Xanthippe

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Posts by Xanthippe

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  52

  Have you ever gone back to a meeting out of curiosity?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just wondering if anyone has gone back to a meeting out of curiosity?

  (perhaps to an area far from your old khall where you know no one).

  with all the changes from 2012 onwards (videos, tv screens, new meeting format, new songs etc) it would be an odd experience to be in attendance!.

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  Xanthippe

  I'm becoming allergic to groupthink. I can't think of single reason to enter the "compound" again. - sparrowdown

  This ^^^^^^^^^
  
  
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  26

  Has the Governing Body EVER apologized for anything?

  by Wild_Thing in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  geoffrey jackson testified to the arc that the governing body has apologized for things in the past, so an apology to sexual abuse victims is "perceivable".

  what has the governing body ever apologized for?.

  22 q. just on that point, mr jackson, has the governing body23 considered apologising to survivors of child sexual abuse24 at the hands of elders within the organisation?25 a. i haven't been in any discussions with regard to that.26 27 q. is that something that you foresee might happen ‐ in 28 other words, that an apology at least be considered?29 a. the governing body has apologised on other matters, so30 for me to say ‐ i can't speak collectively for everybody, 31 but we have apologised on things in the past, in other32 areas, so it is perceivable.. .

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  Xanthippe

  They don't apologise, they blame it on the r+f. The r+f got it wrong about 1975, they 'misunderstood' the Watchtowers. Nobody stopped them selling their homes to pioneer did they! Nobody stopped them giving up their businesses to work on JW building projects. The end was just around the corner.

  Have you noticed that 'Millions now living will never die' had been quietly changed? JWs now think the title was 'Millions now living may never die'. This is a bare- faced lie. No apologies are forthcoming.
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  12

  "‘Alien’ manuscript from 15th-century decoded using AI"

  by glenster in

  1. social
  2. current

  voynich manuscript https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/voynich_manuscript.

  scientists have harnessed the power of artificialintelligence to unlock the secrets of an ancientmanuscript that has baffled experts.. discovered in the 19th century, the voynich manuscriptuses “alien” characters that have long puzzled crypto-graphers and historians.

  now, however, computingscientists at the university of alberta say they aredecoding the mysterious 15th-century text.. computing science professor greg kondrak and graduatestudent bradley hauer applied artificial intelligence tofind ambiguities in the text’s human language.. the first stage of the research was working out themanuscript’s language.

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  Xanthippe

  The sentence was "She made recommendations to the priest,
  man of the house and me and people.”

  'She'! Intriguing, I like this document already.
  
  
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  10

  Cart Witnessing at Library

  by M3tadata69 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello everyone, i live here in the states, and over the past summer and fall, i noticed that several times when i went to the public library there were witnesses sitting outside next to the door with their cart.

  usually a couple of old geezers just sitting there racking up field service time.

  my question is, do they have to get special permission from the city to do this?

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  Xanthippe

  The JWs leave their rags on the shelves of the library I work in and the Mornons sit and preach to their new converts at the tables. I bin the literature but nothing can be done apparently about the Mormons because people are allowed to sit and talk about whatever they like. I want to go up to them, usually students from oversees at the university, and tell them not to listen to the nonsense but I have to bite my tongue.
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  39

  a question after my first JW meeting

  by bleak in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i attended my first jw meeting recently.

  first, i would like to say what i agree with about the jehovah's witnesses beliefs and practices.. 1. they don't consider israeli's as "god's chosen people" and they don't worship israel as some holy land filled with righteous jews (although there are some there) as most so-called "christians" (christian zionists) erroneously believe they are instead of the "hypocrites" and "vipers" that it is actually filled with.. 2. they don't celebrate "holidays" like easter and christmas which are, in fact, remnants of earlier pagan practices.. 3. they don't put nation before god and christ.

  they don't believe in war or going to war because of some crazy government/cia secret agenda.

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  Xanthippe

  Hi Bleak, to answer your question they choose to see some Biblical verses as literal and some as figurative because it suits them. No pun intended! It helps them produce the teachings that bind people in a cult that is almost impossible to get out of once you've got your entire family mixed up in it.

