I'll have an Irish Whiskey. My great grandmother was Irish. Cheers!
Xanthippe
JoinedPosts by Xanthippe
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35
New member + anyone attended/seen the Zone Visit?
by Isambard Crater ini'm a new member so wanted to say 'hi'.
i live in the u.k, was born in, fell away as an unbaptised publisher, got baptised in my 30s for reasons i'm retrospectively unsure of, and lost my faith about five years ago around the time of the original a.r.c.
now, being unable to leave is making me physically, emotionally and mentally ill.. i have been visiting this forum for a couple of years and wanted to post my first message to see if anyone has attended, heard or watched the zone visit broadcast thing happening this month?
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Xanthippe
Thank you Xanthippe !
It's pretty much my parents who I'm staying in for. They know how bad my mental and physical health is but just can't see that the religion is even 1% to blame. I know for sure it'd break their hearts if I left again, because it broke their hearts when I drifted away as an unbaptised publisher in my 20's.I do understand, I hated hurting my mum and my brother and sisters. It was the right thing to do for me. After five years of clinical depression in that religion I had to get away, It was crucial for my survival.
My daughter is 21 and whatever she decides to do in her life I will support her as long as it's not dangerous or illegal of course. Parents have to let their children grow up and live their own lives and if your parents do not acknowledge your boundaries then isn't the fault with them? I know this is hard but you need to think of your health. Take care.
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35
New member + anyone attended/seen the Zone Visit?
by Isambard Crater ini'm a new member so wanted to say 'hi'.
i live in the u.k, was born in, fell away as an unbaptised publisher, got baptised in my 30s for reasons i'm retrospectively unsure of, and lost my faith about five years ago around the time of the original a.r.c.
now, being unable to leave is making me physically, emotionally and mentally ill.. i have been visiting this forum for a couple of years and wanted to post my first message to see if anyone has attended, heard or watched the zone visit broadcast thing happening this month?
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Xanthippe
Hi and welcome IC. Good to know another one is awake. It sounds ideal for you to leave if your husband isn't a JW. If this is damaging your health, especially your mental health it sounds like you need to make plans to fade soon.
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16
At what point were you taught about disfellowshipping? What page in the current study book is it covered?
by jambon1 ineven thinking about born-ins here.
at what stage of your 'bible teaching' were you taught about the practice of disfellowshipping?.
reading john cedars book and the section about when the more crazy shit gets introduced to you is very telling.
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Xanthippe
I found out in my questions for baptism at 15. I got the question wrong. I said disfellowshipping was a punishment. The elder came back with the it's an act of love bullshit but I just couldn't see it. If I could I would tell my fifteen-year-old self, if something sounds like bullshit, it is. Trust yourself.
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74
Was/Is Religion Useful Even if it isn't True?
by cofty inin his book "the righteous mind" jonathan haidt proposes that religion served - and continues to serve an important role in bringing about cohesion within non-kin groups.. to put it very briefly haidt advocates a form of group selection but only insofar as it applies to humans.
our unique brains have made it possible for us to cooperate in groups in ways that are impossible for all non-human species.
despite their intelligence you will never see two chimps helping each other to carry the same log or one chimp pulling down a branch while the other removes the fruit.. his description is that humans are 90% chimp and 10% bee.
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Xanthippe
In A General Theory of Love by Thomas Lewis the author proposes that human brains are like open circuits that need to interact with other brains to feel psychologically whole. He calls talking to another person limbic looping.
He doesn't think you have to agree with that person or have something enormously in common with them as in a religious group but you just need to have a few of those interactions on a daily basis to be healthy. It suggests we may be evolving beyond group think.
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69
What food are you grateful for?
by punkofnice ini'll start: stilton cheese.. (it was a toss up between that and sweet pickled beetroot).. thank you folks..
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Xanthippe
Potatoes, raspberries, Parmesan cheese, Tiramisu, tomatoes, garlic,
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74
Was/Is Religion Useful Even if it isn't True?
by cofty inin his book "the righteous mind" jonathan haidt proposes that religion served - and continues to serve an important role in bringing about cohesion within non-kin groups.. to put it very briefly haidt advocates a form of group selection but only insofar as it applies to humans.
our unique brains have made it possible for us to cooperate in groups in ways that are impossible for all non-human species.
despite their intelligence you will never see two chimps helping each other to carry the same log or one chimp pulling down a branch while the other removes the fruit.. his description is that humans are 90% chimp and 10% bee.
