Posts by SweetBabyCheezits

98

SBCheezits Judicial Hearing - My EPIC FAIL (REPOST for IE users)

by SweetBabyCheezits in

jw
friends

(note: i apologize to the internet explorer users.

you probably can't see my first epic fail thread because i used firefox to post.

there's still some kind of glitch between a plugin i'm running, firefox posts, and ie.).

SweetBabyCheezits

Hi, Ray. I got busy and needed a break from the forum so I've been offline a while.

It's been a helluva rollercoaster ride since our DF'ing. My parents and my wife's parents vacillate between keeping their distance and contacting us to see the kids, though her parents are now being more strict with the shunning (recent "final notice" type email from MIL telling my wife that 'if we want to see them, they'll be at the DC on July 8-10') and my parents are being a bit more flexible (an occasional call, hugs/greetings/"I love yous" when I take the kids by, etc).

I sense that it's very hard on my parents since we were decently close before and they were REALLY close to our kids... and I hate to see them in pain but, as I see it, it's their refusal to question anything JW-related that created this rift. (And to them, it's my decision to question that has caused it.)

As far as I can tell, we've done quite well with the deprogramming & healing but we've still decided it would be best for our family to move away from this area and start a fresh life with new relationships. My wife has some non-JW family (a childless aunt/uncle) in the Denver area and we spent our summer vacation in CO, visiting with them and checking out towns along the front range. Now we're getting our house ready to put on the market.

Her uncle and aunt are just plain awesome and we bonded with them almost immediately. They're ready to be surrogate grandparents to our kids, which is great, especially if we can get our arses moved out there. There's been a real family-void in our lives since last October (before that even) and I didn't even realize it until that trip.

Ultimately, the less I think about the WT organization (or any fundamentalist religion & adherents), the better I feel. For that reason (plus a hectic schedule), I decided to take a break from JWN. This forum was a tremendous help through the whole escape process - very therapeutic - great people, volumes of experience, hilarious .. um...banter(?)... but now it's time to move on. I do hope the JC posts I've left behind might be of some small benefit to another who faces a similar situation. And I'll keep trying to "pay it forward" outside of this forum. One of my bucket list items is to help one person (aside from my wife) get out so I still have that to do.

I find that when my wife and I get so busy trying to build a better future for our family we don't have time to dwell on our unjust circumstances and lost relationships, and our quality of life is vastly improved. Plus that gives us a renewed sense of purpose and goals. I arrived at this place because I found no way to resolve the conflict. Randy Pausch said it best: We can't change the cards we're dealt but we can change how we play them.

Also I find this image to be very motivating:

Maybe someday I'll have my act together like that guy, eh? I think he's famous for his success or something.

I'll still pop in occasionally to say hi to old friends but I'm making it a rule to stick to lighter fare threads and avoid the latest JW happenings or topics that raise my BP (ie, Godrulz threads).

Anyways, I hope all is well with you great citizens of JWN! I've missed the awesome discussions and friendships on here. Goodnight, you princes of Maine... you kings of...Winning.

-SBC

25

2011 Convention Releases - PDFs?

by StandFirm in

does anyone have links for pdfs of any of the convention releases this year?.

many thanks..

SweetBabyCheezits

FYI: The releases are, according to other JWN threads; a revised YPA volume 1, a new brochure on basic doctrines called "Listen to God and Live Forever", and part 2 of the history video. Anything else is a joke.

standfirm, you left out the word "also" in your last sentence. It belongs right there between is and a.

80

Struggling

by anniegirl76 in

jw
friends

i have been df-ed for almost 9 years.

just out of curiosity, has anyone decided to find another religion or belief after being jw?

i struggle with my feelings, my mom and brother, aunt, cousins are all jw.

SweetBabyCheezits

godrulz: We [evangelical Christians] have our own issues and problems, but would claim roots with the first century church and Scripture.

Wow, nobody else has claimed that so you guys must be the real deal.

132

Hello

by Chariklo in

i am new to this site, just finding my way around.. i've been studying with jw's for about 15 months.

i'm an unbaptised publisher, and until recently never missed a meeting, have been out "on the service" quite a lot.

i've been having difficulties with one of the jw's studying with me and something happened which was just unacceptable.

SweetBabyCheezits

godrulz, what is it that you possess exactly that allows you to have the accurate understanding of the Bible? And why are some still absolutely certain of their religious perspective even after you lambaste them with the Good Book and share the REAL TRUTH?

