Borean Pickets had an interesting article on the subject of whether or not Adam was created perfect or sinless:
Posts by Sevan
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15What the Org Teaches #4 There Are Two Ways to Get Sins Wiped Out
by The Searcher in#4 there are two ways to get sins wiped outthe following five scriptures lay the foundation stone of christianity, namely, that christ died for people's sins.
virtually every christian denomination on earth accepts these bible statements without question: .
(matthew 26:28) "....this means my ‘blood of the covenant,’ which is to be poured out in behalf of many for forgiveness of sins.
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37
Just a little anecdote illustrating how out of touch the typical JW is
by sir82 inthis weeks book study lesson was on martha, the sister of lazarus.
the chapter in the "imitate their faith" book praised her for being "industrious".. the conductor at our congregation meeting was just positively gushing about how "industrious" modern-day jw women are.. he was so exciting, he could barely get the words out.
following is not an exact quote, but conveys the gist:.
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Sevan
Yeah, one of the elders in our hall that is harassing me to meet with the brothers right now is always making sexist remarks about women and putting his wife down in service. He is a total self-righteous misogynistic douche. But he's wealthy and been an elder for decades, so in other words high status and untouchable.
This is the same guy that harassed and excessively criticized me for going to University. He actually said to me, "why don't you just start a business?" Ummm, maybe because my parents are dirt poor and can't give me tens of thousands of dollars to start a business like your dad did for you?
Just clueless.
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Can JWs Use Corporal Punishment On Their Children?
by minimus incan a parent slap or use a "rod of discipline" on their kids?
i know it's politically incorrect and perhaps illegal, but is it a personal decision based upon the scriptures or is it taboo these days?.
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Sevan
All I know is this:
I live in the US and spanking/smacking still occurs regularly in the hall.
Funny thing is, I have never spanked or been physical with my 3 kids and they're the best behaved in the hall. I don't ever yell or raise my voice with them either. I was severely abused as a child in every way and I am not about to keep that cycle going. Just goes to show that you don't need to be harsh to get compliance. Explain, praise and reward is my method.
Sick thing is, the parents, especially with position in the congregation, expect perfect behavior of little children during extremely boring meetings. Then lose their minds when their kids act out a little.
When my kids were little, they got to draw, sit on my lap or sleep at the meeting and then got candy/ice cream afterward. If they got too fidgety, I'd take them for a walk outside, let them get out some of that energy. Parents run into problems because they don't let anything slide and expect behavior that isn't age appropriate. This whole problem would be solved if the JWs would just have age-appropriate classes for the kids instead of making them sit through the adult meetings. When I was growing up, I went to Sunday school and it was great. But I digress.
Anyway, I just stopped going to meetings recently. When I was going, there was an elder that would beat his little 2 and 3 year old daughters for acting up/fidgeting at the meetings, just for doing normal kid stuff. And a single sister that was real bad about this too with her 3 year old. Like seriously, you could hear the sound of the smacking reverberating through the hall, that's how hard they were hitting these kids.
Anyway, I complained multiple times to a couple of other elders because I was worried about these kids, but nothing was ever done. I should have done more, but I didn't want to make waves in the congregation. Never again. If I ever witness a kid being abused like that again, I will make sure that I do everything I can to advocate for that innocent child.
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The Elders want to meet with me and the hubby... Lol lol lol
by Sevan inso the elders called wanting to meet with me and my husband.
most likely because i told a concerned jw friend of mine that i really care about that i wasn't coming back and a couple of the issues i had.
i didn't bring up any so-called "apostate" information, just told her about the australian royal commission and that there are a lot of unscriptural teachings and that the gb apply scriptures that are about jehovah and jesus to themselves, which is idolatry.
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Sevan
Asshole elders can't even spell my name right after 11 years in the same congregation. They just sent my husband a text trying to get him to make me meet with them and they spelled my name wrong. After 11 years of knowing me. Just goes to show how little they care. Fuck those guys. Organization heavies, the lot of them.
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9
Sophia and Caleb videos helped wake me up
by Sevan inso the sophia and caleb videos on jw.org where the parents emotionally abuse their children (especially the sparlock/obey jehovah video and the pay attention at the meetings/death threat video) were real eye openers for me.
previous to these videos, i was able to delude myself that the crazy, unbalanced behavior i noticed in some witness parents was the result of their own mental issues.
now i realize this craziness is being pushed and encouraged from the tippy top, from the grand ole maleficent seven.
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Sevan
Come to think if it, with all the talks, videos and literature that made me mad over the years, all the unbiblical and pharasaical nonsense, it is absolutely amazing I stayed in as long as I did. I just didn't know where else to go.
Tony Morris's "tight pants" talk and the anti critical-thinking talk at the 2012/2013? convention are a couple of the many "holy shit, I think I might be in a cult" moments for me. But the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for me was the shunning video at this year's convention. I could no longer delude myself that the evil extreme shunning I saw some Witnesses practicing toward their family was the result of imperfect humans in the congregation. I could no longer maintain the fantasy that the GB was going to correct this nonsense and come out with more loving directions. I now realize that the rank and file originate nothing. This sick and twisted behavior comes from the top down. There is no Holy Spirit directing these men. Just thirst for power, status and money.
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9
Sophia and Caleb videos helped wake me up
by Sevan inso the sophia and caleb videos on jw.org where the parents emotionally abuse their children (especially the sparlock/obey jehovah video and the pay attention at the meetings/death threat video) were real eye openers for me.
previous to these videos, i was able to delude myself that the crazy, unbalanced behavior i noticed in some witness parents was the result of their own mental issues.
now i realize this craziness is being pushed and encouraged from the tippy top, from the grand ole maleficent seven.
