Max Divergent

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Posts by Max Divergent

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  20

  How Do I Tell My Mom

  by Moridin in

  1. social
  2. family

  recently i got engaged.

  the problem is we are going to have a pagan wedding according to our beliefs.

  my mother, a devout jw, already knows that we are getting married so i can't not invite her to the wedding.

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  Max Divergent

  Maybe anything non-JW will be about the same to Mom? Catholic, civil, Mormon, Satanist, Star Trek, nude, Wiccan, drunken, pickles on a sesamie seed bun...???
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  126

  What Was Your Greatest "Privilege" In The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was it being able to join the theocratic ministry school?

  being a regular pioneer?

  "handling microphones"?

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  Max Divergent

  Carrying a radio and wearing a couloured vest as conventions, doing a student part at an assembly, having the CO stay, hiding out in 'big wigs room' at the conventions (pretending to be one of their attendants, really just slacking), doing likewise at assemblies as a student earbigwig (like it was cool, the sarcastic remarks toward the speaker were real fun - highly competitive guys these bigwigs)

  Actually, I knew I was on my way out of the JW's in an attendants trailer at a DC where we were all slacking off drinking coffee and gossiping. I was listening to this guy talk and thinking he was just stringing together all the JW cliches he could think of in no particular order with no particular meaning or substance, just fine sounding words of waffle to sound like he was with the program, but with no heart in it at all... he was chair of the blood commiittee... then one of the wives (a smart, smart lady who shouldn't be a JW) turned to me and said, 'this sounds like one of your talks...'!

  I was mortified (but put on a brave face) coz i thought I was getting away with it... that was my last DC and my last meeting was only weeks away. I was busted... I think I slinked away from the trailer (after a decent interval to not be too obvious) back to my seat (for about the first time in the DC on day 3) with my wife.

  I looked around the audience for the final prayer - the first time I ever did that in my holy-of-holy mindset - and couldn't believe how many people were doing likewise. At the same DC I got my assistant attendant fired for slacking off. We were at a remote location and they sent a bus to take him away... fuck.... what a wanker I was...
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  19

  So many things I want to know . . .

  by pennycandy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1. how do you pronounce jaracz?.

  2. where can i get a copy of the latest wt cdrom without going to a kh?.

  3. in 20 words or less, what are masons?

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  Max Divergent

  1. How do you pronounce Jaracz? The prefered pronunciation is obscene ;-)

  4. Where did the phrase "spot on" come from all of a sudden? Is it new? In WWII the British fighter planes had a big round disk with concentric rings and a spot in the middle to aim at the enemy, to fire at a plane and hit it was thus 'spot on'. Likewise, 'the whole nine yards' related to the nine yards of ammunition belt the planes carried. To fire all the ammo at one target was to 'give them the whole nine yards'.
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  30

  Question-- Should I inform the Sheriff??

  by Junction-Guy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those of you who dont already know by now, the sheriff's deputy who told us to stop picketing last thursday works for the very same department that i do.

  she works patrol, and i work corrections.

  i remember when she used to work in the jail a few years ago, but im not sure if she recognized me.

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  Max Divergent

  Don't get in a pickle with the Sheriff?We didn't want to argue with Deputy Mannequin.

  Sounds like a song... "I told the sheriff... but I did not tell the deputeeee..."

  Most cops will just quell a 'situation' the quickest, easiest way possible.... and if that's telling you to rack-off, then that's what they'll do. You'd have to find out what your rights are (attorney, ACLU... the cops will tell you their version of the law) and assert them with the local police - preferably in advance of your protest action, ummm... 'do all things decently and by arrangement'
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  24

  DF'd and dirty looks

  by loosie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have a friend she is disfellowshipped.

  she suffers from depression.

  she wants to go back.

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  Max Divergent

  Our hall used to broadcast on FM for the security attendants not to miss any spiritual food while they patroled the car park... most of us tuned it to FM radio instead, of course. We'd catch each other out by talking down the microphone (message, ritual abuse... whatever). No respose = listening to the radio and some (mock) stern spiritual council was on its way... :-)

  But, no, sittting in the car is still isolating oneself from the spirit of the congo so probably wouldn't be good enough.

  Of course, isolating yourself from the spirit of the congo is a very good idea..... best done from home, a local resturaunt, a friends place, anywhere but the parking lot of a KH...

  Cheers, Max
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  20

  To Shun Or Follow The American System?

