I am very white and right wing, which makes me a minority on this board. And unpopular...
CZAR
greetings to all you "free moral agents" in cyperspace.
this is my first post after lurking on this and other boards for over a year.
first i would like to give kudo's to simon for making the site availabe to all who need relief after their "awakening".
I am very white and right wing, which makes me a minority on this board. And unpopular...
CZAR
well, it's been a good ten months since i walked away from the jws and it's been quite a journey.
i notice that the initial fears, self-doubt and rage are no longer with me.
when i first left i could hardly look at a wt or awake magazine without getting wave after wave of anxiety and frustration.
I like the breaking up with the girlfriend analogy. Sometimes, looking back, it seems better than it really was, and nostalgia is an evil trap.
But on the whole, my girlfriends never treated me as badly as the WT, and at least I got a little nookie from my girlfriends. Although I guess if the rumors about Ted are true...
CZAR
how do you feel, now that you are out of the jw's?.
does the watchtower society want to make it feel worse than it actually is?
would you say that the scare of being df'd was worse than the real thing?.
At first it was traumatic, but so is being born.
Now it's fun. I enjoy mocking my former beliefs, and I feel like I can participate in my life instead of waiting for the New System. I have a wonderful woman, two great cats, a decent job, money to fart around, and a hobby.
My family is pretty cool about it. They love me. I love them. Sure, relations are a bit strained as they waffle through various stages of acceptance, but on the whole its cool. I keep busy.
I am grateful for being df'ed. It set me free. My mind is completely uncaged, whoohoo!
CZAR
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/2020/binladen030307.html
even a racing camel can't outrun predator drones in the sky.... i bet we get his ass by the end of the weekend.... any bets?.
--rich
What? Since when do Americans get to decide which form of government to impose on other people?So, how about the Chinese, Koreans, Spaniards, Croats...etal?
This statement is so offensive I honestly can't believe you said it out loud.
Ooh. I love shocking those in the grip of PC speech. Here's the deal, leftie:
American style democracy is the best form of government. It guarantees basic human rights, allows for free expression, taps into the massive power of the common man, and gives everyone a much better chance at wealth and prosperity than any other form of government ever tried before or since.
Don't think so? Well, we imposed democracy on Germany and Japan, and look how they have prospered since World War 2.
I don't care if I offend anyone who is trying to please everybody - so suck it up, or will you try to censor me?
The Croats? They've tried to impose their values on everyone before - it was called the Austro-Hungarian empire. So did the Spaniards. guess what? everyone is trying to adapt to free market reforms and democratic expression! It simply works better than anything else out there.
The root of the radical Islamic problem is poverty. Democracy can cure that. Freedom from religious oppression can cure simmering dissent. Break them, then build them. A democratic Iraq will become an island of civilization amidst the prehistoric cultures that surround it.
Freedom is best. If you're jealous of American power, get over it.
CZAR
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/2020/binladen030307.html
even a racing camel can't outrun predator drones in the sky.... i bet we get his ass by the end of the weekend.... any bets?.
--rich
The negotiation and compromise thing was cool till 9-11. Now we know that we have to be proactive. Iraq is not related to 9-11, but it is a trouble spot that we need to be proactive about. 3,000 office workers were killed because Clinton didn't want to do hat had to be done to protect us. Those office workers weren't hurting anybody, they were just doing their jobs and living their lives in peace and freedom, which Islam hates. Islam is fundamentally a conquering religion - it was designed to unite warring tribes and force a consistent ideology on a previously pagan people - and its pedigree shows in its modern fruitage.
But more than that, for all religions can be modified if the conditions are right, the real problem is that the muslim world is held back by repressive theocracies and dictatorships. The governments have to be replaced with American democracy. It's theo nly way it will work for their development. The so-called arab unity is a blind used by oppressive arab leaders who take advantage of their arab brothers, leading to poverty, despair, and violence.
Democracy in Iraq by 2004! Death to Saddam!
CZAR
judge: sisters may pursue church case
the telegraph, feb. 26, 2003. http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/.
by andrew wolfe, telegraph staff.
Jonadab - I would like to commend you for not replying heatedly to Hawkaw's passionate comments. what I think you are dealing with, and it is a thing that all of us have had to comprehend, is the schizophrenic worldview that the Witnesses have.
