Posts by likeabird

9

Asking the right questions.....

by Terry in

these questions have no right or wrong answers.

but, if you'd like to answer any of them i think it could be interesting to hear what you have to say!

how old would you be if you didnt know how old you are?

likeabird

The fact I do something - in this case answer your questions, doesn't automatically make them right.

That line could be used to make anything a person does right.

Anyway, I answered your questions just to answer your curiosity, and because I would have liked that if I was in your shoes (sorry, a bit of cult reasoning showing it's face!), but I didn't see the point to quite a few of them, hence my question to you.

And if there is no point to some of them, I don't mind. Curious minds were just wondering.

9

Asking the right questions.....

by Terry in

these questions have no right or wrong answers.

but, if you'd like to answer any of them i think it could be interesting to hear what you have to say!

how old would you be if you didnt know how old you are?

likeabird

How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?

Don't have an age in my head

Which is worse, failing or never trying?

Never trying, by far

If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?

We don't always have the determination to get out there and do what we really want to do. Life is short, so better not waste more time than necessary on things we don't like.

When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?

Try not to speak unless I know I am going to do what I say. So hopefully in the end I'll have done most of what I said I would do. And if I haven't, then will probably have at least tried.

Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

Since leaving the borg and realizing I only have one life with a big chunk of it having been wasted you know where, I am no longer a settler. (Wasn't much of a settler before either)

To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?

I have pretty much controlled every step of my life, it's just that up until recently I controlled it based on false information. Have always hated the idea of drifting through life and letting life decide for me, so always weigh up all my decisions and always look ahead to see where a decision may or may not land me. Guess I'm a bit of a control freak!

Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?

Not sure if I understand your question. Let's just say I don't like making mistakes. I like getting it right.

If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?

Never join a cult! And if you're a born in, question everything and get out at the earliest possible moment!

How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?

Because we're not all robots!

What one thing have you not done that you really want to do?

Get a really well-paid job! (Have to get through school first, but that's well in process and is going great, so maybe I'll get there)

Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?

Are you calling me a hoarder? Don't really know. Define the word "need".

Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?

I'd like to think so. I do think so. That being said, the borg stunted me socially and real friendship was never something I fully experienced while in there. I guess because I never really fitted in. I am now having to relearn what it means to be a friend with the great new people I'm meeting and who are holding their hands out to me. I feel a bit like a wild animal when it comes to accepting their friendship. Thank you Borg! Great training you gave me! (Not!)

Is is possible to know the truth without challenging it first?

Everything is possible in life. Never say never!

Has your greatest fear ever come true?

Not really a fear freak.

Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?

Don't need to wait five years to realise that the thing I'm upset about is completely trivial. I'm usually thinking that exact thing at the moment I'm upset.

Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?

I am still savouring the delight of no longer being Under The Influence! But in Borg Land every day is identical.

If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?

I don't know. Pretty much lost everything/one when I left. In any case, today is almost over, so not much time left to visit anyone.

What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

"Being alive" is passive, "truly living" is active and means doing meaningful something with your life that each individual decides for himself what that is.

If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?

Because we have been conditioned to belive that making a mistake is bad and maybe even hurts if we happen to have had corporal punishment when a child. Now I have a question for you : what determines that these questions you are asking are the right ones?

50

Are you now ashamed of how gullible you were as a JW?

by biometrics in

now that you realise how idiotic some of the jw beliefs are/were, do you feel ashamed of how gullible you were to believe them?.

if anything my past as an adult jw makes me understand how easily manipulated people are by the people and environment around them.

and that even intelligent people can be influenced beyond what is rational..

likeabird

Agree with Cedars and Punk of Nice.

Ashamed - not sure, but then again, what is there to be proud of?

Angry - extremely.

38

This is just plain CRAZY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by wasblind in

jw
friends

" jehovah's witnesses were not in the concentration camps because they were criminals.. .

when officers wanted someone to shave them, they trusted a witness with the razor, because they knew that no witness would ever use such an instrument as a weapon to harm another human.. .

when ss officers at the auschwits extermination camp needed someone to clean their homes or care for their children, they selected witnesses, because they knew these would not try to escape.. .

likeabird

Hitler wanted all " JEWS " exterminated, they didn't have a choice, let alone recieve gifts and babysit children of the German solidiers

It's true, the Jews didn't have a choice. What happened was, they arrived by train into the camp, disembarked and were seperated into two groups - working age men and whoever wasn't such as women, children and older people.

Each day the soldiers/commanders received a quota of how many workers they needed and these would be selected out of the working age men group. That was the only "hope" they had. Everyone else was directed to the "showers" for "disinfection", where they put their name and address on their suitcase, got undressed... Nobody had a clue what awaited them. This is made clear (and I included a picture in the video) when you see the train tickets Jews in Greece purchased to go and "work" in Auschwitz. That's what they had been told.

One survivor recalls being put in the working age men group when he got off the train at Auschwitz. He was about 15 years old. He saw a mother in the other group with her little girl. Her 14 year old son had just been put into the mens group and she was begging the guards not to separate them. So the guards simply agreed to her request and sent the son over to the other group with his mum and sister. If only she had known what she had just done...

They were there to give the Jews false hope, when they could have worked as double agents to end this tragedy sooner.

While I totally agree with the idea 100%, for people outside the camps this was easier said than done. They were under constant surveillance and being caught meant death for you and your family.

And I don't think God would have mind

Nor do I. I even think he wouldn't have minded them shutting their JW mouths for a couple years and sitting the war out like normal people. Honestly. No person in their right mind would knowingly let people go through that.

So it sounds like even though the plight of the Bible Students was bad by virtue of being on the grounds, it sounds more like forced household servant labor and admin work, etc, thus living on a much higher level that those destined for extermination.

