Posts by NeonMadman

11

Interesting JW/Mormon Statistics from Barna

by NeonMadman in

the barna group conducted a survey comparing the religious and demographic backgrounds of jw's and mormons vs. evangelical christians.

i found some of the statistics rather surprising.

for example, 29% of those who said they are jw's also reported that they are registered to vote.

NeonMadman

OK, for some reason I can't get this to come up to the right article when I embed it. It keeps bringing up the main page, even though it shows the correct article in the edit mode. If you go to http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Home and click on "Barna Updates" then on "All Barna Updates" on the drop down menu, you will see a list of recent updates. On that list, the article in question is listed under May 12, 2008.

Sorry for such complexity, but I can't get the blamed thing to embed properly...

11

Interesting JW/Mormon Statistics from Barna

by NeonMadman in

the barna group conducted a survey comparing the religious and demographic backgrounds of jw's and mormons vs. evangelical christians.

i found some of the statistics rather surprising.

for example, 29% of those who said they are jw's also reported that they are registered to vote.

NeonMadman

The Barna Group conducted a survey comparing the religious and demographic backgrounds of JW's and Mormons vs. evangelical Christians. I found some of the statistics rather surprising. For example, 29% of those who said they are JW's also reported that they are registered to vote. Now I realize there is a "hang on" factor of people who are associated with the organization, but are not actually baptized and/or active, and that even some of the active ones may have been registered before they became JW's but I still found that number higher than I would have expected. There's other interesting stuff, too. Here's the article:

14

Which would be easier to defend, JWs or Mormons?

by undercover in

whenever i ponder on the beliefs and practices of the mormon church, i wonder how anyone can belief such rubbish.

even when i was an active jw i looked at mormons as down right kooky, what with their special underwear, the book of mormon, the american indians being isrealites, the tablets, etc, etc, etc.

i was glad as a kid that i wasn't mormon because at least as a jw we could drink sodas.... even after i discovered that i was in a f'd up religion and made my way out, i still see mormons as so out there, that there's no way you can defend their beliefs, yet so many people become or remain mormons.. when i compare mormon beliefs with jw beliefs, it seems easier to disprove or discount mormon beliefs vs jw ones.

NeonMadman

Having spoken with Mormon missionaries in the past, I found them pretty open about the fact that their final authority is the current teaching of the church, as opposed to and above the Bible, the Book of Mormon or any other source. That would make them perhaps a bit harder to deal with than JW's, since JW's at least CLAIM that the Bible is their final authority, even though we all know that the real final authority for a JW is the organization's explanation of the Bible and not the Bible itself.

18

Harvest SIftings Part II - PDF Download

by RR in

okay everyone, here is the latest pdf file to add to your library.

over the holiday weekend i was cleaning out a storage room where i keep boxes and boxes of watchtower literature and came across harvest siftings (part ii), dated oct. 1, 1917. it was authored by j. f. rutherford and is "a reply to the paper called "light after darkness.

" which was written by the four ousted directors.. while i have an original copy of this paper, i have yet to find it, this pdf was made from a photocopy i made for research, as i didn't want to damage the original.

NeonMadman

Yes, the ones I remember from the 60's and 70's were professionally printed, not mimeographed. Unfortunately, I threw them all away at the behest of an elder who didn't want me reading such satanic material...

18

Harvest SIftings Part II - PDF Download

by RR in

okay everyone, here is the latest pdf file to add to your library.

over the holiday weekend i was cleaning out a storage room where i keep boxes and boxes of watchtower literature and came across harvest siftings (part ii), dated oct. 1, 1917. it was authored by j. f. rutherford and is "a reply to the paper called "light after darkness.

" which was written by the four ousted directors.. while i have an original copy of this paper, i have yet to find it, this pdf was made from a photocopy i made for research, as i didn't want to damage the original.

NeonMadman

Thanks RR!

If I remember correctly, you had mentioned some time ago that you might be scanning Roy Goodrich's "Back to the Bible Way" newsletters. Did you ever get around to that? Is it likely for the future? Is my memory faulty?

14

Obama Joke

by uwishufish in

jw
friends

obama gets to the pearly gate.

st peter greats him "name please".

obama: president obama.

NeonMadman

As long as Hillary isn't his VP, he probably has nothing to worry about...

45

Top 10 strange reasons WT is right

by knock knock in

jw
friends

had a long conversation with my mom tonight and we went back and forth for over an hour regarding the wt.

she said something tonight that kind of left me speechless as i've never heard anything like this one before.

the wt is right because... .

NeonMadman

The WT is right because they are God's organization. And we know they are God's organization because they told us they were. And we know that they told the truth because they are God's organization.

36

From Your Experience: Did Elder's Families Get Away With More Than Others?

by minimus in

jw
friends

was everyone treated the same in your hall?

NeonMadman

I knew an elder's daughter and her boyfriend who were reproved on the same night, and everyone knew what it was for. He was on restrictions for about a year; she was off restriction after a month.

22

Pioneers who never do witnessing in the weekends (when people are home)

by yadda yadda 2 in

jw
friends

were there many in your congregation?

there used to be heaps in my old ones..

NeonMadman

When I was pioneering in the early 70's, the elders picked on me for a while because I had a job that required me to work on Saturdays so I couldn't go out in service "with the congregation." It wasn't enough to put in 100 hours a month, they wanted me to arrange my life to do it at their convenience. I should have seen the big picture right then, stopped pioneering and signed up for college.

45

Any Stephen King Readers?

by White Dove in

jw
friends

so far, i like needful things, secret window/hidden garden, and langoliers best.. guy at the bookstore said the stand was the best.. i just bought the shining and pet cemetary (book's in the other room.

can't spell).

what's your favorite?.

NeonMadman

I'm more of a Stephen King listener. I drive a lot for work, so I tend to get his books in audio book format and listen to them.

I think my favorites so far have been "Hearts in Atlantis" and "Gerald's Game." Probably not the average person's picks. I listened to "Gerald's Game" about 15 years ago when I had lost my job and was delivering newspapers late at night, listening as I drove around the route between midnight and 3:00 a.m. It was appropriately spooky (even though it is really just psychological horror and not anything supernatural) that it kept me freaked out over the several nights it took to finish it.

As far as his short story collections go, I especially liked "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" and "Everything's Eventual."

I'll second what dinah said about Dean Koontz; some of his stuff is really good, and "Odd Thomas" tops the list for me. "From the Corner of his Eye" was also excellent and evocative.