I heard that Jesus dies in the end, and gets resurrected.shamus
Well, I for one hope that Mel makes this into a trilogy.
I'm really curious to know what happens in the end with the 'jesus' & 'satan' characters...
... does anyone know who wins?
Winston Smith :>D
JoinedPosts by Winston Smith :>D
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I haven't seen The Passion Of Christ moofie yet.
by smack in.
ivan reichhhmannn he's a geniuos.
steve
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Winston Smith :>D
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A crazy thought....Please humor me!
by Doubtfully Yours ini just got this thought that we're like a huge soap opera to god and other spiritual beings.
if the almighty makes it all perfect and joyful, then how the heck will he/they get entertained?!.
in other words, the almighty powers that be aren't interested in the least bit in making things happy and perfect for all because we're like a huge spectacle for them to watch for ever and ever.. alright, there goes my sanity for today.. dy
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Winston Smith :>D
suppose we are all superhuman creatures. We created a movie wherein each one of us as "humans" do not know we are merely part of a movie made for the enjoyment of our real selves
Sounds like Scientology as written and put together by Hubbert, a science fiction writer
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Coming to Terms
by jumper incoming to terms.
my family are deeply indoctrinated in the borg, my parents have been jws since 1963 my sister and brother-in-law and their six children are in, and my brother and sister-in-law are the family?s mascot bethel elder/reg.
pioneer.
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Winston Smith :>D
jumper,
Yes, you are being used. It will continue and get worse, unless some guidelines are laid.
I was a JW for over half my life. One thing that you can use that JW's do encourage is to get things in writing whenever a business transaction is being done to avoid misunderstandings.
If your brother wants to be paid for his favors, then first off, that's not a favor.
Get anything like, getting loads of stone or or rough grading, down in writing if it will be done as a 'horse trade' and not a flat out favor.
And a good horse trade is when it fully benefits both parties.
It isn't a fair trade when it benefits just the guy who spent a good part of his life being taken care of in NY and now lives with his Mommy & Daddy with his wife.
The other thing to keep in mind is, if you really want to possibly 'save' your family from this cult, then you will have to be the bigger man than the rest of them.
Yes, your bro and his wife will be very judging of you. But it's not them judging you, it is the guidelines of the publishing cult that they HAVE to follow else they will die at the 'Big-A'.
And if they don't treat you with this 'hard-love', then you will never learn your lesson about how evil you are. You will never see how the two of you live your lives differently and that his way is superior. It's their way of setting a 'better example' and are in hopes that they will win you over without a word.
And that is a JW's pathetic mindset.
The good thing about this is, that the bible show s that you can win someone over without a word by the love you demonstrate to them.
Your brother isn't doing that. But if you can be the bigger man and do this to him, YOU CAN WIN HIM over.
One thing that worked I my favor when I DA'd myself is that my non-JW family ALWAYS showed me love no matter how big of an arrogant JW ass I acted like. I judged them, made them uncomfortable, even kicked my youngest brother out of my weddding party.
But based on the love they ALWAYS showed to me, I never doubted if my family would be there for me to welcome me back when I finally saw that I was in a cult.
Now they have been there for me for the toughest times I've ever had in my life. I apologized for treating my family like shat, they love me and therefore forgave me, and now things are really great with us.
Good Luck!,
Paul [Winston.]
P.S. You mentioned your girlfriend gets shunned as well? Does she live with you? If she does, then they HATE the fact that the two of you are having sexual relations without being married, and therefore, are especially worthy of shunning from the family!
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Stop! Where are you going?
by Maverick insomething disconcerting i have noticed about most people is how unhappy they allow themselves to become.
so many people qualify their enjoyment.
"i will be happy when", or if this happens then i will be happy!
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Winston Smith :>D
Mav,
I consider myself generally positive person.
But lately I find it easy to get down with all of the things happening in my life as I adapt from being a dub to being a normal 'worldly' person.
It's tough at times.
Thanks for the reminder of what is important. I really enjoyed your post and the positive vibes
Paul
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Car Reviews - What are you driving, how do you rate it?
by badwillie ini am in the market for a new (used, new to me) car .
please help me out.. i currently drive a 1993 volvo 960 with 150,000 miles on it.
not given me any major problems, i'm just itching for something different really.
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Winston Smith :>D
I've been itching to get one of these
Else, if the mini Cooper doesn't take care of your itch,
...you may want to see a doctor about that problem
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Car Reviews - What are you driving, how do you rate it?
by badwillie ini am in the market for a new (used, new to me) car .
please help me out.. i currently drive a 1993 volvo 960 with 150,000 miles on it.
not given me any major problems, i'm just itching for something different really.
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Winston Smith :>D
I have driven a few different cars when i was looking at a luxury/sports car.
Tried a couple of Volvos [nice wagons, but not sporty enough, even with the turbo 5 for me] a couple of Benz's [older ones, seemd a bit 'stuffy' to me], a couple of Acura's [liked these quite a bit actually] and a Lexus [seemed like a really nice Toyota to me. Not bad, but didn't blow my socks off] and then I found a rare find and I was in love at first shift.
The car is a quite a bit older than what you are looking for, but it will have another 200k miles to go, cause these cars are over-built.
BMW 1989 535i - manual transmission.
The seller was a guy who was moving to NY in two days and had to sell fast.
I normally couldn't afford a car like this right now, but this was a steal.
Perfect shape, never saw awinter, and had only a little over a 100k. It was just getting broken in.
