Posts by brizzzy

14

JW's view of apostates who die while "out"

by highdose in

jw
friends

i wittnessed in my time several woe filled jw's apon hearing that one of their former members had died while out or the "turth".

the typical reaction was " we can only pray to jehovah that their heart condition was right at the end".

wtf!

brizzzy

...Human emotions today might make this a difficult conclusion to accept. But it is to be noted that nowhere does the Bible say that God’s resurrecting the faithful means restoring their marital status. Hence, no one believes that if Aquila and Priscilla have gained life in heaven, they have resumed their marriage. (Acts 18:2) And Joseph and Mary will evidently live in different realms—he on earth and she in heaven. (John 19:26; Acts 1:13, 14) Since none of us have lived in heaven, we cannot say what feelings Aquila, Priscilla, and Mary might have there, yet we can be sure of their finding full contentment in their heavenly service.

I'm an atheist, so I don't believe in any of the Biblical stuff anyway, but did anybody notice that the three "supporting" scriptures cited here have absolutely nothing to do with the preceding sentences that they're supposed to support?

Acts 18:2 - "And he found a certain Jew named Aq´ui·la, a native of Pon´tus who had recently come from Italy, and Pris·cil´la his wife, because of the fact that Claudius had ordered all the Jews to depart from Rome. So he went to them." Er, this says nothing about Aquila and Priscilla in heaven.

John 19:26 - "Therefore Jesus, seeing his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, said to his mother: 'Woman, see! Your son!'" Says absolutely nothing about Joseph/Mary and their respective hopes for earthly/heavenly life.

Acts 1:13, 14 - " So, when they had entered, they went up into the upper chamber, where they were staying, Peter as well as John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bar·thol´o·mew and Matthew, James [the son] of Al·phae´us and Simon the zealous one, and Judas [the son] of James. With one accord all these were persisting in prayer, together with some women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers." Yeah, again, nothing relevant to a heavenly/earthly hope here. Do they just pick scriptures at random, with the names of Biblical characters they're referring to, and hope nobody will notice that the scripture has nothing to do with anything?

3

The Practice (CBS) - TV program on JWs

by dozy in

jw
friends

anybody ever seen this episode?

recorded it (sky+ is a wonderful thing) but not yet watched it................ http://www.cbsdrama.co.uk/shows.php?program=77224.

series 5, episode 14.

brizzzy

I saw it a few years ago. As I recall, the argument was that she was no longer a Witness - she didn't carry a No Blood card, saluted the flag, etc. etc. Actually, I thought the attorney who argued the case proved pretty conclusively that she wasn't a JW anymore. But the judge ruled in the mother's favor, and there was no blood transfusion. It ended up not mattering anyway, because miraculously, everything was alright and she woke up from her coma (of course - it's TV).

Strangely, nobody in the episode thought to ask her upon waking whether or not she actually considered herself a JW or would have accepted a blood transfusion. So there's no plot resolution there. Here's a dissection of the episode: http://news.lp.findlaw.com/legalnews/entertainment/reviews/practice/010211.html

Scrubs also did an episode with a JW character who refused a blood transfusion, and the entire first episode of Lie to Me was centered around a JW family whose son is accused of murder.

10

SAD

by Cthulhu in

jw
friends

i'm sure we are all aware of the condition known as sad (seasonal affected depression).

generally, for those who aren't familiar with it, this means that due, largely in part, to the lack of sunlight during the winter months, people experience feelings of depression.

however, i am curious as to whether you may have observed something similar, but rather opposite, and i would appreciate your input.

brizzzy

I always thought a movie about a JW vampire would be funny.

Someone wrote a book about one: http://bloodwitness.com/

7

Watchtower Facebook Page Part 2

by treadnh2o in

jw
friends

the last thread turned into an apostate war which i found highly entertaining and did not want to hijack the direction it is going in.. however, what has completely tickled my fancy is the fact that almost 20,000 jw's are publicly thumbing their nose at the g.b.

counsel about these social sites.

these members have somehow justified in their minds their being there.

brizzzy

Nelson Birdwell?

Is this the same Nelson Birdwell whose grandsons (including Nelson Birdwell III) became Neo-Nazi skinheads and killed their JW parents back in 1995? I'm assuming it must be... that's not a common name at all. How many JW Nelson Birdwells can there be?

(Notwithstanding, I read this guy's douchey, misogynistic crap and want to punch his face in.)

49

my mum taught us very valuable lessons about Jehovah in her special way. Any other parents out there as psycho?

by God Chick in

jw
friends

ok before i start i know my mum was um "special" and had some, well...... bizzare training ideas.. .

i was one of 7 kids, dad didnt help much coz he was sick, so my mum was left to run the 'ship' and she did it with an iron fist.. .

we were never late for a meeting we sat, parents and 2 kids in one row the other 5 in row in front.

brizzzy

Your mom and my mom would probably have been best friends.

