Posts by Seeker4

6

Are Witnesses ''allowed'' to attend funeral of a known homosexual? Quotes?

by ThomasCovenant in

help needed as i can't access my wt cd rom.

is there anything in the society's literature to say that a 'brother' shouldn't attend the funeral of a person who was known to be homosexual.

if so could someone provide references/quotes.

Seeker4

I've never, ever heard anything like that.

S4

16

The Fastest Growing Church: Jehovahs Winesses

by TheOldHippie in

february 19, 2008the fastest growing church: jehovahs winesses ethics daily is reporting.

jehovahs witnesses are the fastest-growing church body in the u.s. and canada, now with more than 1 million members, according to new figures that track church membership in the u.s. and canada.

although jehovahs witnesses ranked 24th on the list of 25 largest churches, they reported the largest growth rate2.25 percentof all churches.

Seeker4

I'm sorry Mouthy, did you stumble or stub your toe?

Get some ice on that bump, dear lady!

S4

39

Theocratic Party

by Aleman in

today we have political parties from the republic and democratic sides trying to get your vote so they can get the presidency.

but, can you really trust them?

how secure are you to have a man or woman lead us to a secure and peaceful future?

I'm doing something similar. It's called the Santa Claus Party. He stays out of your hair most of the time, and the one time a year he does show up he's got presents! Maybe we should merge parties?

S4

28

How many DF'd and DA'd ex-JWs still believe it's the truth?

by Nellie in

i just got off the phone with my sister-in-law.

we don't talk regularly at all - but today the discussion turned to our beliefs.

she's da'd herself 15 years ago, but she is still filled with guilt over not being able to live up to the standards of the witnesses.

Seeker4

It is weird, but "I think a lot of inactive or ex-JW's still think it's MORE true than any other religion, or "closest to the Bible"" is true. My step father was out for 20 years and still told me that.

Lots of ex-JWs are totally ignorant of anything about the JWs except for what they were originally taught at the Hall. That's so sad. An hour researching JWs online could easily prevent a lifetime of guilt!

I think there is going to be less of that as more people who leave now are comfortable researching stuff online.

S4

16

The Fastest Growing Church: Jehovahs Winesses

by TheOldHippie in

february 19, 2008the fastest growing church: jehovahs winesses ethics daily is reporting.

jehovahs witnesses are the fastest-growing church body in the u.s. and canada, now with more than 1 million members, according to new figures that track church membership in the u.s. and canada.

although jehovahs witnesses ranked 24th on the list of 25 largest churches, they reported the largest growth rate2.25 percentof all churches.

Seeker4

These figures below are according to the new Yearbook.

US had 3% increase last year, Canada had 1%, for an average of 2% increase. So the 2.25% figure sounds quite reasonable.

The US had 37,243 baptized, (an average of 3 baptized per congregation over the course of a year - or 1 each at the CA, DC and Special day - all that sounds reasonable) but only a 32,106 increase, so 5,137 are missing in action.

Canada had 2,548 baptized, but an increase of only 1356 in publishers, so 1,192 went missing - essentially one person leaving for every two that were baptized.

The percentage of growth was up for the last service year. Earlier posts attributed that to being able to count as active publishers people putting in 15 minutes a month, and from growth among immigrant populations in Europe and the US.

S4

23

Have You Ever Heard of an Atheist Being Visited by a Demon?

by hamilcarr in

jw
friends

........ because i haven't.

Seeker4

It's shocking, but the moment you stop believing in demons, they just disappear!!

S4

15

Elders doing something they could be DF'ed for wile judging someone on JC?

by karter in

how can they clam to have the holy spirit?.

the jc that df'ed my brother one of the elders was screwing a married sister!.

i know of at least 2 cases of that.. one guy was po for many years turns out he had been screwing his own daughter since she was little.. .

Seeker4

There was a well-known and well-respected elder, Don Nicholson, in one of the NY state congregations (Warrensberg) in Vermont Circuit 1 years ago (around 1982) that eventually went to jail for a long time because he was a pedophile who raped a lot of little girls in his congregation.

There was another, can't remember his name, similarly viewed, who was disfellowshipped when it became known that he had been having an affair with a sister in his congregation for decades. He had just had the leading part in that summer's drama.

