Butterfly: It is so great to hear that things are looking up for you. Your son is adorable!!! Congratulations!! This is for the many birthday cakes he will get to enjoy as he grows!!
Cadellin
JoinedPosts by Cadellin
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40
Hi Friends! An Update! I'm a mommy now! :)
by Butterflyleia85 ini know i havent been on here forever!
i still am very happy and researching and reading all i can to keep me from going back.. i want what is best for my baby boy, ian.
he is so precious to me!!.
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New Curcuit Overseer Brainwash Talk....Obey the Slave even if you find a serious Flaw in JW Doctrine
by foolsparadise inhttp://www.sixscreensofthewatchtower.com/media/circuit-overseer-5-15-11.mp3.
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brainwashing at its best here.
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Cadellin
Could anyone confirm exactly which talk in the CO week's visit this is and WHEN it was given? We had our CO visit last week, and I was there Tues and Sun (sigh) and didn't hear anything like this. I missed refused to go Thursday night, which is the Congregation "Bible" Study followed by the CO talk. So maybe it was then?? But I'd like confirmation, if possible.
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Cadellin
This is one weird cover; given this organization's repeatedly botched predictions as to when the "end" would come, I would say they're taking a huge risk with this kind of cover. It's like a big reminder that so many lives have gone by w/o their predications happening. Also, it's clear that the WT art department has few, if any, trained professionals who stay current in the industry. As another poster observed, this is a pastiche spanning the 20th century, yet supposedly organized to show a single life. The little boy in the knee pants is from very early in the 20th century; early 1920's I'd guess and he looks to be around 10 years old. That would make him born in...OH WAIT...that would make him born in 1914!!!
The boy with the bike looks like 1930s, as has already been noted. He looks to be in his early to mid teens, born around 1920. The guy with the dishes is from the 1950's, the guy with the briefcase, maybe the 1970's. There's no way this could all be one person, yet that's ostensibly what it's portraying. Are the artists so out of touch with how people live that they really think someone who would wear a cap and knee pants as a boy is still alive, albeit hobbling around with a cane? The old guy might be in his eighties, at the most. And yet if it's not supposed to depict a single life, what's the point? Why display it in this manner? Because of this anachronistic depiction, the picture has a decidedly creepy feel...
Also, so many of the pics the WT uses show the "representative" white, middle class male, as if somehow that represents the "majority" of people, either gender-wise or economically.
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Introducing Myself
by StandFirm inhello to jwn!
this is standfirm.
i mainly post on the topix jehovah's witness forum, but i decided to give it a try over here also.
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Cadellin
Welcome, standfirm. You show courage; I like that.
If you feel like answering one question I have, whenever you get to it, that would be great, because this question is something that got me thinking (uncomfortably, I might add) when I was active: How can JWs legitimatey and honestly say we are in the "worst time of human history," and seeing fulfillment of certain parts of Matt 24, when a close examination of the facts reveals something very different? In fact, the explosion of human population, coupled with the fact that people in almost every corner of the world are living LONGER than in centuries past, points to the last 70 years as being a period of (relatively) unprecedented peace and prosperity.
I'm interested in your thoughts. (Well, anybody else's, too.)
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Jewelry advice
by TD inas every married man knows (or should know) anniversaries where the number ends in either zero or five are more special and important than all the others.
your 20th is somehow more special than the 19th) anyhow, i've got one of those "magic number" anniversaries coming up and am thinking about jewelry.
any advice for getting the most bang for your buck?
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Cadellin
On one of those "5" or "0" anniversaries past, my husband swiped my wedding ring w/o me knowing it and had four diamonds added (the number four was for aesthetic purposes, not for any special meaning). He took me out to dinner and presented me with a small box (yes, those little boxes!) inside of which was my beautiful, even-better ring.
The only downside was that I went through a degree of agitation for the preceding two weeks thinking I'd lost my wedding ring! So while the result was wonderful, that aspect might have to be navigated so your significant other doesn't have a melt-down!
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Awake 5/11 - THE SEVENTH WORLD POWER!!! Gasp!! - A history lesson
by doubtful inthe watchtower loves this point.
he not only felt that he was living in the last "days", but in the last hour.
he says at 1 john 2:18:.
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Cadellin
Good survey of western history, doubtful, and it shore don't line up with the WT's spin...I've thought those very same things and wondered how any semi-educated JW could go along with such clear incongruity b/w the WT's version of history and the secular consensus. I think "semi-educated" is the key word, however. Most JWs I know quit history as an optional subject in school as soon as they can OR (and, sadly, this is more common), history is just not taught well in many schools. And few JW read much in the way of non-theocratic stuff; when they do, it's stuff that is either trivial fluff or that ratifies their beliefs.
I suppose I shouldn't generalize like that, but I'm basing it on my own experience. The historical discrepancies you point out so well came to light for me when I began to "wake up" and began seriously researching these very subjects. Ironically, I went back to university to finish my degree around the same time and that kind of critical thinking and reading to which I was exposed helped the process along. That, I believe, this the real reason the WT forbids higher ed.
In particular, your observation about the Anglo-American WP is salient, especially in view of the upcoming DC talk that supposedly will discuss this. Sure this last (7th?) king will only last a short while, depending on how you define "short"! Ha! Uncle Sam's sinking fast; Britain is already nearly inconsequential in terms of international clout and the US, while still a WP, is clinging to dominance with its toenails as all around it, other nations are catching up and surpassing it in terms of economic influence and power.
