Posts by sunscapes

75

Giving Up Smoking

by ballistic in

jw
friends

i'm giving up smoking on the 22nd.

it will be the third time, but this time as part of a government sponsored training course with drugs and patches supplied etc.

anyone else given up and got any helpfull advise?.

sunscapes

Mommie, that looks like a pile of turds or something....LOL anyway you could use it to sniff when you get the craving.

44

Anti-JW leaflet campaign

by freeborg in

jw
friends

i have been a reader of this message board for a number of years and this is the first comment i have made in that time.

i have been part of the wts for 20 years my parents believed they had found the truth when i was 10 and from then on we hung to every word uttered from the platform at the kingdom hall.

my wife was a witness brought up in the wts all her life so the wts was a massive part of all our familes lives from parents to brothers and sisters.

sunscapes

The REAL challenge is to make something eye-catching and thought-provoking enough to swerve around the Witness' mental blinders.

When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers ... we are ripping the foundations of justice from beneath future generations.

4

this edition of the watchtower has got a mistake on page 22 in that i don't think that the sheep shown on page 23 would have been woollen.. originally sheep were hairy, but selective breeding by `farmers' produced wooly sheep.. cf.mummies of urumchi/qi which i was reading only a few days ago.. .

watchtower need access to reputable sources of information, i think!

sunscapes

Due to our disassociation with the UN DPI, our last source for reliable and accurate information has been cut off. We apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. -ED.

12

Finally Got My Masters

by TMS in

jw
friends

after all the silly anecdotal tales, less-than-clever retorts, finally got my masters in jwd.. when witnet sunk into the sea, i went into a mild funk.

i missed the "sensitive issues" forum.. looking for alternatives, i found jw-pagans.

too big a jump for me!.

sunscapes

Well, the 201st post would make it official! Congrats. I appreciate the time commitment it takes to sit on the internet and make all these posts -- heck it would set a special pioneers' hours to shame!

And yes, to Simon: If you could re-activate Tina's account, that would be swell. This is such a dynamic forum and we've all seen the highs and the lows and all in between -- we have to make allowances for all the spectrum of feelings on here, probably much more so than any other forum topic I can think of!

(((((((((((((TINA)))))))))))))))))

20

MY MUMS IS DIEING O F CANCER?

by mark smith in

jw
friends

my mums in hospital in nottingham england she is a current jw and has stomach cancer.she is a lovley mum but has been brain washed not to have the blood so they left the opp to build her up.

because she would need blood during the opp if she is weak she will die on the opp table.but she has got worse and weaker so now am losing my mum through waiting.she would have had a chance.

but now it looks like she has 2 weeks of life left.why???

sunscapes

Sorry to hear of your excrutiating time. I concur with many here, you got to fight against those who would claim your own flesh-and-blood mother as their own "spiritual family" and pressure her to refuse transfusions. I'm at a loss to say anything else except to reiterate how awful this erroneous doctrine is.

Prayers and peace be with you.

26

Patriotism isn't only by the flag?

by YoYoMama in

jw
friends

patriotism isn't only by the flag?.

by robyn blumner.

(c) st. petersburg times, published november 11, 2001. the american flag has truly come into its own in recent weeks, replacing suction-cupped garfield's as the accouterment of choice for our cars.. everywhere you look, the flag is hanging out of car windows-unless there is a football game and the local team flag takes precedence.

sunscapes

We share this here earth with well over 200 nations and national groups. I have no problem with PATRIOTISM, that is, living a good life as a citizen of the country(ies) where we happen to live; and making a positive difference for others. Where I draw the line is against NATIONALISM, that is, the attitude of "my nation first and to hell with co-operation and everybody else".

My opinion is that by following that creed, one can be an effective world citizen and a true patriot for life.

When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers ... we are ripping the foundations of justice from beneath future generations.

12

JW Child Labor--Prince v. Massachusetts

by JAVA in

jw
friends

while doing some research, i came across a united states supreme court case the society lost in 1944 on the topic of child labor.

the two paragraphs below are from, odd gods, new religions & the cult controversy, edited by james r. lewis, prometheus books, new york, 2001, pp.

