NeonMadman

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Posts by NeonMadman

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  8

  You Know--Way Off Base Once Again...

  by stocwach in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  quote:.

  we could also say that the apostolic decision on circumcision was "new light.

  " which, incidently, cause many jews to stumble out of the truth and become enemies of the torture stake as judaizers.

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  NeonMadman

  If, for whatever reason, a person comes to the conclusion that the Watchtower doesn't have authority to establish what Jehovah's Witnesses should teach then they should probably find a new religion.

  Which is what most of us here have done. If only it were that simple.

  Unfortunately, the Watchtower behaves like the "evil slave" and 'beats its brothers' by making false accusations against those who leave, and by enforcing unscriptural shunning against them. Frankly, if they didn't do those things, a lot of the people who post here would be a lot less angry with the organization than we are.

  However, since those in charge of the Watchtower know that what they teach is not the truth and cannot stand up to open scrutiny, they use demonization and enforced shunning to silence those who have come to see the "man behind the curtain".

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  10

  Contacting the WBTS through their site

  by DazedAndConfused in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i went to their official website today and skimmed their articles on child molestation and it made me a bit angry to say the least.

  they briefly talked about going to the authorities but not once did they stress that it was something that should be done in every case.

  i then clicked on the "contact us" link.

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  NeonMadman

  What if you pasted links to porno sites in the blanks?

  Then you'd be validating what the Society tells them about those who leave the organization.

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  15

  Did "Bad Storms" == Armegeddon?

  by LDH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we had quite a bit of wind here last night, and as i was up with the baby and couldn't sleep anyway, i was thinking back to when i was young.. living on the east coast, we got some of the mega storms that the southwest doesn't usually get, at least not with any regularity.. as a kid, everytime a vicious thunderstorm or violent electric storm started, i would wonder the unimaginable:.

  is this armegeddon????.

  lisa

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  NeonMadman

  I've heard a lot of JW's say that severe thunderstorms would make them think that Armageddon was coming.

  Personally, I've always loved a good thunderstorm. They inspire awe, but not fear, in me. I see them as examples of God's power.

  Armageddon, on the other hand, used to scare me, because I knew I was never "good enough" or "doing enough" to make it through.

  So, no, thunderstorms and Armageddon were never linked in my mind.

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  13

  Occult pictures in JW books?

  by happy man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my 19 year old son show me a site on internet where they show a lot of pictures from our books, and if you look very carfully you can see ddifrent ocult signs, or perhaps guess it is something like this, someone here who have knowlege of this things here, it was new for me, and very confusing, perhaps i give you the link later.

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  NeonMadman

  As others have noted, some of the "hidden" images in the literature take a lot of imagination to see, but others, especially some of the earliest ones are very clear and obvious. The rumor at the time that these things were first being noticed was that some artist at Bethel had been caught inserting these things, and that he had been removed from Bethel and disfellowshipped. Frankly, if the Society had come out with that sort of explanation, I would have been far less impacted by this issue than I was.

  Instead, their reaction was to deny that any such thing had happened, and, worse, to insist that there were no images at all. Well, as I've said, clearly at least some of the images were undoubtedly there. I saw them, everyone I showed them to, including some elders, saw them. For the Society to utterly deny that there were any images at all demonstrated to me, unequivocally, and for the first time, that the Society will directly and deliberately lie to cover its own public image. That stunned me, and left no question in my mind that the Watchtower is not what it claims to be.

  Who knows? If they had come up with a reasonable explanation rather than stonewalling, I might still be going to the kingdom Hall today...

  Naaahhhhh.....

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  10

  spritual hunger

  by LyinEyes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have any of you who were raised jw, after d/f or d/a , been to other churches?

  and if so , did you convert ?

  were you afraid to go to another organized religion?

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  NeonMadman

  After leaving the JW's, I found a very nice church near where I was living and went there fairly regularly until I got married this past October and moved. Now I'm having trouble finding a church here in Northern New Jersey that is as nice as the one I was going to before. It seems like all the churches around here are either very small with not much going on, or huge mega-churches, neither of which makes me feel very comfortable.

  There was one medium-sized church that I attended for a month or so, but each time I went, the regular pastor was away. Then, when he finally was there at the same time as me, it was communion week, and he went on and on about why some people shouldn't partake, are you "clean" enough before God, why, I know a man trying to divorce his wife, a man like that shouldn't be taking communion, yada yada yada...I never went back, and don't plan to.

  The nicest church I've found is run by a pastor whom I met at Witnesses Now For Jesus. He and his wife are truly lovely people; my hang-up is that there are only about 20 people in the church, and I'm not sure I can deal with being in such a small congregation. I just want some spiritual support and fellowship; I'm not looking to be a "pillar" at this point, and I'm not sure there would be any choice in such a small group.

  So the search goes on. Whatever happens, I may get involved with a specific church at some point, may even get active in it. But I doubt at this point that I'll become a member of any religious organization, ever again. Too much bad history there...

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  18

  !!!!PROOF !!!! that this site is monitored !!!

  by avengers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i received this e-mail this morning.. we are terminating you membership at plnet after being shown this link:.

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=23419&site=3.

  dan, plnet webmaster.

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  NeonMadman

  What's PLN?

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  48

  Classic Movies? Name your Favorites

  by BoozeRunner in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  movies!

  movies!

  movies!

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  NeonMadman

  All three Godfathers
  2001: A Space Odyssey
  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
  The Graduate
  Casablanca
  Monty Python and the Holy Grail
  lots of others I can't think of right now...

  and a true Guilty Pleasure:

  Adventures in Babysitting

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  16

  What reason to be JW for so long?

  by ashitaka in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  why were you a jw for so long?

  what positive thing kept you in?

  or was it negative?

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  NeonMadman

  I knew it was crap for the last 15 years or so that I was in, but stayed with it to keep my family together. Finally, after my daughter was all growed up and married, my (now ex-) wife left me anyway, because I was such a poor spiritual head. That was the final break, both with her and with the Watchtower, for me.

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  6

  The Dublin/Ireland Apostasy of the 1970's

  by Jim Dee in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in jw land there is an account/gossip/talk of a great apostasy event in dublin in the late 1970s.

  the society apparently had to send in an enforcer and the "dubs" were dealt with very harshly.. anybody any account/details of it?.

  jim

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  NeonMadman

  Also, there's a pretty interesting tape by John May that gives quite a bit of information about his and Martin Merriman's experiences. The following is the description:

  T45 & T46 LOVE TRUTH--LIVE TRUTH --John May. Upset with lies of WT. Info on Raymond Franz, former Governing Body member. ALSO: Stephen Ignatius. Two tapes $7.90.

  It can be purchased at the Witness, Inc. website:
  http://www.witnessinc.com/Resources/Tapes/body_tapes.html#sec2

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan
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  169

  how old are you? the avg. age here?

  by rekless in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm 56

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  NeonMadman

  Just turned 50 in February.

  Tom
  

  "The truth was obscure, too profound and too pure; to live it you had to explode." ---Bob Dylan