I am not Christian and I see Jehovah as a representative of SPIRIT in the Christian Magick practice of prayer, same goes for the title JESUS CHRIST. I don't channel my request to SPIRIT through a title, I look directly to the source in ritual and meditation.
whyhideit
JoinedPosts by whyhideit
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16
Do you still use the name Jehovah when you......
by termite 35 in..pray with your kids ?.
my son is only 8 and went to the kingdom hall from birth to 6 1/2 years old.i don't mind praying for/with him every night as he wants me to, even though my 'faith' has changed alot these past 18 months and at the moment i'm content to enjoy my freedom and let experiences in life direct me instead of a religion.
he wants me to use the j word and i feel really uncomfortable using it .
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Ky. Bill to Repeal Clergy "Silent Right"
by Kenneson innewsday.com carries an interesting story with that title.
a few excerpts from the article will give you the gist.
"but democratic rep. susan westrom, a former therapist who worked with abused children felt the law should go furher.
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whyhideit
I personally think that ALL religion uses the "Bill of Rights" to harm their followers to some degree. People and religion hide behind the "Bill of Rights" all the time. Do you want to see them weakened though? It's a Catch 22! Protect the children, but at what cost to freedom. Sucks doesn't it, to not have everything so black and white and laid out with exact right and wrong. People can say, "save and protect the children OF COURSE!" Yet what are we giving up? What freedom are we weakening that will cause further harm to children and adults later. No easy decision on that. Although, I would vote for a law that required religious leaders to report all abuse to the authorities. They should never act as a councilor or police man.
Edited by - whyhideit on 11 January 2003 1:49:44
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Why I think Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult
by whyhideit ini think it pays sometimes to look back at our life with the jehovah's witnesses and review what made the organization a cult.
after all, for years we were told by the society that we were not in a cult and we argued this point in the door-to-door activity.
i found these thoughts on a web-site and i gave personal examples of how i felt and what i saw back in the days of the religion's influence on my life.
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whyhideit
I think it pays sometimes to look back at our life with the Jehovah's Witnesses and review what made the organization a cult. After all, for years we were told by the Society that we were not in a cult and we argued this point in the door-to-door activity. I found these thoughts on a web-site and I gave personal examples of how I felt and what I saw back in the days of the religion's influence on my life. So what is a cult?
Cult members are
focused on a "living leader" to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.
When I was a Witness, I was told I needed to trust in the "Faithful and Discreet Slave" and needed to follow the direction of the Governing Body. If I had a question about scripture or life, I was encouraged to research ONLY in the Societies publications. If I found information in other publications that confused me, I was scorned and counseled for not looking to the "Faithful and Discreet Slave" who provided food at the proper time.
Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged.
Many times in my Witness life, I came up with questions that I wanted to ask about the Bible and Organization. I did not feel free to word things the way I wanted and often lost sleep due to stress of wondering how my questions would find answers. I worried about losing my life, family members and friends. When I did ask questions that could not be answered, like "how can they change the generation thing after so many years?" I was answered with "Do not let Satan into your mind and trust the "Faithful and Discreet Slave."
The leaders are preoccupied with [raising] money.
Although I gave maybe a total of $20 in twenty-five years of activity. I did see a huge amount of focus on getting people to give money to the organization in backdoor formats. Meaning, life insurance policies that were made payable to the organization. Willing percentage of your estate to the organization. As well as not allowing the congregation to keep any money in the account, other then what was needed for bills. All extra was sent to the Society and could only be returned through loans, with a percentage of interest.
The cult leaders generates within their members "a polarized " mentality. Their people evolve an "us-versus-them " mentality.
I always felt it was us against the world. I saw anyone that was not a Witness, as my enemy or controlled by Satan and the demons. When people slowed my progress, I prayed for Jehovah to stop them. When they did things that made my meeting attendance difficult, I saw them as being controlled by Satan. I only cared about people that were Witnesses and honestly had no love for anyone that was not a Witness, they were nothing more then walking corpses to me and their death in accidents or disasters was a by-product of the world they loved. This included my father, who my mother often mentioned as being controlled by Satan. Because he did not accept Jehovah and wanted to get his kids out of the religion. When she divorced him, she considered her actions and what happened to be a blessing of Jehovah to free her from Satan's influence.
The cult leaders has a clearly defined "anti-authoritarian " disposition.
Besides the silentlambs issue that is mentioned on here a lot. I also felt like the government of the worlds were out to get US and would one day turn on us in a fulfillment of Bible prophesies. I thought the USA and Britain were the newest and most evil of all governments and I honestly looked with excitement to them turning on us. I wanted it to happen, so that the end would come sooner and take all the evil worldly people away. I paid taxes, but I did not vote or believe in serving in the military. I considered everyone who did, to be evil and supporting the system controlled by Satan.
