Vitameatavegamin

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Posts by Vitameatavegamin

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  9

  Ex-Witnesses in Oregon?

  by CatholicGuy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i voluntarily disassociated from the jws in 1980. i was actively involved in ministry to jws and ex-jws for the next 10 years.

  the past 10 years or so i've moved on with my life and lost touch with much of what was happening with the watch tower society and ex-witnesses.

  of course, growing up in the witnesses leaves its imprint on you.

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  Vitameatavegamin

  Hello Catholic Guy!

  Fellow Oregonian here. I live just North of Grants Pass!!
  In fact, We were in Medford today. Went to Costco, etc. Welcome to the forum!
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  32

  trick or treating

  by teejay in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  of all the holidays, for me halloween has the least appeal.. i have a memory of going trick-or-treating once, at my "worldly" father's insistence (he roasted peanuts in the oven for the door-knockers... i remember), about the time my mom learned the truth.

  i must've been about five years old.. despite the fact that i'm a hard-core agnostic and a fear of gods or demons are a non-issue, i still have trouble encouraging kids -- under the guise of costumes and fun -- of extorting treats from neighbors.

  can i get a witness?

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  Vitameatavegamin

  I never cared for Halloween myself.
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  20

  Judicial Committee "assists" another ...

  by Billygoat in

  1. jw
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  mom: the elders are led by god's holy spirit.

  mom: don't go there andi.. andi: what?

  mom: andi, i'm going to hang up the phone if you go there.. andi: mom!

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  Vitameatavegamin

  This condition is called being an ostrich.
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  3

  serving God for selfish motives

  by Richie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's always so heartwarming to receive all your answers and comments in this forum which allows me to put things into proper perspective in that i have returned to a sensible life where i can show real unobstructed love and care to my "worldly" friends now instead of those who only love you conditionally.

  if you stay in line with what the borg does and teaches, then all will love you, if not then they'll shun you and the love stops, no matter how long it takes, yes even a lifetime of hurt and shunning.

  what is the society trying to prove - of course i know very well that it's purely a matter of control over you otherwise half of all the witnesses in the world would leave the organization!.

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  Vitameatavegamin

  Hi Richie,

  I agree with you completely. I feel that the whole purpose of disfellowshipping can backfire on itself because of the person wanting to get reinstated just to they can associate again. I know people who have been disfellowshipped several times, and they always get back in. There are people who coninually practice sin and know how to work the system. They figure they will be out for so long, attend x amount of meetings, and then voila! reinstated! Sad, but true. The supposed idea of DFing is to move the person to shame for the sin committed. But, when a person has been out for an amount of time, what becomes their motivation? They want to speak to friend and family again. That becomes the motivating factor, not the past sin committed. It tends to detract from the real purpose. But, on the other hand, are we to allow gross sinners to worship with us week after week? I don't think so. I am not sure what the answer is. Maybe DFing is necessary in some extreme cases. But, maybe it is becoming outdated so to speak. Looking forward to your comments as well. I may be way off base on the subject.

  Thanks!

  Vita
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  25

  Shunning is worse than the worst crime possible

  by Richie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have come to the conclusion that the shunning practices of the jw's are in fact worse than the worst crime committed.

  just imagine, your own daughter shunning you, not wanting to see me or her first son (my grandson).

  whenever i walk around in the village i live and i happen to encounter jw's, they don't even acknowledge that i exist at all!!.

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  Vitameatavegamin

  Hello friends,

  I have been wondering about this subject myself lately. The only time I think DFing in necessary in cases where people are continually committing gross sin and unrepentant about it. I do believe that churches should keep their congregations clean and honor God. That is what they are there to do when they worship. It would be grossly hypocritical to have regular practicing adulterers and fornicators among you week after week. There should be some sort of recompense for peoples negligent behavior. Disfellowshipping in itself seems to be a very controversial subject. I don't know of other churches who practice this except for Mormons, who call it excommunicating. Churches are willing to let in anyone and everyone just to have more members and more members means more money coming in to the cong. They do disregard God's standards alot of the time. However, disfellowshipping for not agreeing with the Society is wrong. The bible says not to associate with unbelievers, but I assume that meant people who did not believe in Jesus? I am not sure. If anyone could define that, I would appreciate it.

  Thanks!

