scotoma

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Posts by scotoma

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  35

  JW Middle Schoolers vs Non JW Middle Schoolers - what was your middle/high school experience?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm a secondary school teacher and i've spent a lot of time at school this year since i've left jws simply observing student dynamics.

  i do a lot of playground duty and have the opportunity to observe the kids at play and in the classroom.

  i've especially had the opportunity to observe middle school kids, that is, kids between 12 and 15 in my state.. my observations of these 'worldly' children are:.

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  scotoma

  I think over-strictness became a problem with JW's at the point that they thought the end was coming in 1975.

  The whole organization thought they were marching into the promised land in military order - like the Israelites in the exodous.

  Everything was tightened up. Even the new smoking rules were instituted in the context of purifying the congregation for God's approval just before armageddon.

  The article that launched the no-smoking rules was titled: Keeping God’s Congregation Clean in the Time of His Judgment

  THE TIME FOR DIVINE JUDICIAL DECISIONS
  
  26 These rulings with regard to spiritual and moral matters of the Christian witnesses of Jehovah may appear to some to be very strict. But this represents no effort to act in an arbitrary, dictatorial manner. The strictness really proceeds from God, who expresses himself through his written Word. In view of the time in which this generation of mankind is living, it is the time for careful attention to cleanness of conduct by those who desire to please God and to enter into his approaching righteous new order.

  That article came out in June 1973. That was 40 years ago when they expected the outbreak of the Great Tribulation even before the end of the 6000 years in 1975. From that point on JW's went crazy. The leadership in local congregations was expanded from one overseer to many overseers. This meant that every Tom, Dick and Harry could now qualify as local governors and to do so they had to have "theocratic" children. Basement parties were over. Congregation picnics started to disappear. Responsibiity in the congregation from mike handlers and attendance takers to litterature clerks were stepping stones to ELDERSHIP and any evidence of deviance had to be monitored and punished.

  After all, with armageddon so near everything became a life and death matter.
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  58

  What do you think happens when we die?

  by cognac in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm trying to figure it out.

  if we are just dead then there is no point to anything i do.

  i'd like to hope our energy goes somewhere... but, i'd like to examine what somebody presents as proof....

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  scotoma

  Some parts of the Bible really get it right...

  Eccl. 9:4,5

  4For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion. 5For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. 6Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun.

  I never could figure out how you can reconcile the rest of the Bible with these verses.

  Life after death is the great cosmic delusion. It's a lie.

  All living things want to keep the circle going because that's the definition of life. But once you get off the metabolic path you are less than history.

  Paradise is a world without violent death from murder and warfare. We owe it to our progeny to make progress toward a peaceful earth.

  The fringe benefits from a warless world would be food for all, relief from various diseases and a humane exit when you are tired of it all.

  Science hasn't come up with a shred of evidence that there is anything beyond the chilling description from Ecclesiastes.

  Basically our excrement is the most useful thing we give back to the planet.
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  50

  Question for the married guys

  by TweetieBird in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is it possible to be friends with a woman, text her, call her, etc and not be physically attracted to her?.

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  scotoma

  I have 3 very close female friends.

  My wife and two daughters. That's about as much conversation as I can handle.

  Before my daughters became adults I had several female friends that I would talk with on a regular basis.

  Friendships sometimes are higher maintenance than a romantic attachment.
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  38

  whats the point of this site?

  by new hope and happiness in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i hope and think to inform and educate, to save lifes and be a refuge to those lost and confused.. i like las58 his crazy and sometimes makes deep points, so i like the diverse expression of members and freedom of voice.... but i hate the internet and how it takes your identity away...facebook and path for example i think exist only to extract every bit of information of who i am and then i am turned in a target for advertisers...worse they want all the details of my friends...now i think the world would be better with out advertising but i am wearing a shirt advertising a bank and a toyota cars and now i am selling toyota cars with this post.. damn you advertisers, you destroy all that is sacred ...even this site has advertising.....if we could abort advertising would the world be a better place?.

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  scotoma

  Advertising - flowers advertise. They put out amazing smells and colorful blossoms to get birds and bees to polinate. - Advertising.

  Males and Females of most species advertise with pheromones and secondary sex characteristics.

  Competition is what produces advertising.

  If there were no competition there would be no advertising.

