Skimmer

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Posts by Skimmer

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  9

  Ratcheting down the pressure on the WTS

  by Lee Elder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please take a look one of the new layouts we are working on:.

  http://www.ajwrb.org/newindex.shtml.

  will it make them squirm?.

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  Skimmer

  Looks very good to me.

  One additional point that might be appropriate for the front page is the fact that JWs are allowed to blood fractions derived from human donations, but themselves are not permitted to donate blood to others.
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  6

  A positive story, at least that is what I think

  by Eppie in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hey all,.

  i just came across this site today and i decided to join the gang :).

  don't worry about the topic, i am not a jw that is trying to convert you back into the religion.

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  Skimmer

  Hello Eppie and thank you for posting your story.

  You are quite right in your decision to attend college, and I hope that you will consider encouraging others, particularly other JWs, to give it a try. You are fortunate to have supportive parents; alas, not many JW teenagers have such and not only did these not get college support, but were even kicked out of the house for openly wanting to go on to a university.

  There aren't too many posters here who believe that everything about the WTBTS is bad. They do have a few good ideas: no stealing, no convenience abortion, support for ethnically mixed marriages, obedience to parents, etc. But there are plenty of other religions that do all these and more: food pantries, clothing for the poor, housing assistance, care for the elderly, hospital programs, prison ministries, and many other good activities all supported by scripture and clear to just about everyone except for the WTBTS. A close examination of the WTBTS shows that anything that involves them spending money is off limits except for printing presses and ever more real estate.

  If you haven't read it yet, I suggest reading _Crisis of Conscience_ by Raymond Franz, a former member of the WTBTS governing body. It is packed with documented evidence of WTBTS history and practices that they would rather have kept secret from you and every other thinking JW. Yet there is not a bitter or vindictive paragraph in the entire book.

  Work hard at college; what you get out of it is proportional to what you put into it. It is a big investment of your time, but it also will pay dividends for the rest of your life.
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  205

  HELLO? HELLO? "ALL" SIGN IN???????

  by waiting in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  simon did away with the sex forum - so i must take the tradional route and post under "make new friends.

  " how mundane!.

  fyi ---- for all of us, please take the time to write a sentence or two about yourselves, and encourage new ones to do the same.

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  Skimmer

  Hello pearljan:

  The doctors say that my sister's liver function is too far gone for a partial transplant to be effective, so they are very much hoping for a whole liver soon. Fortunately, she has never had anything to do with JWs, so she is being kept alive in part due to regular transfusions. Her husband is extremely supportive and always does his best to help take care of her and is very patient. I have hope for her but I am also realistic that the chances aren't too good because of there being relatively few persons willing to sign up for postmortem donation.

  It has been hard for my mother as in the last two years she lost her father, her brother, and her husband.

  So, everyone should try to enjoy their family while they have one, and then trust in God when he sees fit to call them home.
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  29

  Rutherford's Parting Shot

  by Farkel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  anyone who's informed about the honorable joseph franklin rutherford knew what a jerk he was in life, but the creator in his infinite humor also wanted his death to remind us that whenever we fondly think of da judge, one word will always come to our mind: that word is "asshole.".

  here's "indisputable" proof: http://farkel.0catch.com/index.html.

  farkel

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  Skimmer

  Is there any chance someone could post copies of the death certificates of Russell, Knorr, and Fred Franz?
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  64

  Another Elder is toast

  by jst2laws in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jst2laws is toast!.

  after 29 years i am officially no longer serving as an elder.

  those who knew i was still serving would only be surprised that i took so long.

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  Skimmer

  Hello jst2laws and thank you for your posting about your decision.

  May you have the satisfaction that rightly belongs to all courageous persons. And may more elders and others under the sway of the WTBTS also come to know courage as you have.

  I have read a number of reports of JWs, including elders, disassociating themselves by announcing it (without warning, of course) from the platform. That must be a sight to see! It's only fair as the WTBTS has no problem humiliating others publicly; let the Society have a taste of its own medicine.

  There was also a report of a speaker at a district convention disassociating himself from the platform. That would be one great video to put on the web, that's for sure.
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  205

  HELLO? HELLO? "ALL" SIGN IN???????

  by waiting in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  simon did away with the sex forum - so i must take the tradional route and post under "make new friends.

  " how mundane!.

  fyi ---- for all of us, please take the time to write a sentence or two about yourselves, and encourage new ones to do the same.

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  Skimmer

  Hello pearljan and thank you for posting your story.

  It is sad but true that the friendship of the JW "friends" is conditional and so not real friendship at all. And it's even harder that a person finds out about this usually at the worst time.

  Last week my stepfather (not a JW) passed away unexpectedly and my mother has been much upset as you can imagine after a 23 year marriage. Although my mother is not a JW she did once study with them; she really could have used some consolation from the JWs in her family but none will talk to her, probably because they won't talk to me. I arranged the funeral myself (hadn't even done this before) and it would have been very helpful to have some assistance or at least an expression of sympathy. But none came from the the JWs in her family and knowing what I know, I wasn't surprised. Although my stepfather was not a Catholic, I am and so I got a very kindly Catholic priest to perform the funeral service as I figured it was the best send-off I could manage.

