well, i've made it through the first year!
one year out and still surviving - despite the fact that they said i would come crawling back with my tail between my legs!!.
i cant believe a year could go by so fast and also that you could achieve so much.
IW,
Congratulations as well. You deserve most of the credit for taking charge, finding a direction and pursuing it! Best wishes to you and to "Individual" as you make the best out of life, unhindered by religious superstition.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
in a recent post metatron and judith mentioned in passing that dubs they knew had been involved in satanic rituals.
forgive my morbid curiousity, but exactly what sorts of rituals were these?.
bear in mind that as dubs we were told that the rituals of the roman catholic church were satanic, that smurfs were satanic, that rock'n'roll was satanic, etc., etc.
Enough bad results happen from the practices of the JW's, that are true and verifiable.
We don't need to muddy the waters by bringing up exaggerated tales such as "Satanic rituals". I was in the org. all my life until age 39. While I saw people act with the "rebellious spirit" of Satan, I never saw any actual rituals that even vaguely alluded to the devil or any harmful unseen spirit forces.
Such malarkey only bolsters the JW-defenders when they say we "lie" and "exaggerate" about the activities of JW's.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
on shunning.. the watchtower basically points to two reasons to shun people:.
1) it will make the wrongdoer think about their course of life and help them to come back to "the truth".. 2) it will protect your faith in jehovah and will keep you from being stumbled.. i think there are really 2 other reasons.. 1) fear of being shunned themselves for associating with you.. 2) to punish you for not thinking or being like them anymore.
kind of a revenge thing.
Lauralisa,
That post rocks!! You are exactly right. It's a "cover your ass" while moving up the corporate ladder approach. Just like the Bible encourages.
Oh, and such shunning is really really helpful to the isolated one. (Only if it helps them to see how insane the WTS is!!)
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
lyall james was born at 12pm today @ 8.1 lbs.
mother is doing fine.
bubs is in the icu with a breathing problem but should be fine.
Congrats, mate! How's the father doing??? Hope all is well!
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
on shunning.. the watchtower basically points to two reasons to shun people:.
1) it will make the wrongdoer think about their course of life and help them to come back to "the truth".. 2) it will protect your faith in jehovah and will keep you from being stumbled.. i think there are really 2 other reasons.. 1) fear of being shunned themselves for associating with you.. 2) to punish you for not thinking or being like them anymore.
kind of a revenge thing.
Wannahelp,
That verse you cited said "let him be to you as a tax collector or a man of the nations".
JW's jump all over that verse for justification of shunning. But really what they do is treat shunned ones WORSE than a tax collector, or WORSE than people of the nations. Their thinking is more akin to ancient Israel's treatment of accused ones: take 'em outside the city gates and stone 'em to death!
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
despite an occasional denial or duplicitous ``we can't say, nor can we judge'' for public consumption, i guess all of us are aware that the official wt line on who lives and who dies at the big a is all unbaptised people (99.9 percent of humanity) as well as those among them who got baptised but are lax at getting to meetings and field service (maybe half or more of the present memebership).. my question is: what percentage of the rank and file buy fully into the party line on this?
i know inevitably there are hard-liners who spout it, but my experience is that the average dub, while not protesting vocally, has more or less privately concluded that it just can't be that way... too many really decent, well-motivated people are out there in ``the world,'' (and the corollary to that axiom, too many stinkers inside the organization, for that matter).
babies dying?
Certain scriptures are emphasized which make it appear almost nobody can be saved through day of wrath. Examples:
The righteous man will be saved, with difficulty
and
Seek Jehovah, you meek ones, and probably you may be saved in the day of his wrath
and
Many shall seek to get in and not be able
These are all effective "sticks" in the "carrot and stick" approach the WT Society uses to stir its flock.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
just copy and paste this url for some great flattery.. http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html.
battman
Well, that shows: if nothing else, at least my PC likes me today!!
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
on shunning.. the watchtower basically points to two reasons to shun people:.
1) it will make the wrongdoer think about their course of life and help them to come back to "the truth".. 2) it will protect your faith in jehovah and will keep you from being stumbled.. i think there are really 2 other reasons.. 1) fear of being shunned themselves for associating with you.. 2) to punish you for not thinking or being like them anymore.
kind of a revenge thing.
Heartless NYTelcom: You'll make a fine elder someday. [8>]
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
does anyone remember seeing steve allens pbs series - meeting of minds?
he brought in actors to play various characters from history all sitting down together to discuss a topic.
people like martin luther, voltaire, marie antonette etc.
I remember this brilliant series (Meeting of the Minds)! It was sure enjoyable, thanks for bringing it back to memory.
I went to Yahoo! shopping to see if there were any tapes available. There are 3 videotapes (2 shows each), however they are not stocked any longer.
I wonder if your local PBS station could help you. Or if you're ever in Chicago or New York, each city has its Museum of Broadcasting, complete with a library of vintage TV footage on videotape. You may call those museums and see if they have any episodes of this series.
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
my sister was sifting through some old papers recently and came across this old poem that she had written for a friend to advise her of her reinstatement.
she emailed it to me under the subject above.. it made us both laugh to remember how crazy we had been.
hope it lightens your day and gives some of you a laugh too.. love to you all .
Unclebruce,
Thanks for bringing back that wonderful poem from "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"!! Oh freddled gruntbuggly... back atcha!
GopherWhy shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
Mark Twain (1835-1910)
