Olin Moyles Ghost

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Posts by Olin Moyles Ghost

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  27

  The Power of Faith

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the power of faith (latest blog o' mine).

  there is a big difference between looking at a picture of the empire state building and actually visiting it.

  to have a friend tell you that it is great, that it is amazaing, awe inspiring and grand won't do it justice until you see it for yourself.. in a similar way, there is a big difference between having a healthy faith, and being told to have a healthy faith.. many who used to be jw's, as well as a fair number of christians, spend a lot of time on ex jw boards, looking to promote a simple thought.

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  Nice post, Jeff.

  I'm of the opinion that faith is a mental disorder. Accepting ideas without proof is dangerous and should not be encouraged.
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  16

  Whats happened to the Watchtower quotes website?

  by boyzone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i often check this site and its been fine, now its gone.

  i know the wt succeeded in shutting it down a few years back but it reinvented itself and reappeared.

  have they succeeded again?

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  Still available here: http://qwotes.info/index.htm
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  53

  Did You Personally Believe "The End" Was Going To Come In Your Lifetime?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  honestly, i never believed in the chronology.

  "no man knows the day or the hour" was pretty clear to me..

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  Sure. As a "born-in," I believed my parents when they told me that the generation that saw 1914 would not pass away until The End comes. So, until the generation change of 1995, I believed that The End would come in my lifetime.

  After that, I wasn't quite so sure.

  Now I know that I have one thing in common with all of the men and women who have lived before me--I'm going to die. The sooner we accept this fact, the better. I'll take facts, history, and statistics over the failed prophecies of nine self-appointed clergy in New York.
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  15

  Thought it would be fun to take predictions!!

  by 1914BS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  thats right - on this years memorial parfakers!!

  the parfakers are going up like crazy after years of being flat lined at 8500 or so.. in a few days from now i'll post my guess for the parfakers.

  then later on this year we can all have fun reviewing this thread.

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  10,122
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  36

  this evil ...wicked.....rotton system of things.....NOT!!!!.........

  by oompa in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  of course anyone not a jw is "worldly""...i think that mentally this is the hardest part to overcome if you are born in..... you should have seen the look on my wife's face recently when i told her that i feel that things are prob about as good as it gets.....no evil wicked system of things exists........ ya..... i know times are tough here in usa as far as employment.....but damm....this ain't like the great depression or wwi or ww2!!

  !.......life in the middle ages used to be 38 years......now it is 88 years!!!.......

  i can walk just about any neighborhood without fear...if the "world" were as bad as they say...there would be a prisons every 1000 meters!!!

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  Oompa--I agree with you 100%. Harvard professor Steven Pinker explains it very well in this speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ramBFRt1Uzk

  The article on which the speech is based is available here: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pinker07/pinker07_index.html

  If this is really The Last Days, then why don't we have pestilences like we used to? The Black Plague killed about 33% of all Europeans in the span of two years (see http://history.boisestate.edu/westciv/plague/15.shtml). Compare that to today's "swine flu"--which thanks to modern medicine and hygiene has proven to be mostly hype (see, e.g., this article by a medical professor: http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/25/take-a-deep-breath-swine-flus-not-that-bad/).

  Sure, there are some places in the world (e.g., some African nations) where things are really bad. But overall, the average lifespan of a human born today is roughly double what it was in 1914--and that is taking into account Africa as well. See, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy.

  Also, think about the dramatic decrease in persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses over the past decades. During WW2, JWs around the world were persecuted terribly. But since then, governments in general have granted Witnesses more and more rights. Sure, there have been exceptions such as Malawi in the 1960s-70s and the country of Georgia in the 1990s-early 2000s, but this does not even approach the pervasive and consistent persecution of Witnesses 70 years ago. Doesn't come close. So, does it make sense that as we get "deeper into The Last Days" that persecution will dramatically decrease? Makes no sense.
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  23

  i just dont fit in anymore...finally figured it out...hate it.....

  by oompa in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  even with my jw wife.....i have told her for awhile she is prob better off without me....i was party central in jwland....nobody has had me over for two years now....i guess cause i could not shut up about some real truths about the so-called truth....now i have agreed to shut up....these guys really do have a right to their own beliefs...i am very non-judgemental and always have been......i should have shut up two years ago or so...but damm......trying to fit in with your own marriage in order to save being shunned from your blood family and a very few what is left dub friends just sucks.....starting over at midlife is such a bitch.....such a bitch..........oompa.

  and ya...the fear of the unknown is really present......if all i have known is jw...i will prob not fit into real world either.

