Odrade

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Posts by Odrade

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  29

  She asked for money

  by noontide in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i went to visit my parents last night.

  id been there for about 10 minutes when my mother looks at me and asks if i can give her 20 dollars.

  sure, no problem.

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  Odrade

  I'll be the dissenting "yes." Your mom wants to be generous with the "special" speaker. It sounds like this speaker is not the traveling overseer, but rather someone who was invited specially from Bethel to give their "special talk."
  These guys are not making a haul, not traveling first class, and probably have agreed at considerable expense to themselves if the congregation is not a rich one. (Probably even if they are a rich one.)

  My parents accepted these "invitations" a few times, and always went back to Bethel hundreds of $ poorer than before they accepted. Usually they get their airfare paid for (or mostly. My parents were asked if they had airmiles, which they did, so the congregation expected them to use their miles, which they WERE going to use for vacation.) Usually they get to stay at somebody's house and sleep on an air mattress (whoopee!), and they get taken out to some crappy-assed family restaurant or go to "potluck" after the talk. But nobody really helps them with eating expenses for the travel days, car rental (if needed,) eating expenses for the rest of their stay- usually an additional day or two. This isn't the cushy job that being a C.O. can be. The guys who take these talks, some of them, are the good ones... the ones that sacrifice because they think they are doing it for God.

  Your mom sounds like she has a generous spirit, and she wants to help somebody else who quite possibly has a generous spirit. Yes, they're in a rotten stinkhole of a cult, but they're people.

  If you decide to not give her the $20, (which is not much all things considered,) please just tell her you're not comfortable passing your money through to a group you can't support. But don't play the little "i forgot" game. She's doing it out of love for her "brothers." That's really what it's all about.
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  74

  HELP with baby boy names! Contest!

  by Jez in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we are having a boy and can't decide on names.

  we want something a little different, not in 'the top 10'.

  it also has to be english or german orgin.

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  Odrade

  Reason number eleventy-jillion I will not be having children... it took us 2-1/2 months just to name the damn dog! (We named him "murphy", but mostly we call him "spawn," as in: of Satan.)
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  142

  The Need To Question Atheism

  by The wanderer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  <!-- .style1 { font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; } .style2 { font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; color: #0000cc; } .style3 {font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; color: #0000cc; } --> the need to question atheism this need to question atheism stems from the fact there are some individuals.

  on this board that subscribe to such.

  the questions stated are not for some.

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  Odrade

  ::::This is why Albert Einstein, one of the greatest minds to walk the earth, believed that God existed and is responsible for these outstanding features that we humans are aware of at present.:::

  Wrong. Albert Einstein admitted that the way certain things occurred made a good argument for the possibility of a creator, but he acknowledged that he, personally, did not believe it was so. Look it up. This "Albert Einstein believed in God, and he was brilliant," story has been around for so long... all grown out of a very selective quotation that distorted his intention.

  Vinny, you present a lot of beliefs, but not a single fact. There is a difference. You present your faith as if it is substantive rather than emotive. You believe because you can not imagine feeling otherwise, you do not believe because FACT A led to FACT B, which lead you to another FACT C, leading finally to factual proof of god's existence.

  You know, when my next door neighbor's kid was little, he believed in the Easter Bunny, and he believed in Santa Claus. Why? because the chocolate and the presents magically showed up in his home, and he could not imagine any other way they could have possibly gotten there, without the help of these beings. He had proof, and he believed. There's nothing wrong with that, but at some point a person has to grow enough so they can recognize faith for faith, and facts for facts. The fact is, your incomprehension of how the organisms on earth came to be is not proof of a creator, it is simply incomprehension.
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  8

  Eulogy of an Atheist

  by DJK in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  eulogy of an atheist may be the title of the book i'm writing.

  in it will be my personal prayer lacking notations of god and jesus.

  i wish it could become a well known piece that many may choose to have read when they pass away.. my question to an atheist is this.

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  Odrade

  Problem is, atheism is not a religious ideal, it is simply descriptive of not believing in gods. I suppose the beauty of doing the eulogy for non-theist/non-religious individual is, instead of talking about the individual's religion, you get to talk about the individual.
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  83

  I think I did a really bad thing.

  by emilyblue in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i do not attend the same hall as my boyfriend because he is currently reproved for being involved with me.

  i'm not a witness.

  he confessed to his elders that he had sex with someone outside of marriage after his second divorce was already final.