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a recent poll suggests that over 90% of americans believe in god.

  this compares to around 48% of brits who believe in god's existence.. even the devoutly religious tony blair doesn't want britain to follow in the religious footsteps of the usa, as he clearly states here as he risks incurring the displeasure of george w: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4369481.stm.

  so, as a person whose criticism of the us is confined mainly to it's penal system, i was wondering this: do you think that the more religious a country becomes, the harsher it's treatment is of those who err, harsh punishment being seen as a christian virtue?.

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  Max Divergent

  There?s as much evidence for the existence of god as there is for the idea that harsh punishment reduces crime? so if people have faith enough to believe in god, then they might have as much ?faith? (or is that credulity?) to believe that throwing away the key or throwing the switch is a good idea.

  Nationality has nothing to do with it - it's got more to do with whether people accept 'common sense' ideas uncitically, or require good evidence to support their beliefs.
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  136

  Sitting or Standing?

  by LittleToe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a recent thread brought this to mind:.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/86271/1.ashx.

  i had a male friend, when i was a jw, who was taught by his mother to always sit when he pee'd.

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  Max Divergent

  On Indian trains they have two toilets, in one booth its the Asian squat style (usually fairly clean), in the other it's the western stool style. In there the floor is always flooded with urine and feaces... maybe the locals get confused and just go the floor option when confronted with a stool?

  I sit if drunk or otherwise mentally comprimised - saves cleaning up...
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  16

  Blair and the other champaigne socialists

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  .

  just one of the reasons i despise the man.

  like the rest of the bunch of hypocrites they have abandoned all the ideals that they once claimed to have and are now more than happy to have their nose in the trough.. for all the criticism of thatcher (who transformed the country from the tatters it was left in under labour) they have made things much, much worse in terms of difference between rich and poor.. notice too how labour donators seem to have particularly done well, as has mrs blair - her latest contribution sapping money from local education and giving it to fundamentalist muslims in bogus human rights legalities.. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=398578&in_page_id=2.

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  Max Divergent

  they have made things much, much worse in terms of difference between rich and poor.

  How would it have been differnet under the other party? Maybe the difference would have increased even more?
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  136

  DA-ing Announcement in the Society's New Book

  by Mark in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the society's new book 'organized to do jehovah's will', to be released in the congregations .

  on the 20th of march, introduces a change in the df and da announcements.

  announcements will read the same: "[name of person] is no longer one of jehovah's .

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  Max Divergent

  I think Willyloman is right, but I'd like to add some speculation on the legal side of it as I think our freedoms are fairly safe if we're already faded away into the wind.

  The free exercise provision* only allows religionists to curtail the freedoms and rights of people within the religious community that they willingly joined (as the Judge said in Boer v WTS). It doesn?t mean a religion can reach out and harm people (by defamation, stalking or other unlawful harassment) who clearly aren't of their religion and don't consent to the rules of that religion, even if they once were and once did.

  So what? Well, I still remember a WT from around 1991 or so describing in gory detail the inherently demonic nature of people who are DF or DA (and now No Longer... NL?). So we know saying you're "DA/DF/NL" is a proxy for calling you "the son of the Devil" or similar or worse as published many times over many years.

  I think if we've clearly left the org some years ago** and don't by our actions consent to the religious rules of the JW's anymore, then they'd be putting themselves at risk of an action in slander WITHOUT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PROTECTION if they made a DF/DA/NL announcement (and thus called you nasty, nasty names) after you've clearly left their religious community.

  The trick will come when they 'adjust' the procedure and meaning behind the NL process. They have smart people working on all this and they'll probably do a good job of it. But we need to remember our rights as free citizens of liberal democratic countries - they think they're liteally above Ceaser's law but they're wrong.

  Max

  * it doesn?t matter much if it's US or British originated law as the basic principle is universal in the western world.

  ** per the elders book of due WTS process, also an OKM of about 1975 defined 'some years' as 3 years
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  72

  High rates of depression in Org.

  by chuckyy in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i noticed after being a jw for a while that many members of my congregation were having to take antedepressants.

  (i counted at least 30 out of 100).

  after a few years i too began to have bouts of depression and problems with anxiety.

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  Max Divergent

  steve2 - For some scientific evidence of higher rates of metal illness amongst JW's, see;

  Spencer, J. (1975)The Mental Health of Jehovah's WitnessesBritish Journal of Psychiatry 126:556-559.

  (Spener is a real scientist and, AFAIK, never been a JW)

  My copy is from the Journal, but online copies are readily available too... one source is: http://www.rickross.com/reference/jw/jw72.html