I would just like to agree with Puffsrule about taking them to a different church. I am not an advocate of religion, but,I was close to fourteen before I walked into any other church and I thought I was going to be struck dead for being there. Letting them know early on that there is nothing wrong with other religions is a good thing.
I think exposing them to another teaching will go a long way in assuring that they have a more balanced view of religion.
As you said Lost, they need to know they have choices.
I agree completely and think this is a good way to show them that.
-P(J)
pandora
JoinedPosts by pandora
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9
Divided Households
by Lost Diamond ini'm kind of new here...i don't post much, but i read the board almost daily.
i have a question that maybe some of you might be able to answer, or at least give me some suggestions.
i am divorced and have custody of 2 beautiful, well-behaved children, ages 9 & 6. their father is a jw and i have drifted away, so i could say i'm mostly out of the org.. when they are with me we do not go to meetings, but when they see their father every other wkend they go meetings with him and his wife, and sometimes to service.. i have read that many of you were brought up in a divided household where one parent is a jw and the other is not.
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pandora
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Since leaving the WT, are you a better person?
by roybatty inim not asking from someone elses standard but instead from your own.
obviously jws would view most of us here as the worst of the worst but how do you feel about yourself now that you have left the watchtower?
what changes have you noticed about yourself?
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pandora
I changed the moment I came out. I didn't have to be judgmental of people and their chosen way of life anymore and that freedom was wonderful to me. It always bothered me that they said they love everyone and then make exceptions to that rule.
But at the beginning I was on a suicide course. I still believed that I was going to die because of my decision. When I finally came to the realization that they were lying to me, That was the day a true change happened. That was the day I decided to live. That was the day I realized it was all up to me. Now I am happy, because now I am responsible for ME. -
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OBJECTIVE: Creation Education
by pandora inthis is a bit long.
but i thought i should share this with you.
if this has been posted before, i appologize.
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pandora
Thanks for clarifying Xander, and sorry I missed your post.
I breath a sigh of relief to see that it is satire. All I had seen about this article said that they weren't sure if it was for real or not. And I didn't have time to look around before I shared the info with everyone here.
Thanks for commenting, everyone. -
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OBJECTIVE: Creation Education
by pandora inthis is a bit long.
but i thought i should share this with you.
if this has been posted before, i appologize.
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pandora
This is a bit long. But I thought I should share this with you. If this has been posted before, I appologize. I did do a search, and if it is here, I could not find it.
The following article is by, none other than, a Christian Fundamentalist. So as you can imagine, while it will make most of our jaws drop, it will also provide hours of enjoyment.
I'm hoping it will inspire us all to discussion.Here is the original article:
http://members.truepath.com/objective/propaganda.htmlOBJECTIVE: Creation Education
Article by Dr. Richard Paley
Evolutionism Propaganda:
The subject of Evolutionism's use of propaganda to spread its false doctrines is a broad one that would require many pages to deal with in full. That they resort to propaganda is just evidence that they have no honest arguments in favor of their position. The paucity of pro-Evolutionistic arguments has been widely documented and I won't go into it here.
What I would like to discuss are some prominent and current instances of Evolutionism propaganda: The PBS's series Evolution, the use of subliminal Evolutionism, and Evolutionism's place in the computing industry.PBS's "Evolution":
PBS (supposedly the "Public Broadcasting Company" although one has to wonder which public they serve with all the anti-Christian junk they put on) is currently airing a new series called simply Evolution. This series (running for eight nights, at two hours a night) is nothing but a commercial for Secular Humanistic pseudo-science.
Thus far, the first episode (called "Darwin's Dangerous Idea" -- at least they are honest in the title) was a melodramatization of Charles Darwin's life. Darwin is portrayed as a sympathetic character who is attacked by ignorant Christians for his "revolutionary thought" which he is shown likening to "confessing a murder" (again, another slip of honesty). All those who historically questioned and pointed out flaws in Darwin's ideas are portrayed as villains: Richard Owen, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Captain Robert Fitzroy of the HMS Beagle -- all are made into unrecognizable cartoons whose only purpose is to act as foils for the noble Darwin and his crusade against Christianity. Even God himself is turned into a villain; at one point in the episode they had the audacity to blame Him for killing Darwin's daughter!
