Stephanus

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Posts by Stephanus

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  1

  Why I Ain't One

  by Stephanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this quote from stillintruth in esmeralda's ms thread:.

  hey ezmie my dear, don't worry about your illness.. it will be gone in the new world... ..providing you make it there!.

  this attitude of the dedicated 'witness is the reason i'll never join!

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  Stephanus

  This quote from StiLLinTruth in Esmeralda's MS thread:

  Hey Ezmie my dear, don't worry about your illness.
  It will be gone in the new world..

  ..providing you make it there!

  :)

  This attitude of the dedicated 'Witness is the reason I'll never join! This is the closest the bastards can come to expressing empathy: "Do the right thing according to our set of rules, and everything will be fine at some unspecified future date, but DON'T ask us to lift a finger to help!"

  I've told the story several times on different boards, but SIT may not have heard it -

  The incident which truly convinced me that the WT is not "the Troof" was when a little old lady JW, with the same warm spirit as SIT, came to our door one month after the death of our 8 yo daughter and began ridiculing our belief regarding our daughter's current state. I've never seen such a brass-plated version of the Golden Rule in my life! :(

  To Esmeralda:

  All the best and I hope tomorrow (it's probably a bit late in the day where you are to say "today") is one of the good days!
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  24

  Oz v NZ Thread, Anyone?

  by Stephanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  any kiwis post here?

  now that that silly "yanks versus poms" thread has pretty well exhausted itself, how about an oz v nz thread?.

  scoring could be difficult.

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  Stephanus

  Kiwi: Kylie Minogue is Australian NZ 0 OZ 0

  Aussie: Lucy Lawless is a Kiwi NZ -1 Oz 0

  :)
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  12

  Art School JWs?

  by Stephanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some years back i went to art school for a year, and life drawing was one of the subjects.

  although the prospect of perving on naked women was at first appealing, it soon became evident that sex-drive is a left-brain function while drawing is strictly right-brain.

  iow, drawing naked people was just plain hard work, and it was the only thing that was hard!

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  Stephanus

  The jw side of my family had a fit when they found out the art school job was nude.

  This is obviously the attitude at R&F level; that was plain with my encounter as listed above. But what is the OFFICIAL view? Has there ever been a WT article condemning life-drawing or posing for such art? Has there ever been an article giving art as a career choice the thumbs down? And how do they reconcile the above with the fact that they have an "Art Department"?
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  24

  Oz v NZ Thread, Anyone?

  by Stephanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  any kiwis post here?

  now that that silly "yanks versus poms" thread has pretty well exhausted itself, how about an oz v nz thread?.

  scoring could be difficult.

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  Stephanus

  Any Kiwis post here? Now that that silly "Yanks versus Poms" thread has pretty well exhausted itself, how about an Oz v NZ thread?

  Scoring could be difficult. Example -

  Kiwi: Rutherford, who first split the atom, came from NZ; NZ 1 Oz 0

  Aussie: NZ is a Nuclear Free Zone! NZ 0 Oz 0

  Aussie: But Oz has a small nuclear reactor which produces medical nukes, which we export to "Nuclear Free" NZ NZ 0 Oz 1

  Aussie: We invented the Pavlova NZ 0 Oz 2

  Kiwi: Bullshit! We did! NZ 0 Oz 1

  Aussie: Even if you did (which you didn't!), we invented the Lamington! NZ 0 Oz 2

  Any additions to this thread? :)
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  23

  Did Chuck Russell commit perjury?

  by Tallyman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a reeel greek scholar

  yep.

  chuck russell surely knew .

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  Stephanus

  This is another one of those myths which has crept into the anti-cult repertoir; Penton covers it in his book. Russell said he could recognise some Greek letters, not that he could read Greek. When they asked him to read some Greek, he couldn't, just as he had said. Much as I hate to defend the a***hole, truth is more important than scoring cheap points!
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  29

  June1,2001WT QFR Confess to Elders?

  by ISP in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (entire article).

  questions from readers.

  in view of jehovahs willingness to forgive sins by the merit of the ransom sacrifice, why is it necessary for christians to confess to the older men in the congregation?.

