Scully

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Posts by Scully

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  11

  The Effects of Sexual Abstinence Before Marriage

  by cofty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  very interesting article on the psychology of sexual abstinence and the effects it can have on sex life after marriage.

  it focusses on an evangelical group for single men called "the river" but the attitudes will be familiar to born-in jws.. ___________________________.

  ..respondents had been told, since they were young, that women were nonsexual.

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  Scully

  If a belief system can compel you to supress natural sexual drives, it can control every aspect of your life.

  The problem with creating an artificial boundary "sex is reserved for people married to one another only" is that unmarried people - virgins - have this expectation that sex will be plentiful with a spouse, because it was completely absent prior to marriage. As well, it places pressure on people to marry too soon - not wanting to fall prey to sexual desire - and the couple might well be miserable because they really weren't that good of a match after all.

  It also allows for false value to be attributed to the virginal state, comparing it to a new, never used "something" (car, house, etc.). The first sexual experience can be scary and traumatic and disappointing - it gets better with experience, of course - but good sexual experience should be compared to a diamond or precious metal that doesn't lose its value over time, rather than being something worthless and shameful.

  My 2¢, YMMV.
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  17

  I have 5 Audible credits I need to use up. Recommendations?

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  something to make me think or laugh.

  i've done the hitchens, dawkins, harris thing and as much as i rate them i'd like to move off at a tangent .

  always enjoy philosophy or even something with a theological bent.. i'm coming to the end of heretic by ayaan hirsi ali and can thoroughly recommend it.. c'mon guys, don't let me down .

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  Scully

  I really enjoyed

  "A Manual for Creating Atheists" by Peter Boghossian

  "The God Virus" by Darrel Ray

  "Zealot" by Reza Aslan

  "The Better Angels of Our Nature" and "The Blank Slate" by Steven Pinker

  "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

  "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris
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  27

  This takes the cake

  by Sour Grapes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  today during the public talk the speaker said that satan was behind the new modern phones, which are like mini computers, so that the world would have easy access to pornography..

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  Scully

  And yet, those same devices are encouraged to be used at the Meetings™ to follow along on jw.org
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  14

  "Sorry, sister; but the CO said he isn't going to visit anyone durind the Special Week."

  by Tempest in a Teacup in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  third post about the big disappointments that woke me up.

  i'm writing them in no particular order.

  these episodes made me bitter when they happened.

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  Scully

  We used to make a point of having the CO & wife come over for lunch during their Congregation™ visits.

  It all stopped when it was arranged for them to come, and an hour after the scheduled visit, they still hadn't arrived. Table set, food ready (okay, it was soup and a platter of various meats and cheeses for sandwiches, etc.), apartment spotless - and then he calls and said they'd been invited out to a restaurant, so they went there instead. No apology for bailing on us or making us wait. He asked if we could reschedule for the following day. I said that I had already made other plans for the next day. He made a snarky remark about that, to the effect that my priorities were out of order, and I replied that I could easily say the same about him, and hung up on him.

  Even when we were asked after that to host the CO, I always declined and never, ever volunteered for that Privilege™ again.
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  39

  Horrible Bosses

  by John Aquila in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i just heard this a few minutes ago by a jw friend who is still an elder in my old hall.

  the kingdom hall i used to attend and my mom still attends was paid off many years ago and serves about 6 congregations.

  one of the english congregations has a lot of financially well of members.

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  Scully

  As in any Dom-Sub relationship, the Submissive is actually the one in charge. They are the ones who decides how far the Dominant can go, and when the Dominant must stop.

  That's why, when the CO (part of the Dominant echelon) had a $h!t-fit over the Congregation™ having $70K saved up that WTS didn't know about and went up the chain of command to get orders to turn all that money over to WTS, the Submissive part of the relationship closed their wallets.

  The WTS is just getting a well-deserved reminder of who is the boss in the relationship, and it ain't them.... it's the people whose wallets they wish to empty... and those folks ain't playin' anymore.
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  166

  Mobile Hotspot - JWFACTS.COM - Assembly & Conventions

  by thedepressedsoul in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here is an idea i tested.

  works at both assemblies and conventions.

  i have noticed at the last convention and at my last assembly that when i opened up my wifi setting, tons of hotspots came up for people tethering their tablets to their smart phones.

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  Scully

  Some wi-fi hotspot names....

  StayAliveTill75

  JW-WomenR2ndClassCitizens

  Education Is The Key to Freedom

  Romans14:5 (One man judges one day as above another; another judges one day the same as all others; let each one be fully convinced in his own mind. - Give them something to ponder over birthdays and holidays...)
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  101

  My mom passed away yesterday....

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  thank you all for your sincere encouragement during these last few weeks.

  finally, she is at peace.

  i was with her , holding her hand when she died.

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  Scully

  So sorry for your loss, Minimus...
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  120

  The right to shun - wrong?

  by Simon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  many people are understandably upset and angry at the notion that jws have the right to shun people.

  it seems such an obvious "no brainer" cruel and inhuman thing to do - it must be wrong ... surely?.

  of course we look at things from the perspective of those hurt and harmed by shunning.

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  Scully

  We all shun people.

  The crazy neighbour that makes shooting gestures at your dog? Shunned. Avoided.

  Your spouse's ex? The one that still gives him grief even though you've been together for years? Shunned.

  Telling people that they cannot shun anyone for any reason would be completely unhealthy. We have the instinct to shun and avoid people - even if we cannot rationally say why we feel we should - as a safety measure. We should be allowed and encouraged to set up healthy boundaries in all relationships we have, whether they are superficial, deep or somewhere in between. People have to learn to respect healthy boundaries.

  What groups like the WTS does is remove the right of its members to exercise healthy boundaries, and interfere with the natural boundary setting mechanism in order to create artificial boundaries that are implemented to protect the survival of the group, not the individual.

  Why else would parents ignore the natural desire to save their child's life by all means necessary? Why else would people put their financial best interests aside, and instead donate their inheritance to the WTS? Why else would someone ignore their Spidey-sense about someone else, only to later learn that they've trusted their children to the care of a molester?

  Frankly, there are people who deserve to be shunned and people I don't want in my life. I certainly would not want the government or a court to tell me that I have to associate with these people and damn well like it.

  Oh, and as far as child molesters go, I don't think they should be shunned. Rather, they should have the words "CHILD MOLESTER" tattooed on their forehead, and then be allowed to circulate freely among a prison's general population. Survival of the fittest and all that.
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  138

  My Mother Died Two Weeks Ago

  by Perry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  none of my jehovah's witness relatives called to tell me or my family.

  just found out this morning.

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  Scully

  Very sorry to hear this, Perry.

  I wish you'd had a chance to say a proper good-bye to your mother. What the JWs do is inexcusable.
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  53

  First thoughts on "new" meeting...

  by konceptual99 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  had a quick look at the workbook and flicked through the sample meeting video.. the increased use of video shows the trend for more centralised dissemination of "best practice" .

  sure there isn't really a "school" any more and the format is a bit different but i think those that called it as the same old crap just in new package got it pretty much right.

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  Scully

  You'd think they could give the guy a properly fitting suit. How distracting...

  He actually looks like he's trying to hide a bulging colostomy bag... which is an appropriate metaphor for this "new" Meeting™ format.