Posts by mindmelda

Last month, it was $2.69, so it must be time to jack up the price of oil again. I guess the oil companies need to pay their taxes or something...oh..wait.

43

What Actually Helped You Leave The Organization?

by minimus in

jw
friends

after seeing some threads about how some think that being direct (like danny hazzard) is the best way to get people out of "the truth" or being very subtle is most effective----i was wondering what exactly made you leave the organization??.

were you more impressed by websites that were informational?

what really got you thinking to leave the religion and its mindset?.

mindmelda

The local library...and the internet. Yes, the internet is evil, my children. For within it, one finds that the Witnesses teach much bullshit. Books are the same...burn them! Burn them with holy fire!

That's where the first real seeds of doubt were planted with me about 15 years ago. I was never really into being a JW, because I was dragged in by my parents, particularly my mom (My dad is really lukewarm and has been for a decade or so), so I was probably more "susceptible" than some hard core Witnesses to non WTS sources of info.

22

"...cannot be condoned under ANY circumstance"

by parakeet in

jw
friends

this is going around the internet.

enjoy.. "on her radio show, dr. laura schlensinger (a popular conservatve radio talk-show host) said that homosexuality is an abomination according to the bible leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.

the following is an open letter to dr. laura, penned by james m. kauffman, ed.d.. dear dr. laura:.

mindmelda

Sadly, since she is Jewish, Dr. Laura must not know how most rabbis define an "abomination". It's simply something one needs ritual cleansing from, through various means, sometimes as simple as bathing.

A Jewish friend of mine explained it to me that the apparent prohibition against homosexuality at Lev. 18:22 there is a matter of interpretation and most English translations get it WRONG. Some people reading the English are confused because apparently, an injunction against "men lying with men" is stuck in there amongst a lot of other "abominations" like eating shellfish or wearing clothing from mixed fibers. HUH?

There's a reason it's not that logical...because it's not men having sex that's being prohibited. The "abominations" listed there are about mixing different things and ritual uncleanness. The word in Hebrew used there at Lev. 18:22 is "sheqets" which is used for mild uncleanliness that is remedied by ritual or sacrifice. The word "to'ebah" is the word that means a transgression like idolatry that one can earn one death.

The uncleanness about mixing different things together was ritual and to remind the Jews that they were separate from others, set apart by their God. That's all. Most Jewish scholars simply agree that it's a prohibition against being "unclean" with seminal emissions between males. The same laws applied to seminal emissions between men and women, too, so apparently, it was more about being clean after sexual acts, and ritualistically bathing with water aftewards than anything.

So, all this fuss about taking a bath after you cum on (or in) someone, regardless of who it is, really. *G*

Actually, you could be put to death for all kinds of incest between male family members, or female, but there's nothing that says to put a guy to death for doing it with another adult man he's not related to. Ironically, the incest laws don't mention a father having incestuous sex with a daughter as "to'ebah"...either a gross ommission or...well, the scribes were excusing Lot for his little boo boo with his two daughters. Ew....

56

Since Leaving "The Truth" Are You Really Happier?

by minimus in

jw
friends

witnesses say that when people leave "the truth", they get involved in a debauched life, misery, and general unhappiness.. they give experiences of some that left the "sweet fellowship" of the "brotherhood" and the awful results because of it.

then, they come back and their lives change 100% for the better!.

have you found life to be miserable and unproductive since "leaving jehovah"?.

mindmelda

You know WingCommander, I can totally relate. My family situation was much happier when my parents were less active JWs.

Yeah, it definitely says something about the Witnesses..nothing very good.

56

Since Leaving "The Truth" Are You Really Happier?

by minimus in

jw
friends

witnesses say that when people leave "the truth", they get involved in a debauched life, misery, and general unhappiness.. they give experiences of some that left the "sweet fellowship" of the "brotherhood" and the awful results because of it.

then, they come back and their lives change 100% for the better!.

have you found life to be miserable and unproductive since "leaving jehovah"?.

mindmelda

If you mean leaving the WTS, hell yes!

It's like getting rid of a plantar wart that hurts every time you take a step. I didn't get rid of God...actually...I access him a whole lot better without the "intermediary" of the WTS.

Wart is right...something you don't need and is a pain in the...foot.

