Posts by acsot

holy freakin' mother earth! I cannot believe this thread - 8 pages (last count) of absolute drivel and nonsense. I think someone mentioned at some point, it's like some freak show - repulsive yet fascinating.

28

What Belief or Teaching Do You Think The Watchtower Will Next Abandon?

by minimus in

jw
friends

do you believe the society will just stay on automatic pilot or do you think some "new lite" is in store for witnesses?

acsot

Utopian: great post. Nice to have you back .

17

Did you ever have to change phone number because of the JW's?

by JH in

jw
friends

.

often, i changed phone number in the past, so that they wouldn't bother me.

i remember being active and going to the meetings, but i still wanted none of them to have my phone number, knowing i would one day be inactive.. how about you, ever change phone number because of them?.

acsot

We use a trick that is used by a lot of doctors: the home phone number is listed under my name, not Mr Scully's. If you aren't married, you can list your phone under your mother's or grandmother's maiden name, or ANY name you want. It's legal to do this in Canada. You can even use a fictional name.
This way, you give your number to people you actually want to give it to and tell them it's unlisted. Also, when telemarketers call and ask for "Mrs Tiggywinkles", you know that someone is calling from a phone book listing, and doesn't know you. I have a much easier time telling those people to eff off once I know they don't really know me.
It also prevents people from finding out your real name on an online reverse look-up database.

Cool! I didn't know that! Thanks for the info Scully!

53

Jehovah's Witnesses as "a people......"

by ScoobySnax in

jw
friends

who out of all you nasty old apostates (tm) will agree with me, that if you take the gb that you dislike so much, and the watchtower that you hate out of the picture, will agree with me that at the end of the day, and on the whole, jw's really are a good bunch of people.

i did my same old rekky last sunday at the gillingham convention, and will have a good look around next sunday at twickenham convention.

i've been in lots of crowds, at stadiums and arenas, but an assembly is something else, it is somehow unique, its somehow different from any other crowds, there is a deep sense of "togetherness" i've not see any where else.

acsot

Scoob, I know what you mean. My mom was one of those good people, who, although in her 70s when he came out, didn't reject my gay brother. Although the feeling of "unity" exists at large conventions of JWs (and I was a true believer for many, many years), it is more a forced uniformity than individual choice.

I would suggest that you go to other large gatherings and see what it's like there. Just as a few examples over a wide spectrum of attitudes/activities can show, the same peaceful feeling of unity was present during the late Pope's last visit to Toronto during World Youth Day a couple of years ago. Hundreds of thousands of people present, from all over the world, peaceful, happy and there of their own accord (I'm saying this as an agnostic/atheist, not as a born-again Catholic).

Then last week, I attended, for the first time, the Gay Pride parade here in the city. It was wonderful, and there were easily 100,000 people lining the sidewalks, in the heat and humidity, enjoying the parade, clapping, laughing and generally having a great time. Again, no violence, no rough stuff, the police had literally nothing to do. The crowds were better behaved than JWs at a convention, and I'm serious about that, I'm not gratuitously condemning the dubs - after all, I was one of them at one time at those large conventions.

As another example, Billy Graham packs 'em by the tens of thousands and it's peaceful and united.

So, Scoob, just try out different kinds of groups to see for yourself whether or not the JWs are really all that unique with respect to the feeling you got from being at the convention.

Ac

41

Halloween - Are you celebrating?

by Nellie in

jw
friends

.

of all the holidays that witnesses shun, this was the one i could understand most.

but after leaving the organization, how do you feel about it now?

acsot

Since exiting the dubs, Hallowe'en has become "my" holiday. My cousin's favourite is Thanksgiving, and my brother's is Christmas, except he lives out of town and last year I went to a friend's place for Christmas dinner.

I don't have children but love Hallowe'en and the dressing up. I host a "scary movie" night on the Saturday closest to Hallowe'en. Well, last year's was mostly a "non-scary movie" night, we saw Rosemary's Baby and the original Exorcist.

I fill a plastic/latex glove with water and (carefully) freeze it. Then I pour red food colouring over it and stand the hand up in the punch bowl. As it melts the plastic glove looks like the skin shedding off the hand.

28

Forget the 10 Commandments Follow the book of Tao instead....

by EvilForce in

as another thread rages on and on over whether we'd be better off following the 10 commandments i would posit that we would be better off following the tao te ching (the holy book for taoists) rather than the bible or 10 commandments.

how many holy wars have been carried on by christians.

how many christians are engaged in war right now?

acsot

Absolutely agree.

I read a post a couple of years ago by the great Farkel recommending the Tao Te Ching, so I paid heed to his Farkelness and read said writings. That is to say, I took a long time going over them, thinking about them, trying to understand them and their possible impact on an individual/community/national/universal level - you get the idea.

Yup, much more "food for thought" and inspiration than in "keep the sabbath", "not take the name of the lord in vain" etc. etc.

101

Dansk is in the hospital --- emails from Claire

by Alleymom in

jw
friends

dansk (ian) is in the hospital.

as you know, he posted to us on wednesday morning (after the tuesday night vigil) saying that he felt very bad.

claire ended up having to go home from work because he was feeling so weak and having some trouble breathing.. here are her emails.

acsot

So sorry to hear of the setbacks. You are in my thoughts

(((Ian and Claire)))

4

A JW has an interactive 2004 preaching map on his website

by acsot in

jw
friends

don't know if it will link directly or if you have to type the url into your browser.

http://www.ilabmedia.com/service_year/

in case you need help with the "ministry school" or if you are the talk coordinator, there are all kinds of helpful hints on his website.

acsot

don't know if it will link directly or if you have to type the url into your browser.

http://www.ilabmedia.com/service_year/

In case you need help with the "Ministry School" or if you are the talk coordinator, there are all kinds of helpful hints on his website.

http://members.cox.net/dwsilver/Links.html

Uh, are dubs still "allowed" to have these kinds of websites up?

23

Where is SwordofJah?

by avishai in

jw
friends

sword has only posted once since the "crisis" thread.

(http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/86635/1.ashx) frankly, i'm a lil' bit concerned.

you out there, buddy?

acsot

SOJ: I am so glad you posted! And thanks Avishai for starting this thread.

When your mind is trying to reconcile two diametrically opposed ideas, your body is bound to suffer. I was a die-hard, hardcore JW, and had insomnia, some sort of chronic fatigue thing going on (I could sleep 36 hours and still feel as though a steamroller had gone over me), always catching colds, the flu, etc. etc. Not nearly as bad as what many go through, but when I admitted to myself that everything I had believed in had been a lie, and came out of the shock of it all, my physical symptoms disappeared. Even when caring for my mother for over a year after she had a series of strokes, I never got sick, in spite of the tremendous stress involved.

All I'm trying to say is that we understand. It's hell having your world turn upside down on you. Like you, I know of many good, sincere JWs. My mother was one of them; heck, I was one of them! But that doesn't make the teachings right; it doesn't excuse the lies we were taught, and it certainly doesn't excuse the needless suffering many went through (the Malawi brothers and sisters, for one example).

It just takes time to sift through it all and come out the other end relatively intact.

Take care of yourself.

Acsot