  I would say if you can't stand the idea of being told what to wear you are going to hate being told who you can marry, what you can do in bed, what kind of jobs you can't do, what you must do on your weekends etc, etc.

  It makes sense to do your research online after visiting the Kingdom Hall. It seems to me you are far too much of an independent thinker to belong to this cult. Have you looked at JWfacts.com by the way? Some great argumentation on there by Paul Grundy who used to be very involved with the religion. Good luck with your research.
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  9

  Good books

  by Freedom rocks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  can any one recommend any good books to read that have come out in the last few years?

  i haven't read a good book in a long time and i'd like to get into reading again.

  i'm not into autobiographies or sports books.

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  Xanthippe

  I enjoyed new sci fi novels, Sleeping Giants and Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel.
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  35

  The Constant Mindchatter After You Leave

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i've been out almost 2 years now and consider myself wide awake to watchtower propaganda and well on my way to recovery from the mental abuse we've all experienced.. one thing that just will not go is that i constantly think of jwism and watchtower and get myself all annoyed at their lies and blatant twisting of facts in their broadcasts and magazines.

  it's so bad that it's the first thing i think of when i wake up, then i have these mental arguments in my head proving the jw teachings false and then getting annoyed because no jw will listen even if you tried to tell them.

  i call this constant thinking and mental reasoning and mental arguing "mindchatter".

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  Xanthippe

  Perhaps you need a break from this site? Stop talking about it at least for a while? The mind chatter about the Borg fades, really it does. I understand that in some ways we cannot get to the end of the traumatic experience because our relatives and friends won't listen and the cult still exists.

  I just worked on not being angry, getting qualifications and getting a job, a house and a life. There isn't any closure, I understand. Just work on making it fade and being busy enjoying your life.
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  8

  Barbara Harrison

  by Diogenesister in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  has anyone read barbara harrison's book "visions of glory" ( 1978), and if so what did you think?.

  apparently she is an exjw and feminist author, who used to write for ms magazine, who has a good reputation among scholars.

  i'm surprised i haven't heard of her given that she seems to be fairly respected as an author and political commentator.. anyone have anything they can tell me about her please?.

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  Xanthippe

  I haven't heard of her but I'd like to read her book.
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  6

  Self Exam for your Mind: Are you really "Free" from Watchtower mentality?

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  imagine a knock at the door.who is there?it is an optometrist offering free eye exams!come in--come in.within months, you're wearing a new pair of specially prescribed glasses...and seeing things differently.____.

  jehovah's witnesses wear "those" glasses.we all wore them.the lenses colored what we saw and the feedback from the governing body "explained" why things didn't look the same.

  "only now--are you seeing the truth," they whisper.. _____.

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  Xanthippe

  I love this Terry, thanks. Waking up and finding your life around your ankles! That is so expressive of what happened to my husband and myself.

  In the main my perceptions are pretty healthy now after about three decades out. Occasionally I find myself getting a little paranoid when people are being difficult.

  Paranoia I think is overkill of the survival instinct added to an overdose of cortisol from prolonged stress. As long as you can recognise it early you're okay. It doesn't mean the world is going to hell and everyone is a monster.
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  15

  This is my story

  by paradiseseeker in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i've already posted in this forum but i haven't told you my story.

  nowadays i'm a pimo in my late 20s from spain.. i was born in the cult and i can say that during my whole childhood and most of my teenage years i believed in this.

  however, i felt that here was something wrong with me, as i wasn't comfortable telling people i was jw, talking about jw stuff, nor did i feel "excited" and "grateful" whenever a watchtower publication told me that i should.

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  Xanthippe

  Paradiseseeker so good to read your success story. You have done so well getting your degree and now preparing to teach. My daughter got a bachelors and masters in English literature too and is currently working at a school as a teaching assistant to see if she wants to do teacher training.

  Wishing you well in your exams and as you begin your first teaching job. I'm sorry it's so hard losing family and friends as you leave this cult but you are a person who makes friends easily by the sound of it so you will be fine. Who knows if you leave one day your family and some of your JW friends may follow you.