Posts by SusanHere

25

Religions similar to JWs.

by LtCmd.Lore in

does anyone know of any religions that are very similar to jehovahs witnesses?.

it tends to come up in discussions with them a lot, they like to think that they are the only ones that don't believe in hell, the trinity, that jesus died on a stake, that they won't go to heaven, or stuff like that.

i could probaby just prove them wrong, but that would take forever and it would be a lot easier to just say: "you're not as unique as you think...".

SusanHere

The Seventh-Day Adventists, the Millennial Dawnists, and the Mormons all have common ancestry with the Watchtower Society. Once they were all the same denomination. (sorry, I forget which poster said this)

Actually, Mormons were never part of anything else. I don't know about the others.

In my mind, first and foremost, any religion similar to jws has to not believe in the trinity andnot in the convoluted way the Mormons do, who believe Jesus is God, but leave the holy spirit out of the equation. (Blondie)

In fact, Mormons believe in a Godhead comprising three separate entities -- God the Father, his Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is a major and vital part of daily life to Mormons. He is a teacher, revelator, protector and guide.

SusanHere

24

(Mormons)?Jehovah's Witnesses Vandalized Our Deck!

by DannyHaszard in

whoa!

top ranked across all the blogs and news wires jehovah's witnesses vandalized our deck!.

shakopee valley news, mn - 5 hours ago.

SusanHere

Mormon missionaries are not vandals. Nor would they try to intimidate anybody into joining anything. They don't engage in shouting matches with little old ladies, and certainly would not do so several times as the story suggests. Also, they do not do missionary work on the 4th of July. It's a major holiday to us super-patriotic types. Hubby was up at 5 a.m. this year to begin the Ward's 4th of July breakfast at the park, along with several other brothers. As usual, it was a packed event and went nearly until sundown when most people drove the few blocks to the town's fireworks display.

Anybody can get little black name badges made that say anything anybody would choose to have them say. That's cheap and easy. Many people have bikes. Many men have white shirts and black pants. It's easy to make people believe something that's not true based on externals that don't really add up when anybody looks closer. Con artist count on that.

In So. California some JWs did have badges made up that looked similar to those worn by Mormon missionaries. The JWs then went around being intentionally offensive to everyone who would answer the doorbell. The intention was to turn people away from opening the door to the Mormons. Unfortunately for the JWs they crossed the line when they urinated on people's bushes and got arrested. It made the newspapers. Not exactly giving a good witness. I thought it would have been a fitting punishment for the JWs to have to go knock on every door they had knocked on before and apologize for their actions. A printed apology in the paper would have been nice, too. They didn't do either, of course. I sent the article to my sister, the JW, who shot a reply back insisting the vandals must have been Mormon missionaries trying to make the JWs look bad. Ummmm, police...arrest....identity checks.

So, yes, the JWs will do acts of vandalism and engage in other activities that cause more clear-thinking people to shake their heads in disbelief. And most JWs will not believe it possible, since they themselves would never do anything of the kind. Most JWs are above such behavior.

Whomever damaged the elderly woman's flowerpots is something only the guilty ones know for sure, if the event even happened at all. What I do know for sure is:

Momon missionaries do not vandalize. That it supposedly happened on the 4th of July clinches it as false.

If everyone would just play fair, there'd be plenty of room in the sandbox for everyone.

SusanHere

88

Friendly talk with a couple of elders

by TooBad TooSad in

last week i received a home visit from a couple of elders because they were concerned about my spirituality.

and lack of progress.

i said so you can guarantee the end will be here in 5 years.

SusanHere

Every couple of years I ask my sister if she ever thought the current year would ever get here. She never answers.

What could she say when she knows I remember all the letters and conversations we've had since the early 1970's about the end coming any day. It's been like watching a train wreck that goes on for decades and hasn't stopped yet.

Such a tragedy.

Susan

50

No lit for ex-jws, big A coming in June, apostate warning--what's going on?

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

there are 3 current threads that say these very things.