  I hope you have good fortune getting a kidney. I signed up as an organ donor years ago when I got my first driver's license and I recommend the same to all. My mother had my stepfather's organs donated; it is important to us as a family as my sister is near death now waiting for a new liver. Organ transplantation is a wonderful thing and I hope that all reading this might consider it for themselves. The donation process is handled with great respect and and the gift of life is the most awesome gift of all. It is unfortunate that the WTBTS banned transplantation for thirteen years; it's saddening to think many JWs died as a result and also how many non-JWs died because JW organ donation was also banned.
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  28

  Why does the WTBTS survive?

  by Skimmer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  back in late 1973 when i got my fatal doubts about the wtbts, i was sure that the society would crumble soon after 1975 when yet another prediction failed.

  i was not alone with this thought; a british author by the name of stevenson (an exjw that had written an expose) allocated an entire chapter in his book about the likelihood that there would be a very major falling away in 1976 or soon thereafter.. but it didn't happen.

  yes, there were several years of consecutive worldwide declines.

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  Skimmer

  Hello esther:

  In the two congregations I attended back in 1973, there was a big deal about 1975, both from the platform and from informal talk among the members. There were plenty of warnings (or threats, depending on how one looks at it) that no one could count on making it through and so regular meeting attendance and plenty of field service was the only hope (but not a guarantee). Absolutely no one thought that the Big A would wait until after 1975. Indeed, some were saying that it could be a year earlier, so there was a great emphasis on getting people baptized before it was "too late".

  The elders used the nearness of the date and the associated fear at every opportunity to get the congregation's numbers up. Disfellowshipping took on a more ominous tone when it was suggested that the traditional six month repentance period for many offenses could extend into the Big A arrival and so all hope would be lost for the unfortunate victim.

  Ah, if I had only had a tape recorder. No doubt that the widespread availability of miniaturized audio and video recording equipment has been a reason for the WTBTS to be a little more circumspect nowadays.
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  19

  Why Japanese become JWs

  by JWD in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have posted some of the following info in various other threads i`ve.

  started which touch on the matter of jws in japan.however,people continue to ask me `why japanese become jws?`,so i thought i`d put.

  down a few of my observations for anyone who might be interested.. as you may or may not have noticed,japan has(had) the fifth largest number of jws in the world.

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  Skimmer

  Hello humble:

  You do not realize the slander you've made when you accuse any of us of being Satan or an agent of Satan. Tell me, if I were in Satan's hire, don't you think he would give me something better than an old 28.8 Kbps modem to do his evil work? If you are really interested in tracking down the Devil, why don't you try starting in Brooklyn from where more than six million people are being lead astray from Christianity?

  You say that Jehovah does not control every single thing done by the WTBTS. Tell me, how much of it does he control? Ninety percent of it? Fifty percent? One percent? How badly must the WTBTS misbehave until you will admit that they have nothing to do with God? How many years must go on before you will finally admit that they have never gotten a single prediction correct?
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  21

  Get a life - stop posting. Why?

  by philo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  newbies and others are often saying, "move on", in other words, get a life, remove yourselves from the influence of wtism completely.

  there are many good answers to this, but i think there is one answer, which has not been much considered.

  the international 'apostate' world, to which we contribute, has mushroomed in the last 10 years in: numbers, public profile, influence on the wts policies (and in jws awareness), and in all areas of knowledge about the wt.

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  Skimmer

  Hello AlanF:

  I remember you from talk.religion.misc back in the early 1990s. Do you remember that fellow Andreas from Norway and how some of the other JWs were trying to get him to cool down? He was a kind of a mixture of two parts Fred Hall and one part You Know.

  I was the fellow who brought up, if not for the first time, at least very early on, the Russell/pyramid connection. It was a bit entertaining to see the JWs try to defend that one.

  I also was the guy who made the TRM post "A tract for your friends" warning about the WTBTS practives hidden from the public. I wish I still had it, although now I'd have to change the part about forbidding higher education. I was very pleased to receive a good number of e-mails from JWs who responded positively to my postings; that made it all worthwhile.

  I understand that one of the first WT articles critical of the Internet (then mostly called bulletin board systems by the WTBTS) came out a few months after the TRM JW posting storm, and it was almost as if the WT was reponding personally to some of us while omitting the names. A scolding by them is an honor to me.
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  47

  WT & Awake Subscription Procedure

  by Gopher in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i moved into a new area several months ago, and my subscriptions to the watchtower and awake magazines expired.

  (note: i'm baaad, not attending meetings in my new area.).

  so it'd be easy to renew my subscription, right?

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  Skimmer

  Hello wasasister:

  Hah! Whenever I hear the phrase "simplified arrangement" coming from the WTBTS it can only mean more cash for them and less for the unfortunate rank and file.

  Mostly the WTBTS is afraid of having to pay postage. But they are also a little afraid of opposers as well as they know that few outside of a Kingdom Hall would want to subscribe for the reasons of friendly (to the WTBTS) knowledge acquisition. So I'm sure that they have suspicion about subscription requests from unattached persons.