Posts by LeeT

22

Susan Boyle's new CD

by littlerockguy in

did any of you guys buy it?

i downloaded it from amazon since i didn't see it in any of the stores when i have been out.

it is quite good and well worth $10 and i find myself listening to it more than i thought i would.

I'll happily conceed that she's better than just about anything else I've heard that has been spawned by reality TV star maker shows in recent years. I also think a frumpy lady of a certain age is a good thing to have in a business where appearance and image counts more than talent.

My main criticism lies in the Cowell star factory aspect. All these songs about overcoming adversity seem like too thumping a metaphor.

I'm not having a go at 'granny' music, I'm nearly old enough myself, though I'm the wrong sex. This is where a lot of her market lies though. A gay friend tells me she has quite a gay following too.

Violia, I think you have it when you say that 'Life has more than leveled the playing field for Susan'. She is certainly deserving of a measure of success, but not as much as it seems she may receive. I'm just in favour of a level playing field. Knowing this thread will produce glowing praise I'm just trying to restore balance rather than be controversial. There's a goodly number of people with talent that remain virtually unknown.

Gregor, my tastes are amazingly varied so long as you exclude opera, throat music, free jazz, music concrete and most post 80's forms of dance music. I've just done a quick check and I have 56,339 tracks on my PC. I'm sure we could find some points of common appreciation.

126

Is the Bible Really Scientifically Accurate?

by FreeAtLast1914 in

jw
friends

the society (and others) love to quote job 26:7 where it says that "[god] suspends the earth over nothing" and isaiah 40:22, where it speaks of "the circle of the earth".

they use these scriptures to boast about the incredible scientific accuracy of the bible, proving god had a direct hand in everything written in it.. the trouble is that elsewhere in the scriptures, opposing views are put forth explaining then-unexplainable physics and geographical notions.

one is job 26:11: "the pillars of heaven tremble.

LeeT

Going back to somewhere near the start of the thread in discussing the shape of the Earth, the point was made that in Matthew's account of the temptation the Devil took Jesus up tp the top of a mountain where every nation of the earth could be seen.

I'd be interested to see both Perry's and the JW answer to this one. Is this to be taken figuratively in some way? Was it more like a vision of all the nations brought on by a lack of oxygen at high altitude and all the strain of being in the wilderness or something?

22

Susan Boyle's new CD

by littlerockguy in

did any of you guys buy it?

i downloaded it from amazon since i didn't see it in any of the stores when i have been out.

it is quite good and well worth $10 and i find myself listening to it more than i thought i would.

LeeT

OK. I'm going to get flamed for this but....

This CD is sure to sell bucketloads. Every loved non Witness granny in the UK is going to find one of these under the tree this Christmas. As an exercise in creating product focus grouped to within an inch of it's life it's surely a triumph.

Personally I can't help feeling a little nauseous. Far too many songs which reflect her 'underdog frump overcomes adversity to triumph in reality TV hell' status for my liking. These include the obvious 'I Dreamed A Dream' as well as 'You'll See', 'Daydream Believer', 'Up To The Mountain', 'Who I Was Born To Be' and 'Proud'......Yes, yes we get the message Susan.

We also get the thoroughly miserable 'End Of The World'......the JW's should love that one.

As a closer we have the Christmassy 'Silent Night'.......less of a JW favourite.

Yes, she's got a good voice. The orchestration seems a little flaccd and sacharine coated for me. There's a couple of gospel favourites in there and the interesting choice of the Rolling Stones 'Wild Horses' given a very delicate treatment.

If you prefer not to be challenged, can't be bothered to put the work into finding good artists you like or don't like music much and get teary when your favourite soap star dies, you'll love this.

89

Do Atheists Celebrate Christmas?

by believingxjw in

jw
friends

do atheists celebrate christmas, the celebration of christ's birth?.

if so, why?.

LeeT

I don't bother with Christmas myself. I have sent and expect to receive no presents and have no decorations up. I simply see no need to bother, it's too much hassle. That is merely a personal preference and I'm happy to let others do what they will. I will watch a little TV for a change and go hunt down some bargain food when the shops reopen on 27th December. Honestly, turkeys are so cheap just after Christmas.

I think most atheists see Christmas as a good excuse to take time off work, get drunk, stuff themselves with food, and take pleasure in the giving and receipt of presents. They don't really engage with the religious side of it. They enjoy it, it harms nobody..everybody is happy.

I did pause to reflect a little for a few minutes on events during the last 6 months/1 year on the afternoon of the winter solstice (17.47hrs here in UK this year). It's a nice thought that the days will be getting longer as we head towards summer. By this time of year I'm looking forward to more daylight.

45

Enough with the favorite songs

by JeffT in

jw
friends

what are the ones that sound like fingernails on the blackboard, the ones that make you want to pull the gun out from under the seat and shoot the radio in your car?.

a few of mine:.

spirit in the sky.

LeeT

I remember my folks would occasionally find the radio too 'worldly' and would treat themselves to a Kingdom Melodies tape when in the car. That's got to be about the worst. I'm surprised my stepfather didn't fall asleep at the wheel.

I'm talking about the old school tapes from the 80's here. I understand there's been some new Witness hits released in the last 20 years or so. Are they any more funky? I doubt it somehow. I expect they're the same dreary mush but with improved lyrics to reflect the new light.

37

Calling all smart people for help

by Heartbreaker in

jw
friends

my manager expects a business plan tomorrow morning, and of course with all the holiday stuff i totally blew it off until the last minute.

if it weren't for procrastination, i'd have no plan at all.

i need to show how i plan to be profitabl, and i am so new to all of this, i have no clue where to start.

