hillary_step

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Posts by hillary_step

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  9

  JW Elder steals money from family and nothing is done - Anglesey UK

  by Sirona in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this whole scenario is typical of the jw organisation sticking up for elders who do horrible things.. an elder from the anglesey congregation - one of 9 siblings - decided to join forces with one other sibling to make sure that the other siblings didn't get their inheritance.

  he and his brother manipulated the matriarch of the family before she died, whilst she was gravely ill, and made sure that the rest of the family never saw the inheritance that was rightfully theirs.. he went so far as to restrict access to the house she lived in by changing locks etc.

  so that her sons and daughters could not see her on her deathbed.. when she finally died, it was revealed that he and his brother had siphoned the money off and took possession of the property so that no other sibling could benefit.. they even had their own wake after the funeral service itself - to which the other siblings were not invited.. when this was reported to the co and congregation elders, they promised to investigate.

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  hillary_step

  It has always puzzled me why offspring think that have a moral right to any money that their parents might leave. The most sensible parents are the ones who spend the last asset dollar they own the day before they die.

  As to Anglesey. I remember in the late 70's when there was a sort of exodus from the South East where I lived to move there. It seemed everybody was excitedly leaving town and if enough people moved to Angelsey, it would trigger Armageddon. The people I remember moving were a motely collection who had trouble holding down regular work and had far too many children, possibly because they either could not afford condoms, or were attracted to the monthly subsidies from the government for each smelly child that they produced.

  As you can tell, I am in a good mood this morning.

  HS
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  23

  Post your JWD addict cartoons here!

  by asilentone in

  1. social
  2. humour
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  hillary_step

  
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  69

  Countdown to IRAN

  by sacolton in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  seems that dubya wants to either invade iran or take out the nuclear threat before his term ends.

  what do you guys think of this?

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  hillary_step

  Forscher,

  You state the obvious, though why you need to escapes me since I've already made my assessment on the why several times on this forum.

  Not a difficult statement for me to answer.

  I state 'obvious' facts repeatedly to you because it takes an obvious fact repeatedly stated before you see actually the point. That is the problem with carrying an agenda around with you, it turns even intelligent people like yourself into dullards.

  HS
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  69

  Countdown to IRAN

  by sacolton in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  seems that dubya wants to either invade iran or take out the nuclear threat before his term ends.

  what do you guys think of this?

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  hillary_step

  Simon,

  I don't think the US has the willpower or stomach to start a conflict that would be very expensive (monetarily and people-wise)

  The main reason that the war has been able to last so long in Iraq is that Bush cunningly avoided a draft, something the nation would not have accepted for longer than a few months. He chose instead to work his soldiers to the bone by continually rotating them. If major action was planned in Iraq, a draft would be necessary, something that will not happen.

  Of course he could persuade old Gordy Brown, who these days reminds me of a thief stupid enough to mug himself, to send fifty SAS troops to Iran. They are after all the equivalent of fifty US Divisions.

  HS
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  69

  Countdown to IRAN

  by sacolton in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  seems that dubya wants to either invade iran or take out the nuclear threat before his term ends.

  what do you guys think of this?

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  hillary_step

  For any who are interested in knowing about Iran, its long history, its social structure, its politics, and its culture, the BBC did a superb series of documentaries last year which I think are still available for online listening at this link:

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/iran/

  HS
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  69

  Countdown to IRAN

  by sacolton in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  seems that dubya wants to either invade iran or take out the nuclear threat before his term ends.

  what do you guys think of this?

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  hillary_step

  Forscher,

  Iran is the main financier of the "insurrgency" in Iraq. They are plowing in tons of money, smuggling weapons, and training the insurgents. Without them there would no resources for those fighting both the US and national Iraqi forces. So Iran is the problem.

  Yes, this fact was established on the first page of this thread. What is more important to the equation though is understanding WHY Iran is a problem. Socially and historically, there is a history to this conflict. It does help to find out why it exists. An unsentimental understanding of such matters is what foreign policies should be built on, not the latest issue of Captain America. Interestingly, Iran boasts to having the first democratic consitution ever constructed, recorded on clay prisms in 2,500BC.

  A hint:

  In March 2008 Mr Ahmadinejad made an unprecedented official visit to Iraq. He said the presence of foreign forces in Iraq was a humiliation and insult to the region.

  Does the phrase 'Axis of Evil' ring a bell? It should, as it was this phrase that caused an emergency meeting of the Iranian Parliament and led to to the determination to expand its nuclear interests. Ill chosen, innacurate, and phrased for the consumption of a large part of the US electorate who would never mistake the truth when a fancy marketing sound-bite is fed to them instead. The phrase axis of evil is no longer merely aimed at the enemies of the US, but it has found a place in the White House Administration itself in the minds of millions of its citizens.

  When the majority accept that your government is in the hands of a collection of the most ignorant, inept and incompetent politicians ever to grace the office, the flame of hope will once again burn over your nation. Perhaps that time is coming soon.

  HS
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  49

  The Long Road To Forgiveness

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so many of us have suffered so much here in our experience with the watchtower cult and at the hands of others.

  this afternoon's segment of npr's this i believe reminds us of the liberating power of forgiveness.

  i heard it on the drive home and wanted to share it here with you.

