Bonsai

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Posts by Bonsai

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  75

  Lurker trying to gain clarity

  by questioningmyfaith in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello all, i would like to first say that i am basically questioning my faith in god.

  i am not negative towards the wt at all.

  so honestly i am to concerned with more ad hominem attacks towards the wt because i still love the organization and the people in it.

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  Bonsai

  QMF,

  I hope you find some peace of mind. I can't imagine the stress it must cause to be an elder and an agnostic at the same time. It wasn't easy to admit to my feelings and the evidence that there was no global flood and that humans were walking the earth, making tools, hunting and burying their dead long before the mythical Adam and Eve were supposed to exist. Tsunamis and earthquakes ruined any chance of belief that I could have in a loving god existing. It was only logical then, that an organization that treated my disfellowshipped family members like dirt was the first thing to be thrown out of my life. I have no time for harmful religions that promote intolerance and use familial love to blackmail members into remaining in the religion.
  
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  38

  The Greatest Paradox

  by Perry in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  now that i have been a born again christian for 10 years, i see things that just boggles my mind.

  like this: we all spent untold hours in the field service telling people (mostly christians) about the paradise earth.

  that was the reason we were at their door.

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  Bonsai

  Perry Perry quite contrary,

  How does your fantasy grow?

  With silver bells and cockleshells

  And pretty maids all in a row.

  I wish the Perry that existed 14 years ago was still posting. That Perry's posts had much more depth, sympathy and normality. Now it's just the same old same old, tying in whatever you can come up with to support and proselytize the Born Again Cult.
  
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  24

  Interesting Article: New human link found "Homo Naledi"

  by Splash in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  haven't read it all yet, but 15 skeletons have been found in south africa, near jo'burg... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11855405/homo-naledi-a-new-species-of-human-discovered-in-a-cave-in-south-africa.html.

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  Bonsai

  Just read it on CNN! Neanderthals who possibly buried their own dead. Imagine that! Sophisticated humanoids who lived 10,000+ years ago. I wonder if the ransom applies for them, too.
  
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  22

  Today's meeting & WT 7/2015 study "Work to enhance the spiritual paradise"

  by Mrs. Eden in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so, much against my inclination, i went to the meeting this sunday morning.

  just starting to fade, but i needed to do it so that it doesn't look like my hubby turned my head during last week's vacations.

  since i'm not just disappearing cold turkey, i went.

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  Bonsai

  Beautifully written Mrs. Eden.

  I feel exactly as you do, yet there is no way that I could express how I feel as clearly, succinctly and poignant as your words were.

  As a witness, I felt constant frustration that I was wasting my time and not really helping the people who needed help. I told them a magic kingdom would make everything better and sent them on their way while not actually solving anything.
  
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  18

  Suicide Prevention Counseling

  by MrCellophane in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  in the 1980's when i was an elder, i don't remember the society providing any guidance to elders on suicide prevention counseling.

  i realize much has changed since then.

  can any current/recent elders update me on what the current position of the local elders would be if approached by someone in the congregation contemplating suicide and seeking help?.

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  Bonsai

  In my experience in dealing with how elders deal with suicidal ones - they don't care. They think Jehovah will take care of the issue for them. They've got more important things to do than deal with mentally unstable ones. Who has the time when it's necessary to prepare meals for the C.O., preaching, making assignments, attending JC's, and so on.
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  210

  TV.JW.ORG (September 2015) - Generation explained again

  by Designer Stubble in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  guess the overlapping generation concept is difficult for most to comprehend.

  david spane does his best to explain it again.

  the cutoff date for this generation has now moved to 1992 (was once 1935), the year that fred franz died.

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  Bonsai

  The only think that Splane had to say that was of any value or truth was this: "We just don't know."

  He should leave it at that and be silent.
  
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  128

  Participate In The EX-JW Personality Test!

  by C0ntr013r in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  first of all; i must admit that i'm not a huge fan of putting people in boxes like this, it is not an exact science.

  but i still think the data can be quite interesting and i intend to collect it and share it in a structured way with you guys.

  so without future ado here are the details.. link to test: .

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  Bonsai

  It says I'm a Campaigner and the wife is the Defender. Sounds about right.
  
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  12

  The Teacher

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  an unwelcome dawn comes creeping upward, her tendrils straddling the dark mountain so terribly near my once sweet but now quaking refuge called home of the heart.. i peer through panes that give onto a landscape of horror that, to some, appears pristine but to me is a reminder that he has been swallowed up by a wood both black and cruel.. daring to venture forth, i hear his voice .

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  .. he calls out, so faintly, begging i rescue him from a jail that holds him fast against all escape; though myself a liberated man, i cannot free the one i taught the truth.

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  Bonsai

  What does the unwelcomed dawn represent?
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  11

  Does this ever happen to you?

  by stillin in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  not very often, something will come up that makes me get a sense of having lost something.

  maybe a television interview with a witness who does an exceptional job of explaining the kingdom preaching or something.

  maybe accolades from the medical community for their stand on blood, how that has helped some other, supposedly superior alternative to be developed.. or maybe it's just a particularly poignant meeting.

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  Bonsai

  There are tons of good people in the organization and i miss them dearly. it makes me cry sometimes all the friendships that i lost to be replaced with...not much. But there are so many effed up things that I can no longer condone, and they need to know that I no longer condone them.
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  5

  The Christian God is Stupid

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i do not clearly understand mainstream christian ideology, but i think that wt is a variation thereof.. wt teaches that god made adam and eve perfect, but that another one of god's perfect creatures, tricked eve into disobedience, thereby condemning adam, eve, and all of their offspring into a life of misery as a result.

  this is because satan out-thought god, and essentially cornered god into this "legal challenge" that god had never foreseen.. that, to me, is one stupid god..

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  Bonsai

  If god is stupid, then perfect humans are stupid as well. Remember that PERFECT humans rebelled against god. PERFECT angels rebelled against god. Therefore this one sovereignty issue will solve nothing. As long as spirit creatures and humans exist, there will always be a faction of them that want more power and will challenge the existing authority. Any paradise built will inevitable be disrupted by rebellion. Those who never lived to know Satan or Adam will repeat their mistakes.