Enishi

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Posts by Enishi

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  5

  What do you think?

  by Flowerpetal in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  some of you that have been away from the borg for a while may not know that the segment of the meeting when the co visits the congregations, called new things learned, is no more.

  instead we are given another talk.

  i am of the opinion that it was discontinued because too many far out answers were being given for one question--and it may have prompted discussion after the meeting that would result in speculation and/or leanings toward apostate teachings.

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  Enishi

  Although I do like our current CO, most of his talks still revolve around the tired old "field service is more important than anything, do more more more!"

  Sometimes I wonder if the guy even agrees with everything the Society tells him to say.
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  28

  Belief-o-matic test

  by qwerty in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know i know this as been done before , i fink!

  http://beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html

  if you haven't taken the test before, give it a go see how far down the list if at all jw is.

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  Enishi

  1.	Sikhism (100%)
  2.	Neo-Pagan (99%)

  3. Mahayana Buddhism (92%) 4. Hinduism (90%) 5. New Age (86%) 6. Jainism (79%) 7. Unitarian Universalism (78%) 8. Liberal Quakers (73%) 9. Theravada Buddhism (71%) 10. Bahá'í Faith (67%) 11. Reform Judaism (66%) 12. Orthodox Judaism (65%)

  Interesting, Sikhism and New Age are probably the beliefs which most closely match that of Christian Gnosticism. Thing is, I didn't even know what Sikhism was until I took this test.

  26. Jehovahs Witness (28%)

  I can just imagine the slack-jawed shock of those in my congregation if they saw these results, I'm still technically in good standing there. . .
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  18

  Has being a Witness caused clinical Depression with any of you?

  by Singing Man in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  for me i would say that half the reason i am depressed is directly cause from being raised a witness, i am 50 now.

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  Enishi

  I wouldn't have called myself clinically depressed, but for some time after my baptism I felt utterly miserable, and didn't even understand why. I felt like everything was pointless, if I could I would have blown up the planet. A couple times I did even consider suicide.

  I started to feel a little better eventually, but still went through bouts of depression since I couldn't accept the teaching that God was going to destroy 99% of population, just because they didn't have the right beleifs.
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  2

  halloween

  by Enishi in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm feeling depressed now.... on halloween night, we had bought some candy.

  someone in my family suggested that we give it out to the trick or treaters.

  i don't really have anything against the holidays anymore, and i couldn't really see anything wrong with giving out candy.

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  Enishi

  I'm feeling depressed now...

  On Halloween night, we had bought some candy. Someone in my family suggested that we give it out to the trick or treaters. I don't really have anything against the holidays anymore, and I couldn't really see anything wrong with giving out candy. So, when the trick or treaters came to the door I thought "why not?" and gave them some.
  
  However, someone from the hall called once when the door was open. They must have heard the kids and told the elders (what a surprise ) as two days later we had two brothers come to our house and question us. We managed to avoid any trouble, saying that we had merely given candy to a couple neighbors that stopped by (after all that is what happened). Still, I can't help but feel depressed about the whole thing. The two brothers who came by were very nice and understanding, good down to earth men, but were doing what they believed was required of them. I like both of them, and I hated having to twist the truth to avoid getting in trouble.
  
  Even though I don't agree with them on number of things, I still feel that most witnesses are good people. I guess that, on a certain level, I still care very much about what they think of me. I have no regrets about the path I've choosen, but I hate to think that the brothers and sisters I've grown up with will be appalled at my rejection of the WTS. I hate to consider the fact that they'll view me as a deserter and a bad person. And the thing of it is, I will eventually have to say goodbye. Things like this always have a way of coming into the open eventually, even if all I do is become inactive the wedge will gradually deepen.
  
  My only hope is that one day, I can finally make peace and be open with the people I've grown up with, with no judgement coming from either side.
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  6

  The Unbarred Gate

  by Euphemism in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is a poem i wrote while piph and i were on honeymoon.

  i don't claim that it's a good poem, but i'm trying to be more open about my feelings, so i thought i'd share it.

  so please bear with me.

