Posts by Island Man

21

A small update on the ongoing investigation by the Royal Commission

by umbertoecho in

i think you people would like to know that since the public hearing has finished.

there has been ongoing contact made to me by the staff at the rc.

they have been inundated with calls and the same experiences or similar ones are being related.. the staff are not backwards in coming forwards with insights that they have shared.

Island Man

"I used to make shepherding calls until I was reproved for only shepherding the prettier sisters"

Did you use your shepherd's staff, snugglebunny?

13

Drama played at pioneer school

by StarTrekAngel in

i was having breakfast at home earlier this morning when my mil sat down at the table.

she started re hashing her previous day with us (wife and myself).

she was relating a story she got from another close relative who just finished the pioneer school.

Island Man

What! no mention of the need to read the bible or the need to have faith in Jesus? Why am I not surprised?

30

Women going topless in NYC.

by Fisherman in

within the past couple of days, women in nyc are going around topless in public.

i read in a news article, that in new york city, there are no laws against women going topless in public.the article says that family people are getting offended and they want to stop topless women in public.

in europe women show their breasts on on tv, the beach, and breast feeding in public.

Island Man

Ooooooh, Nude York,
Ooooooh, Nude York.

Grew up in a town,
that is famous as a place of
nudey scenes.

Noise is always loud,
there are sirens all around
and the strippers are lean.

If I could make out here,
I could make out anywhere
that's what they say.

Seeing my tits in light,
or my name in marquees
found down on Broadway

Even if it aint all who sees,
I got a pocket full of dreams
Baby I'm from Nude York

Concrete jungle wet dreams
are made of, there's nothing
you can't do, now you're in Nude York

These strippers make you feel brand new
"flashing headlights" inspire you
hear it for Nude York, Nude York, Nude York

On the areola view
there ain't never a curfew
ladies work it so hard.

Such a melting pot
on the corner without a frock
preachers pray to God.

Hail a gypsy gal
takes me down from Harlem
to the Brooklyn bridge

So one sleeps the nights
with a hunger from more than
an empty fridge

I'm going to make out by any means
I got a pocket of wet dreams
Baby i'm from Nude York

Concrete jungle wet dreams
are made of, there's nothing
you can't do, now you're in Nude York

These strippers make you feel brand new
"flashing headlights" inspire you
hear it for Nude York, Nude York, Nude York

One hand in the air for the big titties
strippers, wet dreams, all looking pretty

No place in the world that could compare
put your lighters in the air
everybody say yeah yeah, yeah Nude York

Concrete jungle wet dreams
are made of, there's nothing
you can't do, now you're in Nude York

These strippers make you feel brand new
"flashing headlights" inspire you
hear it for Nude York, Nude York, Nude York

30

Women going topless in NYC.

by Fisherman in

within the past couple of days, women in nyc are going around topless in public.

i read in a news article, that in new york city, there are no laws against women going topless in public.the article says that family people are getting offended and they want to stop topless women in public.

in europe women show their breasts on on tv, the beach, and breast feeding in public.

Island Man

Fisherman, how do I know your claims are true when you provide no photographic evidence?

6

Are there any lesbians on this forum?

by BashfulAshG in

how does (or did) feel to be a jw, gay, and female?.

Island Man

I certainly hope so.

All my life I've been looking for a woman who shares most of my interests. I have found few that shared my sexual attraction to women, and wouldn't you know it: none of them found me sexually attractive - something about me not being their type. How can a man who has so much in common with them not be their type? I just don't understand it.

9

Public Prayers - Scriptural?

by OverlappingGeneralizations in

something that has always been a pet peeve of mine- public prayers.

is that even scriptural?

i know many churches (along with the jws) do it.

Island Man

Jesus didn't condemn public prayer. Jesus himself prayed publicly on occasion such as when he raised up Lazarus. What Jesus condemned was praying publicly for the purpose of impressing others with your righteousness.

1 Corinthians 14:16 refers to public prayer within the christian congregation as there is mention of one praying and others saying "amen" in response. So public prayer is scriptural.

But I still sympathize with your sentiments. I don't like public prayer either. It always smacks of an opportunity - no, a temptation - for the one praying to try to make or maintain a good impression with others. I can't help but think that the one praying will always be self conscious of what he is saying and trying to do a good job so as not to embarrass himself. It's only human for someone speaking before a crowd to exercise care that he speaks well and does not embarrass himself. This means that the one praying publicly can never give a 100% sincere prayer to God. He is always, in a sense, praying to the audience.

Also, aren't you not supposed to say the same things over and over?

