there have been a few threads on this magazine already.
but i cannot recall a wt that has so many references to the gb and its authority throughout the articles as this one.
the grip of authority and control is tightening.
One moment of enlightenment for me was the point made in Crisis of Conscience that the governing body essentially votes on what is "the truth".
Only 2 of the old guard left, the ones I thought of as the governing body. Most of the new governing body aren't much older than myself. They used to seem to be these almost non-human, semi-divine like beings to me. When I was a kid I knew several annointed. They were all in their 60's and 70's. Now they come in all ages.
the definition of "pot meets kettle".
this is just to funny.
how is anyone supposed to take religion seriously, really.. .
no one could have possibly wanted to ungay themself more than I did. I stayed a virgin until I was 30 and dated sisters for all that time. I prayed. I sought the assistance of several different elders who were very supportive of my desire to change. I went to Bethel and tried to work it out of me. I prayed every night for Jehovah to make me straight.
i've met 1000s of gay men in my life in all types of circumstances. I've not met one yet who didn't try in some way for some time to become straight. it is simply easier to be straight for most people.
a year ago, mj suddenly died.
for years, multitudes of people said michael jackson was a "sicko" a "wacko", a "child molester" and an "addict".. once he died, the man was glorified by people, the media and his family.. what did you think about michael?.....personally, i thought he was an eccentric ultra-gifted artist who was childlike and brilliant.
i was never convinced that he was a child molester but i will say i thought his behavior was "weird" with kids (and adults)..
Loved his music my entire life. Never thought he was a child molester. I think McCauley Calkin's family would have sued him for
millions if he had ever touched McCauley. Both of the boys who did sue or threaten to sue were clearly after money. Also, I think
most of the time there were a lot of kids around and generally child molesters corner one kid at a time and force or guilt them into
sex. I read one report which indicated that the burns that Michael suffered during the Pepsi commercial filming were much worse
than were ever made public and may have been the reason behind his skin changes and his addiction to pain medication that
eventually lead to his death. I think he wanted to please his Mom more than anything. If he was gay, I doubt that he ever acted
on it, again because of his loyalty to his mother. I doubt that he ever had sex with anyone. I don't think his kids share any of his
DNA.
the definition of "pot meets kettle".
this is just to funny.
how is anyone supposed to take religion seriously, really.. .
its amazing how many men are still burying this in public, but seek out sex with men on Craig's List or other online sources. homosexuality is a primal drive, always has been, always will be. its part of the way life works.
just curious.
Obama has been generally successful at forwarding his agenda. Has that agenda been successful? I think we will know more in the coming months. The housing market is still incredibly fragile and Obama's house buying credits have expired. If housing tanks again I think we can say that Obama's plan did not work. However, Obama is trying to fix a problem caused by Bush double term of deregulation. I don't think either political party has any really good ideas. I think we have entered a time of a new reality. Technology makes it possible for companies to create the same output with fewer people. Add to this, the fact that technology also enables companies to hire people who will work for far less than Americans and you have a double whammy that is zapping the American middle class. The good times are over for a while no matter who is in office.
out of a sense of morbid curiosity, i recently attended the sunday afternoon session of the district convention.
the session consisted of a drama and the infamous "remain in the secret place of the most high" talk.
overall, i got a sense that the wts is in damage control mode because the end hasn't come yet.
Elderly and even most middle aged witnessses do not have anywhere else to go. Their entire social construct is built on the society, meetings and other witnesses. Only if young people build for themselves social outlets outside the society will they be able to successfully leave, otherwise they will just repeat the pattern.
the title pretty much explains it all... i don't want to go too much into my story (for paranoid fear of identification), but i have been raised in the "truth", and got baptized at a young age- too young to truly understand what i was getting into.
i still live with my parents, and as such don't want to make a move just yet, as it would destroy virtually everything i have left.
as of now though, i see myself leaning towards agnosticism.. here's my short sob story.
There are many ways to make new friends who are not witnesses. Just try meetup.com. It is filled with people looking for others with similar interests. I am on several board game meetup groups because that is what I enjoy doing. There is a meet up group for everything. Exploring other interests will nurture your mind. You may find you don't have to make the black and white decision of leaving, you can simply supplant your witness life with other things.
if you've been on boards such as this one for a long time, you may have noticed a profound change in what's posted.
on the old h2o board, you commonly had long, detailed debates concerning every aspect of watchtower doctrine and history.
while i thought i was very well informed in this area, i was often amazed at the stuff that came up that i'd never heard about.. and the discussions about 607 chronology were mind-numbingly extensive......... ...........but all that's over now!.
The Foundation Series is based on logic. If anything, the Watchtower society might be parallel to The Mule who thwarts rationality. The Watchtower is a 20th century religion based on "end time" thinking. The scarier the world gets the more "end time" thinking attracts followers. Fear is not logical but it still has to be dealt with by the human brain.
while participating on this website (one of the only three places i've discussed religion online) i asked a question:.
i've observed quite a few posts and comments here about religious intolerance toward gay men and women (i'm quoting), the terror and murder of homosexuals instigated by christians.
the religion i was raised in was in agreement with the bible based view that alternative lifestyles are immoral but they never instigated any hateful rhetoric toward gay men or women.
lol, I used to get in the middle of these things, but its all been said.
first i see a lot of americans defending israel's execution of at least 9 peacekeepers and the attempted murder of several others.
now people are calling helen thomas a bigot?
the most evil and bigoted people live in israel.
religion makes me lose hope much more than it gives me hope.
life is a fight for survival, religion is simply one of the tools humans use to fight others.
