Gopher

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Posts by Gopher

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  26

  when Dateline airs....then what??

  by gumby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when dateline airs the pedophile segment....what will be the mindset of the jw who sees it?

  will this cause any significant stir amongst them?

  will this blow over as the voting issue did?.

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  Gopher

  Gumby,

  You're right. We would do well to manage our expectations about the impact of any one event, any one expose, any one website or TV show or whatever.

  This information that will come out is all helpful and true, but by no means will it bring about an end to the WT Society, or even bring about major changes in Society policy. Maybe we can expect to see small changes of the "cover your butt" variety. But the inertia of the WT Society is so strong and resistant to much influence from the outside, as much as we wish it to be any other way.

  Again, this is not to minimize or denigrate the good work done by those who have worked hard to expose the Society for what it is. I, for one, am forever grateful for the work done by those whom the Society labels apostates, but whom I would view as "freedom fighters".

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  11

  Part 1: Trial of JFR et al

  by Amazing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  part 1: trial of jfr et al .

  references for the following: trial transcript, pages 64-71, sect.

  190-213.. note: future installments will be much shorter.

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  Gopher

  Amazing,

  This is all very interesting. And of course, we were never given any of this background by the WT Society. We were only given the high-level summary which was designed to make it seem that the WTS was the victim of blind, angry persecution as a result of intense nationalism during the "Great War".

  The WT Society has had ample opportunity to tell the real deal about its history, including that sad excuse of a whitewash volume "Kingdom Proclaimers". They had promised that this book (published in 1993) would be a forthright, candid history of the organization. YEAH RIGHT.

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  26

  when Dateline airs....then what??

  by gumby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when dateline airs the pedophile segment....what will be the mindset of the jw who sees it?

  will this cause any significant stir amongst them?

  will this blow over as the voting issue did?.

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  Gopher

  Interesting question.

  The loyal JW will see this as a worldly, Satanic assault on his/her religion, and will minimize or dismiss it. They will say it's only a few cases, and they never have seen it themselves, and after all the **good** that the organization does supposedly outweighs any problems that a few on the fringe have, right?

  The program will serve as good input to those who are undecided about the JW's, whether they are inside or out. For some, it will be the straw that breaks their camel's back, preventing them from getting further involved with a harmful organization.

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  19

  Can anyone confirm/deny??????

  by pandora in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i heard a rumor that a couple of years ago the jw's actually outlawed french kissing too.

  can anyone tell me if this is true and also whether or not there has been any "new light" shed on the policy since?.

  thank you.

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  Gopher

  You know -- whether there are tongues,they will cease? Oh my God, you got me ROFL.

  Jeff--

  Are we to suspect that this conduct is covered in the secret elder's manual? (I guess the manual's not so secret, eh?) I don't have time to look it up right now. If not, than this C.O. has a problem with pride or authority or something. The scripture says for elders "not to Lord it over others" and "not to be the master of their brother's faith".

  Maybe for unmarried people, they're trying to draw the line -- what kind of kissing is clean, what is not? I cannot imagine them EVER trying to apply a NFK (No French Kissing) rule to a married couple! The married couple would rightly tell the meddling overseer where he could stick his suggestion!! <--tongue

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  19

  Can anyone confirm/deny??????

  by pandora in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i heard a rumor that a couple of years ago the jw's actually outlawed french kissing too.

  can anyone tell me if this is true and also whether or not there has been any "new light" shed on the policy since?.

  thank you.

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  Gopher

  Did they quote the scripture about the "unruly tongue" causing trouble? <=tongue

  Did they quote the scripture in James about "the tongue is able to set a whole forest ablaze"? <=tongue

  If tongues are wagging in the bedroom, just imagine how they might wag out in the congregation!! Why there might even be (shudder) gossip and slander among God's only chosen people. (Gasp)

  Seriously, French kissing was never mentioned in the publications. Now of course, that doesn't prevent local or regional overseers from inventing their own 'rules' or 'principles'.

