I meant to add that I was thinking on the way home from Perth that if I had money, I'd buy out the stadium for the whole of July and August....
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JoinedPosts by passwordprotected
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Scottish Assembly article
by Freedom Fighter inhi folks.
some info regarding the above.
a few interesting points, particularly about the 'spend'.
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Scottish Assembly article
by Freedom Fighter inhi folks.
some info regarding the above.
a few interesting points, particularly about the 'spend'.
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passwordprotected
I popped up to Perth on Saturday during the convention. It's been nearly a year since I've seen the JWs in action (I quit meeting attendance immediately after last year's DC) and I was struck by how 'cookie cutter' they are and also how very unhappy they looked.
I listened to about an hour's worth of talks on the FM transmission (I was the guy sitting in the Honda CR-V in Tesco's car park around 2pm on Saturday. Hi!) and it's still the same stuff they're spouting. They love to talk about worship, but there is absolutely no worship of anything other than their own teachings taking place.
One thing that jumped out at me was the stressing of not doing anything other with your free evening than "worship". This equated to studying WTS publications. One demonstration featured a brother being offered some short-term overtime over a few evenings. He reasons that he could do so now that he had 4 evenings free per week, but then rationlised that it would eat into his 'study time'. Offering this sort of advice during these economic times can't be a good thing...If you're getting offered overtime that doesn't interfere with you being at the BIG meeting during the week, my advice is go for it; you don't know when you'll need be offered it.
I spoke to some people in the Christian Outreach centre in Perth and they commented on the special pool being brought into the stadium. Well, Saturday was cold and rainy in Perth, so the 50 being dunked would have had a gay old time.
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It's Amazing!
by whathehadas init's amazing to me how many of the exjws no longer believe in god.
i know some of you have many reasons to believe in what you do now.
but this is a big testimony to what the wts does to people's concept of god.
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I agree it's amazing, but I completely understand how and why it happens.
I was touch and go myself during my exit. I believed in God, but my understanding of who and what he is was deeply shaken (which turned out to be a good thing). As a JW I had no relationship whatsoever with God and I rarely prayed to him. I didn't actually like him very much, he was to me the OT God. He was Jehovah and he was itching to snuff me out because I was a crap human being.
One night, however, I ended up on my knees as an absolute last resort. I even put my hands together like you imagine the Christian zealots doing. I just begged God to help me, I told him I was utterly confused and scared about what I was learning about the WTS and that I was frightened of losing my family (i.e. my wife and children) and I didn't know where to turn or what to do.
I can point back to that night as a turning point. God suddenly started become real and I could start to see him working in my life and in my family life. I had new courage.
As time went on my wife and I kept reading the Bible, focusing on the NT. Then it dawned on us that God is all about Jesus. From then on we read the Bible through the lens of Jesus. I'm still challenged by some of YHWH's antics in the OT and I probably always will be. But I always ask God to help me with the Spirit to try and make sense of the parts of the Bible I don't understand and I always focus on the person of Jesus. God is not constrained by the Bible; the Bible doesn't contain God, it just talks about him.
I've gone from being someone who didn't really like God much, feared him and didn't really want to know him or talk to him, to someone who talks to God every day. I've personally witnessed miracles happen, the most recent one happened right in front of my eyes. This was a direct and immediate answer to prayer to God.
Those who know me best (and by that I mean know who I was a JW and know who I am now) can see the huge transformation in my life. There are things I do and say now that the old JW me would have hated and would have scorned in the most vitriolic way (eg I play the guitar in our church's praise band. My wife still can't get her head around this and neither can I, but I actually look forward to it). But I've felt God change me and change my life. My personal experience of God convinces me that he's real.
The hypothesis put on people like me is that we don't want to take responsibility for our lives or for the world around us. My personal experience is the complete opposite. Faith that God is real and is working in me and around me makes me feel much more responsible for my life, for my role as a husband and father and as a member of the community. I want to take the "Kingdom reality" in me and make a difference. I'm prepared to take personal responsibility*.
*This is true of many other Christians, hence the vast number of Christian charities working to feed, clothe and house orphans in Africa, to cite one example. If these Christians didn't feel a personal responsibility to make a difference to society, they wouldn't do what they do. And no, I'm not using this as an example of evidence that God exists in the natural world. They just believe that God is real, that God changes lives, that God works miracles and they put their money - and their lives - where their mouth is.
