I remember being taught that God can see my thoughts. So I always assumed that Satan could see my thoughts as well. Then I heard a circuit overseer give an in depth talk about Satan and the demons and he said Satan could not read your mind. He gave no scriptural support. No evidence or reasoning. He just stated it as fact. I wondered about it, but simply accepted it and my mind was a bit more at ease about that particular irrational fear that I had at the time. Of course, now that I have broken free from the religion and no longer see evidence of any supernatural being, I don't have any of that irrational fear. But if someone knows the Society's scriptural basis for that reasoning, I'd be interested to know.
maxwell
JoinedPosts by maxwell
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36
can Satan read your mind?
by doodle-v ini talked to my brother today who is still a practicing jw (i've managed to fade) .
we were talking and suddenly he asked me if i thought satan could read my mind.
and he said "yeah i though the answer was yes and then i found out that satan cant read my mind".
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Sometimes I feel ashamed of what I fell for!
by be wise inhi everyone, i want to let you know that sometimes i feel ashamed of what i fell for regarding the jws.
its so clear now sometimes i actually feel embarrassed.
when i listen to recordings of assemblys - you know when they really get off on one, you cant help but see and feel the underlying cult propagated information thats being taught.
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maxwell
I'm sometimes ashamed of it, but I see people falling for stuff that's even dumber. For example, last night I was up late flipping around on the TV and on comes Peter Popoff. He's a tv evangelist who claims to have healing powers. People come on his show and he yells something about God's holy spirit, then smacks the person in the forehead knocking the person onto their back and claims to have healed them. And the people get up sweating and crying and claim to be healed. I don't know how those people make themselves believe that. But I suppose the mind is a powerful thing when you want to believe something.
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Preparing for attack
by Sadie5 inlast night on local news,(tulsa,ok) they warned of a terror attack before the end of the week.
urged us to stock up on bottled water and foods.
have sheets of plastic on hand to cover vents in case of a dirty bomb.. anyone else hearing any warnings?.
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maxwell
I know this thread has been scrolled down, but I thought I'd post this Washington Post article. I'm not disputing what anyone has said in this thread. This article could be wrong but it does say some things about plastic that contradict what was said in this thread. So now you have another view.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A225-2003Feb12.html
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Preparing for attack
by Sadie5 inlast night on local news,(tulsa,ok) they warned of a terror attack before the end of the week.
urged us to stock up on bottled water and foods.
have sheets of plastic on hand to cover vents in case of a dirty bomb.. anyone else hearing any warnings?.
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maxwell
We've had the same terror warnings here in the DC area. And I hear in the NYC area also. The hardware stores are doing great business in plastic sheets. I suppose that is a good idea in case of a dirty bomb. However, I hope that a dirty bomb only makes the air dirty for a limited time, because if you successfully close off all outside air, you will only have a limited amount of air inside the closed space. You can't stay in a totally closed off space indefinitely unless you have a way to filter outside air. Maybe using plastic to seal off rooms doesn't totally close off rooms and only filters to some extent. Does someone know? Otherwise, you'll eventually run out of breathable air. That said, I'm going to make sure I have batteries for the radio, some canned goods, water and maybe some plastic for my little apartment.
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Who plays a musical instrument?
by JH ineverybody likes music, but i don't know many people who play an instrument.
years ago, every house had a piano, and just about everybody in the house played the piano, but not today.
we all know that farkel is an excellent pianist, and i do enjoy listening to his music.. does any of you play a musical instrument?
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maxwell
I play the alto sax. I've done a little piano also. We had an old upright at home, but since I moved out 3 years ago, I don't get to play that any more. I hope to get a nice little digital piano for my apartment one of these days.
When I was a JW back at home, a group of us had a band that played at some wedding receptions and anniversaries and a few general get togethers. We played oldies music and quite loud at times. I remember hearing some vague cautions against large gatherings with live bands on circuit assembly programs, but we kept playing and people kept dancing, but being cautious about the songs we played. We actually had an elder in the band. Now at least two of us are no longer JW's. (The elder is still in as far as I know.) So maybe playing that loud worldly did corrupt us. Nah, I don't think so. But the band is one thing I miss. I have to find some other people to play with.
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POLICE SHOW UP WHILE OUT IN SERVICE...ANY STORIES?
by Jacqueline infirst time in over a year...3rd time in 2 years!.
my husband went out in service yesterday...and relayed the following story to me when he got home.. .
going from door to door....they were all "not at homes", so they were combing the neighborhood rather quickly looking for people at home...suspicious activity...having people going from door to door that quickly.. .
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maxwell
A little late jumping in this thread, but thought I'd add a story.
