Posts by Dunedain

82

meeting with elders about WT involvement in UN

by LevelThePlayingField in

i still go to the meetings because of my in wife and it came about that the elders knew of my pissed off attitude about the society getting involved in the un.

so the elders said they could help me get over that and wanted to meet with me.

now just to let you know, i have only told my wife and her mom so far about it, that's it.

Dunedain

You are treading on dangerous ground my friend. The best advice I could give you, and as many others here have said, you should try to AVOID it.

While it IS noble, and courageous, to want to show them the U.N. issue, they will NOT look at it that way. You will not be among listening ears. They, most likely, already have a pre-conceived notion that you are leaning towards doubting "Mother", and this they cannot accept.

The fact that it is ALREADY happening with at least 2 Elders, lets you know that there is more to it. They are coming "fully armed", ready for a "fight". There will be NOTHING that you can say, that will make them see your points, or "enlighten" them in any way.

As others have mentioned, and I feel is your BEST option, is to say, "Oh its not really a big deal to me, and honestly I don't know why I have to speak to more than one Elder about this". Spin it around on them, and say "Wow, now YOU are making me think there REALLY is something going on concerning the U.N, I didn't think it was that serious". Say, "in fact I did a little research, and prayed to Jehovah about it, and I found out it really was NOT that big of a deal". Say, " if you want to discuss it ONE on ONE, that's cool, but it really doesn't bother me now, thanks anyway".

Now I completely understand that YOU do not feel that way, and it IS INDEED a VERY big deal, but you need to protect yourself, for the sake of your Wife. Do not think that you might be "awakening" them, and that by you doing this, it will wake up everyone to TTATT. As awesome as that would be, it just wont be the case here. Especially with these "company men".

Protect yourself, and your marriage, THAT is the most important thing. Down play it, and do damage control NOW, to get yourself out of this situation. The best thing would be to NOT be in front of 2 or 3 Elders, and discussing this. You do NOT want that.

87

Evolution Gap - Where's the Fur?

by shadow in

evolution paints human ancestors covered with fur.

fur has several benefits as stated by britannica "the pelts of fur-bearing animals are called true furs when they consist of two elements: a dense undercoat, called ground hair, and longer hairs, extending beyond that layer, called guard hair.

the principal function of ground hair is to maintain the animal’s body temperature; that of guard hair is to protect the underlying fur and skin and to shed rain or snow.".

Dunedain

Come to one of my Italian family reunions, and you will see the fur covering many hominids, both male and female.

16

JW hospitality

by Chook in

about 5 years ago when i was in, my son who at the time was 18 needed somewhere to sleep for a couple of nights due to work commitments ,in a city 2 hours from home.

my "best man" who is an elder that lives in this city , was asked could my son stay a couple of nights .

the response was he doesn't go to meetings anymore ,he can't stay here , i ask can he sleep on garage floor instead , still can't stay .

Dunedain

These kind of examples is what wakes up a lot of people. The love that is not shown from JW's, is very abundant. It is not an isolated thing, in one part of the world, or a rare occurrence. Instead, it is quite the opposite, and the lack of love permeates the organization.

I truly believe that EX Jw's ARE some of the MOST loving people. We were turned off to the Borg, BECAUSE of the lack of love, and these kinds of examples. We are the TRUE Christians, as WE have been persecuted by this organization, because of our compassion, and love for others.

We just would not except that this was the true religion, because we knew the love was false. We have been branded as heretics, called apostates, put on display, ridiculed by others, and shunned, by those who claim they love. We except this, and WE would still take THEM into our homes, if THEY needed, knowing full well that they would not do the same for us.

We are love, not them.

10

This religion has a chance of survival

by Socrateswannabe in

the jws could survive as an organization due to one vital human need: recognition.

for decades this religion glorified the older ones and really didn't do much for the younger folks, hence the younger people left in droves.

if you're middle-aged or older, what was the average age of the elders in your congregation or your circuit overseer, as you were growing up?

Dunedain

The orgs push for younger, and younger ones moving up in the org, in POSITIONS OF POWER, will absolutely backfire on them.

First off, any older ones, who have spent years in the "truth", feel they have paid their dues. They will feel resentful of younger ones judging, counseling, and essentially "running" the show.

