hillary_step

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Posts by hillary_step

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  27

  Deepening Saddness

  by Amazing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i look back on the 1970s with a sense of loss and nostalgia.

  i was a young man, just married, and so much in love with my beautiful wife.

  i had just started my engineering career, and was debt free.

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  hillary_step

  Amazing,

  Thank you for your moving post.

  -So sad. So fresh, the days that are no more-Tennyson

  I read your words, I also felt them. I surmise that we are contemporaries, though perhaps from different territories.

  Having lived through those iconoclastic times, adventure at every turn, I can relate deeply to your experiences. The Paris riots of ’68, one of the most frightening and yet exhilarating experiences of my life was a turning point to me that probably led to my welcoming the WTS into my life. So much energy, so many aspirations, such little direction, I truly felt that the ‘Truth’ was the answer, what a wonderful little glittering package we took into our hearts, that when opened became a sinister pair of spiritual handcuffs. I am convinced that something more than nostalgia draws us back to that very strange time; when just for a few months the whole world seemed to share its heartbeat. Many books have been written on the subject, I agree with them all and I also disagree with them all. I have yet to meet a person unaquainted with those times who can truly comprehend what happened. I often smirk at younger film directors who try to capture the feeling of that age in comical parodies of psychedelic shirts whirring about in windmill dances and unwashed teeth.

  I have many regrets, sometimes my heart literally aches for our wasted years. Sometimes I dream of my youth and awaken to damp pillows. One thing I have learned the hard way though, is that you cannot fight yesterdays battles today.

  JeffT made an invaluable point often overlooked when a person reviews his WTS past, he noted:
  

  However, I met my wife through the dubs. I can't imagine life without her. For that reason alone I wouldn't change anything.

  I concur with this thinking, I have had many wonderful moments within the WTS, I have met some truly beautiful people. I have also had and met the opposite and in this way the WTS is not very different from any other life that we may have led, people are actually not all that different from one another. I too have an exceptionally beautiful wife for whom I was prepared to endure 20 years within the WTS fully aware of all its failings before she saw the light. I would gladly endure this again for her sake. ‘Amazing’, we have been shipwrecked, and all we can do is pick over the wrecks of our spiritual lives, take what is useful for survival with us and move on. I have every intention of dying with a smile on my face!

  Once again, thank you for a touching and beautifully written post. My best wishes are with yourself and your family.

  HS
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  38

  Irate email

  by D wiltshire in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  below is a email i received today.

  the person doen't know me except from i think randy watter web site where i post my appeal letter to the body of elders on which i left my email address.

  i never told her i wasn't df but she gets facts confussed alot.. anyway i sent the post on barbra anderson from our site to her you might find it interesting so i'm posting it below.. .

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  hillary_step

  Hi Had Enough,

  Yes, I realised that, just my infantile sense of humor at play!

  Best - HS
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  38

  Irate email

  by D wiltshire in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  below is a email i received today.

  the person doen't know me except from i think randy watter web site where i post my appeal letter to the body of elders on which i left my email address.

  i never told her i wasn't df but she gets facts confussed alot.. anyway i sent the post on barbra anderson from our site to her you might find it interesting so i'm posting it below.. .

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  hillary_step

  Kismet,

  What may I ask is wrong with the phrase 'middle-aged'?

  Best regards - HS
• 
  119

  Validity of 607 BCE date

  by stevieb1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone on here ever come across the tiniest shred of evidence supporting this date for the fall of jerusalem.

  i understand rolf furuli is about to but something out on this subject (see elihubooks.com), however even a table of contents has been a long time in coming from this site.

  if no evidence exists what can he possibly be writing about?

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  hillary_step

  Mox,

  anyone who thinks they can has been deluded by this pseudo-science of opinion and 'worldy wisdom.' we have plenty of evidence for 1914 in the indisputable physical facts we have all seen with our own eyes since that date in the 'last days' of this old system. we have far much more evidence now than russell did in his day

  This does seems to be the path that the WTS is heading for. I have heard this reasoning from a couple of people at very Senior level. "Chronology is unimportant, the visual realites are proof enough."

  Best to you -- HS

  Scholar,

  Thank you for your note.

