em1913

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Posts by em1913

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  39

  Have you ever considered trying ancestry.com?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was recently given a gift of ancestry.com and i’m curious if anyone else has used this service?.

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  em1913

  I was a member several years ago when I needed access to some data for a research project, and I ended up tracking down quite a bit on my own family besides. Turns out my 6X-great grandmother was hung for witchcraft in Salem in 1692. Three cheers for That Old Time Religon.

  At the time I was a member, close to 20 years ago, Ancestry was about the only place you could find a lot of the information offered. It was worth the price then, but I don't know if it would be now.

  My mother signed up for one of those DNA deals, and it turns out we're part Yakut. Siberia's lovely country I hear.
  
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  32

  What JW Beliefs Did You Find Difficult To Explain?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there are a lot.

  anything blood related was difficult to reasonably prove from a witness perspective.. 1914 was another one.

  what can you add to the list?

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  em1913

  "The light gets brighter." I remember vividly that "tacking into the wind" Watchtower study in the early 80s that tried to put this concept into simple terms, and while it sounded good to a believing JW, you couldn't explain it to a person at the door without them giving you the fishiest of fishy looks. "Tacking into the wind" means absolutely nothing to anybody who's never been on a boat in their lives, and anybody who does know about boats knows that the way the WT used the analogy is completely ridiculous. A tacking boat may move from side to side, but it never goes backwards.
  
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  30

  Baby it’s cold outside...Is That Song Offensive To Ypu?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to think that this classic song is “offensive “.... is absolutely ridiculous!.

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  em1913

  It's actually not something I hear anyone talking about -- except on cable TV and talk radio shows that I tune past as soon as I see that they're on, or in internet forum threads where people seem to be hypertrophically offended over the idea that anyone could possibly be offended.

  I don't really care about the song one way or another. It's very low on my personal radar, and as I said before, it's not even a song I particularly like. If someone finds it offensive, it doesn't bother me at all. If someone likes it, that doesn't bother me either.

  I do, though, have a problem with people who discount the idea that a woman might be offended by some beery scuzz hitting on her when she's not interested. Usually this comes from the kind of men who can't believe that any woman could possibly resist their masculine charms. Believe me, such men are highly resistable. This has nothing to do with "left" versus "right." It's just a matter of having no interest in assholes of any political stripe.
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  30

  Baby it’s cold outside...Is That Song Offensive To Ypu?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  to think that this classic song is “offensive “.... is absolutely ridiculous!.

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  em1913

  I've got a lot of experience with the music of the 1930s-40s, and frankly it's not one of my favorites. It's one of Loesser's lesser -- a retreading of "Two Sleepy People," which is a better melody with better lyrics. If people don't like it for other reasons, that's their business. If people don't like that other people don't like it, well, life is just such a burden, isn't it? By the way, in what way is it a Christmas/holiday song? Skeevy men at parties know no season.
  
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  43

  Did Ray Franz Help You To Get Out of “The Truth”?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i sneakily read his books at work.

  it was written in such a way that no one could accuse him of being another bitter old apostate.. once it registered in my brain, especially after reading the second book, i knew i had to get out!.

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  em1913

  I first heard of Ray Franz when I saw a piece about his expulsion in "Time" magazine in 1982. I hadn't been in long at that point, so of course I discounted everything he had to say in that interview, but it did plant a seed that, perhaps, things in Brooklyn weren't as spirit-begotten as I'd been led to believe. I left of my own accord six years later, and never really thought aboit Ray Franz again until 1996, when I first ran into Randy Watters' website and saw an article about "The Franz Incident." That piqued my interest, amnd when I finally did read CofC I developed great respect for the man, What would really be interesting is for someone to write a modern-day CofC. All I know about the current GB bunch is what I read here, and it sounds like someone really needs to do a definitive insider expose for the "2.0" generation.
  
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  33

  Should Voters Be Made To Prove They Are Eligible To Vote?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i believe that just because someone shows up at the voting booth, it doesn’t automatically qualify them to be legitimate voters.

  i think it’s not unreasonable to provide proof that you are qualified..

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  em1913

  Where I live you have to provide a photo ID and a Social Security number to register. Voting is done at neighborhood polling stations where the wardens know most, if not all, of the voters by sight, and no ID is required other than confirming your name and address on the registration roll.

  Since 1970 there have been three cases of voter fraud confirmed in my state. Two of them were described as "good old boys" who owned property straddling a town line, and who claimed they thought that entitled them to vote in both towns. The other was a man with "cognitive difficulties" who was simply confused. None of them were cases of "non citizens" or other persons not legally qualified to vote.
  
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  72

  Why Do People Hate Jews???

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have never understood anti-semitism .why sooo much hatred?.

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  em1913

  Nazi anti-Semitism derives primarily from the writings of the Anglo-German "philosopher" Houston Stewart Chamberlain, who promoted a sort of weird Teutonic racial nationalist mysticism which combined a belief in Nordic superiority with ideas drawn from the works of Richard Wagner. Chamberlain lived in VIenna around the time of Hitler's residence there, and his writings were extremely popular among the pan-Germanic nationalists of that era. Hitler picked up the central tenets of his ideas from Chamberlainite pamphlets that widely circulated in pre-WWI Austria, and cited Chamberlain as a major influence during and after his rise to power. He sought out and interacted with Chamberlain in person late in the latter's life. Chamberlain was not a Muslim, and Hitler was a convinced anti-Semite long before he ever met, interacted with, or thought about Islam.
  
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  85

  “Monkey this up”...

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  that expression is a no-no now.

  it is racist and hateful.

  some people just need to get the monkey off their backs..

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  em1913

  As you wish. Right is left and left is right, or so Brother Mustard would have us believe, and never the twain shall meet. I'll leave you now to your monkey memes.
  
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  44

  How many JDubs would believe this ridiculous statement?

  by Sour Grapes in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  a circuit overseer or a member of the gibbering body is giving a talk about demonism and he says the following, "there was an elder in a congregation in california who let his 8-year-old daughter watch disney movies that involved witches, gremlins, magic, and sorcery.

  many may feel that they are harmless movies and are just entertainment.

  well, the 8-year-old daughter actually brought a blue smurf doll to the public talk and watchtower study.

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  em1913

  I heard that exact Smurf story in California in 1983 -- Santa Barbara West congregation to be specific --and I knew it was ridiculous then. It was making the rounds of the usual suspects -- elders' wives, Brothers Reaching Out, that bunch. I just shook my head. I was "in," but I was never that in.

  I didn't hear it from the platform, though -- it was strictly whispered back-of-the-hall gossip. But everybody in the circuit had heard the story.
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  18

  J.W.Sisters are not recognized as part of the 144000 Anointed class by the Governing Body of Jehovah`s Witnesses and never have been.

  by smiddy3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  rev.14: 1-6 describes the 144000 as males who do not defile themselves with women and are classed as virgins.?.

  how does the governing body of j.w.`s explain that a man having a sexual relationship with a woman defiles a man?.

  isn`t this or shouldn`t this be an affront to women who are jehovah`s witnesses ?

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  em1913

  Well, looking at most JW men, I have to say that they probably won't have much trouble with the "virgin" thing.