There are brilliant people out there, theologians and others who have a better education, more experience, and a higher IQ... than you.... yet they sincerely believe in doctrines that conflict with your own. What do they lack, yet you possess, so that you have a better understanding of what god meant to say?

What causes them to continue to believe something that is false, even though you plainly show them from the Holy Scriptures that their interpretation is full of error?

I've posed the same question three different ways so now I'll hand it over to you.

205

The Christian Onslaught

by satinka in

jw
friends

*sigh* i have been noticing lately there are a number of groups of "christians" signing up as members of this forum, with the obvious agenda of gaining converts for their own cult-like religions.

i have been wondering things like:.

hmmm...maybe i'll try ignoring them.. thank you simon for the space to vent.. satinka.

SweetBabyCheezits

godrulz: I already know I am fat and ugly.

Didn't your mother ever tell you it's whats on the inside that's ugly?

8

Atheism: Evidence (Part I)

by leavingwt in

jw
friends

from youtube user evid3nc3.

(the full playlist of this video series is here: why i am no longer a christian.).

i lay the philosophical groundwork for my epistemological position of evidentialist foundationalism by contrasting it with the first principles journey of the rationalist descartes.. .

SweetBabyCheezits

GREAT VIDEO, lwt. This should be required viewing in public schools - Critical Thinking 101.

I've watched some of his other videos in the past but this one is quite possibly the best.

EVID3NC3, TheraminTrees, QualiaSoup, and NonStampCollector are, thus far, my favorite YouTube channels.

8

Nut Art

by InterestedOne in

jw
friends

here and there i've run across a couple articles that refer to wt art as "nut art.

" however, when i do a google search for this term, i mainly find websites about art literally made with nuts, like pistachios, etc.

is there actually a genre of art called "nut art," and are there any websites that discuss it and provide examples of non-wt as well as wt?

SweetBabyCheezits

Ask and ye shall receive...

38

this is you

by BD7 in

jw
friends

.

SweetBabyCheezits

This hurts me. I've been trying to correct my stuttering for y-years.

77

To My Fellow Atheists...

by Pika_Chu in

i present to you:.

quite possibly the worst attempt at apologetics ever.... .

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/nogod.html.

SweetBabyCheezits

Psac, your lack of arrogance makes you hard to debate.

Your question of "what would it take" is a good one. I can only speak for myself but if 7 billion people on this planet all received the same vision - a piece of information that was previously unknown to man - at the exact same time, transcending all languages and borders with no loss of meaning, clear to even the deaf and dumb, and he included some means to verify this data scientifically (since he should know how skeptical some are)..... I would be compelled to accept that message.

Or maybe not. I'm trying to be honest with myself, here. Even if I perceived the above event, I could not rule out insanity or even that solipsism might be reality (thought I'd lean towards the insanity explanation over solipsism).

“MAD, adj.: Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence; not conforming to standards of thought, speech and action derived by the conformants from study of themselves; at odds with the majority; in short, unusual.

It is noteworthy that persons are pronounced mad by officials destitute of evidence that they themselves are sane. For illustration, this present (and illustrious) lexicographer is no firmer in the faith of his own sanity than is any inmate of any madhouse in the land; yet for aught he knows to the contrary, instead of the lofty occupation that seems to him to be engaging his powers he may really be beating his hands against the window bars of an asylum and declaring himself Noah Webster, to the innocent delight of many thoughtless spectators.”
Ambrose Bierce

77

To My Fellow Atheists...

by Pika_Chu in

i present to you:.

quite possibly the worst attempt at apologetics ever.... .

http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/nogod.html.

SweetBabyCheezits

I have to be honest and say that I don't think it would make the statement most people say it would UNLESS God came in like a "gangbuster".

I know that you don't see the bible as an authority, but lets use it for just a moment and realise that, God did do just that in the OT and what good did that do? Did the Hebrews, even thought they had no doubts of his existence and had even seen his miracles up close and personal, keep his laws? obey his commandments? or did they, the first chance they got, "build a golden calf and hit the orgy scene?".

How about Revelations? How afer 1000 years of being with God and Christ SOME will still revolt?

Not to mention when he walked amongst Us as His Son we did we do?, well....

psac, please remember you're building an argument on a presupposition that we don't accept, not even for a moment, thereby sawing off the branch on which you sit. If we can't accept the Bible accounts that claim god unambiguously interacted with mankind in the past, then we have no real history of men rejecting or revolting against a truly divine being who provides unambigous evidence of his presence. That chain of logic is only as strong as the first link, which is broken to us skeptics.

peace, friend.

SBC