Let me explain. Witnesses are subjected to a barrage of statements in the Watchtower about how great their lives in the "truth" are. These statements are not presented as ideals, but rather as facts. For example, the WT may say something like, "In God's organization, all children are loved and protected." However, this statement flies in the face of reality. So, there is a failsafe clause in the doctrine that states, "Imperfection causes some misunderstandings." But the assumption is still that ALL JW's are basically good people. Most are. Some, like child molesters, are not. But there is no clause in the doctrine to cover actually WICKED people.
This is why I believe that Jesus came to overthrow religion as an institution. There simply is no place for it, as it invariably tries to assume more power than it is entitled to.
Back to my main point: The ideal is consistently presented as being the reality. What happens is cruelties, hypocrisy, and evildoing that have to be chalked up to more than imperfection.
CZAR
i have read many opinions about jw's being a cult.a dictionary describes cult as a system of religious beliefs and ritual .. some have viewed even major religions as a cult, such as the roman catholic church.based upon webster almost anybody or anything that is viewed as ritualistic could be said to be cultic.when someone tries to negate jehovah's witnesses by using.
the "cult" word, i believe they are not seeing that many others could legitimately be regarded as a cult or at least "cultic".therefore the word loses alot of meaning.
some have said that the watchtower is a cult because of the control factor.
Since "cult" is a negative word in our culture, and "religion" is mostly neutral, I usually define a "cult" as a religious superstructure that seeks to control thought. A "good religion" would be one that supports its members, allowing for freedom of thought and expression.
Good religions have never really caught on.
One fundamentalist group defined a cult as "any group that denies that Jesus is God."
Um, so the whole anti-Trinitarian school of thought is cultish? I'm a cult of one?
Ridiculous. Although I also have a visceral reaction when people call my former group a cult. Just a last remnant of group pride, I guess.
CZAR
did you ever feel that the elders just wanted you out?
in your experiences with the elders, did you feel "love" displayed at the judicial meeting, or did you sense that you were dealing with, the star of dragnet,"just the facts, please."?
in all the years that i was an elder, i think i only wanted to disfellowship a person once.
My committee was actually rather long-suffering. I met with them three times in a month on three separate issues of loose conduct. I was a randy little boy! I was 22 and when I'd fool around I'd instantly get sad and repent, and then get seduced again by those wicked wicked women, ahhh... great days, great days (snap back to reality) oh wait, what were we talking about?
oh yeah, the committee, I get the feeling that they contacted headquarters about me because of my bipolar disorder that they needed guidance on, and they got an answer to kick me out...
whereupon I had a fourth encounter, this time with TWO wicked, wicked women at the same time... ahh... those were the days, (mumbles toothlessly in his rocking chair and falls asleep).
CZAR of the La Vida Loca Class
i got this as an e-mail joke today, my apologies if you have heard it already.... on behalf of canadians everywhere i'd like to offer an apology to the united states of america.
we haven't been getting along very well recently and for that, i am truly sorry.. i'm sorry we called george bush a moron.
he is a moron but, it wasn't nice of us to point it out.
In this era of continental reconciliation, and on behalf of my fellow Americans, I'd like to issue the following apology to Canada.
Sorry for passing around the nasty rumor that your country was named by picking letters from a Scrabble box: "C, eh? N, eh? D, eh?"
Sorry for losing Detroit to you in that little Scrap of 1812. Now apologize for giving it back.
Sorry for taking away your Quebec Nordiques, and turning them into well financed champion hockey team, and rubbing your faces in it by completely ignoring your pathetic efforts to regain the Stanley Cup.
NAFTA. Whoops.
Sorry for laughing hysterically when Quebec nearly voted to leave you on the side of the road like a two dollar hooker who just did three dollars worth of work and only got a dime... well... you get the picture. A forlorn picture.
We'd like to apologize for your flag. It's not our fault, but any flag with a leaf on it deserves an apology from SOMEBODY.
CZAR
hi all.. there was an interesting thread a while back that i have a few things to add to.
i am new so i didn't know if anyone would see a post i would put there since the thread happened a few months ago.
it is going to take a while to put all my thoughts on the subject.
The cooperative society you speak of was a totalitarian forerunner of the modern globalist movement. Nimrod and Co. Whereas God was actually helping humanity's condition by breaking Nimrod's power over them. A tyrant overthrown.
CZAR