scratchme1010

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Posts by scratchme1010

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  37

  Despite their false predictions aren't the JWs right? Won't the world eventually end & Paradise come?

  by deegee in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  aren't there christian denominations who do not make false end of the world predictions but who nevertheless believe that the world will eventually end and paradise (whether in heaven or on earth) will come?.

  it seems the watchtower was just jumping the gun when they made false end of the world predictions but they are nevertheless the right: the world will eventually end and paradise will come..

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  scratchme1010

  Despite their false predictions aren't the JWs right?
  

  No.

  Won't the world eventually end & Paradise come?

  No.
  
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  6

  Elders and CO visit to your home ... Let's Be More CREATIVE !!!

  by RubaDub in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  come on people, there can be a lot more interesting ways of handling the elder and co visits to your home than stated in some other threads.

  i will give some here but want your input.. for example:.

  -- if the elders/co want to visit, graciously offer them to come on your family worship night.

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  scratchme1010

  Love it. When they visited me to talk about my homosexual tendencies (their words; I don't tend to be homosexual, I ma homosexual), I put up such a show, pretending to be crying and in a crisis. Then I suddenly stopped, smiled and said, "nice try".
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  24

  devil question

  by Carol1111 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i had a discussion with 4 jws today and they told me that jesus could not be tempted, ( they say that he would not be perfect if he could) but also they told me that satan tempted jesus in the wilderness.. can anyone clarify their beliefs please.

  i like to give them a reasoned argument when i talk to them, but have never noticed this conflict of ideas before..

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  scratchme1010

  I had a discussion with 4 JWs today and they told me that Jesus could not be tempted, ( they say that he would not be perfect if he could) but also they told me that Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness.

  Can anyone clarify their beliefs please. I like to give them a reasoned argument when I talk to them, but have never noticed this conflict of ideas before.
  

  My believes are that the existence of such "Satan" is worse than the idea of the existence of a God as per atheists. The concept of such being (a) is too convenient, a contrived way of explaining and blaming everything that goes wrong, doesn't make sense or is untrue. The concept of Satan is just a cop out. (b) makes less sense than the concept of Adam/Eve as per the Bible itself.

  First, is that being is supposed to be the way the Bible describes it, Satan is 1,000 morally better than the paranoid, childish, bipolar schizophrenic Jehovah of the Bible. When you look at the behavior of both, seems like Satan even has better manners than Jehovah.

  Second, calling "absolute justice" to letting people be/live and suffer for millennia the way they have simply for Jehovah make a point that he's being fair about that Satan thing doesn't look like justice at all from any angle you look at.

  As for Jesus being "tempted" in the wilderness, that just reminds me of gay men in central park. That's how relevant that is.
  
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  41

  Kingdumb songs, will they someday make the top 25 Religious Hymns???

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  amazing grace have been around since 1779, how great thou art 1885,holy holy holy 1826, be thou my vision (ireland) 6th century, all creatures of god and king (italy)1225. so you think one day we will hear a kingdumb song playing over the radio.

  you would think surely jehovah want the world to be familiar with his hymns.... maybe they have instructed the rf to only sing their songs in the kh, only for special folks..

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  scratchme1010

  Kingdumb songs, will they someday make the top 25 Religious Hymns???

  No.
  
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  8

  I want the Jehovah that celebrates Christmas

  by Anony Mous in

  1. social
  2. family

  't is the season and my oldest is now 5 (and in school), it's also how long i've been 'out'.

  i just wanted to share this story about my daughter.

  you can find some of my history on these forums as well.. in the mean time, i've started a new family, i have shared custody (half the weekdays and every other weekend) with my oldest and my youngest is 2 and we are celebrating christmas.

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  scratchme1010

  After service, we are driving, we ask "did you learn anything today". She says "I learned about Jehovah and Jesus" <silence>. "Oh really, I didn't think they would call it Jehovah". She goes "No, that's with mommy, I learned about Christmas trolls" and she goes on and recites an entire story about trolls.
  

  That alone makes the entire thing worth it. Thank you for sharing.
  
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  12

  Learning from History

  by no-zombie in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i was reading the book 'five stages of collapse' by dmitry orlov, which discussed in part, people's attitudes toward the probability of societal collapse.

  one group of people, those who dispassionately examine facts, like scientists, engineers and accountants ultimately become diametrically opposed to the group of people with vested emotional interests, like politicians, businessmen and economists.

  and he made some interesting comments that parallel our situation when we consider how people are polarized over the future of the organization..