There are lots of cases like that.

S4

49

Premonitions and Prayer - Explained!

by Seeker4 in

yesterday and today i had a couple of things happen to me that i think tie in well with why many people believe in the supernatural, or in their ability to foresee events.

yesterday, i had to travel a few hundred miles to do an interview for a magazine article, and i knew stormy weather was coming here in vermont.

i had a bad feeling about the trip and the possible weather complications, so much so that i actually called my insurance company and checked on my coverage.

Seeker4

Sirona,

Been a long day, and I did take a quick look at your post, but not enough to comment on it. I'll take a deeper look later. I worked til 11 last night, then up at 5:30 this morning to put my paper together today.

It's veg time tonight! Light supper, vodka and soda and TV.

One of the more profound influences on me as I was leaving the JWs was Ken Wilber, who has a far stronger mystical bent than I do. You might enjoy some of his stuff.

Check out Colin Wilson, a fellow Englishman. You can find a ton of stuff on line about him, and about Wilber. Wilson wrote a very influential book when he was very young called The Outsider. Great book.

S4

21

Why Aren't There Windows in the Newer Kingdom Halls?

by StAnn in

i've driven by several newer kh's in the past few years and noticed that none of them have even so much as one window.

just double doors on the front (with no windows) and a solid door on the back.

what's up with that?

Seeker4

This comes up from time to time. There is no rule against windows in Halls. A KH just built that I drive by everyday has plenty of windows.

Some areas avoid them for security reasons.

S4

49

Premonitions and Prayer - Explained!

by Seeker4 in

yesterday and today i had a couple of things happen to me that i think tie in well with why many people believe in the supernatural, or in their ability to foresee events.

yesterday, i had to travel a few hundred miles to do an interview for a magazine article, and i knew stormy weather was coming here in vermont.

i had a bad feeling about the trip and the possible weather complications, so much so that i actually called my insurance company and checked on my coverage.

Seeker4

Sorry, Sirona, I've been working on an article all weekend, didn't look at this thread until tonight, and I have no time to really give your posts the attention they deserve. I'll try to take a closer look tomorrow. I also got your PM. I didn't mean to ignore you, but some of my weekends are super busy, and this was one.

I did see the film "What the $%^& Do We Know," and watched it with great interest. There is one person on there that was interviewed, the woman channeling some ancient warrior or whatever, that I remain completely skeptical about. She used to publish her stuff from a place just a few miles from where I live. Her being in that film really set me back. There were some interesting ideas there, but I remain very skeptical of some of it.

I agree that people have a right to their own ideas, but I am NOT of the school that thinks that all ideas should be given the same attention and respect and gravity. There are a lot of ideas out there, but they are not all good ideas! Some ideas are just plain bad or stupid. Sorry if that offends some, and I know it's not politically correct, but I have no desire to waste any of my time on bad thinking.

If you're an experienced builder or surgeon, and someone comes along spouting a building technique or surgery technique that is contrary to your experience, they better present convincing evidence that what they are saying is so or you're going to figure it's bullshit. I've got 35 years experience in the areas of prayer and prophecy, so I'm not too patient with anyone who spouts a special connection with some invisible part of the universe that 99% of the rest of us don't have. Prove it or get in line with the rest of the charlatans, self-deluded or not.

One of my favorite writers, Colin Wilson, had a real interest in all of these areas as well. Interestingly, he was a math prodigy and genius who had a passing connection with the JWs in his youth, and you can find some of that detailed in his books. He investigated the paranormal, and found the vast majority of it was bogus. BUT, there was one case that seemed to him to be quite genuine. It's been a while and I don't remember all the details, but he wrote about that case extensively.

I wasn't exaggerating my feeling that premonitions and prayer are absurd, Quietly Leaving. I've seen no evidence beyond the coincidental that they have any value at all. BUT, contrary to many of the comments on here, I'm not closed minded to it - I just need to see a lot more evidence than I have. Hell, I'd be glad to start believing in Jehovah again if he'd just get off his lazy ass and perform a miracle or two for us!

That idea that some people may be tapping into something that science may eventually explain also interests me, and may provide some explanations for what seems the exceptions to what we all experience.

Back to work! Deadlines loom!

S4