mindmelda

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Posts by mindmelda

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  2

  Angels figurines are idols? Didn't The Society buy a building filled w/ carvings of them??

  by Shalimar in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i remember some time ago....maybe 1980's?

  that there was an article in one of the mags about the wts purchasing a building in new york that had angels carved all over the walls & they were going to leave them there after telling people for years that we should have no angel figurines etc in our homes.the article was the society trying to justify their actions.

  does anyone know what i'm referring to?

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  mindmelda

  It's only an idol if you worship it.
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  8

  Does Jehovah care about gay community?

  by african GB Member in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have read a lot of jw books without seeing anything on gay and lesbian community.

  is there a place for them in this organization?

  if jehovah does'nt care about them why does he carry on "creating" them?

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  mindmelda

  Well, I don't think the Bible teaches homophobia, but the Witness intepretation of it seems to be fixed in cement, so I don't see them changing that.

  They can change their minds on other doctrines more than I change my underwear, but not on that one.

  Too bad they dont accept GBLT people...they have no idea what they're missing. LOL I learned all I know about sex from gay men. They know EVERYTHING about making a man happy.

  Seriously guys...get your wife a gay boyfriend. You'll never regret it and you won't have to go shopping with her anymore either.

  My husband came with one built in, my BIL.
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  50

  Do you suppose there is a form of human life somewhere else in the universe?

  by The Berean in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hmmmm ....

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  mindmelda

  Sometimes I think it'd be nice if there was some here on Earth!

  But, no, I really hope there's life on other planets. Maybe they didn't screw things up as badly as we have. *G*
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  13

  Did you ever experience caution or fear at being introduced to a brother with a beard?

  by cattails in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  did you ever experience caution or an uneasy fear when being introduced to a brother with a beard?.

  for years everytime i met someone introduced to me as bro so-and-so who might have a beard (and there weren't that many times), my here-comes-trouble radar turned on.. .

  i would be very cautious in talking to this brother.

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  mindmelda

  My husband has worn a beard (a short neatly trimmed goatee) for years and no one really said much except one brother who nitpicked about everything anyway.

  My husband never had a congregation position when he was attending meetings, though. *G* But, more than one sister told me privately they wished their husbands had one, which used to amuse me to no end. They thought it was pretty hot!

  But the grooming standards of the WTS never grafted onto my husband who has always been a rebel who does what he damn well pleases. And no one says much to him, he's nearly 7 ft tall, over 300 lbs and dark skinned, so naturally somewhat..intimidating. (He's part Italian and part Creole/Native American, and gets asked a lot if he's Arab or mulatto...which he is, I guess.) Last time the elders asked to come over for a "sheparding' call, he just said, "No thanks" and hung up on them without explaining further. LOL No more calls!

  No, men with beards don't scare me. I grew up in the end of the hippy era, lots of guys had beards and long hair and I always liked it.

  What looks scary to me is uniformly clean shaven faces...makes me think I'm looking at Stepford people when everyone is groomed similarly.
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  14

  Did you come here on JWD/JWN because of congregation injustice?

  by asilentone in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i did, but i have never told my story, i could not tell you my story here because it would be too revealing as to who i am.

  if i did not experience like what i have experienced, i would probably avoid those damn apostate sites like this site!

  well, i think it is a blessing for me to join this site because i have learned alot!

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  mindmelda

  I can get over what people do for the most part, they're just people.

  I've had doctrinal and philosophical issues with WTS teachings after I learned past the "basics" one needs to get baptized, but being baptized at a young age with no prior religious experiences, I wasn't able to compare WTS teachings to anything, not really. Witnesses aren't encouraged to examine their beliefs objectively, it's all strained through their own literature. That's not objective comparative religious study, nor does the WTS claim to offer that, they're against it in principle, it seems.

  That's a shame, if they allowed it, at least they would gain followers who joined out of genuine conviction that stems from knowing they'd thoroughly examining other beliefs.

  As soon as I started reading Bible encyclopedias, history books and the like, many of them the same sources the WTS uses, on my own and in their entirety, I realized the doctrines are to a large extent some persons interpretations, as are some doctrines in many the religions I've examined so far, and I'm not interested in that. I don't agree on about 3/4s of WTS doctrine, in spite of being studied with by elders, elders wives, pioneers trying to convince me over the years.

  I guess the moral of that story is that people who don't strictly read WTS literature on doctrine, history, science, psychology and various other subjects will often find valid arguments against at least some of it.

  But I do sincerely wish I hadn't gotten baptized before I knew the entirety of WTS teaching, but I did it out of peer and family pressure at age 16 (barely), not genuine conviction. I could barely legally drive a car, but I was encouraged to make a life altering decision, even more binding than marriage? Seems ridiculous when you put it that way.

  WTS doctrine that makes no sense to me:

  How 1914 is derived...the dates they use don't match up to recognized history and it's torturous logic.

  Nitpicking about the cross, what sort of shape was the "stauros" Christ was executed upon...I don't worship the cross, but it's also historically and biblically acceptable Christian symbolism, as first century Christians used it to represent Christianity. Pagans did use crosses as symbols also, but it meant something entirely different to them, fertility or the four elements.

  Homophobia. I don't see how it figures into Christian belief, Christ never mentioned hating homosexuals as a primary doctrine of Christianity. It's based on 6-7 scriptures which are subject to various more valid interpretations. I agree that promiscuity isn't a good way to live one's life, it's incompatible with our basic human nature and biology.