34

'Not defiled by women in fact they are virgins' ??

by Heartofaboy in

.

can anyone enlighten me what these words at rev 14:4 means?.

this scripture was read at the memorial last night to prove the anointed come from the earth but the 'not defiled by women in fact they are virgins' part was glossed over..

mindmelda

I'm sure this implies the same kind of spiritual "celibacy" that was figuratively carried out by actual warriors by abstaining and refers to spiritual purity.

It's a common enough ritualistic theme, as someone mentioned not just among the Jews, but among many cultures who had warrior values.

The Bronze Age tribal Hebrews were definitely a warrior culture, just read their writings. They use war as a metaphor for spiritual ideas quite a bit. Warrior god, warrior culture.

Women are rather devalued in warrior cultures with warrior gods because those replaced the earlier female gods who represented the earth, fertility, life force and sensuality rather than war, aggression and the sky/sun/lightening. Jehovah or Yahweh is definitely a warrior god, at least by this time in the history of the Jews.

The theme of women being "defiling" or representing temptation, sin or weakness is a constant throughout the Bible. Especially prostitutes, of course, perhaps more so because they often carried and spread disease. To the Jews, spiritual cleanlinesss and physical or sexual purity had no real defining differences..ritual cleanliness was constantly required and women had a greater burden that way because they were simply regarded as less spiritually evolved and spiritually and physically more unclean because of that.

Those feminine elements came to be seen as weakening the masculine ones according to what is called "sympathetic magic" and so abstaining from touching women or sexual relations with them came to be a pre-battle ritual for many warrior cultures. The Hebrew culture of that time was no different than many others in those ideas of sympathetic magic, that touching or looking at something could cause a magical transference, or that nature could be controlled through ritual.

That kind of superstition about feminine aspects weakening warriors, even spiritual warriors, was also prevalent in Greek and Roman religions, so it's no wonder that it carried over into Christian times and of course, that part of the Bible as both a literal uncleanness and a metaphorical or spiritual one.

Oh, at one time there was hints in the WTS publications that perhaps gender would be done away with in the earthly paradise as well as the heavenly realm, where of course gender makes no difference anyway as angels are represented as asexual, and the ones who did want sex with human women were considered fallen or defiled...there it is again. Angels are always represented biblically as male, it was only much later than female or child angels (puti) became Christian representations. Probably borrowed from pagan representation...lots of carry over there from Hellenistic influences there too.

80

At a 2 day assembly ...the point that the brother spoke about that drove me mad....."don't hug your husband, wife or child during prayer".

by crazy2try in

i attended one day of a two day assembly and did ok until the very last talk.

the brother was from bethal and well jw's pay closer attention to their talks, cause that is when some new info is given,,,right.

well anyways i lost focus and began to daydream, cause it became one of those talks that just talks about wasting time.

mindmelda

Ana-Dote, that made me spew my drink! I started thinking about all the times I've opened my eyes during a prayer at the KH and wished I'd hadn't.

Once, I saw an elder reach down and ever so sneakily adjust himself, hand right down in his pants because he thought no one was looking. Not that bad, but then he went around shaking hands with everyone after the meeting...EWWWWWW!

2

Colonel Signs Statement That Bush Knew Guantanamo Prisoners Innocent

by Justitia Themis in

please disregard the other thread...accidentally hit "enter.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7092435.ece.

george w. bush, dick cheney and donald rumsfeld covered up that hundreds of innocent men were sent to the guantanamo bay prison camp because they feared that releasing them would harm the push for war in iraq and the broader war on terror, according to a new document obtained by the times.. the accusations were made by lawrence wilkerson, a top aide to colin powell, the former republican secretary of state, in a signed declaration to support a lawsuit filed by a guantanamo detainee.

mindmelda

Well, it's nice to know that Bush knew about SOMETHING. And here I thought he was clueless. Wow.

It's interesting, I lived 20 years in Wyoming, a Republican stronghold, but even so, most Wyomingites despise Cheney, who was born there. Why? Because he nearly destroyed Casper Wyoming's (their 2nd largest city, cities don't get too large in Wyoming) economy by pulling a big Enron contract out of there back in the day...people literally had to leave homes sitting and walk away when thousands and thousands of jobs were lost.

Even the Republicans wish he'd finally eat the big one in Wyoming. His daughter Mary (who I've met) is openly Lesbian and lives in the one Democratic town in the whole state, Jackson, and so does Cheney, because they'd run both of them out on a rail anywhere else in the state. Makes me laugh to think about it.

Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if Dick Cheney were really The Penguin and Bush were the Joker.