LeeT

Could you EMail one of the existing insurance salespeople and crib the information they used for their metting?

Feign illness or try to rearrange a different meeting time?

It does sound more like your manager is going to want to see how you aim to meet sales targets. Will you focus on a few high value sales or lots of small ones, are you a specialist in a certain sector? It's a tricky one if you're new to the game. Hopefully whatever in house or professional training needed to get your certificate might give you some ideas.

I've a Business degree, but it's mostly like Outlaw says I'm afraid.

29

Newbie greets all

by LeeT in

hi all, i thought i'd introduce myself to all you folks.. .

my background with the witnesses goes like this.

when i was 10 my father dies, the following year my mother meets a new man.

LeeT

From the start (aged 12) my biggest stumbling block with belief was that the witnesses were rejecting evolution and telling me the designer is always more complex than the design. They also told me that the universe was too complicated to have arisen 'by accident' so it must have a designer (Jehovah). It confused me that the simpler creation was too complex to arise without a designer but Jehovah who was necessarily more complex than the universe needed no designer himself.

Whenever I tried to get an answer to this I was met with evasion or told I was being difficult. I've still never had a good answer.

You'll never see the article:- "Young People Ask - Who designed Jehovah"

29

Newbie greets all

by LeeT in

hi all, i thought i'd introduce myself to all you folks.. .

my background with the witnesses goes like this.

when i was 10 my father dies, the following year my mother meets a new man.

LeeT

No, I was never baptised. I have 2 older sisters (biological ones). They both moved out before me and were never forced into attending meetings.

I realise that my mother and stepfather sincerely believe they have the truth. Their critical thinking on issues seemed to shut down decades ago. I'm pretty sure that anythig dischordant they find in WT publications will be supressed in their minds and glossed over. Sad to say, but to be honest, at their age, were they to find themselves disfellowshipped or disassociate themselves, I think they'd be dead before they got to rebuild their lives and establish a new set of friends. Perhaps they're too far gone. I stopped pushing it too hard with them 10 years ago.

29

Newbie greets all

by LeeT in

hi all, i thought i'd introduce myself to all you folks.. .

my background with the witnesses goes like this.

when i was 10 my father dies, the following year my mother meets a new man.

LeeT

Hi all, I thought I'd introduce myself to all you folks.

My background with the witnesses goes like this. When I was 10 my father dies, the following year my mother meets a new man. One of his work colleagues introduces them to 'The Truth'. When I was 12 they married.

I was dragged to Kingdom Hall for the Sunday morning service and to weekly house meetings for 6 years until I was 18. I always found their message unbeleivable and was surprised how readily they accepted and enforced it upon us kids. I took the first opportunity to move out when I started my degree. My folks have now been Witnesses for 30 years.

Discussing the Truth with my folks usually gets heated so I tend to avoid it. The internet and apostate sites prove invaluable in seeing what new light there is. I like to stay vaguely abreast of their current thinking and to research the odd issue.

My own views are atheistic and generally pretty liberal.

This is my second post here. The JW Friends/Marillion thread brought me out of my shell last night. Memories of JW craziness are brought back for me by mention of that band's name and I couldn't resist posting. See that thread for a little more insight into the sort of incident that made me run away from home.

Anyway, thanks for bearing with me this far. I don't think I'll ever become one of the 1000+ post regulars who hang out here, but I'll probably make the occasional contribution to this lovely site.

Anyway, greetings and thanks all for making the site work.

15

Does Anyone Here Remember Marrilion......

by cantleave in

jw
friends

.......or at least during the time of fish?.

script for a jesters tear has some awesome songs.

forgotten sons.

LeeT

This is my first post, so hello all.

Oh yes, I remember Marillion. It was a Marillion track which lead to the first of my stepfather's vinyl purges.

Firstly a little background. Aged 12 or so my Mum and Stepfather converted to 'The Truth', and forced me to home study and dragged me to Kingdom Hall until I was 18. I was never taken in and still find it odd that these two otherwise normal and reasonably intelligent people could have been so incredulous. 30 years later they are still in, and as you can see, I'm still out.

Anyway, back to the point. In 1984 or so I left a Marillion record lying about. I don't remember which but it contained the track 'Lady Nina'. For those not familiar with it (to the best of my recollection) the song is about a man feeling empty and dirty following a vist to a prostitute.

I was informed that this was not suitable material to be in the house despite the fact that prostitution was portrayed in a negative light. They asked which shop I'd bought it from as they were going to return it (I was unwilling to return it myself). I pointed out that doing so may lead to somebody else obtaining my copy and that they wouldn't want to be seen to be facilitating the distribution of 'unhealthy' material. They saw my point and decided to burn it instead.

The following day a few hours was set aside for scrutinising the rest of my collection for other undesirable material. Out went about 50 or 60 albums to go on the pyre. I managed to hang onto about half my collection somehow.

Some memorable losses were:-

Black Sabbath (obviously),
Jimi Hendrix (he glorified drugs and I'm not sure if my stepfather thought All Alomg The Watchtower was an attack on their religion),
Alex Harvey's 'Next' album (contains a song about a military brothel),
The Eagles 'Hotel California' album (he'd heard somewhere that they were a band of Satanists).

To be fair to my stepfather he then went on to do the same to his own collection, torchimg most of his jazz collection as they all took drugs in the 50's and 60's.

I remember buying my next Marillion album on tape as it was easier to hide. This was how I bought any questionable material from then on. Subsequent purges weren't as fruitful.

Oh yes, I remember Marillion and what they started.