Posts by StoneWall

On the meeting night that they are suppose to announce your DF, you and your wife should attend and soon as the announcement is made hug each other and smile. Then hold hands as you walk happily out the door for the last time.

This could show others attending that it isn't all doom and gloom as the WT tries to portray it and that you're actually looking forward to the "real life".

Heck you might want to take a voice recorder for the announcement in case you ever want to share it.

Sweet words of freedom.

Wishing and hoping the best for you and your family in all your future endeavors away from the control of the WT.

sincerely,

StoneWall

33

Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!

by sacolton in

jw
friends

$79 million tax demand on jehovahs witnesses threatens freedom of religionstrasbourgon september 21, 2010, the european court of human rights (echr) ruled unanimously that the complaint filed by jehovahs witnesses in france is admissible regarding alleged interference with their freedom of religion.. the government of france had imposed a retroactive 60-percent tax on all religious offerings donated to association les temoins de jehovah(also referred to as the christian association of jehovahs witnesses of france) over a period of four years from 1993 to 1996. the government initially demanded a total payment of about 45 million euros.

the amount demanded is now more than 57 million euros (more than $79,000,000 usd), which far exceeds the assets of the association.the echr took note of the fact that throughout the court proceedings within france, jehovahs witnesses had consistently maintained that the contested tax was a direct attack on their religious freedom.

in fact, it had been imposed on them within the context of the france governments fight against so-called sects.

StoneWall

Farkel makes a good point here that should be pointed out again:

If they really wanted to follow the same rules they impose on their little worker bees, they would have paid disputed taxes, whether they were fair or not, just to "look" "spotless to the world." Of course, most of us know they NEVER follow the same rules they impose on those who worship them.

Remember being in the Org and being told to pay our taxes.

So that we could point to it as showing that we as JW's were honest in our dealings and in this way by paying taxes, we help out the community at large with much needed services such as fire and emergency services as well as the upkeep of the roads we used to call on peoples homes by paying taxes. Render Caesar's things to Caesar.

Then I can't even begin to count how many times this scripture in Romans was quoted to me.

Romans 13:7 [NWT] "Render to all their dues, to him who [calls for] the tax, the tax; to him who [calls for] the tribute, the tribute; to him who [calls for] fear, such fear; to him who [calls for] honor, such honor."

Why is it when we wanted to complain about taxes maybe being unfair it was a big No-No, and yet now the WTBTS is doing the same thing?

Reminds me also of this scripture in Romans 2:21,22[NWT] "do you, however, the one teaching someone else, not teach yourself? You, the one preaching “Do not steal,” do you steal? You, the one saying “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You, the one expressing abhorrence of the idols, do you rob temples? "

You could carry that idea in Romans 2 along the thought of:

You the one telling others to pay the tax without complaining, do you pay your tax without complaining and going to court?

You the one saying pay back Caesars things, do you pay back to Caesar what is asked of you? (Or do you take them to court?)

189

Does The Name Really Matter?

by AGuest in

jw
friends

to the household of god, israel, and those who go with... may you have peace!.

as you know i have, for many years now, related to you that i hear the voice of the fine shepherd, the holy one of israel and holy spirit, jaheshua mischajah.

over such years i have received many questions and comments, and engaged in various debates regarding the validity of that name.

StoneWall

*yawn*

Does The Name Really Matter?

NO

And here's why:

If it was such a big frickin deal to know the absolute correct form of the name, then God would have blasted it into the side of a stone mountain (sorta like he made the tablets for the 10 commandments from) and then HE would have posted angels(Cherubs) to guard it so that no one was allowed to change it or tamper with it in any way,shape or form. It would always be there for the world to see or go check out and there wouldn't be all this wrangling over what the correct spelling or pronunciation of it was/is.

If it was such a big deal to Him to guard the tree of life by stationing two angels with a whirling sword outside the garden of Eden, then it should only be fair to assume if it was as big a deal to him as what name to call him, that he'd keep it some place safe with a couple guardians that no human could beat.

Instead of depending on some human to correctly ascertain in a dream,vision or some hallucination what that name is and to get others to listen to them or believe their sayings.

15

Are you recovering the knowledge that you lost?

by cyberjesus in

when i was in school as young jw i would disregard any kind of knowledge that was against what i was taught by the wt.

things evolution, the space, the age periods of the earth, the immnesity of the space, etc etc.

anything that would bring more questions was also disregarded as not important enough to dedicate our valuable time.

StoneWall

cyberjesus I'm just a few years older than you from what you posted above (if you're around 39) and also feel like I'm trying to catch up sometimes on what I missed out on in earlier life because of being raised a JW.

I love learning new things and a seeking after knowledge. And going hand in hand with that is a search for truth.

The sad part for me is with every year that passes, I can tell it is getting harder to absorb and retain the things I research. Unlike when I was young and my brain was much more like a sponge and able to absorb.

