sd-7

Joined

• started 290 topics
• posted 3,788 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by sd-7

• 
  32

  Stuff You Would Lose If You Went Back

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so we know all the things the wts prevents us from doing, but that's much, much different than the stuff we've grown accustomed to.. for those who have been out for a number of years, what kind of things would end up being abandoned if you suddenly started going back to the kingdom hall?

  you know, stuff that you now do on the nights you used to attend meetings, the things you own, the things you wear, etc..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  A lot of books (featuring magic or sex [or both, in 'A Song of Ice and Fire') and (R-rated or magical) movies. Sleep. Patience. What little freedom I currently have. The ability to look skeptical when an absurd teaching is explained at a meeting. The ability to say Jesus too much. My beard. My work schedule. Girl-on-girl Internet action (not that I'm into that sort of thing, of course...but I would lose the option, mostly because I'm not good at lying about stuff...). The ability to post on the Internet about JW stuff, as surely someone would probably find out about sd-7 sooner or later. An excuse to not have to deal with my older brother and my mom. An excuse to not have to deal with JWs from my old congregation. 'Self-abuse'. Attending birthday luncheons at work. The option to attend a holiday party at work (I usually don't 'cause I'm not good at socializing).

  Honestly, that's about it. The self-loathing has pretty much remained at a fairly constant level for whatever the current reason happened to be, with occasional dips into madness. So that probably wouldn't change too much, maybe a slight increase and then a leveling off with time as my brains turned more into fudge.

  --sd-7
• 
  70

  Is Richard Dawkins an ostentatious acrimonious supercilious pusillanimous calumnious censorious vituperative querulous embittered obsessive and bombastic bully?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  richard dawkins closes down his free-thinking/free-thought site (www.richarddawkins.net) for 30 days to reconfigure it 'because too many morons were contributing drivel' (he doesn't put it quite like that!

  ) he is then surprised because those self-same contributors call him everything under the sun (i won't repeat the names flung at him on our ultra -refined boards).

  he now wants the site more or less 'peer-reviewed' (by analogy with papers to learned/scientific journals having to be vetted by vips).

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  I'm actually starting on 'The God Delusion' right now. He does get pretty visceral with his tone, but he also brings up some pretty darn impressive points about religion. I can accept the validity of his tone when it supports facts or pretty logical argumentation. Certainly religion is no less visceral when it comes to its own beliefs.

  I'm actually enjoying the book so far, though I probably would prefer a little more data and a little less slamming, but I'll reserve my judgment beyond what I've already said for the time being.

  --sd-7
• 
  26

  'Apostates want to draw people after themselves'--what are they really implying?

  by sd-7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when jws say this, what are they really saying?

  i was pondering this recently, and i was thinking...what they're really trying to imply is simple:.

  apostates are thus accused of attempting to be cult leaders.. because the idea is that since they're not getting people to follow christ, but follow themselves, then they want their 'victims'' belief system to be centered around an individual, following that person's directions.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  Instead of the implication of the soceity thinking of all ex-JW as potential cult leaders, I think that they are just afraid of increased competition from other religious charismatics pimping their personal spiritual plane.

  Good point. Especially since we know that advertising is the name of their game, reasonably then, a big part of their advertising strategy is to slam the hell out of their competition. That seems to make up a pretty large portion of their recruitment strategy--be it attacking Christendom or like with the new brochure they just put out that's geared towards practicers of Judaism or whatever. In this case, apostates are their most dangerous competitors, as exposing them as a complete fraud guarantees they can't win a person back to the Borg if they leave (save perhaps through blackmail). And since clearly thousands are leaving on a regular basis, they need to at least minimize their long-term losses, in typical business fashion.

  Also, absolutely loved The Age of Reason--it was one of the first books I read that was critical of the Bible itself. I'm actually thinking of reading a little Richard Dawkins soon. Just read a sample of 'The God Delusion' on my Kindle and I'm already hooked.

  --sd-7
• 
  26

  'Apostates want to draw people after themselves'--what are they really implying?

  by sd-7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when jws say this, what are they really saying?

  i was pondering this recently, and i was thinking...what they're really trying to imply is simple:.

  apostates are thus accused of attempting to be cult leaders.. because the idea is that since they're not getting people to follow christ, but follow themselves, then they want their 'victims'' belief system to be centered around an individual, following that person's directions.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  The main reason JWs 'need' to shun 'apostates' is about information control.

  Well, yeah, obviously. I guess it's not really an intentional implication, more so part of the ad hominem attack, to attribute this sort of quality to apostates.

  --sd-7
• 
  43

  "Worldly people don't love the same as Jehovah's Witnesses"

  by Comatose in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in a conversation with my mum she said, "son the friends love you and care about you so much.

  they would die for you.

  that's something you don't find in the world.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  The situation that really impressed this upon me was right as I was heading to my judicial committee three years ago. My car was stuck in the snow, and I didn't have a shovel as I'd just moved in and hadn't given that much thought. A total stranger let me borrow a shovel, and ANOTHER total stranger took over shoveling and got me out of my space!

  All of this to go meet with three elders who are preparing to DF me. I'd already gotten more love from two people in the outside world in that simple act of kindness than I could get from three JWs in prominent positions.

