Posts by sd-7

14

I just finished The Silmarillion. Any suggestions on next Tolkien to read?

by sd-7 in

i've read 'the hobbit', 'the lord of the rings' (including the appendices, well, except the shire calendar and elvish language), and 'the silmarillion'.

i was really impressed with 'silmarillion'.

almost seems like it could be a movie in itself.

sd-7

Big tolkien fan here till I got married and my wife made me throw out my LOTR series books because it had magic in them.

Indeed. I have done my best to carefully hide any LOTR-related books for fear of a similar outcome. Of course, I've already done my share of throwing books away in this marriage. I don't think I'll be doing that again. Once they get you to make one change, they've already gotten you to make ten.

It's pretty deep and kinda dry, much of it was over my head at the time.

You missed out on some really great stories if you haven't read the whole thing before. There were some parts that were kind of hard to read through, but I mostly enjoyed it. But hey, it's not for everyone.

Lost Tales of Middle Earth, they have a Silmarillion quality to them, and I guess they flesh out a lot of stuff from Silmarillion.

Okay. I was wondering if they have any of those cool speeches from Saruman (or should I say Curunir?) in them that were in the movie, or if that was just added in. "To waaaar!"

--sd-7

27

The totally BOGUS idea of CERTAINTY inside the Watchtower religion

by Terry in

i'm going to ask a question and it is a very simple question.

think about it before you answer.

are you ready?.

sd-7

I like this thread. It's amazing how much certainty people have that Jesus is invisibly present. Under most normal circumstances, if someone tells you their buddy is invisibly present, and certainly if they tell you said buddy died 2,000 years ago...you'd think you would want more evidence that he's present than someone's forceful assertion.

I mean, really. What makes this particular invisible presence more relevant than the last 2,000 years of invisible activities going on? Yeah, but, but this time it's different! I'm sure the Millerites felt the same way!

Making me think of 'When Prophecy Fails'--it's a prime example of, even when what they thought was going to happen didn't happen, rather than actually, fully recognizing that, they just come up with something new to be 'certain' about and ignore the apparent conflicts with reality.

--sd-7

14

I just finished The Silmarillion. Any suggestions on next Tolkien to read?

by sd-7 in

i've read 'the hobbit', 'the lord of the rings' (including the appendices, well, except the shire calendar and elvish language), and 'the silmarillion'.

i was really impressed with 'silmarillion'.

almost seems like it could be a movie in itself.

sd-7

Fine. I'll move it back to the top, but not without some frivolity thrown in.

"Evidently, Melkor, who wickedly defied Manwe and Illuvatar, prefigured modern-day apostates. Rather than establishing their own apostate organization--if, indeed they are capable of organizing--apostates prefer merely to spread lies and corrupt Jehovah's clean organization. They manufacture bizarre, inaccurate copies of the reality in their unclean publications, spreading their disloyal lies like gangrene, but never accomplishing anything more than leading people away from the truth and into falsehood, doubt, and oftentimes even immorality and atheism! They are incapable of providing 'food at the proper time', so they spend countless hours murmuring about the fine spiritual food Jehovah has given us and deceitfully blaspheming those Jehovah has appointed to take the lead. Just as the Valar amassed their armies and vanquished Melkor, casting him into the outer darkness, so Jehovah will, along with his Anointed Son, Jesus Christ, cast all wicked apostates into the outer darkness where they will gnash their teeth."

--sd-7

18

Good Signs from my wife? maybe? She wants to improve her thinking ability!

by thecrushed in

jw
friends

so after the memorial hell http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/249700/1/memorial-hell my wife totally missed the special talk and i only just realized from jwn that she has.

in fact last sunday i took her out to a park and we had nice time in the fresh air enjoying nature.

also she has taken up improving her congnitive skills on luminosity and today said she might actaully go and study some algebra on khan academy which i had suggested instead of spending money on luminosity.

sd-7

I don't know what you mean about the paranoia?? Anyway you said one doesn't just wake up to TTATT but I DID! ???

I was referring to my own paranoia, about the notion of anyone's spouse waking up. I tend to be extremely skeptical because I got ratted out by my wife, who at first pretended to believe me, then sold me up the river at the first opportunity. And then made sure she got a receipt. I meant to say I'm a bit biased in the wrong direction in this case.

I was just doing the Boromir meme thing, but I didn't feel like Googling Boromir and including a meme for it. But you're right, people do simply wake up to TTATT. I was just feeling a bit like my brand of humor, that's all. It's mainly that one does not simply walk into Mordor, which, come to think of it, apparently Boromir was wrong about that, too!

--sd-7

18

Good Signs from my wife? maybe? She wants to improve her thinking ability!

by thecrushed in

jw
friends

so after the memorial hell http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/249700/1/memorial-hell my wife totally missed the special talk and i only just realized from jwn that she has.

in fact last sunday i took her out to a park and we had nice time in the fresh air enjoying nature.

also she has taken up improving her congnitive skills on luminosity and today said she might actaully go and study some algebra on khan academy which i had suggested instead of spending money on luminosity.

sd-7

Well, I'm probably not the one you want to hear from on this, what with the paranoia and all, but I'd say, just encourage her to pursue whatever intellectual pursuit comes to mind. That could be the beginning of something, or it could be wishful thinking on your part. I tend to go with wishful thinking when it comes to the notion of one's spouse waking up. One does not simply wake up to TTATT.

--sd-7

9

Is there a mole in WT headquarters doing the writing too?

by never a jw in

i apologize if a thread for this has been created already.

i found the following in the awake may 2013, page 13. earlier, in 607 b.c.e., babylonian armies razed jerusalem.

and led most of the survivors into exile.

sd-7

How long would the Jews be held?

