Posts by Xanthippe

11

A World so different to the one I grew up in.

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

in the early 1950's i changed my life.

i started to study the bible with a jw.

big mistake!

Xanthippe

The Chinese government though suggests the real figure for extreme poverty in China may be about 50 million, and is conducting a current campaign to eliminate the last pockets of poverty in the nation

Thats good news, no one should have to live in poverty. However I have to say it's about time. The Chinese invented paper in the fifth century and gunpowder in the ninth century. I believe they also invented printing about five hundred years before Europe. Their insistence on isolating themselves from the rest of the world for centuries has been blamed for their previous lack of economic growth after being way ahead with scientific inventions.

24

Find Family Happiness ... NOT!

by jp1692 in

the other day my wife and i were in sonoma.

we were just walking around enjoying the pleasant afternoon in the quaint, old downtown area when i saw two jw women standing by their “witnessing cart.” .

normally, i just ignore them whenever i see jws standing by a cart, but i gotta admit it: this time it really bugged me because of the title on the cart: find family happiness.

Xanthippe

Good for you JP, reacting like a normal human being to a barefaced lie being paraded in the street to lure in innocent families.

76

In one sentence, can you pinpoint a single event that woke you up?

by Brian J in

my turning point: serving on a child abuse judicial case.

.

Xanthippe

When in 1989 the Berlin Wall was coming down and the words peace and security were plastered all over every newspaper but none of the JWs gave a damn we knew they only believed what the GB told them, they weren't interested in reality.

14

Why do (did) the majority of the general population see the JWS is a decisive fraud ?

by Finkelstein in

the jws /ibsa have been going door to door now for over 100 years in many lands and countries, with numerous pieces of supporting literature counting in the millions.. you would think after all of the publicizing that the jws faith would have grown leaps and bounds but to date the jws has only 8 million following adherents.. other christian based faiths have grown vastly more but never publicly proselytized their faith to the extent the jws have... my basic concise guess is that they see this organization as a bit of commercialized fraud, orchestrated by a religious publishing house namely the watchtower corporation, trying to get people to purchase and read the wts's literature.. and yes the wts did place a set price on its literature including yearly subscriptions.

was it just too obvious ?.

did the wts not think that many people who they called on were from even bigger and older established christian faiths but didn't say or preach what the wts was preaching in their apparent version of the gospel ?.

Xanthippe

We were friends with a nice couple in the congregation when we were first married. She was a JW, he wasn't. We had meals at their house quite a few times. He was very successful although I can't remember what he did. One time my husband asked him why he didn't come along with his wife and he said if you belong to a club you have to obey all the rules. I think a lot of people see it like that, good for them. I wish I'd listened to him

25

History of Salvations: Israelites and Judahites

by Doug Mason in

my material on the history of judaeo-christian salvations became unwieldy, so i divided it into 3 parts.. i have completely rewritten part 1, dealing with the israelites and judahites.

http://www.jwstudies.com/revolutions_part_1__israelite_judahite_salvations.pdf .

the url links to parts 2 and 3 are provided on its page 3.. i provide the complete bibliography at the end of part 3.. doug.

Xanthippe

Christian faith, the real one. Not the one passed down in my family by my great grandmother

Perry, the Reformation was all about finding the real faith, getting back to the Bible. Christian denominations have been asserting ever since we just have to find what the real faith is, get a better bible translation, pray for more Holy Spirit, find out what Jesus really meant and on and on. How many more years are we going to spend on this?

Loving your neighbor as yourself.
2. Turning the other cheek when possible
3. Loving (having empathy) for your enemies

Google The Golden Rule, Perry, these are not ideas that Christianity brought to the West. Confucius, Greek philosophers and even Zoroaster had these ideas.

10

Internet Search Engines And Some Of The First Things I Typed

by Brokeback Watchtower in

it was back in mid nineties 93,94 or 95 before it became what it is today.

anyway they had a bunch of search engines and the first thing i typed in it was jehovah witness, then jesus christ, next came lsd, magic mushrooms, nude pictures.

i think in that relative order.. i remember reading a different story about jws in germany during the nazi era, not anything like the 74 yearbook's depiction.

Xanthippe

The evangelical church played no part in my working out the cult was wrong.

You misunderstand me, I meant you needed more than still believing the bible was the word of God. You have said yourself that mistake kept you as a theist long after leaving the cult.

We left pre-internet and we found Bible encyclopaedias useful, particularly for the 607-1914 teaching. Also an interlinear of the Old and New Testament in one because it put such a different slant on familiar scriptures. The public library saved our lives, also it's where we found CoC.

10

Internet Search Engines And Some Of The First Things I Typed

by Brokeback Watchtower in

it was back in mid nineties 93,94 or 95 before it became what it is today.

anyway they had a bunch of search engines and the first thing i typed in it was jehovah witness, then jesus christ, next came lsd, magic mushrooms, nude pictures.

i think in that relative order.. i remember reading a different story about jws in germany during the nazi era, not anything like the 74 yearbook's depiction.

Xanthippe

I never went near any internet information about the cult until long after I had left.
All you need is the bible and some determination. -Cofty

Surely you said you went to an evangelical church for about ten years after leaving the cult? Perhaps you needed more than the Bible after all?

25

History of Salvations: Israelites and Judahites

by Doug Mason in

my material on the history of judaeo-christian salvations became unwieldy, so i divided it into 3 parts.. i have completely rewritten part 1, dealing with the israelites and judahites.

http://www.jwstudies.com/revolutions_part_1__israelite_judahite_salvations.pdf .

the url links to parts 2 and 3 are provided on its page 3.. i provide the complete bibliography at the end of part 3.. doug.

Xanthippe

Why would anyone create a Creator-God whom humbled himself, washed people’s feet, rode a donkey, allowed himself to be spit on, stripped naked, beat beyond recognition, & nailed to a tree until dead... for the express purpose of being displayed in utter humiliation?

So they could enslave the masses with the idea that excessive humility, obedience, submission to hardship, pain and suffering are good things. Don't let them forget their duties and offerings to the priests, clergy, monarch who's the divinely appointed head of the church.

Normal humans move away from pain and discomfort. They also move towardsomething perceived as beneficial. This is called motivation direction. One repels, one pulls.

Unless they have indoctrinated since childhood that suffering is good for their immortal soul. That self-sacrifice and giving until it hurts is good because look what Christ suffered for your sake. How can you give any less?

6

Animals Have Soul

by glenster in

awwrr see the video at the next link:https://www.facebook.com/animalshavesoul/videos/158795278097284/.

Xanthippe

I've seen this on Facebook Glenster, l love it. Especially the lioness jumping into the guy's arms. It just grieves me to see how intelligent and affectionate the chicken, turkey and goose are when I think of the terrible way we have treated poultry.

Even if we're going to eat them we should treat them well not stuff them in tiny cages where they can't move. Nevertheless it gives me hope that so may people do care about animal welfare now. Slowly but surely the world is growing up but it has taken so long!

17

Celebrations?

by Freedom rocks in

does anyone celebrate valentines day since leaving the borg?

and which other celebrations if any do you now take part in?.

Xanthippe

All of them, but only to the extent I want to. I let my daughter go to Halloween parties, she won a prize for her witch's costume at school. We always have a real tree at Christmas, presents and a special lunch, vegetarian for my girl, turkey for the rest of us. Birthday parties, firework displays on bonfire night. Easter eggs at Easter, chocoholics in our house but I like the cheap Cadbury ones with buttons in not those fancy expensive ones that taste weird.

My husband and I didn't do Valentine's more than once because the restaurants were all overcrowded and the food overpriced. We saved our money for our wedding anniversary in March.