TerryWalstrom
JoinedPosts by TerryWalstrom
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21
Beard update
by Coded Logic inso it's been over a month since i decided to grow a beard.
the mustache and chin have come in fuller than i ever imagined - while the cheeks leave me wondering if i'll ever grow enough hair to make it not look so wildly unkept and patchy (if anyone has any advice here it'd be much appreciated).
but in the mean time i'll give it another month and see how it goes.. .
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17
49th Anniversary of my PAROLE from Federal prison
by TerryWalstrom intoday is the 49th anniversaryof my parole from federal prison.
in french, "parole" means 'word of honor'.in effect, a prisoner promises the authorities they will be honorable.. in 1967, i violated the u.s. military training and service act.about 25,000 draft age americans simply ran away to canada.i did not run.
i stayed and gave my 'witness.".
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TerryWalstrom
Thanks to all for your comments.
I just posted some follow-up thoughts on WAR in general.
No matter which group we find ourselves in, it generally comes down to
Good Guys VS Bad Guys and listening to leadership and believing what we are told.
In the long run---we discover which side we were on and if the "Truth" we were assured was moral high ground really was so.
The history of the Watchtower religion is fortunately riddled with testable and falsifiable statements of "Truth" from a Divine source.
The result? LIES.
Believing and acting on a lie is certainly problematic--isn't it?
Doing the wrong thing while believing you are wholly in the right is one of the
most troubling states of being.
If only. If only. If only I could point to something actually achieved during my stay in Federal Prison. But no.
I taught myself to play the piano. Well, Yippee for me.
I memorized "significant dates" in history. (Total bullshit dreamed up by Fred Franz.)
I wrote many letters filled with bromides and holy balderdash.
I made "friends" with 39 "Brothers" who never stayed in touch.I didn't kill anybody. That doesn't make me moral. It is better than killing and thinking that the orders I followed exempt me from culpability. Yeah.
But! I could have worked in a hospital and done somebody some good.
Could have but it was remarkably disallowed!
I hang that on the GB and the Jehovah monster. -
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Good Guys VS Bad Guys: Facts Nobody Wants to KNow
by TerryWalstrom infacts we don't want to know.
the purpose of war is to kill humans.. .
which humans?.
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TerryWalstrom
FACTS WE DON'T WANT TO KNOW_____The purpose of war is to kill humans.Which humans?Declared enemies. BAD GUYS.Ah, but who declares and identifies the enemy for us?Us, the GOOD GUYS?_____Pick any year since 1776 and there is about a 91% chance that America was involved in some war during that calendar year.The Good Guys dropped Atomic Weapons on civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The acute effects of the atomic bombings killed 90,000–146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000–80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day.Say what you like or believe about that.Innocent people died and bad guys died.So-called Military Intelligence INFORMS these wars.Deliberate lies are told to Congress and the American people and especially to whoever is President at the time.The C.I.A. has a horrendous record of meddling in sovereign countries and overturning democratically elected leaders.______HOW is it we think the U.S. has a MORAL HIGHGROUND to go to war against any other country considering our own history?Guys my age who fought in the VIETNAM WAR were honest people, courageous, and patriotic. What exactly did they achieve? 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties seem to mean absolutely NOTHING.They followed orders. They achieved nothing. They died.
(I have no moral superiority to the men who fought or died.
I refused military service.
I achieved nothing as well and I was "serving Almighty God" which means, i.e. believing something lying assholes told me was true.)______BELIEFDo you believe your President? Do you believe your F.B.I.?Do you believe your C.I.A.?Do you believe your news outlets?ARE WE THE GOOD GUYS? Do we have a Moral standing to inflict death on
foreign countries as superpower heroes?The Democrats and the Republicans are Both parties of WAR.Newspapers owned by corporations in the weapons business get to write the talking points.ARE WE THE GOOD GUYS?Obama ran as a peace president. America dropped 26,171 bombs in 2016. What a bloody end to Obama's reign!Is there a disconnect?____Behind all the wars you'll find BELIEF in leaders. Leaders with Advisors. Advisors whose motives and foibles are not transparent. "Intelligence Agencies" free to do as they please with no accountability. NO MORAL HIGH GROUND.These are FACTS NOBODY WANTS TO KNOW.
We can only see the effects of their policies. Death. War. Blame. Fear.
Rinse and repeat.
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Why do you believe what you believe anyway?
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49th Anniversary of my PAROLE from Federal prison
by TerryWalstrom intoday is the 49th anniversaryof my parole from federal prison.
in french, "parole" means 'word of honor'.in effect, a prisoner promises the authorities they will be honorable.. in 1967, i violated the u.s. military training and service act.about 25,000 draft age americans simply ran away to canada.i did not run.
i stayed and gave my 'witness.".
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TerryWalstrom
crazyguy: Please share again how the local leaders of the cult basically blamed you for going to prison at some later date? I don’t remember the details.
