i was expecting people who "identified" as jws to follow watchtower beliefs more closely than these pollsters report.. .
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/26/a-closer-look-at-jehovahs-witnesses-living-in-the-u-s/.
I noted that 50% believe in Heaven. Shouldn't ALL JWS believe in Heaven, even though they aren't going there? I mean, Christ will reign in Heaven with the 144,000, correct?
That indicated to me that there is confusion in the R&F, and they can't even answer a basic question.
Good to read you, BA. xx : ))
my son asked me 40 years ago.
should we be glad adam sinned?
because if he hadn't, we would not be the person we are.. any opinions?
It sounds like your son was a Star Trek fan.
Long before people were expounding on this forum about science, we learned about 'disrupting the space-time continuum' from Star Trek, which introduced us to modern scientific theory via the medium of television. Spock and his logic was a revelation, as well as his belief system (the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one), and I have always felt half-Vulcan (Spock being one of my nicknames).
The reason I bring this up, is that Star Trek (original) that I watched as a child, helped form my belief system that helped me flee the b'Org at age 18. There's even a book titled "Everything I Need to Know about Life, I learned From Star Trek" (or something similar, it's packed away atm, and yes I own it, hehehe).
True equality, learning not to fear 'other', love of education and science, the arts, standing up for your principles, sexual freedom, they were all there. ; )
** edit: The famous Joan Collins episode is a good example. If Jim had saved her life, he would have changed history, and Hitler would have won the war. Don't mess with the space-time continuum!
Live long and prosper.
at least here in texas.
in the building where i work, there is a big poster board and people are putting signatures down on it.
i was thinking about printing something similar to the billboard that was up in benton, tx and adding to the board.
STA - If, as a result of your poster, just *one* person goes to JWFacts and learns the real truth about JWS and child rape, and they tell their friends what the JWS are really like, and so on, you have made a great anti-witness. Good stuff!
And there is a good reason to have a month for awareness. If people are bombarded with facts 365 days a year, their eyes (minds) glaze over. When it's a 'special month' set aside, more focus can be directed on specific issues that gets people thinking. You are almost forcing the *press* to make it an event, and can be heard. They press loves an "awareness" month, to give them a story. Think like a media person re this issue. That's my 2 as a child activist of many years. xx tal
link is here.. line outapr 18, 2013. .
"an incomplete and disorderly catalog of prince's dirty songs".
by kelly o. .
I love that one, too, and 319, and well, it's hard to pick my fav. But I can picture him dancing and clapping his hands over his head in Little Red Corvette, and such a fun video The whole album blew me away, and that was in 1995, a cassette gift. Before that, I had only heard his songs on the radio, or watched his vids at the club. And I do love concept albums. ; )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lhcparuzpc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lhcparuzpc
I think the real compelling story here is why did a person who had to be rushed to a hospital under dire physical health distress, die abruptly only a few days later on ?
Perhaps, but certainly not unusual. Here's a list of celebs, most quite talented and extremely successful people, who died from prescription drug overdoses. Tragic? Yes. Surprising? Not so much.
Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Keith Moon, Brian Epstein, Chris Farley (morphine + cocaine = speedball), Corey Haim, Heath Ledger, Dana Plato, Anna Nichol Smith, Margaux Hemingway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lhcparuzpc
We also forget that Prince (a) knew Larry Graham at least for 40 years (since he was 17), (b) grew up in extreme dysfunction, (c) was a gifted musician, who played many insruments, (d) remembered by high school acquaintances as soft-spoken and gentle. He acted out sexually as an adult. It's likely that Graham was a father figure to him. Like many late-life converts, Prince knew bits and pieces of the JWS for most of his life.
It's well documented (in interviews) that when he changed his name back to Prince in 1999 (contract was done), that is the time he started studying 'for real' with Graham, who was (may still be) a JW elder. A father figure. In the early otts, Prince married a JW beauty, young, was baptized (probably dunked first). Several years later, he divorced. Was it scriptural? How important was it to this person, to keep Graham, a father-figure, in his life?
