Posts by Xanthippe

47

What are you up to this summer?

by Xanthippe in

jw
friends

i really enjoy hearing about other people's lives.

feeling a little lonely this evening so please tell me if you have plans for the summer months.

i may go to some outdoor theatre with my daughter who's home from uni; with a picnic and a bottle of wine.

Xanthippe

Well I decided to do it, yesterday I booked flights to Athens for myself and my daughter. I've been watching all the news about Greece, poor souls they are really struggling. Apparently it is safe to go there and they need the influx of cash, they don't want the tourists to stay away.

Actually I have wanted to visit Athens for nearly thirty years since I started studying about ancient Greece before I left the cult. So we're going. Yippee!

Anyone else have plans for this summer they want to share?

6

James Horner dies

by Xanthippe in

i'm shocked to hear that composer james horner has been killed in a plane crash aged 61. so many film scores, titanic, avatar, braveheart, field of dreams, aliens, cocoon, patriot games, bicentennial man, star trek iii: the search for spock, sneakers, batteries not included, the name of the rose and many, many more.

a genius who will be sadly missed.

he gave us so much beautiful music..

Xanthippe

Apparently he secretly wrote a music score for a remake of The Magnificent Seven before his death. Some people have such creative energy. I wish I knew how they did it.

http://screencrush.com/james-horner-magnificent-seven/

57

Shall I go to the meeting? Would you?

by KateWild in

hi guys,.

i might go to the meeting.

i stopped going in my heart properly in nov 2013, but i went to a couple of meetings to support a love one that was df'd and tried to teach them a little ttatt.. now another df'd loved one is coming to see me today and will likely encourage me to try and get ri'd, and i want to support her.

Xanthippe

Kate you strike me as a friendly, positive and likeable person. They would warm to you wherever you go. My advice would be to join a group that deserves you and not one whose affection is conditional on your beliefs.

20

Futility of being right

by JWdaughter in

so, on another thread, about pluto, grreat teacher said something that speaks to my feelings about religon.

"i've kinda been sad since pluto has been demoted to dwarf planet.. you talk about 9 planets and all the little kids at school will correct you real quick and tell you that now there are only 8 planets in the solar system!".

nothing in the universe has changed but the opinion of men.

Xanthippe

Leonardo da Vinci, artist, inventor and polymath wrote copious notes (many now reside at Windsor Castle for some strange reason). Among his ideas and sketches for inventions he wrote that everything has already been discovered, everything has already been done!

Which shocked me when you think of all we have discovered and invented since Leonardo's lifetime (1452 - 1519). I feel sure that one day we will look back at what we now know and howl with laughter at our present understanding of the world and the universe.

Edit: I actually have a great deal of affection for Leonardo because in my late twenties when I decided I was ignorant I thought I would start reading things that interested me. Art History was one of the subjects and Ancient Greece another. Soon after studying these subjects I reached my own crisis of conscience.

3

Very good article on Religious Trauma

by umbertoecho in

i have found this article and wonder if any here would like to read it.

it could help explain some of the depression and other associated emotional problems that are experienced by those who are leaving, have left, been dfd or had to fade................ .

http://www.babcp.com/review/rts-trauma-from-leaving-religion.aspx.

Xanthippe

Thank you Umbertoecho, I have seen this article before on here but it bears looking at again.

Problems with self-worth and fear of terrible punishment continue. Virtually all controlling religions teach fear about the evil in ‘the world’ and the danger of being alone without the group. Ordinary setbacks can cause panic attacks, especially when one feels like a small child in a very foreign world. Coming out of a sheltered, repressed environment can result in a lack of coping skills and personal maturity.

A lack of coping skills is true and especially as we were taught the world is full of evil people who want to harm us. I have met so many different types of people from very conservative types who enjoy working at management level in big organisations to people who love to make jewellery or paint fantasy landscapes. One artist friend likes to paint penis pictures. Freud would have a field day!

There are so many interesting people it is criminal to make us afraid of them. I look forward to meeting even more interesting people.

16

Article on the JWs in The Guardian

by scotsman in

jw
friends

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/jehovahs-witnesses-evangelism-church-god-armageddon.

poor jane schofield, she was rather fabulous..

Xanthippe

Is it just me or does this remind anyone else of how Ensign Chekov - on the classic Star Trek- would attribute every worthwhile invention and idea to Russia?

Yeah and Klingon General Chang in The Undiscovered Country claiming that you've not heard good Shakespeare until you've heard it in the original Klingon. They've been stealing ideas from other religions for years, like they took the Christian teaching of Redemption and called it the Ransom and said they invented it.

16

Article on the JWs in The Guardian

by scotsman in

jw
friends

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/14/jehovahs-witnesses-evangelism-church-god-armageddon.

poor jane schofield, she was rather fabulous..

Xanthippe

Great article thanks scotsman.

25

GB Not Providing Food-Helpers Write Articles

by TakeOffTheCrown in

why does the governing body depend on the helpers to write watchtower articles and the information in other publications?

why does the governing body not write these articles themselves?

they depend on the helpers to compose/write this information.

Xanthippe

If they are the Faithful and Discreet Slave, and they have been anointed to speak for Jehovah himself, they are the ones who should be doing the writing; not the helpers. The helpers, for the the most part, are not anointed. How would they know what information Jehovah may want to convey to be the truth?

Agreed, they supposedly have a hotline to God so they should be writing down His thoughts as he dictates to them. Over and over again we try and point this out to lurkers that the GB are claiming to be the spokesmen of God so everything they say should be accurate and unchanging.

If they are the channel then they alone know God's thoughts. On the other hand if they are just a publishing and real estate corporation then anyone can write the articles as long as they keep to the party line.

69

Thinking of Going Full Disclosure With Wife. Sorta

by freemindfade in

jw
friends

soliciting any and all opinions.

as some of you may know, wife is full in pioneer.

my fade has gone from us fighting.

Xanthippe

Speaking from my own and my husband's experience, we took about two years from leaving to becoming atheists. I think it's a stretch for her to go from finding you think the organisation is false to hearing you are an atheist in a matter of minutes, in one conversation. If she thinks you are not happy with the org but are still searching and still believe in god that might be easier to cope with.

22

Just a short observation on self inflicted misery.

by Human Being in

i used to post on this site a few years back but after moving on personally and being shunned by my only remaining family member for the last 4-5 years i the j.w's became just background noise to me.

yet yesterday something happened that brought back to me the degree of control this cult has over it's members.

a new wall mart recently opened in my little mountain town here in northern georgia, u.s. as i headed across the parking lot on my way into the store the heat was intense, wit a humidity factor of around 90%.

Xanthippe

I suppose if you're following a god who allows his son to be tortured to death to save mankind, doing things like exposing your elderly members to heat stroke is inevitable.