Posts by seattleniceguy

WT mind control at its finest. Sorry you had to go through that. Welcome to the board. And welcome to the three or four other new faces on this thread!

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6

Aerial advertising over an event - anyone want to try?

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

a while back .

aerial advertising over an event message

i saw on the message board that you are interested in having a banner or billboard flown over an event.

Aerial advertising over an event - anyone want to try?

by Dogpatch in

jw
friends

a while back .

aerial advertising over an event message

i saw on the message board that you are interested in having a banner or billboard flown over an event.

seattleniceguy

I'd put up money for it. Count me in.

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60

What Is THE Number One Reason For JWs Leaving???

by minimus in

jw
friends

from what i can see, it's the "lack of love" that gets people to realize the witnesses don't have the "truth" after all!

For me, absolutely, 100%: It was the intellectual dishonesty. It wasn't true, and everyone knew it deep down, but they refused to think about it, and they punished those who did. I think all the other symptoms - lack of love, hypocrisy, pettiness, etc, etc - are byproducts of the core problem: It requires a high degree of dishonesty to be a Witness.

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30

First ever posting

by ddean3673 in

jw
friends

ok, i've been staring at post after post for hours, done weeks of digging on the web, without speaking to a soul.

i figure everyone had to start somewhere, so i just decided to throw it out.. i only recently came out of my "lockdown" phase (where you don't even speak about your feelings about "the truth") and have just started looking around.

i know you guys can see my profile, etc, but i had to post this and just ask for some direction.

seattleniceguy

Hello, and welcome to the board, ddean!

Everyone here has made great comments. What really helped me was reading a lot and writing a lot. First, I read on topics that I had always wanted to read, but either didn't have the time or felt like I was discouraged to do so, or was downright afraid to read (such as serious material on evolution - I was afraid to have my faith seriously challenged). I read a lot of science, philosophy, some religion, and politics during the first few months after leaving.

You mentioned that you felt better just writing about your experiences. That's certainly my experience, too. I like to muse when I write, just muse about the day, some experience I had, some concept I'm turning over in my mind - you know what I mean. I keep a personal journal, as well, which allows me to muse on more private topics. I believe that writing is profoundly helpful to the human mind.

And, of course, you have to have community. This board is a great place for it, but it helps to be involved in the real world, too. Maybe there's a club or group that shares one of your interests? A book group? A hiking club? Something like that might help to establish a peer network in this brave new world.

Just some thoughts. So glad to have you aboard! See you around.

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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.

seattleniceguy

Yes, and I seem to remember George Bush using it too. Turns out, peace and security are popular concepts to most of humanity. That means they'll be concepts that find their way into a lot of politicians' speeches.

Just for kicks, wouldn't it be fun to start a cult that certered around a prophecy that the end would be directly preceeded by talk of "taxes" in one place after another? Man, you'd have people constantly on the edge of their seats. Read my lips: No new taxes. Oh my God! The end is near!

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33

Questions to ask Ray Franz?

by Released in

jw
friends

sunday the 17th iwill be meeting him for the fist time.

i would like some feedback as to any questions you all may have(i have a bunch of my own) of which i will post next sunday night.

please keep them as short as possible so i,m not carrying a whole book when i go.

seattleniceguy

logansrun: Yes, I disagree with Ray's religious views, inasmuchas I don't believe in God or the Bible. But I have tremendous respect for what he did in getting out of the organization and writing such a helpful book.

Released: Actually, I do have one question for Ray. I realize that his books are his only real means of income right now. I wonder if he has any plans for releasing them to the public domain at some point. For example, some Witnesses might be more willing to read CoC if it were available in its entirety online. Just a thought.

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23

Some people followed Jehovah's Organization, and God killed 'em

by AlmostAtheist in

gina and i were batting around how the organization calls itself "god's channel" out of one side of their mouth and then reminds everyone that they are "imperfect men" out of the other.

this allows them to claim a position of authority as "god's organization" while at the same time allowing them to make mistakes and get away with it.

(1975, "generation", all the flavors of blood, etc).

seattleniceguy

I agree that dubs might take issue with the "Aaron and the golden calf" episode because the people pressured him, even though, as AlmostAtheist points out, it would be a weak protest. Perhaps a stronger example would be one from 1-2 Kings, as Leolaia points out. How about when Jeroboam set up the golden calf for the people who lived far from Jerusalem. I don't have a citation on that - I'm sure someone will be able to find that text (pretty please?). There again you had God's channel directing the people to evil.

I still like the Aaron episode better because by the time we get to the kings, there is some confusion as to who is really "God's channel." Is it the king? The priests? What if they disagree? (And what happens if the Writing Department disagrees with the Service Department? )

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10

Bloodless Intensive Care--A Case Series and Review of Jehovah's Witnesses!

by Voyager in

http://www.mwc.com/newsfeedarticle.cfm?newsid=8862 .

bloodless intensive care: a case series and review of jehovah's witnesses in icu .

seattleniceguy

A key passage:

Four out of 21 Jehovah's Witness patients died in ICU compared to 782 out of 8848 non- Jehovah's Witness patients (19.0% vs 8.8%, P=0.10, chis quare).

Therefore, JWs were more than twice as likely to die in the ICU than the general public. I used to argue that Witness mortality rates were actually better than the public. <Sigh>

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