Syme

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Posts by Syme

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  65

  Introducing...ME

  by Heartsafire in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  long time lurker here.

  i'm a fifth gen born-in baptized jw.

  to say i've been struggling with doubts is an understatement.

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  Syme

  Welcome Heartsafire, and good luck with your struggle. One thing for sure is that you won't "suffocate" in here ;)
  
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  21

  You have to admit, the carrot is pretty alluring.

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  there were several families that were visiting my mom today and i was sitting in and just listening to all of them talk..

  they started talking about the recent shooting at the university.

  and its so easy for them because all they have to say is;.

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  Syme

  How ironical that the Creator promises to cure things that He (in His wisdom) created, like paraplegia or Down syndrome.

  How ironical that the solution for starving children in Africa and elsewhere, is to wipe them out altogether in Armageddon.
  

  Just these 2 above thoughts should have been enough to make someone wake up, but, alas, they're rarely enough.
  
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  37

  On the realization you will not "live forever"

  by problemaddict 2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  something struck me last week.

  i have been dealing with what i can only describe as a fear of death.

  i'm not old and not in bad health.

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  Syme

  It is expected that, when you've been raised as a jw with the fallacious notion that you're "designed" to live forever, once you've realized that this simply isn't true, what comes after is a bit weird: You learn that you have only one life in a much older age than it is normal to do so.

  This brings problems. In one of the last jw funerals that I attended, I was astounded by the excessive grief that everyone had, despite the fact that the late jw was far over 90 years old, and had died of natural causes, without any pain. Then it stroke me that that was because jws never reconcile with the idea of death. They are all sure they will live forever, they are SURE that death isn't natural, and when death comes, even in a 100-year-old, it always comes to them as a complete surprise, like they can't believe it.

  A person really starts to live, as a grown-up, from the moment they realize there's no second life. An ordinary person realizes that at his adolescence, give or take. Most devout jws never realize that, which means that they essentially remain children until very, very late.
  
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  9

  Crazy Study Stories

  by dubstepped in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i never really had any studies to speak of, but my parents did have many over the years, and every single one of them was batsh!t crazy in some way.

  there was one lady we kids affectionately termed "dirty robin" (her name was robin) and yes, she was very dirty.

  her kids were filthy and rarely wore clothes.

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  Syme

  The worst cases I remember from Bible studies (mine or others), are those when the subject was completely dumb, or knocking on heaven's door (i.e. extremely old age). Now that I look at it from a distance, I feel such sorrow and frustration that were harassing and exploiting those people, adding to their burdens instead of lifting them, in such an unethical manner, if not to say "immoral".
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  9

  Old is Becoming New Again?

  by Tazemanian-devil in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  is it just me, or does it seem like jw.org is returning to some very old methods from rutherford's era?.

  - their carts / booths is very reminiscent of the sandwich board system, including the fact that they no longer personally engage.

  - showing videos via the tablet / smartphone is almost exactly like the phonograph method they used.

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  Syme

  Ray Franz in COC reminds us that the directors of WTS always looked up on past WT literature and WT methods as if they were Scriptures. If something was being said or done in the past, that was a reason for it to be brought again on to surface. So maybe they used those old methods as a "scriptural" precedent to justify using them again. Of course, that's the pretext; the real reasons are always economic. But the pretext is important; even in GB sessions, they have to use pretext, orwellian speaking, for fear of one to another, if not for anything else.
  
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  71

  Any thoughts on the real reasons for droppng the 'school"

  by sparrowdown in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my thoughts are.

  1. they want to avoid being made to comply with any laws that come with anything classed as a "school" especially a school with children enrolled.. 2. the mid-week meeting has been dying in the ass for years and needs a revival.

  i predict happy -clappy-sing-a-longs to be included in the program.. anyone else have any thoughts ??

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  Syme

  I see it as part of a general dumbing-down scheme. Drop the quality so much, that only non-thinking puppets in a vegetable state, completely stripped off of all their mental capabilities, remain there. It reminds me of the scene in Matrix, with the vast 'crops' of human 'batteries'.

  Keep them in a vegetable state, extract their money. Simple as that.

  For how long? Maybe for longer than we'd wish. Religions and cults are stronger than a rational man would wish, anyway. Maybe we should focus on enjoying our (not eternal) lives instead of waiting for something that will probably not come during our lifetimes (i.e. the "End" of the WTS)
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  29

  Impression of Leaked Letter Regarding Annual Meeting

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the letter that watchtower free put up was very interesting.

  here is my impression.. the watchtower is becoming more and more geared towards idiots.

  the midweek meeting has a stupid name, and the parts sound equally dumb.

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  Syme

  I don't think they're really fighting for recruits now. They are fighting for self-preservation. They may not be able to get any more intelligent recruits (if there ever were any), but they might be able to dumb-down the existing members even further, rendering them incapable of waking up and possibly leaving. That is the "philosophy" (forgive the abuse of this fine word) of their new dimwit teaching sessions, I believe.
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  26

  Do you feel embarrsed?

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when you look through a keyhole, and see the person you once were?.

  as for myself, i am just pleased i have mended my ways.

  i realise ( now) my time as a witness was a keyhole that looked in to the ground, and licked the elders arse.

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  Syme

  I'm not embarrassed, I didn't do something to be embarrassed back then, like dishonesty or something similar. What I feel is sorrow. Sorrow for all the years I wasted in a non-existent cause, sorrow for failing to live a healthy natural life until waking up, sorrow that I have to learn all the really important things in life now from scratch, in a not-so-young age. Sorrow for starting to look after myself only now, sorrow for learning things in my 30s that a normal person learns, and enjoys, from his adolescence.

  But still, late is better than later.
  
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  25

  Why, Why, Why did God create such a difference between Jews and Gentile....?

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  why such a difference between jew and gentiles, so that the jew is at once.

  recognized, no matter what race he lives among.. and how did the jews come to have such strange traditions setting apart, racially.

  and religiously from gentiles???.

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  Syme

  I'm not a believer anymore, but back when I was, I would have given you this answer:

  God did not choose the Jews as a people, discriminating all other peoples. God chose Abraham, a person, not a people. And he chose him because of Abraham's qualities as a person. He made a covenant with Abraham as a person, which covered his (non-born yet) descendants. So, God was 'compelled' to stick with Abraham's descendants, due to His friendship with Abraham, not because Jews were superior in any way to other nations.

  Of course, that applies if you still believe in the Abrahamic deity.
  
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  43

  Was Anyone Disfellowshipped Twice? How About Three Times?

  by anewme in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  years ago there was this guy ****** ******* i'll never forget him.

  disfellowshipped 3 times!!!!

  at the last dfing announcement the brother got up there and yelled into the mic .

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  Syme

  Yes, in fact we once disfellowshipped a guy that was DF'ed again earlier. The first time was (I think) for smoking and maybe premarital sex; the second was for admitting having sex with his wife before they were married.

  Oh god, now that I recall this stuff... What on earth was I doing, meddling with other peoples private lives?

  (Everyone that has played as an elder the role of Inquisitor in a JC, will always feel a burden of guilt and sorrow upon him, even long after he wakes up.)