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  Stephanus

  Why confess only to elders? The same reason Catholicism distorted the verse on confession and made it only right to confess to clergy. The same reason Pentecostal laedars love to also be your "counsellor". That is: knowledge is power, plain and simple. Anything you confess in a genuine attempt to unload your guilty burden and receive some sense of absolution can later be used against you. Vying for a leadership position but have a different biblical perspective on certain issues to that held by other leaders? Is that the reason they reject you for the position you're applying for? No; they'll reject you for the fact that you've got a problem with being easily tempted in the area of masturbation! You'll notice that most leader types you confess to will never admit to you their own weaknesses; only their self-perceived strengths - usually in the area where you are weak, in order to impress on you how spiritually striong they are and worthy of the lofty position which they hold. That's my take on the subject, anyway!
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  12

  Art School JWs?

  by Stephanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some years back i went to art school for a year, and life drawing was one of the subjects.

  although the prospect of perving on naked women was at first appealing, it soon became evident that sex-drive is a left-brain function while drawing is strictly right-brain.

  iow, drawing naked people was just plain hard work, and it was the only thing that was hard!

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  Stephanus

  On the subject of art school, now that tertiary education isn't officially sanctioned against, would studying art be seen by the Org as a worthy use of one's college years? I'd be interested to see how art is perceived by the org; artists, thought not always making a lot of money, do get to pick their hours! And the org obviously has some use for "art" - those chintzy visions of paradise which grace almost every piece of literature they put out has to be produced by someone with some training, or at least some ability, in the field.
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  12

  Art School JWs?

  by Stephanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some years back i went to art school for a year, and life drawing was one of the subjects.

  although the prospect of perving on naked women was at first appealing, it soon became evident that sex-drive is a left-brain function while drawing is strictly right-brain.

  iow, drawing naked people was just plain hard work, and it was the only thing that was hard!

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  Stephanus

  Some years back I went to art school for a year, and life drawing was one of the subjects. Although the prospect of perving on naked women was at first appealing, it soon became evident that sex-drive is a left-brain function while drawing is strictly right-brain. IOW, drawing naked people was just plain hard work, and it was the only thing that was hard! I had religious friends with no artistic abilities who of course argued that there was something wrong with it, however.

  A couple of years later, a JW we knew and her 24 yo daughter came to our door; the daughter had finished art school recently and had also recently rejoined the JWs, as I understood the situation. I chatted with the daughter about art school and on the life-drawing issue she agreed with me that there was nothing sexual about it and that it was not morally wrong. Her mother, however, made it plain to her that there was no way, now that she was back in the fold, that she could continue with the practice of looking at and drawing naked people!

  Which brings me to my question: is life-drawing or artistic nude photography officially condemned by the WBTS? Is it one of those "grey areas"? Is it disfellowshippable?
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  3

  My Trip to New Zealand

  by Stephanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  now that i've got a pic up, i'm moved to recount an experience which occurred at the time it was taken.

  on my last night in auckland before flying back home, i stayed at a friend's place; she was going to drive me to the airport in the morning.

  in the morning (saturday), just before we were about to drive to the airport, there was a knock at the door, and guess who it was!

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  Stephanus

  Done

  No the only sheep I saw were actually within the bounds of Auckland itself, even though I did travel from there to the northernmost tip of the NI!
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  3

  My Trip to New Zealand

  by Stephanus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  now that i've got a pic up, i'm moved to recount an experience which occurred at the time it was taken.

  on my last night in auckland before flying back home, i stayed at a friend's place; she was going to drive me to the airport in the morning.

  in the morning (saturday), just before we were about to drive to the airport, there was a knock at the door, and guess who it was!

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  Stephanus

  Now that I've got a pic up, I'm moved to recount an experience which occurred at the time it was taken. On my last night in Auckland before flying back home, I stayed at a friend's place; she was going to drive me to the airport in the morning. In the morning (Saturday), just before we were about to drive to the airport, there was a knock at the door, and guess who it was! (No prizes for guessing - LOL) After my friend dismissed the JW and his (about 8 yr old) daughter, my friend said "That's incredible! I've been here for one and a half years and I've never seen a JW; you're here one day and they turn up!"

  The photo? Taken while we were dining al fresco at a restaurant on Waiheke Island (the raincoat was necessary!).