Posts by Max Divergent

40

How Long Have You Been Here?

by minimus in

jw
friends

12 years for me and before i actually became a member, i looked at this site (jwd) for a few months..

[Apart from Simon who's been rightly disqualified...] according the the date joined on this thread so far, only Mouthy's been here longer than me! And that's only by two days! LOL! Me 24 November 2001, her 22 November.

The rest of you are mere newbies! :-)

I probably am a contestant for the slowest poster ever though: by my calculaton it's 0.1 of a post per day for 13 years and one month! :-) (ie: 479 posts in 4777 days).

But I have spent so many hours reading this place. Too many. Thank you Simon.

76

From 1 to 10, how do you rate the value of the Internet in your awakening?

by Hidden-Window in

jw
friends

as we all know, the internet is a real game-changer in allowing us to know the truth about the watch tower and its history.

i always had doubts and it was the internet that presented me with the ever-growing number of individuals who were going through a similar struggle.. i give the internet a 9 in my awakening.

what about you?.

Max Divergent

I started down the road out through disatisfaction with the JW life and the actions of elders about 1994 or 1995: that was nothng to do with the internet which I hadn't used then.

When I gathered up enough unhappiness, I wanted to find out about 'that book' written by 'Fred Franz relative'. That was around 1996 or 1997 just as the internet was becoming popular and accessible and useful. I found Crisis in a libary after getting the title etc via the internet (as I recall). After a few pages I knew I couldn't stay a JW. Then I found H2O, and I was really going out of the JWs fast. I remember my heart racing doing all that for the first time!

So, the internet didn't start the slide, but it heped push me along the slope to getting out.

5 for getting out.

10 for being the right tool at the right time for everything JW related since then.

3

Vale Phillip Hughes, killed playing cricket

by Max Divergent in

jw
friends

i can't see that there's a posting about the tragic death of australian cricketer, phillip hughes last week.

he was an extraordinary talent, grew up on a cattle farm and, by all accounts, was a thoroughly decent and happy 25 year old man.. he missed hitting a ball bowled at him and was struck by it in the neck: the rock hard ball would have been travelling at about 85km/h.

the blow ruptured an artery causing too much blood to flow into his brain.

Max Divergent

I can't see that there's a posting about the tragic death of Australian cricketer, Phillip Hughes last week. He was an extraordinary talent and, by all accounts, was a thoroughly decent and happy 25 year old man.

He missed hitting a ball bowled at him and was struck by it in the neck: the rock hard ball would have been travelling at about 85km/h. The blow ruptured an artery causing too much blood to flow into his brain. He dropped face down seconds after and never regained consciousness, despite every possible effort being made.

Too sad. He played at the top level and broke several records from the age of 20. This video is an official tribute to him. The gory details are a Google search away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHL-qiz9y8Y

41

3 JWs injured whilst Cart Witnessing

by Listener in

https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/25697590/three-injured-as-car-hits-park-bench/.

an elderly driver crashed into a park bench in mandurah, western australia today where 3 jws were sitting.

they had set up their jw cart and their literature was also strewn across the ground.. one of the jws was seriously injured with head injuries.. what a freak accident this is.. .

Max Divergent

Very sorry for the family and friends of those involved.

Our sympathies and thoughts shoud be with them.

53

How did your family react when you made it known that you did not want to be a JW anymore?

by Yondaime in

please share your experiences..

Max Divergent

They were generally polite; there were a few nasty messages early on, but that tended to happened before anyhow. There's little contact, but religion might not be the only reason for that. My school-age children haven’t even heard of JWs (so far as I know). My non-JW in-laws were relieved their sister/daughter's 'Christian Phase' was over.

(Edited to add that, in fact, I'm not sure that I've ever told my parents - although I've been out since 1998. They must have drawn an easy-to-make inference, or my wife told them. I know I've never had a conversation about why with my parents: I tried with my sister and that went badly, I did with my brother and he's out too).

11

JW-College-Police!

by Atlantis in

states he is a jehovah's witness near the end of the article.. .. http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/education/2014/12/02/green-helped-shape-ui-public-safety-police-force/19798329/?utm_source=jw+news+and+archive&utm_campaign=47e569bee3-rss_email_campaign&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5caf9e1836-47e569bee3-29185349&ct=t(rss_email_campaign ).

.. .. atlantis.

.

Max Divergent

Congratulations to him on a fine career.

85

My Letter to Brooklyn about the Parousia that got me disfellowshipped

by cofty in

this is the letter i wrote back in '96 about the parousia.

following the '95 watchtower that disconnected the "generation" from 1914 i began to look carefully at end-time prophecy and soon discovered what i knew were basic errors in what i had been taught.. i was a loyal jw at the time and was still serving as an elder.

i used only watchtower publications in my research.

Max Divergent

There was no sycophancy there, Cofty. It was the correct form of words for the context within which you were writing at the time.

21

Jehovah's Witnesses are a Hate group

by Watchtower-Free in

.

Max Divergent

Being hateful and being a hate group are different things.

JW/WTS might be the former sometimes, but they are not the latter.

20

China officially #1 WORLD POWER, surpassed USA in economy and soon will in military.

by EndofMysteries in

another thread related but the title only says, "china is #1", which can mean anything and hence many may not view it who would be intersted in the world power shift.. for the first time since 1945 usa is #2 for economy.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/its-official-america-is-now-no-2-2014-12-04.

do you think the gb are sweating yet?

Max Divergent

I wonder if the concentration of wealth in a few also concentrates effective political control in the same few. Thus a narrower national political agenda can be pursued; that is, the agenda that further concentrates power and wealth in the few including via foreign policy.

If that were so, then the US would be heading away from popular democracy and toward some form of corporate oligarchy, hopefully with democratic characteristics.

Such a drift would reduce the US long-term influence in the broader global contest of ideas, kind of like how capitalism/democracy/socialism with Chinese characteristics only affords the Chinese limited international political legitimacy.

72

Does anyone remember a district overseer Joe Slaiman?

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

joe slaiman and his wife jean were in the travelling work in australia throughout the 90's... ( i may have spelt the name incorrectly).

anyone remember them?

they were very well liked by many of the brothers and sisters.. i wonder what happened to him?

Max Divergent

Last I heard they were living in NSW. They were a decent and fun couple. They came to our place for lunch once with a CO couple, the CO was DFd not long after. Joe saw The Australian (broardsheet newspaper seldom seen in JW houses) and he just made a beeline for it. Spent most of lunch reading, while the other three made chatter. I liked him for doing that (it wasn't in the least bit rude).