Also, he had the example of Graham, who is still revered as a pioneering funk artist for originating the slap-bass method he used when he played with Sly and the Family Stone (which many artists have used over the decades), and continues to be a successful, professional musician.
We are very kind to double-lifers who stay 'in' because of their family. In the very criticism of Prince's being treated 'special' by the WTS, you do the same thing. You hold him to a higher standard than you do elders and pubs who post on this DB. He was not an elder pioneer, or Bethelite. Why do you hold him to a higher standard?
It's part of the human condition, that we like to feel superior. It really shows when issues like this come up. I am reading a lot of jealousy and misplaced judgment, imo.
Edit and Postscript:
I have felt sorry for this gifted artist, ever since I 'heard the news' 15 years ago. It saddened me that the cult finally had its claws in this person who was obviously damaged, and now seeking meaning in his life. They took advantage of another needy soul, that's all. He just happened to be famous. xx
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lhcparuzpc
As said by the original poster of this comment, it's either/or. The 'or' has been proven true. What's your point?
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MJ was DF'ed in the 80's. Or disassociated.
Here is the preamble to a copy of the above letter on JWFacts. (I consider that is a trusted source ; ) It appears that Michael, according to JWFacts, disassociated himself, as stated in the conversation posted above, and the letter from the WTS.
http://jwfacts.com/watchtower/experiences/michael-jackson-jehovah.php
[bold is mine]
In 1987, Michael disassociated himself from the Watchtower Society.
Michael's decision to leave the church puzzled his mother, Katherine, and caused her great despair. Katherine wasn't sure she knew her own son any longer. However, there was no discussing the spiritual matter with him - literally. As it is strictly prohibited for a Witness to discuss matters of faith with ex-members, even if they are family, Katherine says that she has never asked Michael what happened, and she says that she never intends to ask such questions. 'I was not required to "shun" my son,' she claimed, referring to rumours of that nature. 'But we can't talk about matters of faith any longer, which is a shame.'" Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness p.363
The publicity surrounding Michael's disassociation promoted the Watchtower headquarters to send the following letter to the Body of elder's and Circuit Overseers explaining how to reply to questions.
"At this same time, the Jehovah's Witnesses' elders in Woodland Hills, California, began pressuring Michael again. They felt strongly that the recent publicity on the Witnesses was doing them great damage, and that it reflected poorly on the Witnesses, because Michael was so representative of the faith. Michael was becoming disenchanted with the church's elders by this time, mostly because he didn't wan to be told what to do. What's more he couldn't reconcile his lifestyle and career with the religion's strict tenets. In truth, it's almost impossible to be a Jehovah's Witness and be an entertainer. Therefore, in the spring of 1987, Michael withdrew from the Jehovah's Witnesses. A letter from the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, sent as a press release, stated that the organization 'no longer considers Michael Jackson to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses.' Gary Botting, author of The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses and a Witness himself, said that leaving the religion is 'worse than being disfellowshipped, or kicked out." He observed, 'if you wilfully reject God's holy organization on earth, that's the unforgivable sin, the sin against the Holy Spirit.'
why do people care so much about celebrities?
I admire a lot of people, but you will never find me on the floor of a Sam's Club singing Purple Rain! That is dedication! And her tears look so ... real!
That is cra-cra, Wild Thing. I checked her crowdfunding page, and almost $1800.00 already raised. "The people of Wal-Mart" seem to live in a different world.
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The Rebel - mayflowers will be out SOON, and they have the best fragrance of any flower. Love them. Feel compassion for their deaths, because many people pull them out by the roots instead of cutting, and they are not endangered, but 'at risk'. xx
after reading the content of the 1 day assembly on another post, please tell me wt are trying to suggest members cant follow super hero movies/characters etc.
the whole of my ex family wouldnt have a life if this happened!
surely a wake up call for them....... but doubt it
CaptainSchmideo - I did not know that, very cool. *cracks whip* : D