Speaking of that, you will notice that every public pray-er seems to have his own mental prayer outline or prayer manuscript that he repeats when he has to pray. Again I believe the reason for this is pressure to make a good impression and not embarrass yourself publicly. That pressure tends to force the pray-er to develop a "safe" prayer that he can repeat every time without the risk of embarrassing himself if he were to be more spontaneous.

As a side note, if it is really true that it is wrong to repeat the same prayer by rote or from a prayer book whenever you pray, then how can it be acceptable to God to repeat the kingdom songs by rote or from a song book when you sing? Furthermore, it is a fact that the bible book of Psalms contains prayers that were written with Hebrew acrostics for the purpose of making them easy to remember for easy recitation. So why would God inspire psalmists to write prayer songs in a manner to make them easy to remember and recite if he does not approve of repeating prayers by memory?

JWs must be wrong about this teaching about not repeating the same prayer by rote. I believe the translation of Matthew 6 where it says not to say the same thing over and over again is actually an erroneous translation. The greek text actually says "do not multiply words". I believe this is referring to make very long, wordy prayers, thinking that God will consider you more spiritual if you talk to him for a very long time. The reason I say this is because elsewhere in the gospels Jesus also condemned the practice of making long prayers for a pretense.

In fact the very mistranslated verse in the NWT indicates that it is about the wordiness of the prayer and not about repeating the same prayer by rote when you pray:

"When praying, do not say the same things over and over again as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words" - Matthew 6:7

Did you see the phrase "their use of many words"? That phrase does not match the first part of the verse which is rendered as saying the same things over and over again. A person can have a short prayer with few words that he says by rote whenever he prays. So clearly its not about praying by rote when you pray. It's about having unnecessarily long, wordy prayers, imagining that the length of the prayer determines God's interest in it.

81

Do you believe Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body is the "faithful slave"?

by Marvin Shilmer in

this question is known to be posed by jws to other jws as an acid test of loyalty.

i'm not the first to notice what i'm about to point out and comment accordingly, but today i felt compelled to add a short article on my blog highlighting the new language that governing body member geoffrey jackson supplies as a response.

a person who honestly hesitates to respond with a robust "yes!

Island Man

Today I thought of another response that might also work:

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that Jesus is the one appointed to make the judgment as to whether his disciples in position of authority proved to be the faithful and discreet slave and appoint them over all his belongings; and that that judgment takes place in the future when he returns to execute judgment?
Therefore, I beseech you brothers to give Jesus' authority, to Jesus, but my human limitations to me. My bible-trained conscience tells me it would be presumptuous of me to make a judgment as to who is or is not the faithful and discreet slave. I leave that Judgement for Jesus to make. It is even so written at 1 Corinthians 4:5:
"Therefore, do not judge anything before the due time, until the Lord comes. He will bring the secret things of darkness to light and make known the intentions of the hearts, and then each one will receive his praise from God."
So the brothers whom Jesus will finally judge as having proved to be the faithful and discreet slave do not need my judgment or approval of them being such - it is for Jesus to make that judgment and approval - nor do they need me to praise them as being the faithful and discreet slave - it is better that they get their praise from God rather than men. Don't you agree?"

107

Brother who works on JW Broadcasting gave a 20 minute talk, said something big is coming next month.

by wifibandit in

via /r/exjw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc7vhu8l88k.

Island Man

Maybe they're gonna start to do their own secular news program on JW broadcasting; sell it to all the dubs as the most accurate and unbiased news broadcast on the planet so there is no need to watch any worldly news networks. That way dubs will never get to see any negative news stories on JWs, such as the Australia Royal Commission investigation of JWs handling of child abuse.

34

They know something’s up.

by John Aquila in

we have the convention this weekend and many jw families are arriving.

one family that ive known for many years from new mexico stopped by to visit my mom.

hes been an elder since the 80s.

Island Man

You sure shut down his judgmental, "come back to the Truth" prodding "like a boss"!

81

Do you believe Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body is the "faithful slave"?

by Marvin Shilmer in

this question is known to be posed by jws to other jws as an acid test of loyalty.

i'm not the first to notice what i'm about to point out and comment accordingly, but today i felt compelled to add a short article on my blog highlighting the new language that governing body member geoffrey jackson supplies as a response.

a person who honestly hesitates to respond with a robust "yes!

Island Man

The elders will shoot that response down very quickly by saying that Geoffrey Jackson is not the faithful and discreet slave - that the faithful and discreet slave is only operational when the governing body is acting collectively. Thus Geoffrey Jackson's words to the commission does not carry the weight that you think it does. They will say he was only following Jesus' counsel to be cautious as a serpent but innocent as a dove. They will say that Geoffrey Jackson merely said that it would "seem to be presumptuous" not that it actually was presumptuous, and that he went on to mention the faithful slave arrangement in Matthew 24:45.