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New Light @ The 2011 District Convention
by dontplaceliterature in" at the bottom of the image on the back of the invitation raises some eyebrows, but last night in the routine district convention article during the service meeting, i caught that one of the paragraphs mentioned that we would be encouraged to keep a copy of the tract in hand for a discussion during sunday's last talk.
my guess is, there is going to be some new revelation about what the "?
" represents, or some other fangled idea.
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Cadellin
Okay, here's a thought: A nu-lite interpretation of the toes could buy the WT what they seriously need: time. Let me explain. In the illustration, the feet are clearly defined as the Anglo-American WP (a stretch in itself) and the mystery question mark is linked to the toes. Each of the preceding parts of the image are defined similarly--that is, a world power that has come and gone. According to JW interpretation, we are now living in the time of the last WP and there will be no other WPs following the Anglo-American (whcih pretty much means the US in any real sense).
Stay with me. I've often thought that the more intelligent of the WT higher-ups, who might read the news regularly and follow international developments, should be getting very very nervous, as it is becoming increasingly clear that the US is in its twilight as a WP and fading fast. On the ascent? China. Whether or not China will ever be a WP can be debated, but one thing is clear: the US is being surely and steadily dethroned. It's lost power and standing in the international community; its influence is on the wane.
But wait!! That wasn't supposed to happen. The big A was supposed to strike while the US was the WP! Okay, so now comes the strategy: maybe the WT will finagle some kind of alternate interpretation for the toes. Maybe the toes are the rise of some other kind of power (probably not the UN, since its toothless and weaker than a gang of Somali pirates). Say, a faction or godless splinter group that is somehow (in the feckless mind of the FDS) taking control, like the rise of Evil Athiests!! They would be located "within" the AA WP but still weild control in some way so that even in the dimming campfires of the US, the WT can cling to hope for a bit longer...
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"Recruiting the Deaf" a new "Freeminds" article by Barb Anderson
by Dogpatch inthe worldwide recruiting attempt of jehovah’s witnesses to bring their religious message to the deaf using sign language can be viewed as something of a mixed bag.
while they strive to communicate it using the right methods, they convey an illusionary message that is detrimental in countless ways.[1].
jehovah’s witnesses international “deaf ministry” as directed by the watch tower bible and tract society, inc., is no small feat because there are over 200 distinct sign languages in the world.
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Cadellin
Awesome article, meticulously detailed as per Barbara's style. Thanks for the link!
One noteworthy observation she makes is that the recent edict forcing sign-language translators who are sisters to wear headcoverings all the time (well, all during the meeting) was a consequence of the heightened involvement by the GB and Translation Services. As Barbara documents so clearly, it was repeatedly stated in various QFRs that signing sisters did NOT need a head covering. Then, lo and behold, "new light" just as the ASL groups really get rolling and the hierarchy takes a renewed interest. Sour grapes on the part of someone high up who can't bear to see wimmin' start thinkin' too much of themselves.
Also interesting was the "fudging" of the whole submission mandate in the way they translated the word "submissive."
Again, thank you for posting this.
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July 15th WT out - Coming out Swinging at Apostates Hard
by LostGeneration inthis is one of the most aggressive watchtowers i think i have ever read.. four study articles on not "following the crowd" not following unrealities(page 13) not following false teachers, meaning apostates of course(p 15).
avoiding false teachers means "refusing to read their literature, watch tv programs that feature them, examine their web sites, or add comments to their blogs.
(para 7, pg 16).
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Cadellin
I have yet to see anyone attempting to recruit any "disciples after themselves" or even suggest attending another organized religion! In fact I am here for myself and not interested in trying to change anyone's belief system especially the seemingly contented bro. at the hall
I feel the same way. I just don't get this "draw disciples after themselves." Where or when the heck has that ever happened? Or are they, in their infinite paranoia and wild interpretation, referring to merely revealing or disclosing where the Society has been wrong? I mean, just telling someone where the WT has printed erroneous or misleading material? Do they consider THAT drawing disciples after themselves?
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On Human Evolution
by TD init's a subject that comes up fairly often here (understandably) and very strong opinions are expressed.
much of the discussion seems to be counterproductive.. i'd like to propose a different approach.
we all know what each other's conclusions are (or at least we should by now).
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Cadellin
Interesting excerpt from DD's stanford link:
Evolutionary theory ... tells us that the boundaries between species are vague.
Which is the point I was trying to make with my (foundering) dog analogy
And it tells us that a number of forces conspire against the existence of a trait in all and only the members of a species. From a biological perspective, species essentialism is no longer a plausible position
I think this is really a key point. Essentialism runs up against the overwhelming evidence for comment descent (which even Michael Behe, irreducible complexity's poster boy believes).
However, DD's link asserts (and I admit I've only read part of it) that there is no essential feature common to all humans and not found in other species. I have to wonder whether the innate universal grammatical capacity of humans isn't such an essential feature. Animals have varying degrees of communication and rudimentary "language" but none (to my knowledge) have the generative capacity of syntax that is unique to ALL human languages.
If that's the case, then one might suggest that the line be drawn where language ability began to manifest itself.