Posts by seattleniceguy

22

The Atheist's Book of Bible Stories - Ch. 1 - In the Beginning

by RunningMan in

here is the long awaited first chapter.

as always, a complete formatted copy can be obtained if you drop me your email address.

in the beginning.

What's the program for the "Godly Obedience" district convention?

by Doom in

i hope this is in the right section.

i just want to know what the program for the district assy is?

if someone can be bothered to type in it or scan it and post (standard forum picture hosting tags is it on here [ img ] [ /img ] but without the spaces?

seattleniceguy

"Godly Obedience"? That's frigging awesome. I hear they were considering "Shut the F*** Up And Do As We Say," but the liberal faction won out and they softened it up a notch. :-)

I was especially interested in the following talks:

Friday, 3:15: Do Not Follow "Artfully Contrived False Stories"
Uh oh. Are they talking about the big mean apostates?
Saturday, 11:10 Let No One Hinder You From "Obeying the Truth"
Are they talking about us again?
Saturday, 11:50 In Dedication, "Let Your Yes Mean Yes"
What, are people backing out of their dedication? Is there a problem here? Is it just me, or do they have the shame-o-matic on big time in this title?
Saturday, 2:35 "Pass on From Seeing What is Worthless"I have the feeling that a good deal of this talk will be devoted to (start booming voice) "internet 'chatrooms' and 'discussion boards' that propound apostate reasoning."

Of course, I'm not actually going, so I don't know for sure. Can anyone (stilla?) comment on what these talks are about?

SNG

18

Problems in Mormon Kool-Aid-Land

by darkuncle29 in

.

seattleniceguy

The children are told that dinosaurs came from another planet

A little rule of thumb I have is, any religion that requires aliens in order to explain dinosaurs is totally, irreparably wacky.

SNG

29

Did anyone find the DC encouraging?

by sweet tee in

jw
friends

i remember going to the assemblies and conventions and feeling encouraged by the information that was presented.

in hindsight, i may have just felt that way because that's how you were supposed to feel.

i was a 100% brainwashed fool for many years, if the gb said it, i did, i felt it and i believed it .

seattleniceguy

I have a serious question.

Does anyone in the universe actually describe any experience whatsoever as "encouraging"? Seriously.

"How did you enjoy your vacation?" "Well, you know, I'd have to characterize it as really encouraging."

"Oh, you saw that new movie? How was it?" "It was totally encouraging!"

"Hey hey...back from the honeymoon, eh? How'd it go? You and your new bride have a good time?" "One word, my friend: encouraging." (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

I mean, seriously. The Witnesses make people use totally unnatural language. The purpose is to create people with a particular linguistic culture that is easily recognizable (for its manufactured peculiarity, not for its purity).

...

Sorry for the rant. To the topic at hand, no, I never found them enjoyable at all. I tried as hard as possible to enjoy them by listening with full attention, taking notes, and trying to somehow wring something new or interesting from the talks, and of course, when I would find some nugget that was mildly interesting or amusing, I would convince myself that I was really enjoying this fascinating program. And my friends would do the same. But I think everyone knew it was a farce. There is nothing remotely interesting or encouraging about those damn conventions, unless the high point of your year is getting your already-ultra-indoctrinated belief system reinforced a bit more.

I'll tell you what is encouraging: realizing that the whole thing is just a bad dream from which you can choose to wake up!

SNG

40

Witnesses sit next to me at the theater last night

by seattleniceguy in

jw
friends

had a bizzare experience last night.

i went to see the movie mr. and mrs. smith (which, by the way, was pretty decent).

my girlfriend and i showed up about 20 minutes before the show started, so we picked out some seats and then each went to the restroom in turn while the other watched the seats.

seattleniceguy

LOL @ Preston

Thirdson,

Actually, now that you mention it, there was another funny moment during the previews. They played a trailer for the upcoming Will Ferrel movie, "Bewitched." When the trailer started, before it was clear what the trailer was for, they were all like, "Yeah, Will Ferrel, that guy's hillarious." Then when it got to the witch part they suddenly got very quiet. I tried to imagine the judgmental attitude I would have had if I were still in their group, and I was overcome with happiness to be out. :-)

SNG

40

Witnesses sit next to me at the theater last night

by seattleniceguy in

jw
friends

had a bizzare experience last night.

i went to see the movie mr. and mrs. smith (which, by the way, was pretty decent).

my girlfriend and i showed up about 20 minutes before the show started, so we picked out some seats and then each went to the restroom in turn while the other watched the seats.

seattleniceguy

Room 215,

SNG, I don't think you can exclude that had your former acquaintance been there by herself, and therefore not under peer pressure to conform to the shunning dictum, her reaction might have been quite different.

