'cause I want some - it's powerful stuff. What's this about Don Adams opening new scrolls of technology?? Huh? This is way out in left field even for a 'weird' JW. So JWs are the most scientific religion so JWs and science are going to colaborate to bring about god's kingdom? Whew weeee - you wanna pass that over here?
NameWithheld
JoinedPosts by NameWithheld
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New topic: What's Erich smokin?
by NameWithheld in'cause i want some - it's powerful stuff.
what's this about don adams opening new scrolls of technology??
huh?
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10 REASONS WHY JWS STAY IN THE TOWER
by Victor_E inreason 1. jws use a cultic language that keeps them in a constant state of social hypnosis.
transformational grammar teaches that our language directly affects our subjective experience.
in working with some former jws i had to confiscate certain words and have them create substitutes for something that was more neutral.
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NameWithheld
Uh, what the hell are you smoking?
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Friends we are too unbalanced.
by sleepy inwell sometimes we are.. look we have the knowledge and experience to help a lot of people.must of us have one time been jw's and understand how many think.so lets not put them off by being too negative.. when we were witnesses most of us were quite happy .
we tried to be good people , to put into practise principles that many people think are good.
we did this sometimes even when we didn't want to , because we thought god would hold us accountable and because we cared for people .
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NameWithheld
"At the very worst, in a nutshell, people in that religion have been convinced that God will destroy those who are not ‘in the truth’. "
Yes, that's true. But they long for that day - all of them. And become very desensitized(sp?) to human suffering due to it. See a baby hungry? God will fix it "Real Soon Now". See a homeless person? God will fix it "Real Soon Now". See 5,000+ people die in a collapsing pile of ruble? God will fix it "Real Soon Now" (not to mention they were going to die anyway "Real Soon Now").
This doesn't even begin to address the vast # of JWs who 'joke' about 'inheriting' the mansion they come across in FS, or get excited at events like the WTC. Or make a big deal about the 13-14-whatever JWs that died in the WTC - ignoring the other 5,000. Or 'using' the WTC (or other similar events) in examples like they did at one assembly where the 'sister' who was weak and took a job at the WTC instead of pioneering "and now she's dead" ... don't get me started ...
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Friends we are too unbalanced.
by sleepy inwell sometimes we are.. look we have the knowledge and experience to help a lot of people.must of us have one time been jw's and understand how many think.so lets not put them off by being too negative.. when we were witnesses most of us were quite happy .
we tried to be good people , to put into practise principles that many people think are good.
we did this sometimes even when we didn't want to , because we thought god would hold us accountable and because we cared for people .
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NameWithheld
One of the outcomes of the trials after WWII is that the defense of "I was just following orders" doesn't wash. Many of those serving under Hitler probably thought that they were doing things for the good of THEIR country, making it a better Germany for all Germans by eradicating the non-German people from their borders. It doesn't make what they did right though. That's the point that they're trying to make.
Just 'cause a JW has good motives or not doesn't make the terrible message they carry any less poisonous. And I still argue that the majority of JWs do NOT serve from some great and noble 'love' of man, but rather from a) pressure from others (fitting in with the 'group'), b) guilt (preach or you are bloodguility for their deaths), c) fear of punishment from god.
If they were truely touched by the suffering of fellow humans they would be doing more than shoving WT/Awakes upon people who need food, shelter, clothing, mental help, medical help, shelter from abusive family, etc, etc, etc. That would be true love for fellow man. Not selling them the same pipe dream that has YOU stuck in the endless meat grinder of 'do more do more do more' JW-hood.
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Friends we are too unbalanced.
by sleepy inwell sometimes we are.. look we have the knowledge and experience to help a lot of people.must of us have one time been jw's and understand how many think.so lets not put them off by being too negative.. when we were witnesses most of us were quite happy .
we tried to be good people , to put into practise principles that many people think are good.
we did this sometimes even when we didn't want to , because we thought god would hold us accountable and because we cared for people .
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NameWithheld
quote:
"Perhaps you need to ask yourself wh did you do what you did as a JW.
Did you really think you were doing good for people.
Why did you go on the ministry?
It was because you wanted to save peoples lives. You though they were going to die. You wanted to help .You got up early on a saturday you sacrificed your sundays you gave up your week nights.
Why ? Because you wanted to be a good person you wanted to help people.
If you weren't doing this for these reasons as a witnesses and it was all done out of fear or habit you are different to most witnesses I know."To this I say HA! I agree that there are SOME JW's who are motivated out of love and caring for others to 'preach' it was often to true that these were the sames ones that were motivated out of love to help others in other areas - such as feeding, clothing, etc. And funny enough, a lot of these people ending up leaving the JWs.
But the vast majority are not waking up early on Sat looking oh so forward to FS. It was a duty, a burden, and we all looked for as many ways to avoid it or at least make it more enjoyable - such as the old trick of making RVs at one end of the county then driving to the other end - counting time the whole way.
If JW's didn't have to turn in that little white slip of spirituallity every month I garauntee that 99% of them would never knock on another door again ...
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Friends we are too unbalanced.
by sleepy inwell sometimes we are.. look we have the knowledge and experience to help a lot of people.must of us have one time been jw's and understand how many think.so lets not put them off by being too negative.. when we were witnesses most of us were quite happy .
we tried to be good people , to put into practise principles that many people think are good.
we did this sometimes even when we didn't want to , because we thought god would hold us accountable and because we cared for people .
