The Finger

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Posts by The Finger

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  42

  JWs Celebrating Brithdays

  by Franklin Massey in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i keep hearing of more and more jws that are celebrating their birthdays or, doing "special days" for their children on the day of their birth.

  i'm sure this has always been done but what interests me is that many people aren't ashamed to admit it since they have used their own fully functioning minds to figure out that the society's birthday ban doesn't hold up.

  one young couple with two kids (he's an ms, she's an ex-pioneer who dropped off the list to tend to the kids) explained it to me this way.... "the happiest days of our lives include the births of our children.

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  The Finger

  When I was a child innocently I mentioned to a friend at school that it was my birthday. Later that day he came round with his mother with a toy. I was embarrassed and my father wasn't happy.

  In the same period of my life, before the Elder arrangement came in, a brother who would serve on a Judicial commitee had a party for his daughter, some in the congregation brought presents for her. I came to realise this was very close to her birthday. As a child I thought it was a scum bag attitude to celebrate a birthday whilst upholding a religious belief where it is condemned.

  When I had children of my own. I took to buying gifts around Christmas and twice a year in place of birthdays. I was brought up with the notion that we recieve gifts at any time of the year. I never did. I also felt as a child how difficult it was too stand out as different at school, although I did. I reasoned what difference does it make what day I buy gifts on if I dont recognize birthdays or christmas they just happen to be on those days .
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  39

  Have you made MAJOR CHANGES since you started posting here?

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i ask because i've been posting at jwd/jwn for 10 years now.

  i was a rapidly fading jw when i started but still considered myself a christian for a good few years more.

  now i've embraced reason and rejected faith i'm a very happy atheist and enjoy learning more about the fact of evolution.. what about you?.

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  The Finger

  No.
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  34

  England is poisoned for me

  by highdose in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i used to live in a part of england that was popular with tourists.

  the kind of tourist who wanted to experiance the "real" rural england.

  they would come to my town and thrill at the quaint old shops, delight in afternoon tea at the many little tea rooms.

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  The Finger

  I lived in a sunny warm climate for a number of years but England will always be home.
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  4

  Armageddon, god's bad idea

  by Giordano in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  since i am free to speculate, something witnesses have been discouraged from doing, i decided to try to determine if the society and the jw's understand what armageddon will involve if it really was to happen.

  of course keep in mind that jesus never mentioned it..........sooo.. let's start with a comparison of the wtbts approach to armageddon and the bibles account of the flood, ........ the first time god decided to destroy the world, or at least the first time we know about, and compare what noah and his family did to get ready and what the society is telling their rank and file.. the account of noah and the flood is filled with practical information on how to survive a really big inconvenience.

  preparation was the key for survival.

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  The Finger

  20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. [b] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 (NIV)

  As the means of saving is different. Maybe the destruction is as well.
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  15

  Favorite cartoons and cartoon characters

  by littlerockguy in

  1. social
  2. humour

  i love cartoons but i'm not much into the ones on tv today, except south park.

  my favorites are the looney tunes characters, pink panther and some of the hanna barbera characters like snagglepuss, droopy, etc.. here is an old pink panther episode from 1965 that cracks me up.

  what are some of your favorites?.

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  The Finger

  I always liked Wile E. Coyote and Bugs Bunny. I also liked Rupert Bear when Alfred Bestall was author and illustrator.
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  16

  Do You Ever Think Of "God"?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  even those that no longer believe in "god", i wonder, do you ever ever think of god, believing possibly he may exist?.

  for those that do believe in god, do you feel you have more of a relationship than when you were a witness?.

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  The Finger

  We think and talk about God most days if not every day. I don't pray as much as when I was a JW. Maybe it's age, after this long God's probably heard enough of my problems.
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  76

  What Do You Miss About Being An Active JW?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you miss the "friends"?.

  do you miss the meetings?.

  do you miss field service?.

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  The Finger

  I think i miss the security. I'm not a confident person. Being a JW meant growing up the weird kid in school. I couldn't beat the hell out of those who were assholes, I had to turn the other cheek. But i felt we were examples and had to be.

  The security wasn't so much survival as knowing you were doing the right thing.
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  84

  Being honest with yourself, could you have reasonably adjusted your attitude and continued on as a JW?

  by miseryloveselders in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i ask this question in harmony with deedub's swan song thread which i linked below.. http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/members/private/205902/1/time-to-say-good-bye.

  to some degree, i think i understand where she's coming from.

  just speaking from my own experiences since stepping into the world of anonymous apostacy, i went through a few different phases of personal outlooks.

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  The Finger

  No I don't think so.

  In the last 20 years of being a JW I was twice told I was acting as an apostate. Once from the CO from the platform and another time from the Body of Elders. When I met with two Elders for the last time to discuss various points they said no I was not an apostate and no further action would be taken. I left though not because of the Elders that continued to shun me or their wives who had supposedly no knowledge of my problems but would not even say hello to me. Or that my "friends" declined all invitations to my house and had nothing to do with me. I left because I could no longer support the views of the Watchtower.

  For many years I felt sure that being one of Jehovah's Witnesses was the right thing to do however difficult it was in or out of the congregation and sometimes it felt worse in. I am not so sure of most of things now, having found out how different you can feel about something you believed was the truth. I think Ray Franz in one of his books mentions Romans 14:23" ...Indeed everything that is not out of faith is sin." I could no longer have faith in the things I believed as a JW and can no longer preach their message. Instantly I am no longer a publisher and if I explain why I become marked at least.

  Having had the initial problem with the "sign of the son of man" I soon found I had problems with the view of Christ, his being an angel, worship and obesiance. Two groups of christians some of which reject the bread and the wine annually and publicly, a baptism which I am not happy with. Blood transfusions. Etc. There were always things that bothered me whilst I remained a witness, 1975, the elder arrangement etc. but I could still hold to the basic beliefs.

  To adjust my view as much as in one way I would like to. I can't.
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  9

  Am I wrong about this aspect of WTS theology?

  by drewcoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it seems to me, that if the wts is right, the only thing that would matter is that people are converted to the jw religion before armageddon.

  all people throughout the thousands of years of human history will be resurrected according to them, right?

  only except for those who are df'd when they die.

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  The Finger

  What seems strange is that 35 years ago when I was pioneering and felt how important it was to reach people with the message whilst time remained, alot of those people have died including some of the people we studied with. Some of the kids I witnessed to at school at the time of my leaving are dead. They could not accept the "Truth" My zeal and faith that the time remaining was short and they needed to act to survive Armageddon.

  If the Witnesses are right they will come back and I will be gone. How ironic. lol.
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  29

  What does a demon or an evil spirit look like?

  by foolsparadise in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  no they havent..because they dont exsist.

  who needs demons to do bad things on the earth when we have people doing horrible things to each other since the beginning of time.

  demons are just an easy way to pass of the blame...pretty easy to do since no one has ever seen one.. its like telling people there are evil invisible tooth faries lurking around every corner.

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  The Finger

  Aguest

  Thank you.

  I definitely saw someone. I wasn't afraid just surprised that no one was in the room.