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Xanthippe
If our brains are descended from ancestors whose brains tended towards groupish ritual that would explain a lot about our world.
Yes it would. Anglican funerals are a good example. It may be just high church but the vicar was dressed in bright green robes and walked in saying at the top of his voice 'I am the resurrection and the light'. I nearly jumped out of my skin because of course we didn't see him enter as all the pews faced the front. Then the whole church reciting the Lord's Prayer. Creepy!
I wonder what evolutionary blip has caused some of us to hate groupish ritual. Is it because we were raised JW with its lack of ritual or are people attracted to the new religions because they dislike group ritual. Personally I hated the Memorial, the only groupish ritual we had. Although I suppose you could class singing together as a group ritual. I quite enjoyed that especially at conventions. Now people join and sing in choirs without religion, I see them advertised on town notice boards. We still want to do things in groups even without religion.
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74
Was/Is Religion Useful Even if it isn't True?
by cofty inin his book "the righteous mind" jonathan haidt proposes that religion served - and continues to serve an important role in bringing about cohesion within non-kin groups.. to put it very briefly haidt advocates a form of group selection but only insofar as it applies to humans.
our unique brains have made it possible for us to cooperate in groups in ways that are impossible for all non-human species.
despite their intelligence you will never see two chimps helping each other to carry the same log or one chimp pulling down a branch while the other removes the fruit.. his description is that humans are 90% chimp and 10% bee.
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Xanthippe
When hunter-gatherers settled down and developed agriculture they were beset by the problems of all farmers, drought, floods, pests and animal diseases. Which explains why ancient peoples had a deity and ritual for everything in the agricultural life, gods for protection of crops, gods for appeasing the weather, gods to watch over their animals and harvest festivals to give thanks. Without science they were at the mercy of the climate and biological forces so they sought help from the supernatural.
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13
Way to make me look stupid . . .
by Coded Logic inwhen the arc made their recommendations to the society last year i genuinely thought we'd see some real changes.
oh sure, i expected a lot of feet dragging, double talk, and general nonsense - but at the end of the day i was certain the society would do what they legally had to and then run around claiming:.
) these new policies and procedures aren't really new we've always done them.
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Xanthippe
When I saw Jackson rippling with arrogance it confirmed to me that it's type of insanity these people have. They really believe God will protect them even if they refuse to comply with government directives and continue to harbour criminals within their organisation. Unfortunately once ordinary men have millions of dollars at their disposal and millions of people under their control they think they're indestructible.
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27
Talked to a JW at a literature stand today
by nevermind inguys,.
i need your help in trying to wrap my head around this strange experience i had today talking with a jw lady sitting at a literature table in a busy outdoor shopping center.. i'm a very shy person, but i always wanted to ask these jws at their literature stands questions to start them thinking about the validity of watchtower teaching.
i finally mustered my strength today to talk to this jw lady.
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Xanthippe
Hi and welcome nevermind. I think you did really well talking to this JW especially as a shy person. I have seen them in my town but I haven't walked up to them yet.
Venus started a thread about higher education and there's a link in it provided by Wifibandit showing a letter to bodies of elders. It included a section on higher education which makes it clear that if an elder pursues higher education or let's his children do so he can be removed from being an elder at the next circuit visit.
You have to realise that what they say in print and what everyone understands the GB to mean are two different things. Reading between the lines it's quite clear that although they state an elder might be able to go to college and still get to meetings, FS and be in good standing the suggestion is if he misses odd meetings, FS, or one person in the congregation says something negative about him, the elders can 'get' him. Pioneers, well they can be removed by the elders without consulting the CO if they go to college. I suppose they just have to miss a few meetings, they are in a different city after all, then the elders can 'get' them and take away their privileges.
You see this letter and those like it are not a liberal view of education but instructions in how to take privileges off people and hopefully get them to leave because they're getting too clever.
Perhaps the woman you met didn't have a husband in the religion or he may not have been an elder so they couldn't take his 'priviledge' away if his kids went to college. But I bet he never gets to be an elder.
As for 1914 it was heralded as the start of God's kingdom and paradise would come within one generation, 70 to 80 years. We preached that from door to door every day. Revisionist history now tells the congregations that didn't happen, I can assure you it did. But I agree with JWfacts it might not be this lady who's lying she may just be believing the lies the WTS put out. Recent converts don't have a clue what the organisation used to believe, they are not allowed to read old light.