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In a conversation with an active JW (who saw fit to actually speak to me even though it should have been obvious I was DF'D) I was told I CHOSE to go to prison and could not blame the WT.
I asked him if a robber put a gun to his head and said, "Your money or your life"--would he turn over the money?
"Of course." He replied.
I said, "Same thing. Same coerced "choice."
He wanted to argue the point.
The point is not philosophical in the least, IMHO. Undue influence happens when somebody uses their power and position to impel you to act AGAINST your own best interests. Often, it is for some "greater good."
Without climbing into Ayn Rand territory, acting against one's own best interest is something each individual has to be clear about before any clear "choice" is really uncoerced.
Where I really went astray was in REGISTERING for the draft in the 1st place. I registered when I graduated High School in 1965. May I remind you, this was PRE-COMPUTER. Everything was analog with few exceptions.
Computers were big, dumb, glorified adding machines.
Had I NOT registered, I'd never have appeared on the Federal Government's radar unless I got a driver's license. And then, only possibly. I didn't start driving until I was 23. Three years before President Nixon abolished compelled registration for the draft.
Getting a JW to understand the coercive nature of the SHUN GUN is a tough struggle. NO matter what, the GB is never attributed responsibility for undue influence using fear of disfellowship (or death at Armageddon) as a weapon of intimidation.
IT IS!
Further, this JW told me I was just trying to save my own ass and didn't really love Jehovah.
That pissed me off.
"If I were trying to save myself--I would have taken Alternate Service as a civilian--you dumb ass!"
That pretty much ended the colloquy. -
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49th Anniversary of my PAROLE from Federal prison
by TerryWalstrom intoday is the 49th anniversaryof my parole from federal prison.
in french, "parole" means 'word of honor'.in effect, a prisoner promises the authorities they will be honorable.. in 1967, i violated the u.s. military training and service act.about 25,000 draft age americans simply ran away to canada.i did not run.
i stayed and gave my 'witness.".
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TerryWalstrom
Today is the 49th Anniversary
of my PAROLE from Federal prison. (1967-69)In French, "parole" means 'word of honor'.
In effect, a prisoner promises the authorities they will be honorable.In 1967, I violated the U.S. Military Training and Service Act.
About 25,000 Draft age Americans simply ran away to Canada.
I did NOT run. I stayed and gave my 'witness."Historical fact:
in the early days of Christianity, military service wasn’t a moral issue because Jews (and by default, Jewish converts to Christianity) weren’t permitted to join the imperial Roman army.
During World War I, pacifists were imprisoned in places like Fort Lewis, Alcatraz or Fort Leavenworth, or classified as mentally ill.
Not until 1940 were Conscientious Objectors who refused to be part of the military as non-combatants finally offered alternate service as firefighters in Washington State or in menial jobs in psychiatric hospitals.
I was sentenced to work in a psychiatric hospital.
My religious leaders privately counseled me to refuse.
Consequently, I was imprisoned.
IRONICALLY, in Seagoville Federal Correction Institution, I was assigned the duty of FIREMAN.
I also did on-site construction (i.e. destruction of rocks), worked in the Dental Clinic, the Chief Mechanical Services as a draughtsman along with 40 other JW's.
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49 years later, I have lost touch with every single one of my fellow JW's. Probably most are dead, disfellowshipped or still faithfully waiting on Armageddon.
I've become an anti-Witness activist and wrote 2 books concerning mind-control in religious cults.
Today's Anniversary is a day of solemn reflection for me.
_____(Shameless self-promotion:
Amazon book titles: I Wept by the Rivers of Babylon
The Monorails of Mars by Terry Edwin Walstrom) -
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Lloyd Evans' New Book - Is It Really Necessary?
by pale.emperor inso lloyd evans will shortly be releasing his new book how to leave the jehovah's witnesses.
i do enjoy his rebuttals and the stuff he manages to get hold of and leak.
but i'm struggling to understand what he could possibly write to merit a whole book.. all info on how to leave is right here on this forum.
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TerryWalstrom
A handy quotation for just such circumstances as these:
"To those who understand, no explanation is necessary. To those who do notunderstand, no explanation is possible."
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Rudofl Steiner
by Brokeback Watchtower inrudolf steiner 1861-1925, developed eurythmy a performance art.
he wrote hundreds of books, a brilliant person in many fields from austria(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rudolf_steiner).. steiner advocated a form of ethical individualism, to which he later brought a more explicitly spiritual approach.
he based his epistemology on johann wolfgang goethe's world view, in which "thinking… is no more and no less an organ of perception than the eye or ear.
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TerryWalstrom
FWIW...
When I was working at Half Price Books in the Religion & Philosophy department, one day an older gentleman arrived with several boxes of Rudolf Steiner books and pamphlets which were quite old and in excellent condition.
I confess I knew nothing of the author. However, another employee was apparently deeply into the "fringe" of certain philosophical schools and he bought everything for an offer of $200.
I said to myself, "We'll never sell this crap."
