does anyone on this forum have knowledge about casting out demons or evil spirits?
there's at least two of them that have been harrasing me even before i was a jw.
i recently attended a deliverance church to find some help but it was apparent that the holy spirit was missing from that church.
I feel something brushing against my legs, my arms, my back, my head, etc.
Sometimes I feel my cell phone vibrating, and then I realize it's not even in my pocket. Perhaps you are experiencing a similar phenomenon. See the following: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_rings
i am sure everyone has heard about the 2 headed baby recently born in brazil.
well the fb jw news, library, etc.
group had some comments on it.
My study conductor attributed various human problems to Adam & Eve eating the forbidden fruit. He suggested it might have messed up their DNA. I doubt he knows anything about biology though.
what saying made it all around the country?.
the ones that were passed around, word of mouth.. for example.
"donations basis proves jehovah is behind the work!".
"appreciate . . ."
"in harmony with . . ."
"it seems . . ." (Often preceding some character judgment like "it seems as though you . . .")
"Do not say 'our leaders.' Say 'those who take the lead.'"
if the name christopher hitchens escaped you bar some reference to his death in a newspaper or online side article, please spend the time to see the work he did.
yes he was overtly passionate in his anti religion crusade, however his passion was equaled by his knowlege and reasoning.
he once quoted "a man that has contributed nothing to the world should be ashamed to die.
I miss him too.
...and a big smile on his face... as if to say "i can finally shut you up".... rewinding a bit.... about 18 months ago, i read "gentile times reconsidered" and discovered this doctrine had more holes than swiss cheese.
but it didn't end there, i read several studies in the scriptures, the even tide by john aquila brown (not all of it) and then proceeded to write multiple letters to brooklyn, all of which were responded to by dodging simple questions such as: "if the 70 years ended in 537 and jeremiah says there would be 70 years of servitude, which babyonian king were the jews serving between 539 and 537?".
i showed all three of the society's responses to an elder in my congo (even though he received copies of these himself) and he could see that they were "canned" responses that in no way anwered my queries.
you're paying way too much attention to details.
My study conductor said something similar. He said I was being "too scientific."
at the kind advice of so many of you (and hassan) on this board....i ceased attempting to discuss doctrine/failures with my wife many months ago.
but unfortunately that does not prevent her from grilling me from time to time.
during one of our infamous "discussions" she said she was going to "investigate" this supposed "proof" that is out there regarding 587bc.
it always reverts back to "see? This is why we need the elders"
This is what my JW acquaintance did to me. She short-circuited the ask-a-question-get-her-to-explain method. She said that if I'm so interested in seeking answers, there is plenty of info out there, I know where the KH is & can ask the elders, but that she is not the best person to ask - basically telling me to stop speaking with her about it.
http://www.archive.org/details/spirituallydeadchildren.
you have to be fucking kidding me... this is mind control at it's best.
encouraging parents to ignore their kids who have left the jw's and blaming the kids themselves for the rift that's caused.
I just listened to it. I have often heard JW's say they do not judge hearts. Nevertheless, here we have JW's being told that if their children are judged by the elders to be deserving of disfellowshipment or even inactive, they should treat the children as though they are spiritually dead. I fail to see how this is not judging hearts.
edit: The talk grossed me out too. I don't see how people can sit & listen and applaud a speech like that.
my adorable little son is very excited about christmas.
i have not made a big thing about it, but he must have picked up the christmas spirit from what he is seeing in the shops and on tv.
he loves the music, and movies and all the decorations.
I think my mom did a good job with it in my upbringing. She just had fun with it, and it eventually wore off as I matured. There was no traumatic moment of realizing there's no santa claus. Here are some things she did that I think helped keep it in perspective. She would read to me out of a big picture book that had the famous poem about santa claus. This helped my language development and imagination. To me, it was kind of like reading out of a Mother Goose book. It was fun, and somewhere in my young mind, I knew it was imaginary. With presents, some of the tags said "from Mommy," others said "from Santa" and she played with it even more by having some tags say "from Jack Frost." This was helpful because it let me know that parents give presents too, not just Santa. Being an observant child, I noticed that the handwriting was all my Mom's.
such a scary expression!
the thread on theocratic terms reminded me of this one.
i searched and found this thread, which answered some of my questions, but still have some questions.
I sat in the KH listening to an older elder give a public talk about blood transfusions. He said that if you accept a blood transfusion, you are bloodguilty. Furthermore, if you are not doing -all you can- to tell others that they should refuse blood transfusions, you are also bloodguilty due to your failure to do everything you could.
among the various helpful pieces of advice i have read here from leavingwt, i have noticed that he often tells people to never discuss doctrine with a jw.
i realize that discussing doctrine with a jw can be very frustrating, but i was wondering if there is a more far-reaching and less-obvious reason for this advice.
like is it related to some peculiar aspect of the jw mind that the average person would not be aware of?.
NRFG wrote:
Her entire demeanor looked like she was in the room with a known rapist on the lamb. The crazy part about it is the entire time I remained calm and collective while she on the other hand started raising her voice
I once calmly asked my JW acquaintance why a rational person should believe -insert xyz JW idea here-. She raised her voice and kept it raised for the remainder of the conversation, talking to me like I was an enemy. She later told me she "should have known better than to 'go there' with you." Now she views me as someone she can't trust to "go there." All because I asked for a rational explanation for a doctrine that -she- preached to me in the first place.
