I could imagine how somebody who had a huge negative life altering experience or physical injury, would want a do-over, but right now, as many nice times as I've had over the years, I can't think of anything I'd like to live over again at the expense of losing a year of life.
Pete Zahut
JoinedPosts by Pete Zahut
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25
Would you give up one year at the end of your life if you could relive any one day in the past?
by Esse quam videri inlike the question asks: if you could relive any one day of your life, any age, any place and remember everything about it afterwards, would you be willing to live one year shorter at the end of your life?
one day for one year?.
i realize that someone well on in years would think twice about it, but, what about you younger ones?
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Automatic Love
by TheFadingAlbatros injehovah's witnesses have a kind of automatic love for all their other co-religionists all around the world.. this kind of attachment can only be the result of a cult machinations.. real love needs real freedom, a strong personal motivation and enough time to be fully developed.. .
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Pete Zahut
Claude,
As a father of 2 grown sons I can well imagine the kind of grief you must be feeling over the loss of your son. They are out there living their adult lives but somehow, you still worry about them, just as you did when they were small boys. It must bring you a measure of comfort to hear the genuine expressions of grief and love from his friends and to know that he had others who cared about him and to know this great loss matters deeply, to so many people.
The kind of love that JW's show can be genuine but it can also be cut off as quickly as it was earned. It's often a very shallow and conditional kind of love and unfortunately we only find this out just when we need it the most. I'm sorry that you too have been disappointed by those who should be there for you during this difficult experience.
Time will be a friend to you as you come to terms with your great loss and the grief will become more bearable with each passing day. Until then I wish you strength and courage.
-Pete
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It's about progress, not perfection...
by scratchme1010 ini guess at this point in time and space i'm ok if there's an indication of things going in the right direction.. my jw father, who joined the jws in 1973 when i was 8, has always had all the characteristics of the stereotypical brainwashed born again weirdo.
as a jw he always felt the need to show that he was more devoted than the rest of the crop.
to him, life became very easy from that point on: "the bible", interpreted by the millions of wt publications, along with the information in the meetings and getting involved in all jw activities, were the answer to everything and anything in his life".
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Pete Zahut
Thanks for sharing this portion of your life's story. It sounds like you've accepted your fathers limitations as a person and there's a certain amount of peace to be had, in doing so.
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I'm 90% PIMO but events in Russia made me stop and think maybe Jehovah is real and helping
by Isambard Crater ini'm at the stage where i'd love a big scandal to come along showing clearly that the j.w's are not the true religion, but sometimes i get touched inside by various thoughts or events, the russian court trial being one of them.. i mean, j.w's are understandably fixated with attending the memorial, so why didn't the court say it will resume on monday or tuesday, instead setting wednesday 12 april as the date?
part of me believes the comments from pro-j.w's that jehovah moved events so they could attend the memorial.. it seems the j.w's will not be banned, which makes my mind and heart wrestle between thinking jah's behind it, or maybe the ministry of justice is just woefully prepared compared to the superb australian royal commission team who did their homework.
it surprises me the russians seemingly haven't done any homework..
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Pete Zahut
Part of me believes the comments from pro-J.W's that Jehovah moved events so they could attend the Memorial.
It's amazing how superstitious otherwise rationally thinking people can be. The memorial is held after sundown so I doubt any of the court proceedings would be still in session at that time of night anyway. If Jehovah had his hand in any of this, why would it even be happening in the first place?
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Florida's Key West settles JW's religious discrimination case
by darkspilver inflorida keys news, saturday 8 april 2017. key west to settle religious discrimination suit by former bus driver.
the city of key west has reached an agreement to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a former city bus driver who claimed religious discrimination fueled his firing after he refused to work during the nudity-filled fantasy fest.. bobby walker jr. sued the city march 3, 2016, nearly three months after the equal employment opportunity commission dismissed his claim over his firing.
he accused his bosses of mocking his religious beliefs and making derogatory comments about his race before firing him from the $13-an-hour job in retaliation when he complained.
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Pete Zahut
He cried religious discrimination before with another bus company..
His lawyer didn't want that mentioned. (I guess not!)
Probably got fired for not working on Halloween night because of all the demonic costumes some of his passengers would be wearing.
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Jehovah's Witnesses Knocking at my Front Door
by Richlist ini have jw's knocking on my door about 4 times a year.
they walk along the whole street knocking on all the properties trying to hand out leaflets about god.. i always engage them in conversation.
my street has a very large number of oap's who could really do with some extra help.....grass cutting, shopping, cleaning, help around the house, gardening, diy etc.. never once have i been able to persuade any jw's to do something worthwhile for these residents.. i'm left with the thought that jw's don't want to do anything really worthwhile for these people.......why ?.
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Pete Zahut
At lunch one day I had just come out of a deli with bag of food to eat in the park and spotted some JW's at a literature cart. I began speaking to them and told them my JW story and why I didn't believe anymore. Their smiles were suddenly replaced with disdainful looks and pursed lips.
As the elder type brother was speaking, a young pathetic homeless guy came up and asked us if we had any money we could spare him. The well dressed JW's looked at him as if he was garbage. They said No and visibly shuddered to themselves.
I said "Well I won't give you any money but are you hungry?" He replied yes so I gave him my bag of food. He tore into the bag and began stuffing his face right there next to us as if he was starving. The JW's looked ashamed and it was as if "fiery coals" of shame were heaped upon their heads. It occurred to me (and hopefully to them) that I had used my "service" as a JW, as a "Cop-out" a poor excuse for not having to actually do anything real for anybody.
