Posts by darthfader

I wonder what the side effect of all these individuals being connected. Is it possible that there will be a detrimental effect on the "cloud" if a prominent one leaves? Im not talking about the apostate effect, it's more like the JW's try to suppress any prominent individuals (except maybe for the diehard company men) -- will these groups create a "meta-brotherhood"??

113

More Society cutbacks - Society says "screw you" to the publishers yet again

by sir82 in

jw
friends

at our service meeting it was announced that there is a change in the manner in which magazines are now to be delivered to the congregations.. up until now, magazines were sent to each kingdom hall via ups.

in years past magazines were sent to each congregation po's home address via ups.. going forward, magazines will be sent only as far as the assembly hall.

it is the responsibility of each kingdom hall to send brother(s) twice a month to drive out there, pick up the magazines, and return.. this of course saves a little bit of money for the society - shipping larger packages to fewer addresses will cost less.. however, what about the expense to the local congregations?.

darthfader

I can see it now...

They decentralize the printing of magazines -- they ask each of the circuits to pay for this "special" printing press which is the size of a small car and yet costs as much as a house. This press will only print magazines "beamed" from the Bethel. It's now up to the local congregations to feed it paper, ink and power -- an out comes shiny new Watchtowers and Awakes each month -- and maybe an odd tract here and there.

Hey, it worked really for the USA Today newspaper...

22

Volunteer Injured While Working On A Kingdom Hall Construction Site

by Bangalore in

jw
friends

http://www.globaltoronto.com/impaled+metal+after+victoria+crane+overturns/3329739/story.html.

.

bangalore.

darthfader

This happened to someone I know, the local congregations paid for the medical expenses, but he lost a lot of work and had financial problems for a while. He was not allowed to persue any other financial conpensation. He and some other "brothers" were moving some large equipment off a truck in a storage facility which fell on him. This was something they should have been using a forklift for. It was clearly an act of "cheapness" as they didnt want to pay for the appropriate tools to get the job done. Im sure he could have sued and gotten a judgement, but he would have been DF'd -- for sure.

29

JW teaching aside, do you belive in spanking children?

by highdose in

jw
friends

theres recently an article in a uk newspaper about a small boy whose family are at their wits end.

it seems he will just run amok, create chaos and danger.

hes been permently excluded from school because of hes terrible behaviour.

darthfader

The challenge of physical parental discipline is that we must take “ourselves out of the act”. I mean that the physical act of spanking can easily be a release of anxiety for the adult as it is a correctional act for the child. Crossing that line is wrong - IMHO. My wife and I only spanked our children a few times (probably 10% of the time and if memory serves, we didn’t spank them after they were 4 years old) – the rest were composed of time outs, lost toys and groundings. We found out that these methods when applied consistently just worked better. Our kids were more receptive and were able to reason why things were done that way.

The one think we tried to do is allow the kids to be kids at home, but in public we expected a bit more from them. I remember a few times leaving the restaurant/grocery store/theater only to sit with my son in the car until he pulled himself together – we would go back in. I would never discipline my kids in public view.

41

"You don't have to go to church to know God."

by leavingwt in

jw
friends

i enjoyed the article below, written by dr. steve mcswain, an author, a former pastor and a spiritual teacher.. .

finding god after leaving religion.

thirty-four million americans have given up on organized religion, according to the most recent american religious identification survey.

darthfader

I beleive that Paganism is having real growth largely because of it's unstructured worship and openness - the "antithesis" of organized religion:

Pagan Religion Grows In Popularity

24

JWD vs. JWN

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was reading some of the older stuff and my, has jwd/jwn matured!.

everyone has grown.. i sure do like jwn better than its predecessor!.

darthfader

I dont like trolls.. I prefer gnomes myself :)

Yes, this board is by far the best and most organized for ExJWs.

11

Popular Music

by alice.in.wonderland in

the thread about my avatar disappeared.

i think my avatar picture is harmless, but i did say earlier the gothic witch possibly gets back to music i listened to as a teenager.

associated imagery is as follows:.

darthfader

Speaking of listening to the lysrics in modern music. I now as an adult look back at some of the lyrics I used to listen to as a kid (Van Halen or ZZ Top for instance) and I find that I'm a but amazed at how sexually charged they were. So it's not really fair to say that kids listen to the lyrics I know I played VH all the time and never "got it"...

12

About "apostate" websites

by Sojourn in

just throwing some thoughts out there, from what i've noticed, and interested to see what you all think: agreeing and opposing opinions are welcomed!.

i feel that the "apostate" sites i've run into have a lot of good information on them that i am thankful to have found.

my eyes would not have been opened without them.

darthfader

Before I joined JWN, I watched (lurked) this for for almost a year. I got to know the who to "trust" and who to write off. In the "face to face" world, it takes an investment of time to learn people and build frienships -- it's no different for online communities. The only difference I see here is that people are more abrasive and open (some of the openness is outright lies though -- so better be careful) than anyone would be face to face.

27

Resurrection: A Cruel Joke?

by cameo-d in

a few months ago i read an article about this in discover magazine.

as i realized the implications it gave me a sick, eerie feeling.. in short, suppose memories of the deceased are collected and downloaded into a program?.

what you are about to see is a prototype program for what i suspect may be robotic construction for the near future of resurrecting loved ones who have passed on.

darthfader

Great thread. This subject has been on my mind for a while now. If we are really nothimg more than electrochemical goo -- then the resurrection would bring back only a copy of us. It seems that the JW thinking about death and the "soul" and the resurrection are at odds.