Posts by simon17

11

Woolly Mammoth to be cloned

by glenster in

within 5 years, a woolly mammoth will likely be cloned, according to.

scientists who have just recovered well-preserved bone marrow in a. mammoth thigh bone.

japan's kyodo news first reported the find.

simon17

What would you do with a wholly mammoth? Put it in a zoo? Repopulate it and see what wild effects it has on local ecosystems?

Personally I'd start a little smaller.

23

HOW MANY BORN-INS or almost born-ins, WOULD HAVE BECOME A JW IF SOMEONE CALLED AT THEIR DOOR?

by PaintedToeNail in

jw
friends

i know i would have never, ever been interested if someone would have come to my door as a jw.

i guess i really don't feel like i've ever had a real spiritual side to me.

the 'truth' would have never interested me, nor would i have ever accepted a bible study with anyone who came looking for a sheeple.

Even when I was under their power and a MS and trying very hard to be spiritual, I remember a service cargroup debating what they would have become of them had they not grown up in 'the truth.' Most seemed pretty convinced they would have found the truth eventually, another person said they'd probably be drawn to some other religion. They asked me and I said "I'd have been an athiest." That kinda quieted everyone. Ballsy answer actually. Even though I had no dots connected back then, I still knew logically where I'd end up I think. Rationality simply must win out in the end.

22

Pose THIS QUESTION and watch JW"S REALIZE they have been DUPED!!

by foolsparadise in

jw
friends

i told a current longtime jw friend who hasn't been to a meeting in months now :) this statement:.

"if jw's were so honest and this was the true religion that they really and i mean really believed was the truth, how come they never tell any of their return visits or children before babtizim that if they ever choose to think differently and believe differently and decides they no longer want to be one of jehovahs witness, they will be shunned by all former friends and last but not least family??!!

do you really think if they were told this "disclosure" at the time of studying they would continue?

simon17

Devil's advocate for you:

"Of course they know that leaving the true religion would mean leaving God and a disaproved state. Disfellowshipping it something that studies who have progressed for months are aware of. Sure we're not going to give them an hour long story of the worst case scenerio. Besides, that is a loving arrangement that disfellowshipped people even are aware of is for their benefit. And if they really rebel agains the congregation, they must be cut off from the congregation and have proven themselves unworthy of the kingdom of God."

Circular reasoning

Thought-blocking maneauvers

and Misdirection.

That would work to protect them from doubts and probably just annoy you and get you nowhere.

8

Variance On College

by metatron in

jw
friends

there seem to be some more upscale congregations in which the college thing is no big deal as long as the witness kids live at home and at least pretend to be witnesses.

this includes bachelors degrees in tech subjects, not just 2 years of nursing.. there might be some realization that, in rich areas, congegations aren't viable without education.. metatron .

simon17

This is true. When I would travel to congregations in richer areas, be it in certain areas of california or florida, I was always surprised to find out how many of the elders and ministerial servants made healthy livings and had college degrees. But in more rural areas, education is a sign of weakness.

+1, where I live, going to college was not universal but it was pretty normal as long as you lived at home and didn't totally slack off. We got the 'education' talk from basically every talk during the circuit assemblies but in the congregation level it was not discouraged at all.

29

How to silence family/elders, and not be labeled apostate, prove the 1,000 year reign understanding is false....

by EndofMysteries in

my reason for leaving or fading is because after actually reading the bible, i began to gain understanding and seeing everywhere what the bible teaches is not what jw's teach.

there is no need to bring up 'apostate' material, the history of jw's, etc, as that sets up a mental block (if you ever were a strong jw you may remember yourself it wouldn't work).

the foundation of the faith is that the bible is the final authority, the bible trumps everything, and that only jw's follow the bible everyone else twists it to their traditions and customs.

simon17

There are so many presuppositions and vagueness that anything in the Bible like this is open wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide to interpretation. Yours probably makes as much (or as little) sense as anything else about an overall ridiculous concept logically.

My point is: I dont think you're changing people against the WT organization. They are just going to accept the WT interpretation of events.

14

Award Winning Danish Movie on leaving JWs. You Tube link

by Balaamsass in

saw this movie mentioned on you tube from an old thread.

seeing if it will post:.

simon17

Not bad. Some things seemed a little off. Seemed like their willful praise at dropping out of school was a bit overboard. But other than that they're kind of liberal. Beards, pants in service for Sara, this dude walks in off the street and they say "as long as you're not intimate you can date"...

Also the guy's mother was a real bitch, even if she is right

64

Starting to read Crisis of Conscience....

by confuzzled777 in

jw
friends

after almost 2 years of being wrongfully disfellowshipped and over a year after finding this site....i am starting to read crisis of conscience.

i will not lie....i am a bit nervous as to what information i will find in the book.

i have a strong feeling that i will end up crying through most of it as i will start to see the truth about the "truth".

simon17

Its a very good book and it covers a lot of very well documented ground. Also you can tell he is very fair when writing it. He calls people out when they need it. He praises people when they deserve it.

61

todays WT study...the picture...?

by stillin in

i wish i could scan it and get your thoughts.

it was a picture of a happy group of witnesses during a meeting for field service.

there was a. comment from a local high-horse-rider about a brother in the front row in the picture being disobedient.

simon17

Wait, was this really the point of the picture to find who was not submitting humbly? Did every, or most, congregations play that game? Or was it just the OPs?

If so thats a new level of crazy.

67

Read S. Hassan's Book: Do JW's really fit the cult mold?

by simon17 in

first time i got a chance to read his book, "combatting cult mind control" and was interested to see if jw's fell into the cult mold.

my opinion after carefully reading and having left the witnesses after almost 30 years is... no, they don't.

however, i would add that they wish they were but are simply too big and unwieldy to really pull it off.

simon17

So you haven't read ANY other books on the subject?

Just out of curiosity, are you focusing on Steven Hassan's books because so many others on this website have recommended them?

I focused on this book because it it seems like one of the two MAJOR MAJOR books that everyone harps on as being THE books to read where you read them and just go "WOW - I can't believe how perfectly and scarily that describes Jehovah's witnesses".

This is one of those two books. When I read it, I was very underwhelmed. It described a slew of cults, none which really at all resembled the Witnesses. ANd it gave a bunch of characteristics of what a cult would be like and those often didn't fit very well at all either. A lot of the techniques fit pretty well, but overall it wasn't at all a "WOW" moment for me. And I'm already out so I was expecting a much better fit.

The other book is CoC which was exactly what I expected and more. It confirmed everythign I felt and thought I knew.

I'm sure there are books that describe the cult experience more generally so as not to preclude groups, which Hassan's first book seemed to do. Thats all I am trying to say. If I was trying to nudge a witness to awakening, I don't think this is the book I'd use.

67

Read S. Hassan's Book: Do JW's really fit the cult mold?

by simon17 in

first time i got a chance to read his book, "combatting cult mind control" and was interested to see if jw's fell into the cult mold.

my opinion after carefully reading and having left the witnesses after almost 30 years is... no, they don't.

however, i would add that they wish they were but are simply too big and unwieldy to really pull it off.

simon17

@simon17 . . . did you read the Discovery Channel summary? . . . it's a very neutral source. And very simple to understand.

No, as I said, I don't have anything against calling JWs a cult. My only point is that reading that particular book, I did not get the sense that JWs fit very well at all to the mold that he said cults physically tend to resemble in almost all cases. Perhaps he just hadn't yet concieved of an organization like WTBTS. In that book, his notion of what a cult would look like did not fit very well with witness organization, thats all i'm sayin