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NameWithheld
I keep coming up with more, this subject touches a nerve I think.
JW's are happy? Ha. Not many of the ones I knew were truely happy. Oh, they put up a good face most of the time, but of the dozens of congos I attended or was attached to (through freinds/etc) I knew of a vast majority of the people fighting depression, etc. We've talked about the high incidence of CFS/Fibromyalgia in the congos too - which from my somewhat involved research is tied very closely to a) chemical imbalance and/or b) sleep disorder among other things (lot's of discussion could be made here)
Of course the huge burden placed on the average JW does nothing to aliviate the stress levels. Fealing weak? Do MORE, do MORE. Feeling tired? Do MORE, do MORE. Hard to make it to meetings? Do MORE so jah will bless you. Feeling depressed? Do MORE, more, more, more.
Brother/Sister Downer, I notice you are having a hard time making the monthly average in FS. Maybe if you eliminate <insert some 'worldy' activity here> you'd have more time for jehovah.
Always the brother's fault if meeting attendance or FS is down. This atmosphere and message to the rand and file is that you are NEVER good enough, NEVER do enough, and god's going to kill you 'Real Soon Now'. I highly suspect that the VAST majority of JWs truely beleive that they are not good enough to survive the big 'A'. Now, how mentally healthy is it to feel as if god's going to kill you every day, and that everytime you make a mistake is that much MORE you have to DO to MAYBE survive.
Sick
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Friends we are too unbalanced.
by sleepy inwell sometimes we are.. look we have the knowledge and experience to help a lot of people.must of us have one time been jw's and understand how many think.so lets not put them off by being too negative.. when we were witnesses most of us were quite happy .
we tried to be good people , to put into practise principles that many people think are good.
we did this sometimes even when we didn't want to , because we thought god would hold us accountable and because we cared for people .
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NameWithheld
Oh, and as for the crap about the JW's turning around some poor drunk, druggies, or abuser's life around, that's pretty much hogwash. Where to you hear these stories from eh? Oh, the WT and Awake? Or maybe the assembly's? Thought so. Ever heard the word propaganda? The JW org is VERY good at it. Fact is that rarely happens, and usally when the person is activly seeking a way to turn their life around. I would bet anything that groups like AA(Al Anon) and the like are FAR better at stopping those cycles than JWs.
Of course all other religions tout these 'life affirmation' stories to prove the 'power of god's word' in people's lives. The JWs are NO DIFFERENT in that regard.
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Friends we are too unbalanced.
by sleepy inwell sometimes we are.. look we have the knowledge and experience to help a lot of people.must of us have one time been jw's and understand how many think.so lets not put them off by being too negative.. when we were witnesses most of us were quite happy .
we tried to be good people , to put into practise principles that many people think are good.
we did this sometimes even when we didn't want to , because we thought god would hold us accountable and because we cared for people .
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NameWithheld
Again, why is this so hard for people to understand? You must seperate the 'people' from the 'organization'. For the most part, the 'people' are good, kind-hearted people. Of course, there are bad apples. In the end you find that JWs as 'people' are no different than any other group, comprised of many good people and some 'bad' or maybe more accurate to say, power-hungry and opportunistic people. Most people do tend to seek their own gain in life, JWs are no different.
However, the 'organization' itself is very harmful. The 'organization' has one purpose in life - to grow in power and money. The 'organization' will do so by steamrolling over anything and anyone in it's path to obtain what it wants. The difficult part becomes the fact that willingly or not, the JW 'people' do everything in their lives to promote and protect the 'organization' thereby selling themselves out. This doesn't make them 'bad' people neccesarily, but may make them participate in events that shatter other's lives. And all the while thinking that they're 'pleasing' god.
Also, the 'organization' can be an enabler for horrendous activity. I know that the Slack's thought they were 'doing god's will' when they beat poor Lauree to death. I know that the parent's of the many, many children I grew up around that were abused physically and mentally thought they were 'doing god's will'.
When did the elder's step in and stop the abuse? Never that I saw, in fact, it was often the elder's DOING the abusing and/or encouraging it.
In the end I see little to NO 'good' from the 'organization'. Imagine if the efforts and $$$$ of all those 6 million JWs were pored into "REAL" relief efforts - how many children and homeless could be helped? How many sick? Hungry? Nope, instead they offer empty messages of 'comfort' that you will die 'Real Soon Now' unless you conform to the 'organization's will'.
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INDIANA posters
by dubla ini was talking on the phone about a week ago with a poster from this forum, and when he found out i was from south bend, indiana, he asked me if i had gotten together with the group of indiana posters that were having a small gathering (around bloomington i think?).
the truth is, i havent had one-on-one contact with too many from this board up till now, save some frequent chat room visitors, so i didnt realize we had an indiana following.
after my name appeared on the whos who page, i did get emails from a couple people familiar with the area, but i would like to get in contact with the rest of the indiana posters.
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NameWithheld
I'm very close by as well ...
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"UNCONDITIONAL LOVE"-REALLY???
by Bill Parker inunconditional love really?
some today believe that all anyone has to do is believe on the lord jesus christ.
just believe that this unconditional love is enough for us to gain this free gift.
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NameWithheld
"I was wondering if you have forgotten Jehovah's underserved kindness that He has given to all of mankind? "
Where? I must not have been in that line the day he was handing it out ...
Oh, you said "underserved". Ah yes, it is a bit under-served isn't it?