Rufus T. Firefly

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Posts by Rufus T. Firefly

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  38

  First post

  by BenRichards in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been lurking here off and on for a few years, figured i would introduce myself and share the clif notes version of my story.. i'm in my late 30's and was born in.

  mom was a jw, dad wasn't.

  got baptized in my teens and started dating my eventual wife.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  Excellent first post, Ben! You're going to have to make your own decisions about if and when and how much to tell your mother. Personally, I've learned that people only pay attention to what they discover for themselves. Sometimes, the less said, the greater the effect. Not going to the Memorial says a lot by itself. "Because I don't want to" seems to me to be the perfect response at this point. At least you know that you are not alone. I feel confident in saying there are more of us (ex-JWs) than there are of them. (This forum represents only the tip of the iceberg!) Remember that you never have to testify against yourself regardless of what questions anyone may ask you. I assume you are using an alias, so use this forum as the place to vent. Welcome!
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  14

  Hey you guys...is someone at Bethel having a laugh?

  by wizzstick in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  has anyone else noticed the below?.

  the mountain on the front cover of 'god kingdom rules' segues beautifully into the mountain on the front cover of 'crisis of conscience' (with a bit of cropping):.

  coincidence?.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  Thanks, wizzstick!
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  32

  Have you ever been called for Jury Duty? before or after registering to vote?

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've never been called for jury duty and i'm not yet registered to vote, although i'm hoping to get that done this month.

  i know someone who within a few months of registering to vote was called for jury duty.

  i've read some articles that said voter records 'used' to be used to call on people but that was a thing of the past.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  I served as a jury foreman while I was still active. It was a very eye-opening experience. In a subsequent case, I made it to the last round of potential jurors. The DA asked if anyone would have a problem convicting someone based on the tesitmony of one witness, and I raised my hand. When he asked me why I would have such a problem, I replied that the Law which declares one 'innocent until proven guilty' coupled with the defendant's "not guilty" plea outweighs the testimony of just one witness for the prosecution. I added that the State should be ashamed for prosecuting anyone on the testimony of just one witness. Needless to say, I was excused.
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  229

  Ferguson Shooting (Is my thinking on this all wrong.......)

  by out4good3 in

  1. social
  2. current

  i think everyone here can agree that walking down the street, even in the middle of the street, is not cause for having a clip emptied in your ass......... i can understand how the black community would be outraged by the injustice of seeing another black man dead in the street at the hands of the police under mysterious circumstances....... i hope that i'm not succumbing to the attempts to assinate the already well impuned character of the dead man...... however.

  i can't help but think that this could all have been avoided by exercising the proper discretion with fore-knowledge of the disadvantages people of color have when they are dealing with law enforcement in the united states.

  it is not as if this disadvantage has only since recently came to light.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  <<Put aside your Bias for a while until we learn more.>>

  George Zimmerman was found not guilty (beyond a reasonable doubt) of murdering Trayvon Martin in a nationally televised court trial, and still hardly a week goes by without some idiot on TV saying Zimmerman got away with murder. People are going to believe what they want to believe. If you think "checking eyewitness accounts" is going to settle this matter, I'm afraid you are dreaming. Especially now that the so-called Dept. of Justice has taken over the investigation. I stand by my comments above. I realize your comment regarding the term "thugs" was not directed at me, and I do not know why anyone would use the deplorable 'n' word. However, in my book a thug is a thug regardless of ethnicity, and a thug is anyone who acts like a thug, regardless of whether one gets shot down or not.
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  229

  Ferguson Shooting (Is my thinking on this all wrong.......)

  by out4good3 in

  1. social
  2. current

  i think everyone here can agree that walking down the street, even in the middle of the street, is not cause for having a clip emptied in your ass......... i can understand how the black community would be outraged by the injustice of seeing another black man dead in the street at the hands of the police under mysterious circumstances....... i hope that i'm not succumbing to the attempts to assinate the already well impuned character of the dead man...... however.

  i can't help but think that this could all have been avoided by exercising the proper discretion with fore-knowledge of the disadvantages people of color have when they are dealing with law enforcement in the united states.

  it is not as if this disadvantage has only since recently came to light.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  Anyone (of any color) who commits a felony and subsequently resists a police officer (of any color) after behaving like a complete fool by walking down the middle of a street in broad daylight risks getting shot (however many times). If Michael Brown had been as street-wise as he thought he was, he would have known that. Just like the 20-year old kid who died the same week because he didn’t know any better than to get out of his race car and run into the middle of the race track while a race was in progress. Both young men died as a result of “natural selection,” or “survival of the fittest.”
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  20

  Have you seen "Knock! Knock!"?

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought it was a genuinely old silent movie.

  it was prepared for the delegates of the international conventions.

  a young man in a sound car goes to different homes in the neighborhood, and comes upon a bereaved husband with two young daughters.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  Having said that....the video is very well done. Is there a YouTube link to the video?
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  48

  Hubby's tempted to go back

  by jgnat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  today he kept bumping in to (or rather dodging and weaving from) fellow witnesses.

  he's talking about returning but can't figure out a way to do it without enduring a fair amount of humiliation.

  i did not panic.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  <<He does not want to do the Witness thing. He just doesn't want to feel guilty either.>>

  “Stanley Milgram . . . pointed out that people who disobey destructive authority suffer psychologically, too. Often a person who disobeys finds himself at odds with the social order, and may find it hard to shake the feeling that he has been faithless to someone or something to whom he pledged allegiance.” (From the book The Sociopath Next Door by Dr. Martha Stout.)
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  20

  Have you seen "Knock! Knock!"?

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i thought it was a genuinely old silent movie.

  it was prepared for the delegates of the international conventions.

  a young man in a sound car goes to different homes in the neighborhood, and comes upon a bereaved husband with two young daughters.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  As many here already know, the context of "millions now living will never die" was Rutherford's claim that the end would come in 1925, just one of many failed prophecies by the false prophets at the WTS.
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  12

  GREAT SONG FOR THOSE OF US STRUGGLING TO LEAVE THE JW CULT!

  by ADJUSTMENTS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is a song by lauren hill she had family ties to the jw cult, so it is very touching and moving, she even gets choked up in the middle of the song.

  i like to share this song with new ones or old ones and those who have heard it before every now and again, it so refreshing and hopefull!

  enjoy it!!!.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  Oh, that's GOOD! I cannot live a lie. Never could. Once I awakened to the truth about JWs and the WTS, I had absolutely no desire to associate with anyone remotely associated with them. My respect for those who willingly left the WTS has skyrocketed, and I view those who remain as willfully ignorant and pitiable. This includes a lot of people whom I dearly love.
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  22

  Scriptures that now seem to apply to JWs

  by Magnum in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in the last year or so, many bible passages that i used to strongly and confidently apply to non-jws, began to seem to apply to jws.

  this change in my thinking was shocking and disturbing.

  i can best describe the feeling by comparing it to the feeling i got in 1981 when i watched the movie dead and buried starring james farentino.. in that movie there are murders committed in a small town by dead people reanimated by a doctor doing experiments.

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  Rufus T. Firefly

  Here's my favorite: "By your words you will be condemned." (Matt.12: 37)