Posts by Sirona

142

APOSTASCOTLAND

by Dansk in

jw
friends

would someone seriously consider arranging for an apostafest up in scotland next year?

i know i'm asking this early but i feel it would be good to put the feelers out now.. obviously, it would have to be a location easy to get to - so that means stornoway is out!

sorry, ross & xena.

What's your sign?

by dinah in

jw
friends

yeah, sounds really 70's....... but i really wanna know!.

i'm an aries, march 24, so i'm on the cusp of pieces.. .

"There is no evidence that the earth is more than 10,000 years old"

by LtCmd.Lore in

jw
friends

somebody said this in a recent thread.

i couldn't respond to it in that thread without going completely off topic.

but this definately begs for a response.. .

Sirona

Lore

I really enjoyed that post! Thanks

Who said that the earth is less than 10000 years old?

I think JWs accept the age of the earth. They just don't accept that human beings have been around for longer than a few thousand years. If you were to break through the JW mindset you'd need to prove that humans have been around for longer than they say.

Sirona

45

Coincidences....

by hillary_step in

jw
friends

i love a good coincidence.

it is the closest i get to the supernatural these days.

how about this one.. a couple of days ago i was working from my home office and while doing so was listening to a bbc radio 7 re-run of the 1960's radio comedy, "i am sorry i will read that again", with john cleese etc.

Sirona

Is it guided by some intelligent force? Then we have no choice.

Ah! here is where we have misunderstood each other, I suspect.

I don't believe it is an intelligent force. I believe that these consequences are natural. However, I think that forces - ripples (for want of a better word) are more far reaching than is scientifically accepted at this time.

Therefore, I do believe that one's personal attitude and belief system can affect nearly everything in one's life. For instance, prosperity relates to the individual's ability to accept it in their life. I don't think this purely relates to their actions (as you suggested - someone's attitude affects their actions which subsequently affects their success/ failure) I think it also relates to spiritual forces which work to attract to us that which we are ready for. These "forces" are not intelligent, they simply are attracted to similar energies (like attracts like - which is a precept in magic).

In short, I think we spiritually attract things to ourselves. The coincidences are not caused by an intelligent being or force, just a force which is natural and not much understood.

IMO!

Sirona

25

Part 2: OMG - I did it - I told my Mom and Dad how I feel...

by Princess Daisy Boo in

jw
friends

5 days after the big showdown with my mom, she called me today.

well she is a bigger person than me - i certainly did not have the guts to do it.

we made a bit of small talk and then she brought up saturdays discussion.

Sirona

then she informed me that apostates are all people who were disfellowshipped or reproved and are now bitter and twisted.

Wrong.

I'm not disfellowshipped or disassociated or reproved. Neither is my exJW boyfriend.

Many ExJWs manage to avoid such action. Many exJWs don't do things they could be disfellowshipped for! Of course JWs won't say that because it doesn't fit with their "apostates are evil" mindset.

Some ExJWs are bitter - I will concede that. Bitterness comes from the feeling that being part of this religion has had a bad effect on you. You may have lost family to the blood issue, you may have been abused and not helped, you may simply be angry because you were not supported in your education.

Sirona

45

Coincidences....

by hillary_step in

jw
friends

i love a good coincidence.

it is the closest i get to the supernatural these days.

how about this one.. a couple of days ago i was working from my home office and while doing so was listening to a bbc radio 7 re-run of the 1960's radio comedy, "i am sorry i will read that again", with john cleese etc.

Sirona

If there is no such thing as coincidences, then there is no such thing as free will.

I don't agree.

We always have choices to make and I think that things happen as a result of those choices. Therefore, a seeming "coincidence" may happen as a result of our previous choices.

The initial example in this thread. This only happened because decisions were made beforehand (to sort the mail etc.) but it resulted in this thread and discussion and had a ripple effect on others. Rather than saying such a coincidence was meaningless, one could just as easily say that it resulted in a fair number of individuals having a discussion on the subject

I know it is controversial, but my opinion is that good things come to us when we're ready for them and when we are spiritually in a place to accept them. Bad things are part of life and I believe the major negative events in our lives are decided before our current incarnation. Just my ideas of course.

The so called "small" bad things which befall us, I think they relate to our own decisions / actions / attitude in some way.

Sirona

22

this is getting around JW world fast...my Elder/Dad sent it to me

by oompa in

jw
friends

http://religions.pewforum.org/portraits.

i saw the news item, and was going to pass it on to dad but he beat me to it....someone had already e-mailed him about it.

his e-mail was from cnn which stated jw's are fastet growing, but also dead last in retaining those raised in that faith....yeah!

Sirona

Very interesting!

Divorced JWs outnumber the divorced catholics!

Most revealing is the 3% postgrad education, compared to much higher figures in other faiths. JWs come last in both Graduate and Post Graduate figures (at just 6%)

Interestingly they are highest in high school diplomas. This must be that due to being forced to have a high school education the JW children are conscientious, but then are discouraged from further education!

This leads to the high numbers of JWs on low incomes - a whacking 42% on less than $30000 per annum (around £15000 pa)

Sirona

9

Touch This

by bite me in

i am sitting here trying to figure this all out.

i know this is a subject that has probably been discussed before in one way or another.

however, there is a slight touch on it as my mind is going a million miles a second.

Sirona

Where does the spiritualist element come in with JWs?

Sirona

45

Coincidences....

by hillary_step in

jw
friends

i love a good coincidence.

it is the closest i get to the supernatural these days.

how about this one.. a couple of days ago i was working from my home office and while doing so was listening to a bbc radio 7 re-run of the 1960's radio comedy, "i am sorry i will read that again", with john cleese etc.

Sirona

Dion Fortune said

"Students must accept the absolute rule of the law: that nothing is accidental, fortuitous or incidental" (from memory, I think these are her exact words from "Training and Work of an Initiate"

I agree with her. I don't think that coincidences are meaningless. I don't think things "just happen"

Sirona

9

Touch This

by bite me in

i am sitting here trying to figure this all out.

i know this is a subject that has probably been discussed before in one way or another.

however, there is a slight touch on it as my mind is going a million miles a second.

Sirona

Kurt,

So was I correct in saying that the JW doctrine is that Jesus had a material body (but a temporary one)?

I'm surprised that you are studying with the JWs - why are you doing it?

Sirona