Posts by proplog2

15

Holidays

by celebrate in

jw
friends

having grown up in a jw household, celebrating holidays was always a problem.

my mother is catholic, so we tried to celebrate, but somehow the jws always had something bad to say, or they went to another part of the house.

a christmas tree was a symbol of satan.

Jehovah's Witnesses have avoided the non-sense and commericalism of the holidays that are celebrated by the world. Growing up a Jehovah's Witness I personally never missed any of these things. I continue to enjoy life without these events.

Over-eating, over-drinking, selfish-gift giving, family fights are legendary. Santa is much nicer to the rich kids then the poor.
Unfortunately, Jehovah's Witnesses have bought into a lot of this kind of thing by elaborate wedding celebrations, baptismal celebrations,wedding anniverseries involving rented halls, full-time service anniverseries, huge baby showers, grammar & high-school graduation parties etc. Christian giving used to involve annonymity. You have to be so conscious of whether people are $100 - $50 -$20 friends. I have seen weddings of Rich Elder's kids where the gifts were piled halfway to the ceiling. And I have seen poorer families with a small cake reception where the bride & groom could pack their gifts in the trunk of their car.

Their IS something wrong with the world's holidays and it has infected the lives of JW's too.

16

US, a civilized or a barbaric country?

by Kent in

jw
friends

us, a civilized or a barbaric country?

i am fully aware i might upset some people on the board by asking what i do in this thread, and i wouldnt be surprised if someone would accuse me of attacking americans again.

i do, however, have a reason for asking and my question is an honest one.

proplog2

Don't forget the fact that the USA is one of the few countries with the death penalty. Also- the USA and Somalia are the only two countries that have failed to sign onto the UN declaration of children's rights. (When Silent Lambs is tired of attacking the JW's he might want to attack the USA on children's rights) Oh.. don't forget the fact that the US reserves the right to use land mines. Oh... and the USA doesn't want to have anyone tell how much garbage they can dump in the only atmosphere the whole world has to share.

21

Reasons for Leaving JWs/Fatal Flaw

by patio34 in

jw
friends

i ran across this in "river out of eden" by richard dawkins (pgs 131-132) yesterday and it accurately sums up why i left jws 9 months ago and, essentially, belief in a creator:.

re dna survivial: 'when the utility function-that which is being maximized--is dna survival, this is not a recipe for happiness.

so long as dna is passed on, it does not matter who or what gets hurt in the process.

proplog2

Alan:

Try this experiment. Take a little seed and throw it into a nice web. The spider will zip right over to it and throw it out of the web.

4

Teachings of WT have to be examined.

by avengers in

jw
friends

"higher" education not needed in god's new order.

in the june 8, 1967 issue, the awake!

magazine printed an article on pages 3-8 entitled "second thoughts about a college education.

proplog2

Do you want to hear something really stupid. I graduated from High School in the Mid-60's. My JW parents wanted to send me to college. They realized that I had absolutely zero aptitude for mechanical things. But because I believed everything in the Watchtower I decided not to go to college. This was a subject of a lot of arguing with my parents. My parents were second generation witnesses, my father was a servant and respected member of the congregation but unfortunately they raised me to listen to the Watchtower.

I think the real reason I didn't go to college was - the draft. Had I gone to college it would have been a sure bet that I would have gone to prison upon graduating. If I thought I would only have to do a couple years alternative service (as is now permitted) I would have chosen to go to college.

79

When God created Adm, did he knw that Adam wd sin?

by D wiltshire in

jw
friends

when god created adam and eve did he foreknow that they would sin?.

this is taken from the reasoning book:.

when god created adam, did he know that adam would sin?.

proplog2

The myth of Adam & Eve only works if you believe it involved an actual test. Genesis is an effort to explain the big "FIRSTS". First man. First woman. First sin. First murder.

It is still a myth. I don't believe in "original" sin. I prefer to call the selfishness that enabled the first replicating string of "whatever first replicated" -- INTRINSIC SIN.

