In high school, I told a guy I was a JW. He didn't believe me because "only old black ladies are Jehovah's Witnesses." It was quite the job convincing him otherwise.
Posts by Sulla
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21" You Jehovahs? Yeah? I knew cuz you're black. If you were white, you'd be Mormans! Ha! Have a good one!"
by Theocratic Sedition injust got back from field service.
white guy driving a delivery truck waived at my partner and i, rolled down the window and yelled this.
he meant no harm, just a jovial fellow working on a saturday.
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20
Arrghhhh just Shoot me!!
by BU2B inaargh just shoot me, my wife just came home from field service bi&*&ing about her friends inactive/faded husband.
the thing is he and his wife use the excuse that he is sick from irratable bowel syndrome.
however he works 50+ hours a week.
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Sulla
Dude, if she is that angry about someone else's husband fading, she ain't gonna tolerate you fading. Y'all need to have a real discussion about this in a hurry, before she decides she has better prospects with her weak X-JW husband kicked to the curb.
I actually feel sorry for these chicks. So much of their social status is wrapped up in having husbands who don't do exactly this sort of thing. They get married with a certain implied deal, and then: BOOM! Goes all to shit.
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24
Where to begin?
by DATA-DOG ingood morning everyone,.
i am drinking coffee and thinking about something that kept my tossing and turning all night.
i want to tell my wife, the elders, my friends, that i have been watching a pattern develope within the wtbts for years, and that i love them all but feel that tha wtbts has become a mirror of ancient jerusalem when they strayed.
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Sulla
The stress, it seems to me, is that there is a very high probability that you don't actually have a family. Instead, what you have are people who have a close relationship with you contingent on you remaining a JW.
But maybe not. And that's why people lose sleep.
So, let's name this thing: you want to do something very, very stupid because you don't like living a lie. Look, what's the best that could happen?
Seems to me, the best possible outcome is that everybody nods politely, investigates the seriousness of your views, suggests you wait on Jehovah, and marks you as weak. You get to live a slightly smaller lie.
And for what? Well, you just made life much harder for your kids, if you have them. Social status in the JWs is highly dependent on the family bloodlines -- the children of the guys who have high profiles (public talks, assembly parts, positions of influence) have better social prospects. They are better connected for their own social standing, for jobs, for wives/husbands. You signal that you are weak, and they bear a very real cost.
Your wife is also going to pay. The social standing for her is just as contingent on your position -- Pioneer sisters with weak or unbelieving husbands are spinsters: they don't exist, socially. And since we don't know how you wife will react to your declaration of weakness, we don't know if she will figure that her prospects are better off without you. Ask punkofnice about that.
My take: there is not enough of an upside to even consider having that conversation.
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25
Good Friday, bloody good times had by all
by designs inpenitants from all over the world will reenact the crucifixion scene with some literally being nailed to a cross.
others will walk on their knees bleeding, holding candles, saying prayers.
in thousands of churches around the world the mel gibsonish scene of a pulverized jesus will pull at the emotions of christians.. as jws we always saw this rather bloodless sanitary nordic looking jesus to deal with but within the catholic and protestant churches this is their week to go full on corporal.. what do you suppose the fascination is with the crucifixion..
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Sulla
Asking the right questions and listening to my inner voice helped get me out of that religion.
So, the fact that you stopped believing through a similar process that started you believing makes you more certain that the process yields correct answers. You don't find the similarity betweek the JWs' claim that everyother religion is the product of stupidity or personal corruption and your current claim that every religion is the product of stupidity or personal corruption to present a reason for a certain level of circumspection when it comes to your opinions?
So the 'wood of the cross' is the salvation of the world- how and to whom is this score settled. Who needed to see blood spilled.
Perhaps in addition to listening to your inner voice, you could have spent a little time investigating the best explanations for how it is that the death and resurrection of Christ brings salvation. And by, "best," I mean something other than the opinion of the pastor at the local Bible church. Nothing against them, but they are really optimized for telling rich suburbanites that God thinks they are really cool and, if they would just be a little nicer, everything would be groovy.
