AlanB

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Posts by AlanB

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  19

  Need Help With My DA Letter...

  by shamus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello friends... .

  i was wondering if you all could help me with my disassosiation letter... i am planning on writing it tonight, and am looking for scriptures based on "love"... and how the org shows a lack thereof.

  any help would be greatly appreciated... .

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  AlanB

  Anyone upto date on the 'Current Thinking' on the difference between DF, DA or just plainly faded. What is the benefit of writing a DA letter?

  A
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  88

  Are Jehovah's Witnesses REALLY Welcomed Here?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in view of the fact that there are mostly ex-witnesses on this forum, the question is," are jw's truly welcomed here?".

  it seems to me that if a poster supports the witnesses in any way, that they will know about it.

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  AlanB

  use your own mind to reason on things like a free American

  Or like an even more free European......

  Political Opinions Aside,

  From my own experience, even though I had not been to a meeting for about 5 years, I had a real fear of reading cirtain literature and some web sites. I think this stems from some sort of psychological reaction when your rigid belief system starts to crumble, its almost a fear of the unknown. Anything that will reenforce the subjects belief (eg, that this board is full of satan worshipping apostates) will give the subject the comfort they require to believe that their belief system stands.

  My experience of apostate sites was initially negaitve. They appeared to fall into two camps.

  1/ Hate Sites - I have no interest in these, bad vibes man.
  2/ Petty Sites - I really do not care what the witnesses wrote in some obscure paragraph 50 years ago, unless it is of real interest.

  This site and some of the others are a little more constructive.

  I believe we have to demonstrate to any genuine JW who visits here that we are now open minded individuals, not undermine their beliefs unless they express an interest in a specific issue and do not openly attack the people themselves, remember they are the victims and the vast majority of witnesses are honest decent people.
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  17

  Wedding-related dilemma: help appreciated

  by comment in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i received a phone call from an old non-witness friend tonight.

  he's just proposed to his girlfriend and they're getting married next summer.

  she is catholic; he is agnostic.

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  AlanB

  GO and be damned.....

  They cannot DF you for that, and if they dont like it thats their problem.

  <makes me mad>

  Let me know if you get that thing from the exorcist when you go through the church door, the spirits, lightening, etc..... kewl.
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  18

  A Gem in the Awake

  by glitter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there's a great example of how ignorant jws are in the november 8th awake (oil: will it ever run out).. on the letters page: (the writer is from the ukraine, so i *hope* something's been lost in the translation... but why would they print it if it was?).

  "i wish to express my appreciation for the article "young people ask... what's wrong with cheating?

  " (january 22 2003).

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  AlanB

  I had to laugh at the WT image on Arsewiping,

  I heard a rumour that a keynote address given by a member of the GB at the next summer convention will be 'apropriate arsewiping in the time of the end.'
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  10

  New Swedish video up with subtitles (Anders)

  by Jourles in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  ok folks, the swedish video is now online.

  let me give you all a few 'heads-up' notices first.. the video format is larger to take advantage of being able to view the english subtitles!

  for those of us who are swedish-linguistically impaired, we can read along with what is being said.

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  AlanB

  Hmmm, if all the governments do take action, wont that fulfill a JW prophecy anyway?
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  21

  Elders sued in Oz

  by ozziepost in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  whispered on the grapevine in oz is that a former elder has sued a body of elders for wrongful df and won!

  the plaintiff claimed harrassment and physical abuse by the elders.

  apparently the court awarded costs amounting to around $30,000 australian to the plaintiff.

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  AlanB

  Interesting, would like to see the details of this case when this is possible.

  I assume that Oz has the English system of law, in which case this could be used as a precident in other countries with a similar system such as, UK, US, Canada, South Africa and other countries where this system has been adopted.

  A
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  55

  Adam and Eve.....and Egypt

  by gumby in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  how many of you believe in the adam and eve story?

  how many of you believe the bible explanation as to ...why we are suffering and dying?

  to begin with, the legend of

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  AlanB

  I find all of this stuff fascinating. I am convinced there is something we do not know about our history, there are many challenging books on the subject.

  Regarding Peleg, the book of jubilees has an interesting account, that suggests that after Peleg was born, Noah called a big gathering of his family, perhaps as a celebration of Peleg's birth. During which Noah aportioned the earth by lots to each son and grandson. So in his day the earth was divided. He made each swear an oath not to steal the land of his brother.

  The following link will take you to an english translation of the book.

  http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Christianity/Other_Books/Old_Testament_Apocrypha/book_of_jubilees_ii.htm

  This account can be found in Chapter 8 from around verse 8

  Why were we not taught this fascinating stuff at the KH? I may still be there.