The lack of experience, and all around pitfalls that come with youth, will make these men barely qualified. It will contribute to the collapse of the org. It will force the existing elders to JUST appoint anybody, because they are younger, and attending the meetings.

The "essential" qualities that men in a position should have, will be completely overlooked, because the Borg is now DESPERATE to put ANYBODY into a position. These men will have no life experience. They will, most likely, NOT have families of their own, and hence be in a weak position to council others about children, and families.

They will NOT be looked at, by even younger ones, as "examples", because these men will most likely be odd in behavior, and "characters" in real life. The org will further be undermined, as even younger ones will NOT see older, wise men, to exemplify, but, instead, young fools as examples.

The Org, from the outside, and the inside looking in, will look like a crap show. With idiots, and unqualified, "children", both mentally and physically, running the show. The WTBS will continue to be a watered down, poor version, of what it used to be. This is another act of DESPERATION. From desperation comes mistakes, hasty decisions, and poor outcomes.

31

Latest Metal Detecting Find

by cofty in

now the harvest is underway up north i can get out for a walk with the metal detector in the evening.

i am lucky to live on a historic rural estate and i have permission from the landowner to detect.. this is a coin that popped up last night.

it was only about 2 inches deep and had been tumbling around in the plough soil for the last 750 years.. it is a silver penny of king henry iii.

Dunedain

Nice find Cofty.

While the U.S. is a very "young" country in comparison to Europe, and others, there are still some cool finds here. I found a few American " Indian head wheat " pennies dated from 1861 and 1862. Now these pennies are not necessarily worth a lot, and also, not extremely rare. However, what made them really historically cool, is that I found them at Gettysburg Pennsylvania, on the actual battlefield.

Probably the most major battles of the whole Civil war, were at Gettysburg. I found the coins on the exact part of the battlefield, where Pickets charge took place. The "high water mark" of the Confederacy. I also found a musket ball, and Union bullet, there too.

I just think its awesome, that I found 2 pennies that were dated during the Civil war, ON a Civil war battlefield. How cool is that.

13

Any Peugeot owners around here?

by Mandrake in

i was wondering since there are a lot of uk users (at first i didn't notice that) if there is some peugeot owners here, clearly not from the us, the brand and also citroën has no presence in north america... in my city (santiago) you can see almost every car brand from chinese to european... in my apartment's parking lot there are toyotas, hondas, a porsche (that is abandoned, a carrera 911 turbo from 1989), even an old lancia, alfa romeo, nissan, renault, citroën, a camaro, suzuki, sköda, bmw, an old mecerdes, daewoos, kias, hyundais, an old vw beetle and a scirocco, few chinese, an audi, a dodge ram.

even a maserati in a house two blocks away etc etc.. and my 307 :)

Dunedain

@ Mandrake - Its true, there are no Citroen's in North Americas/U.S., but there ARE Peugeot's. In fact many different European cars are in the U.S..

There aren't a lot of Chinese cars, though, I can tell you that.

43

Is this the last chance for inactive and df'd ones?

by innerpeace in

hi all, just wondering if there's anything going around about the elders receiving instruction from the society to give inactive ones and disfellowshipped ones one last chance to come back?

i ask because i have a still in family member that i received a message from, and urging me to go back.

the elders are apparently saying there is no time left.

Dunedain

@ LisaRose - Lol, act NOW, and you will not get one Elder, but 2 Elders harassing you to come back, then try to DF you, just as quickly. Normal Elder harassment, and judgements, will apply.

25

December Study Watchtower - Preparing to Reveal a New Light?

by The Searcher in

the jw/wtbt's anti-scriptural & anti-christ teaching that "a person's own death wipes out their sins" (based on their lie that romans 6:7 is to be interpreted literally) appears to have had a little wedge inserted into it.

despite making numerous accurate references to the fact that 1st century christians had figuratively died to sin, the svengalis at the top of the brooklyn pyramid point-blank refuse to discuss/cite/quote romans 6:7 and its true meaning.

page 10, par.

Dunedain

@ Prologos - The JW's will say that Adam & Eve are not entitled to a resurrection, because they were "perfect". They sinned as perfect humans.

This is why Jesus ransom, "balances" it out because he was "perfect" and free of sin. Blah blah, blah, blah, blah. At least that's what you will here as a "canned" response from a JW.