IMHO, until you drive a BMW, you will never appreaciate why they are called the 'Ultimate Driving Machine'
It is so unbelievably sweet to drive, it puts a huge smile on my face EVERY DAY when I drive it!
It sounds like a jet engine [they started out building plane engines, hence the logo] as I punch it on the on-ramp.
The engine is positively delightful.
Always have more than enough power to pass someone if i want to.
Easily gets up to 100+ if you're not watching it.
Raced a Benz and Saab on two seperate occasions on the freeway and was always ahead of them until they stopped pushing it @ 120+
But it's not all speed, it's also luxury.
I use it to drive to client meetings and it looks respectable. Smooth drive. Not bad gas milage for how I drive, 20+ MPG
The 5 series are the way to go. 3 series seem too small, the 7 series to large for me.
As a side note:
I had one client of mine who was looking to get a Lexus.
While at the car dealership, the dealer asked him before he signed the papers on the Lexus to at least give one of the early 00's BMW 540i a try.
When my client came back from the test drive with the 540i, the Lexus was long forgotten.
You owe it to yourself to try one if want a blend of luxury with sporty drive.
IMHO, the BMW's are a perfect blend of this, especially with a manual tranny.
Happy test driving,
Paul
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Winston Smith :>D
Actually I got the link from 'Fark.com'
It appears to be from the 'Lincoln Journal Star'
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Old email from an elder right before I DA'd myself
by Winston Smith :>D inafter reading shotgun's lovely meeting with his two helpful elders, i was inspired to go back and look at the time when i had the pleasure to meet with the elders.
it was a wonderful experience to observe first hand their stellar ability to reason on matters, to mask their investigations with "we missed you at the meeting, and to just be so damn condecsending.. .
man i'm glad i saved so many of my meetings with them on my computer.. .
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Winston Smith :>D
new light,
This the only email that I rec'd. after this exchange, i stopped getting emails.
My guess is that it is harder to dance around points and change subjects when its in writing.
That's one of the reasons I like the board here. Things are laid out in black and white. Verbal exchanges give more wiggle room.
But I do have written records of what was said at some of my elder meetings based on what I wrote down after a meeting.
I'll try to find those and put alink here if you want to see them.
BTW, fader, this is shotgun's message:
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EX-JW's Fated To Quarrel.
by Englishman init's almost 32 years since i left the jw religion.
a bunch of us left around the same time, some were df'd, some weren't, one or two went back into the witnesses over the years.. one of the df'd one's became re-instated and last year i had the pleasure of sending him the letter that we sent to every congregation in the uk, the letter that announced that the wt was an ngo and, incidentally, the whole shebang was full of paedophiles and you lot were going to be on telly nexy week in bbc's panorama!
i digress... anyway, one thing quickly became very clear to those of us that were left.
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Winston Smith :>D
I was going to write some smartalic response but thought better of it. ... ... I think many here need more sex or something. If not that then maybe a high collonic! Maverick
Well thank god you refrained from making any wise guy comments there Mav. Well, at least in the 1st paragraph anyways I can't wait to meet many of the posters here in person someday. It will be a blast!!!
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Does it ever get easier?
by Surfacing inmy heart is palpitating even as i write this.
it was only recently that i was introduced to this site.
i had long had doubts but could never bring myself to peer over the wall built in my head about the evils of apostates.
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Winston Smith :>D
Welcome, and a wonderful first post!
Yes, we can understand, all to different levels.
Coming here and posting my thoughts has certainly helped.
One thing I am finding is that I still have a hard time concentrating on tihngs [like I have ADD or something], or I can fall into a slight depression at times.
That is very unusual for me as I typically am a positive and driven person.
So I am starting to read books on that deal with fixing a mind that has been manipulated by cults.
I also got a book about the seven stages of LOSS: shock, denial, anger, guilt, bargaining, depression & acceptance.
I seem to float around in the "anger, guilt, bargaining, depression'" stages, which isn't healthy. Too much mental and emotional energy can be put into this cycle and then it affects other parts of your life.
Another thing i find interesting just from my own observations is this:
I always thought that the number of years I was a JW would to some degree determine how long it would take to undo the teachings of the cult in my mind.
But the number of years in the WTS doesn't seem to be as important to my eventual recovery as does the level that one is decieved and bought the WTS teacings hook, lie and sinker.
For example, I was a JW for about the same time as one of my baptised brothers.
He is able to lead a normal life now that he is almost completely faded out.
But I decided to DA myself to get out last year
My brother though never got too heavy into the WTS. He went to prom, dated worldly girls, he even hangs around with all of his old High School buddy's still. Yes, he Aux Pio'd once or twice, but that's about the extent of what he did as a JW. And now he's doing really good in life. Always has.
ME?
I bought everything hard core. Was a MS, a Reg Pio, did temp work at Bethel, made sure I answered @ every meeting, conducted bible study's [thank god no one ever got baptised!]. I made sure I judged people as less worthy because they didn't have their WT studied on Sunday or because they wore certain garb, or hung with certain 'bad JW's'.
And now it's tough for me to undo that mindset.
A friend that I Reg Pio'd with who is now DF'd feels the same way. It's hard to adjust to a normal life at times. But this friend also was a 'hard-core' JW.
Anyways....
Welcome aboard, things will get better.
I laugh aloud to myself whenever I am doing something on a Saturday morning and then remember:
"I could still be stuck going door to door counting down the minutes for the 10:30 break!"
Life is definitely better being able to think for yourself, not having to judge everyone who isn't a JW, and to be able to pursue things in life that really interest you.
Best wishes,
Paul [Winston.]