InterestedOne

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Posts by InterestedOne

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  90

  What it takes to become an atheist.

  by dontplaceliterature in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was pondering this today during lunch, and to me it seems that it comes down to whether or not you can accept that you will one day be permanantly gone and anyone you have lost in death will never be alive again.

  once a person becomes comfortable with these two ideas, there isn't really any incentive to believe.

  maybe it's an over simplification, but it seems to me that this is the heart of the matter.

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  InterestedOne

  Shamus wrote:

  If somebody needs something to be happy then what's wrong with that? . . .

  Why is the way that someone thinks a tragedy to you?

  I go back and forth about whether or not I should just ignore people's religious beliefs. When I lean toward -not- ignoring it and speaking up about it, I am usually motivated by how sad I feel about how their beliefs affect their view and treatment of others. For example, take the JW idea of who can be their "friend" or not. In my case, I know that as long as my JW acquaintance continues believing JW-ism, she cannot be a close friend with me. We can only be acquaintances. This makes me sad because it is purely based on religious ideas that have zero credibility. I think it's a shame that some people make life decisions, such as who to be friends with, based on unsupportable religious ideas. If someone doesn't want to be friends with me, I would rather they do so because they -really- don't want to be my friend, not because they have joined a religion that tells them not to be my friend.
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  83

  Sparlock Drives My Wife to the Brink of Apostasy

  by breakfast of champions in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i reported the other night that we sat down to watch the new video, and while my wife was smiling and laughing while watching the first part, she stiffened and became quiet during part two.

  it disturbed her deeply:.

  "this is ridiculous.

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  InterestedOne

  BOC - Thanks for relaying the thinking of that CO. It helps me put some pieces together about things my JW acquaintance has said to me about demons. I think she has a similar view - that is, demons are going around pulling all sorts of sinister pranks like marketing Coca-Cola. Umm, about the "incident," were children of all ages present when he said this to the congregation? Did anyone complain or did he get reprimanded for it?
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  12

  I'm getting more and more frustrated . . .

  by Flat_Accent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so last friday we had our regular visitor over.

  one of the single brothers from my former hall.

  we were decent friends when i was still attending meetings, but since my departure we don't have a lot in common.

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  InterestedOne

  So you want to have a go at the people who spend their lives studying and learning about life and the universe, and make evidence based theories, but you're totally fine claiming off the cuff that you know there was a creator? What's more, you know exactly which creator it was, what his plan is, and what his likes and dislikes are?

  Did you actually say this to him, or did you just think it? It is a good thought, and I wonder how he would have responded. Did the discussion just end with his "there must be a creator" comment?
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  16

  Caleb's mother usurping husband's headship by correcting son without him

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am not going to watch the video...i get my dose of wt bs each week as it is.

  but where was caleb's dad in all of this.

  was he not a jw too?

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  InterestedOne

  blondie - Since you haven't seen the video, the father is a JW. Part of his discipline of Caleb involved reading from Ephesians, and he also conducts the family worship night. And, yeah I have noticed in the Watchtower pictures it's usually the father teaching the son and the mother teaching the daughter.
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  16

  Caleb's mother usurping husband's headship by correcting son without him

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am not going to watch the video...i get my dose of wt bs each week as it is.

  but where was caleb's dad in all of this.

  was he not a jw too?

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  InterestedOne

  Oh right. So she "adjusted his thinking?" and I gather that is only supposed to be done by the man. I see I'm still way uneducated on the nuances of JW-ism. Ack!
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  4

  Pastor uses Sparlock video in sermon

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i showed our pastor the link to the sparlock video and the following week, he speicifically mentioned the jehovah's witnesses have produced a dvd about a boy who plays with a magical toy and his mother asked the boy if he wanted to please jehovah or satan.. the pastor commented that the way the mother behaved destroys the imagination of a child and that god's love is conditional..

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  InterestedOne

  I just looked up United Reformed Church. I am in the US, but it looks like it might be similar to the "Presbyterian USA" denomination. In my experience, the PCUSA, although having Calvinist roots is fairly liberal. In the one I attended as a child, the pastors were a husband & wife, and they warned me about what they called a "fundamentalist" Christian group I got involved with in college. I scoffed at them at the time and considered them "lukewarm," but I have since realized that they had a lot of wisdom.
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  16

  Caleb's mother usurping husband's headship by correcting son without him

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am not going to watch the video...i get my dose of wt bs each week as it is.

  but where was caleb's dad in all of this.

  was he not a jw too?

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  InterestedOne

  Interesting point blondie. Your question brings out a subtlety in the video. It may be that, through careful writing, it does not actually violate the headship principle. There are two episodes. In the first episode, the mother asks Caleb to take off his shoes. When Caleb forgets to take off his shoes, the father disciplines him. Later in the episode, the mother asks Caleb to clean up his toys. When he obeys, she praises him. In the Sparlock episode, the mother only asks leading questions of Caleb, and he decides to throw Sparlock in the trash. She does not actually discipline him.
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  4

  Pastor uses Sparlock video in sermon

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i showed our pastor the link to the sparlock video and the following week, he speicifically mentioned the jehovah's witnesses have produced a dvd about a boy who plays with a magical toy and his mother asked the boy if he wanted to please jehovah or satan.. the pastor commented that the way the mother behaved destroys the imagination of a child and that god's love is conditional..

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  InterestedOne

  What denomination is this pastor? I ask because I have experienced plenty of Christians who have been taught by their pastors to behave the same way as the mother in the video.
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  Any Recommendations for Ex Born Again Evangelical Discussion Boards Similar to JWN?

  by InterestedOne in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm realizing that just as jwn is helpful for those with a jw background, i would like to find a discussion board for people with a born again evangelical background.

  since there can be overlap between jw's and other bible-oriented religions, i figured i'd ask for recommendations.

  from a google search, i see one called www.ex-christian.net.

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  InterestedOne

  I'm realizing that just as JWN is helpful for those with a JW background, I would like to find a discussion board for people with a Born Again Evangelical background. Since there can be overlap between JW's and other Bible-oriented religions, I figured I'd ask for recommendations. From a google search, I see one called www.ex-christian.net. Are there any others?
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  8

  What are "Super Friends" in JW speak?

  by InterestedOne in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i noticed the term "super friends" in another thread about jw & christian lingo.

  can someone explain what it might mean?.

  my jw acquaintance refers to her fellow jw's as her "best friends" presumably to differentiate jw's from her non-jw acquaintances.

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  InterestedOne

  Wonder twins activate! Maybe that's where Caleb's "activate your magic Sparlock!" came from.