(ok, the one about armageddon says it will come within days or weeks--not months--so that means june 2007.

seems to me this is whipping up into a paranoia bigger than the 1980s apostate scare, bigger than they've ever seen before.

SusanHere

If it ends in June, the non-refundable airline tickets we sent my JW Pioneer sister for her trip out here in AUGUST were a waste of money. She's the one who chose August for the visit, so I'm thinking she's not too concerned about any possible "world ending in June" scenerios.

She also sent me a birthday card and didn't bother to pretend (as she has in years past) that it wasn't really a birthday card, or that she didn't really send me one and doesn't know what I'm referring to. This time it actually said, "Happy Birthday to my beloved sister" on the front, and included a small gift wrapped in birthday wrapping.

She is right down the center, no missteps anywhere, with her Witness friends, but more and more is speaking and acting with non-JWs as a balanced, clear-thinking person who is beginning to think for herself. This is good.

If she's at all typical of the R & F, the wall of the dam is leaking at an ever increasing rate.

Susan

10

A mormon fires back at PBS

by LovesDubs in

jw
friends

my reply is in the next post.

(its long...).

> show even though you devoted 40 minutes to the.

SusanHere

Smellsgood said:

<
> somehow decided to give a time ratio of
> approximately 10-1 to non-LDS commentators and those
> who are bitter former members with an axe to grind
> (several of whom I know personally). >>

Did he actually do a headcount? I'm pretty sure I saw the same thing as him, and my count was exactly ONE ex-member being interviewed.

Smellsgood, read his quote again, please. He said, "approximately 10-1 to NON-LDS COMMENTATORS and those who are bitter former members with an axe to grind."

He did not say "10-1 were bitter former members". Please quote him correctly. If you object to what he says, at least give him credit or blame for what he actually says and not confuse the issue further by misquoting him.

And, no, it wasn't necessary to do any elaborate counting. We, also, went back over the video to see how "balanced" it was ... pro-LDS vs. anti-LDS. It was easy to simply count the air time given to the anti side versus the pro side. A 10-1 ratio of anti comments to pro comments can hardly be called "balanced" by any reasonable definition of the term.

Yes, we did expect to have the very issues addressed which were addressed. That was a given. It was not shocking to hear them, nor was it a faith-buster. They have never been secret. What was not expected, though, was to have FIVE MINUTES of anti-LDS commentary for every THIRTY SECONDS of pro-LDS comments. How is this fair? How is this balanced?

Although non-LDS love to see anti's slinging mud at the Mormons, fair is fair, and this was not. Balanced, by definition, requires equal time pro and con.

It didn't happen.

Susan

16

PBS Mormon documentary is balanced, stinging

by M.J. in

part 1 of the documentary aired last night on pbs.

it dealt with the history of the movement.

tonight is part 2 and deals more with the church of today.

SusanHere

Gerard,

The man whose quotes you liked so much was spouting his own opinions. And he had a lot of them, all negative. He was way off the deep end.

Tell me, what prison was Joseph Smith incarcerated in and for how long? What was the crime that he was legally convicted of?

The answer: None. None. None.

Susan

25

Oh my god I hurt my dog!

by restrangled in

jw
friends

i realize with all the human hurt going on here that this may seem insignificant...... but right now its not for me.

i purchased a large dog nail cutter today and was able to clip 38 nails (two large dogs) with no problem.. suddenly the last two nails i clipped started spurting blood as if i had cut their throats.. not a whimper from the dog, but i feel terrible for causing pain, and the trust he has given me.

i dipped the paw into something to disinfect, wrapped it tightly with gauze, and fed him a pill to lower his blood pressure and make him nap.. he still looks at me with adoring eyes........ i feel so bad......anyone else experience this?.

SusanHere

You clearly are a loving and compassionate pet owner. The trimming of dog nails really is something I dread, too, so I take the dog to the groomer or the vet to have it done. The vet gets closer because she knows how.

If the nails are an inch long and clicking, it is painful for the dog to walk with them. It forces the toes into an unnatural curved position. You might want to consider a vet visit to have the nails trimmed down properly. The dogs will be much more comfortable afterwards.

