Posts by Island Man

28

help me understand: My wife seems to be utterly detested by skelletons and skulls. Why?

by goingthruthemotions in

so, here i am again....asking more questions to help me understand my wife.

she was brought up in the cult in the 70's and 80's.

so i can only imagine what kind of indoctrination she deals with.

Island Man

I agree with SecretSlaveClass. Skulls and skeletons are often associated with occultism so JWs quickly associate them with demonism. Some JWs associate anything grotesque or scary-looking with demonism, regardless of whether or not the portrayal professes to be occult in nature. A sci-fi portrayal of a grotesque-looking creature would very easily be labelled as "demonic" by a brainwashed JW.

Aside from it's occult connotations, the skull is often used simply as an iconic symbol of death. Thus the skull and bones symbol of the pirates is meant to strike fear in the heart of their victims that they (the pirates) are fearsome, murderous thugs who are not to be trifled with as they will not think twice of killing you if you fail to comply with their wishes or if you dared to defy them.

The skull is also used as part of universal signs used to label products as being toxic or poisonous.

It's possible that humans evolved a deep-seated aversion to the sight of skulls as this afforded a survival advantage. Early pre-humans who avoided being around skulls also avoided the local environmental hazards that killed the persons who became the skulls.

18

"The governing body has asked me to..."

by OverlappingGeneralizations in

i have heard that phrase several times on the jw broadcast, uttered by gb members!

"the governing body has asked me to bring to your attention (whatever)".

aren't you the governing body?

Island Man

I think I know the reason for that statement.

It is usually given when the GB member is going to talk about something that is potentially controversial or new to JWs. On such potentially controversial issues, there is the risk that the GB member would either be hated or loved for presenting it.

When it is a new or somewhat unconventional issue, there is also the potential for JWs to be wondering if the GB member is giving his own views or that of the organization.

The statement: "the Governing Body has asked me to..." serves to separate the potentially controversial or unconventional message from the lone GB presenter, putting it squarely unto the Governing Body/Faithful and Discreet Slave collective. That way, JWs are being asked to accept the bitter pill as coming from the God appointed Faithful and Disreet Slave who must be obeyed, rather than merely being the view coming from rubber-faced Lett, or Uptight Tony.

Any praise that a new, innovative or unconventional message brings must also go to the collective and not the lone GB presenter - so that the other GB members don't get jealous or suspicious about a lone GB member gaining more praise and prominence in the eyes of all JWs because of a message he happened to have presented.

It might also be a way of suggesting to JWs that what is about to be said is a very important message coming from the faithful and discreet slave and may thus indicate to us awake ones that this is the real "meat" of the program - the key bit of indoctrination that Watchtower wants to feed the JWs with for the month.

You see, the JW broadcast program is very similar to a study edition of the Watchtower. There are the experiences of JWs and other fluff pieces about the work of the organization. These mirror the supplementary articles for personal reading, found in the study edition. There there is the "the Governing Body has asked me to..." segment of the program which mirrors the congregation Watchtower study articles in the study edition.

39

2016 SPECIAL TALK---ARE YOU ON THE ROAD TO EVERLASTING LIFE?

by suavojr in

jw
friends

are you on the road to everlasting life?.

note to the speaker: help bible students and interested ones to understand why and how to make further spiritual progress..

emphasize the many sources of help available, and warmly encourage them to act without delay.

Island Man

God’s requirements are reasonable; they reflect his love and greatly benefit us

Being asked to shun your own children because they change to a different belief system can hardly be described as reasonable. Being asked to refuse your child a life-saving blood transfusion in the absence of alternatives, can hardly be described as reasonable, loving or beneficial.

39

2016 SPECIAL TALK---ARE YOU ON THE ROAD TO EVERLASTING LIFE?

by suavojr in

jw
friends

are you on the road to everlasting life?.

note to the speaker: help bible students and interested ones to understand why and how to make further spiritual progress..

emphasize the many sources of help available, and warmly encourage them to act without delay.

Island Man

I predict that the song they will use for that talk is: "This is the way"

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.