No, you're to bright for that -- note: not sarcasm--or for anyone who would try to throw some sort of JW-Lite version of "God wanted to settle a bet with Satan." But I honestly don't think you've made any effort past the megachurch to grasp what it is that Christians are saying. At least, Christians who have really thought about this sort of thing.
I dont claim to have the last word on it, designs. But it seems to be that violence and blood sacrifice is how we tolerate living together. Civilization is really focused on finding ways to keep us from tearing ourselves apart and the way we do that -- for the last few hundred thousand years -- is by sacrifice. Scapegoats. Everybody everywhere has always done sacrifices, very often of people, until very recently. But whenever you find something that everybody does everywhere always, there is usually a deeply-felt reason for it.
So, "Who needed to see blood spilled?" We did, deisgns. We always have needed it. Jesus on the cross breaks all the altars, shows us that scapegoats are not guilty -- though we cannot hear it. We are a species that will kill God Himself if we have the chance. That knowledge completes the original sin, and so makes it possible to live like we are called to live.
On the cross is the salvation of the whole world.
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25
Good Friday, bloody good times had by all
by designs inpenitants from all over the world will reenact the crucifixion scene with some literally being nailed to a cross.
others will walk on their knees bleeding, holding candles, saying prayers.
in thousands of churches around the world the mel gibsonish scene of a pulverized jesus will pull at the emotions of christians.. as jws we always saw this rather bloodless sanitary nordic looking jesus to deal with but within the catholic and protestant churches this is their week to go full on corporal.. what do you suppose the fascination is with the crucifixion..
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Sulla
I understand, designs, that you never grow tired of self-congratulation. You, who until recently, preached door-to-door for an apocalyptic sect have made quite the evolutionary jump, haven't you? Tell me, though, what is it that makes you think your oinions are useful, given that you recently were a leader in the Jehovah's Witnesses religion? Shouldn't your personal history of believing absurd things make you more cautious about your opinions, rather than less?
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25
Good Friday, bloody good times had by all
by designs inpenitants from all over the world will reenact the crucifixion scene with some literally being nailed to a cross.
others will walk on their knees bleeding, holding candles, saying prayers.
in thousands of churches around the world the mel gibsonish scene of a pulverized jesus will pull at the emotions of christians.. as jws we always saw this rather bloodless sanitary nordic looking jesus to deal with but within the catholic and protestant churches this is their week to go full on corporal.. what do you suppose the fascination is with the crucifixion..
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Sulla
"Behold the wood of the cross, upon which hung the salvation of the world."
What's the big deal, indeed?
Better question: why do you pretend not to understand this?
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21
Anyone taking bets on the number of partakers this year?
by wha happened? ineven with the change to "just domestics", i can't see the number going down.
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Sulla
12,897
Elder-schmelder just got Price is Right-ed!
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34
The Church's Biggest Lie
by ProdigalSon inthink you've sorted out the mess that christianity has become?.
ever wonder why the other 2/3 of the planet doesn't believe the utter nonsense of "resurrection"??.
chew on this, christians:.
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Sulla
Bing Bong!
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21
Anyone taking bets on the number of partakers this year?
by wha happened? ineven with the change to "just domestics", i can't see the number going down.
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Sulla
What's the over-under? +3% over 2012?
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211
New light Watchtower magazine leaked from organization weeks ahead of general release
by cedars inhttp://jwsurvey.org/governing-body-2/new-light-watchtower-magazine-leaked-from-organization-weeks-ahead-of-general-release.
if doctrinal explanations are missing from the article, it is because they are also missing from the magazine.. i would like to give my thanks again to my source for supplying me with the magazine article weeks ahead of its scheduled release.
it showed remarkable courage, because risks were taken.
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Sulla
I have known since around 1980 this was the direction the wts was heading. They have become the catholic church , which is what they always wanted anyhow.
I understand what you are trying to say. But there isn't much similarity between the two, organizationally speaking. Dissident Catholics have a very difficult time getting excommunicated. Even famous ones like Gary Wills can't seem to manage the trick. And, unlike the JWs, any time some adjustment to teaching needs to be made, there are endless discussions with everybody.