Posts by startingover

a comment on dgp's thread about being kind to jw's promted me to post this thread.. as a life long (46 years) jw, i was conditioned to doing "the right thing" because it was required of me.

i was also conditioned to be on the lookout for others not doing the right thing and either distancing myself from them or reporting them to the elders.. today, i consider myself an atheist.

i have nobody telling me what the right thing is or fear of being punished for not doing it.

Very well said changeling!! For some time I have tried to understand why some need a god and other like us do not. I have come to the conclusion that there is some chemical makup within us the decides that. For those who need a god, it seems they cannot understand your words that describe how I too feel, that being alone does not equate to being lonely.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.

1

The End of Civilization

by startingover in

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/the_end.html.

startingover

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/the_end.html

26

Why Answer the question: WHO then is the Faithful and Wise Servant?

by Terry in

we begin with a familiar scripture:.

matthew 24:45-51 (new international version) .

45"who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?

startingover

Great post

53

What made Jesus' followers believe that Jesus rose from the dead?

by John Kesler in

what made some of jesus' followers believe that jesus rose from the dead?

my best guess--and as e.p.

sanders says, we really don't know--is that jesus' followers--distraught, sad, and disillusioned--had visions in what we now call altered states of consciousness, a condition that can be induced by fasting, sleep deprivation, and fatigue.

startingover

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence

43

Exposing the Sickness: they printed letter to editor on the WT's treatment of Ray Franz in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Sat.6/12/10

by not a captive in

closure isn't needed.

in georgia recently, a religious "criminal" died.

this one had been brought to account.

startingover

Excellent!

10

Question for ex-elders

by startingover in

is a publisher's record card necessary to df someone?

if a person had one, faded and does not live near nor had any contact with the congregation who holds it, nor any other congregation for 30 years, would you say they are off the radar?.

startingover

Is a publisher's record card necessary to DF someone? If a person had one, faded and does not live near nor had any contact with the congregation who holds it, nor any other congregation for 30 years, would you say they are off the radar?

15

607 - New 'Apostate' Light

by sweet pea in

.

thanks to frank kavelin for looking at the old well worn subject from a completely different perspective.. enjoy!.

http://www.freeminds.org/doctrine/chronology/607-bce-the-bible-or-the-formula.html.

startingover

I think "scholar" really loses credibility when he starts referring to himself in the third person.

For years I gave a public talk entitled "Is it time for god to rule the world?" which dealt with 607. In the talk I remember referring to the day for a year thing as a "rule". Looking back, it seems that to use the word "rule" is really assuming a lot. And just because it's mentioned somewhere in the bible, does that mean it applies to everything?

27

Ode to the 192 Page Book

by millions now living are dead in

jw
friends

ode to the 192 page book.

once i wondered what life was all about.

i struggled with faith, i struggled with doubt.

startingover

That was great! Once again as has happened so many times before on this forum, something I never thought about before hits me. Like making the info fit into 192 pages.