78-9.. "one of the earliest cases involving children in a religious setting was prince v. massachusetts (1944).

sunscapes

The WTS has got to know that they're in bad company when the ACLU files a brief of amicus curae in support of the WTS appeal to the Supreme Court of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in the case vs. Stratton, Ohio involving the right for anonymity when going door-to-door.

Sure, when it benefits THEM, they want anonymity, but hey, when it comes to the sheep, spying of all sorts is fair game.

16

Are you still "Borganized"?

by moman in

jw
friends

please,there are still x-dubs posting on this board that think they are free from the watchtower.

they say things like, "well it may not be the perfect truth, but they, (the wt) still teach good morals" etc.. remember we are talking about brainwashing here, & its a very tricky & insidious practice!.

i have devised a simple test.

sunscapes

Part of TMS training of JW's is to use "leading" questions. That being so, they're a trap since they tend to require binary answers as opposed to degrees of relativity in their answers. Realizing this technique now, it's easy to realize how they can catch one unaware of this "reasoning" tactic.

Thanks Jan. Good to hear from you again.

11

JW's and "free" literature...

by Andyman in

jw
friends

i have a discussion going on another board about the so called "free" literature from the society.

i have tried to explain that is not free but the jw's insist i am lying.. all the jw's keep saying it's "free" no charge.

i would love any comments on this topic so i can link it to the jw's over there.

sunscapes

Dogpatch's reference:

Another weird thing: I was the cong's librarian. I was allowed to order literature for the cong library as I pleased, but I was not allowed to get the latest WT CD-ROMs. I had to get brothers to donate old WT CD-ROMs. I was told it was to save the Society money. Now I suspect it was to avoid the $40 charge to the cong.

Silly asses. I just got the bound volumes AUTOMATICALLY sent to our family last week even though I never requested them. It costs at least 40 bucks even with the sweat labor of the drone servant class to manufacture these! Not to mention wasted paper! What were they thinking? It costs a pittance to produce CD media these days; the hardware setup is minimal for medium-scale production and blank media can be bought for literally a couple of dimes or so each on bulk. I'm completely dumbfounded as to why CD-ROMs weren't made standard issue in the days of computer ownership! Why heck the 650 megs or so replaces large portions of WT libraries! But then, what the heck, keep the poor sobs serving "Jah" on the presses...

When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers ... we are ripping the foundations of justice from beneath future generations.

11

JW's and "free" literature...

by Andyman in

jw
friends

i have a discussion going on another board about the so called "free" literature from the society.

i have tried to explain that is not free but the jw's insist i am lying.. all the jw's keep saying it's "free" no charge.

i would love any comments on this topic so i can link it to the jw's over there.

sunscapes

francois, I happen to agree with you on this one.

No, of course it ain't free. When someone pitches you at your door for whatever it is they're "giving away" and then segues into another pitch about the possibility of you engaging in a little reciprocity in the form of cash to support their "world wide missionary work," then the publications ain't free.

First of all, they've been told over and over again and the forgetful drones are not supposed to say "free". They're supposed to say "NO CHARGE" on the condition that you "READ" them. As you pointed out there IS a BIG difference. No charge accurately allows them a wedge to ask for "voluntary contribution" toward the "worldwide Bible educational work".

I would also argue that once you're in, they encourage you to get on the monthly tab with "regular" donations, and, in their literature on preparing wills, they give specific instructions to will stuff to the Society. (With all the Baby-Boomers wealth transferred over the next couple of decades, this is going to be giga-$$$$$$$$$$ mark my words everybody.) Don't think Gen-X is going to inherit it all... yet we'll be paying higher taxes to support the healthcare and pensions of these as they get into their better years.....OK so I'm off topic here that's a whole other thread(s).....

Not only that, but it COSTS the Society something to produce all that literature with expensive printing (albeit free labor and free in-house tech support on translation, MEPS, etc). In reality, the Society has carefully measured all the costs in relation to the donation potential and history, and they DO come out ahead...at least for the time being. The thing is, the WTS is so large asset-wise, that, even if donations (gravy) train stopped, they STILL can command huge investment income and they do...so the press self-perpetuates. The literature is NOT free.