Posts by StarTrekAngel

6

Stranger Things on Netflix

by Cimarrona in

i've been knee deep in this netflix series "stranger things," which is a science fiction show about a group of adolescent friends in a town where a government lab has been doing experiments.

it took me like a year to get around to watching it.

but so glad that i finally started.

What would you do for next November 5?

by Faded in

jw
friends

i think everything has to start somewhere, and you can see the passion and commitment from those loyal 50 that showed up in warwick yesterday.

the event was not very well organized but you could see the passion & dedication from most of them.

and i think they at least touched a couple of people at the kh yesterday.. having an annual day of action actually inspires me.

StarTrekAngel

Pick a date on October. Make it coincide with some 1914 theme

24

JC letter of invitation. Do they always get signed?

by StarTrekAngel in

i was just shown a jc letter from a friend and i noticed that the bottom of it was signed by tree elders.

the letter specifically stated that it was an invitation to a "judicial committee" due to the brother having a marital relationship that was not aligned with bible principles.. i am asking because i remember reading experiences of brothers who demanded their jc be arranged over certified mail with signed letters to which elders refused to do.

since they could not get this done the matter was dropped and no dfing ever happened.

StarTrekAngel

If I recall correctly he went to live with this woman without marrying her.

24

JC letter of invitation. Do they always get signed?

by StarTrekAngel in

i was just shown a jc letter from a friend and i noticed that the bottom of it was signed by tree elders.

the letter specifically stated that it was an invitation to a "judicial committee" due to the brother having a marital relationship that was not aligned with bible principles.. i am asking because i remember reading experiences of brothers who demanded their jc be arranged over certified mail with signed letters to which elders refused to do.

since they could not get this done the matter was dropped and no dfing ever happened.

StarTrekAngel

LOL. I blame my keyboard which is not bilingual as I am.

Yes, I meant 3 elders.

24

JC letter of invitation. Do they always get signed?

by StarTrekAngel in

i was just shown a jc letter from a friend and i noticed that the bottom of it was signed by tree elders.

the letter specifically stated that it was an invitation to a "judicial committee" due to the brother having a marital relationship that was not aligned with bible principles.. i am asking because i remember reading experiences of brothers who demanded their jc be arranged over certified mail with signed letters to which elders refused to do.

since they could not get this done the matter was dropped and no dfing ever happened.

StarTrekAngel

I was just shown a JC letter from a friend and I noticed that the bottom of it was signed by tree elders. The letter specifically stated that it was an invitation to a "Judicial Committee" due to the brother having a marital relationship that was not aligned with bible principles.

I am asking because I remember reading experiences of brothers who demanded their JC be arranged over certified mail with signed letters to which elders refused to do. Since they could not get this done the matter was dropped and no DFing ever happened. I think the explanation went back as to the letter becoming official and how it can be argued that there is formal judicial proceeding taking place outside the formal legal system.

Can anyone correct me of refresh my memory on this?

9

Random thoughts of an ex-JW on a coffee break

by StarTrekAngel in

lately i have been finding myself doing a lot of thinking.

not that i am smarter than the keurig coffee maker in my office, which lately has made me reevaluate the perception of my professional career.

somewhere along the way between winding down my relationship with my now ex-boss and starting a new one with my current boss, i noticed that the machine complaints with a message on a touchscreen….

StarTrekAngel

I think that maybe, you don't have enough to do. Just a thought whilst having my morning cup of tea.

LOL. You may be right. This whole ordeal only took about 15 min which is the allowed morning break by company standards. I did not "steal from my employeer" by overextending my break. The GB would be proud of me

Bobcat

I agree. I was putting things more on a frame of reference regarding the Mosaic law as interpreted by the JW. In all theory, those women were just as deserveful of death as were the rest of their families. If the loving punishment for her wicked family was death rather than eternal suffering in a hell of fire, then why is it that it was permissible for her to suffer at the hand of her captors?