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  scratchme1010

  Can we see the parallel with the Organization? Even by using the very rubbery figures issued in the annual report, it is clear that it’s past its peak. The age demographics of the average Witness, the lack of fiscal income, the increasingly hostile environment due to the child abuse and blood transfusion issues is has created and the incredibly naive and insulated Governing Body, all show that the Society … re-branded or not … is not going to last.
  

  Hmmm, not sure if what the book mentions applies to the WT Society. First and foremost, again, the WT is not longer relying in its brand, nor in its people, nor in literature publishing, nor in people preaching. Once again, the WT IS IN THE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS. It's not on the verge of collapsing. It is a thriving, solid real estate business. They got gazillions of dollars to start their real estate kiosk when all KHs were turned over to them FOR FREE.

  The re-branding is just another smoke cloud and way of entertaining their crop from all the thing around child abuse (which they are handling beautifully since very little amount of JWs are leaving because of it) and the fact that they have a real estate business.
  
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  12

  We need a more tolerant community to conform in.

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a witness i now realise how little control we really had over our life.

  therefore naturally upon leaving everything became less certain.

  this is because really leaving only happened when i let go of that past.

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  scratchme1010

  That's such a great post. It's real freedom fro all the rules, the fear, and all those things simply to buy into a false sense of security. Certainty about the future is one of the main reasons many people become a JW. The price for it is quite steep.

  I always had a problem with the concept of spending this life preparing for the next, but never thought of your words about letting go of the past. Interesting thoughts. Thank you.
  
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  7

  The less savoury content of the bible!

  by Thisismein1972 in

  1. social
  2. humour

  i just found this on youtube.

  it's actually really funny.

  enjoy.

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  scratchme1010

  I wonder why they left out the story of Lot, you know, the one that they love to talk about Sodom and Gomorrah to attack gay people. Of course, conveniently they tend to forget that in the same story Lot gets not one, but his two own daughters pregnant.

  And they use that story to impose certain morals against gay people.

  Cute.
  
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  11

  So I bought a Harold Camping book.

  by schnell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  https://www.amazon.com/1994-harold-camping/dp/0533103681.

  i found this at goodwill along with volume 2 of the mahabharata.

  call me eclectic.. i first learned about camping in 2011, when i saw his ridiculous billboard on i-8 in san diego about the world ending that december.

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  scratchme1010

  Many professionals who study religion, cults and similar group dynamics, agree that many of the groups that tend to disband or end soon are the ones that predict the ent of the world and the ones who are based on recovery from addictions.

  The first one is obvious, as the date where they predict always tend to be in the near future (to appeal to a sense of urgency), and then the date comes and goes and nothing happens. Hence, the group disbands. The WT has been excellent at keeping the date vague and at talking themselves out of a given general date.

  The groups based on recovery from drugs die down because a second generation, that is the born-in have never been addicted nor have experienced any of the consequences of addiction. Therefore, they don't see why they should be recovering from something they never experienced.
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  26

  Xmas / New Year - Time to Review Your Finances

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. family

  it's that time of the year again, when most people spend too much buying too much crap for people .... it's also a good time to take advantage of the few days off to look at your finances and make sure you're not being "gouged" by the big companies that, well, like to extract as much money from people as possible.. for us, one of the biggest culprits was telecoms.. think about it: years ago you just had to buy a tv and probably paid to have a phone line.

  nowadays you have cell phones for everyone in the family and a million and one tv channels (all showing crap or repeats of crap) and extra for movies and pay-per-view.

  you can easily be paying hundreds of dollars per month.. it can all add up, quickly.

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  scratchme1010

  Anyone else have any money-saving tips?
  

  I love your money saving tips. I think they are practical and realistic, based on the actual way people live. Many times I see people talking about canceling services and IMO that's not realistic since it's pretty much something that people want/need to have.

  So I guess my tip is have a nice attitude about money and be realistic about the lifestyle you want/can have vs an attitude of complacency and/or keeping up with the joneses.

  Money is to be respected, and it also has to flow for it to grow. The right attitude about money and the business part of life is something that I as an ex-JW had to learn.

  Prepare, save and plan for retirement

  Increase credit car payments; use debit when possible

  Pay your student loans, avoid defaulting on them and use the advantage of disbursement if/when necessary, but pay them off.

  When it comes to technology and electronics, it's not wise to have the absolute latest (ask anyone who went ahead and got a Samsung Note S7)

  Buy clothing that can be reused (ass opposed to trendy clothes that go out of style in three months)

  Save to buy a house instead of renting

  Stop credit diarrhea and borrowing money

  A trip to the mall doesn't have to involve a large latte and other things that people normally don't plan to spend additional money on

  Keep track of your expenses for one or two months, record every penny spent; that can give you a realistic idea of what your actual budget should be (You'll be surprised!)