respectful_observer

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Posts by respectful_observer

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  20

  Proof that shows just how intelligent JW's are!!!

  by Sour Grapes in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  yesterday during the public talk, the elder was talking.

  about the reality god's kingdom said "that 7.5 million.

  people would not spend billions of hours going from door.

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  respectful_observer

  "...7.5 million people would not spend billions of hours going from door to door if God's Kingdom were not real." Someone in my congregation said something similar in conversation recently-- something along the lines of "well 7 million people can't be wrong." My reply was: "That logic doesn't make any sense. That's like saying '1 billion Muslims can't be wrong! Islam is the biggest faith in the world, therefore it MUST be the truth.' They stared blankly at me for a few moments, then replied: "Well, well...THAT'S DIFFERENT! Let's talk about something else." As for not being able to count your time if you're wearing slacks, I would have asked her whether that meant she wasn't able to count the time spend "informal witnessing" with pants on.
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  12

  DO Brown Payne ranks on famous potty mouthed female tennis player who says she's a JW

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  at the latest ca in natick ma, district overseer brown w. payne made a comment about a "famous female tennis player who's a sister"... .

  we're told she says she's a jehovah's witness and swears in the tennis court.

  we all have heard about it.

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  respectful_observer

  If the rumors are true that Serena's mom is still an active JW, I wonder how she would feel if she was sitting in the audience and had to listen to the DO go on and on about her unbaptized daughters "sin"...heck, even if she wasn't in the audience, and just found out that a DO was doing that every single weekend to every circuit he spoke to.

  Can you imagine a DO going on and on about a specific "sin" of some unbaptized ADULT child of a family in that circuit in a way that everyone sitting there knew exactly who he was talking about?? I'm guessing that person's parents would FREAK and have a word or two they'd want to say to the DO.
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  147

  So my JW wife cheated on me. Need some help or at least a sympathetic ear.

  by JonathanH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have neither friends nor family to turn to.

  the result of being born in a cult.

  but i need to talk about this.

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  respectful_observer

  JonathanH, you have a PM.
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  14

  How cool is this!?

  by coffee_black in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i conducted a seminar yesterday for a firm in boston and the conference room is on the top floor.

  i looked out the window...and saw this.

  i'm not sure how they got this past the building inspector...but there is a house atop the building next door....complete with an oriental garden.

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  respectful_observer

  That looks like it's near the newish FP3 condos. Summer and Congress Street have some great new restaurants and bars down there now too! DRINK is always fun, and all those new places on the water next to the World Trade Center are great.

  Have you ever seen the huge roofdeck lawn and garden on the low-rise section of One Fed? My office used to look down onto it, but it was a real shame because I never once saw a single person on it.

  There's another office tower in your pic of the Financial District that has a great rooftop Asian garden, but alas I cannot disclose where for fear of giving myself away.... ;-) (I'm already convinced I must know some of you since you're so familiar with Boston.)
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  30

  Would you have left if b-days and blood were okay, and DF-ing was rare?

  by respectful_observer in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  respectful_observer
• 
  142

  Undercover Brother Campaign- have you received your invite?

  by stuckinamovement in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  without specifics being mentioned as to what it is......(to avoid tipping off certain lurkers).. how many people know about the upcoming summer long campaign?

  please use this thread to confirm receipt of your campaign invitation.

  take care.

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  respectful_observer

  I'd love to receive the invite. Please PM me.

  R_O
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  13

  Can't reconcile the JW concept of "temptation"

  by respectful_observer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when told recently of someone in the congregation who had "given in to temptation", the person relating the incident said: "satan waited until just the right moment to tempt br.

  weak.

  i began thinking about the correlation between temptation, free will, and what jws teach about wicked spirit creatures' abilities (or lack thereof).. jws teach that wicked spirit forces can affect the material world-- move objects, speak in audible voice, create visions, possess living creatures (humans included); yet they also teach that they cannot read or manipulate our thoughts.

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  respectful_observer

  DesirousOfChange, I agree with the explanation you propose they'd put forth. It explains how the "tempted" might recognized by demons as suddenly vulnerable to temptation, but it doesn't explain what is physically causing the "tempter" to suddenly choose that moment to strike. The WTS is attributes the temptation to wicked spirit manipulation...but they never explain how that manipulation of the tempter takes place (again, without making the drastic claim that it's demonic possession).
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  13

  Can't reconcile the JW concept of "temptation"

  by respectful_observer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when told recently of someone in the congregation who had "given in to temptation", the person relating the incident said: "satan waited until just the right moment to tempt br.

  weak.

  i began thinking about the correlation between temptation, free will, and what jws teach about wicked spirit creatures' abilities (or lack thereof).. jws teach that wicked spirit forces can affect the material world-- move objects, speak in audible voice, create visions, possess living creatures (humans included); yet they also teach that they cannot read or manipulate our thoughts.

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  respectful_observer

  When told recently of someone in the congregation who had "given in to temptation", the person relating the incident said: "Satan waited until just the right moment to tempt Br. Weak."

  I began thinking about the correlation between temptation, free will, and what JWs teach about wicked spirit creatures' abilities (or lack thereof).

  JWs teach that wicked spirit forces CAN affect the material world-- move objects, speak in audible voice, create visions, possess living creatures (humans included); yet they also teach that they cannot read or manipulate our thoughts.

  As in the case mentioned above, when someone is "seduced" into immorality, Satan is charged with having tempted that person at that moment in time. Since no wicked spirit can read (and therefore influence) a particular person's mind at a single point in time, the only JW-worthy explanation is that the non-JW who acted as the "temptress" must have been literally posessed by a wicked spirit at that point in time. It would mean the temptress had free will removed for a time and that her body was literally not under her own control-- she was literally turned into a demon surrogate during the encounter.

  I've never seen anything in WTS literature that directly makes the claim that those who are tempted by Satan into immorality are being tempted by someone under demon possession-- but that's the only explanation that seems to back the claim that Satan can "strike" with this temptation at a specific weak moment in time.

  (Aside: Satan tempted Jesus only through vision-- not by using anything material or with any person.)

  Thoughts?

  R_O
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  74

  CO's putting the screws on elder bodies, and ministerial servants to auxilliary pioneer this April.

  by miseryloveselders in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have such a love/hate, 50/50 relationship with this organization any more, but a letter was read to the elders and ministerial servants that has pushed me to the 30/70 range in favor of hate, if even momentarily.

  most of you if not all are aware of the auxilliary pioneering initiative for this upcoming april.

  it's no secret that i'm not real fond of pioneering as its unscriptural for one thing.

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  respectful_observer

  I wish I could say, "no one saw this coming"-- but the sad part is, most of us did. Nothing like a letter from the CO, announcements from the platform, and peer pressure to compel you to turn in your application! Truly in keeping with 2 Cor 9:7 and "not [give] under compulsion"... oh wait, never mind.

  (At least if you do turn in your slip, you'll only spend most of your time simply passing out Memorial invitations!)
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  38

  Did you have higher ed when you were in? If so how were you treated as a result?

  by highdose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i went to both collage and uni when i was a jw, i got marked and shunned as a result.

  it seemed like every week there would be some dig made from the platform about " those that chose higher education" , my so called "freinds" were constandly on at me " why don't you pioneer highdose?!!".

  i even had the ciruit overseer denounce me from the platform as being "spirtualy weak" never mind that most of the peers i grew up with had got themselves reproved or disfellowed and that i was the only who had been good!.

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  respectful_observer

  Now you have me paranoid...I should do a search for all my old posts and see what I may have misspelled!