Vidiot

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Posts by Vidiot

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  72

  Why No Disfellowshipping Before 1952?

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why was there no official arrangement before 1952 to disfellowship people?

  was there a different procedure with a different name?

  was no one committing disfellowshipping offenses?

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  Vidiot

  Christ Alone: "Cris Sanchez said that he felt like the GB...would have killed him if they had the chance."

  Nixon loyalists acted the same way towards the Watergate whistleblowers for years afterward.
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  72

  Why No Disfellowshipping Before 1952?

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why was there no official arrangement before 1952 to disfellowship people?

  was there a different procedure with a different name?

  was no one committing disfellowshipping offenses?

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  Vidiot

  From what I've read over the years, I've gotten the distinct impression that in its infancy, the WTS actually started out fairly liberal. Common-law marriages were accepted, Christmas and burthdays were celebrated, and the democratic process was used freely, but Rutherford's reign and heavy-handed influence began to turn it the other way.

  After he died, some wanted to foster a "kinder, gentler" WTS, but Knorr wanted to make the Org look more publicly respectable, and in the 50s that meant conservative. Growth, albeit through agressive prosyletizing, nevertheless let the higher-ups convince themselves that that was the direction God wanted them to take, so with Fred Franz, this tendency was increasingly entrenched. The post-1975 freak-out, followed by Ray Franz's exit didn't help, either; and they began putting up the storm windows.

  Under Jaracz's iron fist, virtually all the remaining intellectuals, artistic types, and outside-the-box thinkers got purged out one way or another, and the WTS had become a full-on "authoritarian high-control group" (an admittedly wordy term that I, nevertheless, personally prefer to "cult" for a couple of reasons.)
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  23

  I'm An Adult... Who's Always Wanted to Do Halloween.

  by DarioKehl in

  1. social
  2. physical

  i really wanna play catch-up!

  i have a great group of "heathen worldlings," faded and exjws and i'm gonna try and arrange something for this year.

  there are tons of clubs in my city that throw fantastic parties.

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  Vidiot

  Dario: "ooooooooohhhhh.... thank you, Vidiot!"

  Like that, huh?

  I once went to a (believe it or not!) JW jungle-themed costume party dressed as Indiana Jones; hat, bomber jacket, kahakis, bullwhip; everything.

  It went over well.
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  16

  Has anybody ever written to Bethel asking why we believe certain things and did you get a reply?

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am curious since there are soooo many here.

  i know ones may have written disassociation letters and they may have just thrown them out and not done anything.

  i wonder how many have written about specific teachings we have and what you have seen in the bible that conflicts with that, and asked why?

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  Vidiot

  Searcher: "It really hit him that the literal interpretation of Rom. 6:7 makes Christ's sacrifice so unneccessary - if our own death wipes out our sins!"

  Ahh.

  Come to thing of it, I remember having a similar little "wait a minute" moment years ago, but at the time, I just chalked it up to the fact that I could never fully get a handle on the whole "ransom sacrifice"/"substitutionary atonement" concept anyway (other than the conclusion that it negated the possibility of evolution).

  Good catch.
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  26

  Teenage son's last WT comment. Major sphincter puckering on my part.

  by Open mind in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i thought maybe some of us might enjoy something light-hearted to start the week off.

  at dinner last night my teenage son reminded me of the last kh meeting he attended with me about a year ago.

  he is a big fan of christopher hitchins and self-identifies as an atheist.

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  Vidiot

  That was awesome.

  The only thing that might have made it better was if he had replaced "of these scientists and their unproven theories" with "of self-appointed experts".

  I made a few comment digs like that just before/during my fade. I always got smiles from bro's and sis's who knew me well.
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  56

  Does the Watchtower really parallel 1st Century Christianity?

  by Emery in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i wanted to get a list of arguments that illustrate how the watchtower society is or isn't following 1st century christianity today.

  thanks again everyone!.

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  Vidiot

  mp: Given Paul had an education and spoke Greek theres a reasonable chance he was a boy involved in such a relationship himself as was typical of teacher, students. All of his letter are in Greek to communities in a Greek world. Given he failed to condemn this, then he obviously had no motivation to condemn it as it was fine in his eyes, just like the unequal treatment of women was acceptable to him.

  Um, I thought he DID condemn it...

  http://bible.cc/romans/1-27.htme

  Although, if he had experienced it (on the receiving end), and didn't like it, it would definately explain the condemnation.

  Hmm... Paul being an grown victim of childhood sexual victimization would sure explain a shitload of things...
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  12

  "Quackery" banned !!! Gay conversion therapy now illegal...

  by irondork in

  1. social
  2. current

  hallelujah!

  http://news.yahoo.com/calif-first-ban-gay-teen-conversion-therapy-081605486.html.

  sacramento, calif. (ap) gov.

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  Vidiot

  It's been my observation that Cali law is often like a window to the future for the rest of US law.

  Good thing the Conti case was heard there.
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  16

  Has anybody ever written to Bethel asking why we believe certain things and did you get a reply?

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am curious since there are soooo many here.

  i know ones may have written disassociation letters and they may have just thrown them out and not done anything.

  i wonder how many have written about specific teachings we have and what you have seen in the bible that conflicts with that, and asked why?

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  2. 
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  Vidiot

  Searcher: "I wish you'd never told me about Romans 6:7."

  What did he find so disturbing about it?
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  23

  I'm An Adult... Who's Always Wanted to Do Halloween.

  by DarioKehl in

  1. social
  2. physical

  i really wanna play catch-up!

  i have a great group of "heathen worldlings," faded and exjws and i'm gonna try and arrange something for this year.

  there are tons of clubs in my city that throw fantastic parties.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Vidiot

  Rorchach

  http://www.google.ca/imgres?q=rorschach&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1360&bih=600&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=mOUwnQjmzatsNM:&imgrefurl=http://www.namelymarly.com/2010/05/whats-so-interesting-about-watchmen-character-names/watchmen-rorschach/&docid=Swz94f9rR54PGM&imgurl=http://www.namelymarly.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Watchmen-rorschach.jpg&w=306&h=400&ei=IOhqUPGaK6iUigLNnIDQAw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=457&sig=105387026839180330522&page=2&tbnh=134&tbnw=103&start=24&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:24,i:239&tx=55&ty=89
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  147

  Conti update article: "Watchtower Loses Conti Appeal - But Fights On"

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i've published a new article on my blog explaining where things are up to with the candace conti case.. as well as detailing the latest developments, i also summarize the events since june and reveal some of kathleen conti's thoughts on what's in store for the watchtower.. here is the link:.

  http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/watchtower-loses-conti-appeal-but-fights-on.

  as always, if you can think of a way that the article can be improved, i would love to hear feedback!.

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  Vidiot

  Pistoff: Let's hope a few huge payouts will change their attitude.

  No way, especially now; Old Man Jaracz's legacy.