Posts by FairMind

23

I can't get a straight answer

by Glofishy in

can anyone tell me if the organization believes that when a married spouse is addicted to pornography, they are actually cheating?

i mean cheating in the sense that the "innocent" spouse can then declare that they are victims of adultery, and be free to marry again?

i looked around their website and found nothing that specifically stated that it is considered cheating.

Poztate mentioned Jesus’ statement that anyone continuing to look at a woman (with sexual desire) had committed adultery in his heart, i.e. a disfellowshipping offense and one that I assume would allow the other mate scriptural grounds for divorce. This is not the WT viewpoint and is in my opinion not what Jesus meant. There is a difference in committing adultery in one’s heart and actually committing adultery. The law will not arrest you for hating someone so badly that you have murder in your heart. You actually have to commit the crime to be guilty of it. Jesus was warning against letting such desires take root.

FM

48

congregational cliques

by chuckyy in

it was my experience during my 13 yrs as a jw that congregations usually had a social clique.

in other words, there would be a group of people in a congregation that would only associate (and sometimes only go out on field service too) with people within that social clique.

if you were in the clique, fine.

FairMind

Like several others mentioned, cliques are a part of human society. JWs have them but this is not a valid criticism of the religion, as you’ll find cliques everywhere.

FM

10

My Story

by DocHayes in

actually i posted my story here one time before... but under a different screen name.

since then i have forgotten my former screen name, and password.

the limits of my laziness meant that i would rather create another screen name, and tell my sad, pathetic and uninteresting, story over again.

FairMind

I Certainly enjoyed your story DocHayes. I wish more posters would share their personal JW experiences as I feel that these make the most impact on new ones who come to this website (and because they are the most entertaining). One gap in your story is how your mother came to be an ex-JW. I would like to hear that account too if you’d like to share it.

FM

35

Dropping attendance and disolving congregations

by RunningMan in

jw
friends

well, i came across a couple of interesting pieces of news yesterday, that i thought you would all find encouraging.

while i was standing in line at macdonald?s yesterday morning, i ran into a couple of jws from the other side of town.

they were up in my area because (not surprisingly) they were laying tiles at a local bar and the work had to be done on sunday morning.

FairMind

They probably have plenty of assets albeit? not necessarily very liquid. The GB is ultra conservative and you know how old folks are, afraid to spend the money they have because they might need it later.

FM

15

Convention and Assembly Food Service

by POs Son in

jw
friends

well, a post from low-key lysmith on another topic got me thinking about the less than memorable food at the conventions and assemblies.

anyone have some thoughts to share?.

i missed the ham and cheese on rye-- it was one item that was actually pretty good.

FairMind

I especially liked the Hoagies. I?m not hard to please and thought the food was quite all right. I always ate so much that I couldn?t stay awake for the afternoon session.

FM

24

Be Gentle With Me - Virgin Poster

by TheEdge in

jw
friends

chanced upon this website a few days ago, and perhaps spent most of my waking hours (since then) reading, and certainly identifying with, quite a lot of it.

i have also learned a few things i was unaware of - i know this is ''old hat'' to all of you, but i wasn't aware of the un ngo thing.. i was saddened reading many posts - mostly trying to get human compassion (from elders who hold the trump cards - dealt by....?).

i read with interest josephus's post no.313, and goldminer's 1st posting - both drawing attention to how lives have been wasted due to false prohesy - and i thought (after reading how the society is claiming compensation for surviving - or dead!

FairMind

Welcome. You will enjoy this website and might like to surf some other sites like ?Silent Lambs?. I like you, have gained much encouragement from reading of the personal experiences of others. Isn?t it amazing how similar many of their experiences are when compared to our own experiences? I for one look forward to you posting some of your experiences.

FM

11

Book having to do with JWs

by under74 in

okay, so i finally finished this book let it blurt: the life & times of lester bangs, america's greatest rock critic....i been reading it on plane rides so it's kind of taken me awhile.

i know i've mentioned it on a couple of threads and said it was good...and it is, but the author jim derogatis i think gets jw doctrine all mixed up.

just for background sake, lester bangs was raised a jw and it's brought up a lot in the book because it (of course, made an impact on bangs short life) .

FairMind

I'm reading a book by an ex JW named Paul McCool. It is titled In The Truth. This is actually a very entertaining book but Mr. McCool seems to normalize as typical JW action some of the bizarre behavior of the book's characters. This sounds similar to what the author of you book has done.

FM

11

Jimmy Carter Said IT Again!

by Swan in

today on the news i heard jimmy carter use the phrase that so many other world leaders have said for so many years.

he was speaking of the election of the new leadership in palestine and happened to mention those three words.

it's the three words that every jw goes chicken little over.

FairMind

Yes, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, George Bush and others have said the phrase “peace and security”. What people are misunderstanding is this is not a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. The prophecy says, “Whenever they are saying peace and security”. Jimmy, Gerald, George and the others are not “they”. Mark my words, when “they” use this phrase the end will come but not until then. I wanted to share this profound thought before I refilled my vodka tumbler.

FM

14

Blood Fractions and Your Conscience

by FairMind in

for arguments sake lets assume that the wts teachings that the bibles prohibition against blood is valid with regard to accepting a transfusion.

jws are now being told that while they cannot accept whole blood or whole blood components such as red blood cells, white blood cells and blood plasma, they can if their conscience permits accept blood fractions.

i have thought quite a bit about how and why the accepting of some blood fractions and not others is supposedly a conscience matter.

FairMind

For arguments sake let’s assume that the WTS’ teachings that the Bible’s prohibition against blood is valid with regard to accepting a transfusion. JWs are now being told that while they cannot accept “whole blood” or “whole blood components” such as red blood cells, white blood cells and blood plasma, they can if their conscience permits accept blood fractions. If a JWs’ conscience permits him/her to accept blood fractions they are being asked to state which blood fractions they can conscientiously accept and which ones they cannot.

I have thought quite a bit about how and why the accepting of some blood fractions and not others is supposedly a conscience matter. The whole idea of prohibiting whole blood transfusions bur permitting the acceptance of any fractions seems, to me, to be contradictory to say the least. However my question is regarding blood fractions. In my opinion a person whose conscience allows them to accept even one blood fraction should conscientiously be able to accept all of them. What from a conscience perspective makes one blood fraction any different from the rest of them? Is there something I’m missing here?

FM

31

fear tactics

by sugarbritches in

jw
friends

hi- as a jw- what were most afraid of?-- sugarbritches

FairMind

My ex-trouble making wife and I still am.