Interspersed with the costume drama were talking heads explaining to us why Evolutionism is the One True Way. These included some doctors and biologists -- one of whom openly expressed the religious nature of his belief in Evolutionism -- whose names I can't remember as they were unnotable persons in the scientific community. Daniel Dennet, a philosopher who wrote a polemic also called Darwin's Dangerous Idea, was on hand to tell us in no uncertain terms that Darwin's ideas excluded the need for God. Needless to say Stephen Jay Gould made an appearance, although he did thankfully refrain from talking about baseball this time.
The episode also included "real life examples" of Evolutionism to try and convince us that it is a real science. One of these was -- and I am not making this up -- a primatologist who taught some chimpanzees to "count". Supposedly this proves that we are a monkey's uncle. Another example used was AIDS. They argued that AIDS is constantly evolving and if it weren't for Darwin we wouldn't understand why and thus would be helpless in treating the disease (they conveniently neglect to point out that Darwinistic propaganda equating us with animals might have helped to spread the disease in the first place). This is a common false argument made by Evolutionists; the random variations of AIDS is not the same as the transmutation of species that Darwin wrote about and that is the basis of Secular Humanism. All those little changes aside, AIDS is still AIDS. Show us AIDS evolving into a cat -- which is essentially the Evolutionistic position of common ancestry for all lifeforms -- and then you'll have something worth noting.
Remember, this was all in only the first episode! We still have seven more to go -- or fourteen more hours of this (PBS doesn't even allow us commercial breaks to help us regain our sanity!). One can only imagine what other nonsense will be presented in the rest of this propaganda tour de force. But you can be certain that I for one won't be sporting a PBS tote bag any time soon.Subliminal Propaganda:
Besides the direct assault on reason and faith that the PBS series represents, Evolutionism propagandists often times try to sneak their false doctrine into popular culture via oblique references whose constant reiteration is designed to inculcate acceptance of their unacceptable message. As noted German Evolutionist Joseph Goebbels was fond of saying, if you repeat a lie often enough, people will start to believe it. Ardent Atheistic Darwinist Richard Dawkins even wrote a book1 about how to spread ideology as a type of "biological weapon" using jingles and pop-culture.
Some of the most popular vehicles for this subliminal propaganda are children's television shows, books, and toys. By getting their ideas into the minds of the young, they hope to be able to do the most damage to traditional values and belief. Shows like Pokemon, which features animals "evolving" into new forms, and movies like Jurassic Park provide a continuous cultural fog of Evolutionism that is impossible for innocent children to escape from.Apple Macintosh:
Hypnotically encased iMacs trick unsuspecting computer users into accepting Darwinism
However, these propagandists aren't just targeting the young. Take for example Apple Computers, makers of the popular Macintosh line of computers. The real operating system hiding under the newest version of the Macintosh operating system (MacOS X) is called... Darwin! That's right, new Macs are based on Darwinism! While they currently don't advertise this fact to consumers, it is well known among the computer elite, who are mostly Atheists and Pagans. Furthermore, the Darwin OS is released under an "Open Source" license, which is just another name for Communism. They try to hide all of this under a facade of shiny, "lickable" buttons, but the truth has finally come out: Apple Computers promote Godless Darwinism and Communism.
But is this really such a shock? Lets look for a moment at Apple Computers. Founded by long haired hippies, this company has consistently supported 60's counter-cultural "values". But there are even darker undertones to this company than most are aware of. Consider the name of the company and its logo: an apple with a bite taken out of it. This is clearly a reference to the Fall, when Adam and Eve were tempted with an apple2 by the serpent. It is now Apple Computers offering us temptation, thereby aligning themselves with the forces of darkness3.
This company is well known for its cult-like following. It isn't much of a stretch to say that it is a cult. Consider co-founder and leader Steve Jobs' constant exhortation through advertising (i.e. mind control) that its followers should "think different". We have to ask ourselves: "think different than whom or what?" The disturbing answer is that they want us to think different than our Christian upbringing, to reject all the values that we have been taught and to heed not the message of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Given the now obvious anti-Christian and cultish nature of Apple Computers, is it any wonder that they have decided to base their newest operating system on Darwinism? This just reaffirms the position that Darwinism is an inherently anti-Christian philosophy spread through propaganda and subliminal trickery, not a science as its brainwashed followers would have us believe.ADDENDUM: It has been brought to my attention that the Darwin OS mentioned above now has a cartoon mascot (no doubt to influence children) named Hexley (pictured above) -- a platypus dressed as a devil who performs occult magic, i.e. hexes. They're not doing a very good job keeping their ties to the forces of darkness a secret, are they?