  A
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  15

  Is This a False Quote From AWAKE! ?

  by Myxomatosis in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've had two witnesses tell me that this is false (apostrate) info from the 5/22/94 awake!

  i got it from the page of the ajwrb website, and it's supposedly from p. 2 of awake!

  they tell me that's wrong...so...is it out of context?

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  AlanB

  10. Are we personally alert, so that no unrighteousness is found on our lips? For example, can our family members really trust what we say? Can our spiritual brothers and sisters in the congregation do the same? It would be easy to develop the habit of couching one?s words in terms that are technically accurate but misleading."

  Hmmm Interesting..... I was thinking about this only this morning. I have two children who live with their witness mother, she was always dressing up the truth in such a manner as to present a false impression.

  For example, during our divorce, after she had refused my contact with the children she had to give reasons to the authorities. Instead of telling the truth, ie she believed I was the son of Satan and therefore she did not wish me to have contact with the children, she came up with a whole load of irrelevant and misrepresented stuff.

  My favourite was that I had encouraged my oldest child to play on a railway line, which cunjoured up images of electrified tracks and high speed trains. The reality was a disused rusted up line at a museum.

  Anyway, the reason this is so fresh in my mind is that yesterday I visited my younger son's school and managed to look through his file, I found a few comments there that initially made me angry, then I realised that I have to play the sytem in the way she does.

  I have written a letter to the school to redress the balance, the relevant extract highlights the problem....

  The issues of concern are that in XXXXXX's notes there is a comment that my contact with the boys is strictly controlled and restricted. In addition there is a note that I should not have contact with the boys after school or collect them from the school.

  Whilst I have no need or intention of collecting after school the tone of the comment I believe creates a false impression. I would like it noted that during our divorce, the boys mother refused access to the children, no valid reasons were given. I applied for a contact order which was granted. A couple of years ago I applied for an increase to this contact which was also granted. The note in your file is intended to suggest that there is a problem with my having access, whereas the courts found no problem and acted in my favour.

  I believe the Mrs XXXXX?s motive for this stems from a policy of denying as much influence on the boys life as possible. I believe this to be due to the fact that she and her family are Jehovah?s Witnesses. Although I was brought up as a Witness, I left the faith around the time of our divorce. Jehovah?s Witnesses believe that they should have minimal contact with unbelievers, ex Witnesses fall into another category and Witnesses are instructed to have no contact with such a person whatsoever.

  I have tried not to play upon the religious angle, however I feel I now have no choice, as my ex wife constantly attempts to support her policy of denying as much involvement in the boys life as possible by misleading statements and lies, I feel I have to present the underlying motive for her actions.

  Once again she has shot herself in the foot.

  This is a situation that after 11 years has not improved and as the boys reach 16, I am starting to get concerned as to her next move.
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  8

  What's life about anyway?

  by Ariell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  over the past month i've literally fried my brain trying to figure out whether or not i should go to college, what should i major in, which career should i pursue.

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  AlanB

  Ariell,

  I think it is an American thing to make those sort of detailed plan's. The only thing you can guarantee with a rigid timetable for life is that it wont work out like that. Sure have a sort of rough outline.

  My advice is, stop worrying, enjoy life and you will have a great time.

  Backpacking is one of the best things you can do.... Try to take the Auzzie approach and make it all up as you go along. I did meet some Americans who had got a travel agency to plan the entire trip and I suspect they had less of a good time. You will meet some great people and decide to hang out with them for a while, you may find that a place sucks and want to move on, dont limit yourself to the tourist traps, go walkabout, explore, find the locals.

  Have Fun...
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  193

  Stupidest thing a JW ever told you

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what is the stupidest thing a jw ever told you?

  we all know that they say a lot of stupid things, but what really topped the cake?.

  for me, it was an elder telling me i was progressing really well when my meeting attendance was down and my field service hours were slipping.

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  AlanB

  That satan went back in time to place the fossil record in all the newly forming rocks so that they would mess up the radio carbon dating to make people think that the earth was older than it really was.

  Flaw in the arguement being that if a creative day was 7000 years, satan would have had to repeat this process several thousand times to have made up for the billions of years difference.

  Even as a brainwashed 11 year old with an unhealthy interest in science I found this one difficult to swallow.

  ===

  Then there was the story during the 'spiritualism' paranoia of the 70's.

  A sister in an undisclosed location bought a coat from a second hand shop. For weeks afterwards she would hear satanic voices at night. In the end the elders were called in and identified the coat as the offending source of the demonic possession. They took the item into the garden to burn it. When the coat crawled out of the fire screeming.

  I was only 7 at the time I heard this and had nightmares for months.