Once they are properly trimmed, you might be better able to maintain them yourself, but the dark nails are always tricky to cut sufficiently without quicking.

Good luck and happy dog owning!

Susan

14

List some examples where JWs get to have it both ways

by ithinkisee in

increase in jws evidence of divine blessing when people are joining the jws in large numbers, they say it is "evidence of jehovah's blessing".

(watchtower july 1, 2002, p.13, paragraph 17-19).

but ... when the numbers are down they claim it's because "the greater number has cooled off".

SusanHere

Whenever any other religion does anything good, praiseworthy or commendable to help others in their community or anywhere in the world following a disaster, they are said to only be serving Satan.

JWs, on the other hand, don't even try to do anything of any real worth to help out anybody who isn't another JW.

They won't support relief agencies or charities. They don't have orphanages or hospitals. They don't have colleges or trade schools to improve the world by educating people. They limit their own "good works" to preaching, always on the clock, of course.

In true hypocritical form, however, JW literature proudly proclaims how grateful all those non-JWs are for all the help and assistance freely given them by JWs 24 / 7, especially after a disaster, and how many tons of goods they freely distributed to non-JWs, and how non-JWs were so very astonished that the JWs don't just help their own like all those other religions supposedly do.

Makes me ill.

Meanwhile, on another JW board, there was a thread regarding the Virginia Tech shootings. JW after JW made the comment that they hope their "brothers and sisters in the Truth" are all right and are coping okay. Nobody offered the same hope for the non-JWs, who were undoubtedly the majority of the ones affected by the tragedy.

To me this is the JWs greatest failing as a religion and as a people.

Susan

8

How help my JW-fiancée with her trouble with some JW-family-members?

by Zana in

i am 29 years old, not a jw (never been one, never ever gonna be one), but i am engaged to one (27 years old) and we have marriage-plans for the end of this year.

we are getting along more than great, no real troubles about this religious topic in our relationship (so no need to write me some of those run-and-hide-posts .

and we are talking about her family: two sisters are quite dedicated jws, the mother is studying with them, the father died a few years ago and her 4 brothers don't care at all about the jws.

SusanHere

Zana,

You are in a bad place in this situation, because things need to change for the marriage to be successful, and you are counting on her to be the one to change. She seems to be counting on being both with you and a JW in good standing. Not too likely. Religious differences don't have to destroy a family, but few religions are as demanding of heart, body, mind, money, time, and energy as the WTS seems to be.

My question is: What about when the children come? Will you be able to tolerate seeing her indoctrinate your children into her JW religion? If you say now that she would never do that, how can you be sure? Having children has a way of focusing people's core values. The religious-minded parent will resolve to pass those on to the children, no matter what previous promises have been made to the other spouse.

My concern is always for the children. This might seem like a far-off problem for you, but it might be right around the corner. This is one issue you cannot afford to pass off as "I'll think about it tomorrow" material.

You say YOU will never be a JW. And you say she won't pressure you to become one. Will she make a promise never to give her children JW teachings?

And if you can extract such a promise from her, will she keep that promise when the children come?

Susan

8

I think this ILLUSTRATION is Powerful

by xjwms in

jw
friends

so in the background i am listening to zig ziglar.

keeping in the spirit of maintaining a positive attitude.

here goes.... you finally have the money to build your dream house.

SusanHere

Perhaps the architect was at fault for his original concept being flawed, but wouldn't also the builder be partly at fault for continuing to perpetuate the errors of the architect? Wouldn't a master builder be able to read the plans well enough to realize there might be problems?

And couldn't a shady builder cut corners, looking out for himself rather than his client, and in this way make minor flaws into major ones?

So to me everyone involved with the design and construction would be at fault.

Likewise, an organization (such as a religion) might be flawed from its very beginning, but those who continue to perpetuate those flaws and force-feed the errors to other innocent, unsuspecting people, must also share in the blame for the harm done.

Susan