Posts by Frazzled UBM

46

Life is short and I'm gonna love it thread!

by poopsiecakes in

jw
friends

so what are you doing to enjoy yourself?

doesn't have to be for anyone around you, or have anything to do with jw world.

just something that you do for you and only you and that fills your soul (whatever that means).

Frazzled UBM

Regular great sex and cuddling

eating out with the family

going to musicals in the West End with my wife

my wife's cooking and baking

playing and joking around with my young son and hugging him

adventuring (we went trekking in Patagonia at the beginning of the year - amazing) and discussing literature, philosophy, politics and economics with my elder son and hugging him

travelling and the whole sensory walking, exploring (including scuba diving when I get the chance), eating and drinking experience that goes with that

watching rugby - particularly when the Wallabies win - a rare and special thing these days

good wine (Australian Shiraz is my favourite)

driving in the country in my 3.2 litre Audi A3 quattro sports - lots of grunt

reading a good book and watching a good movie

Xmas, birthdays, Halloween, Fireworks night, Easter etc.

I must say it's nice to do this list and appreciate the good things in my life

10

Morning Witness - Sowing the Seeds

by Frazzled UBM in

so i walked past a couple of young witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when i came back to catch the train.

seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on jwn so i figured what the hell i'll tell them.

so i approached them and asked how old they were.

Hi Laika - good to hear from you. I had a little chuckle inside when he pulled that stunt. I thought: "Better men than you have tried and failed at those tactics, Sunshine." Have fun with Kate this evening - sorry I can't join you - I am feeling a bit under the weather. Cheers Fraz

10

Morning Witness - Sowing the Seeds

by Frazzled UBM in

so i walked past a couple of young witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when i came back to catch the train.

seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on jwn so i figured what the hell i'll tell them.

so i approached them and asked how old they were.

Frazzled UBM

Miss Fit - the guy actually said to me that I was rude in telling him he was wasting his life. I replied that may be the case but it is more true than any Truth you get from the WBTS. I notice the tactics when you tell them something they don't want to hear is to talk over you and then you talk more loudly to get your point in and then they accuse you of yelling - a tried and true tactic. So when they started talking over me - I put my hand up and said "Please let me finish." They then tried physical intimidation and when that failed the final option was simply to flee the scene. So they did adopt a congitive dissonance avoiding the uncomfortable truth approach. I don't think we can know for sure whether I will have had any impact when they reflect back on the conversation, if they indeed do so. But on reflection I think it was worth doing just in case it did have an impact. No harm in trying.

27

WT Study 26th Oct. '14

by BluesBrother in

i could find another thread so i thought i might add a few comments here - not a full critique though.

"hear jehovah's voice wherever you are".

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20140815/hear-jehovahs-voice/.

Frazzled UBM

The simple unsubtle message: "Obey (the FDS) or die!"

10

Morning Witness - Sowing the Seeds

by Frazzled UBM in

so i walked past a couple of young witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when i came back to catch the train.

seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on jwn so i figured what the hell i'll tell them.

so i approached them and asked how old they were.

Frazzled UBM

So I walked past a couple of young Witnesses on the way to dropping my son off this morning and they were still there at the station when I came back to catch the train. Seeing them made me feel sad and think about all the stories of regret here on JWN so I figured what the hell I'll tell them.

So I approached them and asked how old they were. They said they were 30 ande 27 - young as far as I am concerned. I asked them whether they had gone to university and they said no. So I told them it made me sad to see them wasting their lives. Well this clearly struck a nerve as they didn't know where to turn.

The guy, who was about 6'4", came very close to stand over me in an intimidating fashion - not being someone to be intimidated I told him to back off and I continued talking by telling them that in 15, 20, 30 or how many years time when you wake up and learn TTATT you would look back and regret being mislead into not seeking to achieve your potential. I told them they would probably be in low paying dead end jobs, not owning a house and not having adequate pensions in place. They said that was a generalisation but I said no that was based on the fact that in this information age there were no well paying jobs for non-graduates apart from some trades and I said in any case what I am telling you is based on the experience of many who have come before you who have told their stories on JWN.

I said to them "Look around the congregation at the old people living on welfare - when they were your age they also believed that Armageddon would come and spare them the need to save for retirement. By this time they were walking in the opposite direction and so my parting shot was: "In the future you will look back on this conversation and say to yourself 'I should ahve listened to that guy!'" I don't think I changed their minds but hopefully I planted some seeds.

40

JW attitudes to women

by Frazzled UBM in

i would be very interested to hear from you ladies on this one.

i know that the society keeps women in subjugation through the headship cr@p but didn't ahve any sense about hoew prehistoric the attitudes are until the other day when we were driving out of the supermarket car park and my wife spotted a woman dressed in tight shorts (it has been very hot here) and she commented 'they say that women who dress like that dserve to be raped'.

i did a wtf and overreacted 'how can you blame the victim like that - such attitudes give men a lciense to commit rape and make women feel they are to balme if they get raped which in turn means that rape doesn't get reported and it gopes on with impunity.

