Finally Free,
The fact that you have not experienced a certain type of treatment does not mean that no one else has.
I never said it did. All I said was that stp was wrong in his totalistic generalization that "in the cult" (notice, no qualifiers -- this would indicate that all JWs do this and that it is a policy of the society) you are told
1) not to make money (again, no qualifiers -- the truth is that JWs are encouraged not to become overly materialistic; I know plenty of relatively wealthy elders)
2) not to do what you enjoy (probably stp means that JWs are encouraged not to sacrifice Witness pursuits at the expense of personal enjoyments; many JWs enjoy the secular work they do)
All I did was tear down an extremist overgeneralization about the JWs. It was stp that was saying, essentially, "all JWs are like this." That's patently not true. He also engaged in false reasoning about what the Society has actually said about money and secular careers. If someone makes the statment that "all swans are white" all one has to do to refute that argument is find one swan that is not white. I think I've pointed out that there are many "non-white swans" in this argument.
I suggest you go back and evaluate your history on the boards. You are sounding more and more like a JW apologist. It makes me wonder why you even come here instead of the kingdom hall.
Oh, I try and reason about the JWs/ex-JWs and not use emotion and I'm a JW apologist for this? Insanity. I'm an atheist, for crying out loud. Where the JWs are wrong, I would gladly point this out. Where ex-JWs are wrong, I do the same. Obviously, you haven't given up your black-and-white way of looking at the world, have you?
Or do you still attend meetings? You sound like a typical blowhard elder who's in love with the sound of his own voice.
I haven't been to a meeting in over three years. I could care less if the JWs went down the theological toilet. I do like the sound of my own voice, though.
Is that you, Walter? It sounds like it. (Just a guess on my part)
B.