Welcome! I too am stuck with this religion for many of the same reasons as you. It's liberating to know TTAT but it would be better to be out. Sometimes that's just not an option. I wish you the best.
Socrateswannabe
JoinedPosts by Socrateswannabe
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57
Please Welcome me
by Sofia Lose inhave lurked here for many, many years.
female, latina, middle-aged, born-in, 3rd generation jw, northeast usa.
my fate is to continue to play the game 'till death do us part because the very strong and tangled web of friends, family, business, etc.
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Socrateswannabe
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Blood collection agency's novel approach to JWs and blood donation
by Marvin Shilmer intoday i added an article to my blog advertising a novel approach taken by a major blood collection agency that potentially taps a previously unthinkable source for blood product donation.. my article is titled american blood centers' approach to jehovah's witnesses donating blood.. we can only wonder how bethel fields calls steered from this source.
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Socrateswannabe
Thank you for this, Marvin. So is this a policy that the HLC knows of and applies only under certain circumstances? I am familiar with the hardline policy that states that a person cannot store even his own blood for further use, much less donate it to someone else. I have never seen the distinction made that if it is to be used for fractions, it is permissible. I would like for this to be so. -
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Kissing hanks rear....
by _Morpheus ini havent seen this posted in a while and i think its really well done, so i share here now:.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdp7pkecjvq.
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Socrateswannabe
Thank you for posting this Morpheus. I haven't seen the video before but it's great. Very nice literal exposition of the fallacious reasoning used by religion in general and by JWs in particular. -
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Ayn Rand - Opinions?
by cappytan infor those of you familiar with ayn rand and her ideas on morality, rationality and reason, what is your opinion of those ideas?.
i'm talking about her actual ideas, not the ideals that libertarianism has adopted and, in some cases, perverted.
do you think she's a charlatan?
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Socrateswannabe
I'm in favor of almost any philosophy that debunks religion, but Rand took Rationalism too far--to becoming an extremist cause that can't be justified or sustained in any society. -
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Mormon who runs website for doubting church members ousted
by Socrateswannabe inapologies if this has already been discussed on this forum:.
mormon who runs website for doubting church members ousted.
salt lake city (ap) a mormon man who gained notoriety over the past decade for running a website that offers doubting latter-day saints a forum to chat has been kicked out of the religion..
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Socrateswannabe
Yes, I thought the similarities between LDS and JWs are astounding. -
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Mormon who runs website for doubting church members ousted
by Socrateswannabe inapologies if this has already been discussed on this forum:.
mormon who runs website for doubting church members ousted.
salt lake city (ap) a mormon man who gained notoriety over the past decade for running a website that offers doubting latter-day saints a forum to chat has been kicked out of the religion..
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Socrateswannabe
Apologies if this has already been discussed on this forum:
Mormon who runs website for doubting church members ousted
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Mormon man who gained notoriety over the past decade for running a website that offers doubting Latter-day Saints a forum to chat has been kicked out of the religion.
John Dehlin announced the decision from regional church leaders Tuesday. He becomes the second high-profile church member to be excommunicated in the past year in what Mormon scholars consider to be the Utah-based faith's way of keeping dissenters in line.
A regional church leader in North Logan told Dehlin in a letter that Mormon officials made a unanimous decision to excommunicate him for apostasy, defined by the church as repeatedly acting in clear public opposition to the faith.
While not a lifelong ban, excommunication is a rare move that amounts to the harshest punishment available for a church member.
The letter from Bryan King says Dehlin is being kicked out not because he doubted and asked questions about church doctrine, but because he made categorical statements opposing the faith that were disseminated on his website. King wrote that Dehlin's actions have led others to leave the faith.
"You do not have the right to remain a member of the church in good standing while openly and publicly trying to convince others that church teachings are in error," King wrote.
Dehlin lives in North Logan, a city of 9,600 about 85 miles north of Salt Lake City.
The decision comes two days after he met with church leaders in a four-hour disciplinary hearing.