Frazzled UBM

"So maybe Frazzled UBM can explain why it's clearly the religion that's the problem when it comes to how JW women are viewed and treated, but that Islam is not the problem when it comes to how Muslim women are viewed and treated?" Attitudes to women in the Muslim world are appalling - I agree whole heartedly. As I have pointed out a million times on this forum - tolerance of Muslims and Islam as a religion does not mean acceptance and absence of challenge of appalling things done in the name of Islam and Muslims living in the West must respect Western values of tolerance if they themselves expect tolerance - so they cannot fall back on religion as an excuse for engaging in discriminatory behaviour. I am an opponent of the use of veils. I applaud laws criminalizing FGM and forced marriage. Tolerance of intolerant religions raises some difficult issues but it is only in an environment of tolerance and respect that these issues can be addressed.

I would argue that by emphasizing those elements in Islam and discrediting those Quranic and other passages that are relied on to reinforce patriarchial social structures in the Muslim world are key. Attitudes to women - re education, political power, role etc. vary enormously across the Muslim world. Education and exposure to liberal thinking will help change attitudes but it is a long and difficult road. Trying to ban Islam or attacking Islam will be counterproductive. Every support possible must be given to intelligent liberal Muslim leaders. Isalm is a broad and diverse religion like Christianity - this is an important distinction with the WBTS - which is not a religion in my view but a tightly controlled cult in which a single governing body control every aspect of doctrine in a deliberate strategy. I see that my approach to these issues is difficult for you black and white thinkers on JWN to appreciate.

I am not a defender of Islam - I am simply an opponent of those who try to say IS represents Islam and that Islam is inherently violent because this ignores the reality of Islam as a diverse religion representing 1.6 billion people the overwhelming majority of whom are not violent. The proponents of this view have created a one dimenional strawman Islam based on limited or selective understanding, that they are busily burning to the ground. The muslim convert responsible for the Oklahoma beheading had more in common with the recent school shooter than with mainstream Islam. Some respected clerics have now issued a fatwa condemining IS and its tactics and calling the beheadings what they are - murder. Unfortunately this will have little impact as IS will pay about as much attention to mainstream Islam as the WBTS woudl pay attention ot mainstream Christianity.

32

Despicable crazy people

by jgnat in

there are some mental illnesses which come with the potential for extreme violence.

i'm not talking the sociopath here who kills without remorse, but those mentally ill people while in the throes of their delusions who are driven to kill.

the outcomes can be horrific.. on december 6, 1989, a lone gunman gunned down fourteen women at a montreal college.

Frazzled UBM

jgnat - great post to bring out another layer of complexity in the issue that sparked the black and white thread about Islam inspiring violence which raged for pages and days. Of course your point will be lost on those with a confirmation bias to blame Islam for the Oklahoma beheading in much the same way that cofty's confirmation bias meant that he found it totally acceptable to present a 'hearsay account' as evidence of "Mo being a pedo". Never mind that such evidence would be completely inadmissible in a court of law. I see Coded Logic has started another thread arguing that Islam is ipso facto violent. I am not taking the bait - it is a waste of time arguing with people who have such an embedded confirmation bias. Fraz

20

Melbourne's Herald Sun -- "confessions of a Jehovah's Witness"

by MrMonroe in

all the dubs pouring into melbourne, australia for the international convention gonna choke on their cornflakes when they read this .... http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/former-jehovahs-witness-lifts-lid-on-stifling-doomobsessed-religion/story-fni0ffsx-1227092921890.

.

Frazzled UBM

Well written piece - neatly sums it up.

26

The Goal of ISIS is to turn the west against Islam and to the capititalise on the backlash that reults from that..

by smiddy in

while these idiots think beheading innocent aid workers journalists who have the welfare of the people at heart in these circumstances and then butchering them in such a barbaric manner is going to swing public opinion in their favour is beyond me .. if their is ever a reason to go on the ground including going into syria to rid this pox off the face of the earth this is the last straw and needs to be done now.. no more now pussyfooting around with barbaric medieval murderes , go in and annhillilate the bastards.

in the air on the ground and whatever it takes.. smiddy.

.

Frazzled UBM

As for the OP, I think that was the effect of the 9/11 bombings - wheterh that was what Osama Bin-Laden intended or not, the effect was Islam being seen in the West as the enemy which made Al-Qaeda's claim that the West hated Islam a self-fulfilling prophecy. Putting beheadings on the internet is just the latest terrorist device designed to shock and create fear and we all know that fear easily turns to phobia. The immediate objective is to try to intimidate the West into stopping air strikes but if it also results in increased Western hatred towards Muslims which drives moderate Muslims to become extremists, that is cream on the cake.

45

Up yours!!! Jw religion!!

by Julia Orwell in

jw
friends

i just got a job teaching in a school run by moderate muslims.

the students are muslim and do their prayers at school and have daily quran lessons.

my job is to teach art, english literacy and literature, and history.

Frazzled UBM

Pity about the Islamic school, particularly as you seem toahve identified that it woudl be good for your profgessiojnal development - also having an Anglo non-muslim woman teaching at the school would have emphasized the non-sectarian nature of education. It is a pity the Islamophobes highjacked this thread.