I started smoking when I drank with friends worked up to a pack a week for about a year. Now I'm back to very occasionally when I'm out with friends that smoke.
mynameislame
JoinedPosts by mynameislame
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52
How many here smoke?
by cantleave ini don't and am very unlikely to after seeing my father dying of a smoking related lung disease (even though i would like to try a high quality cigar).. but i am curious to see how many people take up smoking after leaving the org.. .
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JW, Religion, Cult or Pyramid Scheme?
by theannointed inhello.. here is some thought provoking debate that may help people investigate the true nature of the watch tower society.. this surely should be something that everyone who belongs to the society and any one who plans to convert should do.. i did this myself, after getting involved with a girl who was a fanatical jw and by doing so, i believe that i discovered the true nature of the wt.. but please, do not take my word for it, please do your own research and reading.. this is really important as by signing up or getting baptised as a jw, you are basically surendering your own personal rights to an unknown authority who proclaims to speak for god.
and by doing so you will suffer major negative socio-economic implications on a daily basis due to the restrictions and demands enforced by those involved and in control of the ws.. personally, learning how the watch tower society got started was enough to convince me that the watch tower society is not what it proclaims to be.
my suspicions were compounded after learning more about nathan knors (past president of the watch tower society) involvement with the nazi's in the second world war.. for those out there who do not know how the watch tower society got started, i recommend that you research the main man behind it joseph franklin rutherford, as it was not as many jw's believe, charles taze russel who started the society but russel's lawyer joseph franklin rutherford, a man whom in my opinion was of questionable character, who underhandedly seized power over russel's followers after russel's death.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_society_presidency_dispute_(1917).
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mynameislame
Well it isn't a Pyramid Scheme. But it seems a bit like you are preaching to the choir
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Just wanted to say hello
by Suraj Khan ini've only very recently discovered this site and have been reading many compelling personal accounts and testimonials.
i'd like to share my own as well.. i was born into 'the truth' in the early 1970s.
along with my several (fleshly) brothers and sisters, i went through the usual travails of a witness boy - not celebrating birthdays, not pledging allegiance to the flag, not singing christmas carols in the class chorus.
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mynameislame
Cheers and welcome.
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Today's WT: A Warning To You Loyal Witnesses
by metatron init happens without warning.
you have a stroke.
you get ms. you are in a car accident.. they put you in the hospital.
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mynameislame
This post reminded me of the one person I respect as a JW. He truly dedicated his live to living by the principles he believed in.
Every person in our territory knew who he was because he was out there every day going door to door.
And when he got old, senile and was acting a bit crazy I remember one of the elders showing no sympathy for him and even made some derisive comment to the tune of since he didn't have an actual medical condition there was no excuse for his behavior.
Interestingly searching or his name on google I found this link:
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Birds ended the reign of giant Insects - either that or Noah was scared of Spiders!
by cantleave inhttp://richarddawkins.net/articles/646182-birds-ended-reign-of-giant-insects.
giant insects ruled the prehistoric skies during periods when earths atmosphere was rich in oxygen.
they reached their biggest sizes about 300 million years ago during the late carboniferous and early permian periods.
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mynameislame
I think he didn't like bugs... or unicorns... or dinosaurs.
Kent Hovind Says Noah brought dinosaurs on the ark but he only brought the baby ones
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Help! I'm having serious thoughts about going back
by lola28 inhello old friends, i've been thinking about going back and need you all to give me your thoughts on it.. the last year has been a horribe one for me, in the span of less than a year the following things have happened to me:.
lost my mom to cancergot hit by a carhad a professional set back that will cost over 600k to resolveended a three and a half year relationshipit just feels like every time i think things are going to get better something else hits me and knocks me down, a small part of me wonders wether i brought all these things on myself because i left the organization (yes i know how silly that sounds) and i have given serious thought about going back.
i need you guys to talk me out of it!.
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mynameislame
I do agree with everyone that those experiences are not because you left.
If there was a cause other than coincidence, then it is more likely that your experiences as a JW prevented you from learning when and how to take risks and who to trust. Letting someone else do the thinking for you doesn't usually have good results.
But from the other side of the coin, my attempt to go back is what finally helped me make the decision to never go back. I have a friend who, last time I talked to her, had resigned herself to dying at Armageddon. I'm glad I don't have to live with something like that over my head. You now have a different perspective and expectations so you will be able to see things as they are rather than as the JWs tell you they are. So even if you go back I don't think you will stay for long. -
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Was Any Part of it Real?
by Big Tex ini'm sort of following a stream of consciousness so bear with me.
i was flipping around on tv and ran across an old movie.
a couple had a one night stand and when she realized he had just used her she was shocked and told him he had said he loved her.
