simon17

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Posts by simon17

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  10

  First Ex-JW Experience with XMas Spirit

  by simon17 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so obviously as a recently parting jw, i've never had the hastle, the annoyance or the joy of experiencing christmas.

  this year in our office was the first time that we did a secret santa, so i would joke with a few of the people looking for advice because i had never really celebrated christmas.

  it was kind of a fun running joke for the past month or two, as they laughed and pitied over my past with me, which they pried about and i explained.

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  simon17

  I would love to have seen the look on your face.

  Lol, me too although it was definitely nowhere near as expressive as how I felt...!
• 
  10

  First Ex-JW Experience with XMas Spirit

  by simon17 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so obviously as a recently parting jw, i've never had the hastle, the annoyance or the joy of experiencing christmas.

  this year in our office was the first time that we did a secret santa, so i would joke with a few of the people looking for advice because i had never really celebrated christmas.

  it was kind of a fun running joke for the past month or two, as they laughed and pitied over my past with me, which they pried about and i explained.

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  simon17

  So obviously as a recently parting JW, I've never had the hastle, the annoyance or the joy of experiencing Christmas. This year in our office was the first time that we did a Secret Santa, so I would joke with a few of the people looking for advice because I had never really celebrated Christmas. It was kind of a fun running joke for the past month or two, as they laughed and pitied over my past with me, which they pried about and I explained. Good times.

  Anyway, this year I got to do my first Secret Santa. Wrapped up my first X-mas gift and all. Very fun. They manuevered for me to go last and I got a little cheap gift, which was cool and thoughtful. The card though sent me off to a odd portion of the office, scavanger hunt style and I knew something was up. The scavenger hunt took me from office to office and eventually back to where I had started.

  On the table upon my return I saw a barrage of gifts. What is this? They had come up with the craziest idea to fill me in on a lifetime of celebrating Christmas. On the table, each present was marked with a year, one for each one of my life. They split up every year I was alive, and found a relevant present for what I'd likely have been getting from that year, whether it was baby food at age 1 or Rubix cubes at age 8 or ninetendo games at age 12 and on and on all the way to where I am now. It was all coordinated and researched, like a Back to the Future poster from 1986 and a Nirvana CD from 1990 and so on.

  For someone who was loved but not singled out in that way, I was absolutely overwhelmed. I felt bad because it was almost like I had no emotions... I was too in shock from it all. It was a wonderful time, of course. I never cried then, but I am now.

  Merry Christmas to all. People are wonderful. That is all.
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  544

  FINALLY! Can you prove God exists? If you can I won't ask again!

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have seen debates and shizzle about god or not god etc etc.. i was even confronted by an aggressive and trheatening muslim in the street, who was angry that i wanted proof that god existed.

  he ranted on a load of old b0110cks about 'hell' and stuff.

  finally he yelled at me: 'do you want god to write your name in the sky?

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  simon17

  the bible is accurate is all its aspects ,history,science, prophecy, which i know you will disagree. i cant prove god to you,i know that

  Look, you can't just randomly say something like this. You cannot say the Bible is historically and scientifically accurate in every respect when history and science specifically disagree with it.

  You can backpeddle into a corner and say something vague and meaningless like "I have faith that one day science and history will regard the Bible as accurate" but certainly you cannot say what you just said.

  Regarding prophecy, obviously we're not going to make any headway on that. But perhaps you can just inform us, specifically, what is the NEXT prophecy to be fulfilled, specifically.
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  544

  FINALLY! Can you prove God exists? If you can I won't ask again!

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have seen debates and shizzle about god or not god etc etc.. i was even confronted by an aggressive and trheatening muslim in the street, who was angry that i wanted proof that god existed.

  he ranted on a load of old b0110cks about 'hell' and stuff.

  finally he yelled at me: 'do you want god to write your name in the sky?

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  simon17

  I agree and, IMO, I do not think that non-beleivers that are "legit" in their non-belief will be punished by God ( if there is a God) and this is why:

  Not everyone can make that "leap of faith", Thomas couldn't and only after seeing the resurrected Christ did he believe ( Yes he was admonished for His lack of fiaht considering what He had seen and expereince first hand) and I think that for many non-believers, thatis the same case.

  I believe that WHEN honest non-beleivers do see God, they will believe.

  Now, the issue is that there are those thet do not beleive because they do not WANT to believe, belief for them comes at too high a cost, they lose too much of who they are. Belief in God comes with responisibility ( of those that muchis given, much is asked) and not everyone WANTS that.

  Those non-believers, people that deep down KNOW there is a God but refuse to acknowledge or want to accept it, those will indeed be punsihed BUT, IMO, The punsihment will be just what they ask for -Total seperation from God.

  I have no problem with any of this. Look at that, non-believers and believers in a "does god exist" thread coming to an agreement. Imagine that.
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  544

  FINALLY! Can you prove God exists? If you can I won't ask again!

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have seen debates and shizzle about god or not god etc etc.. i was even confronted by an aggressive and trheatening muslim in the street, who was angry that i wanted proof that god existed.

  he ranted on a load of old b0110cks about 'hell' and stuff.

  finally he yelled at me: 'do you want god to write your name in the sky?

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  simon17

  The fact is that, and this is soemthing every believer must accept, there is NO way to prove God's existence.