  I will try one more time. You need to understand that owing to the fact that the weight of evidence is against the viewpoint that you adhere to, it is up to you to defend that viewpoint with evidence that challenges the norm accepted by all historians. Bring that evidence to the table and I will then break bread with you. 'Nuff said.

  Best regards - HS
• 
  38

  Irate email

  by D wiltshire in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  below is a email i received today.

  the person doen't know me except from i think randy watter web site where i post my appeal letter to the body of elders on which i left my email address.

  i never told her i wasn't df but she gets facts confussed alot.. anyway i sent the post on barbra anderson from our site to her you might find it interesting so i'm posting it below.. .

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  hillary_step

  D.Wiltshire

  How sad, yet another human tragedy. The sound of another wracked and panicked soul addicted to the drug of 'theocracy' and instinctively sensing that their supplier might soon be cutting back on supplies.

  I truly pity this sort of person. Unlike some who cynically blend into the background and just take the soft stuff, these are the most heavily addicted and will do whatever their 'pimps' demand to survive.

  Let us not be too tough on her, this is after all, our own more youthful face we look at.

  HS

  The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on; and droves will peck, in safeguard of their brood.... - Willy The Shake.
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  1

  For Hawkaw - re: Biopure

  by hillary_step in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello hawkaw, .

  this part of an e mail message received today by my contact in the hematology research department of a cutting edge university in the usa.

  knowing the status of this person i have every reason to trust her report.. <<hello xxxxx,.

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  hillary_step

  Hello Hawkaw,

  This part of an e mail message received today by my contact in the Hematology research department of a cutting edge University in the USA. Knowing the status of this person I have every reason to trust her report.

  <<Hello XXXXX,

  Hope all is well........

  As for the Biopure - We were just discussing this in our lab meeting today. The product that Biopure has is a cross-linked bovine hemoglobin (which has oxygen carrying capacity). Biopure has already procured a licensure for use of this product in South Africa (i.e. it's already on the market there). In the States, the product is undergoing phase III clinical trials - for FDA approval - which usually takes a few years. The professional ( i.e non-stock market! ) word has it that the results have been very, very favorable.... so our guess is that it's not far away from being available.....(our guess 3-5 years ).......>>

  Hope that this helps - HS

  PPS - It is as well to remember, as has been reminded me, that Hemapure is not truly 'artificial blood' as it has been hailed. Its uses at present are quite limited. You may read more about it here :

  ; http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/1f786a.htm
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  39

  Did Ray Franz write COC out of anger?

  by Brutus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i asked my gf who is a jw but not an active one if she has ever read coc and she tells me she has and that his book was mostly lies about the organization and that's the reason he left was because he was tempted by a hooker and ended up sleeping with her.

  he told the elders what he did because he was looking for help and he ended up getting df.

  later he found out he ended up contract hiv.

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  hillary_step

  Hello,

  What is often missed in discussing the motivation of writers who examine the WTS in uncomfortable detail is that it matters not at all why they wrote, what should be examined is what they wrote.

  It is the act of the intellectual coward to attack the person rather than the argument. If Ray Franz did all of which he was scurrilously accused of, it matters not one jot. What is important is, were his arguments valid? Only by examining them, can one make an estimation of this question. That is what the WTS does not want and cannot afford to have happen, therefore slander the man and his arguments become slandered with him.

  Not even subtle, Goebells did it much more professionally.

  HS

  'Slander is the revenge of a coward and dissimulation his defence’. - Johnson
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  119

  Validity of 607 BCE date

  by stevieb1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone on here ever come across the tiniest shred of evidence supporting this date for the fall of jerusalem.

  i understand rolf furuli is about to but something out on this subject (see elihubooks.com), however even a table of contents has been a long time in coming from this site.

  if no evidence exists what can he possibly be writing about?

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  hillary_step

  Scholar,

  Thank you for your note in which you state :

  difference of Absolute Dates
  2. Different date for Jerusalem's Fall 586 0r 587?.
  3. Different reigns for the kings of Israel and Judah
  As you know these scholars have broadly followed a methodology different to that of the Society, they have employed the same system and sources as Jonsson outlines in his hypothesis. Such reconstruction is supposed to be accurate and factual, yet when it is tested then differnet results occur. Does this not tell you something?