Cult members are seen occasionally to take on a new personality.This phrase was actually even used in the organization. I often refer to this look as the "don't bother knocking, there is no one home" appearance. This look is seen with a lot of people who have stopped thinking deep and allowed all their thoughts to be controlled by a central organization. The look was seen on me, and is still apparent on relatives that still consider themselves Witnesses. It is truly the walk and look of the living brain dead.
Some points that I did not see mentioned, but I also consider cult traits are.
- People who leave are considered evil and worthy of death
- The weak are often put into positions of authority, for they are less likely to cause the trouble a strong person would bring about.
- Education is discouraged to make the mind easier to mold
- Association is limited to cult members
- Communist reporting of family members to leaders, for actions that are considered evil, is rewarded and encouraged
- Loyalty is to the organization only
- Discouragement, Fear and Depression are treated with deeper dedication and research of the central organization
When I look at all these points and know that each one can be applied many times over and over. It often makes me feel a little foolish. Why? Because I actually spent 25 years of my life in this mess and never saw it for what it was, until I got out of it. It makes me wonder, "what else in this life am I turning a blind eye too." Is there going to be a time in the future that I see destructive flaws in the government, my relationships and even reality itself? It seems to me that we accept what we are taught, WAY TO EASY!
Edited by - whyhideit on 11 January 2003 0:43:37
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do you think that there is a big exodus due from t
by dannywalsh ini dont know about you guys but im starting to get the feeling that a big fallaway is on the cards in the wt world what with all the recent scandals and the advent of the internet , information is so readily available to those in developed countries ,i feel that especially in developed nations the wt will suffer huge losses due to apathy and their extreme stand on so many issues, that many will become sick and tired of the wt treadmill of life which is so far away from the simplistic beauty of biblical christianity what do you think?
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whyhideit
In my life, or recent history, I have not heard of any religion of one million or more shutting their doors. The Witnesses may loss people from time to time, but they will keep growing.
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Lost My Job
by Yizuman innew manager named rod came in at wal-mart this week monday.
today he got a call from marsh's office building asking for business references and apparently that pissed him off.
i had dropped off a resume at the marsh office building around 1 1/2 weeks ago or so... he called me into his office via one of the customer service manager (csm) who asked me to follow her.
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whyhideit
I am surprised he did that much. In most states you are only required to say, "your employment has ended" and that is it. Wal-Mart is known for being a bad employer though and is involved in several large lawsuits as it is. They are ALL about profit and do not give a crap about their people or their customers. In my opinion, they are one of the worse retailers in the business.
But damn they are cheap and I would be stupid to spend more money elsewhere!!!!
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Officially Disassociated Tonight
by Princess insteve and i attended our very last meeting this evening.
i wrote a thread a few weeks ago about our elder visit and their decision to announce that we were disassociated.
they agreed to wait until we returned from our vacation so i could tell my grandma who still attends via phone link and so she wouldn't have to be alone in her devastation.
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Officially Disassociated Tonight
by Princess insteve and i attended our very last meeting this evening.
i wrote a thread a few weeks ago about our elder visit and their decision to announce that we were disassociated.
they agreed to wait until we returned from our vacation so i could tell my grandma who still attends via phone link and so she wouldn't have to be alone in her devastation.
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whyhideit
Lilac,
That is about what the attendance looked like when I was attending.
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Ky. Bill to Repeal Clergy "Silent Right"
by Kenneson innewsday.com carries an interesting story with that title.
a few excerpts from the article will give you the gist.
"but democratic rep. susan westrom, a former therapist who worked with abused children felt the law should go furher.
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whyhideit
Unfortunately, the story you linked to said the problem
The Catholic Conference of Kentucky said Westrom's legislation violated the First Amendment right of religious freedom. A similar bill proposed last year in Connecticut failed.
Which is always the case in this country. No one is willing to attack the "Bill of Rights."
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Oral Sex
by Yerusalyim inthat always gets your attention, huh.
ok, i'm watching the "o'reilly factor", they just aired the case of two hs students who engaged in oral sex on a bus in silverlakes maryland while several other students cheered them on and the bus driver did nothing.
the principal of the school system didn't inform the school board until after the local newspaper broke the story and he refuses to say how the students will be punished.
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whyhideit
Oral Sex! I like it, I want it, I want some more of it.
I would bet the account you mentioned will come down to their age and the parents willingness to press charges. The driver should be fired though, as that showed a huge lack of control on his part to keep the children controled. On the other hand, why didn't things like this happen when I was in school? The best thing to ever happen on our bus, was a girl fight broke out and a girl got her shirt ripped off.
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North Korea's Threat
by Shakita inhttp://www.msnbc.com/news/850567.asp?0cv=cb10
north korea has said that this standoff with the us could lead to world war iii.
scary words, huh?.
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whyhideit
N. Korea has about 2-3 nukes. The USA has about 10,000 or more. WW3 for them maybe, but not for us. If they launched a nuke against us, they wouldn't be around long enough to know what they started.
