Hello. I was never a JDubb, only a Bible student. There are two main questions I have. Let me preface that by saying that I do not believe the Bible is true, or the Word of God. I don't identify as an atheist, but sway more toward agnosticism (I know that I don't know a lot). I really like reading and listening to ex JDubbs because there is a lot of insight into post-JW-doctrine that can only be had by people who have been forced to study the Bible so much and who had the courage to come out of this authoritarian group.
First question is about "eating blood." This is what I think the "real" meaning is. The real meaning is not that a blood transfusion is the equivalent of "eating blood." The real meaning of "eating blood" is the Orthodox Jewish people are required to only eat Kosher meat. One method of making meat Kosher is letting it sit in Kosher salt and draining the blood. See link below. Any other interpretation than this obvious interpretation is just crazy to me! Can anyone argue this understanding that eating blood simply refers to Kosher meat? From article below: "Jewish law prohibits the consumption of the lifeblood of the animal." (See soaking, salting and labeling section in article below).
Making Kosher Meat - Grow & Behold (growandbehold.com)
The second question I have is, since everyone except Noah and his family was supposedly wiped out by the flood, didn't that wipe out all the people contaminated with Adam & Eve's sin? If so, how did all the wickedness start happening again? Why did Jesus have to come as a ransom for Adam & Eve's sin if everyone was killed in the flood? None of this makes any sense to me at all, so this is just one of many reasons I never became a JDubb. Incidentally, not all animals are considered "kosher." Does the Bible say anything about Noah saving kosher animals only? If so, why not? If anyone has any insight into these issues I would like to hear them. My understanding is that the Jewish Rabbis who wrote the OT envisioned a world where only Jewish people who followed the OT prescriptions would be "saved." And no, I don't believe the holocaust was "God's punishment" for "disobedience. Thanks.
Marbles
JoinedPosts by Marbles
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Blood Transfusions & Flood, Questions from Bible student only
by Marbles ini was never a jdubb, only a bible student.
there are two main questions i have.
let me preface that by saying that i do not believe the bible is true, or the word of god.
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Marbles
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Governing body member has nervous breakdown due to bethel workload
by Witness 007 inkarl klien life story from the watchtower.. "president rutherford had repeated occasions to reprove me for breaking some rule.
(under president knorr 1950) brother knorr invited me to join the writing department...when i told him it did not matter where i served he reproved me..saying when an added privilege is offered we should be eager to accept it...my attitude was due to my health which has always been a problem.
knorr was older we were like brothers with the older brother knorr prone to expressing inpatients to my short comings.
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Marbles
@SlimBoyFat, I am reading the link you posted with the mention of Erich Fromm, thanks. I am one third through it. I believe the link you posted is not his book, though, which is titled Escape From Freedom. The reference to Fromm in your article is from a monograph he published titled, "The Fear of Freedom." The monograph has a slightly different thesis than the one I mentioned. In the monograph he says that people find "freedom" in totalitarianism because it "frees" them from the fear of ambiguity in secular democracies. People find "liberation" in obeying a dictator because they find security in absolutes, and insecurity in the ambiguities of democracy. From the Fromm discussion in your article, one would almost think the entire Watchtower Dogma was set up exactly to create security in totalitarianism versus insecurity in democracy.
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Watchtower publication says in Paradise we will fly around like Superman!!
by Witness 007 ingolden age aug 25th 1926 p.751 "negative gravitation...you may have wondered how accidents will be avoided in christ's kingdom, since we are told nothing will hurt or destroy.
scientist tell us there is enough atomic energy in one finger nail to propell a battleship.
the people of the future may carry some of this power with them.
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Marbles
"isaiah 40:31 promises that humans will rise with wings like eagles, soaring on slopes and thermals."
Oh JOY!
But what does Isaiah say about plane crashes? *crickets* -
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It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Marbles
There are a few different reddit threads. I am not sure which one lececiafox is a mod for and I just don't feel like going back to reddit to look. This is NOT the first time I have seen reddit support "the bad guy" and censor any criticism. I used to participate on family annihilator Chris Watts reddit discussion groups. There was a reddit group of CW defenders and no one was allowed to criticize them AT ALL. We were told it would cause a "sub war." So the CW discussion group was limited to relatively vanilla comments about the case instead of being allowed to confront his "supporters." I have to assume reddit "ranks" the posters- and if you have published a book like LE has, and are trying to promote your channel and business on reddit like he is, then he has higher rank and can shut down the discussion.
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How many of you remember the "Pioneer Shuffle " and the special "time reporting" of pioneers?
by Foolednomore ini started pioneering in my late teens an remember how slow pioneers would walk to the doors while out in circus.
also, they would not really talk to anybody at all.
they would start their time as soon as they got dressed an out the door, while us regular shucks started our time at the first door we knocked at.
