Posts by pistolpete

64

Havent gone to the kingdom hall in ten years but may have to go back...

by Joliette in

made a big mistake of talking about being raised as a jehovah's witness to some old friends and family.

people have told me that i am still a jws even though i've never been baptized.

i'm in school for social services, dealing with student loan debt, and a lot of other debt.

Joliette

I'll be 39 next year, I'm getting older and I don't have a lot of choices. I don't like the idea of being back in a cult, but what other support systems do I have? If my family passes away, especially my mom, I've come to realize that I'm not gonna have anybody whose really gonna have my back?

Hi there. I’m actually a lot younger than you and was born in a jw family, but I never got baptized, and left home at an early age and things kind of worked out for me.

One of the things I also thought of when I left is that I would probably lose all my family and my friends especially as I got older. And there was that thought that I would die alone.

One thing I’ve learn being out is that for the majority of people, jw or not, married or not, children or not, is that people wind up dying alone anyway. It’s rare to be able to time death perfectly where your mate or family can be at your side. Usually when someone dies, marriage mates aren’t together. I’ve seen this happen many times. Heart attack, accident, long term illness at a hospice and the mate went home to sleep, and during that time the other mate died.

Also for the most part, people, jw or not, children or not, usually wind up lonely anyway. It’s just the reality of life. Our children go off to live their own life and we shouldn’t expect them to be at our side all the time, and our mate eventually dies too. And all our friends have the same problems of facing their own mortality.

I think what you are going through is a realization of your own mortality. Which is actually normal.

I would never tell you what to do because I have no idea how deep your troubled spirit is. Therapy would help.

But the most important thing is YOU have to decide what YOU NEED to do to Survive this period in your life.

There is actually hundreds of jws in a situation like yours where they have to stay in the WT organization, in order to save their family. They may have woken up and spouse, children, and parents are zealous Jehovah Witnesses. For their survival, they continue to stay in the Organization until something changes. You might be able to get some pointers from them on this website.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exjw/new/

Most of the ones that post there are in a similar situation like yours. If you do go back, try hard not to get baptized.

Be patient and good luck.

35

2021...what do you foresee?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you think the world will be a better place?

more civil?

kinder?

pistolpete

According to the BLS, in December 2020 unemployment rate was 6.7% which is around 10.7 million unemployed.

https://www.bls.gov/cps/

Not sure how they calculated 20 million in the above article.

35

2021...what do you foresee?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you think the world will be a better place?

more civil?

kinder?

pistolpete

Not foresee, but this is reality, this is what is happening now.

"Within 100 days, I’m going to send to the United States Congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 to 22 million undocumented people,” Biden said
give taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal aliens, and restart welfare-dependent legal immigration.
Providing taxpayer-funded healthcare to all illegal aliens would likely drive up costs for American taxpayers at an estimated $23 billion to $66 billion every year.
A longer lasting cost to American citizens of Biden’s amnesty would come in the form of crushed wages and labor market gains for America’s working and middle class, who would be instantly forced to compete against newly legalized foreign nationals under the Biden plan.
There are currently roughly 20 million unemployed and underemployed Americans, all of whom want full-time employment with competitive wages and good benefits. Economists have found that their job opportunities and wages can be easily diminished by high immigration levels.
This means the average native-born American worker today has his weekly wages reduced by potentially 8.75 percent, since more than 17 percent of the workforce is foreign-born.

https://youtu.be/3NI59zfAAhQ

35

2021...what do you foresee?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you think the world will be a better place?

more civil?

kinder?

pistolpete

Had you asked that question on January 2020, the majority of responses would have been positive.

The Economy was up, no WW 3 in sight, no riots, not major protests in major cities, people were buying new cars, new homes, College students had good prospects ahead.

Then March came-------COVID!

Humans are so unpredictable!

"We make predictions based on our beliefs about other people's behavior, and sometimes people do not do what we expect" That's the reason why about 36% of marriages ended up in divorce in 2018. Those divorces were not planning on having a failed marriage, but we are so unpredictable. As the saying goes, (shit happens)

10

So are JWs told not to go on YouTube?

by mickbobcat in

i was told on line that jws are now forbidden to go on youtube?

is that true or is it a case by case congregation thing?.

pistolpete

Aren't JWs also told that they CAN'T FORNICATE!