9

Random thoughts of an ex-JW on a coffee break

by StarTrekAngel in

lately i have been finding myself doing a lot of thinking.

not that i am smarter than the keurig coffee maker in my office, which lately has made me reevaluate the perception of my professional career.

somewhere along the way between winding down my relationship with my now ex-boss and starting a new one with my current boss, i noticed that the machine complaints with a message on a touchscreen….

StarTrekAngel

Lately I have been finding myself doing a lot of thinking. Not that I am smarter than the Keurig coffee maker in my office, which lately has made me reevaluate the perception of my professional career. Somewhere along the way between winding down my relationship with my now ex-boss and starting a new one with my current boss, I noticed that the machine complaints with a message on a touchscreen…. “I need more water”, before brewing your coffee. It does so if it detects there may not be enough water and that there is a chance you may press the 16 oz button instead of using your own brain to choose between brewing a 8 oz cup or add more water since the water container is clear plastic anyway. Somewhere out there, there is a talented (or not) programmer who sees his career slow down to a crawl knowing his job is to code a program for a machine that never really needed one and that his chances of success are pinned to the hope that the millennial generation continues to demand for shinier and more colorful screens in every device in the home.

So no, it is not because I am any smarter than the machine or the programmer in question. It is because my actual job has been shifting away from doing and more into delving ideas that, more often than not, end up with someone else getting the work done and making more money than me, since I am on salary and my employees get plenty of overtime.

As some of these thoughts come and go out of my mind randomly in a frenetic series of mental pictures, the coffee maker demands my attention (coffee is ready) and everything just disappears. Kind of like that reset button old computers used to have and that acted directly on the pin of a chip wired directly to it rather than being a soft request that required confirmation. As you may imagine, brewing a whole cup of coffee plus the warm up cycle, gives me time to run thru several things before the above happens. Then, as if it was magic, the warm coffee makes me not only thank that programmer for making it possible, but also brings those recent thoughts back to me much more slowly.

This time I found myself thinking about death but more specifically about hell. As JW, we were explained and trained to explain to others, that there is no such a thing as hell or eternal damnation. This, they said and wrote in countless publications, does not align with the concept of a loving god. Neither does it align with his perception of justice. No matter how bad you were in life, it would not be just nor loving, to throw you in a lake of fire for you to suffer eternally.

Another random thought that came right after that one, for some reason, was the idea that Israelites were permitted by Jehovah to kidnap and rape the women of the cities they would loot after promptly killing every disposable being in it. Provided you gave her some time to cry for her loss, she could be yours if you so desired or she could be just as disposable as her family was but you had to stop short of killing her. It also made me wonder if there was any loophole in the law that actually allowed you to kill her for other reasons so that you or anyone else you knew did not have to deal with her baggage. Later on I came to regret calling them baggage and I hereby apologize to any woman that may have gotten killed under that arrangement since I once promoted such reasoning.

As I made my way back to my desk thanking life for not being the one stuck in a dead end job programming coffee machines, I realized that if I was doing that kind of work or may be working for the Geek Squad at Best Buy, it would be hell. Literally that was the word that came to mind. This was a little flash of light for me. What do you know… new light does exist. “Hell” was the word that would glue my thoughts together this particular morning. Hell as in a “living hell”. You would agree many people use that phrase to describe situations in life which seem to have no end.

Now back to the glue that put my thoughts together, I was pondering over the above while thinking how JW teachings aim to explain the sponsored rape of innocent women. There are plenty of attempted explanations for this permissiveness of God, all which only makes sense to an indoctrinated mind. God needed to grow his nation. God allowed it because they were the traditions of the time. God allowed it but he demanded they were cared for if you kept them. We don’t know exactly why he had that law but our focus should be on the future promise, not on the past. Regardless of which one you’ve heard, it was most likely oriented towards explaining or justifying this actions by means of driving your mind away from the sexual or adulterous nature of the deed. The murderous part was already explained when you are told these were pagan nations and therefore deserved death, so no point on going there.

