I sort of figure that all religions are cults, some are just bigger than others, some more controlling.
Hey, there are some hot JW girls out there, for sure. You haven't forgotten district conventions have you??
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Seeker4
JoinedPosts by Seeker4
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Are the Mormons a cult?
by JimmyPage inlooking at jw videos on youtube the mormons are also portrayed as a cult.
i know they have some unusual beliefs, but are they a cult?
and if so, are they as much a high control group as the jw's are?
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Seeker4
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Baby it's cold outside
by mrsjones5 init's snowing outside, i'm still in bed cuz i was told to stay there and wait for something special by my eight year old son and i'm listening to npr ( tom jones is being interviewed).
i wonder how long the snowing will last.
ok, that's the end of my mini ramble via ipod.
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Seeker4
Yo, Mrs Jones! My last name is Smith. When I look at your avatar I always think of the song, "Me..and...Mrs. Jones..."
Here in Vermont it is quite, quite cold. With wind chill, around 0 in some places. Tonight, I have the wood furnace blazing and the house is warmer than when we're burning oil. My son just came by, cold as hell, having been up in the woods deer hunting here behind where I live. Yeah, baby, this is being connected to your space and time and geography. Heating yourself with the wood that grows here, eating the meat of the animals that live here. Cynegetic man, for sure!!
I have learned to embrace the cold. Dress warm in thermal underwear and layers of fleece, wool, Carharts and pac boots, step outside and let the cold embrace you like a lover. Do what has to be done, then it's inside, cuddled under a down blanket with your partner, fireplace, woodstove or electric heater filling the space with warmth, a great scotch or Irish whiskey or wine in the glass, good comfort food, laughter, explosive, wet and hot sex, funny or sad or exciting or romantic movies on the DVD player, your favorite music on the CD player, candles and incense against the 4:30 darkness.
December and the Solstice is the most magical time of the year for me. Knowing that, where I live, if you stepped outside ill-prepared you could die in short order, makes life all the more amazing. We made love this past Saturday night/Sunday morning more than most people do in a year. Hell, more than some people do in a lifetime.
Embrace the winter, and make love to that handsome man of yours so he'll be warm for a week just thinking about it! You'll never dread winter again....
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Seeker4
Whoa, man. You have my deepest concern, sympathy and compassion. I've respected your work here on JWD for a long time.
I'm not sure exactly what you feel and believe about your loss, beyond the obvious immediate pain and sadness, but I do hope that you find a center and a sense of understanding and peace about this. Feel free to PM me if you feel that in any way I can be of some small help. I'd be glad to talk with you if you think it might help in any way.
God, death is just simply so hard and sad to deal with, despite how much we think we are prepared. I weep for you, my brother.
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JW's and higher standards
by besty inin a recent conversation i had with a nominal jw they were literally lost for words when i put it to them that i had higher standards now that i was no longer a jw.... 1 - i don't agree with letting babies and children die for want of a banned blood fraction.
2 - i don't agree with taking from but not donating to the blood supply.
3 - i don't agree with religious discrimination aka jw shunning.
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Seeker4
Terrific conversation, and dead on.
I still love my ex-wife JW in so many ways, but she is so more negative about people, especially those who are still JWs, than I am, and her condemnation of non-JWs is even harsher.
It is an interesting perspective to live your life as though you are superior to everyone else in every way, while reality says that that is not so.
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Ex-Elders & MS's Outweigh Current Ones
by minimus in.....in amount, i believe.
i think there are more former elders and servants than there are current.
if you look in a hall, it's not uncommon to see 5 ex elders just going to the meetings, doing whatever little they can do.
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Seeker4
I'm not sure of the status of my old congregation. The most effective elder I worked with stepped down years ago to get his Masters Degree in Psychology and today gives seminars around the world on neurofeedback therapy, and has published a book on the subject. His wife practices reflexology.
He and I had many, many discussions, and I know that he disagrees with many of the WTS's teachings. He knew that the Society's stand on hypno-therapy was completely full of shit, and he came up to me in disgust at one circuit assembly because a brother had spoken in his talk with the usual JW certainty about how "6 billion people will soon be destroyed."
Yet he and his wife remain active JWs.
I know of several former MS and a few elders in the congregation, some who remain members. My most recent elder friend to step down actually now posts here on JWD. He's still an active Witness, mainly due to his wife. I'm sure he knows it's only a matter of time, as he no longer believes. It's just a matter of sorting things out and letting some time take its course.
