Posts by Jehalapeno

31

Don Adams has passed away

by RubaDub in

jw
friends

i received a call from a friend in new york city that don adams passed away late last evening (30 dec 2019).

many of you bethelites know him and he was the president of the society for a number of years after the gb got out of the corporate structure business.

from what i understand, he was generally liked by many there.. some in my family knew him.

Jehalapeno

I met and interacted with both Don and Joel. Joel definitely was the sourpuss.

Don was super nice, though.

While I was at Patterson Bethel, I had a nervous breakdown and had to be in the infirmary for a week because I wasn't sleeping or eating and was having suicidal thoughts.

Don would eat breakfast with me every morning in the infirmary dining room. His wife had had a stroke and was up there until she passed away, so he ate breakfast, lunch and dinner up there with her.

He was probably the most pleasant Bethel heavy I met while I was up there.

I thought he had passed away YEARS ago. Maybe I'm mistaken. Maybe I'm remembering Karl instead of Don. It's been 20 years since I was at Bethel.

95

Greta Thunberg...what’s your view of her?

by minimus in

jw
friends

she certainly is passionate about climate change.

🤔.

Jehalapeno

Maybe her catchphrase is ringing true on here
You've stolen my childhood, how dare you!

I think that's why she rubs some of us the wrong way. We're like, "Oh sure, Jan. We stole your childhood? Call me when you were raised a JW."

95

Greta Thunberg...what’s your view of her?

by minimus in

jw
friends

she certainly is passionate about climate change.

🤔.

Jehalapeno

If this was a "crisis" and "emergency", would you take a break?

I get your point ,however ,
Apparently Jehovah`s Witnesses do that all of the time ,LOL

Yep...it's a cult!

31

The Holidays Are No Big Deal Anymore

by minimus in

jw
friends

you used to hear christmas music blaring on every radio station.

not anymore.

people used to jam the roadways and malls to do their christmas shopping and now it’s no big deal.

Jehalapeno

You used to hear Christmas music blaring on every radio station. Not anymore.

My guess: This is because of the free market. Radio stations used to mix Christmas music in with their regular programming. At some point in the last 20 years, someone got the brilliant idea to have 100% Christmas music on their station and it got all the listeners that were in the holiday spirit. So other stations decided to cater to the other side of the market who were burned out on Christmas music.

People used to jam the roadways and malls to do their Christmas shopping and now it’s no big deal.

This one's easy: technology. Amazon and ecommerce with faster shipping times has fixed the Chrismas rush.

People used to have huge XMAS lists for gift giving. Not so much now.

I don't know about this one, man. Gonna need to see some evidence for that. If it is true, maybe it's because people are more wary of going deep into debt than we were in the past before the recession of 2008.

Saying Merry Christmas is politically incorrect. Christmas is no big deal anymore.

Saying Merry Christmas is only politically incorrect to a small number of people. Most people I know say Merry Christmas. And companies like mine that include about 20% of individuals with a Jewish tradition say Happy Holidays to include our Jewish friends in our festivities. It's not about being politically correct. It's about wanting everyone to have a part in the annual traditions our company has fun with.

95

Greta Thunberg...what’s your view of her?

by minimus in

jw
friends

she certainly is passionate about climate change.

🤔.

Jehalapeno

If this was a "crisis" and "emergency", would you take a break?

95

Greta Thunberg...what’s your view of her?

by minimus in

jw
friends

she certainly is passionate about climate change.

🤔.

Jehalapeno

Being vocal about the deterioration of the planet's environment isn't important ?
Even if the polluting effects by mankind in the last century hasn't caused global warming should we not watch and control what we are doing to the planet in regards to polluting the environment .
Environmental awareness and protection is important to us because we are part of the environment are we not ?

It's not what you say, it's how you say it.

I consider myself an environmentalist and conservationist. I try to teach my kids to live sustainably and lead by example.

The issue people have with Greta isn't that they hate the environment, it's that they don't like being told "How Dare You?" for not agreeing with the alarmism side of the debate.

I feel she's done more harm than good for those that think we need to do better as a society. It makes the rest of us look like a bunch of loony tunes cult members.

My take on Global Cooling (70's)/Global Warming (80's & 90's)/Climate Change(00's)/Climate Crisis (2019) is not one of denial. My take is one of wanting more research to be done before making rash judgements and doomsday prophecies. I also want the discussion to be open and not a top-down cult where dissent is shouted down and skeptics are ostracized as apostates.

95

Greta Thunberg...what’s your view of her?

by minimus in

jw
friends

she certainly is passionate about climate change.

🤔.

Jehalapeno

Whoever she is, it sounds like she really needs to CHILL.

17

Disability Discontinued for Lifting Religious Pamphlets!

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

disability discontinued for lifting suitcase of pamphlets!.

https://www.businessinsurance.com/article/20191202/news08/912331976/disability-discontinued-for-man-caught-lifting-religious-pamphlets .

petra!

Jehalapeno

This guy is what Ayn Rand would call a "looter".

70

2034 - A Future History of Jehovah's Witnesses

by slimboyfat in

i don't know what i am talking about... read this post at your peril.

back in the 1960s there was, seemingly, a brief period of relaxation in authoritarianism among jehovah's witnesses.

those who have read raymond franz's 'crisis of conscience' will have heard the story about dan sydlik's remark about the need to 'open some windows to let some air in here'.

Jehalapeno

And it’s not specifically attributed to Sydlik. I don’t know if i misremember the Sydlik connection, or if it was attributed to him elsewhere.

Honestly, sounds like something Swingle would say, not Sydlik. I knew both of them before they died. Swingle stayed at my home multiple times. I interacted with Sydlik many times when I was in Bethel. Sydlik was more strict than Swingle, from my perspective.

The thing is, I left the org so long ago that I'm starting to lose some of these memories. I had a good Sydlik story at one point, but can't even remember it now.

27

Make Shunning A Hate Crime

by Lost in the fog in

the humanist organisation in the uk wants to protect non-religious people who leave their church/religion from being punished for doing so.

they want the religious hate crime legislation in the uk to be extended to people who are not religious.

i hope they will succeed.

Jehalapeno

S[h]unning violates the law of coercion.

No it doesn't. In Criminal Law (at least in the US) for duress/coercion to be considered a "crime", it must meet certain requirements, the first of which is "The threat must be of serious bodily harm or death."

The question is if you didn't have this rule and your own fear of being shunned......... would you still maintain some level of contact with the person who has left the JW construct?

This happens all the time outside of religion. A circle of friends may end up shunning a member of that circle because of some perceived wrong. Other members of that circle may fear associating with that shunned member because they themselves don't want to be ostracized by the others in the group.

Is this toxic behavior? Clearly. Should this be considered a "criminal offense" in a free society? Of course not. I reserve the right to shun people that behave this way.