  Vita
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  15

  A new car designed for Jehovah's Witnesses

  by Mindchild in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a concept car that is designed for and will be marketed exclusively to jehovahs witnesses will be unveiled through a series of international religious assemblies in the summer of 2002.. the car, developed secretly in conjunction with the toyota motor corp and the watchtower bible and tract society in new york, is designed to optimize publisher performance in the churchs evangelical membership drive and to leave a good public impression about jehovahs witnesses.

  biometric sensors built into the car's steering mechanism also monitor a driver's pulse and galvanic skin response - sweat level - for signs of agitation, and play smoothing religious songs when the driver is upset.

  if the church member fails to spend at least 3 hours on the weekend in the assigned local area to engage in evangelical activity, the car's computer will issue an alert from a display on the dashboard or send a wireless message to the local headquarters.

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  Vitameatavegamin

  How about a JW Bug
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  8

  What does it mean to be Spiritual?

  by VM44 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what does it mean to be spiritual?

  does it mean a person's thinking is mostly about spiritual things?.

  what if the spiritual concepts that a person has are incorrect,.

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  Vitameatavegamin

  Hi!

  As one of Jehovahs Witnesses, being Spiritual means attending meetings every week and putting in high hours of field service. It is a Spiritual guage so to speak. But, being spiritual in my opinion would be trying your best to be a Christian by living your faith, not just mouthing it or doing all of the above imagining that you are a spiritual person. I know those in the congregation who are considered to be so " sprirtual ", because they are pioneers but yet lack real love from their hearts. I know Elders who are of course supposed to be the ultimate " spiritually minded " men, but who are on a major power trip or just lack real heart. Spirituality took on a whole new meaning with the JWs. They seem to have their own defintion of this. I believe we become spiritual when we start LIVING our beliefs, not just saying we are such or holding some sort of assigned " spriritual " position in the cong.

  Just my thoughts!

  Thanks.
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  79

  When God created Adm, did he knw that Adam wd sin?

  by D wiltshire in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when god created adam and eve did he foreknow that they would sin?.

  this is taken from the reasoning book:.

  when god created adam, did he know that adam would sin?.

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  Vitameatavegamin

  Hi!

  I have wondered myself about this topic. I have wondered why God would allow so much suffering in our world. I have always figured that the issue was that he wants to prove that mankind cannot rule themselves. He wanted to prove to satan that there would be people who would honor him even in the face of hardships(such as Job, etc). I think God created us as free moral agents with minds and abilities to make choices in our lives. The rest I am not sure of, maybe God does not want us to know everything at this point. He is a much higher power. Only He knows what he has in mind for us. I am sure the future will hold much better for us.

  Thanks.
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  38

  How Long???

  by Xena in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been drifting for about 1 1/2 years now and was hoping that in a year or two i would have distanced myself enough from the org.

  that i can actually start living my life exactly the way i want to...aka celebrating the holidays by putting lights on the house, not having to tell my daughter not to say anything about going trick or treating, getting birthday presents or going to cheerleader camp.

  but i read some posts in the disfellowhiping thread started by somebody where people have been inactive for 3 years and are still disfellowhiped!

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  Vitameatavegamin

  Hello friends;

  I read these posts and I keep thinking of the scripture that talks about people in the last days having " no natural affection". I know, the JWs apply this to "worldly" people, but I often think that this could apply to what we see happening here on this topic. Parents are willing to forsake their own flesh and blood for the sake of their religion and approval by God. Why would God want us to dump our children for a man made organization? OR a child completely distance themselves from their own parents? The Bible says to "honor your mother and your father". I think as time goes by, the world is getting more twisted. People are doing abnormal things like this in the name of God or a religious group. My theory on this is that if God created the family arrangement, and made it so we could produce children, why would he demand such things as shunning your own? Is that not going against the scripture that says " fathers do not be irritating your children"? Maybe my reasoning is a bit simplistic, but it is on my mind. I have not totally decided yet if JWs are the truth or not, but I do know I have been through some really bad experiences with them. I am still filled with doubt, but hoping that a " light " will soon come on. I pray for it.

  Thanks!

  Vita
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  7

  Researcher Strips Away Myths About Nudism

  by closer2fine in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what do you think joelbear????.

  http://news.excite.com/news/r/011019/08/odd-nudists-dc.

  gainesville, fla. (reuters) - left your clothes and inhibitions behind to let it all hang out at a nudist resort?.

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  Vitameatavegamin

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