Posts by SYN

26

Twisted Life

by Mysterygirl in

i just thought that i would share my life as a jw.

i was born into this cult in 1973. i was born as a hermaphodite (both sexes) this was of great shock to my parents, apparently the confided in one of the elders asking him what thay should do?

his respones was that i should be made male (the doctors at the time said i should be female) my parent took the avice of the elder and i was the made to be a male.. as i was growing up i beged my parents to allow me to be the person that god had wanted me to be but the elders kept reasuring me and my parent that god wanted me to be a male so that i could one day be a elder or s/overser.. in my teen years it became very apparent that my parents had made a mistake as i would act in a very female way.

SYN

Hi,

Reading your story was absolutely horrific - you really ran the whole gamut, from Elders who think they can play god, to gender reassignment, to a brilliant expose of exactly what the roles of the different genders are in the Society. (And the bigotry involved!)

It takes a lot of guts to tell people about stuff like this, but I think that with your testimony, you could really take this a lot further. In fact, someone like you is exactly what the Watchtower doesn't need right now...someone with a horrific tale to tell...remember, the job of the Watchtower is to SILENCE everyone like you.

Don't let that happen.

Hoping things go better for you in future (it's YOUR future now),

[SYN]

18

Question.....There's this huge fire in your residence.........

by ScoobySnax in

jw
friends

.

you can grab one thing.. before you start.....all your family, kids dogs cats pets are safe....... what would you grab from the burning flames, big "f" off flames....... just one object.....and forget about the family photo album, aunt fanny already grabbed that.....(and the camcorder)....... think hard, what one item/ object would you grab....... scoob (of the ask a silly question class)..... well don't just sit there!

.....what???.

SYN

My computer!!!

Or, more likely, my CDRs with all my backups on them.

129

JWD maps - Where are you?

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

due to a problem with the server i was using for the maps i have had to move them so we can still have access to them and post them here.

so if you were wondering where we are from.

or how close you are to other jwd posters in your area just take a look.. ballistic has done an amazing job with the map of the uk you can find it at .

SYN

Hi Lady Lee,

On your map of Australia, Canberra is "Canberry"! Just a heads-up...

20

1993 Circuit Assembly Demonstration that Involved "The Firm" (1993)

by FirstInLine in

i remember in 1993 at one of the circuit conventions that they did a drama in which a young adult woman living with her parents was going to go see "the firm" (1993) with some other young adult jws.

when she told her parents of her plans they expressed their concerns and she pleaded that sometimes a really good movie is ok to go see if it is rated r. she heard from reliable sources that there wasnt anything really bad with it like gratuitous sex, drugs or demonic themes.

in the end her parents convinced her that jehovah would still not approve because it was rated r. she was reminded that even worldly people recognize it is a bad movie because they are the ones that gave it the r rating.

SYN

This stuff really just makes me sick to my stomach.

By doing this, they're essentially insinuating that we, the Sheep, were so impressionable and innocent and vulnerable that seeing ONE MOVIE or listening to ONE SONG could totally screw with our relationship with Jehovah!

What kind of a word is "relationship" in a Godly context, anyway? Let's find out:

Noun: Relationship: A state involving mutual dealings between people or parties or countries

Mutual dealings? What the fark is mutual about prayer? In reality, prayer is a lot like sending UDP packets across the Internet - you never know if they've reached their destination. Of course, sometimes the other computer will send back it's own UDP packets, and that's what makes it work, so this is in fact the worst possible example to use to illustrate the average human's relationship with Jehover, because, to the best of my knowledge, no reputable evidence exists of Jehover replying.

Whoops, probably offended half the board with that last paragraph. But isn't that what's really going on? We've been DUPED! Well, you can't please all the people all the time, unless you're a porn star!

Back to the topic.Yeah, Witnesses take immense pleasure in telling each other that this song or that movie is "bad", using an entirely arbitrary classification scale. But God help you if you do go and watch that movie! Satan is using it to enter your mind, y'know!

The funny thing is that anyone who ever questions the Godly authority of the Governing Body is instantly DF'ed. In fact, word has it that a number of confrontations between members of this board and the Elders have involved the Elders asking the posters whether they still believed that the Faithful and Discreet Slave (what a ridiculous name) were God's chosen channel. You'd think that there would be some sort of peer review process, the same sort that helps scientists to check each other's results and make sure that the other scientists wasn't fooling around or fudging the numbers to get better funding.

Do the Witnesses have this facility? NOPE! If you don't like your leaders, you can go jump in the lake! And make sure it's one of those really cold Norwegian ones where you have to hack through two feet of ice to get into it first!

No, what this comes down to is a bunch of people who think that they can determine what other people should watch (cf. many totalitarian governments, e.g. China) and listen to. However, nobody is allowed to tell them what to do! Oh no! That would be blasphemy!

My God, I'm getting all worked up about the doings of a bunch of eight guys in Manhattan. It ain't fair! I should be out playing football or something, but here I am...grrr...well, I enjoy it. It's a relief.

Regards,
[SYN]

7

Short fiction Altered Reality

by Thunder Rider in

jw
friends

here is anew short story i wrote at a workshop lastweek.

it got some pretty goodreviews.

altered reality piece .

SYN

Hi ThunderRider,

I enjoyed it, but have one small question: how does a fire start in a coffin 6 feet under the ground?

