RunningMan

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Posts by RunningMan

• 
  39

  Best Bumper Stickers I've seen.....

  by LDH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jesus, save me from your followers!.

  i do work for food!

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  RunningMan

  May favorite is:

  "Horn not working, watch for finger"
• 
  15

  What Was I Thinking?

  by riz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  one of my regrets about my 20 year stint of jw-dom is that i got rid of a lot of my 'questionable' music.

  i have always loved all kinds of music, and i've been an avid collector for as long as i can remember.. some of the recordings i had i will probably never see again.

  i deeply regret my decision to get rid of some of my favorite items.

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  RunningMan

  I recall throwing away several items that I wish I had back. Some
  records that I broke and threw away included an excellent album
  by Gary Neuman, the classic Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack,
  and a mediocre album by Soft Cell.

  As I got older, I got a little smarter. When the next wave of purges
  came around, I lent my Quiet Riot album to a friend with the understanding
  that he would give it back when things cooled down. The bugger still
  has it.

  The most disturbing jetison was a pile of baseball cards. I was only
  about 7 or 8 years old. After coming back from a district assembly,
  I resolved to destroy my baseball card collection because a talk had
  listed them as evidences of idol worship. This was in the late '60's
  and there were several cards from the original Montreal Expos. My
  parents were very proud of me.

  Today, I feel like an idiot. I wish I had them back.
• 
  12

  District Convention Progam EXJW style

  by LovesDubs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what we would like to see on the program hehehehe .

  1. musical interlude (led zepplin, kiss, and selections from britney spears for the youf and barry manilows greatest hits).

  2. kingdoom melodies selection (stand up adjust your shorts for the long haul, brothers...we hope you remembered the preparation h).

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  RunningMan

  Our district assemblies were always held in either a hocky area or
  football stadium. As a kid, I always used to daydream that there
  was a game going on. I could follow the action up and down the ice,
  and it would look like I was paying attention.

  I really wish a game would actually break out one of these years.
• 
  8

  Last Days?

  by betweenworlds in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm just wondering if when anyone else hears people (jw's) say "well we must be living in the last days because look how awful the world is, look how awful people are to each other, look at the earthquakes, etc, etc, etc" that is doesn't really seem to make sense?

  i mean look at the old testament.

  i don't think people could be any crappier to each other than the examples put forth there!

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  RunningMan

  There are many ways to prove that we are living in the last days.

  For example, if JW's are growing in numbers, that means that
  God is speeding up the work and gathering the valuable things of
  the nations - a sure sign of the end. On the other hand, if JW's are
  not growing, that means that the work is nearly complete - a sure
  sign of the end.

  Likewise, if the media reports an increase in crime or war, that means
  that the "sign" is being fulfilled - a sure sign of the end. But if the
  media reports a reduction in crime or war, that means that the nations
  are about to declare peace and security - a sure sign of the end.

  Every generation since Christ has believed in all sincerity that they are
  the one that will see the end. Every generation to this point has been
  wrong. My money is on the current one being wrong, too.
• 
  5

  Stupid JW Parents <oh! excuse me>

  by reagan_oconnor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't know what conjured this memory up... maybe it was the cabbage patch dolls/bedtime story thread.... when i was a kid, maybe 10 years old, bodily functions were hilarious in my house (even for us girls).

  it was common for one of us kids to "let one rip" and dad to feign irritation and say, "who did that?!

  " (it was even funnier when the culprit was my mother, who would invariably blame the youngest child for the gasseousness.).

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  RunningMan

  A couple of weeks ago my parents were over. It was Thursday night, so
  we were watching "Survivor", which my mother had never seen before.
  After half an hour, she gave her assessment: "What would Jehovah think
  of that!"

  The phrase has now become common in our family. We apply it to just
  about everything.
• 
  68

  JW's & alternative medicine

  by slipnslidemaster in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in one of the threads i read today, they were talking about looking into your eyeballs to diagnose cancer and the like.

  also selling herbs.. my comment and question is this: it seemed like in my congregation and the surrounding ones, alot of the sisters were into kineseology, reflexology, herbs, vitamins, color therapy, aroma therapy, etc.. alot of touchy feely hippie crap.

  while i personally agree that there needs to be more synergy with eastern and western medicines, it would appear reading the boards that alot of witnesses are into this sort of stuff.. is this your experience?

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  RunningMan

  I would like to make some additional comments on Alternative Medicine.

  First of all, just because something is natural does not mean that it is
  not effective, or powerful, or have serious side effects. Many medicines
  are derived from natural substances. Natural substances include things
  like penicillin, heroin, and poison ivy.

