breakfast of champions

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Posts by breakfast of champions

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  63

  Life is changing for me: no pioneering, got a job!

  by Skepsis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a month ago i decided to register in this board.

  i had decided to step down pioneering but was frightened about the consequences.

  i had finished my university degree some months before (despite disaproval from brothers in my congregation) and i had to choose: continue pioneering and working in jobs with no future or starting a career, working full-time.. i was thinking to postpone the decisiton but... i was fed up with preaching.

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  breakfast of champions

  But how can you step down as MS?

  I can't tell you what to do, but here's what happened to me:

  I was an elder, and had a MAJOR emotional breakdown. Started seeing all sorts of doctors. Everyone in the cong knew there was something really wrong with me. The elders were actually quite understanding and I stayed on as an elder for about a year.

  After a year, I had really made no progress mentally. I was still falling apart constantly (I also had no idea yet that I was in a cult). I went to the COBE (or whatever they were called at that point) and tearfully told him I couldn't go on being an elder and that at times I truly felt that there was no god.

  And that was it. Next CO visit I was deleted. Didn't even have to say anything to the CO.

  I guess what I'm saying is that even if you have doubts as to god's existence, they will not DF you, and they will be perfectly willing to have you "step down." However, if you express doubts as to the BORG, you're out.
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  49

  How do you categorise the Society - Cult or High control religion

  by UnshackleTheChains in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have often seen many categorise the organisation in different ways.

  some say cult, some say high control religion.

  cult or high control religion?.

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  breakfast of champions

  They mean exactly the same thing (at least wrt JWs).

  Perhaps the only difference would be the context in which you're using whichever term:

  If I were an academic writing a paper or giving a talk, I would call JWs a "high-control new religious movement."

  However, whenever I casually talk about JWs with people, I refer to them as a "fundamentalist doomsday cult."

  I have yet to meet anyone who disagrees. . . . .
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  123

  Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

  by Cassaruby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

  .. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

  from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

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  breakfast of champions

  For instance say you're an adult and you get out of a cult. -- CASSARUBY

  I love Christ. Jehovah is another matter. He terrorized me with his immoral actions. An old, prudish man hurling plagues, thunderbolts, and mass genocide is not worthy of worship. A male god who suppresed the existing goddess cults will never receive my attention.
  

  -BoCotR

  
  
  
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  123

  Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

  by Cassaruby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

  .. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

  from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

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  breakfast of champions

  The only evidence for the Bible is contained within the covers of the book itself. Outside of the book it's a different animal -- CASSARUBY

  If I find God a blur within my interior belief, there is no wonder there are disputes when others share their perceptions here.
  

  These bizarre and challenging stories are embedded in my brain.
  -BoCotR
  
  
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  123

  Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

  by Cassaruby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

  .. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

  from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

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  breakfast of champions

  You win breakfast.

  I don't think I won.

  I think you chose to let me win.

  -BoCotR
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  123

  Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

  by Cassaruby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

  .. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

  from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

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  breakfast of champions

  You still have enormous amount to learn. Offering advice is presemptuous unless one is asked for their opinion. Indeed, until the day/night we all return to dust we all have much to learn.

  -BoCotR
  
  
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  123

  Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

  by Cassaruby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

  .. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

  from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

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  breakfast of champions

  Is it possible that you did choose chocolate over vanilla and it's as simple as that?

  I LIKE CHOCOLATE. I DON'T CARE FOR VANILLA. DOESN'T GET ANY MORE SIMPLE THAN THAT.

  Okay, I gotta get outta here. I've got real stuff to do back in reality. . . . smh . . . .

  
  
  
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  123

  Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

  by Cassaruby in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  "traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

  .. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

  from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

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  breakfast of champions

  Chocolate or vanilla ice cream? I like chocolate ice cream more than vanilla. I don't CHOOSE to like chocolate more than vanilla; as far as I'm concerned CHOCOLATE IS BETTER THAN VANILLA.

  I choose to believe that this is one of the stupidest threads ever.
  
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  18

  JW.org as a Prank Tool

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the moment i saw the "request a study" form on the site, i thought, "umm, that could be a bad thing.".

  but to date, i have heard of only one case where it was used for less than genuine purposes.

  that was in the case of a "game developer" who was selling crappy asset-flips on steam.

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  breakfast of champions

  I love how when you select the "Organized" book on the Borg website, the warning pops up

  This is an internal publication, provided solely for use by congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses, and is not intended for public distribution.

  That should stop unauthorized persons dead in their tracks. No pandas for you!
  
  
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  17

  How many JWs still have a personal conscience?

  by contramundum in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in conversation with an old jw friend today, it struck me that most jws have replaced their personal conscience with a collective one.. instead of training their own mental powers to distinguish right from wrong, as the bible encourages, they are content to shift personal accountability away from themselves and onto the impersonal org.

  whatever behaviour may prompt an ordinary person to have serious misgivings ( such as ignoring glaring misapplication of scripture or rejecting basic human decency in favour of unchristian shunning ) they prefer to have those decisions made for them.. history teaches us, however, that there is no absolution for people who behave unethically or cruelly by allowing the excuse of 'obeying orders' to override what their inner voice should scream is inherently wrong..

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  breakfast of champions

  I would call it more of an "institutionalized" version of conscience. I'm not entirely against the idea of a collective conscience, e.g., social mores.

  But no, there is no such thing as a personal conscience in JW Land. Even when in, I had a hard time trying to figure why there was such a thing as a "conscience matter" (probably because it's cultspeak).