TheRedPill

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Posts by TheRedPill

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  8

  Let's have a Hawaiian Luau!!!

  by TheRedPill in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i ran across an interesting disclaimer in the june 8, 2002 awake.

  there is an article in there titled "let's have a hawaiian luau.

  " the first paragraph says that "millions of visitors come to hawaii to...take part in our world famous luau, or hawaiian feast.*".

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  TheRedPill

  I ran across an interesting disclaimer in the June 8, 2002 Awake. There is an article in there titled "Let's have a Hawaiian Luau." The first paragraph says that "millions of visitors come to Hawaii to...take part in our world famous luau, or Hawaiian feast.*"
  The asterisk is followed, at the bottom of the page, by the following disclaimer: "Although the luau may originally have had some connection with false religious practices, the word has simply come to refer to a Hawaiian banquet. Many Christians may therefore conscientiously feel that they can participate."

  Do you think that we will see the same disclaimer in this years issue about Christmas?

  An article on the internet says, "In early Hawaii, it was the custom of its people to celebrate auspicious occasions with a feast. Whether it was the birth of a child, a victorious war, a successful harvest or the completion of a new home or canoe, the Hawaiians took time to honor their many Gods and to share their bounty with friends and family."
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  8

  The humour of Ray Franz

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm always dipping into c of c and 'freedom'.. in crisis of conscience, ray examines the oral sex issue in some detail.

  he candidly says that this practise did not meet his personal standards but that he was troubled in voting with the majority to enforce a ban on 'rank & file' jw's.. many of these wrote in to the society to question, in ray's words; the scriptural basis for the governing body members inserting themselves into the private lives of others in such a way.... okay, maybe it's just my juvenile mind but it made me chuckle!.

  nic'

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  TheRedPill

  C'mon you guys, suck it up now. You really should get beyond the words and try to dive into the real meat of the issue!!
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  25

  Please Be Seated

  by MoeJoJoJo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  remember those signs the brothers used to carry around the conventions in the corridors during the sessions?

  "quiet please".

  "please be seated".

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  TheRedPill

  No Thinking Please!
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  25

  BEFORE YOU LEFT......

  by In_between_days in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  another question.. this one is for all those that began doubting the organisation when they were an obedient jw.. although i am sure you rarely shared it with anyone, what was the one problem you had with a certain jw only doctrine?.

  what i mean is, what little gremlins lurked at the back of your mind?

  what were the doubts that you kept hidden and what made you finally act on them?.

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  TheRedPill

  Two things gave me a lot of trouble...The first was the 144,000 teaching. It struck me as odd that everything else in the scriptures around the "supporting" verses was figurative, and yet the number was literal. I also couldn't find the asterisk to indicate the exception to the rule the those who put faith in Christ would be his "brothers." I assume there is an asterisk since only the 144,000 are his brothers. (sigh)
  The second thing was more personal. I found abuse of power by some of the elders in every congregation I went to. I wondered how abusive men were "appointed by holy spirit." Doubting their authority on a local level led to doubting the GB's authority on every level.
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  7

  "Be Obedient...Be Submissive"

  by William Penwell in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the march 15, 2002 study article of the watchtower says about submitting yourself to the spirit appointed authority of the congregation elders.

  it says in paragraph 11,. our leader is perfect.

  the men he has given as gifts are not.

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  TheRedPill

  This has always bothered me. I have also wondered why the "holy spirit" appoints elders who are abusive to their families and/or the congregation. If they are truly "appointed" then it would seem that you can fool the holy spirit by attending enough meetings and keeping up with the national average in field service. Seems pretty easy.
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  89

  What does everyone here DO anyway?

  by In_between_days in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi everyone,.

  i am a new poster who is putting off their own personal story of finding this site for a while..... i find alot of people here utterly fascinating, and would like to know..... exactly what is everyones professional field of work?.

  i would like to be a full time poster on this forum, but alas, the $$$$ are quite light in that field of work.. apologies if this has been asked before.. just curious.

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  TheRedPill

  I chose two closely related careers. Massage therapy and Mortgage broker.
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  37

  If you were wrong about the truth, what else?

