Posts by Rush

"interviews will highlight the joy that results from cultivating interest and conducting bible studies with people who want to serve jehovah.. all in attendance will no doubt derive comfort and encouragement from the visiting speaker's first talk,"guarding our hearts in a troubled world".. in the afternoon,the part"extending a helping hand"will consider how we can assist others.what can parents do to shield their children's hearts from wrong influences and help them draw close to jehovah?.

Rush

All in attendance WILL derive comfort and encouragement from the visiting speaker's first talk,"Guarding Our Hearts in a Troubled World - New Advances in Pacemaker Technology".

laugh out loud, SYN, laugh out loud.

14

Someone please tell me this pro paedophilia site is a hoax

by ignored_one in

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sounds like that nambla site.. .

(link removed, see below)

Rush

it doesn't look much like a hoax to me.

i'm disgusted.

30

Extra Junk in the Trunk?

by rem in

jw
friends

ladies and gentlemen,.

would it bother you if your mate gained more than a few pounds after the start of your relationship?

would you feel like your significant other changed on you and turned into a different person?

Rush

my girlfriend's been away for three months travelling.

i can't wait for her to return, but i will be a little disappointed if she's starved herself when away and has lost a single one of those nubile curves.(she'll kill me for saying this). she's not overweight by any means but looks great. but ultimately, it matters very, very little.

Rush

36

Blasphemy

by ClassAvenger in

i was asked how come the bible says that god forgives blasphemy to the father and the son, but not the holy spirit.

if they all are god, what makes the person of the holy spirit more important regarding blasphemy than the father or the son.

sorry, i don't know much about the bible, but i'm trying to learn here, alright?

Rush

mizpah said above:

I'm always concerned by the scholars who are quick to cast doubts upon the teachings of Christ. The New Testament writings have been well established and accepted by Christians for nearly two millenia. But some scholars seem quick to establish a theory upon every new discovery. One really has to question their motives.

i'm more worried about people who aren't prepared to entertain evidence that apparently contradicts the 'word of god'. i think being quick to criticise is a healthy attitude. i would rather have the evidence presented to me by a man who accepts his fallibility than someone who claims god as their source.

with regards to 'questioning their motives'. men seek the truth. it has always been the tactic of those embattled by logic to resort to questioning motives. it really shouldn't matter if the paleontologist is an evolutionist or a creationist, let the bones speak for themselves.

Rush.

11

anger

by Rush in

i've made a few posts on the forum to date, and have read more.

i'm in a really bad mood and looking for some shoulders to cry on.

i will try to keep my story brief.. i left the jw's 9 years ago and never went back.

Rush

thanks for all the support guys.

i phoned my mam in the end and apologised for upsetting her. she's a good woman. i won't bring up anything flammable for a while anyway. i know it's not worth it. we do get on well these days, they've both had to chill out since my day due to family affairs and i respect that they have moved part of the way towards reconciliation. but it still bugs me that they preach these hurtful policies with their mouths still.

as for the depression, i've needed medication at times and am perfectly accepting of the fact i am at risk of relapse. but hey, millions of people take a tablet a day for thyroid or blood pressure so how am i any different? it's cool.

thanks again.

Rush.

34

Why are there so many loonies in the organization?

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

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you know the type... always going on about how their car got possessed by the devil because someone left a pack of cigarettes in it.

or maybe their pots and pans started flying around the house because they bought something from a garage sale.. there are also the types who won't eat skittles because they contain an ingredient made from dried and crushed beetles... which means that they were not properly bled.. and the types who won't let their kids watch cartoons because the animals talk... like satan did with the snake.. then there are they types who are always into the latest get-rich-quick scam... or amway and trying to get everyone in the congregation to buy something.. oh, and don't get me started about the demon possessed smurfs who run around kingdom halls swearing and accosting the women with their teeny-peenies.. what's up with this!?!?

Rush

gumby,

i read dr.jerry bergman's article on mental health at http://www.premier1.net/~raines/mental.html. his literature reviews were fair enough but i did think the article was a little bit vicious. he used this reference that i found on 'pubmed'. i haven't read the full text but i'm sure you could find it with the reference. it's from the british journal of psychiatry.

