Chariklo

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Posts by Chariklo

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  132

  Hello

  by Chariklo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am new to this site, just finding my way around.. i've been studying with jw's for about 15 months.

  i'm an unbaptised publisher, and until recently never missed a meeting, have been out "on the service" quite a lot.

  i've been having difficulties with one of the jw's studying with me and something happened which was just unacceptable.

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  Chariklo

  No argument from me, Godrulz. ....9, 10 days I've been on this board? I've only now just realised what your name means!!!
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  14

  Question about Writing Department

  by Aaron Eldridge in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i know that some dubs who write material for the wtbts that are not of the 'faithful slave'.

  when the non-anointed finish the material it is to be approved by someone appointed from the gb to check the material.

  i am not sure that this is the correct picture, please correct if i am wrong.

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  Chariklo

  You're thinking of the Nethinim arrangement of 'other sheep' (Jehonadab) helpers, Chariklo.

  Btw, I read your introduction thread with interest. A good thing you're waking up now - before baptism - close one! And of course WELCOME!

  Thanks, AnnOMaly. In fact, the first two sentences of my earlier post where a quote, but I forgot to use the Style/Quote thing so my posting didn't make a lot of sense! Comes of writing too late at night! There's a post from someone else further up the thread that makes it clear.

  Gnosticism, Valentinus, thanks for that, I will.

  I'm very glad I discovered this board, it's been a real help in recovering my mind!
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  132

  Hello

  by Chariklo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am new to this site, just finding my way around.. i've been studying with jw's for about 15 months.

  i'm an unbaptised publisher, and until recently never missed a meeting, have been out "on the service" quite a lot.

  i've been having difficulties with one of the jw's studying with me and something happened which was just unacceptable.

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  Chariklo

  Jn. 17:3 NWT taking in knowledge misses the point (and poor translation). It is about knowing God now and forever, not just knowing facts about Him or beliefs (packing head with no heart reality).

  Godrulz, you're absolutely right here. They use that Bible reference all the time, and it's one of the ways they confound newcomers/prospective converts. Because of my background and life history I happen to be very well-versed and educated in non-JW Bible knowledge and theology, not just Catholic. But from the start, I was made to understand that I was without "accurate knowledge" of the Bible and was a mere infant in the Christian faith.

  That last element was one of the things that finally made me wake up...it was one of the straws that collectively became the very last straw and caused me to realise I'd been well and truly had. I'm long in the tooth, and been a practising church member and Christian my whole life. Recently, over and over again, I was being told that unlike JW's who are "mature Christians" I was only just beginning to learn.

  Those who know me have been utterly bemused that I could have fallen for this, and so many people have said that I was the very last person they'd ever have expected this to happen to. Maybe I am just one example of how very dangerous and pernicious, this organisation is.

  You asked jgnat

  would it be your advice for a non-JW to not partake at the Memorial even if they do so in another church? Why or why not?

  I did not partake in either of the two memorials I attended...my relationship with JW's spans about 15 months. On the first occasion it was completely new to me and I felt I was there as an observer. On the second I was an unbaptised publisher, but realised that what was happening left me onmoved, although most of those there saw this as a solemn moment, and the meeting as the most important one of the year.

  For a Catholic, the memorial has very little relationship indeed with an understanding of Jesus' instructions and what happened at the Last Supper. It is so far removed from what happens at Mass as to bear almost no resemblance other than a parody, but it's so different that it's not even that. In my imperfect understanding of non-Catholic celebrations of Holy Communion, they are still very far indeed from what the JW's do, with probably no-one present able to participate. My understanding of every other Christian approach to Jesus' actions, speaking in general and non-denominational terms, is that at the very least he was making a further link with God available to mankind, another way for people to receive spiritual help and sustenance. If I were to participate at a Memorial it would to me be empty, because the intention underlying the JW memorial is so far removed from the general Christian understanding of what Jesus did.

  I don't know what it's like where you are, but in the UK it is common practice for Protestant churches to invite all present to receive Holy Communion if they are communicant members in good standing in their own churches; i.e. for the most part, an Anglican celebrant may explicitly invite anyone present, be they Methodist, Presbyterian, even Catholics, to receive the sacrament. For the most part, Catholics won't do so, because their own church frowns upon the practice for the very reason I outlined above, namely that tjheir understanding of what is taking place is too different, and the intention underlying the procedure is different. (I won't explain further here because it would take too long and wouldn't be relevant here but ask me if you want to know and if you don't already, which you probably do.)

  Jgnat, you wrote

  The whole thing is blasphemy, a ritual separation of people from their God.

  Absolutely, You've hit the nail on the head. Heaven reserved for 144,000, everyone else as dead as a dodo when they die but if they are very very good publishers they get to live for ever in fantasy Earth along with all the cuddly animals, provided they don't mind toiling in the fields and beringing in their harvest without any technology, and living alongside all the JW's who never expected to see God anyway.

  And, back to participating at the memorial, we find that the GB are saying that those who partake may actually be mentally ill.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/210623/1/Gems-from-the-August-15-2011-WT

  I'll let that thread make the point for me. jgnat and goldrulz, loved your posts!
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  5

  To all those with Star Trek avatars/names...

  by Mr. Falcon in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how awesome is this????.

  .

  featuring such hits as "sokath, his eyes uncovered" and "shaka, when the walls fell".