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  Odrade

  p.s. you can make paragraphs by putting this in: [p], except change the [ for an angle bracket. (can't make the sign because I get an error message)
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  83

  I think I did a really bad thing.

  by emilyblue in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  i do not attend the same hall as my boyfriend because he is currently reproved for being involved with me.

  i'm not a witness.

  he confessed to his elders that he had sex with someone outside of marriage after his second divorce was already final.

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  Odrade

  Emily, sorry about your little dog. I hear it happens like that sometimes with "bug-eyed" breeds.

  I'm very, very glad you broke up with this abuser. Stay away. Now I'm going to tell you something very seriously. Be careful. He sounds like a powder keg. The first weeks after breaking up with such an unstable person can be very dangerous. If he follows you, calls you repeatedly, shows up at your work or comes around and tries to get into your home, document it, and call the police. Get a restraining order. Move. Whatever it takes.

  My aunties best friend has a dead daughter because nobody believed her ex-boyfriend would really hurt her.
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  92

  I am getting a tattoo on Friday!

  by Crumpet in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just thought i'd do something i always wanted too.

  mr c always said he's dump me if i had a tattoo, well we're not together anymore so i can and i am!

  richie or those in the know - how much pain can i expect to look forward to?.

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  Odrade

  Wanderer, I got my ears pierced 24 years ago, my navel pierced 13 years ago, and a tattoo on my calf a year ago. I still like them all and am glad I did it. What makes you think a person can't make a decision about personal ornamentation and remain happy with it?

  Good for you Crumpet! Make sure the design is one you love, that you don't "settle," and most of all, if the tattoo artist designs something that looks different from what you have in your mind, make sure you absolutely love it MORE than your original idea before you let him ink it.
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  15

  Poor, poor Crabby Pants

  by Frannie Banannie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  disclaimer: if you're offended by discussions of personal finances, move along.

  it's about dealing with someone who's only cookin' on 2.5 burners.

  this is just sad, so get out yer kleeniex boxes and hankies....... as yall know, crabby pants bought himself a corvette to share the garage with his ford f150.

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  Odrade

  You know what's funny Frannie? This exact same scam just came through on my email as I was reading your post, except it's POWERBALL I won. hehe.
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  44

  Today's Text is Scriptural Blasphemy

  by gumby in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hey gang, this morning as i was making some coffee i saw the "text book" lying there and decided i'd read todays text as i never do, just to see what it had to say.. it was taken from john 15:12 which says..... " this is my commandment, that you love one another just as i have loved you".. anyways, it goes on to say what jesus told his diciples who asked him which was the greatest of all the commandments and jesus answered them that "you must love god with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself".

  then it went on to ask if this law was also important to christians today and the comment was.... ( and heres the kicker) "absolutely, the law of christ involves a heartfelt love of god and includes a new command.....christians are to have a self sacrificing love for one another".. so rather than say christians are to love your fellowman, they twist the scripture and say christians are to love other christians.......and we all know by that statement they mean other jehovah's witnesses since they hold no regard for christians of this world.

  yes, once again they play mind tricks on the publishers and tell them to love each other...rather than your fellowman and people of this world in general as was the case in the illustration jesus himself gave with the good samaritan.. it's no wonder jehovah's witnesses are despised by many in this world with their self rightous attitudes and beliefs regarding their fellowman that is induced in them by a few old men from brooklyn new york.. i hope your reading this wtbts spies, i really do.

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  Odrade

  There was a fascinating story on Oregon Public Radio today about youth street "families", mainly on the streets of Portland. It talked about the cult of family, and how calling one another "brother" and "sister" creates a bond where the "families" stand together no matter how heinous the actions of other members. It also makes it nearly impossible to leave because of creating a new family to the exclusion of real family and friends. Interest listen. Go here: All God's Children: Inside the the Dark and Violent World of STreet Families I saw so many correlations with the way congregations operate, once they started talking about the psychology of the street family.
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  38

  Legal wrangling concerning the Governing Body today from my mom.

  by restrangled in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  she stated that the attorney handling her estate, because of florida law could not take the "death requests form, from the society" because of the case concerning terry shiavo.

  (the attorney handling my mom's case is not a witness and she was furious that she was asked to sign a document stating that if the governing body changed their minds on something this would apply to her.. what is strange is that an outside attorney would have a document like this.

  is anyone aware of this?.

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  Odrade

  Well that is good news. Good for your mom for putting a stop to being duped.