19

Food for thought ? Talking to a JW ?

by smiddy3 in

some questions you may like to ask a jehovah`s witness?.

1.when did the modern day jw religion begin?

we all know the stock answer to that q that they will give ,but persevere .. for the past 2000 years there has never been an organization known as jw.

pistolpete

No Jehovah`s Witnesses were not chosen by Jesus in 1919 ,by there own literature it was the "International Bible Students Association" ,IBSA .that were chosen,not JW`s

AND-----the IBSA ----STILL EXIST!

So if God choose them in 1919, there is no evidence that God disowned them and changed sides to WT.

https://internationalbiblestudents.com/

44

Covid lung damage worse than from heavy smoking

by FatFreek 2005 in

we've probably all heard it, "i wish i could get the covid and that way it would be behind me", as if it were some annoying rite of passage.

"sure, i'll lose my senses of smell and taste for awhile, i'll lose my strength for awhile", etc.. what else could be the reasoning for ignoring the social distancing to attend maskless parties and similar large group gatherings?.

however, looking at the following xray images of certain lungs may help impress some folks into thinking that there are more serious happenings in the attack progression of this virus.

pistolpete

Sherman

So being that people who have had Covid can get reinfected in spite of having build up some immunity to the virus, taking a vaccine would block that from happening doesn't make common sense ?

Actually to me it does not make sense, but I understand why you feel it makes sense. We both have different perspectives.

You are having to rely on what Ellen Foxman, and Cynthia Leifer both immunologists, one at Yale School of Medicine and the other at Cornell University, and what they had to say about reinfection.

Do you know who these people are? ---Can you trust them?

Have you heard of Theodore John Kaczynski? He graduated from Harvard with a degree in mathematics. He went on to get his Master’s and Doctoral degree in mathematics, from the University of Michigan where he was offered a teaching position.

Because the guy was so smart.

Then out of the blue;

For a period of several weeks in 1966, Kaczynski experienced intense sexual fantasies of being a female and decided to undergo gender transition.

You can google him and read the rest of the story. But my point is, just because some of these people have degrees in certain fields, doesn’t mean they know everything about every virus.

OR THAT THEY ARE SANE.

Me on the other hand, I’ve been going to school since I left home at 18. I take a few classes every year. My first degree I got was in Business Administration, My second degree was in Science and I majored in Biology. So I’ve taken courses in biology, microbiology, immunology, virology, etc.

I have an understanding on how a virus works and how the immune system works.

I’m not an expert in the field but I know enough to know that when someone like these two immunologist claim that the vaccine prevents reinfection, -----well that’s just a bunch of crock.

There is no way they can know that. There has not been enough case studies to make that claim official.

You mentioned Alabama football coach Nick Saban made HEADLINES, an 89-year-old Dutch woman was the first documented death of someone who had contracted the coronavirus a second time, Sweden launched an investigation into 150 cases, Brazil, scientists are tracking 95 cases, Mexico claimed to have 258 reinfection cases as of mid-October—nearly 15 percent of which were severe, and 4 percent were fatal---and so on.

These are just HEADLINES!

They are not official studies proving that those who now have immunity NEED TO GET VACCINATED.

But I understand the feeling when one lacks an understanding in a certain field, the tendency is to depend on those who are suppose to know what they are talking about.

When this Virus started last March, Dr Fauci came out on TV several times admonishing all the people that they didn’t need to wear a mask.

Then Fauci said this virus is NOT SOMETHING THE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES SHOULD WORRY ABOUT. Here's the clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZdq9qHNg8

Now Fauci is gun-ho in warning everyone that they need to wear a mask.

And he is the EXPERT leading the Country.

It seems more like all these people advocating vaccination for those who already got Covid have something at stake. Probably money or job security.

I personally feel that each individual should decide what he wants to do, get the vaccine or don’t. When someone gets the COVID VIRUS, the results will be different for each person. Some die an excruciating death, others lose lung efficiency, and others like me didn’t even notice we got it.