It was maybe 10-15 years ago. I was a teenager. With my dad and two other guys. I may have told this story here before, but I'll type it again. Anyway, we usually tried to avoid having all men in a car group. Stereotypes, the world we live in, whatever, can make that seem scary to some people, but anyway, we couldn't avoid it that day. We lived in a rural area, and we were working a territory far out on the edge of our rural territory. A small town that was just a widening of the road. All four of us black guys. My dad and I finish working our houses and come back to the car. The other two guys are still at the door talking. We are riding in one of the other bros. cars so my dad and I are are sitting in the back seat with the doors open on this warm summer day. A police car pulls up behind us and the policeman gets out and walks up on my side and looks in at us and says "hi" and how are ya'll. something to that affect. We return the greeting and my dad tells him what we're doing and he acknowledges it. I am sure he knew what we were doing all along. So by this time the other two guys come back from the house they were at. The policeman watches them approach and notices one with his hand in his pocket. And he says "you always have your hand in your pocket like that?". And the bro. says "yeah, I guess so". The policeman goes "I guess you must be the one with the gun." And we all laugh. So he tells us he got a call. Apparently, the caller had chosen to heighten the urgency by suggesting that he might have a gun. I can't remember what else he says but it was probably some friendly advice or something about the people in the town and he sends us off. We were finished with that area any way.
I never noticed that police were called in the few short years I worked up around the No. VA area just outside of DC. Its an all urban area and we have a lot of recent immigrants, hispanics, ethiopians, etc. staying in apartments, and I noticed another poster said something about people thinking we were the FBI. Same thing would happen sometimes with the recent immigrants in some of the apartments in the area. I never had anyone say that, but had one guy openly say, I thought you were the FBI coming up here in those suits.
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Anybody here ever go on chaperoned dates?
by unbeliever ini use to get the biggest chuckle when the elders insisted that when going out on a date that someone older and mature had to go with you to make sure you don't fornicate.
how imposing!!
i have a friend (did the fade) that was stuck with her brother being the chaperone a couple of times when she was dating her then boyfriend.
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maxwell
Somehow, I was never confronted about this. Maybe because few witnesses I know ever saw my FW and I on dates. We met while at University together. One thing led to another and we were dating. My parents never bothered me about having a chaperone, although I told them I had started dating this girl. I was 21, last year of college and still living at home.
Once my sister, who had dated before with a chaperone, saw us on a date together. My car had broken down. She goes, aha, Jehovah is trying to tell you that you need a chaperone. LOL She is a year younger than me and I think my parents had insisted that she have a chaperone. (Yes, I realize probably a double standard because she was a girl. However the fact is that in general women are physically weaker than men.) Anyway my dad came to help with the car and he told my sister not to worry about us. I guess my parents thought I was the goody good child. I only remember running into one other witness while dating her. Another young girl I knew was having lunch with a female friend. She was the sister of the guy who had dated my sister and had been the chaperone on some of their dates. We were at a public restaurant. She just said "hi" and smiled. (I was known to be very shy and she was probably a little surprised to see me dating). She might have had a hard time trying tell on my unchaperoned date even if she had wanted to tell, but I don't suppose she was that kind of person.
We never did have sex, however, there was a lot of other physical stuff. I suppose I shouldn't get too detailed about that. I remember feeling a bit guilty after the watchtower study that went in depth on defining just what fornication and its greek word "por'nia" (sp?) meant. But not guilty enough to tell. I think we were engaged or married by then anyway. If anyone remembers that watchtower, you know they went on to say you don't have to actually have sex to commit fornication.
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ExJW-Meetup in DC
by maxwell inhello, x-jw's in the washington, dc metropolitan area...and other people too.. i just want to encourage those who have the time to come to the meetup.
that sounds like an invitation to the meeting.
but i digress.
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maxwell
Hello cellomould,
Things are cool here. Ho'w's things on the left coast? Just hope we get enough so that it isn't canceled this time. We've got two now so we need two more.
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ExJW-Meetup in DC
by maxwell inhello, x-jw's in the washington, dc metropolitan area...and other people too.. i just want to encourage those who have the time to come to the meetup.
that sounds like an invitation to the meeting.
but i digress.
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maxwell
Hello, x-jw's in the Washington, DC metropolitan area...and other people too.
I just want to encourage those who have the time to come to the meetup. That sounds like an invitation to the meeting. But I digress. I went to our meetup here a couple of months ago. There were 5 signed up so it didn't get canceled that time. Although only one other person actually showed up, we had drinks and talked a little about our common experiences as JW and a little about other stuff. I had an enjoyable time. So if you're in the DC area, and you want to meet some other ex-jw, I think its a cool thing. We had two confirmed attendees for this month, Saturday Feb.1, the last time I checked exjw.meetup.com. Hopefully we'll get the requisite 4 so that it can happen.
Maxwell
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anybody from west TN???
by christopherceo inthis is my first time posting and i am just curious if anyone in west tn is on this forum.
i figure the best way to begin the healing is to find out if there is someone in my former circuit who has escaped also.
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maxwell
I know this thread was posted a while ago. But I thought I'd throw my voice in. I live in the DC area now. But I grew up in the West TN area. Went to Oakland cong. in Fayette County for the latter half of my growing up but attended a few congregations in Memphis before I was 9 and went with my Dad on talks to other cong. in the area. I wasn't the most social person but know a few people from surrounding congregations in the area.
Maxwell