I'm kinda past getting involved in religious debates and for all I was pissed off I didn't want to speak up because we still had a long journey to go and the tension in the carriage would have been worse than the religious rumblings. Plus as my girlfriend is a person of faith, albeit a different stripe from any evangelical type, I prefer to avoid pulling out my "crush the religious argument" arsenal.
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JoinedPosts by passwordprotected
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Jehovah's Witness meets a Born Again Christian on a Train. Oh and a Muslim
by passwordprotected ina couple of saturdays ago i and my girlfriend (who happens to be baptised into the greek orthodox religion, but practises greek catholic...no, she's not greek) were on the virgin train from glasgow to london.. we had reserved seats on the quiet zone of the train, because y'know, a 5 hour train journey shouldn't be sullied by mobile phones ringing and noisy conversations.. somewhere around the lake district a very tall woman sits at the table across the carriage from us, a table already occupied by a very chatty, bearded man in his late 50s, along with his wife.
this man was directing people where to stow their luggage and asking random travellers questions about their journey to the point where i sent my girlfriend a text message (easier to communicate that way without others overhearing us) asking if he was the "train boss".. he struck up a conversation with this new passenger about his travels, but i wasn't really paying attention as i was watching a movie on my ipad, wearing noise cancelling headphones.
after a little while i noticed they'd stopped chatting and the woman was now reading.
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Jehovah's Witness meets a Born Again Christian on a Train. Oh and a Muslim
by passwordprotected ina couple of saturdays ago i and my girlfriend (who happens to be baptised into the greek orthodox religion, but practises greek catholic...no, she's not greek) were on the virgin train from glasgow to london.. we had reserved seats on the quiet zone of the train, because y'know, a 5 hour train journey shouldn't be sullied by mobile phones ringing and noisy conversations.. somewhere around the lake district a very tall woman sits at the table across the carriage from us, a table already occupied by a very chatty, bearded man in his late 50s, along with his wife.
this man was directing people where to stow their luggage and asking random travellers questions about their journey to the point where i sent my girlfriend a text message (easier to communicate that way without others overhearing us) asking if he was the "train boss".. he struck up a conversation with this new passenger about his travels, but i wasn't really paying attention as i was watching a movie on my ipad, wearing noise cancelling headphones.
after a little while i noticed they'd stopped chatting and the woman was now reading.
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passwordprotected
A couple of Saturdays ago I and my girlfriend (who happens to be baptised into the Greek Orthodox religion, but practises Greek Catholic...No, she's not Greek) were on the Virgin train from Glasgow to London.
We had reserved seats on the Quiet Zone of the train, because y'know, a 5 hour train journey shouldn't be sullied by mobile phones ringing and noisy conversations.
Somewhere around the Lake District a very tall woman sits at the table across the carriage from us, a table already occupied by a very chatty, bearded man in his late 50s, along with his wife. This man was directing people where to stow their luggage and asking random travellers questions about their journey to the point where I sent my girlfriend a text message (easier to communicate that way without others overhearing us) asking if he was the "train boss".
He struck up a conversation with this new passenger about his travels, but I wasn't really paying attention as I was watching a movie on my iPad, wearing noise cancelling headphones. After a little while I noticed they'd stopped chatting and the woman was now reading. The Bible, as it turned out. And not just any Bible, but one jacketed in silver faux leather. Yes, a newly revised NWT.
And then I noticed that the man behind to her was a Muslim and he was reading the Quran.
Jeezo.
After several minutes of Bible reading out comes the Watchtower, which she starts underlining...Talk about horrifying flashbacks. Via text messages I explained to my girlfriend what she was doing and why she was doing it, and about how the Watchtower "study" is a braindead exercise in making people...braindead.
A little while later I notice the bearded man strike up some chat with the Jehovah's Witness again, this time asking her about the JW doctrines. Of course, the trinity gets mentioned and the JW rolls out the standard "Reasoning From the Scriptures" retorts.
Their conversation continues for a long time while the bearded born again Christian refers to a little doctrinal pamphlet in his hand and the JW rolls out the stock WTBTS approved responses.
Each was witnessing to the other. Each was trying to convert the other.
Meanwhile the Muslim man sat quietly with his Quran and some prayer beads...
Meanwhile I was getting more and more pissed off.
Firstly, this was a Quiet Zone carriage. So they shoulda shut the fuck up. Secondly, hearing the born again Christian "conversion" process (he actually asked her quite loudly whether she accepted Christ was raised from the dead to forgive her sins, at which point my girlfriend and the woman sitting opposite us looked at each other with raised eyebrows) going toe-to-toe with the JW witnessing algorithms, was driving me bonkers as I have enough experience with both to see all the logical fallacies and special pleading and it was taking all of my self-control not to butt into the conversation (in the Quiet Zone) and verbal shoot their arguments down in flames.