  Scholar, as I have previously noted, actually four times now, this whole issue has to be settled on weight of evidence, conclusions being the culmination of lines of evidence. For example if two lines of evidence shows that 607BCE has validity, but thirteen lines shows 587/6BCE to be the correct date what decision would you make? Owing to the fact that no newspapers with the heading ‘Jerusalem Falls - 607BCE/586/587BCE’ exist. The chronology of that era can be settled in no other way. We cannot ask ourselves who has absolute proof that 607/586/587BCE is an absolute date for the fall of Jerusalem because absolute proof, even as we speak that does not exist. What does exist is a vast body of circumstantial evidence indicating that 607BCE is the incorrect date, I do not need to detail this as you well know the issues. What we need from you is facts that can shift the weight of evidence from 607 to 586/7BCE. You defended the chronology of the WTS in your opening posts but do not seem to be able to produce the weight of evidence to sustain your views. My own views on the issue are in agreement with all the authorities and experts on this planet, the WTS and yours are not. Subsequently the WTS have challenged the rest of the world, it is up to them to prove the flaws in the 586/587BCE dating methodology and thus follow the precepts of historical science. They have of this date failed to do this without having to appeal to avenues that cannot be taken seriously by the historical sciences.

  Now to methodology. This of course is not an unusual problem that historians and archaeologists have to grapple with. The persons noted above have ‘followed a methodology different from the Society’ because they had no ax to grind over this issue. The WTS started from a 606/607 conclusion and then sought a means of bolstering that conclusion. This they have done through scriptural ‘loopholes’, and the usual secular conspiracy theories ( always their desperate final stand ).

  You say that you have read the articles on Chronology in the Aid and Insight book, did you not read therein the evidence for 607?

  Come now Scholar, be serious. The chronological reasoning in the Aid book were indeed a brave attempt at solidifying the 607BCE date, but you must remember that even the writer of that entry did not believe what he wrote. It just does not shift the weight of evidence.

  If you have read what you have claimed to have read then why do you not complete the asssignment that Ihave asked?

  As I have told you, I completed those assignments back in the 1970’s. I reached conclusions then, the evidence produced by the WTS to date, has not as yet led me to need to change my conclusions. Your input certainly does nothing to challenge the historically accepted dates.

  Alan Fraud believes 587, is this your preference?

  My own research leads me to a similar conclusion and I might add that calling Alan a ‘fraud’ even in jest shows much more about yourself than it does about him. I am absolutely sure, just from the methods you use in trying to present your arguments that Alan and I have done much more genuine research on this issue than your good self.

  Now, I have been very patient with you so let me give you some advise. You cannot expect to go through your theological life without being challenged on this issue. The WTS are the only people on this planet that hold to a 607BCE date. My assignment to you is to stop wasting the valuable time of many of us on this Board by engaging in theological or historical debates whose principles you seem unable to truly understand with any degree of seriousness. If you accept 607BCE that is fine I have no problem with that, if I reject it that is fine also, but your bluster and frankly your arrogance, intimidate nobody here.

  One last thought, another 1951 printing that may help you with your future studies was written by Rudolph Flesch and is entitled ‘The Art Of Clear Thinking’. If you have a problem tracking a copy down I am sure I have a spare copy.

  Thank you for an interesting discussion -- HS
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  73

  Matthew 25

  by Farkel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when did we see you a stranger and receive you hospitably, or naked, and clothe you?

  he was talking about food, clothing, shelter and supplication to the least of the brothers.

  he could not be talking about anything else and here is why: could any human offer jesus spiritual food?

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  hillary_step

  Maximus,

  Though not long Stateside as you know, I understand from colleagues that 'La Douche' is a man with an intellect the size and texture of YK's eyepatch - small and soggy. Be careful though lest you become the target of his withering focus, I understand it has the power to stir tea.

  Speaking from a European perspective, all I see in your loaded picture is a man in a cream linen jacket trying to stab a gnat with his forefinger. Am I missing something?

  Best to you - HS

  'The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye, the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract... Holmes
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  69

  "AHA! AHA! OUR EYE HAS SEEN IT!"

  by You Know in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the question has always been, primarily: is jehovah really god?

  secondarily, the question has been: are jehovahs witnesses really jehovahs witnesses?

  or, perhaps worded differently: is the watchtower really the voice of christs appointed faithful and discreet slave of prophecy?

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  hillary_step

  jdubla,

  No problem, thank you for your mail.

  HS