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  Chariklo

  Picard and Dathon at El-adrel

  One of my favourite episodes
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  132

  Hello

  by Chariklo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am new to this site, just finding my way around.. i've been studying with jw's for about 15 months.

  i'm an unbaptised publisher, and until recently never missed a meeting, have been out "on the service" quite a lot.

  i've been having difficulties with one of the jw's studying with me and something happened which was just unacceptable.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Chariklo

  Thanks, jgnat and Yknot for your advice. Great stuff, all of it.

  Last night I was feeling totally exhausted by all the JW phone calls I'd had. 24 hours later, having reviewed what happened yesterday I am seething at all the subtle ploys used to make me feel how much they missed me and wanted me, how concerned they are for me, how important it is not to separate myself off from them, and imperative to go back to the meetings. (Guess where I wasn't this evening.) Last night they didn't exactly get to me but they certainly unsettled me.

  No more. I've been browsing the forums here and observing the controlling devices used by the Organisation to keep the people in submission and a state of dependence. Very interesting was the thread highlighting the true nature of the publishing company, just what a memember of my family insisted was the case from the start of my JW adventures, though I was too blinded and dazzled by the non-light to see it. (Someone a few days ago posted a great image of a deer standing in a road rooted to the spot and dazzled by oncoming headlights. That was me, but me no longer.

  Jgnat, I'm curious. Indulge me, please. You're not a JW and obviously see the whole thing very clearly. Why on earth do you go to meetings? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?
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  14

  Question about Writing Department

  by Aaron Eldridge in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i know that some dubs who write material for the wtbts that are not of the 'faithful slave'.

  when the non-anointed finish the material it is to be approved by someone appointed from the gb to check the material.

  i am not sure that this is the correct picture, please correct if i am wrong.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Chariklo

  The arrangement, I think, is referred to as the Jehonadab arrangement. This is the class of attendants to the annointed ones who aren't anointed themselves.

  Am I the only person who is constantly amazed that an organisation of American origin, America with its principles of equality and liberty, should swallow hook line and sinker a system where one class is so superior to the ordinary plebs that they actually get to go to heave?

  These people actually founded a relgion that creates the ultimate elite, and they exercise thought control by denying all the ordinary billions of humanity the life after death that even the most primitive humans believed worldwide was theirs.

  It's fiendishly clever.
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  87

  Gems from the August 15, 2011 WT

  by Ultimate Reality in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  pdfs can be obtained at jw.org.... spiritual gem #1. perhaps witnesses should apply the standard the wt recommends for gathering information on the internet to wt publications; from page 4:.

  (1) who published this.

  material?

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  Chariklo

  Basically, the Convention programme for this summer is all about the Kingdom coming any minute now, just around the corner, almost here...

  And this will go on, and on, and on...

  Let's face it, they are in a muddle over the 144,000 which the rest of the world know has never made sense. Now they're withdrawing from those who partake because if they were to allow that they were genuine (according to their scenario) then the whole 144,000 fiasco would fly out of the window.

  Mentally ill? Those who think they're anointed might be mentally ill? How about those who thought up this whole caboodle, the blood nonsense to keep everyone loyal and united and tp produce willing and loyal martyrs, the extraordinary stories such as Jesus not only arriving (invisibly) in 1914 and actually inspecting all the churches in 1919, sounding a bit like Her Majesty inspecting the troops when she visits a country or is there at Trooping the Colour. (At least we get to see her.) As if Jesus would have examined the whole sorry bunch and decided the WT were the very very best. As if!

  And then there's the thought of how Jesus would have treated those who were mentally ill. Healing, compassion, respect for the individual, reserving his anger for those who exploited the vulnerable...and that brings us back to the WT and the Governing Body all over again.

  Hypocrites, the lot of them.
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  62

  2011 "Let God's Kingdom Come!" District Convention Program

  by witnessofjesus in

  1. forum
  2. announcements

  9:30 song no.

  10:50 song no.

  12:10 song no.

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  Chariklo

  Oh, dear, and I've just cancelled my hotel booking...
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  11

  How many Watchtowers and Awakes does it Take to make a new JW Convert?

  by LostGeneration in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  current awake printing is 40,000,0000 mo or 480,000,000 year.

  wt public edition printing is 42,000,0000 mo or 504,000,000 year.. so the wt prints 984,000,000 mags a year, almost a billion (not counting kool aid wts, they don't have a printing mentioned there).

  each mag is 32 pages, 16 pieces of paper when you consider they print on the front and back.. so that is 15,744,000,000,000 pieces of paper.

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  Chariklo

  Well, basically, it's pyramid selling with a twist, isn't it, the twist being that as you say, LostGeneration, the publisher is the customer.

  I remember, when I first started looking into it all, trying to work out who was profiting at the end of the line.
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  16

  I FINALLY DID IT ...............

  by cantleave in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i threw out my old public talk outlines and notes!.

  i spent ages, researching, and writing my talks to try and make them interesting.

  so i was rather reluctant to get rid of them.. but today i need the folder they were in for a work project, so hey ho they had to go!!!.

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  Chariklo

  Well done! Hooray!

  That made me realise that even after a year, only a year, I have JW literature etc all over the house, never mind the stuff cluttering my mind.

  Out with the lot!