  But unlike oral sex, French kissing never made it into the publications, although it might have been fun to see what they would say about such a thing!

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  6

  "guided" divorces

  by lecook in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please see the following story about the hensley murder case.

  http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/east02022002.htm.

  does anyone know anymore about this kind of "guided" divorce?

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  Gopher

  Well it seems that though the JW's pose as being friendly to families and marriages, it isn't always so. It seems that Mrs. Hensley's joining this unorthodox religion added to the strain that was already on their marriage.

  I can say that in my case the JW's didn't help. I was DF'd while my wife was still an active JW. I was prohibited from speaking to her about spiritual things, and also prohibited from talking to any of her/our friends who happened to visit us in my house. Long story short, our marriage soon withered on the vine, and now we've been separated well over one year. The elders in the congregation only seemed intent on blowing us apart. (She too became DF'd within a few months....) Disfellowshipping is an assault on the marriage arrangement.

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  19

  I'm stuck in limbo, what to do?

  by conflicted in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you don't know my past i'll paraphrase: basically, i got away from the dubs, but their teachings, dogma, doctine, mindset still have grips on aspects of my life.

  i just can't let some of it go.. i was raised in the "truth" and left because i wanted a life of my own.

  i didn't have doubts about their teachings, but resolved myself to die at the big a so i could have a real life now.

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  Gopher

  Hey Smoldering Wick,

  I'll give you a "G" for Illustrations appropriate to theme, and a "W" for conclusions moving householder to take literature....

  You surely understand, anything that has to do with a cat will surely work on this board!! People love kitties here, a very strange phenomenon!

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  45

  Questions

  by Snowflake in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i really want to read the cofc book, what's the best way to get it?.

  also, what is the wts gaining by keeping the org.

  is it a money thing?

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  Gopher

  Henry,

  This website and other exJW places do not brainwash, they seek to help free individuals from the effects of brainwashing, or "mental-regulating" as the JW's so cleverly put it.

  There is no enforced orthodoxy here. People are free to choose their set of beliefs. So don't say there is brainwashing here, quit twisting the facts.

  You said that JW's going door-to-door is approved. OH yeah, I'm sure Jesus is thrilled when pedophiles and their supporters claim to represent him. And what evidence do you have of God's approval, what practical evidence -- in terms of results? Why are other churches (who don't go door to door but use informal conversations to spread their message) growing FASTER than the JW's are?

  THe majority of people here ARE happy, even if there was an initial period of confusion. Such a period is natural, because of the unnatural social and theological isolation the WT Society imposes on its members. You cannot do a quick U-turn after years or decades of suffering through all that baloney.

  So keep bringing your baloney to the board, you and NYTELECOM1. It helps remind us of when we couldn't think for ourselves, but blindly followed not Jesus, but a group of men in Brooklyn. I know you'll deny it, but it is true. Keep posting here until you're blue in the face. It will benefit the lurkers, I am sure.

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  4

  What will Enron Field be called?

  by gilwarrior in

  1. social
  2. physical

  well, here in houston, the stadium where the houston astros play is called enron field.

  naturally after what has happened with the enron company, the owners of the stadium are trying to do everything they can to change the name of the stadium.

  so my question is what should the name of enron field be changed to?.

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  Gopher

  How about:

  ENRON FAILED

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)
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  13

  Those blue envelopes.........

  by rhett in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can anyone tell me more about what the blue envelopes that are used when sending judicial committee reports to bethel look like?

  a scanned image would be good too.

  some comments in a previous thread reeeeeeeeaaaaaly make me want to get my hands on some.. thanks to whoever writes back!.

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  Gopher

  I had blue envelopes one time. they were really blue, down in the dumps. Then I talked to them and cheered them up.

  Wait that was a really dumb post.

  J.R.Why shouldn't truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense.
  Mark Twain (1835-1910)