Mad Sweeney

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Posts by Mad Sweeney

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  42

  Did YOU Change In Your Personality After You Left The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we knock a lot of things about the witnesses.

  i wonder if we're really all that much different in our personalities as exjws.. .

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  Mad Sweeney

  Change in personality? Not much. To me, personality is the surface behaviors that the public sees. I act pretty much the same as ever, though I may be a little more outgoing toward people I used to consider as bird food.

  The changes in me go far deeper than personality. I was a cold and judgmental person who believed there are NO GRAY AREAS in the world. Everything could be classified as either right or wrong, Christian or unchristian, for Jehovah or against him.

  Now I know that isn't true. There are MANY gray areas and many things that are beyond my ability to classify. I found it quite disconcerting and uncomfortable at first but now I embrace it. I am mentally FREE from the Borg, not simply OUT of the Borg.
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  5

  * Some names have been changed.

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i just thought i would flag this as something i have long despised about the magazines, since long before i made the decision to distance myself emotionally from the the organization.

  this isn't a big deal or anything, and ranks way down on my list of concerns about the society, but i felt it was worth mentioning nonetheless.. as you will know, frequently in the magazines an experience will be quoted (portrayed as being real, although we are often left wondering whether it is), and in such an experience a name will be mentioned followed by an asterisk (*) which leads to a footnote which reads "some names have been changed.".

  out of interest, i went on my 2010 watchtower library and typed in "some names have been changed", and found that this footnote had been repeated no less than 69 times between 1994 and 2010 (39 times in the watchtower, and 30 times in the awake).

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  Mad Sweeney

  Wait, are you telling me there isn't a real Andre? Say it ain't so!!!
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  31

  Bizarre 'Spirit anointed' v. 'Spirit appointed' explanation in Dec 15th WT

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi everyone, i am going through the dec 15th study edition of the wt thanks to a tip-off that this issue is now available online at jw.org.. in the article "guided by god's spirit in the first century and today" on page 25 there is a bizarre argument put forward by the society about the difference between spirit-anointed and spirit-appointed.. this touches on a subject that i have often wondered about, which is this.

  why are spirit anointed brothers and sisters (memorial partakers) not given positions of oversight in the congregation by default?

  i know it sounds like a stupid question, but please think about it for a moment.

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  Mad Sweeney

  Almost every year now they release a study article that highlights the relative UNIMPORTANCE of anointed people. They reopened the door to the calling in 2007 BUT they have reduced the significance of that calling to the actual "slave" status indicated in the Bible. A local anointed person has no more authority than anyone else, and for many practical purposes much less because they are looked at askance as either mentally ill or overly proud.

  So go ahead and nibble-n-sip on Memorial night. It isn't going to get you anywhere in the Borg.
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  35

  Are you estranged from a parent or child?

  by wannabefree in

  1. social
  2. family

  anerson cooper is looking for experiences.

  maybe if enough ex-jw's sign up, producers will see a potential to look into it ...... sign up sign up.

  http://www.andersoncooper.com/be-on-the-show/209.

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  Mad Sweeney

  Bump. It would be GREAT for there to be a Dub family featured on there.
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  4

  You’ve Got Mail! TM

  by ABibleStudent in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  dont you love getting emails from friends and relatives, even if it is a chain email?

  at least someone thought about you and cared enough to send you an email.

  if you were a new convert, active jw, a jw with doubts, or an ex-jw struggling to live without jw family/friends, how would you feel about receiving one of my friendly, innocent emails?

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  Mad Sweeney

  I like sending a positive message about Christ's selection of the Watchtower in 1918-19 along with a .pdf version of "The Finished Mystery" (THE book they were studying during that period and the only book published during that time).
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  69

  Dec 15 2011 WT: We don't care if you have a f***ing BRAIN TUMOR get your a$$ out in service!!

  by baltar447 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  oh dear sweet jeebus:.

  i enjoy making return visits and helping out on bible studies.

  on my better days, i like to witness from house to house.barbara, who has a brain tumor.. i carry only a very light magazine bag.

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  Mad Sweeney

  You make an interesting point about Galatians, Timothy. It seems like that is one of the books they try not to focus on very much. Search the following words in the WT Library CD-ROM and get some interesting results. Even the old testament prophets are referred to more than Galatians.

  Galatians 323

  Ephesians 495

  Malachi 750

  Joel 755

  Hebrews 1543

  Matthew 1961

  Revelation 4185
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  34

  Fallout from the apostate-bashing WT article?

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've noticed there are a few excellent threads on here about sunday's 9/11 watchtower study.

  my own analysis of its more blatantly farcical claims (including that of apostates being "mentally diseased") can be seen here.. what i really wanted to know is - what has the fallout been?

  has it created any horror-stories within people's families or homes, etc?

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  Mad Sweeney

  I agree wannabefree, but I think they're also torn about it somewhat.

  Fewer but more faithful followers are much easier to manage and takes a load off the GB and Branch officials.

  At the same time this is an organization bent on showing growth numbers. They have changed the very way they count people for the SOLE PURPOSE of keeping the illusion of growth in the western world. Also, they must fear that fewer members means fewer dollars donated (Their solace in this is that those who leave probably didn't donate much anyway and those who stay can be coerced into donating more.).

  My question is whether the slowing growth and/or purging is intentional or a by-product of simple hardcore religious lunacy.
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  33

  Dec 15 2011 WT: playing school sports equated with cheating on taxes & lying - wtf?

  by baltar447 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here it is in p14 of the article "is he a good example for you or a warning?".

  14 will we let solomons course be a warning example for us?

  a sister might attempt to rationalize forming a romantic link that ignores gods directive to marry only in the lord.

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  Mad Sweeney

  So some JW kid who wants to be in the Math club or Physics club is in the same boat with Joe Hoover as the lying tax-cheat?

  W

  T

  F

  ??!?!?!?!?!?
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  29

  Cities On Moon?

  by metatron in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  see:.

  http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1091/566/nasa_whistleblower:_alien_moon_cities_exist.html.

  there are so many people with rank and deep experience in government coming forward with these sort of stories, it is hard to believe that the media ignores it and the world goes on as if we were all alone in the cosmos.. metatron.

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  Mad Sweeney

  Now at some point, perhaps as soon as my grandchildren's lifetime, there may well be colonies of some sort on the moon. But if the economy goes as it has been going they will be headed up, not by NASA or the ESA, but by China or India. Personally, I think that's great because then when we go up there to visit we can get Chinese and Indian food.
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  19

  WRM: Watchtower Resistance Movement

  by ekruks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when france was invaded by the nazis, they established what was called the french resistance, which attacked the nazis.

  the cause was to fight evil, so it was called a guerilla movement.

  in each town, rebels would meet together secretly and sabotage the nazis, doing things such as blowing up railway lines, though they didn't attack civilians who were oppressed.. i don't see for us to fight the individuals in the organisation, because many of them are just misled, confused, brainwashed.

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  Mad Sweeney

  While I would LOVE to see a documentary film about the life of Ray Franz, I think it is pretty well-known in the ex-JW community that Ray likely would have opposed it (the guy was actually TOO humble, IMO, if there is such a thing). Knowing Ray's views on his own publicity, his closest friends aren't likely to go on film and regale us with anecdotes about the man, unfortunately.

  I hope I'm wrong about that but it's kind of how I see it right now.

  Mr.Monroe, those sorts of experiences like you relate are far too common. There's a big difference between OUT and FREE.