I, however, found myself thinking further ahead of this as I’ve already heard and read the above reasonings many times over the span of my JW life. I found myself thinking that this sure was living hell for the woman who happened to be at the receiving end of this law. And if so, how is it that the hellfire as a way of punishment for the wicked is unacceptable to a JW but a life of unconsented sex, a living hell once again if you allow me to be redundant, for a woman who was potentially innocent is justifiable. I am not going to try and understand God but I certainly would like to present this to a JW who claims to understand God. Just thought I have never seen it put in perspective from this angle. Most other discussions concentrate exclusively on the fact that the woman is being raped and understandably so. I do agree that a loving God should never allow such a thing to happen, much less make it a law. I think that in the latter, a JW would try to argue away with the customary answers. I am curious to know what a witness would think of my comparison with hell.

I ran a good chance that I would still be given the customary answer no matter what but this is something I would be willing to try. Being employed to program coffee machines? I rather keep wondering what that is like.

117

Why the NFL Protest Is a Massive and Insulting Failure

by freemindfade in

i think everyone has the freedom to protest, they also have freedom of speech, these are two fundamental things that make america amazing.

but thinking rationally about what is going on with the nfl, therefore, i have an unfavorable opinion of the league, and the players, not their right to free speech, but their motive and execution of it.

constitutional freedom to protest ends at the workplace door too.

StarTrekAngel

If there is one thing that was an awakening within an awakening (for me) is the fallacy of nationalism. It is one thing to respect the country of your birth or naturalization and one totally different to assign absolute devotion to a piece of fabric, regardless of the color. The day our politicians and our laws align with that same respect, they can come demand that I consider representing and upholding such respect in symbol. This is no different than saying the GB are fucking up everything but you must still symbolize yourself to Jehovah. Don't mind what they do... trust in Jehovah, look the other way and symbolize your dedication for the rest of your life. In fact, in other countries, whom Americans would perceive as not being as free as the US, you take an official oath of allegiance to the flag when you are in elementary school. This is seen by the general public as a stepping stone for a child (same as baptism)

In other words, we are conditioned to see patriotism summarized as a ritual that must be carried out in public. If after the anthem has been sang and the oath declared, we cheat on our taxes or we bribe or accept bribes while in public office (insert whatever other despicable act of treason here) then the oath was false and just as reprehensible.

Wake up people. Tradition must have a foundation. Our elected officials continue to beat us into submission by means of these rites of rendition while they wipe their shitty buttholes with the same flag they shame you with. No different than the WT.

As for me and for as long as the above continues to happen, respecting national symbols of any country should be optional and personal. Once the above is fixed or at least it begins to correct, then we could go back and reprioritize our acts of allegiance. Who knows... we may discover a totally new tradition.

Or may be I am having an idealist day.

11

Has Watchtower been hacked?

by FatFreek 2005 in

"there are two kinds of companies in the world: those that know they've been hacked, and those that have been hacked and don't yet know it.

" robert hackett, fortune.

but how about watchtower?

StarTrekAngel

In my experience, the result of most hacks is a mix of technological prodding coupled with the collaboration from disgruntled insiders. Seldomly can a major hack by achieved without a combination of the above.

The most sought after hacks today are those that yield personal information like financial and health data. I figure WT does not keep massive amounts of the above and even if it did, those people don't have much money to steal.

With all that said, they key here, is that most businesses have no incentive to keep your data secure. Only as far as the expense is worth it. This has been seen time and time again. This assessment is not of my own making. I am paraphrasing a top security analyst.

The WT has plenty of free labor and tax free hardware and services to keep itself secure, fed by a mostly highly committed group of individuals who feel they are doing this work for a higher authority.

Would not be as easy. Getting a high level password is not even enough.

17

Once you've proved the truth to yourself you don't need to keep trying to disprove it...

by cognisonance in

i was told this during my judicial committee (some five years ago) when i brought up concerns i had with the "truth.

" in addition one of the elders (who was an engineer) said once you've accepted a proof of pythagorus' theorem you don't later start doubting that theorem.

i thought that argument was a weak analogy then.

StarTrekAngel

I think what it is missing in the interpretation is that Math and Science are autocorrecting. Meaning that while it can make the wrong conclusions, it will not bias itself in an effort to stay the course while the Watchtower will go to extreme lengths to deny what is right in front of them.