It's going to shrink in on itself like a white dwarf. No supernova explosion. Just a running out of fuel, a sigh, and only a tiny flickering candle will remain. I hope it comes in my lifetime and I'm confident that it will come in my child's lifetime.
Mad Sweeney
JoinedPosts by Mad Sweeney
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19
I want to be a Jehovah's Witness again...
by TimothyT in... so i can flippin help tear it down from the inside!.
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25
So why did the organisation cause you anxiety or depression?
by TimothyT inin regards to my other post regarding attending counselling as a jw, i was wondering what it was about being a jw that caused you to be anxious, stressed or depressed?.
for me, i knew that the person i wanted to be was constantly being supressed by the wt.
there was a battle going on in my head between who i wanted to be and who they wanted me to be.
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Mad Sweeney
There is a near-constant state of cognitive dissonance, even for a relatively "happy" JW. That's got to be stressful, especially over time.
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32
Is there really any difference between disfellowshipping and disassociation?
by iamwhoiam inyou would think being disfellowshipped is like being fired from a job and being dissassociated is like quitting a job...is this the correct understanding?.
as much as i have been searching for the answer to this question in the later articles, i can't really find a concrete answer.
but being an ms and raised in "the truth", i was always brought up to feel like if someone disassociates themself, they are automatically labeled an apostate.
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32
Is there really any difference between disfellowshipping and disassociation?
by iamwhoiam inyou would think being disfellowshipped is like being fired from a job and being dissassociated is like quitting a job...is this the correct understanding?.
as much as i have been searching for the answer to this question in the later articles, i can't really find a concrete answer.
but being an ms and raised in "the truth", i was always brought up to feel like if someone disassociates themself, they are automatically labeled an apostate.
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Mad Sweeney
You ARE being blackmailed by your own parents. Your feelings are justified.
When they say, "we can't associate with you anymore," I would say, "yes you can, you will just choose not to - don't blame the organization for your decision to be unloving to your son/daughter." The JWs shun so easily because they don't have to carry the weight of guilt for being so hateful - they blame Jehovah for it and so their conscience is clear.
Like you say, they are CHOOSING belief over family, and they need to be made painfully aware that it IS a choice and THEY are making it.
It is their loss. Lots of JW parents bend the rules and interpret "necessary family business" to mean "whatever family association I DEEM necessary." If the more radical Dubs choose not to do that JUST TO SAVE THEIR OWN ASS AT ARMAGEDDON, then I call that selfish.
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31
Governing Body arrogance vs. Legal Department's pragmatism - do you think there will be a slip-up at some point?
by sir82 inthe recent & surprising developments in the uk and australia got me thinking..... the governing body of jehovah's witnesses is nothing if not arrogant.
they consider themselves "god's channel of communication", stopping just short of claiming divine inspiration.
they believe that they and they alone are the masters of "christ's belongings" and are answerable only to him.. the watchtower society's legal department carefully crafts gb decisions so as not to put the watchtower society's assets or prestige as risk.
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Mad Sweeney
Just like every elder, every Governing Body member KNOWS they are nothing special and are receiving no special insight or holy spirit. They each are betting everything on the hope that the other six guys ARE, or they believe the ridiculous concept that "as a body" they are guided by holy spirit, but not as individuals. I don't see the arrogance going too far. Legal knows how to put the scare into 'em.
That said, they're working on the declining end of the business model.
Also, as the karmic expression goes, "truth will out" and I believe that the Internet and the publicity surrounding the various legal actions against the Borg, plus the thinkers of the world getting fed up with the extremist religionists, will add up to a serious decline in the Watchtower over the next few decades. I believe it has already begun. (invisibly, of course)
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Where Is The WBTS, Inc. On This Timeline?
by metatron ina simple question.
figure out where the watchtower business is on this business lifecycle timeline (hint: notice the phrase "cost cutting").
http://www.businessmetamorphosis.com/lifecycle.html.
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Mad Sweeney
DECLINE!
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29
Amanda Knox & Raffaele Sollecito have been FREED
by dm6 ini'm not sure how many of you are interested in this or how many of you have been following it, but i have been right from when i first heard about it a few years ago.. they were each sentenced 25 years and 26 years for the murder of british student meredith mercher, but after a dramatic appeal, today, they have had their sentences overturned and have been given an immediate release, because the evidence suggesting that they were guilty was not strong enough to support that verdict.. i always thought them both to be innocent, and this is true justice for the poor girl and guy after being locked up for 4 years for somehting they did not commit, however, it does still leave an unsolved riddle.... who killed meredith mercher if not these two?.
the strange thing is, amanda knox apparently originally claimed she heard screams from meredith and hid in a different room in the house whilst it happened, but that stroy had changed to "i was never there" which is what i think too, given the facts.. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3850483/amanda-knox-is-not-guilty-of-killing-meredith-kercher.html.
what are your thoughts?.
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Mad Sweeney
If you've read "Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)" you will understand that even a confession is not really reliable because of the way police interrogations work. Certainly changing the story - especially when being interrogated in a second language - is not unexpected. I'd be more suspicious if she had everything perfectly consistent from start to end, every single time she was asked. That would be evidence that she rehearsed the story too well.
(apologies for pimping one of my favorite books. . . again and again and again; it's just that good :)
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30
Would you name your dog, Jehovah?
by african GB Member in...or are you still terrified by the mere mention of that name?.
perhaps still doubting whether he exists or not?.
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Mad Sweeney
Look at it this way, if you name your dog "Jehovah" then every time you call him, Satan and the demunz will FLEE from you! Party. Bonus.
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55
The way I see it Jesus must have had a wife at some point
by sabastious inthe jesus figure in the bible, accross almost all christian denominations, is one of redemption for humankind.
the way that jesus accomplishes that redemption, however, differs between them.
according to the gospels god, or god's son, lived a man's life and died as a man in redemption of mankind.
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Mad Sweeney
I don't think we know anything for sure about Jesus. A guy lived whose teachings were impressive to enough enthusiastic people to spawn a successful religion. We can't be certain of any of the details beyond that. The best we can hope is that the quotes attributed to him are reasonably accurate paraphrases of things the real person actually said and that the details given about his life aren't so tainted by the passage of time and the imperfect memories of witnesses that they remain reasonably described as "based on a true story."
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6
Cults: Indoctrination & Exploitation (YouTube)
by leavingwt in.
the latest youtube video by 'the thinking atheist' was devoted to the topic of cults: indoctrination & exploitation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nijytszcmd0.
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Mad Sweeney
marking