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Questions about A.H. Macmillan
by Junction-Guy inwow, i was just reading the online section of my old hometown newspaper.
they have a section about famous and contoversial people who are either from that town or who visited it.
there were several people mentioned in that column that were ministers and that the town hosted the national conference of free will baptists back in 1941.. .
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Seeker4
I've read, and still have a copy of Faith on the March, somewhere.
I'm fairly certain that the book was vanity published, at least at first, with funding assistance from the WTS. Decades ago I got some literature from a self-publshing "vanity" press, and they used Faith on the March as sort of the poster child for self-publishing success. It may later have been picked up by Prentice Hall, which is not unusual for a successful vanity press release.
As has been mentioned, public speaking tours were a big thing in the early years of the WTS, and MacMillian was one of the favorites. I have a vague memory of having met him shortly before his death, but not positive about that.
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Questions about A.H. Macmillan
by Junction-Guy inwow, i was just reading the online section of my old hometown newspaper.
they have a section about famous and contoversial people who are either from that town or who visited it.
there were several people mentioned in that column that were ministers and that the town hosted the national conference of free will baptists back in 1941.. .
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Seeker4
I've read, and still have a copy of Faith on the March, somewhere.
I'm fairly certain that the book was vanity published, at least at first, with funding assistance from the WTS. Decades ago I got some literature from a self-publshing "vanity" press, and they used Faith on the March as sort of the poster child for self-publishing success. It may later have been picked up by Prentice Hall, which is not unusual for a successful vanity press release.
As has been mentioned, public speaking tours were a big thing in the early years of the WTS, and MacMillian was one of the favorites. I have a vague memory of having met him shortly before his death, but not positive about that.
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"Scams" on Oprah Today - Insight on Why People Still Become JWs
by Seeker4 inoprah today had a program on scams, things like the mega-millionaire stuck in nigeria that needs your bank account numbers to get his money out of the country, and for that he'll split the millions with you; you've just won the australian, irish etc lottery, just send money to pay the taxes, etc.
those kinds of things.. well, everyday people are still falling for that stuff.
there are some tremendously gullible folks around who won't take a few minutes to research the authenticity of these too-good-to-be-true scams on the internet.. and for these same reasons, people are still becoming jws.
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Seeker4
Hubert,
Only a half million?
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"Scams" on Oprah Today - Insight on Why People Still Become JWs
by Seeker4 inoprah today had a program on scams, things like the mega-millionaire stuck in nigeria that needs your bank account numbers to get his money out of the country, and for that he'll split the millions with you; you've just won the australian, irish etc lottery, just send money to pay the taxes, etc.
those kinds of things.. well, everyday people are still falling for that stuff.
there are some tremendously gullible folks around who won't take a few minutes to research the authenticity of these too-good-to-be-true scams on the internet.. and for these same reasons, people are still becoming jws.
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Seeker4
Oprah today had a program on scams, things like the mega-millionaire stuck in Nigeria that needs your bank account numbers to get his money out of the country, and for that he'll split the millions with you; you've just won the Australian, Irish etc lottery, just send money to pay the taxes, etc. Those kinds of things.
Well, everyday people are still falling for that stuff. There are some tremendously gullible folks around who won't take a few minutes to research the authenticity of these too-good-to-be-true scams on the Internet.
And for these same reasons, people are still becoming JWs.
I must say though, that there was one great scam on their. To people who've already been scammed into sending money to Nigeria, they get an official looking letter, as though from the Nigerian government, apologizing for their being scammed, and sending them a million dollar payment to offset their loss - with a little fee attached, of course.
Now that's a ballsy scam!
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Six Screens comments on controversial conference call
by kool aid man06 inwithout question, the ravyn guiliani interview on the six screens conference call created lots of controversy.
ravyn's experience with sra (satanic ritual abuse) was instantly rejected by so many.
it was as though people pre-judicated her story before she had a chance to tell it.
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Seeker4
Gill, I knew you were being a wise-arse to Min! But I don't think Min was really saying what you're implying. Revealing hidden, negative facts is one thing, simply acting like a quack is quite another.
And the Freddie and the Ouija board story is totally new to me. Care to expand with some facts, or just keep shooting from the hip here to see if maybe you actually hit on target for once?
It's throwing out stuff like that, or the "NWT was translated using spiritism" nonsense, that is counter-productive. It's these sort of quasi-truths or outright falsehoods that give JWs the ammo to just label all anti-WTS info as lies. I think that's also the point Min was getting at.
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