Posts by paul from cleveland

22

Cedars versus Simon

by Calebs Airplane in

if cedars and simon had a debate about how to run a website and lady lee were the moderator, who would win this debate?.

paul from cleveland

I'm sure the Watchtower is delighted as they watch former Witnesses continually fight among themselves like this.

15

shunning and jw funerals

by man in black in

when a jw from your area dies, do you attend the visitation or funeral ?.

since i have da'ed myself, several people that i have known for years have died, and i have attended both the visitation, and or funeral.. but everytime, i have been treated like i don't even exist.

just trying to follow normal human emotions, by attending and showing my feelings to the surviving family has been alot like running into a brick wall.

My sister died about 4 years ago. She was in hospice beforehand. I went see her there. Many Witnesses were there at the time but most of them treated me like I was invisible. A few did come up to me and give me a hug. Of course they couldn't "say a greeting" so they just gave me a hug and said they were sorry about the situation. She died a few days later and I went to the "viewing". It was the same situation. Most of the Witnesses completely ignored me. A few though did speak to me briefly. It was so difficult that I didn't actually go to the funeral.

10

Are We Living In A Computer Simulation?

by metatron in

jw
friends

http://www.simulation-argument.com/

i'm supposing that the above is a serious philosophical argument.

it is difficult to argue against but also largely unfalsifiable.

paul from cleveland

I think it's possible. With the way technology advances so rapidly how could we rule it out? The "2045 Strategic Social Initiative" has as it's goal to create a holographic avatar that can upload our consciousness by the year 2045. But what if that has already happened?

If God used advanced computer simulations to show the consequences of Adams disobedience we wouldn't have to have billions of people actually suffer and die to prove his point. He could put Adam into the simulator to show him what would happen. Perhaps make him live 70 or so years, a human lifetime, in the simulator, before he ever put him in the garden. How do we know that's not what's happening?

26

If this is true then expect the GB to get even crazier!!!!

by DATA-DOG in

https://www.anointedjw.org/memorial_experiences_2013.html .

paul from cleveland

I think this trend is real and it's the reason the Faithful and Discreet Slave was changed to the Governing Body only. They want to prevent any challenge of their authority from the annointed.

43

Interesting Comment From an Active Elder

by DarioKehl in

i was recently speaking to an elder "off the record" while helping him do some house repairs.

i have a comfortable enough relationship to speak openly with him about things, but am careful to disclose the extent of my disbelief in wt doctrine.

anyway, this guy wouldn't last a day in the mafia because he can't keep anything confidential.

paul from cleveland

Thanks Bobcat, your reasoning makes perfect sense.

43

Interesting Comment From an Active Elder

by DarioKehl in

i was recently speaking to an elder "off the record" while helping him do some house repairs.

i have a comfortable enough relationship to speak openly with him about things, but am careful to disclose the extent of my disbelief in wt doctrine.

anyway, this guy wouldn't last a day in the mafia because he can't keep anything confidential.

paul from cleveland

"Jesus gave the reason for partaking as: ". . . in rememberence of me [Jesus]"
Paul put it this way: "For when you [partake] you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord . . ."
But in the Kingdom Hall, when you partake, you are proclaiming your 'hope,' that you are 'anointed and are going to heaven.
In the Bible, it is all about Jesus. In the KH it is all about the partaker."

Bobcat, I've never looked at it that way before. That makes sense!

74

Living Through the Brief Liberalization of Jehovah's Witnesses, Never Recovering

by TMS in

jw
friends

with the book crisis of conscience detailing the turbulence at bethel during the early to mid 70's, the transformation from autocratic rule to governance by committee or a body of men, many of us can speak to how that felt among the rank and file of the local congregations during those years.

we learned new concepts based in large part to research done for the aid to bible understanding volume, then we were asked or coerced into unlearning those principles, going back to the old ways.

some of us never readjusted, finding ourselves very different from our more hardline compadres.. the inertia for the changes that eventually were initiated in the congregations came from the discovery that the greek words episkopos and presbyteros were used biblically to refer to all qualified men in a congregation, not just one.

paul from cleveland

That's very interesting. Do you feel that the expectations surrounding 1975 had anything to do with this?

29

How Did You Get Rid of Your Bound Volumes?

by Eiben Scrood in

jw
friends

my town will no longer collect old books like that as trash and they're pretty hard to burn.

my solution has been to include one in every bag of used cat litter when i clean the cat boxes.

i've gotten rid of around 30 that way and i'm about halfway there.

paul from cleveland

I'm not proud of this but I'll confess. I was angry because I felt I was disfellowshipped unjustly so I took 20 years of bound volumes and ripped them to shreds. That night I took them to the Kingdom Hall and dumped them in front of the door in a big pile. I'm sure when they arrived the next day the loose pages were blowing all over the neighborhood.

51

Who Or What Influenced You The Most To Leave The Organization?

by minimus in

jw
friends

any person or situation ?.

paul from cleveland

I couldn't live up to the expectations. I felt so guilty all the time that I finally gave up. I hated God. I thought he made a standard of thought and behavior that was so high that I could never reach it.

9

HELL ain't what it use to be! Pastor in trouble for doubting it!

by Terry in

faith hell-questioning pastor rob bell says new book has led him to profound brokenness .

bell's recently-released book.. nashville, tenn. (ap) evangelical megachurch pastor rob bell said he did not anticipate the firestorm he would stir with his book that questions the traditional christian belief that a select number of believers will spend eternity in heaven while everyone else is tormented in hell.. bell said tuesday that he not only didnt set out to be controversial, he had no idea his best seller, love wins, would bring condemnation from people like southern baptist seminary president albert mohler, who claims bell is leading people astray.. the last couple of weeks have been most painful in my life, the pastor from mars hill bible church in grand rapids, mich., told a crowd of about 1,600 at nashvilles belmont university on tuesday after an audience member asked him about the criticism he has faced.

it has taken me to a place of profound brokenness.. but he said that with gods help he has been able to learn and grow from the experience.. even before the book was published last month, religious leaders and their followers were branding it heresy, hailing it as a breakthrough or landing somewhere in the middle.

paul from cleveland

interesting