Oculos Aperire

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Posts by Oculos Aperire

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  73

  DID YOU KNOW the latest Brooklyn sell-offs will take total Watchtower earnings to $804 MILLION since 2004?

  by cedars in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi folks.

  i apologize if this is old news to some, but it's news to me.. i stumbled on a comprehensive list of all the sold properties on wikipedia on this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_bible_and_tract_society_of_pennsylvania#brooklyn_property_sales.

  it's just a mind-boggling amount of money, and useful information to have handy when talking to witness relatives.

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  Oculos Aperire

  POW!!!
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  11

  We quack like ducks but are not ducks, we waddle like ducks but are not ducks

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  who could have foreseen that over 100 years later it would amount to a small band of senior citizens ruling over a vast empire of true believers in excess of 7 million souls?

  yet, in reality, that is what the watchtower society amounts to.

  people who are contrarian in view who don't want to admit the mainstream churches might be right still insist jesus christ is already among us playing second fiddle to brooklyn new york's ever-changing doctrines and explanations of a 2,000 year old jewish book.. .

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  Oculos Aperire

  @ Terry:

  How did you manage to get hold of earlier publications while in jail? Is it not difficult to get anything in there at all let alone such rather specialist literature such as this?
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  73

  DID YOU KNOW the latest Brooklyn sell-offs will take total Watchtower earnings to $804 MILLION since 2004?

  by cedars in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi folks.

  i apologize if this is old news to some, but it's news to me.. i stumbled on a comprehensive list of all the sold properties on wikipedia on this link... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/watch_tower_bible_and_tract_society_of_pennsylvania#brooklyn_property_sales.

  it's just a mind-boggling amount of money, and useful information to have handy when talking to witness relatives.

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  Oculos Aperire

  I wonder if anyone has tried to calculate how many trees have been and continue to be shredded to produce the vast ammounts of literature over 130 years as they have?

  Ecclesiastes 12:12

  (English Standard Version)
  My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
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  79

  JWStruggle post: Bethel Layoffs Reveal a Kingdom without Clothes

  by Londo111 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://www.jwstruggle.com/2013/07/bethel-layoffs-reveal-a-kingdom-without-clothes/.

  despite everything, i still have a lingering admiration toward those who serve or have served in bethel.

  it is not that i believe it is gods organization in any way, shape, or form.

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  Oculos Aperire

  When I was 18 the greatest ambition I had was to get to go to bethel. That was until I saw the application form, and on it there were some very personal questions that required answers. One of them was: "Have you ever smoked Marijuana?"

  Well I had.. so I never got accepted or even considered. I tried to imagine when Jesus was choosing his apostles did he ask them thinks like this. No he did not.

  Not only is this organisation not the least bit forgiving.. they never forget and they don't ever allow you to forget anything either however trivial. They have no genuine love either. Years later having read so many plain awful bethel experiences I am so so glad that I never ended up in that place. It was the greatest favour they ever did me.
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  50

  I get so tired of people complaining about everything President Obama says or does

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for the past 4 1/2 years i have heard everything said about president obama and now the lastest "obama being the anti-christ" just have me laughing my head off.

  where do people get nonsense like this?

  do they just sit around the kitchen table and say "what are we going to say next about obama and michelle?

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  Oculos Aperire

  Don't the people that have to live under his regime have a right to complain? After all what he does has a very real and all encompassing effect on every single aspect of their lives and futures. Do people expect that as soon as they vote someone into such a position of total power that they are just meant to be quiet and shut up no matter what he does?

  Somehow I don't think that's right either.
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  67

  Powerfully heart-wrenching experience by FORMER BETHLITE

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just wanting to post an experience by a former bethelite.

  the first part was just published with the other two coming overt the next couple of weeks.

  click the link.

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  Oculos Aperire

  Just read all 3 parts. Wow!.. what an awful experience!! Horrific. So glad that there was a happy ending for these people.

  Bits that stuck.

  It is ironic that JWs are told that they belong to a ‘loving organization’ when the reality is coldness and emotional distance. Trying to follow JW rules and pleasing elders breeds discouragement, depression, mental illness and chronic illness.