: Br J Psychiatry. 1975 Jun;126:556-9. Related Articles, Links

The mental health of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Spencer J.

The function of religion in human society is complex. The part played by religion in psychiatric disorders is even more obscure. Previous literature and theories are divided into two groups: one school believes that intense religiosity is a symptom-complex indicative of psychiatric disorder, while the opposing view is that religious belief in some way acts as a defence mechanism protecting the individual and his psyche. The present study of 50 Jehovah's Witnesses admitted to the Mental Health Service facilities of Western Australia suggests that members of this section of the community are more likely to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital than the general population. Furthermore, followers of the sect are three times more likely to be diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and nearly four times more likely from paranoid schizophrenia than the rest of the population at risk. These findings suggest that being a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses faith may be a risk factor predisposing to a schizophrenic illness. Further studies would be interesting in investigating whether pre-psychotic people are more likely to join the sect than normal people and what part (if any) membership has in bringing about such a breakdown.

PMID: 1174772 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

all his other references are listed in dr. bergman's paper.

Rush.

11

anger

by Rush in

i've made a few posts on the forum to date, and have read more.

i'm in a really bad mood and looking for some shoulders to cry on.

i will try to keep my story brief.. i left the jw's 9 years ago and never went back.

Rush

I've made a few posts on the forum to date, and have read more. i'm in a really bad mood and looking for some shoulders to cry on. i will try to keep my story brief.

i left the jw's 9 years ago and never went back. i left over doctrinal beliefs, specifically creation at the time, but was never df'd. part of the reason was that i went to university not long after so was not in the area frequently. i also kept quiet about my views so as not to cause a stir. i went through my fair share of hell, my parents treating me like i'd died, my dad accusing me of being 'haughty and arrogant' that i knew better than jehovah. and going to university was just 'massaging my ego'.

to be honest, things have settled down a lot and i'm on good terms now. all of my siblings fell away, my sister became a single mother and my dad stepped down as an elder not long after i left because he couldn't keep control of his family.

last night, i had an argument with my mam about this time. it's been brewing up inside me and it just poured out as soon as she started her holier-than-thou chat. my mam is a fantastic person, and she would be the world's best mother if she wasn't a jw, but she's seriously misguided. i told her i thought they'd acted despicably in the past, and it has never been talked about since. since i left, i've been very successful in my life and career and have every reason to be happy, but i've suffered from bouts of depression that have really taken me down, and i KNOW that it stems from me leaving the witnesses. how much more of a life-changing event can you get than your entire social network, family and friends, turning away from you? my mam tried to tell me it was my fault, that it was my decision to turn away from them. she said she'd never lied to me, that my lifestyle was conditional on staying in the truth.

i've recently moved in with my two brothers and it's really brought home to me how important family is. i've read some of the posts on here about kids being shunned and it really breaks my heart. i told my mam i thought it was disgusting that the organisation undermines the family, which is the definitive social group.

anyway, i've upset her now. i texted her saying sorry for upsetting her, but there are a lot of issues there that haven't been aired and don't go away, but she hasn't replied. i'll call her today. i know i should be bigger than this, and not get involved in petty arguments that i cannot win (i'm arguing against god, right?) but it's so hard.

this site has been a godsend for me and i appreciate other's stories and views. i'll bounce back. and it's nice to know i'm not alone.

thanks for listening to my rant,

Rush.

23

UK POSTERS - WILL YOU VOTE BLAIR !?!?!?

by Hamas in

jw
friends

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so will you be voting labout next year ?

i certainly won't ; the asslicking scumbag.

Rush

wouldn't dream of voting for blair. not so much the war, but the fiasco since, culminating in that man's death. i've seen what they've done to the health service and don't like it at all. don't get me started on foundation hospitals.

i would hate to see IDS in the hotseat though so may vote for lib dems. know they're unelectable but they're the lesser of three evils and i do actually agree with some of their policy.

have you seen the alan partridge sketch with the bald-headed brummies hijacking the political debate? genius.