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What really matters to the elders- Podcast 9 Judicial Hearing
by Hobo Ken inthis is the next part of the story, when the judicial hearings begin.
click on the link here to listen...deathorobedience.blogspot.com.
also free on itunes here.
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From what I understand about what Hobo Ken is doing by putting this audio online, it's to alert people as to how dangerous the Watch Tower Society is. Remember, this judicial proceeding was to determine whether it had been decided in heaven or not that Hobo would get eternal life in a paradise earth. If we use that as the bench mark to measure just how serious the outcome of the elder's investigation and judicial proceedings are, then it's important to graphically demonstrate how the process develops and unfolds and whether all caution has been taken to make absolutely sure some serious spiritual sin has occurred. (You'll notice that going on holiday with his wife and kids - who happened to be in the same location as my family (we're disassociated) put him under the "banner of apostasy". Sorry, but is that a Biblical teaching or are they just making it up as they go along?)
Jehovah's Witnesses are kept from asking questions, raising doubts or disagreeing with unscriptural doctrines (note to Reniaa; this does not equate to promoting a sect; if Jesus' life, death and resurrection are always front and centre, that's all that matters) because of the fear of such investigations and judicial hearings.
Jehovah's Witnesses are forbidden from entering into these judicial hearings with a legal representative or with an impartial by-stander. They have to face it on their own. Meanwhile, the Governing Body has decreed - and you'll notice when you listen that absolutely none of the references to back up the structure and processes of this allegedly non-legalistic hearing came from the Bible, but rather from the Organisation book and the Pay Attention book - that the elders meet with you threefold and that you are there on your own. The Governing Body has decreed, in direct contradiction to Jesus' own words, that the details of the accusations are kept from the congregation. The Governing Body has decreed, in direct contradictions to Jesus' own words, that you are not allowed a public hearing.
So we have a group that claim to hold the Bible as the ultimate authority who then sit in judgement over a person's eternal life - and you'll note I'm not even taking into account the catastrophic impact their judgements can have on a person life RIGHT NOW - and they make decisions, ask questions, prohibit questions, lie, cover up, allege and in virtually every way re-enact the Star Chambers and do so in the name of God.
Previously on this forum Hobo Ken's integrity for posting this audio online has been challenged. Within Jehovah's Witness-land locally Hobo Ken's name and reputation are mud. However, he's showing exactly what the religious order known as the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses is; a high control cult. May these audio recordings serve as a warning to anyone considering taking up membership of this religious order.
And if you're feeling in anyway uncomfortable about how the elders are handling themselves so far, just wait until you get to the appeal committee hearing; 8 elders against Hobo Ken.
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What really matters to the elders- Podcast 9 Judicial Hearing
by Hobo Ken inthis is the next part of the story, when the judicial hearings begin.
click on the link here to listen...deathorobedience.blogspot.com.
also free on itunes here.
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I love how Mr Moffat says that they're not being legalistic, while at the same time talking about "proceedings", "judicial", "witnesses" and "addressing the chair".
Moffat also says he loves and likes Matt. The first time he met Matt was to serve him notice of the Judicial Committee!!
I know the other two brothers on the committee very well and at least one of them was on a personal mission. It's tangible how much of a power trip he's on.
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Jehovah's Witnesses invite ''all'' to attend summer convention........65 miles away
by RULES & REGULATIONS inwhile i was working outside on a customer's house,a witness handed me a tract inviting me to this summer's assembly.
he handed me the invite,told me what a nice job i was doing and left.. i read that the summer convention was about 65 miles from where i live.
when i was a witness driving 65 miles would of been no problem.
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In Scotland the convention is held in the town of Perth. That's around 45 miles from Glasgow. However, it's closer to a day's travel from some of the most northern parts of Scotland, and if you live on any of the islands, well, it's probably going to take you more than a day to travel south to the convention site.
So, JWs in Lerwick, be honest, how do you feel about these convention invite campaigns?