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what effect has having a whole section of your life proved to be a falsehood had on you?.

  anybody that has been a witness will understand the time, effort, comitment and money that it took to be a member.

  the way it dominated our lives, affected every decision we made and shaped our future.. some have left and turned to other faiths and some (like myself) have lost all religious faith (and i make no appology for that).

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  TheRedPill

  ps -- how do you paste a quote directly from another post?
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  37

  If you were wrong about the truth, what else?

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what effect has having a whole section of your life proved to be a falsehood had on you?.

  anybody that has been a witness will understand the time, effort, comitment and money that it took to be a member.

  the way it dominated our lives, affected every decision we made and shaped our future.. some have left and turned to other faiths and some (like myself) have lost all religious faith (and i make no appology for that).

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  TheRedPill

  Hi Hillary!
  Thank you for the post.

  Quote: "What is fascinating is that right throughout history, cutting across all cultures and belief systems there were those who revolted, both culturally and spiritually, against the norm of the day and seemed form an internal reaction, to buck the trend. Murder and stealing, though very common in history, has always been viewed as a heinous crime by most cultures."

  I agree that, many times through history, those who were able to think outside the box of what was considered “normal” have helped mankind progress. The point of thinking for yourself, or proving an idea to yourself is very important. Many people on this site obviously believe that thinking outside the JW box was critical to their personal growth.

  I may have gotten a little sidetracked with my last post. I was wondering if being “open-minded” is the same as not believing in right or wrong. Does allowing yourself to believe in everything in general, but nothing in particular harm you or hurt you?
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  37

  If you were wrong about the truth, what else?

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what effect has having a whole section of your life proved to be a falsehood had on you?.

  anybody that has been a witness will understand the time, effort, comitment and money that it took to be a member.

  the way it dominated our lives, affected every decision we made and shaped our future.. some have left and turned to other faiths and some (like myself) have lost all religious faith (and i make no appology for that).

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  TheRedPill

  At what point, though, does open-mindedness end? Does being open-minded mean that there are no rules to how we live out life? I wonder what we should base the ground rules of our life on. I think everyone agrees that if it doesn't hurt anyone than it is ok. How do you know that if what you believe is ok, or doesn't hurt anyone now, will be viewed as ok in the future? Do we answer to anyone for our actions? Where do you feel that does allowing someone their beliefs crosses the line into "wrong?"

  I am reading an interesting book right now called "Shouting Fire" by Alan Dershowitz. He brings out some striking examples of things that were ok in the past that we now view as heinous crimes...e.g. slavery. There was a time when some felt that slavery was not only ok, but that it was good for the slaves themselves, and supported by God and the Bible. No one will say that it is ok now.

  I guess I base my belief in God partly on the fact that I believe that we have to answer to someone, at some point, for our actions. I feel that there must be some higher power, "in the know," that is keeping track of how we live our lives.
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  37

  If you were wrong about the truth, what else?

  by ballistic in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what effect has having a whole section of your life proved to be a falsehood had on you?.

  anybody that has been a witness will understand the time, effort, comitment and money that it took to be a member.

  the way it dominated our lives, affected every decision we made and shaped our future.. some have left and turned to other faiths and some (like myself) have lost all religious faith (and i make no appology for that).

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  TheRedPill

  This is my first post, I hope it makes sense.
  The view that I had as a JW, and the view that I think is rather prevalent in the organization, is that the JW's are God's Organization and therefore Organization = God. After realizing that organization is false, I struggled with whether God was false. As someone said in an earlier post, we all go through stages and I have past the "there is no God" stage. Now I believe in God, I am just more careful about how quickly I discount the way that others believe in God. For instance, if I was born in India I would be taught to reject Christianity just as quickly as I was taught to reject Hinduism because I was born here. So, if we all have to be Christian to be acceptable to God, what about all those people in India whose parents taught them to reject Christianity? I find it hard to believe that God just writes them off. I also wonder, if Christianity is the only way, why did God pick the most selfish, me-first, materialistic society in the world to be the vehicle for the one true religious faith? That is the type of questions that I struggle with in the stage that I am currently in. I am certain, however, that God will help all of us to work through all of these stages in our search for the real "Truth."