Maybe for a very, very few individuals. The alternative to extermination was being a prisoner. This was by no means a higher level - unless you consider working outside in the dead of winter doing hard labour for endless hours, wearing nothing better than pyjamas (I was completely bundled up and I was freezing within about twenty minutes), being underfed, at night sharing a barn-like construction with 400 other prisoners and one tiny heater - and if you were sick and too weak to get on a bunk to sleep, you would be on the dirt ground - which was that and even more. (I don't wish to go into any more details.)

That's not even sub level whatever - and the borg didn't see any problem letting their people go through that, and they still don't!

38

This is just plain CRAZY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by wasblind in

jw
friends

" jehovah's witnesses were not in the concentration camps because they were criminals.. .

when officers wanted someone to shave them, they trusted a witness with the razor, because they knew that no witness would ever use such an instrument as a weapon to harm another human.. .

when ss officers at the auschwits extermination camp needed someone to clean their homes or care for their children, they selected witnesses, because they knew these would not try to escape.. .

likeabird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=65szNw8TwdQ

38

This is just plain CRAZY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by wasblind in

jw
friends

" jehovah's witnesses were not in the concentration camps because they were criminals.. .

when officers wanted someone to shave them, they trusted a witness with the razor, because they knew that no witness would ever use such an instrument as a weapon to harm another human.. .

when ss officers at the auschwits extermination camp needed someone to clean their homes or care for their children, they selected witnesses, because they knew these would not try to escape.. .

likeabird

I'd recommend anyone to go to Sachsenhausen - especially in the winter. It is a humbling experience.

I just came back from Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps and yes, winter is most definately the time to visit them.

While everything said in the OP is "crazy", what is truly crazy (and all the other strong words that can be used to describe it) is this simple fact:

Jehovah's Witnesses were not in the concentration camps because they were criminals.

Nobody should have been in the concentration camps. The concentration camps should never have existed. But they did. And JW's were among the few that had a "choice" about being there. Only thing is the manic Rutherford decided it was a jolly idea to let them go there and what a "wonderful example of faith" that would be...

There were two sections to the camps : the prison section (where the JWs were usually sent) and the extermination section. Standing there in the snow and deep of winter (it was freeeeeeeezing - and we were bundled up) I started to wonder if those sent to the latter section were not maybe the luckier of the two sections. And then we went inside the 'accommodation' which was not even fit for animals. (For those of you who will see that being alive is always better, my observations are given to show just how bad it was for them.)

Letting the JWs go through this and making them feel guilty if they wanted to get out of it, while knowing fully well what they were going through... That's where the true craziness lies, plus the fact nothing has changed down to this day. Words really can't express it.

To give you a small idea of what it was like, I made a short silent movie of my pictures I took at Auschwitz and Birkenau. Out of respect for the victims, we could not use flash, so while not all the pictures are of good quality, they each tell a story. The first half looks at things from the aspect of the prisoner, the second half from the aspect of those even less fortuneate. It is not for the faint-hearted. It is not nice to see. (Feel free not to watch it) But may we never forget what these ones went through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=65szNw8TwdQ

35

Commenting at the Meetings

by nolongerconfused in

so i'm still going to the meetings...my spouse is still very much active...however, after i learned ttabtt...i feel like such a hypocrite in reciting (commenting) the wt writings and teachings at the meetings...in your own experience...how did you handle this situation?...and if you did comment, what did you say?...i still go out to service, however, i only use the bible and do not distribute wt literature...so far nobody has said anything lol.... .

thanks!.

likeabird

I hated commenting, so in the end used it as a way to plant ideas or just read some of those ridiculous sentences out of the paragraph and not "flower them up" but rather let them stand out for their own silliness.

13

Aint nobody got time that...

by Aussie Oz in

jw
friends

might be 9 months old but jesus...aint nobody got time for that.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh7ugaprdpm.

likeabird

Really well done!

17

Too old for an IPAD!

by Honeybucket in

jw
friends

my elderly(72) grandmother told my auntie that she has to get an ipad and a ipod.

my granny can barely check her email, im not sure what she thinks shes going to be doing with these apple products.

she said she needs them for the field service.... my faded aunt says if it will make her pretty and popular in the hall, cost is no matter.

likeabird

Why does it have to be an Ipad? Surely there're are other tablets on the market at a fraction of the price and as functional for all the use that is going to be put into it.

Or is it that this hunch I have might turn out to be true down the road. Could it be that the borg is deliberately developing their stuff for Apple products so they can strike a deal with Apple (of course pocketing a good percentage in the process, as they do when getting us to book certain hotels) to get everyone to get an Ipad...?

Say the Ipad costs $500, as mentioned higher up in the page, and they get 5% on every tablet ordered via a special code through Apple - thats $25. In the U.S. there are about a million publishers. If each ordered a tablet - that's $25 million - like that. If only 40% order a tablet, that's still $10 million in there pockets, and not counting the other 6 million pubs in the world. My math is probably way off, but it could be an interesting business venture.

Just wondering, that's all.

18

Bombing of KH in Sydney australia late 1980's ?

by zeb in

i recall the moment i heard of this on the radio.

but there was little mention of it in months oryears later.. does anyone know what became of the victims?.

likeabird

They gave a few "experiences" of that bombing a few months later... about how they were all fumbling through their bibles for a scripture the speaker had told them to look up so most of the blast went straight over their heads apparently. Imagine more so for those in the back as opposed to the front of the hall...

Yes, I heard that too. Of course we were told "look how Jehovah blessed them for looking up their scriptures" and "look how they were protected because they were obedient". In any case, the story always floated into mind when I couldn't be bothered to look up Heb 10:24,25 for the 5 millionth time and I would look around the hall to check there were no unsavory characters with suspicious packages floating about!