72

Oops, is that WMD we just Found in Iraq????????

by Leolaia in

http://www.reuters.com/newsarticle.jhtml?type=topnews&storyid=5166415

StoneWall

Gregor said:

Let's bring the subject of WMD's up to date. The current civilian government of Pakistan is corrupt, weak and detached from the real leadership of the country which is the ISI, secret service, who are aiding and abetting Al Quada and are the main source of support for the Taliban.

In the above quote when you say Al Quada, do you mean Al Qaeda? Or is it some other group?

Pakistan has between 100 and 200 real, honest to god, nuclear weapons. They have tested them and they worked just fine.

Where did you get the info for the above numbers? Between 100-200 is a big span when you talking about nuke weapons.

It's not the same as saying one or two or five. I'm just hoping it's not from the same source that talked about all those original WMD's in Iraq.

Not trying to discount what you're saying about them having nukes, because they even admit that and we've seen the news reports on both Pakistan and India both testing nukes.

72

Oops, is that WMD we just Found in Iraq????????

by Leolaia in

http://www.reuters.com/newsarticle.jhtml?type=topnews&storyid=5166415

StoneWall

Ninja thanks for posting that video.

I had acually forgot about G.W.Bush making those retarded/ridiculous "jokes" about not finding WMD's over there.

While good men and women on both sides are dying, he finds humor in the fact that they couldn't find any WMD's.

Shows his character as well as his mental capacity. The scary part of it all...is that he was put in the position of President in the first place.

38

The Annointed - how do they know?

by Listener in

to me this is a serious matter as the annointed are the basis of how the organization is set up and operates.

yet i have great difficulty in understanding how these people know that they are annointed.

does the bible actually say that they will know?

StoneWall

As keyser soze touched on above, when jesus got baptised and the holy spirit came down as a dove.(a visual sign/seal)

Also on the day of pentecost(Acts 2:1-4) the ones heard something like a stiff breeze and had tongues as of fire above their heads when the holy spirit came to reside with them.

But supposedly now in our modern day and age where we could document and film this supernatural phenomenon of the spirit in action on people, it no longer has these outer signs. Now we are suppose to accept the scripture where it says their spirit bears witness with the holy spirit that they have been adopted as sons of God. (Romans 8:16)

What a coincidence that it no longer shows outward visible signs,(now that the whole world could see at once on the internet or world news) yet it "evidently" still operates in/on some according to them.

57

This is sickening and disturbing to think that American soldiers did this.

by StoneWall in

when i first read over this on msnbc news today, it was truly morbid of just one soldier to do something like this.. but to think that 12 are being implicated tells you how truly sick a lot in the u.s. forces are.. what is the difference between what they did and what hitlers soldiers did?.

here is the link for the whole article:.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39380805/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/.

StoneWall

Farkel said:

You must be very young and lived your life without being around people freshly back from a real war, or you would have understood why some soldiers do those things. I'm not excusing their actions, but I think I do understand why some of them could do things they otherwise probably wouldn't do.

It all depends on what you consider young. I'm in my mid 40's and got a son in his early 20's.

And as far as the being around people in the war, I was raised a JW from birth by my mother but my dad was not a witness and fought in WW2 in the invasion of Normandy. He was an anti-aircraft gunner and shot down many planes. Had numerous medals awarded to him including the Bronze Star. If you're not sure what it's for do a google on it and it will show you. Not just anyone gets that one.

But one thing my dad always told me is that everytime he had to shoot down a enemy plane, he always said a prayer for them in hopes of them parachuting out to safety. He wanted to stop them. Not necessarily kill them. He saw where a few others commited war crimes by shooting a few of the germans that parachuted out while they were dangling in the air. He said to me that he could never do that to anyone that is not in a position to defend themself. That made me love my father more than anything else by knowing he still had compassion, even for the enemy.

As of right now I got one nephew and two cousins in active duty in Afghanistan. My nephew already did his tour in Iraq a while back and now is in the midst of the worst fighting in Afghanistan. I got one friend same age as me that I went to high school with and he served in the first war in Iraq when Bush senior was President. I talk to him on the phone and he is not the same great guy he was in H.S. He has to take all kinds of anti-depressants. Suffers from PTSD. So I think I've been around my share of people that have been in a "real war" as you call it.

In your post above you told me to read mad Sweeney's comment and i might understand. Now I invite you to look back over Mad's comment and see how he ended it. Here's the quote:

Knowing this, the responsibility is on the armed forces to keep the men in line.

That is exactly what I'm talking about. Someone dropped the ball on this and wasn't watching or paying attention to the men under their command.

It's no different than good cop, bad cop. We expect cops to do their job and protect us. But sometimes someone has to protect the public from idiots that get in there and give the cops a bad name.