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mynameislame
Not sure if it was being a JW or bad parenting, probably a bit of both but I never had any real close relationships with other JWs and wasn't allowed to find friends outside the JWs. I didn't really know this was the case until I moved across the country and for the most part not one of my so called friends called or visited. We didn't have email in those days. But honestly this probably was a good thing for my recovery. Since I was already distanced from my "friends" I didn't have as much to lose when I got DFed
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Protected during prayers? Really?
by TimeBandit inprotected during prayers?.
did any of you ever hear stories or myths about faithful jws that when in prayer had been protected from something bad happening to them?.
maybe like the story i heard about the two sisters out in service who were about to be attacked by a viscous dog?
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mynameislame
I have heard a few. Here's my personal expirence with prayer.
One evening during a particularly depressing period I was praying for guidance. The very next day a JW elder and his wife showed up at my door. I was DFed and had moved to a new territory where nobody knew me. I lived in a condo which the JWs tend to stay away from in general. So this without a doubt looked like an answer to my prayer. Right away I told them I was DFed and the Elder asked if I wanted to have a bible study with him. I said I didn't think he could do that because I was DFed. Immediately the wife chimed in and said it's OK, my husband is an elder so he knows. Elated that Jehovah had answered my prayer I eagerly accepted and we setup a time for the next week.
Next week comes and right on time my buzzer rings. All excited I answer the door ready for my study. I open the door and without a word the elder hands me one of those little meeting invitations with their meeting schedule and leaves. No explanation, apology or anything.
While this was confusing and hurtful I didn't give up on Jehovah, he must have had a reason for this. So I started attending the meetings at my new congregation. After a while I applied for reinstatement. Of course this very same elder was one of the three elders on the committee.
While I didn't get reinstated (thank God for that) I did get two useful bits of information that started to open my eyes. I forget what he was replying to but my buddy the elder said very emphatically: "It's the truth!, it's the truth!, it's the truth!". I remember thinking who is he trying to convince, it sounds like he is trying to convince himself. The second thing I got out of that meeting was when I asked how god answers our prayers. I was told that he answers them by recalling scriptures to our minds at the right time. The first thought that came to mind is that has to be some sort of BS because just as often I will recall lines from Moby-Dick or an episode of the Simpsons. Later on when thinking more about it, I realized I was recalling quite a few scriptures, it was just that most of them suggested that I should stop wasting any more time on this religion. I wish I could remember some of them now to share with everyone but that time has passed. Sadly this still didn't break my will and I continued to attend the meetings regularly. And for anyone who has never been DFed believe me those meetings are soooo boring when you can't sit and talk to a friend instead of listening.
Later on I was researching the "Creation" book by going to the library and reading the materials referenced in that book. I assumed that couldn't be bad since the GB must have read those books in order to quote from them. Although I don't think I prayed on the matter the more I read the the less impressed I was with the Creation book. As anyone who has read these reference materials already knows at least some of the books are written by crackpots. (If I still had the creation book in my house I might go to the trouble of noting some of them). Now the spiritual part of this situation comes over three Sundays where, due to a mix up and a cancellation, there were three public talks in a row where where the creation book and or evolution was discussed and all I could think about was the research I had done and how all of what they were saying was complete BS. I'm not sure exactly when I stopped going to meetings for good but this was definitely the turning point in my exit from the JWs.
At this point I am not a huge believer in God, I spent way too much time beating myself up trying to please Jehovah through the JWs and I'm not willing to go through that again without some solid evidence. You know, the kind you find out about as you are dropping into the fires of Hell. But looking back over these experiences as well as others that I have not mentioned, if there is a God he (or she) did everything they could to get me out of that religion. -
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mynameislame
I remember having some enjoyable times when I was younger. I can relate to Painted ToeNail's activity list except we went to Shakey's pizza on Halloween.
I was raised as a JW and don't really remember when things turned bad. Probably when I started wanting sex and had to feel guilty about it.
It could be the "when I was young" syndrome but I think life was simpler and more enjoyable in when I was younger. No 60 hour work weeks at to pay for a flat screen tv that can be seen from the space shuttle so that I can watch two million channels of nothing on cable while reading jw-net on my ipad and listening to music on my iphone etc.... Like Calvin's dad in Calvin and hobbs says: I liked when you coud send someone a letter and you wouln't hear back from them for at least a week.
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If you got apostate vids on Youtube take em off now!!! Legal Dept to Sue!
by smithmandy1 ini've posted this on the wrong section so i'm posting it on here cos its sort of to topic as i know many of you have vids on youtube.
legal department are beginning legal action against google and its uploaders regards to apostate vids that slander the watchtower and/or contain copyrighted material!!!
my hubby knows people who know so heres my warning lol.
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mynameislame
Hmmm well thought out thought provoking post 3 replies. Obvious troll post 80+ posts and counting!!