ADDENDUM II (4/20/2002): A reader has also brought to my attention that the aforementioned Atheist and anti-Christian Evolutionist Richard Dawkins -- who likes to compare religion to a virus -- has used Apple's Macintosh computers since they were introduced. In fact, his infamous anti-Creation polemic The Blind Watchmaker relied heavily on an argument based on software that he wrote using a Mac. He purported to have proved Evolutionism by making his Macintosh draw little squiggles -- or "biomorphs" as he called them -- that changed over "generations". (This of course begs the question: if it took a created machine running created software to make these squiggles, how then does that refute Creation?)Illustration of Macintosh generated "biomorphs" from The Blind Watchmaker. Here Dawkins shows us how to turn a cross into a swastika using Evolutionism.
While I initially suspected that the Apple connection here was mere coincidence, I dug deeper into the issue -- luckily, we at Fellowship Baptist have an extensive research library that also includes a representative collection of anti-Christian hate literature which we use for just this sort of investigation -- and was shocked at what I found. In the 1996 edition of his book, Dawkins includes two appendices detailing his little program. The first (included in the original 1986 edition) is entitled "Blind Watchmaker: An Application for the Apple Macintosh Computer". The first illustration on the same page as the title shows a Mac window (similar to the Explorer windows seen in Microsoft's OS) and the rest of the appendix includes many screen shots from a Mac, a number of them even featuring the bitten apple logo. It gets even more perverse in the second appendix (added material from 1991) entitled "Computer Programs and 'the Evolution of Evolvability'" (infinite recursion like this is a sure sign of a flaw in a theory). Here he shows how he "evolved" the "inspired artefact with which all this work was done"... the word "Macintosh"!Illustration from the 1996 edition of The Blind Watchmaker.
At the end of the appendix he even encourages the reader to switch from IBM compatible computers to Macintoshes, saying that "you can exult in something of the feeling of liberation that may have attended evolution's great watershed events." What a ringing endorsement for Apple computers that is!
As you can see, The problem is much worse than we had originally thought as Apple has been aiding and abetting ardent Evolutionists like Dawkins since at least the mid 1980's.ADDENDUM III (4/20/2002): Another reader (it has been busy today!) has informed me of another link between Apple and the forces of darkness that my initial research missed. Apparently the Darwin OS is not the original creation of Apple Computers but is instead based off of an older, obsolete OS called "BSD Unix". The child-indoctrinatingly-cute cartoon mascot of this OS is a devil holding a pitchfork (pictured above). This OS -- and its Darwin offspring -- extensively use what are called "daemons" (which is how Pagans write "demon" -- they are notoriously poor spellers: magick, vampyre, etc.) which is a program that hides in the background, doing things without the user's notice. If you are using a new Macintosh running OS X then you probably have these "daemons" on your computer, hardly something a good Christian would want! This clearly illustrates that not only is Macintosh based on Darwinism, but Darwinism is based on Satanism.
ADDENDUM IV (4/21/2002): Apparently anti-Christian zealots -- as well as shocked Christians who have unwittingly become Mac owners -- are linking to this article, which explains the large number of emails we have received on this topic. More clues have come in showing the dark nature of Apple Computers. According to one of our readers, the new MacOS X contains another Satanic holdover from the "BSD Unix" OS mentioned above; to open up certain locked files one has to run a program much like the DOS prompt in Microsoft Windows and type in a secret code: "chmod 666". What other horrors lurk in this thing?
Footnotes:1. « The Selfish Gene. He called this method of subliminal propaganda "memetics".
2. « Actually, most Bible scholars think that it was more likely a fig that the serpent tempted Eve with, but popular culture holds that it was an apple and it is this popular culture that the forces of Satan are trying to sway.