35

Tattoos/Piercings?

by Think About It in

jw
friends

i feel like woody allen in the 1973 movie "the sleeper".

i leave in 1995, wake up 15 yrs later to see what has been going on in the jw religion and find out it is completely different from what i left.

i started a thread about beards, because i wanted to know how the modern day beard and goatee fad went over in the kh's.. now i'm curious about the tattoo, piercings and short or shaved hair look.

brizzzy

@leec - I did the same thing, my tattoo covers some really bad scars where I was beaten. It's OK to have THOSE apparently, just not a tattoo.

Also, I knew an elder's wife in the congregation in her 60s with rings pierced all the way up both of her ears. She was actually a very cool, sweet lady. But I got a hoop put into the top of my left ear a couple years back and you'd have thought I'd mutilated myself or something by the reaction I got. Geesh.

35

Tattoos/Piercings?

by Think About It in

jw
friends

i feel like woody allen in the 1973 movie "the sleeper".

i leave in 1995, wake up 15 yrs later to see what has been going on in the jw religion and find out it is completely different from what i left.

i started a thread about beards, because i wanted to know how the modern day beard and goatee fad went over in the kh's.. now i'm curious about the tattoo, piercings and short or shaved hair look.

brizzzy

My mother, for all her crazy abusiveness, had moments of cool. She actually allowed me and my sister to get our belly buttons pierced at 16 and 15, and liked it so much that she got hers pierced as well. But we weren't allowed to show or tell anybody in the congregation.

Interestingly, when I got my tattoo at 19 (after moving out), I kept it a secret for quite some time - it's not visible when clothed, or even in a bathing suit. But my sister glimpsed the very top of it peeking out of my jeans when I gave her a hug one day. She swore not to tell my mother, and then ran straight home and ratted me out. My mom wouldn't speak to me for 6 months.

1

My story on ex-JW blog radio program...

by brizzzy in

jw
friends

kinda cool, was asked by sacha wilharn (ex-jw and author of new book "no part of their world", about her abuse by her bethelite husband and escape from the borg) to share my story on "keepin it real", a blog radio program she hosts for ex-jws.

couldn't call in because i'm not getting cell service here in the uk, but i answered her questions via email.

thought they would just pick a few of them, but they read the whole thing and talked about my backstory for about 40 minutes!

brizzzy

Hm, so the embed code didn't work... here's a link.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/insightontheword/blog/2010/01/27/read-more-from-the-writer-to-sacha

1

My story on ex-JW blog radio program...

by brizzzy in

jw
friends

kinda cool, was asked by sacha wilharn (ex-jw and author of new book "no part of their world", about her abuse by her bethelite husband and escape from the borg) to share my story on "keepin it real", a blog radio program she hosts for ex-jws.

couldn't call in because i'm not getting cell service here in the uk, but i answered her questions via email.

thought they would just pick a few of them, but they read the whole thing and talked about my backstory for about 40 minutes!

brizzzy

Kinda cool, was asked by Sacha Wilharn (ex-JW and author of new book "No Part of Their World", about her abuse by her Bethelite husband and escape from the bOrg) to share my story on "Keepin it Real", a blog radio program she hosts for ex-JWs. Couldn't call in because I'm not getting cell service here in the UK, but I answered her questions via email. Thought they would just pick a few of them, but they read the whole thing and talked about my backstory for about 40 minutes! Eep.

I'm agnostic and they're coming from more of a Christian perspective, but didn't turn out to be a problem at all, so yay! They start reading about my life around 15:00. So, I guess if you ever wanted to hear another crazy ex-JW childhood sob story, now you can get mine all summed up for you...

70

How many of you were baptised at a young age?

by lepermessiah in

jw
friends

one thing this site has made me reflect on the baptism practice in jw land.. many of us were raised in the religion, thus you were given the pressure early on to shoot for baptism as a goal.. i remember feeling bad because i waited until the ripe old age of 14 to take the plunge.. looking back, i realize that when i was 14, i didnt even know what my favorite color was, let alone have enough knowledge to make a life altering decision.

yet, growing up in that climate, i would say anyone who waited past their early teens to get baptised was viewed with great suspicion and was likely to be viewed as "bad association".

kids who took the dip at 8-9 years of age were viewed as "wise beyond their years" and the like.. how old were some of you when you were baptised, and what are your feelings on the matter?.

brizzzy

Like many of you, I was 12.

I was already having doubts and hoped that it would somehow magically "fix" me and make me feel more spiritual. Plus there was the added bonus of having all attention on me for a day and getting to "celebrate" at my favorite restaurant with my parents after the assembly.