I think you're definitely right. My girlfriend absolutely could not believe that even my former roommate refused to acknowledge me, and this is the same thing I brought out. They were in a pack. The peer pressure inherent in the situation is simply off the charts. There is no way any of them could break protocol without experiencing heavy consequences. SNG

58

Question for agnostics and/or atheists

by sonnyboy in

jw
friends

i've just recently declared my agnosticism to myself and to one other person in my life.

i don't necessarily consider myself an atheist because i believe there very well may be some higher power or non carbon based entities in existence with 'godlike' abilities.

my question is, do you still find yourself secretly believing in god?

seattleniceguy

I keep thinking, "What if I'm wrong about this and he one day confronts me with it?"

There are a few possibilities. First of all, if there is a God who is reasonable and caring, then he surely would understand why reasonable people do not believe in him. In fact, if indeed he can read my heart and mind, then he should know that my position is borne out of 100% honesty with myself and what I see around me. In that case, I would really to meet God, because I would have a lot of questions to ask.

On the other hand, if God is like fundamentalist Christians paint him, that is, if he kills people that don't believe in him merely because they could not rationally believe in him, based on the best rational logic they can muster using the brain that he gave them, then he is a schizophrenic tyrant, and I would have serious doubts about any other claims he might make. (E.g., maybe he's not even the creator at all, but an imposter trying to hijack the earth for his own sadistic pleasure, like a kid messing with an anthill, etc, etc.)

On the third hand, God might be like neither of these two extremes. For example, he may be a semi-disinterested logician who started the universe as a diversion. In that case, it would be cool to meet him, and I doubt he would have any hurt feelings at all over the fact that I didn't believe he existed, especially given the way he constructed the place.

Of course, I don't actually believe that any of these scenarios is true. I expect nothing. If there is something, then cool, I can't wait to see it. In any case, live as best you can now.

SNG

40

Witnesses sit next to me at the theater last night

by seattleniceguy in

jw
friends

had a bizzare experience last night.

i went to see the movie mr. and mrs. smith (which, by the way, was pretty decent).

my girlfriend and i showed up about 20 minutes before the show started, so we picked out some seats and then each went to the restroom in turn while the other watched the seats.

seattleniceguy

LOL @ outoftheorg! That's crazy!

love2b, you're totally right about their line about shunning bringing people back into the fold being a crock. But just now, I was thinking about it, and I realized that the only people that would work on would be people have have totally low self-esteem and who are totally indoctrinated anyway. So I guess DFing serves to bring back the people who are the ideal drones anyway. Ugh.

SNG

47

Drama at DC in KC

by stillajwexelder in

.

well basically it was aimed at youths and was all about timothy and the apostle paul.

it was rammed down everybodys throat --no college- get pionerring just like timothy

seattleniceguy

Sheesh. This is really nuts. Those poor kids are going to have such a hard time with all the mixed signals.

I remember back in 1997 arguing with my dad about going to college. He wanted me to go, but I was determined to "be content with sustenance and covering." Mainly it's because I thought it was what was required. At that time the sands were shifting. But if they're now shifting back...pity the kids. Geez.

Maybe the hardline stand will be good, though. Hopefully more of the young people will snap awake.

SNG

15

So, what exactly makes Jehovah's Witnesses wrong? I need a list.

by sonnyboy in

jw
friends

ok, i'm attempting to collect a list of jw wrongs in this thread so i can give it to my parents.

i haven't been here long enough to know some of the inside information that you guys have, so any contributions would be welcomed.

seattleniceguy

Hello sonnyboy,

The two damning pieces are in their fundamental belief system:

The Bible is not what they say it is.
Evolution does indeed occur.

These two bullet points overturn the entire belief system. However, if you wish to dive into the garbage pile to find more problems, there are many:

They hide themselves and others from information that challenges their belief system.
The above fosters deeply rooted dishonesty.
The unwillingness to challenge their convictions, along with a blind loyalty to the organization, produces a legalistic culture that is devoid of actual love and compassion.
Their fear of involvement in things outside of organization-sponsored events leads to incredibly shallow lives. I now marvel that I was such a shell of a human. 10% at best.
The constant state of cognitive dissonance that they are forced to maintain leads to logical/emotional breakdowns in other areas of their life. Older Witnesses especially are a very unhappy lot. Take a look at them. They are a good deal less happy than normal, healthy people.

Those are the biggest deals for me. If I were to wrap all of these up into a single item, it would be dishonesty. I cannot abide by it. The entire JW outlook is based on dishonesty. I must be fully open and honest with myself, and it is simply not possible to do this and believe Witness beliefs.

SNG