@terry - ditto for me. Plus as was a catholic so had a predisposition to accept the bible and the local priest wasn't interested and could martial any real answers to them. Add in being 18 and with no real role models or friends to consult about something like this, and people showing what appeared to be genuine concern for me. I was a sitting duck. thankfully I only lasted about 5 years.
GromitSK
JoinedPosts by GromitSK
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70
Why did you become a Jehovah's Witness ?
by Gnosis inwhy did you become a jehovah's witness ?.
initially upon entering the religion what were the positive things you experienced ?.
how did that particular way of thinking both benefit and harm you ?.
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56
Add your favorite JW prayer cliche'
by King Solomon inyou know what i'm talking about: the trite, often-repeated phrases that convey the person offering the prayer has drawn a mental blank, and utters these words while their brain desperately searches for the next cliche', so they can conclude the ritual with the required tag, "in jesus' name we pray".... (is that like the postage stamp?).
ok, i'll kick this one off, and take the most obvious:.
"forgive us where we fall short....".
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GromitSK
It just does, ok?
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what is the dumbest thing you've been reproved/chided/df'd for?
by rather be in hades ini'm a big science nerd and i remember when we were going over the creator book, that the big bang doesn't necessarily prove there is no god.. i said this comment during book study and the conductor's jaw dropped.
everyone was pretty uncomfortable and it didn't help that he ct me off as i was explaining the red shift and mom wasn't too happy about all that.
i had to do a lot of bible research and write some nonsense about how the big bang was not reality or some sort...ugh.. .
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GromitSK
I don't think you should be squeezing lemons. Isn't that the same as strangulation?
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Are we completely sure Trans people don't just have a mental disorder?
by Lore inso i thought i was a pretty accepting person.
sure i grew up in a bigoted cult who hates gay people.. now i'm an atheist who has no reason to care about anyones sexual prefferences.. .
but i've watched inverviews of trans people.
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GromitSK
As an aside, in the UK the term tranny was use d on BBC radio today by a guy who identified himself as a transvestite, as opposed to a transgendered. I suppose we ought not to assume that terms on person used to describe themselves are necessarily acceptable to others. I am conscious this is probably off-topic, apologies.
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Are we completely sure Trans people don't just have a mental disorder?
by Lore inso i thought i was a pretty accepting person.
sure i grew up in a bigoted cult who hates gay people.. now i'm an atheist who has no reason to care about anyones sexual prefferences.. .
but i've watched inverviews of trans people.
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GromitSK
Hi Brizzy. I didn't think there was any intention to be offensive. Personally I dislike the term 'queer' and find would find it offensive if used to me by anyone other than someone I knew well and if it was in jest, although some gay people do use it towards each other. I have never heard of LGBTQ when did they add the Q?
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Are we completely sure Trans people don't just have a mental disorder?
by Lore inso i thought i was a pretty accepting person.
sure i grew up in a bigoted cult who hates gay people.. now i'm an atheist who has no reason to care about anyones sexual prefferences.. .
but i've watched inverviews of trans people.
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GromitSK
Some straight folks I have become friends with have initially been quite curious about who is the 'man' in my relationship and who is the 'woman' - a concept I have difficulty understanding tbh lol (we're both men for the avoidance of doubt, or as close as I can get without shaving the palms of my hands).
Part of the error in gender definition perhaps lies in assuming there is a defined set of behavioural characteristics which are male, and those which are female and that we all only take characteristics from one pile or the other, or else there is 'something wrong' with us? There are men I know who seem to demonstrate as many or even more of the "female" characteristics than some or even most women I know, but they don't actually want to be women and have no interest (as far as I know) in men sexually.
Given the personal consequences for gender reassignment for many, I can only assume that whatever the drive is, it's powerful. Is it a disorder? I guess if your mind thinks your male but your body is female it's a disorder however which way round the disorder is I wouldn't like to say. My understanding is that there is considerable input from professionals eg psychiatrists etc before re-assignment is carried out (in the uk at least).
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Are we completely sure Trans people don't just have a mental disorder?
by Lore inso i thought i was a pretty accepting person.
sure i grew up in a bigoted cult who hates gay people.. now i'm an atheist who has no reason to care about anyones sexual prefferences.. .
but i've watched inverviews of trans people.
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GromitSK
What the hell is "genderqueer"? It feels somewhat offensive to me.
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So ... what happens when we die?
by sacolton inwhat do you personally believe happens after we die?
i don't believe we really know everything about god or the afterlife.
i do believe that we do transform to something beyond our physical comprehension.
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GromitSK
For those who are curious, you could do worse than read "Is There An Afterlife", by David Fontana, he was, until his recent death, a Professor of Psychology in the UK and a member of the Society for Psychical Research.
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What's Life Like After Leaving???
by Nellie inwow!
it's been over a year since i visited the site and seven years since i joined!
seven years since i stumbled across this forum in my quest to finding out some serious answers about the organization i'd been a part of since childhood.
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GromitSK
I got booted out and only found out what a crock it is many years later. Lost all my friends whe I became a JW and lost em all again when I exited. I am not sure life is much easier in term of practicalities (other than fitting in all the stupid meetings) but at least it is real.Oh yeah, and thankfully I think my JW experience has inoculated me against organised religion quite effectively lol.
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JW Study - OUT!!
by uk_ex_jw ina few months ago, i posted about a study who was getting baptised this summer at the upcoming dc.. we discussed a few things on fb.
i showed him evidence that the watchtower does not have the truth.
the last i heard was that he had gone to the elder's with the information i had given him.. i haven't heard from him since.. however, yesterday he contacted a jw, elder's son on fb.
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GromitSK
@cedars and BB; Thanks for the replies. Makes sense, I wonder if the elder may have meant 'marked' but with an underlying suggestion he might be apostate, they'd need some evidence I guess.
Also I meant 'specific reason' - I have no idea what a 'spacious' reason is.
In any event it's great news. JW religion definitely is a 'life vampire'. Realising that what one believes, for however long, is rubbish can be very distressing.