Friends

by ARoarer 14 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Michael3000

  BATHORY:

  Your comments might lead one to believe you're writing under the influence of alcohol.
• 

  arachnia

  Hey Bathory,

  How's that crack *you're* obviously smoking?

  HA HA HA HA HA, I'm so hilarious. That was comic relief. HA HA HA HA HA

  (Hopefully the obvious sarcasm will be recognized here.)

  Cheers,
  ~arachnia

  "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
  -Princess Leia to Governor Tarkin in SW:ANH
• 

  arachnia

  "Dissidents?" , "Dissidents!!!!"
  They used this word at Bethel to describe brothers and sisters
  whose conscience won't allow them to cooperate with corruption???
  The only time I've ever heard the word 'dissidents' used was
  in the context of people suffering under an oppressive
  dictatorship like "Soviet dissidents" or "Chinese dissidents".
  All the more reason for me to stick with my Soviet analogy
  (complete with geriatric rulers and party hacks) when thinking
  of the Watchtower.

  
  It is an interesting choice of word, isn't it?

  The English word "dissident" means to disagree, and is derived from the PIE roots "dis–" meaning "opposite" or "not," and "sed-" which means "to sit." So what I gather from that is that it is an active, rather than passive, disagreement in that the dissident refuses to "sit down and take it" any longer.

  Look up "dissident" in the thesaurus and you will find that the word "heretic" is included in the related words. In fact, the definition of heretic incorporates "dissident:"
  NOUN: A person who dissents from the doctrine of an established church

  So, basically, the WT was indirectly calling those who stand against it's child molestation policy heretics. Fine. Because....."heresy is only another word for freedom of thought." So said Graham Greene. I am glad to be able to think freely since I left the JW's.

  John Morley once observed, "Where it is a duty to worship the sun it is pretty sure to be a crime to examine the laws of heat." This is very much the sort of mentality that exists in the WT. They require unquestioning obedience to shallow laws which are flowered up to sound as though they are meaningful and important, when in fact it is simply to protect the racket that they have going on. There is no room for an examined life as a Jehovah's Witness. I'm glad that my heresy allows for that now. :)

  Cheers,
  ~arachnia

  "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."
  -Princess Leia to Governor Tarkin in SW:ANH
• 

  zanex

  well..I have been called a great many things in my time but thats a new one that I havent heard before..hmmm "dissidents" I think I can live with that. LOL. I probably live in the freeworld of "dissentia" too. LOL! Damn that got a good laugh outta me...

  -Z-
• 

  Salud

  Interesting thoughts on dissidents. Also the word heresy is defined in Websters New World Dictionary as: 'the rejection of a belief that is a part of church dogma; any opinion oppossed to official or established views or doctrines.'

  So are we to conclude that we are heretics now because we refuse the dogma or doctrine of pedophelia? Then I am guilty of heresy!!