Posts by msil

48

Weddings That Honor Jehovah

by Kent in

jw
friends

*** w97 4/15 23 weddings that honor jehovah ***.

i simply love reading the watchtower.

there is so many fine, timely advices to get, and i simply cants understand all the people here whining about the watchtower being a mind controlling cult.

msil

Prisca,

I also agree with you.

Sorry I know I announced my retirement from here but I am really perturbed by the attacks on you. Decency is a word that is obviously not in their vocabulary!!

Just because one becomes leaves the JW's doesnt mean one has to now be indecent.

The only advice I can give you Prisca is this:

LEAVE THE BOARD

Here is the reasoning. Some will not stop attacking you. One would have hoped that Simon would ask them to behave or to leave. Perhaps if enough of us leave here in protest for having to put up with crap like this then something will be done about it.

When there is a civil place to return to I and some others I have spoken with will return.

16

message for seven006

by jonjonsimons in

jw
friends

dave,.

just checking to see if today is going better for you than yesterday.

i know your dealing with some tough issues right now.

msil

Seven006 and others posting on this thread,

I have not spoken with you at all or posted anything for you. I was just very moved by this thread of support for you and by your situation. Please accept my heartfelt sympathies and best wishes, sir.

I really hope life takes a turn in a better direction for you again real soon.

For you others, thanks for supporting a man having a hard time of things. I had grown increasingly distressed by all the other BS going on here(and had resolved to leave permanently until I read this thread. But his post is not about me so please do not turn it into something about me - this man needs compassion far more than I do currently) but it is truly wonderful to see a show of kindness and caring as you all have expressed to Seven006 here.

If everyone would just understand that there are plenty of people with a whole lot of hurt and tough circumstances on this board, like Seven006, and if we could all be there and support each other (especially those of us like Seven006 who have obviously been further hurt by the policy of shunning) we could at least be there for each other. No one else in the world gives a damn about the people on here - or if they do they are not allowed to because of some evil mind control. So please make this a place of threads such as this one. Seeing care and empathy such as I have just read about here makes one want to be here - so many of us are trying to find ourselves and want to be cared for and want to care for others. The next time you are ready to make cutting remark about someone else on here please come back and read this thread again and then ask yourself if your potential cutting remark will work any good for anyone.

8

God favors the west

by msil in

jw
friends

so does god favor the people in europe and the west?.

i have a hard time with that.

questions i had as a jw about the wtbs being the right religion: .

msil

6 of 9:

"Skip the paralysis and just live. I'm sure God knows where you live. He'll call if he needs you."

That is exactly where I am. I now call myself an Agnostic. But my question to you then is:

"Just Live" - that is exactly what I think now. Perhaps I think too much but I then ask: "So is it OK to do anything I want (as long as it doesn't harm others)? Is there any moral code I should follow but that?"

8

God favors the west

by msil in

jw
friends

so does god favor the people in europe and the west?.

i have a hard time with that.

questions i had as a jw about the wtbs being the right religion: .

msil

So does God favor the people in Europe and the west?

I have a hard time with that. Questions I had as a JW about the WTBS being the right religion:

Why did God pick the USA as the place to establish his organizational HQ (the WTBS)?

Are Americans more inclined to the true religion than anyone else on earth? It certainly seems that way if we look at how many Americans make up the total number of publishers.

If God does not give preferential treatment to America then surely the end of the system is NOT near. If the preaching must occur all over the earth and all the people of the nations must be gathered in before end comes it surely it seems obvious that Americans should make up a much smaller proportion of the number of publishers? And surely the Chinese and Indians should make up close to half of all the publishers if the Witnesses are right. If this is not true then I have to ask WHY? Are the Chinese genetically predisposed to NOT be the kind people God would choose - if he reads hearts and brings those sheep into his fold do they all have bad hearts? That is a very serious indictment of the Chinese people if the WTBS doctine is true? If so then how did that come about?

Conversely, are Americans genetically predisposed to BE the type of people that God chooses for his own?

It is interesting that if one pursues this strand of logic and continues to do what every researcher should do (ASK THE NEXT QUESTION), that this same logic can be applied to the Bible in general (hence all who claim to be Christian).

The disparate proportions of people by population group who make up Christianity are another reason why I have just simply thrown my hands up in the air when I think about the God and say "how can I be anything but agnostic?"

The same logic works in reverse if I pick a different or an eastern religious teaching....if God chose the Hindus a his people what is wrong with the rest of mankind (esp the western world).....and so on and so on.

Now, many will point to stuff in the Bible and try to prove to me that it is God's word. Are they looking to prove that it is God's word? Why not examine it with a different motive - namely to disprove that it is divine? And if we expect a God to be impartial and to favor everyone the final question is:

Where should we look if we want to find God? For so long I flt like I was searching for the real God.....but when I consider questions such as the ones I have posted in this thread I am left paralysed asking "Where should I look?"

12

An elder struggles

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

this is on my site as listed at the end:.

between love and me its late night.

i have just been to another elder meeting, as we used to do.

msil

Randy - thanks for the post. This person is obviously a real person with real thoughts and real feelings. Pleae I know some will disagree with my responses but please thry and view them as someone trying to find his ground and his own happiness (yes I am still searching in earnest - maybe I will never find it either!!) some of this sounds like Tony Robbins therapy. It does work for some of us. If I am able to reinforce positive energy in the heart and mind of one person its worth it to me.