  "cum one cum all"
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  51

  Family is drawing the line in the sand

  by dissonance_resolved in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so my family has obviously been noticing over the past several months that i've been missing meetings and fs.

  i've had excuses sometimes, but not others, so my parents are definitely getting that this is more than a long bout of illnesses or fatigue.

  i just received an email invitation to join them in service this weekend.

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  scotoma

  Pull the plug. Start wearing the "do not reactivate bracelet" .

  Take the feeding tube out of your mouth.
• 
  17

  Tech49, James Jackson and Zophar and every other elder on JWN...

  by NeverKnew in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have failed to welcome any of you individually so i wanted to make a thread to formally thank you.

  .

  i know that your presence, wisdom and the courage you're demonstrating by being here will help many.. .

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  scotoma

  We want to thank the ex-governing body member, who believed Bible BS right up to his death.

  We want to thank all the ex cirucit & district overseers for sharing their sins and knowledge of sins.

  We want to thank all the Elder's who have left that in their former glory "stoned" people who are still walking dead.

  We want to thank all the Bethelites and Missionaries that played the game so well for so long.

  We want to thank the plain ordinary dogs (publishers) who snatch up all the crumbs of gossip from the consecrated table and collectively give the former leaders a new flock to admire them.

  We want to thank organized groups of renegades who would like to make us worthless volunteers in overthrowing an organization that is going to die all by itself.

  Please leave your godamn titles and certificates and honorary priveleges in the dumpster before you enter here.

  We need a real "truth" thread from all of you x-leaders. You need to name your organizational sins and ask for forgiveness.
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  19

  Why should God answer a prayer to get a job while atrocities happen everyday?

  by BU2B in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had a conversation yesterday with my wife, who seems to think every good thing that happens to her just has to be jehovah, and every bad thing, she just knows is satan.

  this irritates me to no end.

  i told her yesterday that i have trouble praying to have relatively petty thing resolved in my life, meanwhile around the world, many people are raped mutilated, tortured, and killed everyday.

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  scotoma

  BU2B Do you actually believe in a personal God and Devil?
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  53

  Due to Ongoing Concern about Dwindling Meeting Attendances, IS THE BOOK STUDY ARRANGEMENT GOING TO BE RE-INSTATED NEXT YEAR?

  by steve2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have some family and friends still in the organization.

  i don't actively seek updates - my lovely contacts provide me with them unsolicited.

  so far the updates have been reliable and confirmed sooner or later by subsequent developments.

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  scotoma

  Watchtower Stupid Talk. We have 3 meetings on one night. In reality it is ONE (1) meeting with 3 sessions or parts.

  A circuity assembly or special assembly day is One (1) meeting divided up into several segments.

  They are good at that kind of thinking. They even have jesus coming in 1914 and then coming at armageddon.

  They like those collective structures: Faithful and discreet Slave = All the annointed. Domestics = Indiviudal annointed.

  They replaced that structure.

  Don't forget the seven angels of the congregations in Revelation. They now refer to them as the seven "elder bodies" of the congregations.

  So they love the grouping and re-grouping game.

  They did that with the interpretation of Revelation 17:11. All the translations say that the eighth king is "one of" the seven. The Freddy interpretation says the eighth king "springs" from the seven so it fit with Watchtower interpretation that the eight king is really a Collective of all the Nations or The United Nations.

  Their flip flop on the ten toes of the immense image is another grouping problem.
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  53

  Due to Ongoing Concern about Dwindling Meeting Attendances, IS THE BOOK STUDY ARRANGEMENT GOING TO BE RE-INSTATED NEXT YEAR?

  by steve2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have some family and friends still in the organization.

  i don't actively seek updates - my lovely contacts provide me with them unsolicited.

  so far the updates have been reliable and confirmed sooner or later by subsequent developments.

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  scotoma

  The present arrangement will NOT be changed because...

  the Governing Body "just love this arrangement".

  There are 5 meetings a week? Who you kidding? By definition only.
• 
  5

  Back to Basics, Baloney, Eden Eve and Eventualities.

  by prologos in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  gen 1:31: "-- it was very good--".

  at this point man had perfection, so did the animals , it was all very good after all, but.

  mankind did not have inherent never ending life, just like the perfect animals,-- because.

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  scotoma

  All of my kids quit believing after reading Genesis.