I need to point out something, too. NOBODY in my Kingdom Hall ever sent me a postcard or letter with a word of encouragement!
Nobody in my congregation ever requested to be added to my visitation list.
Now that I look back on it--I cringe at what is demonstrated by such inaction and unconcern.
Oh, and one more thing--when I received parole and returned to my congregation for the first time, it was like nothing of any consequence had happened to me at all as far as the level of greeting I received. For one thing, nobody asked me how it was in there or how the brothers still inside were doing.
I was deeply hurt by this. I still am.
The closest anyone came to demonstrating any interest was a JW I worked with in a mobile home building factory--he asked me, "Well, how was college?" In other words, he saw it as a golden opportunity for me to study the Society's publications for a couple of years.
That one actually pissed me off.
"I was in prison and you came to visit me ... I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:36, 40
TerryWalstrom
JoinedPosts by TerryWalstrom
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Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY
by TerryWalstrom in_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.
the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.
jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.
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TerryWalstrom
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18
Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY
by TerryWalstrom in_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.
the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.
jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.
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TerryWalstrom
Yes. There is a double standard to JW advice and duplicity is their calling card.
We are required to swallow our betrayal and show submission when these revelations emerge.
It is the taste of betrayal which never really goes away and the idea that they'll never admit anything is wrong with it makes it doubly difficult to bear. -
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Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/08/15/abrams-calls-for-removal-of-confederate-faces-off-stone-mountain/
https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21645749-jihadists-are-attacking-more-regions-people-destroying-historysDemocratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams called for the removal of the giant carving that depicts three Confederate war leaders on the face of state-owned Stone Mountain, saying it “remains a blight on our state and should be removed.”
“We must never celebrate those who defended slavery and tried to destroy the union,” Abrams said in a series of tweets posted early Tuesday, a response to the deadly violence sparked by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Va.
Removing the faces of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson would take a monster of a sandblaster and require a change in state law. The Georgia code has a clear mandate for the memorial, saying it should be “preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.”
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Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
What happens today is real. What happened before today was real. Choices are made and alternatives were chosen. Each of us weighs choices and decisions based on alternatives. So what? So, erasing the history of alternatives destroys the LESSONS to be learned by bad choices made by others.
What we don't know doesn't hurt us.
We see an ad on TV for abandoned pets, starving children, and hungry homeless folk as we open our electric bill. Whose NEED shall we serve?
We don't change the world by our FEELINGS--only our ACTIONS.
We slumber in a bed of nightmares.So, back to sleep?
This sad old world is a vast pond on which we float like a random leaf.
One tiny pebble tossed at the far shore makes its wave into our space and as we bob up and down--oh woe!
Oh, Woe!
What shall we do? What shall we "don't"?
Here are two roads:
ACT or go back to bed.
The rest is only the shriek of nightmares.Link +1 / -0 -
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Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
The statue had a clear dedication: The pillar is engraved, "In memory of the boys who wore gray."
Not to slavery. Not to war itself. To the boys in uniform.Link +4 / -0 -
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Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
redvip2000
if you live in Italy, and you want to have a statue of Mussolini in your living room, well then....great go ahead. Everybody should respect that.But what if you want to put it in the local square? Should the rest of your village be fine with it because you think he was a great man? Moreover, should everybody pay taxes to maintain it? I doubt anyone reasonable would agree.
_________
In Texas, we have a "shrine" called the Alamo.
Do Mexicans think of it the same way non-Hispanic Texans do?
Whose ox was gored by whom?The Confederate statues being destroyed constitute vandalism under the guise of something else political. Either we are lawful people are we are that "other" kind: anarchist.
I don't think many citizens of Iraq complained when Saddam's statue was toppled spontaneously.
Saddam and Mussolini were two of a kind.
Confederate Generals were surely not in the same category, were they?
_____Protesters pulled the rope and erupted in cheers as the statue toppled onto the ground. Several people ran up to the mangled statue, kicking it and spitting on it.The statue, dedicated in 1924, depicts a soldier holding a gun on top of a concrete pillar. The pillar is engraved, "In memory of the boys who wore gray."Link +1 / -0 -
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Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
I'm pretty old. 70. I should be more excited by bigots than I am.
I see them every place I look, frankly. Maybe I'm just desensitized.
Let me remind myself of what a BIGOT is.
Bigot= a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.
Uh-oh!
That is a Double-Whammy!
If we don't tolerate Confederate flags by people holding a different opinion that makes us bigots.
When I was a JW I surely was a bigot.
As an EX-JW I don't tolerate JW's. I'm still a bigot.
They're everywhere!
I guess I'm being a little bit silly about this.
What I'm trying to emphasize is HOW LITTLE IT MEANS in the real world as to whether we agree or disagree with what somebody THINKS.
What people actually DO is far more serious.Link +7 / -0 -
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Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY
by TerryWalstrom in_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.
the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.
jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.
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TerryWalstrom
(The only JWs to really "escape" Rutherford's radicalism are Ex-JWs.)
I dunno...maybe...maybe not...
Suddenly becoming a political true-believer can swallow up the Ex-JW with the old hunger for group think, sloganeering and cries for purity and solidarity.
Further, there are those who go back into the breach because thinking and deciding are too great a burden for an individual to succeed without absolute certainty connected to authority.
There are Ex-JWs who forget their only world view is still the WATCHTOWER created worldview. The become freelance Dubs and self-made mavens tilting at windmills, engaging in theological debates and flexing their indoctrination under a false flag of apotheosis.
ESCAPE from a cult requires a mind wash which is extremely difficult to achieve. It is basically do-it-yourself brain surgery.
So many under-educated ex-Dubs remain knuckle-draggers, anti-science, and conspiracy oriented vigilante thinkers (who don't know how to think.)
My own journey has taken me through the 7 circles of hell myself
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Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?
by TerryWalstrom ineverything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.
we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.
examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.
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TerryWalstrom
Everything really is up for grabs.
OUR SENSE of "ABSOLUTES" is always under fire. We are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.
But--is that illusory?Examine how this works: Jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross. The cross was a vile instrument of that torture. HOWEVER...Christians love wearing a cross around their neck!
The "meaning" has changed!
The Confederate Flag has undergone a similar 180 in the South by becoming a benign symbol of the South itself and its spirit of good ole boy rambunctiousness.Who gets to decide what is "true"? Who decides who gets to decide?
Scientists? Engineers? Mathematicians? Legislators? Medical professionals? Legal experts?
Let's call those "referees" a kind of "Priesthood."A PRIESTHOOD of interpreters RULE our lives.
These are the REAL RULERS of the World; the judges, critics, sages, professors, peer reviewers, arbitration committees, Supreme Courts, media opinion makers, propagandists, and Spiritual counselors.REALITY, in fact, is VARIABLE and it is our "Priesthood" which pretends and insists on making reality a CONSTANT to fit our rules, beliefs, and 'absolutes.'
BUT...but...but...
We have a very powerful weapon to use against the flux, the drift, the erosion of absolutes. It is the word, "NO!"
We can always opt out.
It's called FREEDOM.
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Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY
by TerryWalstrom in_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.
the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.
jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.
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TerryWalstrom
When Rutherford unleashed his nastiness on Olin Moyle and Moyle left the headquarters, Rutherford took over a Supreme Court case Moyle was having (generally agreed) success with. After listening to the ranting, bombastic Rutherford, that case went down in flames.
As a lawyer, he had many infamous blotches on his record back home.
You might say, as impossible as it sounds, he succeeded only in giving lawyers a bad name