132

100 Good Samaritans needed

by Trilobite in

jw
friends

two of this board's, and h2o's before it,long time and well known participants have fallen on desperately hard times.

if they could set up pay pal accounts and enough of us could contribute say $20 - $50 per month it would help them though their hardship.. these two people have helped many escape from the wts and i know for sure have given money and other material help to those in need, even when they could not afford it.. if you can help, send an email to: [email protected].

you need not include any particulars of who you are etc, just an indication that you could support this and how much you could send.

proplog2

What is Farkel capable of doing for a living. Perhaps this may be a way of helping. What IS his situation. I want to help but I need to know what's going on. Feel free to E-Mail me.

Thanks.

26

To rem: Re: Keirsey Personality Types

by Esmeralda in

jw
friends

hey rem,.

i saw your post in the astrology thread and decided to start a new discussion here about keirsey.

i noticed how many people have been enjoying the silly little emode tests and immediately thought they'd really be amazed by keirsey.

proplog2

Although I am not fond of Jungian typologies I usually come off as an ENFP.

20

wild beast

by erik in

jw
friends

does anyone have another view or interpretation of the 7 headed 10 horned wild beast and the one that gives it power that beast having one head and 2 horns.

i believe current wt informs the 7 headed wild beast to be the un and the beast that gives it power the 2 honed wild beast to be the american-anglo power.

please give any other alternative views to this prophecy.

proplog2

I have written some things about the wild beast on my web-page

http://members.aol.com/~proplog2/page1.html

37

JW Culture has Changed!

by Amazing in

jw
friends

in the late 1960s, i became a jw.

there was a sense of intellectual freedom and more openness to discuss various spiritual and even some social topics.

there was reliance on watch tower literature as an authority, but still the soiciety seem to confine its concerns and left the rest up to individual jws to decide.

proplog2

This is probably one of the most important subjects that could be discussed. What went wrong? I was raised a JW. My family always housed the circuit overseers when they visited and I used to enjoy the lively speculation. If someone were to promote the celebrating of Christmas or the Trinity they would have been flattened, but those issues never came up. Speculation about prophecy was wide spread.

I believe the change started to take place with the institution of the Elder arrangement. At that point the concept of leadership was lost and the bureaucrats took over. When one person was responsible there was someone to blame. When the weight of decisions are shared by a body there is no room for creativity - mediocrity takes over.

The Elder arrangement is contrary to the way people naturally organize themselves. It is even unscriptural.

I remember having a conversation with Karl Klein about the Elder arrangement. That particular year he was presiding over the governing body. He was visiting a relative and I was invited to dinner. Before dinner he started a conversation "There are no more giants" he said. I asked what do you mean? He said "There was Russell, Rutheford, Knorr, but Jehovah was now working through a governing body. I asked him "Who killed the Giants?" He just smiled his usual grin and didn't comment. Next he said "Right now I have the most important job on earth (since he was presiding) - but it didn't feel like it." That was the year that they anounced at the assembly that rotation of the teaching positions would stop except for the presiding overseer. I asked Klein why they wouldn't also stop rotating the presiding overseer. He defended that by saying that no one should have that power permanently. I remarked that "abilitiy to direct" was a gift and that those with that ability ought to be in the business of directing. Again when anything controversial came up he would just grin. He obviously liked the rotation idea because it brought him to what he thought was the "most important job on earth". Klein was by temperament conceited and self-centered but also quite worldly in his knowledge.

Anyhow, I feel the Elder arrangement was the biggest mistake the organization ever made. It instituted an unending supply of "yes-men".

7

Scenario for Great Tribulation

by proplog2 in

jw
friends

come with me as we snoop on a secret meeting taking place at a. steambath outside st.petersburg -russia.

speakers:.

vladmir putin president of russia.

proplog2

June 14 is the date when this thread was started. As it turned out there was no nuclear explosion. But the effect of the attack in this scenario turns out to be quite similar to the actual results of the Sept 11 attack.

After September 11 Americans know that they are no longer protected by the Atlantic/Pacific moat. USA/Babylon the Great has lost it's Euphrates.

The disgusting thing has landed at ground zero - the sacred symbol of USA financial power has fallen. The desolating of her has drawn near. Luke 21:20