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Marbles
Fooled No More- he's the "neighborhood millionaire." His yard is just over grown with weeds and brambles. All the heavy equipment is stored in a massive warehouse that only a millionaire could afford- same with the heavy equipment in there, I am sure. So the heavy equipment isn't the eye sore, although the warehouse is inappropriate for a forest landscape. What is really an eyesore is that this dude who believes men were given dominion over the earth, and that the dominion will one day reach the level of giving them the freedom to create a paradise on earth, has an over grown mess of sweet peas and black berries and fallen branches and un-raked leaves piling up everywhere. I guess he can't start cleaning up his yard until God kills off all his neighbors. It all just reinforces my idea that the JWs are nothing more than a corporate land developing and construction company.
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Governing body member has nervous breakdown due to bethel workload
by Witness 007 inkarl klien life story from the watchtower.. "president rutherford had repeated occasions to reprove me for breaking some rule.
(under president knorr 1950) brother knorr invited me to join the writing department...when i told him it did not matter where i served he reproved me..saying when an added privilege is offered we should be eager to accept it...my attitude was due to my health which has always been a problem.
knorr was older we were like brothers with the older brother knorr prone to expressing inpatients to my short comings.
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Marbles
It sounds like you were used by the elders to "prove" that Geehovah really does take care of the widows and orphans.
On a different note, I've said it more than once here and there- religion attracts pervs because it is sexual fantasy, and nothing more than making a religion out of eroticism, imo. After hassling with the opposite sex so many times over so many years I have lost all desire for them, and rarely even talk to them, to be quite honest. It's hard to see eye to eye with someone who is looking up your skirt with his "third eye." Sexual abuse comes in many forms, not limited to CSA. Sexual harassment on a constant basis is pretty distressing. Weirdly, if it was them being sexually harassed, they would probably actually like it, because "sex makes men happy" and we have the pursuit of happiness as a top priority. -
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It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Marbles
One of the reddit mods (where Kim Silivio's original post was removed within about an hour) used to mod for LE's channel. I saw the name of this mod come up in a live stream chat from 2-3 years ago, actually. The name of that mod is something like lececiafox.
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Governing body member has nervous breakdown due to bethel workload
by Witness 007 inkarl klien life story from the watchtower.. "president rutherford had repeated occasions to reprove me for breaking some rule.
(under president knorr 1950) brother knorr invited me to join the writing department...when i told him it did not matter where i served he reproved me..saying when an added privilege is offered we should be eager to accept it...my attitude was due to my health which has always been a problem.
knorr was older we were like brothers with the older brother knorr prone to expressing inpatients to my short comings.
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Marbles
I'm a woman, and I was never a JW, only a Bible student. I started studying when I was getting divorced, hoping I could find some love in the Bible I guess. Definitely not.
However, having a neutral name and an anonymous avatar seems to elicit "respectful responses as though taking to a fellow man" by default, and positively identifying as a woman can invite, scorn, discrimination, disrespect, and being a target of oppression in general, by default. -
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It's been a long 9 years Lloyd Evans / John Cedars
by Newly Enlightened inoriginal reddit post (removed).
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Marbles
His update on the "bullying campaign" proves that he is truly clueless. He has no idea what his duty of care is to his family, none whatsoever. His "addiction to prostitutes and porn" have him in a complete state of oblivion to the concerns of others. His family will suffer the burdens of taking care of daily life while he continues to preach about it being no one's business. Honestly, I have seen Christopher Hitchens take a few steps down this path defending porn, but I think LE will search hard to find any published victory by Hitchens on this topic, and I am sure Lloyd is looking hard for it. Sorry Llloyd, Hitchens didn't get that far, to my knowledge. I know he is your idol and all, and you want to be like him, but I have never seen a thesis on porn published by Hitchens that you can adopt as a defense.
People who go public on YT, or any media, are pretty brave. But public scandals usually result in the person stepping out of the public life, sometimes for quite awhile. Where is Charlie Sheen, for example? I haven't seen him around much. -
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Governing body member has nervous breakdown due to bethel workload
by Witness 007 inkarl klien life story from the watchtower.. "president rutherford had repeated occasions to reprove me for breaking some rule.
(under president knorr 1950) brother knorr invited me to join the writing department...when i told him it did not matter where i served he reproved me..saying when an added privilege is offered we should be eager to accept it...my attitude was due to my health which has always been a problem.
knorr was older we were like brothers with the older brother knorr prone to expressing inpatients to my short comings.
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Marbles
Here's the thing- the thesis of Erich Fromm's book "Escape From Freedom" is that when people either cannot, or will not, think for themselves, they seek to obey a dictator, or a dictator organization such as the JDubbs.
And thinking for ourselves can in fact be very hard to do when we don't have adequate information to help us make the right choices, or at least easier choices. No, many times life is not easy, that is why people just want someone else to make decisions for them.
But I also don't agree with political polarization, like Republicans are dictators and Democrats are free thinkers. Polarizations like this surely make balanced decision making harder.