i don't know how this happened and how they met, but a relative, a jw elder and my old po talked about us leaving the wts.
(he said this to my wife).
they reasoned, how could someone, who was a pioneer, bethelite, worked at the rbc, district and circuit level, taught at the pioneer school, helped dozens to baptism, suddenly and inexplicably, leave jehovah's organization?.
...old cars had Jehovah's wall of invisible protection that even the most die harded, car loving demon couldn't penetrate.
Car-loving demons prefer impractical sports cars with teeny back seats and hardly any room in the trunk for literature, nothing you'd want to use for field service. No self-respecting demon would want to posess a sensible four-door station wagon.
.
.
i'm one of the few jws that freely admit our faults and mistakes.. let's compare notes!.
('Hellfire'- a non-biblical word")
Oh, really? Let's try that search with a space between the words...
Matt 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire
Matt 18:9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire
Mark 9:47 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire
disclaimer - i have left behind all the jw and other religious speculation on this and am now a non-religious scientific thinker on the subject.. so, for me - earth is the planet we live on.
both earth and all of us have a finite lifetime - and it is up to us now what we do with both.. but, as a question for exjws like myself: much is made in the jw theology of an eternal "paradise" earth.
putting aside how much scientific nonsense that may be:.
Here are some Gospel passages used to refute the eternal earth doctrine (granted, the passage from John depends on the ambiguous word "world" meaning this planet instead of a more abstract concept, but the other three clearly say "heaven and earth"--interestingly, these also imply "heaven" is not an eternal place, either...)
Matt 24:35, Mark 13:31 and Luke 21:33 all contain this passage:
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
John 18:36
Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.
if scientology has narcanon, and it has gotten people off drugs (although that 85% sucess rate they say they have is suspect), and becoming a jw sorta forces you into line, would it make sense to leave someone in if they were helping them?
if you knew somebody was a drunk, sex addict, drug addict, what have you, and they were studying, and it appeared that they were actually being helped (albeit by twisted means) would you leave them be?
like, if uncle jim was a fall down drunk that ran around on his wife, then someone introduced him to the wts, and it all stopped, would you still try and expose the cult even if they were actually helping and it was working?.
For this kind of situation, addiction recovery, there are other sources of help without the bad side-effects. Recovering from addiction does not have to mean throwing away your own personality, nor must it involve replacing substance addicition with addiction to a high-control organization.
Also like a substance addiction, there's no point trying to "clean up" Watchtower addiction until the addicts themselves decide to kick the habit. If you force that change on them, resentment and relapse to an even deeper state of dependancy are likely consequences. I wouldn't call it "benefitting" from being in a cult, it's more a choice of the lesser of two evils when removing them from the cult would do further harm.
surprised me that he actually followed up on his word and called .
it will be strange after four yrs.
to have them in our house .my husband was not happy to hear it will be two brothers coming over, because he really does not want to feel we are being counseled .
Well done, Troubled Mind and spouse! You were honest without being mean, didn't fall for the guilt they tried to lay on you, and in general didn't let them follow their prepared script.
I hope none of the gun-cleaning solvent splashed into their kool-aid!
ok, as i promised i put up the left foot braking idea up as a thread in the driver education section of my ferrari web site.. although it died here, (and i could not find it to add this), it has lived for at least a couple of weeks over there (40 posts now).. the concensus is just about 20 to 1 that left foot braking is perfectly acceptable with an automatic on the public road - if the driver makes the effort to learn how to do it well.
((does not drag brakes, over use brakes, etc.)).
interestingly, over a dozen posters there have the paddle shift manu-matics in their cars and race them in amateur events.
Here's what I told my kid during that (gulp!) First Driving Lesson: If you get in the habit of left-foot braking, you will have to un-learn it when you drive a car with a clutch pedal. Imagine a habitual left-footer haking to make a sudden stop in a car with a clutch...OH NO--NO BRAKES!...and the time it takes to realize the mistake and push the middle pedal can be the difference between a close call and a crash.
this is going around the internet.
enjoy.. "on her radio show, dr. laura schlensinger (a popular conservatve radio talk-show host) said that homosexuality is an abomination according to the bible leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.
the following is an open letter to dr. laura, penned by james m. kauffman, ed.d.. dear dr. laura:.
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
After playing thou shall bathe thy body and cleanse thy uniform. Wait upon sundown, then thou shall be clean. But if thou goest directly from thy game without partaking of the shower room ritual, thou shalt not be clean.
i'm getting coffee at the 7-11 about 8:30 this morning , in the parking lot i see this guy i know and his wife talking to some jw's in the parking lot.
i go over and say hi joe and wife, i play stupid and ask do you go to church with these people.
they say no they are preaching jesus to us.
Another way, less adverserial, is to ask them: What is the most important scripture in Watchtower Theology?
Ans. Matthew 24: 45 --47.
Then follow up by continuing to read the rest of that chapter, to put those verses into their proper context: Matthew 24:48-51. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!
Hard to top that, Troubled Mind!
See your PMs
some of you may have read my jw ex-wife's e-mail to my son last night after i posted it.
this is my son's e-mail response to his mothers initial e-mail.
i think i'll just let this speak for itself.
" Be a rebel dare to love ! "
He said it all in that one line of his song. He's a young man to be proud of, Flipper!
