Posts by paul from cleveland

77

Did you KNOW Ray and Cynthia or the legal copyright holder? Only a few maybe had limited contact.

by blondie in

jw
friends

i have known all of them over the last 15 years, talked at length with them, and knew what their wishes were, the copyright holder and spouse spent even more time with them socially and helping them set up their arrangements for when ray and cynthia passed.

i don't believe that anyone else on this board or others was a confidant.

there is no need to prove it to anyone but the copyright office which is satisfied with this.

paul from cleveland

Unfortunately the ship has sailed a long time ago and this storm exists only in our little teacup.

54

"Even if it isn't the truth, it's still the best way to live"

by Simon in

have you heard that old chestnut?

i have.. typically it's the last resort when you have dismantled a jws beliefs and they have no way of defending them.

they know they are beat so they come out with that one.. its effectively an admission that you are right and they have no argument but they are still going to attend meetings because they like the social club.. what a lame way to defend your faith..

paul from cleveland

"Even if it isn't the truth, it's still the best way to live"

People just say this when they don't want to continue the conversation. They don't really think it's not the truth. They know your mind is made up and any further discussion is pointless. It's just a less confrontational way of saying "I'm done with this conversation".

66

New Light: Clap when it is given a Reinstatement ad

by TheTruthBR in

jw
friends

a new letter was posted in jw.org to the elders who are under the brazilian branch:.

january 25, 2016to all bodies of eldersref .

: clap when given a readmission addear brothers:we would like to inform you about a recent adjustment.

paul from cleveland

No one can see how ridiculous this is because we were conditioned not to trust our own ability to reason. I remember when I started to see things for what they were it felt like I was awakening some sort of sleep.

36

Revealing Watchtower tax returns

by Nambo in

please excuse if this has already been posted:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysyqish-l_e.

under the freedom of information act, this guy has tax returns showing where your money goes, where it is invested, companies like northrop gruman, monsanto, cigarette and porn peddlers, and we thought we where giving money to god!

i am quite sickened to discover i was giving money to the watchtower to invest in arms manufacturers..

paul from cleveland

It's still tainted money whether the Watchtower made the investments themselves or someone else did it for them. They're like a drug dealer's wife. As long as the money is coming in they're not going to ask any questions. It's the same principle as money laundering. Somehow the money is all clean since someone else is doing the dirty work and they have "no choice" of course but accept the arrangement. Politicians turn down donations from questionable sources all the time. They can too if they are truly 'relying upon Jehovah and not their own understanding' as they say they are.

36

Revealing Watchtower tax returns

by Nambo in

please excuse if this has already been posted:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysyqish-l_e.

under the freedom of information act, this guy has tax returns showing where your money goes, where it is invested, companies like northrop gruman, monsanto, cigarette and porn peddlers, and we thought we where giving money to god!

i am quite sickened to discover i was giving money to the watchtower to invest in arms manufacturers..

paul from cleveland

I can't accept that Jehovah, God of the Universe, has no choice but to finance his organization through the world's Military Industrial Complex because Mrs. O'Reilly said so.

36

Revealing Watchtower tax returns

by Nambo in

please excuse if this has already been posted:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysyqish-l_e.

under the freedom of information act, this guy has tax returns showing where your money goes, where it is invested, companies like northrop gruman, monsanto, cigarette and porn peddlers, and we thought we where giving money to god!

i am quite sickened to discover i was giving money to the watchtower to invest in arms manufacturers..

paul from cleveland

By continuing to accept profits from this arrangement they are giving these investments their tacit approval. I don't buy the 'they have no control over it' argument. They could easily say something like: "Dear Sister O'Rielly, we so appreciate that you'd like to donate your fortune to Jehovah's organization however this arrangement is unacceptable. If you'd be willing to liquidate these assets and donate the funds we'd gladly accept. We need to avoid even the appearance of impropriety."

29

I was ashamed

by Happeanna in

jw
friends

i was once a person who believed in god destroying 7 billion people so a few people could live in paradise.. when the penny finally dropped and i realised what as a jehovah's witnesses i was really praying for , it made me feel sick.

what is attractive about a person that prays for this world to end .

i was ashamed to have been a witness deeply ashamed .

paul from cleveland

When I was "in" I never felt "good enough" to be included among those that would be saved. I was never able to "put on the new personality" to the extent that I felt that I deserved to be saved. I tried to make up for my shortcomings by doing more. Enough was never enough of course. I thought "putting on the new personality" wasn't possible without Jehovah's spirit since what I needed was the 'fruitage of the spirit' [love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self control] So, if I did't have it there was nothing I could do to get it myself. For that reason, I thought Jehovah was withholding his spirit because he 'just didn't want me in the new system' for some reason. He was rejecting my sacrifice like he did Cain. [my favorite bible character] Finally I gave up trying to please him.

Regarding your shame, remember, you were deceived. It wasn't your fault.

Now, I'm deciding for myself what is right and wrong (I know, just like Adam). My goal is to live a life aligned with my own values. Always try to do the right thing and behave in a way so I respect myself. I'm no longer worried as much about what 'god' thinks of me as I am of what I think of myself. How do I behave when no one is watching? Well, there is never a time when no one is watching because I'm watching myself. I see everything I do. Seeing myself act in a way that doesn't align with the person I want to be damages my view of myself.

If it turns out that there is some 'god' outside of me and I am "wrong" (as an elder once told me), I'm learning to accept that that's okay. Whatever happens has to be okay because I have no say in the matter. I explained this to an elder's wife not too long ago and she said something like 'So you'll just be asleep forever' or 'So you don't want to live forever and want to be asleep forever' (something like that, I can only remember the thought not the exact words). I told her that I'll accept whatever Jehovah decides to do with me because I have a clean conscience. If he wants me dead forever I'm sure that's the best decision so I'm okay with it.

44

Proof the earth can be flat

by slimboyfat in

"our perception of reality has more to do with what is going on in here (our brain) than what's going on out there (in the world).".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03g221y.

is it a dark square or a light square?

paul from cleveland

Yes, years ago, I read a book on string theory that explained the holographic principle. According to this theory not only the earth but everything else is flat as the universe is two dimensional. The third dimension is just a perception we create in our mind.

46

Starlight in a Young Universe

by Perry in

the scientific method begins with a faith statement called a hypothesis, and then goes on to look for evidence, for or against support of the faith statement.. secular materialists often change their ideas on exactly how things have made themselves, but never whether they did.. the manifesto for this self imposed mental ban seems to be summed up by geneticist richard lewontin:.

‘our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural.

we take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism.. it is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.

paul from cleveland

Perry, thank you for sharing. I found that very interesting.

475

What is the alternative to JW?

by Formerbrother in

i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

the the bible is word?

paul from cleveland

Dear Formerbrother, I truly hear you. I'm continually in the process of letting go. Accepting that it's okay not to know. As long as we're trying to be the best that we can be that's all that we can do.