Posts by Thirdson

15

1914: A lucky guess? Or divine inspiration?

by Gopher in

we know the wt society has a long history of prophecies, especially regarding dates.

almost 100% of such prophecy was in error.. it seems though, that they got a date right by foretelling that 1914 would be "the end of the world as we know it".

yes, they changed the meaning of 1914 several times.

Thirdson

I wouldn't even say that 1914 was a lucky guess. Russell identified lots of dates and so did Watchtower writers after him. The fact is every decade has at least one defining moment so predicting something special isn't hard even Russell hedged his bets with 1915.

1929, 1933, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1957, 1961, 1969, are some notable years in human history for one reason or another but you could add lots of other years for other reasons too. If the world changed in 1914 did it change again in 2001?

Thirdson

42

Personality Survey

by ninjaturtle in

jw
friends

what's your personality type?

take this test if you're not sure:.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp.

Thirdson

39 39 17 56
E N T J

ENTJ type description by D.Keirsey

moderately expressed extrovert

moderately expressed intuitive personality

slightly expressed thinking personality

moderately expressed judging personality

I did this test at work a year ago and scored similar.

We have a group bias as well. It was Introvert
until I joined but I tipped the balance to extrovert. Seems everyone thinks were are an extroverted group now.

THirdson

17

Emptying the cupboards of litter-ature?

by Marilyn in

jw
friends

i'm wondering how many of you took a while to gather up the courage to dispose of your cupboard loads of watchtowers and awakes, that you'd stored away for........safe keeping????.

we probably hung on to ours for a few months and then we burned them.

there was a tinge of apprehension about it, but it was generally a very satisfying activity.

Thirdson

I got rid of a lot of my stuff while I was still a JW. I dumped a load of books and all my bound and bindered magazines. An elder in a neighboring congregation took some or my collection. I had to ship (literally) all my personal belongings and I felt my road and mountain bikes were more important than 1970s Awakes. Anyway, I expected to get everything on CD-ROM. Not quite, but some extremely kind and generous people on this board freely gave me some replacements for items not available on the CD.

My parents still have a box of my personal belongings in their attic. It includes a copy of Riches(the book with a bare breasted Eve and a four legged snake) which I should retrieve someday along with my 1960's stamp collection.

Thirdson

28

Who Draws The Line and Why?

by hillary_step in

jw
friends

i wish to present three situations that are true to life and open up a discussion on these different scenarios and how would would personally act toward them.. 1) a 75 year old person has been a jw for the past 40 years.

most of their friends are jws.

they look forward to the fellowship at the meetings and though the congregation is far from perfect, they are pleased with the fact that they have a purpose in life.

Thirdson

HS,

Every situation has its own set of circumstances so there is no right or wrong answer to this. I would make these comments.

1. Just because you are old doesn't mean you don't deserve to know the truth. Just because you are old doesn't mean that only JWs can provide a satisfying hope. Just becuase you are old doesn't mean you can't make new friends. There are examples of long-time JWs who have quit the org. There are also plenty of stories of old timers who have been abandoned by JWs.

2. Are JWs the only religious group that makes house-bound people part of their community?

3. Are JWs the only religious group that can get people to turn their lives around. Does finding the truth out about JWs destroy families, break up marriages and turn reformed prostitutes back to their previous lives?

I think in all senarios you could answer that they deserve to know the truth about their religion. Even then it doesn't mean that they will change their belief or viewpoint.

Thirdson

12

David Icke's site on JW Mind Contol

by Lindy in

jw
friends

has anyone seen this site about mind control and jehovah's witnesses?

great stuff!

of course, i find david iche and any of his sites anything but boring.. http://www.davidicke.net/mindcontrol/subliminal/jw/sjw091900.html.

Thirdson

Lindy,

I kid you not, Icke has been favorite fare for British Tabloids for a long time. I couldn't remember much, although I knew he was a prominent spokesman for the "Greens" and they suddenly distanced themselves from Icke when he claimed he was the son of God.

A quick search of the Internet will result in a great deal. Here's and extract from one:

The article singled out David Icke, the former Coventry City goalkeeper and BBC sports commentator whose public declaration in 1990 that he was a son of God, and henceforth would dress only in turquoise, furnished the media with perhaps the most hilarious news story of the year. Well, you can stop laughing, said Kalman and Murray: for in the course of his eccentric spiritual pilgrimage, David Icke has turned into a fully fledged New Age Nazi.

{ http://www.kingston.ac.uk/cusp/Lectures/Thompson.htm

I hope that helps and puts some perspective on our messianic green-shirted goalie friend.

Thirdson

12

David Icke's site on JW Mind Contol

by Lindy in

jw
friends

has anyone seen this site about mind control and jehovah's witnesses?

great stuff!

of course, i find david iche and any of his sites anything but boring.. http://www.davidicke.net/mindcontrol/subliminal/jw/sjw091900.html.

