garyneal

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Posts by garyneal

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  73

  Bitter apostates

  by Laika in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  witnesses often go on about apostates being spiteful and bitter.

  when you get cut off, shunned, or threatened with shunning just for the audacity of thinking differently, it's not surprising that getting angry at the witnesses is the reaction - it's like a self fulfilling prophecy.. but also, i recently posted an email from a 'friend' on this board who told me that everyone he'd spoken to about me said i had changed, become like another person.

  it didn't occur to him that the day before i told my parents i'd quit the religion just 3 weeks ago, i met him for lunch, we had a good time and he didn't know anything was up.

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  garyneal

  Do Mormons call their religion 'the truth' as well? The mormons in that video kept using that phrase.

  I don't know if they use that phrase but the video sure did repeat it very often.
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  73

  Bitter apostates

  by Laika in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  witnesses often go on about apostates being spiteful and bitter.

  when you get cut off, shunned, or threatened with shunning just for the audacity of thinking differently, it's not surprising that getting angry at the witnesses is the reaction - it's like a self fulfilling prophecy.. but also, i recently posted an email from a 'friend' on this board who told me that everyone he'd spoken to about me said i had changed, become like another person.

  it didn't occur to him that the day before i told my parents i'd quit the religion just 3 weeks ago, i met him for lunch, we had a good time and he didn't know anything was up.

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  garyneal

  Gee, this looked somewhat like the Faith in Action DVD.

  http://youtu.be/1mnig_E6KtM

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1mnig_E6KtM
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  15

  "Are the Jehovah’s Witnesses onto something?" - re: blood transfusions - Montreal Gazette

  by Incognito in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i haven't seen anything posted about this but here is a link to a july 12/13 montreal gazette article entitled: .

  too much blood: researchers fear the gift of life may sometimes endanger itthe title of this thread was taken directly from the article.. http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/much+blood+researchers+fear+gift+life+sometimes+endanger/8652224/story.html.

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  garyneal

  In cases of massive “bleed outs” from trauma or hemorrhage, or for patients with leukemia or other cancers, blood transfusions can be lifesaving.

  At the same time, experts say there is remarkably little evidence to show which patients — short of those suddenly losing large amounts of blood — actually benefit from blood transfusions.

  These are the points that doctors do not agree with witnesses on and where I would have to draw the line myself. I'm all for any medical advances that allow for less blood to be used during surgery but if a large sudden loss were to occur, there is no substitute for a transfusion. Yes, true, I've heard of blood expanders but they miss the key ingredient that carries oxygen.

  Now, some contradictions in their doctrine. Blood fractions are fine but no witness is allowed to give blood so that its fractions can be used for other recipients. Blood recapturing is fine but autologous blood transfusions are not (it must be poured on to the ground).
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  40

  Now that I am out, which bible should i read? Feeling free at last!

  by Freethinking76 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so, now that i am out for good, which bible should i read?

  there is no way i will read the wt one..so i still want to have a relationship with god but don't know how to choose a bible.

  it is very hard to dewired yourself and ,sometimes i feel that i don't have a relationship with him.the what ifs come and go still.last night i was up all night reading and researching , can't shake off the shock still to know ttatt.

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  garyneal

  Paul Blizzard shared on his website that he and his wife studied a New American Standard translation in secret while he was a witness.

  I was taught that the King James Version was the most accurate translation when I was an IFB. An assertion that I later found to be false.

  Truth is, there is no ONE translation that is the most accurate but I myself have found that I preferred the latest NIV version and The Message Bible.
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  35

  what i have realized studying JWs,the bitter truth

  by spirituk in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well, i have been studying jws religion ,my cousin is a jw and i have visited him a lot of times.i have watched his way of living and things like that.i have been at the district convention last week.i read so many things from both sides.i came to the conclusion that if someone believes god exists then it is so easy and he should be a jehovah's witness.sadly its true and that is why so many people are and every year they baptised even more.. stories about jws reducing?wrong.. facing problems?

  false.. everybody in the convention had an ipad ,iphones etc with the bible in it.

  + wifi .

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  garyneal

  spirituk:

  Plenty of rebuttals but I will add my take as a fellow outsider and relate it to my own religious experiences.

  Yes, they do look happy and blissful. They boast about having one faith worldwide as opposed to all those different churches disagreeing about every little piece of doctrine. They boast about how a witness family can find themselves alone in a distant location and instantly call upon help of a brother in the faith for help thanks to the worldwide brotherhood. They truly study their Bible more than I am use to seeing in other churches. They seem to take a more intellectual approach to the Bible than most churches which usually caters to the emotional aspect of humanity. They even get some things right that most churches get wrong, like Christmas and birthdays.

  Trust me, I was nearly convinced myself but I was still skeptical because I noticed some parallels between them and my old IFB church that I had personally debunked long before I married my witness wife and began attending their meetings.

  • They believe that they are the only true church teaching the only true teachings and having the only correct interpretation of the Bible.
  • They each believe that their preferred Bible is the most accurate translation.
  • They each have a laundry list of rules that seem ever expanding that their adherents must follow in order to have the right standing with God.
  • They each have come out with contradictory rules that are best interpreted as exceptions to the rules but only for certain people.
  • They each have had to rescind old rules or teachings that have been proven wrong beyond all reasonable doubt.
  • They each outlaw seemingly innocous things such as the smurfs, the telly tubbies, Captian Planet, Super Why, and Sparlock.