I made room for everything and shelved the entire caboodle.
Within less than a week we'd sold everything at a collector's selling price of nearly $700. Even that price was (they told me) quite the bargain!
That made me want to delve and discover what the attraction was.
Long story short, the man's life is as colorful, interesting, and fraught with drama as any figure of his time.
Adolf Hitler hounded him erroneously as a "tool of the Jews" inasmuch as Steiner warned Germany that the embrace of the Nazis would prove disastrous for one and all.
Stop and think about it just for a moment.
How many great and famous men actually found Adolf Hitler to be admirable and how few (like Steiner) put themselves in harm's way to speak out and oppose the National Socialist movement.
His main aim was to (somehow) harmonize man's knowledge of Science with that of the separate realm of spiritual matters. For Steiner, it all starts with a basic understanding of Karma and Reincarnation. If you can swallow that large pill--well, you're on your way!
The trick is to avoid the notion of Destiny by exercising one's "free will" through enlightenment and education in all intellectual pursuits.
In my opinion, not that anybody cares, is that Science is objective and stems from non-contradictory descriptions of actual phenomena while Mysticism is subjective and impossible to measure, quantify, or make falsifiable.In this regard, Jehovah's Witnesses are pretty much closer to Rudolf Steiner in mindset than to Isaac Newton.
A great many otherwise intelligent individuals in the late 19th and early 20th centuries earnestly sought to make discoveries as essential to everyday life (in the Spirit World) as technology in the everyday pragmatic world.
Those who (IMHO) squandered their intellectual gifts on Mysticism may have attracted vast hordes of followers and movements, but the general benefits aren't at all apparent in the long run. In fact, disciples of Pastor Russell and Rudolf Steiner (each in their own narrow category) probably wasted more people's time and money and energy than generated any positive outcome. -
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May 1969 :on a highway, somewhere this side of a life unlived
by TerryWalstrom inmay 1969. i didn't know i was in trouble.now, years later, i suddenly do see it.. we're not talking drugs.
i never did drugs.
ever.nothing is worse than stone cold sober.what i did was more destructive: i had mainlined on god.a weird brand of god: jehovah god.. i was shredded and unaware.
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TerryWalstrom
The Legend of King Sisyphus comes to mind.
As a devout Jehovah's Witness, each of us is given various large stones to roll up
a mountain incline to the top. Just when we're ready to be declared faithful...
oops! Down it rolls.
When I walked back into my home Congregation--the Kingdom Hall with all my erstwhile Bros. and Sis's (whom I had not heard a word from), I confess I thought
I would be greeted with rejoicing.
What a letdown!
The Watchtower religion all comes down to this:
"What have you done for me lately?"
"I have been in prison from 1967 to 1969 to please Jehovah."
"Well, that's what you're supposed to do."
No welcome home--just on to the next stone to roll up the next mountain.
My Congregation Overseer (no Elders back then) saw me and darted into the library and came back out with a sign-up form for Pioneer work.
There was No "Hello, Brother Walstrom? How are you feeling?
All I got from him was, "You'll want to sign up for Regular Pioneer work. My son Gary needs somebody to go with him out in the fieldwork."
Why oh why didn't I say to him: "Sir--you can kiss my ass!" ??? -
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Here's PROOF that Charles Taze Russell Was NOT a Pennsylvania Freemason
by AndersonsInfo inno, charles taze russell was not a pennsylvania freemason!.
this is the answer i received in a letter: .
"after a search of our records, we determined that the three russell's were not members of our organization.
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TerryWalstrom
Debates such as these ONLY EXIST because the goal post is moved each time a fact of evidence arises.
To "know" is to base knowledge on proof.
To "believe" is to insist on an opinion in the absence of evidence.
Can't we at least remain reasonable?
We are not creatures who experience absolutes other than death (and even that has been made moot.)
Either way, only a handful of people still alive place Pastor Russell in their heart's longing.
Flat-Earth and Masonic C.T. Russell require a penchant for goal-post movement. -
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May 1969 :on a highway, somewhere this side of a life unlived
by TerryWalstrom inmay 1969. i didn't know i was in trouble.now, years later, i suddenly do see it.. we're not talking drugs.
i never did drugs.
ever.nothing is worse than stone cold sober.what i did was more destructive: i had mainlined on god.a weird brand of god: jehovah god.. i was shredded and unaware.
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TerryWalstrom
Thank you.
This crap never goes away... memories.
Almost every scrap of the Old Light (which was our only light at the time) has become buried and covered over like a cat's bowel droppings. And for THAT stink we were so willing to die? What sort of idiot was I?
I think the term is: "useful idiot."
Well, useful to THEM no longer, for sure. I've done my very best to be rabid dog bite on their sorry butts.
It took me 40 years to get around to writing my prison story in my first book:
I Wept by the Rivers of Babylon (A Prisoner of Conscience in a Time of War".
I just didn't want to feel any of those old feelings until then.
But...come back they do. Every...once...and awhile.