That is one thing that has changed since I left the JW's. I got rid of the "superior attitude" in this regard and realized how many wonderful people there are out there who are making a real and tangible difference to those they may encounter who are in need of help.
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Proof they are not a cult??
by lriddle80 inthe following is from a facebook post and..maybe i am missing something, but none of these items disprove them being in a cult.
jehovah's witnesses are often mistaken to be something else.
some say it a secret cult while others believe something else.......i'm very proud to tell you my readers that i'm one of jehovah's witnesses.. below are 17 facts that shows jehovah's witness is not a cult..... 1. there are currently about 8 million jehovah's witnesses around the world.. 2. an average of over 800 people become jehovah's witnesses daily.. 3. we keep coming to your doors even though we have regular jobs and family like you because we are admonished to do so by jesus christ.. 4. we do not participate in wars and for this reason more than 1600 jehovah's witnesses were killed by hitler.. 5. there are currently over 300 jehovah's witnesses in prison in south korea and egypt because they refused to stop preaching or enlist in the military.. 6. we don't salute the flag or say national anthems because we pledge our allegiance only to god.. 7. yes we have fun and party too so don't get that twisted.. 8. not many of us know the name of the president of our headquarters because we do not pay any reference to him he is a fellow servant of god just like the rest of us are.. 9. you earn the privilege of becoming a jehovah's witness.
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Pete Zahut
Ok....so they think this list of unverifiable data somehow proves they are not a cult.
Any group can provide statistics like that and usually their numbers are more impressive. (Mormons, Scientologists etc) The issue I have with JW's is they think they are the only true religion and everyone else is going to be killed by God. What provable evidence can they provide that this is so?
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We hid from JW's !!
by Phizzy inwell, not exactly hid, but we did what homeowners used to do to us when we were door knocking as jw's.. they trundled in to my street about half past four this afternoon, delivering memorial invitations, one jw lady who i have known since she was born, looked right at me through my street facing window, it was then i realised who they were.. i was semi-naked having just come in from sunbathing, and mrs phizzy said " i am not going to the door if they ring".
i said "well, i can't be arsed to get dressed so they can just ring !"..
eventually they sent a youngish lady who i did not recognise, she rang the bell, we did not answer, so she shoved the invite through the door.. i kind of feel strange about this, if they come to my door i usually chew the fat with them, but it also felt kind of liberating to just ignore them.. i do feel that they will think i was too cowardly to answer the door, which i know is not so, i simply could not be arsed, but then, who cares what they think ?
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Pete Zahut
A couple of years ago I was doing some survey work on a public street. I was dressed in nice office clothes and was just verifying some boundary markers for a City Project and my company vehicle was parked next to me.
I saw a carload of JW's working their way down the street. Finally two nicely dressed middle aged women walked right past me and I could see the memorial invitations in their hands.The ladies had sort of reddish tinted hair and were wearing the obligatory loose colorful scarves draped around their neck like you see in all the JW videos.
I smiled and said Hi to them and looked closely at what they had in their hands. They smiled and said hello back.
After they passed, I said with a smile "So...don't I get an invitation??"
They turned around and were all smiles and started walking back toward me.
I said, "You're Jehovah's Witnesses right??
They both said in unison "Yes we are" and they seemed pleased that I'd have recognized who they were.
I said, "I used to be a Jehovah's Witness and when I was out handing out memorial invites, I used to think it was really important to give them to everyone I saw especially if they said hello. I was surprised you passed right by me."
They looked down at their shoes and as usual I felt bad for them and sort of annoyed at myself for being kind of mean, so I just made some feeble joke that let them off the hook and soon everything was right again.
Long story short, they wanted to know why I wasn't a JW anymore. I told them how I was a former Bethelite and of the circumstances (family death over the blood issue etc) that led to our entire family leaving the JW's.
They seemed genuinely troubled by what they heard but as usual, they suddenly had to go.
I've had several encounters like this with JW's , in public and at my own door but I've found that they are so blown away by my situation, that either they simply can't deal with the thought that anything like that could happen in their perfect organization or they know of similar things happening but must force themselves not to think about it too much.
Lately on the rare occasion that they've come to my door, I've done the H.B.H. (home, but hiding) routine like you did because it's too sad and frustrating to see them trying to reconcile their fantasy with the real world when they are confronted with it. But you're right, I does make you feel a bit odd for some reason.
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I finally get why people like to shun.
by poopie init finally hit me today.
why do religions enjoy shunning.
because many people feel like being close to god makes them special however just being special is not enough for many religious people that shun they must feel extra special how?
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Pete Zahut
Shunning is the one bit of personal power JW's are granted by the Governing Body. The rest of their life is "do as you're told" situation.
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We Pass the Bread and the Wine Just like in the Bible! But, why is forbidden to eat?
by lusitano o tuga insee what bridget azaz did!.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzbe5yo7uq4.
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Pete Zahut
Nathan Natas 2 hours ago
Pizza Hut said, " It seems you've retained the superior judgmental attitude however."
That's right. I can spot stupid from 500 yards.
You must be a lot of fun at a party. Just curious...how many decades did you spend as a JW before you spotted a bit of stupidity in yourself and became such an expert on the topic?
Seems like it might be a good idea to be less harsh when referring to the questions asked by others who aren't as enlightened as you are. (Just sayin' )