Posts by Pete Zahut

19

Being Bad in the Kingdom Hall

by Funchback in

what things did (do) you or someone you know do in the kingdom hall that was a no-no?.

i remember in the 80s when, during the meeting, three friends and i were breakdancing in the foyer.

3 out of 4 us are happily out of that organization.. as i was trudging through my fade and attending meetings, i sometimes dwelled on how much time and money i wasted during my years as a jw.

There was this 8 year old pale kid with dark hair sitting in front of me one Sunday. He was bored and kept asking his (crabby) mother if he could go to the bathroom and finally she relented. After an long period of time had passed, the mother began wondering what was taking him so long to return and kept whipping her head around giving annoyed glances toward the back of the Hall.

Finally she got up and stormed to the back to find him. Moments later there was a commotion as she dragged her sniveling son down the aisle and slammed him into his seat.

Seconds later everyone realized chunks of his hair were gone and there were bare patches of white skin all over his head. Apparently he found a pair of scissors in the bathroom drawer and chopped his hair off. It was difficult to know whether to laugh or to feel pity for a kid who was so bored during the meeting that chopping his hair off to the scalp in the bathroom seemed like a good idea and was preferable to returning to his seat.

31

I Just had a CLOSE ENCOUNTER of the Dub kind

by TerryWalstrom in

i just frightened a jehovah’s witness lady half out of her wits!.

i just frightened a sweet jehovah’s witness lady half out of her wits.... .

she took off like a sprinter at the sound of a starter pistol!.

Pete Zahut

Poor thing....instead of a friendly open faced guy at Starbucks tapping away on his laptop, she likely had imagined her first encounter with an apostate would have involved a sweaty unshaven man driving a van with primered paint splotches all over it.

She'll undoubtedly have to reevaluate her ability judge people by their cover.

( I nominate this as the #1 post of the year)

25

List of "pagan" things JW's allow

by problemaddict 2 in

what i'm looking for specifically is things that are "pagan" in the sense they predate christianity (or i guess judiasm to cover the ole mosaic code), that jw's allow or do.

the ones that come to mind are below.. rings - rings seem to originate in egypt.

for wedding ceremonies it became a symbol of "ownership" in rome.. pinatas - looks like possibly it originated in china as a part of the new year and a request for luck, and catholics later turned it into a beating of temptation type thing.. anything else?.

Pete Zahut

What about the use of Platters. John the baptists head was presented on a platter which proves pagans used platters therefore JW's shouldn't.

22

String Theory Co-Founder: Sub-Atomic Particles Are Evidence the Universe Was Created

by Tenacious in

(cnsnews.com) -- dr. michio kaku [1], a theoretical physicist [2] at the city college of new york (cuny) and co-founder of string field theory [3], says theoretical particles known as “primitive semi-radius tachyons” are physical evidence that the universe was created by a higher intelligence.. after analyzing the behavior of these sub-atomic particles - which can move faster than the speed of light and have the ability to “unstick” space and matter – using technology created in 2005, kaku concluded [4] that the universe is a “matrix” governed by laws and principles that could only have been designed by an intelligent being.. “i have concluded that we are in a world made by rules created by an intelligence.

believe me, everything that we call chance today won’t make sense anymore,” kaku said, according [5] to an article published in the geophilosophical association of anthropological and cultural studies.. “to me it is clear that we exist in a plan which is governed by rules that were created, shaped by a universal intelligence and not by chance.”.

“the final solution resolution could be that god is a mathematician,” kaku, author of the future of the mind: the scientific quest to understand, enhance, and empower the mind [6], said in a 2013 big think video [7]posted on youtube.. “the mind of god, we believe, is cosmic music, the music of strings resonating through 11-dimensional hyperspace.”.

Pete Zahut

Any new scientific information that comes along to prove the existence of a Creator, doesn't prove that he or it is backing Jehovah's Witnesses and that they are the one true religion.

39

"how awful it must be to be dying as an apostate!"

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

i heard today about a former jw/now apostate who is dying in hospital.

this information was accompanied by the comment of "wouldn't be awful to be lying there in hospital,dying as an apostate!

knowing that you have no hope!?

Pete Zahut

To me it would be better to be at deaths door and to have resolved for oneself that the big picture issues such as what happens after death, are unknown and not for us to know, than to be a JW who is panicked because he knows on some level that the things he's counting on are not provable and are most likely all man made.

9

EXISTENTIAL topic: Why is Paradise or Heaven the solution to anything?

by TerryWalstrom in

gather around the campfire, boys and girls.. i have a little journey for us all to take together.. long, long ago in this universe not so far away .

.we were told a story.______________once in timeless nothingness, there existed a timeless being we now call god.whatever "perfection" is or was--god was.

god was perfect.. but wait--that's not all!and here is where the story begins!.

Pete Zahut

Why is man's idea of Paradise or Heaven a solution to anything?
If God could not / would not be content--why would we expect to become content?

I think the JW answer would be that one can only be content when they are free of sin and the worry of death and the world around them is free of suffering and chaos. They'd say that one can be content yet still be creative and ambitious at the same time.

My question always was in regard to "purpose". They always emphasized the importance of ones life having a "purpose" and that living forever was the only real way that could happen. It seems to me life has the same "purpose" whether it lasts 80 years or goes on and on forever.