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  hillary_step

  Six,

  I suppose some of the uneasiness I also feel when reading that story comes from the fact that both napalm and the sentence "I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior" are well-known products of the same national factory...

  Yeah....that was a gem. I make no apologies for repeating it. HS
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  49

  The Long Road To Forgiveness

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so many of us have suffered so much here in our experience with the watchtower cult and at the hands of others.

  this afternoon's segment of npr's this i believe reminds us of the liberating power of forgiveness.

  i heard it on the drive home and wanted to share it here with you.

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  hillary_step

  Rapunzel,

  I think Burn The Ships is right and you are trying to imbue into this womens actions motives that we could not possibly determine with such little evidence.

  What we do know is that it is not necessary to have 'Jesus as our Savior' in order to forgive and that this person seems to feel that in her case it was:

  In Christmas 1982, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. It was an amazing turning point in my life. God helped me to learn to forgive — the most difficult of all lessons. It didn't happen in a day and it wasn't easy. But I finally got it.

  Forgiveness even of the most henious crimes is not mutually exclusive to any religion, or lack of religion. I understand that you are a little irked that this womens message was actually a religious broadcast for the Christian Party, but the fact is that she directly attributes her new religion, to her ability to forgive. This does of course bring back some dismal memories of our own indoctrination, and let us face it there was nothing noble in proclaiming that we forgave because it 'bought joy to Jehovah's heart'. It was a forgiveness based on a false premise, which bears worrying similarities with this womens testimony.

  We have no idea why she turned her back on the religion of her youth though most of us have had a taste of that, but it is not surprising that she went the the source of her pain to reconcile herself with those who harmed her. This has nothing to do with Stockholm Syndrome, as someone mentioned, but all to do with issues of emotional restitution.

  Forgiveness might not have been easy or indeed honorable, if for example rather than a faceless, nameless pilot being her attacker, she had been raped by a soldier who then sought to justify his actions and showed no remorse.

  HS
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  49

  The Long Road To Forgiveness

  by BurnTheShips in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so many of us have suffered so much here in our experience with the watchtower cult and at the hands of others.

  this afternoon's segment of npr's this i believe reminds us of the liberating power of forgiveness.

  i heard it on the drive home and wanted to share it here with you.

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  hillary_step

  Narkissos,

  Baba Yaga: Do I really need to explain that I didn't intend to make any criticism about this person nor the path she took -- not to mention the ordeal she went through?

  Well, obviously you do, as this is JWD and subtlety of understanding and reading between the lines is not standard issue.

  I was just pointing to an objective and, to me, rather disturbing fact: her way to "forgiveness" led her away from her own culture to submission to the "god" of her (collective) tortioners. This is by no means unusual if you consider that the majority of Christians, Moslems, etc., historically embraced the religion of their conquerors.

  I agree. This is almost an unwritten assumption that it was neccessary that Jesus Christ be a part of her life in order for her level of forgiveness to be possible, an absurd notion. I can however see why she is more likely to seek an understanding of what happened to her at the hands of those who harmed her, a not uncommon psychological neccessity.

  About forgiveness, I very much agree with your statement, but I'll add that I have equal respect for the people who "unselfishly" refuse to forgive and perhaps suffer more, for the sake of justice and memory for instance (this has been a long and painful discussion between Jews and Christians ever since the shoah, for instance). I don't believe in one way for everyone, and I think the opposite attitudes on this issue (as on many others) derive any meaning they may have from each other. Forgiveness is only meaningful because it is neither a duty nor a norm. In a world of universal forgiveness it would be meaningless.

  I wish that I could add something to this perfectly reasoned statement, but I cannot. HS, silenced at last. ...errrr.....I am going to say something anyway.

  Each person finds their own personal philosophy when it comes to the matter of forgiveness, or lack of it. I am not a person who believes in the fantasy of 'unconditional love', neither do I believe in the fantasy of a religious experience introducing an external power in our lives that allows us to forgive everything. If anything, and speaking from personal expereince, forgiveness inspired by Christ is more a duty than a choice based on honor. It is a very liberating experience deciding not to forgive a person for their crimes against us.

  Some people, some situations especially when remorse is absent, do not deserve forgiveness, and it is far more noble imo for a person to take the road less travelled and actually seperate sentimentality from honor and then learn to live with ones decision. My choice not to forgive does not make me a lesser person for choosing this path, in fact quite the contrary.

  I do believe in reconciliation, but this is another matter altogether, despite the fact that it is a word often confused with the word 'forgiveness'.

  HS
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  28

  Confronting distortions with truth: my battle with JW apologist websites

  by coffee_black in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  confronting distortions with the truth: my recent battle with jw apologist websites.

  i have recently become aware of jw apologist websites that have used my dad's name as well as my own to distort the role the societys' teachings played in my dad's refusal of a life saving kidney transplant and inevitably his death.

  my dad's story is told in brief in numerous places on the internet.

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  hillary_step

  Coffee,

  I am not sure what these people have written about your father, but if it is anything untruthful as well I might imagine, good for you for forcing them to behave ethically.

  HS