

  I think that definition may be flawed, because the word "agnostic" means "without knowledge" and not "without a definite belief". There is a difference.

  In reality, everyone is "without knowledge" because nobody living on earth can prove beyond doubt the existence or non-existence of God. That's why some of us atheists believe the term "agnostic" really applies to everyone living on earth and therefore differentiates nobody.
  
  What differentiates people is whether or not they believe in a supernatural realm that includes a deity. If you think there evidence for God is insufficient or nonexistenct, you are not a theist. If you take the leap of faith to believe, you are a theist.
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  288

  Is it just me or has this site become a Believer/Atheist warzone?

  by BU2B in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i enjoy the odd thread about evoloution vs creation, etc but lately it seems that a large percentage of threads here devolve into fighting between atheists and theists and distract from what most of us here see eye to eye on, the wt and related things.

  i wish things could be more civil here and fr people to realize that people will never see eye to eye on the topic.

  it gets so tiring to see the contstant bickring and fighting on those threads.. they seem to go on page after page but very little of substance is discussed seeing as the existence or non existence of a god can be proven by anyone.

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  Gopher

  I once was a first-time poster. Back then there were all sorts of nasty tiffs, name-calling and trolling here (at least for a while). I didn't care. I found information that helped me solidify my resolve to never go back to Watchtowerism. Also I found the freedom to express yourself here quite refreshing, even if sometimes it spilled over normal boundaries of mature conversation.

  I agree with Kate above:

  I fear that a doubting/struggling JW may come here and see the division-BU2B

  As a newbie this year that is not my view

  This forum has had at least one other thread recently address this very question (whether the atheist / believer debates drive away newbies). Until we see the number of newbies here drop dramatically, I cannot believe that the debates drive newbies away or discourage them from getting what they need from this forum.
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  13

  Leaps of Logic

  by FadeToBlack in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  from the march 1, 2010 wt:.

  is the bible the word of god?.

  all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.2 timothy 3:16, 17.. .

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  Gopher

  Paul preached his own ideas. He even said so.

  1 Timothy 2:12 - he says HE does not permit a woman to teach in the congregation.

  1 Corinthians 7:40 - he says a widow would be better off not remarrying, but admits this is HIS opinion.

  So not even all of Paul's writings accepted now as canon were necessarily "inspired" of anything but what he thought.
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  85

  I'm Returing To Become A Jehovah's Witness Again

  by Space Madness in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a little background, i faded in 2007 and have been out ever since.

  i started studying at 18 and have no jw realitives.

  i'm returing because my life is heading in the wrong direction.

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  Gopher

  When we remember older times as better, sometimes it's because we subconsciously filter out the negative things that occurred then. It is a very human trait to think that we can go back to better / older times. If you think about it though, it rarely works out that way.

  "You can't go home again." - Thomas Wolfe

  "It's the laughter we will remember whenever we remember the way we were." - Marvin Hamlisch, Alan & Marilyn Bergman
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  24

  Do you miss the sense of superiority?

  by Diest in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is and odd topic but there is a part of me that really misses feeling that i knew more about the world than 99.9% of the people.

  i spent so many years in school being the odd person because of religion.

  i embraced it to some extent.

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  Gopher

  I fear I almost have a 'sense of superiority' in reverse. I know the WTS is running a scam, those inside the organization generally do not. (This is with the exception of those inside who know the TTATT and realize that the WTS promises are all empty. It must be hard to deal with that while putting on a brave JW face every week at the meetings.)
  
  After I left the JW's I had to mentally adjust to the idea that I was wrong and had been misled. That led me to really research and learn about things I never did as a JW, including history, politics, science and of course the background of the WTS.
  
  All those times I went from door-to-door as a JW (with all the canned answers in my Reasoning Book and in the prooftexts I had memorized) now look empty to me.
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  20

  new watchtower on jw.org Americans don't know their own history

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i started reading the feb 2014 public watchtower about a war that changed the world.

  i had to do a double take in the very first paragraph.. .

  "a century ago, millions of young men left the security of their homes and went off to war.

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  Gopher

  Well, as Fred Franz once testified in court, Jehovah is the editor of the Watchtower magazine.

  So "Jehovah" deliberately placed 1914 into this current issue's account. (As we know the story must be true because Jah's organization would never invent stories to tell its people, like at the district conventions....)

  "Jehovah" wanted to keep the 1914 date foremost in his people's minds. "Jehovah" didn't want the date of 1917 there in the story, because that would fail to draw attention to the Heavenly Kingdom's birth year of 1914. Anyone who thinks the "worldly" date of 1917 should be used here obviously is swayed by Satan who wants to draw attention away from 1914.