  Why Witnesses all of a sudden get literal about 144,000 going to heaven in Revelation that professes to be written in "signs" and which they interpret symbolically in many other aspects. Why and how they restrict being born from spirit, from what I read in the Gospels and in the Greek scriptures as a necessary Christian condition for salvation, to a few elite.

  Why they place so much importance on "Armageddon" when it's only mentioned once in Revelation, and again, it's intepreted quite literally.

  Well, I guess that's enough.

  I do agree on certain aspects of observing Christmas, Halloween and Easter though, they're holidays with an obvious pagan origin transferred much later to Christianity. I don't mind observing them purely secularly, though. I'm also in agreement about pacifism and rejecting racism, although Witnesses did not always do those things in their history.

  I observe birthdays, though and Thanksgiving and other secular holidays. Straining out a gnat on those ones...there is no direct prohibition in the scriptures I can detect.
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  15

  Forced chemo, parental rights, and religious freedom

  by dinah in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this case just bothers me.. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_he_me/us_med_forced_chemo.

  yes, i understand parents are responsible for their children and i dont want anyone stepping in to take control of mine but when your views of life are clouded by religious crap......... the mother says her child is not in immediate danger from cancer?

  misplaced faith if you ask me.

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  mindmelda

  Sadly, the child has a highly curable form of cancer (Hodgkins lymphoma) and his treatments were going well.

  It's insane that they're abandoning a treatment that has a 90% cure rate for something unproven.

  I dont disagree with alternative treatments ALONG with traditional medical treatments (especially ones with a proven high cure rate), or spiritual interventions that are desired, but to go to alternative treatments when the ones being used are working doesn't seem to make any sense.

  My son, now 16, has Asperger's Syndrome (high functioning autism) and he reacted badly to the pertussis vaccine. He only had one at 6 months, but he was excepted from having more because of the high fever and neurological symptoms it gave him. ( mild convulsions and listlessness)
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  8

  Does Jehovah care about gay community?

  by african GB Member in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have read a lot of jw books without seeing anything on gay and lesbian community.

  is there a place for them in this organization?

  if jehovah does'nt care about them why does he carry on "creating" them?

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  mindmelda

  I believe God cares about gay people and that they are indeed born that way. I know nothing that tells me otherwise. From my friends and family members who are gay this is what I'm told, and I believe them.

  Jehovah's Witnesses do not allow homosexual activity among their members, they think it is a behavior that one can choose to avoid if you love God enough. Their view on the matter is strict and similar to fundamentalist religions. It is forbidden, no exceptions. Anyone engaging in homosexuality will be shunned if already a Witness, and not allowed to become a baptized member if a homosexual.

  I've examined some of the scriptures that most homophobic religions, including JWs, base their views on and they don't hold water as proof that God disapproves of homosexuality.

  I Cor. 6: 9-11 is commonly used by the WTS, where "men who lie with men" are among those who will not inherit God's kingdom, according to some translations.

  The original Greek words there are two separate words, "malakos", and "arsenokoitai" and they're translated by the NWT (New World Translation) as "men who lie with men".

  Those words literally mean, "soft" and "lewd sexual acts among men" according to the more accurate translations I've found.

  For centuries, the Catholic church translated "arsenokoitai" in their Bibles as "masturbators", also not too accurately, to uphold their opinion on towards this behavior, which they thought was much more serious that homosexuality in the past. *G*

  "Malakoi" or soft, when applied to people, generally meant people who are "loose" "wanton" or "undisciplined", and "arsenokoitai" refers to men who sexually abuse or use people of either sex. Those word was used for both homosexual and heterosexual behavior that was sexually abusive or "using", wanton or undisciplined, but never confined to only homosexual acts.

  So, some Bibles striving for more accuracy translate this phrase "Oute malakoi oute arsenokoitai" as "users and those who use them" without reference to gender or sexuality. The translation of this word "arsenokoitai" is highly debatable, as you can see, its exact meaning is somewhat obscure because it is a vague word and it's exact meaning has been lost through time. But, it does not really refer to or condemn consensual and non-promiscuous homosexuality.

  The other scriptures used to justify homophobia are equally able to be explained by more accurate translations that leave out bias on the part of the translator.

  I'll have to look for the bits I've written in my blog on those and post it here later.
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  5

  the meaning of the word "disciple" has changed

  by 1914BS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in the feb 15 08 koolaid the teaching of the generation changed 180 degrees.

  along with that change, was a change of the meaning of the word "disciple".

  previous to that feb 15 koolaid, the word "disciple" meant every day rank and file jws im pretty sure that the word "disciple" was radically changed in the feb 15 koolaid.

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  mindmelda

  So, what are JW's now making if not "disciples" and are not disciples themselves? What's the point of being a Christian if not a disciple? How can you follow Christ and NOT be a disciple? ARGH!

  It's hard to keep up with all the new flavors of Koolaid. :(
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  11

  do elders spy as evidence?

  by mraimondi in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  is this spying?.

  2 elders come into my apartment building.

  dont knock on my individual door.

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  mindmelda

  Gee, I hope no one spies on me. I tend to not wear a lot of clothes when I'm home alone writing apostate material on my blog. *G*
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  7

  A JW gives blood to her baby but is against blood transfusions?

  by cognac in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, a jdub was telling me a story that when she nursed her son her nipples were so sore that they cracked and literally bled when she was feeding her son.

  she said it was so bad that when he would spit up it would sometimes have blood in it.

  how is that different then having a blood transfusion?

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  mindmelda

  I had the same experience, but who worries about such things? Never crossed my mind.

  I must have not been indoctrinated enough. *G*