  The result is that many adherrents either get frustrated and depressed trying to follow all the rules in order to please God (like I did when I was an IFB) or you have people basically calling out specs in others while ignoring beams in themselves.

  Furthermore, the main advantages that they have can be found in varying degress in other churches or even secular groups so in the end I saw no benefit to being a witness except to end up living like my wife. She lives a double life big time but not the kind of double life most religious people live (like smoking or drinking on the sly for example). No, she is not allowed to share with her religious friends that she sees little wrong with celebrating most holidays or birthdays and cannot share what college she is attending to earn her master's degree. How silly is that?
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  24

  Black or white what Racial Discrimination have you experienced?

  by usualusername in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i could give you hundreds of experiences but let me kick off with the following.

  i boarded a train at 4am heading to an airport a few weeks ago.

  in my carriage there were at least 100 people.. .

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  garyneal

  My wife and I would get the occasional flack from other people because we were interracial. They would never do anything directly to us but it was obviously. The source of the flack would be from both whites and blacks.

  I recall working in the IT department as a computer operator and the boss insisted on hiring a helper for me because most of our staff was white (with one asian / white). Every person they hired was black and most of them would not last long but everytime the next person left the boss would insist on hiring another helper even though the workload did not require it. On the plus side, they did hire a competent up and coming individual who I became great friends with even after he and I left the company.

  This situation was repeated when our HR person pointed out explicitely that the engineering department was made up of mostly white males and something needed to be done about it. They hired one intern and one full time person (both black). The intern did a decent job but the full time person was totally incompetent and knew nothing about programming inspite of his resume stating that he had years of experience doing software development work. Of course, he had no trouble finding another position elsewhere because if you are a black or woman engineer, companies work extra hard at hiring and retaining you.
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  18

  Kafka would appreciate this --getting off the grid.

  by Glander in

  1. social
  2. current

  in arizona there is a utility district that is proposing to raise nightime elec.

  rates on customers who have installed solar systems!.

  gonna getcha one way or the other..

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  garyneal

  LisaRose,

  Where I live at we are also using less water and the city is trying to find ways to recoup the losses. Like WTF!
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  18

  Kafka would appreciate this --getting off the grid.

  by Glander in

  1. social
  2. current

  in arizona there is a utility district that is proposing to raise nightime elec.

  rates on customers who have installed solar systems!.

  gonna getcha one way or the other..

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  garyneal

  In my old hometown, its biggest employee shut down its plant years ago. The result? The city raises electricity rates on all its residents to cover the lost income from the now defunct fabric mill. Nice one, raise the cost of electricity on the citizens who are mostly out of work or underemployed at the Walmart or some restaurant.
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  23

  Billy asks for your prayers...

  by Billy the Ex-Bethelite in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if any of you still believe in god(s), please pray to him/her/them and ask that she/he/they send(s) bad enough weather to my area to hinder travel, but not cut off power.. is that request too weird for this forum?.

  someday i'll share more details.

  peace, love, brotherhood..

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  garyneal

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U4lUhHFutE
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  28

  Why do you blame Jehovah's Witnesses for false predictions ?

  by Phizzy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when you read the pseudapigraphical 2nd peter chapter 3 and other nt writings about the parousia and how close it is, or why it hasn't happened yet, why is it a surprise that the wt/jw's get it wrong all the time ?.

  if those early chrisitian writers could make totally false claims, and yet their words are supposed to be "inspired of god", why is it so wrong that the wt/jw's do the same ?.

  cut 'em some slack fellers, the wt may be false prophets, over and over, but they are in good company..

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  garyneal

  When you read the pseudapigraphical 2nd Peter chapter 3 and other NT writings about the parousia and how close it is, or why it hasn't happened yet, why is it a surprise that the WT/JW's get it wrong all the time ?

  If those early Chrisitian writers could make totally false claims, and yet their words are supposed to be "inspired of God", why is it so wrong that the WT/JW's do the same ?

  Cut 'em some slack fellers, the WT may be false prophets, over and over, but they are in good company.

  Indeed they are in good company. Jack Van Impe Ministries made the mistake of getting too carried away in tying current events to Bible prophesy and make a prediction of when the tribulation will begin (somewhere around 1998). The Millerites, the Adventists, Ellen G White, Harold Camping, and many many others.

  The main problem I see with the witnesses is that they are so quick to condemn other people's religious beliefs while hiding behind "human error" to justify their own blunders. You can't have it both ways. I told Brother Hero during our study that I believed that when it came to 'accurate teachings' concerning God and Christ that I believed NONE of the churches really had it 100% correct. My point was why bicker and fight the way we do and have the Christian religion split into some 40,000 schisms?

  My experience with the IFB's taught me early on to doubt any church that claims to have the 'true teachings.' This experience caused me to never fully accept the witnesses claims to teach TRUTH. Their failed predictions simply validate my stand.