Dehlin, 45, is a married father of four who has been a Latter-day Saint his entire life. He is a doctoral candidate in psychology who previously worked in the high-tech industry.
He hoped he wouldn't be excommunicated but told church leaders he could not in good conscience stop operating his website, Mormonstories.org.
"We're going to keep telling stories and keep providing support and community for Mormons who are unorthodox," Dehlin said Tuesday.
The family hasn't been attending church services since June and doesn't plan to return. "We're happy to use our Sundays to bond together as a family," he said.
Dehlin said he was told last year that his website and his public support of same-sex marriage were reasons he was being accused of apostasy.
But Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement that while Dehlin's views on gay marriage go against church teachings, they were not the reasons for his discipline.
The letter cites three key issues, including Dehlin's belief that the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham are fraudulent and his rejection of the religion being the "true church with power and authority from God."
Hawkins said excommunication is not the end, but rather the "beginning of the road back to full fellowship."
People who are kicked out or leave the church are welcome to return "through the grace and Atonement of Jesus Christ," Hawkins said.
The move is likely to send ripples through the Mormon community. It comes on the heels of the June ouster of Kate Kelly, founder of a group pushing for women to be allowed in the religion's lay clergy.
Scholars say Kelly and Dehlin are the most high-profile examples of excommunication proceedings since 1993. That year, the church disciplined six Mormon writers who questioned church doctrine, ousting five and kicking out a sixth temporarily.
"The church is sending a message with this: 'Don't express your doubts or concerns publicly, or you risk excommunication,'" said Mike Huband, a Dehlin supporter and active Mormon. "They are saying to those people on the fringes, 'We don't want you in the church.' It's very disappointing."
To supporters like Huband, Dehlin is a hero who risked his standing in the faith to create a much-needed forum where church members could openly discuss sensitive or controversial issues about the faith. About 200 supporters held a weekend vigil for Dehlin outside the church building where his disciplinary hearing took place.
Huband said Dehlin helped him navigate a recent faith crisis and figure out a way to focus on the positives of Mormonism and stay in the religion. Huband said he thinks Dehlin drew church leaders' wrath because he brought to light many unflattering issues about the church's past, including the early days of polygamy under Joseph Smith when the founder had a teen bride and married other men's wives.
To his detractors, Dehlin is a Latter-day Saint who long ago stopped believing in the faith's core tenets and has painted himself as a martyr.
"Dehlin's choices forced his local leaders to take steps to protect their adherents from one who not only ceased to believe, but who actively sought to have others embrace his disbelief," said Scott Gordon, co-founder of MormonVoices, an organization that supports the LDS church.
Dehlin has faced church discipline multiple times over the past decade, but it never reached this point. He says he only tried to help fellow church members dealing with doubts, and he doesn't regret his actions.
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Arrangement to Accelerate Building Kingdom Halls
by Socrateswannabe ini can't believe i'm the first one to admit going to this meeting.
it was a 3 hour video stream from patterson.
the first bit was used to set up the need.
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Socrateswannabe
SIr82: Today they still preach "the end is coming soon!" but now they have hatched a a 20-year plan to become a real estate conglomerate.
And no one makes a peep that during all this, the ownership of the buildings themselves have quietly passed from the local congregation to the WT Society. A total coup without firing a shot!
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Arrangement to Accelerate Building Kingdom Halls
by Socrateswannabe ini can't believe i'm the first one to admit going to this meeting.
it was a 3 hour video stream from patterson.
the first bit was used to set up the need.
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Socrateswannabe
Tech49, thank you for adding the perspective of someone in the business. Helps to cut through the smokescreen from the meeting last Saturday. -
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Stephen Fry on God: What would you say to him if he did exist?
by Simon ingreat answer to a stupid question - what would you say if you're wrong, if god does exist and you go to meet him when you die?.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwnysqo.
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Socrateswannabe
I'm glad to see that Stephen Fry the person has the same level-headed good sense that his famous character Jeeves displays in Jeeves and Wooster. I love this guy!