  “I was a smart, odd, difficult child who grew into a smart, odd, difficult adult. I had a massive inferiority complex and suffered from depression. Those factors made me ripe for the picking when JWs came along. After seducing me with their talk of a loving brotherhood, they crushed me. My problems were related to ‘not loving Jehovah enough.’ I was discouraged from seeking professional help. After a suicide attempt in 2005, an elder told me that the only thing I should be doing was resting and going out in field service.

  When you’re spoon-fed misinformation on a daily basis and told you will die at Armageddon unless you follow JW rules, even the smartest of people can be dumbed down to become gullible believers. The sexually repressive environment created by JW dogma is oppressive and damaging to adults at any age. Even today, Mariuca struggles with some guilt, and that hurts me because she is way too kind and smart to have that happen to her. But when you’ve been in a cult for as many years as she, there will be some toxic residue, or “ghosts,” that will haunt you from time to time.

  to share my midlife ‘coming of age’ story, it might help others to break free from the chains of JW dependency, where women are treated as second-class citizens. I may be a late bloomer, but I’m proof it is possible to leave a high-control religion, find the love of your life, learn the truth about bad JW policies and beliefs, and find real freedom and happiness. So yes, It’s Never Too Late!”

  “Nothing could prepare me for the trauma of shunning, and it still haunts me at times. It did not help that I truly wanted to be out of that high-control religion, and even back then I could not imagine returning to it. I no longer believed the things I had been taught and I couldn’t bear to have others control my life. During those first quiet two years, Carl and I spent all of our free time together. We loved having our evenings and weekends to ourselves, quality time in our sanctuary.

  “In those early days I felt like a tree with no roots. I had the sunshine of Carl’s love, but there was an entire network of rootstock missing. It took several years, but eventually I felt my roots returning. And these new roots were real. They were based on relationships where people liked me for me. There were new relationships with non-JW relatives, who accepted me into their hearts and homes. There were relationships with ex-JWs, some who we had known for years. We socialized with fellow artists, workmates, former co-workers and schoolmates, and neighbors. And during this time we have forged some close bonds with many amazing people; friendships that have been tested and found true.
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  6

  Forum bug?

  by Oculos Aperire in

  1. forum
  2. tech-support

  when i click "active topics" i get this.. the active topcs:.

  when i try to click page 2 of active topics.... i get only posts that are all over 13 years old!!.

  the question is.. how are we meant to follow posts, even our own, if there is no easy way to find them?.

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  Oculos Aperire

  Oh boy how could I miss that!! Right under my nose.. in fact so beautifully under my nose that I could not see it at all. lol..

  Cheers folks..
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  6

  Forum bug?

  by Oculos Aperire in

  1. forum
  2. tech-support

  when i click "active topics" i get this.. the active topcs:.

  when i try to click page 2 of active topics.... i get only posts that are all over 13 years old!!.

  the question is.. how are we meant to follow posts, even our own, if there is no easy way to find them?.

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  Oculos Aperire

  Ah... let me try that.. back in a sec.

  (1 min later:) Yup that worked. Thank you..
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  6

  Forum bug?

  by Oculos Aperire in

  1. forum
  2. tech-support

  when i click "active topics" i get this.. the active topcs:.

  when i try to click page 2 of active topics.... i get only posts that are all over 13 years old!!.

  the question is.. how are we meant to follow posts, even our own, if there is no easy way to find them?.

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  Oculos Aperire

  Hi.. :)

  When I click "Active topics" I get this.. the active topcs:

  

  When I try to click page 2 of active topics.... I get only posts that are all over 13 years old!!

  

  The question is.. how are we meant to follow posts, even our own, if there is no easy way to find them?
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  14

  Maybe the most beautiful city in the world

  by DJS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been to frejus, cannes, st. tropez and san rafael (maybe the most beautiful city in the world - no wait that would be cannes, or san tropez).

  i traveled the coastal highway one day from s. of hyeres to monte carlo.

  breathtaking.

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  Oculos Aperire

  I have travelled that entire coastline too, but I did not stop. it was all somehow artificial, elitists.. for the rich.. or tourists. Very pretentious. Even the waiters were wearing Rolex watches.

  Not for me thanks. I can think of a million far more beautiful places I'd like to be.