  However, most natural cures are unresearched (no one has done double
  blind studies to determine if they work and what they are good for). Most
  natural cures are unregulated (you don't know exactly what you are getting
  or if it is pure). And many natural cures make outlandish claims that can't
  possibly be true.

  For example, I know of some JW's who drink small quantities of diluted
  hydrogen peroxide. Apparently it is good for cancer, ulcers, allergies,
  asthma, and dozens of other things. Even if this substance is effective,
  it cannot possibly work on all of the things claimed.

  Then there are the completely goofy concepts, like ear candling. (You
  place a hollow beeswax candle in the ear of a person laying on their side.
  Then light the candle. It is supposed to draw toxins out of the head).
  I know two JW pratitioners of this stupidity.

  My other beef with natural medicines is the quality of the practitioners.
  My wife took my son to a naturopath for iridology and live blood analysis
  a few years ago. This person is well known and has clients who travel
  from all over the continent for his services. He diagnosed my son with
  fungus, yeast, and blood parasites, and prescribed some herbs and
  laxatives.

  We have recently found out (through surgery) that my son has Crohn's
  Disease. The Naturopath's diagnosis (which incidentally, was confirmed
  by a second Naturopath), was not only completely wrong, but his solution
  was probably the worst thing that we could have done. Another year
  of natural treatment and he would have been dead.

  Now I am going to really inflame some people:

  Natural medicine practitioners are in the same category as Astrologers
  and Palm Readers. If they get the right answer, it is either by accident
  or clues obtained from the patient (victim). Their cures may work
  occasionally, but thier incidence of success is no better than opening
  a medical book at random and taking the medicine on that page.

  I know these statements are inflamatory, but after decades of being a JW,
  I can no longer let untruths go uncontested.

  I will now sit back and wait for the onslaught.
• 
  68

  JW's & alternative medicine

  by slipnslidemaster in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in one of the threads i read today, they were talking about looking into your eyeballs to diagnose cancer and the like.

  also selling herbs.. my comment and question is this: it seemed like in my congregation and the surrounding ones, alot of the sisters were into kineseology, reflexology, herbs, vitamins, color therapy, aroma therapy, etc.. alot of touchy feely hippie crap.

  while i personally agree that there needs to be more synergy with eastern and western medicines, it would appear reading the boards that alot of witnesses are into this sort of stuff.. is this your experience?

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• 

  RunningMan

  I agree that there is a disproportionate number of JW's who are involved in
  these marginal medical practices. It seems like everyone I know is into something,
  for example: iridology, live blood analysis, ear candling, herbs, vitamins, etc.

  JW's are particularly susceptible to these scams for several reasons:

  1. They are uneducated, thus lacking the knowledge to refute these
  simplistic ideas.

  2. They are gullible, accustomed to accepting ridiculous ideas without
  adequate evidence.

  3. They have an ingrained mistrust of the medical establishment, so
  they naturally look to alternative healers.

  4. They have little or no critical thinking ability, caused by years of
  rote memorization from the Watchtower.

  Many of these medical treatments are nothing more than superstition,
  thinly masked as science - which, when you consider it, is exactly
  the same as their religion.
• 
  10

  JW Football Player

  by RunningMan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the other day i was browsing in my local paper, and was greeted by.

  the following article:.

  http://www.leaderpost.com/cgi-bin/liveique.acgi$rec=3637?sports.

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  RunningMan

  The other day I was browsing in my local paper, and was greeted by
  the following article:

  http://www.leaderpost.com/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=3637?sports

  If anyone out there is a fan of Canadian football, you might find this
  interesting. Apparently, you don't have to be smart to be a football
  player.
• 
  35

  Kingdom SMELLodies

  by reagan_oconnor in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  which "kingdom melodies" did you most despise?.

  mine had to be #125... the one that talked about "bees that were molested.

  " [8>]

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  RunningMan

  I always thought that "Be Longsuffering" was the most appropriate song to begin
  either a meeting or an assembly. Talk about foreshadowing the next few hours.
• 
  29

  Things That NEVER Made Sense To Me:

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  even when i was a dyed in the wool jw, there were a few things that never made any sense whatsoever to me.

  like most dubs, i glossed over them, here's my top 3 doubts during my period of dubdom, doubts that were never resolved:.

  "all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching".

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  RunningMan

  Actually, the entire point of the Bible never made sense to me. Consider this:

  Adam and Eve eat a piece of fruit. This is a sin about as serious
  as a parking ticket. The result is that approximately 25 Billion people
  have subsequently died.

  If this isn't ludicrous enough, consider the solution to the problem: An
  innocent man must be murdered to fix things up.

  On what planet does does a murder make things better - especially
  a murder of a good person.