Regards,
[SYN]

9

I Thought Mel Gibson Was Going To Be Jesus...

by SYN in

whoooops!.

i'd been getting all geared up to go and watch the passion of the christ (it's causing enormous waves of journalistic strife, so it has be interesting at the very least...), until i saw the trailer and realized that mel gibson is not, actually, playing jesus.. apparently he's "too old", a friend told me.. now, don't get me wrong, i'm not a massive mel gibson fan (although he was perfect for the role in what women want, i must admit), but i thought it would've been truly surreal and an interesting reflection on popular culture circa 2004 to see mel gibson pretending to be jesus.. other interesting tidbits have surfaced about this movie.

monica bellucci (hope i spelled that right) of matrix: reloaded/revolutions fame is in it, which you might say is a truly powerful incentive to go watch the movie, but she may not be as fun in this role as she was in the matrix.

SYN

Whoooops!

I'd been getting all geared up to go and watch the Passion of the Christ (it's causing enormous waves of journalistic strife, so it has be interesting at the very least...), until I saw the trailer and realized that Mel Gibson is not, actually, playing Jesus.

Apparently he's "too old", a friend told me.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a massive Mel Gibson fan (although he was perfect for the role in What Women Want, I must admit), but I thought it would've been truly surreal and an interesting reflection on popular culture circa 2004 to see Mel Gibson pretending to be Jesus.

Other interesting tidbits have surfaced about this movie. Monica Bellucci (hope I spelled that right) of Matrix: Reloaded/Revolutions fame is in it, which you might say is a truly powerful incentive to go watch the movie, but she may not be as fun in this role as she was in the Matrix. I just don't think they had access to rubber one-piece miniskirts and 9-inch heels during the time of Jesus.

I might add that the trailer was quite impressive, and the film might be worth watching because of the beauty of it's cinematography alone. From what I saw, it looks very gritty, and Miseur Gibson seems to have paid a lot of attention to the finer details of Palestine at the time of Jesus' death.

Now, people on this site might now me as a stringent atheist, the kind of person who stands on hilltops in lightning storms dressed in wet copper armour and shouts "Come get me, God!", so the main reason I'm going to watch this movie on Wednesday night isn't because I'm religious, but because I'm interested to see what Jesus looks like through the filter of 21st century filmmaking.

Regards,
[SYN]
What Jesus Wants Class

8

The very thought is hilarious

by logansrun in

.

jehovah's witnesses and other fundy groups think the world has evil in it because of .

think about that next time you need a good laugh.

SYN

These invisible men (or other types of creatures...e.g. invisible ant-eaters) have affected even the staunchest of athiests! Think about it! For example, if you live in a Western culture (i.e. most of this board) to get married, you have to do it according to the way an invisible MAN (who nobody has any scientifically repeatable proof of) "said" you should!

Yup, it's pretty said, but what can you do? You might as well try to fight against human sexuality or try not to breathe...

51

"The Four Presidents of the Watchtower Society"

by RR in

jw
friends

this is the new book edited by edmund gruss.

i just finished reading it and must say a one word description would be "disturbing".

the book focuses of course on the characters and motivations of the first four presidents of the watchtower society.

SYN

Family_Man, I used to live in Johannesburg, South Africa, until only a few weeks ago, and the arrangement over there when I left a couple of years ago was definitely a direct sales relationship - if you wanted literature, you had to PAY the guy at the counter for the exact value of the literature. We even had to pay for tracts, although they were only a few cents each!

However, I agree with most on this thread that the main market for the Tower's literature is not people in the field, but the PUBLISHERS! Think about it - even if Johnny M. Publisher doesn't sell the four Watchtowers he buys every month in the Field, the actual money that he paid for them will still get to the Society.

This doesn't mean that the Tower is enjoying a perfect commercial relationship with the Publishers. Bethel and all of the other printing shops the Society runs are not cheap to operate by any means - this is why they're currently downsizing and amortizing their printing operations, to cut out the fat and leave only lean meat. They're even rumoured to be selling very valuable property in Manhattan.

Don't forget that the Governing Body, whilst not technically living in drug-lord Fifth Avenue penthouse suites, still wear very expensive tailored suits, have a private plane (the real purpose and utility of which has never been brought to light for the average publisher...in fact, the very existence of this plane is not known to more than a handful of Witnesses...surprise surprise!), and so forth.

Only an IRS audit could ever really uncover (possibly) how much money these guys have, and what they're doing with it. My personal feeling is that as of this moment, the Tower isn't exactly highly profitable...but they're still making money, nonetheless...

Regards,
[SYN]
Follow The Money Class

15

Will the Human Race B able 2 feed itself in future?

by badboy in

jw
friends

.

i understand that enough topsoil is lost from an area sufficent 2 feed europe population in a year.. at the rate soil degradation is happening,do u think the human will b able 2 feed itself in the future?

SYN

Hi,

In a couple of decades (and possibly sooner), soil degradation is going to be the least of our worries.

What use is soil if you don't have the energy (i.e. petroleum) you need to get your crops to market?

16

Letter to all congregations Feb 18, 2004

by Puternut in

to all congregations of jehovah's witnesses feb 18, 2004. .

re: important changes and announcements.

dear brothers,.

SYN

Good work, almost had me going for a while there, but they're far too proud and haughty (and self-righteous) to EVER do something that low...