3. « The first personal computer sold by Apple was priced by Steve Jobs and his hippy friend Steve Wozniak at $666. Need we say more? [ADDENDUM (4/21/2002): Some readers have been asking for evidence of this. Here is an image of an ad showing the price from the October 1976 issue of Interface Age magazine.] In recent years they have tried to distant themselves from their more militantly anti-Christian past, however it is clear that this is a public relations move, not a change of heart.
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Lotus
by getingout inbefore you jump the gun and start offering a friendly hand maybe you should take the advice given and do some reading & research here first.
you are going to be very surprised with what you find from these so-called loving x-witnesses.. let me give you a couple of examples.. go look up the topic: bryant memorial report.
read how sadden everyone was to learn of this man who couldnt deal with lifes problems and decided to become judge and jury for his whole family and took them out with a shot gun blast to head as they slept in their beds.
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pandora
Getting out -
It doesn't surprise me that you skipped by the point that was being made by LDH, that is very typical of JW memebers on this board and other witnesses sites.
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Fangs for the memory; would you become a vampire?
by Abaddon innow, first off, there's no such thing.. but, let's imagine that we live in the same dimension as buffy (most of the guys and a few of the women start paying attention), or the anne rice novels, blade, whatever.. vampires are real.
god is distant and removed.
there is an epic, but drawn out and irresolvable struggle between good and evil.
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pandora
Has anyone here ever heard of Laurel K Hamilton? She writes about Vampires in St Louis, Mo. I thoroughly enjoy her books. Plus, her storyline takes place in my home town. Now THAT is cool!! Vamps, right down the street.
I also appreciated when Anne Rice sent some of her characters into St Louis.
Oh, and I would definately go for being a vamp.
-P(J) -
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ANOINTED Jehovah Witness has no doubt,
by lotus inhello, i am new to this website, but have to be straightforward and say that i do not agree with most subjects and contents.
i am an active jehovah witness, but i am very lonely so i am looking for others with the "hope" or to speak to those that know someone that does.
it has been a long , hard road for me.
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pandora
I cannot talk to disfellowshipped ones
What a pity to live with that much fear on a daily basis. I mean any one of the people you come in contact with [on] a daily basis could be disfellowshipped. Maybe they just aren't telling you. What if you spoke to one and didn't know it? Oh My!!! You've sinned!!!!
You poor, poor little creature. It's just sad that you would give up such a precious gift. The gift of your own free will.
But I'm sure you are a kind and loving person. Yes, how kind and loving of you to shun another human being. How kind and loving of you to judge another human being unworthy of your association. What a testament to your Christianity and the LOVE that it professes.
SAD!!! Very SAD!!!
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What would Emily Post say??
by ChakkaConned inlast week i received a wedding invitation in the mail from an elder's daughter whose getting married next month.
being on the outer social fringe of the congregation for 20 years and recently missing quite a few meetings, i was abit surprised to receive an invitation from her.
the invitation is to attend the wedding(only) at the kh without a mention of the reception which i found out is being held at a separate private location afterwards.
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pandora
Invite means gift. period. If you were invited, you send a gift, even if you can't make it. No matter what they invite you to.
At least, that's what I was told. Could be wrong. You never know, considering my source. <Nevermind>
-P(J) -
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What would Emily Post say??
by ChakkaConned inlast week i received a wedding invitation in the mail from an elder's daughter whose getting married next month.
being on the outer social fringe of the congregation for 20 years and recently missing quite a few meetings, i was abit surprised to receive an invitation from her.
the invitation is to attend the wedding(only) at the kh without a mention of the reception which i found out is being held at a separate private location afterwards.
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pandora
I have to say that this is one of the worst policies ever. Your right, they are fishin' for a gift. I think the invite should be sent back with some scathing remark. Like, "Get real! You want a gift? HAHA!! It's the entire event or no event!!!" I don't know. Something like that. This just urks me to death!!! I know it's not considered taking the high road, but damnit! It is a slap in the face to get an invite like that. Just once, I wanna slap 'em back!!!!!
Done Ranting.
-P(J) -
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Dateline
by silentlambs inas many of you may recall i posted the following update about two weeks ago:.
"i am happy to discontinue the dateline update due to the closeness of the program.
dateline, is a good organization and doing their best to be fair and remain neutral when it comes to reporting the story.
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pandora
Thank you, Bill.
-P(J)