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  Enishi

  Great poetry!
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  29

  Everlasting life on a Paradise earth..myth or reality?

  by shotgun in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  everlasting life on a paradise earth.

  this hope permeates the very being of every jw.

  does it mention everlasting life on a paradise earth?

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  Enishi

  The belief that I was going to live forever in a paradise that was just around the corner was one of the major things that kept me in thrall of the WTS for some time. I had a hard time letting go of it. I've come to realize as of late though that many places in the world are already a paradise. I mean, cmon, my standard of living is probably better than 99% of the people that have lived on the earth. Not only that, but I have access to mountains of knowledge through the computer that would have made ancient scholars go faint. Still, despite all of this, much of the industrailized world suffers from depression and other ailments of the spirit. So, for many people, life isn't a paradise yet.

  I do think that life on a paradise earth, a true paradise, is possible, though not 'everlasting life'.

  Think of it this way, if humanity continues to evolve, a couple thousand or hundred thousand years down the road the earth could very well become a paradise. It would become a beautiful place filled with loving people who put other's needs above their own, and truelly enlightened individuals who would no longer be a once in an eon occurence. Since we would continue to reincarnate (If you believe in this sort of thing), we would in a sense eventually be ressurected in that paradise. And, because of our increased level of consciousness, its quite likely that we would remember much of our past lives as well. We wouldn't live forever (in the body) of course, but it wouldn't matter.

  However, people will have to make the effort to change from the inside first. God coming down to save us, appealing though it might sound, wouldn't really solve any problems, in fact I'm certain it would make things worse. It's up to us to make the kingdom of heaven a reality within us before any sort of significant change can be made.

  I just hope a bunch of screwballs don't end up destroying the world before our race can get to that point...
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  5

  JW divorce rates!

  by shotgun in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this weekend i ran into a local elder who has been performing jw marriages for many years.

  out of the blue he commented that he recently did a tally and only 25% of the couples he married are still together.. when i started to think about it and calculate all the jw's that i knew which were married after 1985 the divorce rate was around 50% and some of the ones still together should probably have split.. how have the jw's held up in your area, better or worse?.

  shotgun.

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  Enishi

  Most of the marriages in my congregation seem to be doing allright, although many of the young couples did have problems due to marrying so young. Based on what I've heard, my hall might be the exception though, plus I wonder if some of the families are really as happy as they try to portray themselves to be.
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  25

  Passing the time at boring meetings

  by jws in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was doing some cleaning this weekend and ran across a drawer with a few of my old calculators, including my very first one.

  today they have ones that are credit-card sized that do more.

  but i remember getting it when i was about 12 and in 6th or 7th grade and at that time in the late 70's a calculator this size was still sort of a gadget.. for some reason the first thing that bounced into my mind when i pulled it out and looked at it was my old hall at the time.

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  Enishi

  Especially when I was younger, I would spend much of my time at the meeting day dreaming or thinking about neat shows I had seen. Nowadays, I try to spend my time at the meeting clearing my mind and meditating. I helps me to remain calm and centered when I hear things from the platform that make me angry.
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  15

  Increase in Bible Studies - not a good indicator of growth

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  joker said the following recently in his 2003 jw worldwide report... .

  almost every country saw an increase in bible studies.

  from last year, tens of thousands more in the united states, and 10,000 in the uk.

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  Enishi

  In my hall, most of the Bible studies either just lost interest, became to busy to study anymore, said that they didn't agree with or teachings, or put an end to the study. Many of them, I think, agree with the witnesses doctrine on Jehovah amd the ressurection, but don't want to enslave themselves to all the nonsense that is put upon us, or don't trust the WTS. Some of the studies don't seem to anywhere because the person conducting it would spend the vast majority of their time talking about things that had nothing to do with the study.
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  16

  New Light on 2005- Another False Prophecy?

  by Tower Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have a new article on my site about the watchtower's claim of the end by 2005. if you're not burned out on this topic yet, check it out.

  my friend, cheryl, wrote it.

  http://www.towertotruth.net/articles/last_generation.htm

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  Enishi

  I once heard from someone that a brother in our area believed, based on his research, that armageddon would come in 2005.

  I feel sorry for him, he's going to be dissapointed...