Personally, I always had a problem with this "logic". A) Because Jesus was supposedly a spirit creature for billions of years before he came to earth. He was also, essentially second in command, and assisted in actually creating humans. B) Adam and Eve, when compared to the huge timeline, of spirit creatures being alive for billions of years before humans were created, makes them essentially "babies". They might of had adult bodies, but they were like children, when compared to the big picture, and their length of life.

So, really the "balance" of the perfect Jesus, for the "perfect" Adam and Eve, is NOT a fair comparison of "equality" of perfect humans. It never made sense to me.

9

Did you ever feel like this?

by Mandrake in

i'm thinking in emigrating... i feel like i'm stuck here in chile, and going likely to canada (i have my aunt and cousins there, full citizens) is like a real option by now.... i feel like i'm stuck and that in a best scenario i will be starting at the bottom of the pit, with about 75.000 (usd) in university debt (from 3 different sources) that won't go away easy, broken family, unstable relations with my mother, i think that i've almost got over the jw issue, but the consequences on my life being a born in are severe.... this saturday will be my second appointment with the therapist, i'm trying to figure out how to put things in order by now, my due date is december, to make any decisions... i finished almost to 5th year of dentistry, roughly 2 years remained but couldn't handle the family struggle, suicide attempts, getting out the wt, 4 house moves in 3 years, my father not paying a nickel for the university... i supported my mother to my own detriment, she's coming out of borderline personality disorder and i think she's a lot better but im tired... .

...as i'm "almost" a dentist i work from time to time with some patients (friends, ex-univsity patients), i've done a lot of crowns, surgeries, fillings etc to earn some money at my brother in-law clinic)... but i got kicked out of university for failing to complete some clinical requirements because of lack of patients in the previous courses, i just hadn't the force to try harder... studying was clearly not a priority by then, and as i used to be a good student just didn't know all the rules about failing courses... well that is, i just wanted to vent a little....

Dunedain

Best advice I could give, at least concerning what you told us, and your current situation, is to finish your degree.

If you were at the beginning stages of earning the degree, and you didn't have all that debt, I would say screw it. However, since you are so far into it, and only need to finish the last stretch, the best thing you could do would be to get that degree.

72

Paranormal Warning

by Cold Steel in

i've heard some weird stories coming from jws about the paranormal.

i know about the warnings about items that come from unbelievers -- those don't interest me as much.

what i am interested in are actual experiences in stories of the paranormal you've heard or experienced yourself.

Dunedain

I remember a "story" from an old JW family friend of my parents. She believed that she had a demonic experience. Or at least what happened, was credited to "demons".

What she said happened, was she came home at night to her apartment/home(I forget?), and all her furniture was turned upside down. The kitchen table, chairs, sofa, coffee table, dressers, all turned upside down. Some pieces of furniture were also stacked upside down, and on top of each other.

She claimed it was demons, and demons were in her house and did this, blah, blah, blah. So my Mother started really questioning her about it. Like why do say it was demons that did it? How did you know it was demons, and so on. Her answer was very emphatically, "that it WAS demons", and she even got a little angry that she was even being questioned. She continued to say, "plus I heard weird noises coming from the light bulb in the dining room".

Anyway, I do not know if demons did that or not, but I was listening in to this conversation. She didn't mention anything, like she saw a form, or felt a presence, and so on. It was blamed on demons, because she was "new in the truth", and just started studying. Satan and the demons, MUST have been trying to scare her away from the truth. This is why the demons targeted her.

I think it was all bullshit, at least concerning "demons". I don't deny that her furniture was upside down, and the light made "noises", but there could be a number of real world explanations, NOT demons. Maybe some teenagers got into the house and were screwing around. Maybe someone was playing a trick on her. Maybe they were gonna tell her after, and have a laugh, but because she really thought it was demons, and got scared, the person never fessed up to it, who knows?

The things that happened were physical, real world, things. Furniture being flipped, and moved, and a light making noise. Before she studied, she probably would have NEVER considered demons, but because she WAS studying, and learning for the first time about demons, this is where her mind went to first. SHE created the demon story as the ONLY explanation, and I am sure she still believes it today, because she is still a JW.