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  I agree with Undercover. You have pointed out that you've lost most of your JW friends to one degree or another. It's time to move on (easier said than done, I know).

  May I suggest getting involved with some activities that have nothing to do with religion. For example, identify a cause that you believe in--such as Habitat for Humanity or your local soup kitchen. Charities like that are great ways to meet people and forge new friendships. Plus helping other people is good for your emotional health. I don't want to get all "Dr. Phil" on you, but I think spending too much time focusing on yourself isn't healthy. Of course you need to spend some time on yourself, but it should be balanced.

  And it's also important to have realistic expectations. You are going to meet some people "in the world" who are great folks; and you are going to meet some who are as judgmental and harsh as any JW. The good thing is that now you have a much larger pool of potential friends from which to draw (7 BILLION instead of 7 million).

  Finally, cut your wife some slack. Imagine how you would have felt if she "went apostate" 7 years ago. You would have freaked out, right? For all you know, she may eventually come around. For some people, it takes a long time. It took decades for you! Heck, Ray Franz was in it until he was in his late 50s. As Guns n' Roses said: "all you need is just a little patience."

  So, to sum it up: (1) be patient; (2) find a way to occupy yourself that involves helping others; (3) be patient.

  Just my $0.02.
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  13

  WTS, Faithful Slave or Evil Slave?

  by mindmelda in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  does the wts fit the description of the evil slave in jesus parable?.

  i'd like to see everyone that cares to discuss that.

  sometimes when i read that parable, it occurs to me that maybe it's the wts that better fits the description of the evil slave, the one who beat his brothers, abused them.

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  It's interesting that of the two slaves mentioned in the parable--only one of them is described as expecting the Master to return at a particular time. That would be the evil slave. Note that the parable describes the evil slave as feeling that the Master is delaying--after which he begins to beat his fellow slaves.

  If the evil slave felt that the Master was delaying, then he expected him to already be there. Well, who expected Jesus to arrive in 1914, 1918, 1925, etc...? After Jesus failed to show up, has there been evidence of "beating" fellow slaves? I'll leave that up to you.
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  26

  Who Will Be the Watchtower's New "Boss"?

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  whether thru incapacity or death, the days of jaracz's rule as unofficial "boss" of the watchtower are numbered.

  who will emerge to take his place?

  every body of elders i know has some guy who dominates the decisions made.

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  My guess is Loesch. But that's all it is--my guess. My reasoning is:

  1. Aside from Barr, who is probably not long for this world, Loesch has the most seniority. He was appointed in 1994. That's five years before any of the others. That probably counts for something.
  2. From comments on this board from others with more info than I, it sounds like Loesch has some unorthodox ideas. Wasn't he quoted by one of our Gilead grads as saying that a lot of doctrinal changes needed to be made? So, if Jaracz truly is incapacitated, then it would not surprise me if Loesch took this opportunity to try to increase his power and implement some of his new ideas.

  Of course, it remains to be seen whether he can make this happen. But, during his 15 years on the body, perhaps he has had the chance to make some allies (but he has probably made enemies, too).
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  42

  Friday DC Releases

  by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  end of morning program, dvd video released: "the wonders of creation reveal god's glory".

  end of afternoon program, announced upcoming release of a new songbook: "sing to jehovah".

  excuse me while i go barf now.. b the x.

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  Regarding songbooks, I have a vague recollection that the 1984 songbook tweaked the wording of a few songs from its predecessor. In particular, a few old songs used the word "aids" and the 1984 songbook replaced that word with "helps." Am I remembering this correctly? I believe this was a result of the AIDS outbreak in the 1980s.
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  31

  Quick Questions For When A JW Knocks Your Door

  by besty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  anybody like to contribute a few suggested questions - should be less that 12 words.. .

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  Olin Moyles Ghost

  Who was the FDS before Russell?