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Sevan
Yeah, I forgot about that one DesirousOfChange. I was completely disgusted when I saw that too. They are literally stealing candy, or in this case ice cream, from babes.
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9
Sophia and Caleb videos helped wake me up
by Sevan inso the sophia and caleb videos on jw.org where the parents emotionally abuse their children (especially the sparlock/obey jehovah video and the pay attention at the meetings/death threat video) were real eye openers for me.
previous to these videos, i was able to delude myself that the crazy, unbalanced behavior i noticed in some witness parents was the result of their own mental issues.
now i realize this craziness is being pushed and encouraged from the tippy top, from the grand ole maleficent seven.
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Sevan
So the Sophia and Caleb videos on jw.org where the parents emotionally abuse their children (especially the Sparlock/Obey Jehovah video and the Pay Attention at the Meetings/death threat video) were real eye openers for me.
Previous to these videos, I was able to delude myself that the crazy, unbalanced behavior I noticed in some Witness parents was the result of their own mental issues. Now I realize this craziness is being pushed and encouraged from the tippy top, from the grand ole maleficent seven.
My step-kid's bio mom is a lot like the crazy controlling hyper uptight and unbalanced mom in the Sophia and Caleb videos. She's worse of course because she's also a double life-living, hypocritical, pathologically lying narcissist. But yeah, she's given my step-kids insane guilt trips over stuff my husband and I let them watch (My Little Pony, Transformers, Pokemon, Beauty and the Beast, Frozen, etc) and related toys we bought them. I have always been so annoyed about this because my step-kids would be in tears with guilt after their mom lit into them and then wouldn't want to play with hundreds of dollars of toys that we bought them that they were super excited about and asked us to get them before their crazy mom guilt-tripped them. I have always told the kids that Jehovah cares a lot more about how kind, loving and considerate they are than what TV shows and movies they watch.
Now I know that their crazy mom has just been following orders from the Borg and I am the one that was never properly assimilated.
Anyway, just saying, the Sophia and Caleb videos are one of the many things that added up to help open my eyes. So the GB can blame themselves for that one. These videos are back firing.
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The Elders want to meet with me and the hubby... Lol lol lol
by Sevan inso the elders called wanting to meet with me and my husband.
most likely because i told a concerned jw friend of mine that i really care about that i wasn't coming back and a couple of the issues i had.
i didn't bring up any so-called "apostate" information, just told her about the australian royal commission and that there are a lot of unscriptural teachings and that the gb apply scriptures that are about jehovah and jesus to themselves, which is idolatry.
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Sevan
Thanks guys for all the good advice.
I'm annoyed with my friend for not just talking to me. But that is pretty typical. JWs are so afraid of losing their shaky faith that they can't bear to actually face any opposing ideas. Plus the organization encourages a spy/snitch culture.
But I'm pissed off as all get out at the elders for calling me over and over and harassing me to meet with them when I haven't been to a meeting or out in service in a month and a half and they have literally, in all my years as a JW, never reached out to actually help me or encourage me spiritually. Bunch of self-righteous pricks. They are just chomping at the bit at the opportunity to have a JC.
Man would I like to give them a piece of my mind about this pedophile harboring cult. But really screw them. I'm not going to give them the pleasure of a JC or the respect of recognizing their imaginary authority. And if they don't leave me alone, I will send them a cease and desist letter. Shepherds of the flock my eye.
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The Genesis account again proved WRONG
by opusdei1972 inaccording to the watchtower's insight encyclopedia : .
the catastrophic destruction of men and animals by an overwhelming flood in the days of noah, 2370 b.c.e.
this greatest cataclysm in all human history was sent by jehovah because wicked men had filled the earth with violence.
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Sevan
This is what I think:
There was factually, scientifically no worldwide flood. See jwfacts.com for an excellent analysis of this. There very well could have been a very bad local flood, which is most likely what the Noah account refers to.
The Bible is not near as literal as modern fundamentalism makes it out to be. Some of the stories are most likely allegories to teach a lesson. There is no way the dates and ages in the Bible are literally accurate as humans and human civilizations have been around a lot longer than 6,000 years according to all archaeological and scientific research.
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The Elders want to meet with me and the hubby... Lol lol lol
by Sevan inso the elders called wanting to meet with me and my husband.
most likely because i told a concerned jw friend of mine that i really care about that i wasn't coming back and a couple of the issues i had.
i didn't bring up any so-called "apostate" information, just told her about the australian royal commission and that there are a lot of unscriptural teachings and that the gb apply scriptures that are about jehovah and jesus to themselves, which is idolatry.
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Sevan
pale.emperor - celebrate your birthday! It is awesome.
I celebrated my birthday and all the holidays growing up as I wasn't raised a JW. I have a lot of happy memories of all the holidays and birthdays growing up.
I had a difficult childhood though and was a prime target for the JWs, as I was very downtrodden when they first started calling on me. I was looking for hope and answers and they promised both. I was only 12 years old when they first started bringing me literature. My mother let me start studying at 13 even though she wasn't a JW and didn't agree with the religion. I stopped celebrating all the holidays (so difficult) on my own after my 16th birthday. I got baptized just before I turned 18. My mother has told me many times how much she regrets letting me study. My mother always let us make our own choices and she in many ways gave us too much freedom.
I missed many of my milestone birthdays (18th, 21st, 25th and 30th) because of this religion and that of my siblings and parents. I missed 2 of my siblings' big 4-0s. I'm planning on going all out for one of my other sister's big 4-0 next year!
I'm so glad my kids won't miss out on the childhood memory of birthdays.
I've secretly been celebrating Thanksgiving for several years now (always my favorite holiday). I'm going to start celebrating mother's and father's day too! Not sure yet if I'm going to celebrate the other holidays.