And lastly, this is 2015 and people are still debating and arguing over the deeds of a very likely mythical rabbi called Jesus, making judgements, determining life decisions based on the pontifications of men who died hundreds of years ago, the men who decided the canon of scripture and who seemingly set in stone doctrines and orthodoxy that have been debated and fought over long after they lost any relevance to life in our 21st century world...
And all the while the Muslim kept his council and his spirituality to himself.
Y'know, when you buy a seat in the Quiet Zone, I really wish people would do just that - keep quiet.
Anyway, after a long time their conversation ended and our JW passenger turned to the back of her NWT and made sure she refreshed her doctrinal opinions with GB approved logic from the Appendix....
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Was it worth it?
by John Aquila infor those of you who left family and friends and had to start over from scratch just to get out of the organization, was it worth it?.
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Freedom of self and mind is worth it at any cost. -
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A big hello and thank you
by iwasblind ini just wanted to introduce myself and say a big hello to all of my mentally diseased friends.. i say friends because i have been lurking for some time so it feels like home (us lurkers are a bit scared and cautious so it takes a while).
i won't bore you with too many details, but i am a born in, currently serving as the cobe of a congregation.
my wife and i have pioneered for the last 10 years and were shaken awake by that ridiculous 15th july 2013 wt about the generation and 1914.. my wife who is much smarter than me has questioned for years.
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Welcome! Your story reminds me very much of my own, and the time spent researching with my (ex)wife the lies we'd been brought up to believe.
Life Cofty, I too turned to "Jesus" after my exit, but once a mind has been opened its very hard to close it again and I applied the same critical thinking to what I was learning about "orthodox Christianity" as I'd done to the WTBTS and soon drifted away from any notion of formal, organised, traditional religion. And for the first time in my life, I have peace.
Good luck with your exit!
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Who are the people in JW TV videos?
by HappyDad inout of curiosity, i have caught a glimpse or two of the "drama" style videos.
are the ones in these televised "dramas" jw's or did they hire actors for the job?
i can't see the average jw being able to do acting as good (if you will call it good) as some of these people.
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I think they use actors. Being in front of the camera, having to things over and over again for different shots or when someone fluffs their lines is very difficult and the productions are too slick for ALL of the people in them being Bethelites... -
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The best and worst Travelling Overseers in the UK
by usualusername inmy fave was roy renouf - district overseer.
always had time for me and seemed to keep thigs real.. heard that on a zone vist he told the governing body the branch was told old and grumpy or something like that!.
worst was michael purbrick.
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Worst - Terry Armstrong. Total dick of a man with an overbearing, sanctimonious wife. Hugely entitled couple who clearly strived to make everyone feel shit and inadequate.
Best - Clive Pitman. And I'm only sayin that because they were all shite.
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Recorded judicial committee hearings
by Bamidbar ini believe that the best way to inoculate any friend or relative of yours from becoming more deeply involved in the watchtower is exposure to recordings of the judicial process.. that goes for those already in the watchtower---if you can get them to listen.. what in your opinion are the best available online?.
i recommend several.
i am writing this off the cuff and do not have all the exact links, but you should find them easily.. anondud2 - on youtube.
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The Matthew Barrie example is a good one as he recorded all of his talks with the elders before it became a judicial matter. Doing so reveals that the accusations against him were false and instead arose because of the bruised ego of the Presiding Overseer at the time.
He appealed his disfellowshipping for apostasy, however while the appeal committee made up of very prominent local elders couldn't find any evidence of apostasy, he was disfellowshipped for not answering their questions, or "failing to show honour to the glorious ones" as they put it.
A listener to these recordings in New Zealand transcribed the meetings, they're also available text format. If anyone wants the full mp3s of the recordings, send me a PM.
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Who Benefits from the Multi-Billion Dollar Real Estate Empire that is WT?
by TTATTelder inthis thread is to formally address this subject.
this is for forum members and especially for lurkers (current witnesses reading this in secret).
please feel free to post any additional points.. there are a lot of changes happening in wt land.
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Could it be the property grab is about shoring up their portfolio in the event of more lawsuits, giving them a large buffer which would allow the inevitable cash payout, protecting the afore mentioned luxury lifestyle of the leaders? -
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What if.....the impossible happened?
by sparrowdown inwhat if the almighty gb announced that all shunning will cease, and next minute all the people who have shunned you start calling and texting saying "hi, we're baaaack, we can talk to you now!".
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what would do you do, and how do you react?.
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I've managed without them for over 6 years. Don't need them now, although there is one hottie I'd probably allow to say hello to me. -
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JW.bore invades my vacation?!?
by darth frosty injust got back from a cruise and dubs were walking around the boat faithfully wearing their jw.bore pins smdh.
than at cozumel i saw these lovely sisters.
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The one on the left is a hottie.