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Debunking the WTS view of apostasy
by Awakened at Gilead injust created a new video that uses the bible to show how jw's claims about apostates lack biblical basis.. your comments are welcome.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eg219nkire.
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From page 34 of the "Reasoning from the Scriptures Book"
"Apostasy is abandoning or deserting the worship
and service of God, actually a rebellion against Jehovah God.
Some apostates profess to know and serve God but reject teach-
ings or requirements set out in his Word. Others claim to
believe the Bible but reject Jehovah's organization."
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Are Most Scientists Atheists?
by passwordprotected injames leuba conducted a survey of scientists in 1916. they were asked a whether they believed in a god who actively communicates with humanity, to whom humans can pray and expect an answer.. to believe in this sort of god would mean you were a theist.
if you're a deist, or agnostic, you believe there's a god but he's not necessarily interested in humans and we wouldn't pray to this god.. the results of this survey revealed that roughly 40% of scientists believe in this sort of god, making them theists.
40% didn't, making them either deists/agnostics or atheists.
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Rebel8 - you put forward what is, in essence, a blind guess. I'm stating that you should be allowed to have your blind guesses and that those blind guesses should be allowed to shape your world view. As for the idea of opinion police, Dawkins preaches that parents should not be allowed to teach their children about God. If his wish is granted, then opinion police would need to exist to make sure people aren't allowed to have their own opinions.
Am I being sassy? No, I asked whether we should completely disregard your opinion just because you can't offer a dossier of lab results to back it up. That would, of course, be absolutely ridiculous.
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Have memes been scientifically proven?
by passwordprotected ini'm guessing lots of people here believe in memes.
my question, have they been scientifically proven?.
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I think my underlying point is fairly obvious. Dawkinites read his most famous book and either form a world view, or amalgamate it into their existing world view based on his rhetoric. They then, without checking sources or available evidence it would seem, brandish the ideology "belief in God is equatable with feeblemindedness because there's no evidence to support your belief".
Some do it more vociferously than others. Some do it while affording the subject of their ire more respect than others (you may notice that it was suggested I have low self-esteem - albeit respectfully - on another thread because I pointed to a study that showed that 40% of scientists believe in a God who answers prayers).
They now exist in a world that has to be explained or proven through science. They will not accept the notion, like the Father of their world view, that science cannot explain everything. They will not accept it when scientists say scientific evidence has led them to believe in (a) God, just like their Father refuses to believe it (he even says such scientists are liars. Why? Because they do not fit in with his world view).
Because they can't see or hear God, and because Dawkins has told them that science has explained away the existence of God with almost all probability (and I love how that little 1 or 2% is left in there just in case), they mock and seek to undermine those who believe they can see and hear God in their life and in the world around them. They say that something should be done about religion and peddle their Father's opinion that teaching children about God should be illegal. They start dreaming of a utopia where any talk of God is done away with, just like their Father has preached to them.
So, my question about memes was simple; have they been scientifically proven? Belief in anything should be scientifically proven first, according to a Dawkinite's world view. The concept of memes hasn't been scientifically proven (and as a side note, do some research into whether Dawkin's hypothesis on genes as put forth in the Selfish Gene is still backed by science as it was in the 70s. Eerily similar to the flip flopping of the WTS), yet Dawkins and many of his acolytes believe in the concept. Whether it's a metaphor to explain an analogy is irrelevant.
And now I'm reading here that;
"It is possible for an atheist/agnostic to have beliefs which by definition can never be 'proven' scientifically."
So such beliefs are faith. And faith is delusional, am I right, according to Dawkins? Or is faith only delusional when it's pertaining to God?
Quite why two disparate world views can't co-exist is puzzling and surely limits the elasticity of human kindness and understanding. If a person wants to believe in something that can't be proven in a lab, then they should be allowed to. And so should a person who wants to believe in God.
If anyone fancies a bit of reading, please click through to the Times Online site which reviews a new book called 'The Selfish Genius'. Note, the website contains what could be considered apostate material;
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Hello there...
by IronHill inhello everyone.... honestly i dont know how to start my first post.
i have been an avid reader of jwd for some time now, and now have decided to say hello.
i was raised as a witness, and have been baptized for 17 years.
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passwordprotected
Hi, welcome to you and your fiance.