Thirdson

Some of us knew David Icke when he used to anchor BBC TV Saturday afternoon sports. (He was a former soccer player) That was before he joined the Green party and before he declared himself the Messiah. He was good as a sports anchor though.

Thirdson

22

McDonalds Prohibited?

by DakotaRed in

jw
friends

given how the org went after tobacco in the late sixties, resulting in it's total prohibition in the early seventies, based on the health communities claims of how bad it was destroying the body (a claim not disputed by me) and how they made it a disfellowshipping offense to smoke, chew or otherwise use tobacco, i wonder if they will now ban eating at mcdonalds?.

there is a group out there of health professionals (or claimed) that wish to heavily tax mcdonalds and other so called junk food places.

the taxes would be used to treat all the millions of people who are afflicted with the dreaded disease of obesity and to combat the rising costs of treating these poor misguided individuals that have been led astray, thinking they were getting healthy food at the loacl greasy pits.. will the elders start smelling everyone's breath upon entry to the kingdom halls for tell tale signs of mustard and pickles?

Thirdson

Funny you should mention this. On Saturday we went to MacDonalds since my son requested and it had been a while. While waiting at stop lights to pull in to McDs I noticed the 4 door sedan behind was occupied by a middled-aged man in suit and tie and a young man, (maybe his son) wearing a white dress shirt without tie.

I thought, is this a post field-service treat? The kid might have taken off his tie so as not to look like a total dork, after all, who wears a tie during the week let alone on a Saturday?

OK, I invented this whole life-story for the odd couple in the grey Oldsmobile. I was disappointed that they went through the drive-through while we ate inside. I was hoping to eavesdrop and maybe cadge a Watchtower if my instinct was right.

Poor kid, made to wear a tie on Saturday; don't ban MacDonalds, it might be the only thing that makes being a JW bearable.

Thirdson

39

Being a JW Kid

by Scully in

jw
friends

i've always felt that the adult jws got off pretty easily compared to jw kids.. for instance: .

my dad went to work, and didn't bother his co-workers with jw stuff.

it wasn't allowed.

Thirdson

Thanks for this. You are right about what JW kids have to go through each day. While adult JWs in the work place rarely had issues with conflicting belief situations kids at school faced them nearly everyday. Morning assembly to stay out of for one. I cannot remember the amount of times I was asked “why?”. Then you had birthdays, Easter, Christmas, Halloween, Harvest Festival, Evolution, and Religious Education, not to mention national holidays and remembrances. However, I never had many problems with teachers (other than Biology...I dropped it in High School and went back to it later in college once I wasn't so Dubbish) and I think standards of teacher behavior has improved.

We were discussing my son's elementary school while driving past. He made a critical remark, ('cause middle school is so much better). I said, “the principal there was the nicest and kindest head teacher I had ever met.” I had spent an hour touring the school with him and I saw that in both the way he treated the kids and they way they interacted with him. I then related the time when I was in 2nd grade (7-8 yrs old). The principal returned with a kid from class and beat him mercilessly with a sneaker. He boasted that the kid screamed in his office but I guess, that after 40 blows, his buttocks were too numb to feel anymore pain. I told my son he was lucky to have the teachers he has today. With a school like that and being a JW on top its a wonder I didn't grow up to be even crazier than I sometimes think I am.

13

Tell Old School Friends That You've Left?

by Englishman in

jw
friends

some of the uk national newspapers have been referring to the web-site at http://friendsreunited.co.uk/, where thousands and thousands of brits have been getting back in touch with old school friends.. just out of curiosity i decided to take a peek.

well, i was stunned.

many long-forgotten class-mates had my mind leaping back to the early 60s, particularly when they mentioned the weird nicknames that we had given to our teachers.. the french master, froggy fleuriot, mousy mclaughlan with his rats teeth, bummer burrell well, i will leave that one to your imagination.

Thirdson

Using FR.co.uk I have managed to track down quite a few poeple. The best and most recent is a friend I have known since I was 5 years old. I last saw him 20 years ago. He joined the Royal Air Force and I lost track of him. I have managed to get in touch and we have exchanged some e-mail. He gets a detachment to the US this year and I hope we get a chance to meet up.

On the other hand, a person I knew in the same grade as me at high school and a JW has recently joined the site. There are only 20 odd people listed for our graduation year, me among them. She hasn't got in touch, I wonder why . It seems old high friends are OK but ex-dubs like me are a no-no. News must have crossed the Atlantic.

Thirdson

17

Stephen Bates - Guardian Article

by anglise in

jw
friends

i have a scanned copy of a new article in the guardian newspaper (26th jan 02), written by stephen bates.. if anyone would like a copy, please shout!!.

anglise

Thirdson

Anglise,

Thanks for this and thank you Stephen Bates for again extracting the truth from the Watchtower smoke.

Would you add me to mail list for the scanned copy, please.

[email protected]

Thirdson