The BIG questions that the Bible doesn't address is what was God's purpose in creating life? If he created humans to live forever, why did he do so and what was the purpose in creating animals that lived a limited time so that they'd suffer that effects of growing old and dying in full view of perfect humans who'd undoubtedly be distressed about seeing this ?

I think humans have interpreted our hard wired instinct to survive and not wanting to die, with wanting to live forever.

Instinctually we don't want to die but living forever might be the worst thing ever.

24

Dress and grooming

by stuckinarut2 in

i know this is an old topic, but it came to mind again.... yes it is appropriate for people to dress neatly and respectfully for a dignified religious gathering, but why does it have to be a full suit with collared shirt and tie?.

why does it have to be a full dress or skirt and jacket?.

sure, we would find it distasteful for a person to arrive in swimwear or work overalls or other inappropriate attire, but why does it have to conform to strict standards?.

Pete Zahut

GrreatTeacher 2 hours ago

I wish someone could find and post a picture of the styleguide / picturebook of clothing that is appropriate vs. inappropriate when visiting Bethel, which is a FACTORY!

19

Governing Body Geoffrey Jackson in a Skirt! Is this for real??????

by mrmagic in

saw a video with geoffrey jackson giving a talk on stage in a skirt.

is this for reall??.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m0d4itktmk.

Pete Zahut

Judging from the clunky sandals he's wearing, the woven mats and palm trees behind him and the non-english language he's speaking, I'd say he's in some island country, perhaps Samoa where men wear wraps or sarongs because of the heat and humidity.

Looks a bit odd with a suit jacket and tie and sort of defeats the cooling effect but rules are rules....wouldn't want to stumble anyone or detract from the message by not wearing a suit jacket and tie on stage.

62

Convention Videos: Someone messed up royally

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

.

when i first saw the video, i was like, "wait... is that her... panties showing through the dress"?and it seems like it is so.turns out that if you look at the middle right of the video, there are some letters.

it reads, "footage provided by pond5".if someone wants to purchase that video to confirm, you can purchase it here:http://depositphotos.com/63621499/stock-video-violinist-girl-walking-through-a.htmli think that this was a royal mess up because i doubt they would put footage of a sister in a skimpy, revealing dress.doesn't the gb approve this?this will probably go down as another of the "subliminal images"...if there are thongs in paradise... might not be so bad after all!.

Pete Zahut

For example, there's cheese among what the dubs are eating in paradise. I thought there wasn't going to be animal products there?

For the sake of discussion...wasn't it the idea that there'd be no killing and eating of animals in the Paradise ? I don't recall anyone saying there'd no drinking of milk and making of cheese?

Also, wouldn't a dress that is thin enough to show the panties not be allowed in the JW paradise? Especially if those panties are thong-like (not granny panties)?

Weren't Adam and Eve naked in the Garden of Eden (AKA Paradise) and these naughty ideas we have today about the naked body caused by imperfection and sin? Wouldn't people who were perfect, be free of such hang-ups about seeing something as minor as the silhouette of a pair of underwear under a girls dress ? Weren't there some who speculated that we wouldn't even wear clothes in Paradise?

If the GB doesn't allow that for visiting Bethel, or probably for any occasion where the person is outside the home, the fact that it is on the "paradise" video is a major fail.

They have a certain dress code for visitors at Bethel just like some restaurants have for their customers. Just because they don't want people showing up at Bethel in say... their bathining suits, doesn't mean that the wearing of bathing suits is banned altogether.

if they bought stock video, then they should have made sure that the stock video did not contain elements they wouldn't approve of.

They are well known for being sticklers about modesty. How do you know they saw what you've pointed out and thought nothing of it ?

I am criticizing based on their own standards.

Or perhaps based on our bad experience with JW's, it is easy for us to take their standards to a level that they never intended just to support and justify our negative feelings about them. They deserve to be criticized at times but there's a point where it can get a bit nit picky which tends to devalue the more important and legitimate complaints.

This is the dumbest thread ever

True dat !

62

Convention Videos: Someone messed up royally

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

.

when i first saw the video, i was like, "wait... is that her... panties showing through the dress"?and it seems like it is so.turns out that if you look at the middle right of the video, there are some letters.

it reads, "footage provided by pond5".if someone wants to purchase that video to confirm, you can purchase it here:http://depositphotos.com/63621499/stock-video-violinist-girl-walking-through-a.htmli think that this was a royal mess up because i doubt they would put footage of a sister in a skimpy, revealing dress.doesn't the gb approve this?this will probably go down as another of the "subliminal images"...if there are thongs in paradise... might not be so bad after all!.

Pete Zahut

"What's good for the goose is good for the gander'. The Governing Body(tm) needs to have their foolishness rubbed in their faces as much as possible.

"Yes...I agree, the Society is far too concerned about projecting their own image via it's members personal dress and grooming. Lets not be like them.

This girl was presumably not visiting Bethel, not on her way to the meeting or engaged in the ministry. She was walking by herself in a wheat field on what looked like a warm day wearing a light cotton dress. It is what it is....if we want to be critical, why not question why she's in a field playing the violin instead of "in the field " saving lives or wonder about the time she spent learning the violin instead of spending it in the ministry.? This business about it being a "major screw-up" because one can see a barely noticeable outline of her underwear seems kinda' silly.

-just sayin'