It is all dependent on MANY FACTORS. Age, underline health conditions, Governor Como locking you up in a Nursing home, and then there’s the genetic makeup of each individual.

Why should I get the vaccine, when I got COVID,and I didn’t even noticed it, not even a sniffle.

No vaccine for me!

44

Covid lung damage worse than from heavy smoking

by FatFreek 2005 in

we've probably all heard it, "i wish i could get the covid and that way it would be behind me", as if it were some annoying rite of passage.

"sure, i'll lose my senses of smell and taste for awhile, i'll lose my strength for awhile", etc.. what else could be the reasoning for ignoring the social distancing to attend maskless parties and similar large group gatherings?.

however, looking at the following xray images of certain lungs may help impress some folks into thinking that there are more serious happenings in the attack progression of this virus.

pistolpete

Even if you've had Covid you should get vaccinated for the following reasons ...
says Ellen Foxman, an immunologist at the Yale School of Medicine.

says Cynthia Leifer, an immunologist at Cornell University.

LOL---This reminds me of when I was growing up in a JW household.
The FAITHFUL SLAVE says; "Even if it doesn't make sense, you should still obey"

I'm glad I used common sense and didn't listen, didn't waste any of my time following nonsense.

44

Covid lung damage worse than from heavy smoking

by FatFreek 2005 in

we've probably all heard it, "i wish i could get the covid and that way it would be behind me", as if it were some annoying rite of passage.

"sure, i'll lose my senses of smell and taste for awhile, i'll lose my strength for awhile", etc.. what else could be the reasoning for ignoring the social distancing to attend maskless parties and similar large group gatherings?.

however, looking at the following xray images of certain lungs may help impress some folks into thinking that there are more serious happenings in the attack progression of this virus.

pistolpete

I think the reason why so many people are confused as to why some people who get Covid only get a slight sneeze while others become handicapped in one way or another for life and others just plain die---is because of ALL THE CONFLICTING STORIES!

I was one of the lucky ones. I got COVID and didn’t even know it. I now have the antibodies and don’t need a vaccine and won’t get one.

The National Institute of Health published an article that might explain why there are so many different results when a person gets COVID.

The researchers found that more than 10% of people who develop severe COVID-19 have misguided antibodies―autoantibodies―that attack the immune system rather than the virus that causes the disease.
Another 3.5% or more of people who develop severe COVID-19 carry a specific kind of genetic mutation that impacts immunity.
Consequently, both groups lack effective immune responses that depend on type I interferon, a set of 17 proteins crucial for protecting cells and the body from viruses.
Whether these proteins have been neutralized by autoantibodies or―because of a (FAULTY GENE) ―were produced in insufficient amounts or induced an inadequate antiviral response, their absence appears to be a commonality among a subgroup of people who suffer from life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia.

The researchers discovered that among nearly 660 people with severe COVID-19, a significant number carried rare genetic variants in 13 genes known to be critical in the body’s defense against influenza virus, and more than 3.5% were completely missing a functioning gene. Further experiments showed that immune cells from those 3.5% did not produce any detectable type I interferons in response to SARS-CoV-2.

So it boils down to a person’s genetic makeup. Just like some men produce to much DHT and wind up losing all their hair by 30 years of age, while other men live to 100 with a full head of hair.

It's your particular genetic makeup that will determine whether you need the vaccine or not.

Here’s the complete article from the National Institute of Health

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/scientists-discover-genetic-immunologic-underpinnings-some-cases-severe-covid-19

30

The Cancel Culture Is Alive And Well

by minimus in

jw
friends

if you don’t support certain ideas or beliefs, you may find yourself on the losing end in business, money matters, and community.

curt schilling, a former red sox player who is conservative today reported how his insurance company suddenly dropped him even though he was an excellent consumer with them because of his “ views”.

he was marked by those in charge and evidently was told by the rep he knew that they didn’t like his political views.

pistolpete

"Now the media wants conservatives to believe that they are about to be hauled off to re-education camps."

Is it possible that the media wants a civil war to stay in business? Last I heard, CNN was going to be sold off because it's not making profits anymore.