  It is more honest to say that faith is the paramount factor in belief in God.

  I think this is the right approach. However, it begs the question: if God really is fundamentally unprovable, then there should be no punishment by God for those that deny him. So ultimately, based on this, living a good life by fullfilling codes from your conscience and society, is really all a God of this kind could could reasonable ask of anyone.
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  56

  A Mormon becomes a JW in the Feb 2013 Watchtower...

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  glancing through the feb 2013 "public" watchtower edition, an interesting article appears on page 8.. here is the pdf download link.... http://www.jw.org/download/?fileformat=pdf&issue=20130201&output=html&pub=wp&langwritten=e&option=trgchlzrqvnyvrxf&txtcmslang=e.

  it's interesting how, in the story, the young man's jw aunt and uncle switch him from mormonism to the jw faith using third-party material (the nov 8, 1995 awake!

  article), and he ends up becoming a jw after confirming on the official mormon website that the claims in the awake!

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  simon17

  "I dug deeper into the teachings
  of my faith and also consulted with responsible
  Mormon Church leaders. I was told that
  the answers to my questions involved mysteries
  that one day would be solved as the light became
  brighter."

  What the hell? Why would they use that expression when that is the same shady explanation they themselves use.

  If anything the Mormons are more attractive. At least they say they don't know until the light becomes brighter. JWs insist on the 'wrong' understanding until the light gets brighter and they change it to a new truth.
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  103

  Greetings! From an Existent JW!

  by Ethos in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'd like extend a greeting to all members of jwn.

  i've been a lurking by-stander of this forum for approximately 6 months.

  i think this forum's best moments can be attributed to the involvement of actual jw's in doctrinaire discussions and to heated (though not always dialectic) debates.

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  simon17

  I love that senence and how you used the word cobble. I love words. I have just bought a book "How to Write a Sentence and how to Read One." I haven't had the oppotunity to read any of it yet, but an anxious to do so. Your sentence is concise and provides great imagery.

  Thanks :) I think ethos can get some of the credit. When writing to someone who clearly loves words like you and him, I tend to be less lazy and write better!
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  60

  Memorial partakers this year?

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  will there be over 12k 'partakers'(tm) this year?.

  won't the wbt$ publish the amount of 'partakers'(tm) of the vinegar and crackers this year given that they stated this in qfr watchtower 15th august 2011 page 22 ????

  (wow!

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  simon17

  Since memorial partakers are no longer the FDS, the numbers are irrelavent, so why record them?

  Because, as they printed in Watchtower 2000 Jan 15 p.13, the steadily declining number of annointed ones is one of the 6 main proofs of our being in the last days.
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  103

  Greetings! From an Existent JW!

  by Ethos in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'd like extend a greeting to all members of jwn.

  i've been a lurking by-stander of this forum for approximately 6 months.

  i think this forum's best moments can be attributed to the involvement of actual jw's in doctrinaire discussions and to heated (though not always dialectic) debates.

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  simon17

  With the obvious want of participating, existent, actual JW's, I felt it necessary to become a member as that intellectual stimulation for which I so yearned had thus dissipated almost completely (from a lurking perspective). So my intention for joining this forum is to revivify, by participation, such discussions...

  This part appears to be a succinct summation of why you are here. From your diction and vocabularly, its obvious you're bright and eager for "intellectual stimulation." You don't get that from Jehovah's Witnesses. There's is a dull and static world. You seem sincere, so it probably took a lot of mental juggling to cobble together a "proof"/rationalization for your beliefs. But now what? I think its time to unravel it all. So, a warm welcome. I urge you to stay rational and fair, ignore the people who are clearly just flaming you for having the audacity to still accept JW doctrine. I'll probably be arguing for and against you in various threads since I enjoy playing devil's advocate as much as I enjoy defending a viewpoint. But, no matter how hard I tried on either end, the result when debating religion and JW doctrine with myself and others was always the same in the end: it doesn't hold water. So with that, a respectful and anticipatory welcome for the debates ahead :)
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  94

  Its sad how Americans think they are the center of the world regarding Sandy...

  by mP in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the storm was much more intense and killed many more in the caribbean and yet i see practically nothing mentioned about them here or in the media.. .

  pathetic..

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  simon17

  We get a blackout for a few days, we riot.

  Wait, who's rioting? I've been watching the news, its been 7 days without power for many over on the East Coast and somehow I've missed the vast reports of rioting.

  And, if people are such wusses now that they whine about a simple blackout now.

  Who is whining about not having power? Actually who is whining about anything? All I'm seeing is that scores were killed, thousands and thousands of homes were washed away, burned or destroyed, and maybe $50 billion in damage was done to the East Coast, and people whining that the victims have the AUDACITY to be covered in the media.

  Most of the hardship is not the direct effect from the storm, but the fact that most Americans are poorly prepared for a blackout.

  So you're saying the storm was nothing, but it's just the blackout that has caused problems.

  I wonder if the people in Breezy Point are worried about no power: http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1195049.1351695367!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/breezy-point.jpg

  Or the people on the Jersey shore: http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/c100.0.403.403/p403x403/403498_457569034288849_1839195891_n.jpg

  And on and on and on.

  Some having no power is an inconvenience. The devestation that it looks like thousands are facing is real.