Uh, guys? After they've been released from captivity, they're no longer being held. So captivity can't continue just because they took awhile to get home. It's a case of bending reality to fit your opinion. What's new? If readers wrote in about this, either they can expect to be referred to the Oct/Nov '11 WT series about Jerusalem's destruction or they can expect a visit from 2-3 elders. So...it gives them a LOT of room for error.

It's not a mole, it's just doublethink.

--sd-7

14

I just finished The Silmarillion. Any suggestions on next Tolkien to read?

by sd-7 in

i've read 'the hobbit', 'the lord of the rings' (including the appendices, well, except the shire calendar and elvish language), and 'the silmarillion'.

i was really impressed with 'silmarillion'.

almost seems like it could be a movie in itself.

sd-7

I've read 'The Hobbit', 'The Lord of the Rings' (including the Appendices, well, except the Shire calendar and Elvish language), and 'The Silmarillion'. I was really impressed with 'Silmarillion'. Almost seems like it could be a movie in itself. That story of Beren and Luthien had me on the edge of my seat! Some interesting insights on so many things that I'd read in the other books and didn't fully understand.

I'm thinking I'd very much like to read 'The Children of Hurin' next. The story of Turin Turambar seemed like a really tragic one, but I think I want to see if there are more details on it than what's in 'Silmarillion'. The only part of the story that was particularly hard to read through was the geography discussion. I must've looked crazy on the bus, staring at this map of Middle-Earth trying to figure out what they were talking about. Seemed like wherever the Men came from, and wherever Angband was, couldn't find it on the map. Is there a map of Numenor? Guess I should look it up, huh?

Anyway, any suggestions on what are some good books about Middle-Earth that I could check out next? I know there's The History of Middle Earth, The Lost Tales, Bilbo's Last Song, stuff like that...just not sure where it all fits. Or if it's worth a read. Kind of a nice escape. I'll probably get 'Children of Hurin' today if I have time, but...just wanted some thoughts from whoever may be a Tolkien fan out there.

--sd-7

8

NWT bible is wonderful (quotes)

by RayPublisher in

someone on the jw lovers kool aid site jw talk.

net posted how wonderful the nwt bible is and put this list of all the scholars that love it.

my recollection is that many of these were taken out of context anyone here up on this one?.

sd-7

Jason BeDuhn: "While it is difficult to quantify this sort of analysis, it can be said the NW[T] emerges as the most accurate of the translations compared."
-Greek Scholar in his book: "Truth in Translation: Accuracy and Bias in English Translations of the New Testament"

BeDuhn does praise the NWT, but he also devotes an Appendix to trashing it for its use of "Jehovah" in the New Testament. I did a thread on this after I bought his book years ago:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/183868/1/Bearing-Thorough-Witness-book-and-Jason-David-BeDuhn-quotes

--sd-7

75

Anyone here been Dfd for 'apostacy'?

by Julia Orwell in

just wanna know.

i'm doing the fade but i reckon my big mouth could get me dfd.

i know plenty who've been dfd for fornication/adultery, but never met one dfd for speaking the truth.

sd-7

I checked to see if I'd ever commented on this one, and didn't notice a doormat, so...

Yeah, I was, though I prefer the term 'expelled'. It was a bundle charge, since I was guilty of fornication as well, but they spent very little time discussing the fornication, perhaps since I'd already been married for a couple of months by that time. The majority of the time was spent on the 'apostasy' charge. Wait, there are links that can say what I'm trying to say, if you've never read my Borg court record before:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/189048/1/Borg-court-1st-session

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/189524/1/Borg-court-2nd-session

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/189607/1/Borg-court-3rd-session-verdict

Favorite moments: One elder said "I could care less about 1914!" And...they wanted to know the name of a non-JW I'd had sex with, for no reason they were willing to explain. But hey, it was loads o' fun. You should see how well things went after that!

--sd-7

45

The CO 'encourages' Julia to meet with THREE elders- the latest episode in the best-selling drama, The Fade of Julia Orwell.

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

it was yesterday morning and hubby and i were having a huge sleep in.

it was just after ten, and with me being a bit flu-ey i was quite capable of staying in bed longer.

hubby was feeling it too, and we were pleasantly drifting in and out to the sounds of birds.. then suddenly, cloomp, cloomp, cloomp up the front stairs, then "rap-rap-rap" on the front screen door, that rapid-fire, strong knock of the practiced door-knocker.

sd-7

Clever, indeed. Pretty much no JW is actually going to excuse themselves if you tell them you're sick--it's just not in them, especially when blood's in the water.

But the other thing is, he doesn't even have to actually be in the committee himself, he could just set it up himself and make it appear that he was going to be meeting with you. Probably that would be weird, but not impossible.

Definitely broke protocol by coming alone. Especially if he thought something was up--but then they've already got the witnesses they need, they just want to press the charges. Steve Hassan definitely mentions the JWs pretty strongly in his last two books, so liking him on Facebook...could be problematic, but to me that could only be so if your accusers had 'guilty knowledge' themselves.

I'm impressed with how you handled it, but as horrible as it was, I'm glad I at least got to see a judicial committee from the inside so that I knew with finality why I would never want to go back. It's just even after that, they still didn't leave me alone entirely. Showed up unannounced at my door and the Mrs. Stool Pigeon, ahem, Mrs. sd-7, I mean, let them in.

I feel for you, though. I remember that pain quite well, even three years later, it still seems so fresh. At this point, I think you need to get out. I hope you'll be free of this crap soon. At least you've got a partner who has your back, so thank Black Jesus for that!

--sd-7