I found some of the following points very valid:

"I’ve been around this board for a few month to see what it is. Some good people seem to have a good mind, but too many ex JWs are filled with too much anger, and sometimes hate. It totally destroys the ability to think clear and with a free mind. "

Whether that is totally true or not I currently have that impression. Seeing the disdain and negative energy has made me wonder if some of us have form a new cult....."the ex-jw cult". Perhaps I am still too "new" and naive but I know from some of my converstations with some of the other participants here that I am not alone - even if I am more vocal about it than most. We need to grow positive energy and seek happiness - not unfulfilling revenge. It is kind of like when someones loved one is killed and they want the perp to be executed.....many devote themselves to this entirely but once the perp has bee executed they now have emptiness.

If the Borg has taken happiness from us that is a terrible thing. But what are we doing in response. Are we finding true happiness? Are we occupying our minds, hearts and souls with seeing the WTBS fall? Are we trying to find eveything wrong with the WTBS?

What's the point? If we know they are wrong and we have left then how does this build us up as individuals? If we have so much passion or anger cant we redirect it to making a success of ourselves? Making a success of oneself in spite of our beginning is a much greater victory than focusing negative energy isn't it?

I struggle with the question: "How will I know when I am happy?" I have come down to this answer for myself so far: "when I am able to feel fulfilled and accomplish tangible results then I am happy". I lived too long as a dub thinking my happiness depended on my faith. Now I know that my happiness depends on me and what I do.

Accomplishment is the greatest reward of all in anyones life. If you are not accomplishing anything or striving to accomplish something then how can you reach happiness?

Further in the elders letter:

"I not bitter on my own, but feel sorrow for everyone left on the road with broken hearts and sometimes destroyed lives. I even do understand that anger and sometime hate is a natural reaction of all the hurting, but I still don’t think it’s a good way to become a whole person again. But I know that’s easy to say and sometimes nearly impossible to do in practice"

I wish everyone had this fellows insight. I believe he will find happiness. He has empathy now if he would just turn that into energy!! Without energy there is nothing but reflection. when you start reflecting too much you are resting or finished. Resting is good...finished is so sad, I hope I never finish!! I want to keep on building my life and I want to keep on feeling challeneged.

I hope everyone had a wonderful day.

Farkel I thought about you today. I hope you are doing Ok and come back soon.

8

8/05/01 SECURITY ISSUES

by Amazing in

jw
friends

hello all: normally, i get between 20 to 30 security alerts per day, with a few hackers and trojans.

but .... today has been an all time record!.

172 security alerts!.

msil

For those of you (I assume it is most) running Windows...is your machine up to date? If not - or if you don't know - perhaps this will help.

Microsoft has released patches which will block/correct issues from some of the latest worm viruses and fix other bugs also.

They can be obtained from http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com

Then click the Product Updates Link.

It will scan your machine (it is not trying to get you it is trying to help you) and recommend any updates you might need.

I recommend running this at least every week and downloading the updates which are marked as "Critical".

8

8/05/01 SECURITY ISSUES

by Amazing in

jw
friends

hello all: normally, i get between 20 to 30 security alerts per day, with a few hackers and trojans.

but .... today has been an all time record!.

172 security alerts!.

msil

here ya go.....this is what we are getting hit with

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010805/ts/tech_codered_dc_38.html

This is a variation of the Code Red Virus.

8

8/05/01 SECURITY ISSUES

by Amazing in

jw
friends

hello all: normally, i get between 20 to 30 security alerts per day, with a few hackers and trojans.

but .... today has been an all time record!.

172 security alerts!.

msil

Francois - one of our servers was running through a cable modem - it was getting whacked much more than the DSL or T1

8

8/05/01 SECURITY ISSUES

by Amazing in

jw
friends

hello all: normally, i get between 20 to 30 security alerts per day, with a few hackers and trojans.

but .... today has been an all time record!.

172 security alerts!.

msil

Amazing,

We are seeing similar intrusion numbers. I have had calls from work already today to alert me and ask me what precautions they need to take.

I have never seen so many HTTP attempts in such a short space of time from random requests to hit our systems. There are so many we have given up reporting them. I would advise anyone with a cable or DSL connection not to leave their machine connected while they are away from it.

I don't think it is personally directed at you, me or anyone specifically in here. The servers we were hearing about are those of clients and parties with absolutely no affiliation to this place.

I also received several emails with the Sircam / MM virus.

Do not open any emails with a pif or lnk extension as an attachement.

The contents of the emails will contain an introduction such as:

I send you this file in order to have your advice
or I hope you can help me with this file that I send
or I hope you like the file that I sendo you
or This is the file with the information that you ask for

This is a high risk virus.
More details can be found at:

http://msn.mcafee.com/genericURL_genericLeftNav.asp?genericURL=/VirusInfo/VIL/dispVirus.asp&virus_k=99141&genericLeftNav=/partnersweb/msn/en-us/html_files/vil_nav.asp

13

Civility

by msil in

jw
friends

is it necessary to resort to the schoolyard talk and name-calling every time someone says something, which is in disagreement with you, or is something you don't agree with?.

interestingly, some of the more "knowledgeable" persons on here seem do be the first to resort to these measures.

do they feel like they are better than the next person?.

msil

Simon,

There is no security issue. No one should fear that there is.

Regards,
MSIL