Julia Orwell

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Posts by Julia Orwell

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  82

  British zone visit from David Splane - a report from the special meeting in Glasgow

  by slimboyfat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well i went to a "special meeting" in the armadillo today where a 2 & 1/2 hour programme was relayed from london at 1pm.

  apparently the letters of invitation only went out a month or so ago and not all congregations were invited.

  there were 2,900 of us from around scotland.

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  Julia Orwell

  Yes. More people will see them for what they really are. The more they promote themselves, the more people should leave.
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  14

  USA | California | 10-year-old Jehovah's Witness Girl Shot Dead

  by jwleaks in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  slain 10-year-old girl spoke of devoting her life to ending violence hours before she was shot.

  by stephen magagninipublished: friday, may.

  just hours before she was shot to death, 10-year-old elvira campos said she wanted to devote her life to teaching people the bible "and its promise that one day all the violence would end," said her best friend and teacher, olga cruz.. "that afternoon i picked her up for bible study, and we talked about the future," a tearful cruz recalled thursday afternoon.

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  Julia Orwell

  Poor little kidlet! Such a senseless loss.
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  10

  One of the actor's from "It's Always Sunny" appears in a JW publication.

  by MrFreeze in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  not sure which publication it is (i think it's bible teach), but if you watch it's always sunny in philadelphia..... .

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  Julia Orwell

  Can he sue them for using his image?
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  53

  Atheism IS a religion! My profound apologies to Xians.

  by return of parakeet in

  1. social
  2. humour

  in the course of my continuing research on why believers insist that atheists are religious, i stumbled upon a website (link below) that proves beyond any doubt that atheism is a religion.

  you can imagine my chagrin upon discovering that i, as an atheist, belong to a religion after all.

  i'm not exactly a member in good standing yet, but i'll work on it as hard as i can.

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  Julia Orwell

  Then call me a pizzafarian.
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  53

  Atheism IS a religion! My profound apologies to Xians.

  by return of parakeet in

  1. social
  2. humour

  in the course of my continuing research on why believers insist that atheists are religious, i stumbled upon a website (link below) that proves beyond any doubt that atheism is a religion.

  you can imagine my chagrin upon discovering that i, as an atheist, belong to a religion after all.

  i'm not exactly a member in good standing yet, but i'll work on it as hard as i can.

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  Julia Orwell

  Ah we're on a different page. But that's cool because it makes people interesting. I must explore atheism more. Perhaps I shouldn't confuse zeal with religion. As you define religion, I can safely say that atheism is definitely not a religion.

  Can you be an atheist who's sceptical about natural selection as the mechanism of evolution?
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  53

  Atheism IS a religion! My profound apologies to Xians.

  by return of parakeet in

  1. social
  2. humour

  in the course of my continuing research on why believers insist that atheists are religious, i stumbled upon a website (link below) that proves beyond any doubt that atheism is a religion.

  you can imagine my chagrin upon discovering that i, as an atheist, belong to a religion after all.

  i'm not exactly a member in good standing yet, but i'll work on it as hard as i can.

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  Julia Orwell

  Sorry that ha maybe is in response to Parakeet's last comment, not at your spirituality 5go! You snuck a,post on while I was typing my treatise.
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  53

  Atheism IS a religion! My profound apologies to Xians.

  by return of parakeet in

  1. social
  2. humour

  in the course of my continuing research on why believers insist that atheists are religious, i stumbled upon a website (link below) that proves beyond any doubt that atheism is a religion.

  you can imagine my chagrin upon discovering that i, as an atheist, belong to a religion after all.

  i'm not exactly a member in good standing yet, but i'll work on it as hard as i can.

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  Julia Orwell

  Ha maybe. I always felt bad as a Jw that I just didn't care that people in the territory believed different things to JWs. You know how we were supposed to feel a burning desire to preach to the people and that we should love them and want them to be saved? That we should feel indignant over the damage done by 'false religion' and want to tell people the truth about God? Well I never felt any of those things because I had a 'live and let live' attitude, and was more interested in hearing about diverse beliefs than trying to correct them, and of course felt I was deficient as a Jw.

  Using rabid zeal as an indicator of religiosity was probably a bad example, but I use it to highlight the idea that some people react like that regardless of their belief system. Richard Dawkins shows 'religious' zeal for his cause, spreading his message as a Christian preacher might. I'm not trying to run Dawkins down, but we must admit he has an almost religious fervour. Other Christians and atheists just live their lives and don't worry about spreading a message.

  I separate religiousness from spirituality in this discussion. I see religiousness as being actions and practices, which JWs do for instance with all their meetings and that, as opposed to spirituality, a rich inner world and peace and desire to do good. In this way my atheist mother is the most spiritual person I've ever known. I believe spirituality comes from a sense of the divine, whether it's the awe of the atheist at the stupendous powers of nature or the Buddhist praying at her home shrine or the Christian communing with Jesus. In this way, many people are spiritual rather than religious, including the much maligned atheist.
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  87

  FDS says - "No need to check our work. Besides, it will only make God angry."

  by Crisis of Conscience in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  though i no longer believe the fds is indeed appointed by god, i guess because of what has been taught to me all these years through the wtbts, i still make an effort to try and look at both sides.

  and then i come across this number below, which is how i arrived at my title for this thread.

  ***w81 2/15 p.19 do we need help to understand the bible?***.

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  Julia Orwell

  Ye it's true. I never felt bad cuz I figured Jehovah would see to it so they shouldn't even have needed to ask.
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  53

  Atheism IS a religion! My profound apologies to Xians.

  by return of parakeet in

  1. social
  2. humour

  in the course of my continuing research on why believers insist that atheists are religious, i stumbled upon a website (link below) that proves beyond any doubt that atheism is a religion.

  you can imagine my chagrin upon discovering that i, as an atheist, belong to a religion after all.

  i'm not exactly a member in good standing yet, but i'll work on it as hard as i can.

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  Julia Orwell

  Ah yes the flying spaghetti monster. Maybe you could start teapotism after Bertrand Russell's orbiting teapot example.

  On a note about atheism being a religion, from personal experience I've seen my atheist close relative arc up like a fanatic over the issue and become an hysterical, screaming zealot. That's one at least who gets religious over it...my other atheist relatives though just shrug and go, 'It's the way it is.' My FIL is an atheist and doesn't care if other people believe differently to him. They carry on normally. We have examples right there in my own family: religious reaction and non religious. But I tell you, my family are the best eggs you could ever meet.

  I think the religious reaction is from the person more from what they believe.
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  24

  Do David Splanes offensive and pompous orations have a silver lining?

  by ranmac in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  im starting to think so.. i was still somewhat active in meeting and assembly attendance when i first started doubting the jw life.

  when i first heard splane give a discourse, it was a real wake up call as to what kind of people are controling this organization.

  the next time i heard him speak he was even worse.. as ive seen on this forum, many people have had the same experience.. in slimboyfats thread, http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/251890/1/british-zone-visit-from-david-splane-a-report-from-the-special-meeting-in-glasgow, he noted this gem from splane: if traumatic things have happened in your past then just don't think about it, that's the best you can do until the new system.. this is one of the most irresponsible and rage inducing comments i have ever heard.

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  Julia Orwell

  Society in general is becoming more aware of mental illness. I'd never heard of it growing up, but now the kids I teach have all heard of it and know about kids helpline and school counselors and doctors. Mental illness is losing its stigma in society of being a personal weakness and something to be ashamed of, and gainin recognition for what it really is: a real set of real illnesses with real treatments available. It is slowly filtering into Jw land too, like all modern developments eventually do.