  For some reason they believe that by default their apparent 'accurate knowledge' makes them superior in practically all possible expressions of good. For them it doesn't really matter if they show compassion, all that matters is if they show up at meetings and turn in their time.

  --sd-7
• 
  26

  'Apostates want to draw people after themselves'--what are they really implying?

  by sd-7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when jws say this, what are they really saying?

  i was pondering this recently, and i was thinking...what they're really trying to imply is simple:.

  apostates are thus accused of attempting to be cult leaders.. because the idea is that since they're not getting people to follow christ, but follow themselves, then they want their 'victims'' belief system to be centered around an individual, following that person's directions.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  When JWs say this, what are they really saying? I was pondering this recently, and I was thinking...what they're really trying to imply is simple:

  Apostates are thus accused of attempting to be cult leaders.

  Because the idea is that since they're not getting people to follow Christ, but follow themselves, then they want their 'victims'' belief system to be centered around an individual, following that person's directions. In other words, a cult.

  While of course the WT is projecting when it says this, it's an interesting thought. Christ and even God become their sock puppets for whatever the teaching is. Shunning relatives is a matter of loyalty to "God's commands" and not merely a shunning policy that is quite different from what the Bible actually says. Obeying the GB is the same as obeying Christ and accepting 'God's way of ruling'.

  Maybe I'm going out on a limb here, but to me, follow that line of thought to its logical conclusion. If the idea is to draw people away from Christ so they can follow me, then I must be running a cult.

  Personally, I don't want people following me. I want people to follow their own path. Waking up from the WT's spell is a very personal, individual path and while I don't mind helping as I have the ability (which is mostly by writing stuff on one website, which isn't exactly a lot), I know that people need to go their own way. It's the only way they'll become mature human beings instead of just dependent on someone else who may or may not be benevolent. Even if they were benevolent, it would still not help the person become mature. They have to grow by the choices they make on their own without anyone's undue influence.

  If you choose to follow Christ, I wouldn't want to hinder you. Because the goal, in my opinion, is freedom, the freedom to choose your own belief system rather than being bound by any authority to believe some particular thing. Freedom is the real treasure. It has to be spent wisely or it can seriously harm you. Whatever you do, make sure you spend it in such a way that you get a rewarding return on your investment.

  --sd-7
• 
  11

  Greetings from an anonymous convention city.

  by ctrwtf in

  1. jw
  2. friends
  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  Greetings from a not-so-anonymous convention city (see my thread on Convention Time) as well. Also, love the name, LOL!

  --sd-7
• 
  25

  How does TTATT affect your marriage??

  by Crazyguy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just wondering of those of you that have left or are fading and have married ones still in, how is it going, is there hope or is the marriage doomed?

  wondering what are the percentages.

  i'm fading fast but wife is zealous as ever and we don't talk spiritual things at all anymore.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  Well, some of that depends on who you married. For me, I'd say the relationship was irrevocably damaged by TTATT and has limped along so long as I have held onto a belief that it's only proper to honor my vows. Others have been able to get their spouses out. My wife has come to see it as a crutch and she probably feels she can't consider leaving for fear of returning to her old way of life. Thinking critically seems to frighten her.

  It becomes the elephant in the room. For her I'm not sure if she's conscious of the elephant and the fact that it bothers me a lot, or at least of how much it bothers me every second; if anything she probably hopes I'll go back someday or something.

  But for me, the way she treated me in the aftermath of it, it destroyed my love and respect for her. It's only because I'm a decent enough person to keep trying to save it all that it has survived. There's still hope of a greater peace someday. But not all that much.

  --sd-7
• 
  9

  Watchtower's fortune without any audit and given account

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the society has hit the jackpot with selling most of it's property in brooklyn, and some other prominent buildings outside the us.. so, they got an estimated $ 700 million dollar income and getting even more when they sell 124 columbia heights etc.. in total they will have then some $1 billion dollar on their bank and investment funds.. in the past questions about audit and giving account by the society about their finance, were answered "the brothers trust each other".. but now, the society has become a mayor financial player, this answer about trust is not enough anymore.. i asked my father about this and he told me "the money get a tag "world wide work and will be used only for good things, don't worry, trust them".. i told him that i don't trust them, because they act like a financial institute.

  he told me "we are getting big, it's all part of fore told the publishing work".. so, speaking with jw family and friends is allways a dead end... :(.

  .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  Where does all the money go? Is someone getting to play with all that money?

  

  --sd-7
• 
  28

  Do the WTS actually destroy all of your records if requested?

  by Thoughtless in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello, sorry for the multiple posts, but this has also been a question of mine to ask.. .

  does the wts actually destroy your files if you request them to after you get df'd?

  i honestly do not believe so, yet i feel as if you cannot call them on their bs if you do.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  sd-7

  sd-7 The scripture you quoted "he who dies has been acquitted from his sin" is talking about the former life of one who has now experienced the "new birth" in Christ.

  Well of course it doesn't mean what the WT would say it means. I was just quoting it as an example of the logic they might use to justify 'reinstating' a resurrected DF'd person. They'd probably meet with him and read that scripture and then admonish him to sin no more or something...

  --sd-7