That's really cool. Never done the dirt fishing thing but I'd love to. I don't know how easy it is here to find available land to do it though. Nice finds!
dubstepped
JoinedPosts by dubstepped
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26
Dirt Fishing - Latest Coin Finds
by cofty init's that time of year again when i can get back on the fields with the metal detector looking for ancient stuff.
the first field to be harvested was full of peas - ideal as it leaves no stubble and it's a two minute walk from my house.
it has given up two coins in two visits this week.. the first one is a cut-half silver penny from the reign of henry ii.
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56
Sex before marriage
by Jules Saturn infor ex jws, pimos, pomos, faders, born again christians, agnostics, atheists, etc.
what is your opinion regarding sex before marriage, has your view been influenced since you left?
in western society, you’ll probably find yourself ridiculed to be an 18 year old virgin so i am curious to hear opinions from here.
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dubstepped
Why is there an assumption that following Bible standards on sex (even aside from the marry your rapist issue) has no negative effects?
Is there not a wide chasm between Biblical standards and standards that equate to promiscuity? Do not unwanted pregnancies happen in marriages? Do people not stay with abusive mates, with kids in abusive situations, due to Biblical standards on divorce which include sex as the only out? Are there not people in sexless marriages that live life without something they wanted because another person can't or won't give it to them? These biblical claims greatly oversimplify a very complex subject.
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dubstepped
That article isn't all lies. Did you read it? It talks a lot about shunning and other things that JWs perpetuate. I just met Ms. Tyson yesterday at the Midwest Apostafest and she's a lovely person that was excited to see the article come out. Sure, the Jehovah's Witnesses statements on things are lies, taken from their site as they didn't actually respond to comment, but the article published by the newspaper isn't lies at all.
Thanks for the share RolRod! I forgot to look that up today because I had an interview to do and my mind was taken off the fact that Ms. Tyson told me to watch for it.
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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Angus Stewart QC on Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Australian Child Abuse Royal Commission (by Lara Kaput and Louise Goode)
by jwleaks inangus stewart qc, senior counsel, has had a long and distinguished legal career, beginning with his passion for justice in south africa, fighting apartheid, then later working in the truth and reconciliation commission, and more recently acting as senior counsel in the case studies on jehovah's witnesses in the australian royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse.
angus discusses, from his own personal point of view, and not representing the carc or the commissioners, what the journey was like, learning about the internal law and policy of watchtower society, how he became determined to stand for justice for all the victims and for the whole community of ex jehovah's witnesses and how he felt about the evidence being presented to him and the people presenting it.. interview by lara kaput and louise goode for jw community podcast.. https://jwcommunitypodcast.simplecast.fm/cf4d380d.
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dubstepped
@Vidiot - As someone that does podcasts and just recently started paying for transcripts, why do you want one? I'm using them for SEO purposes, but I wonder what someone might want one for aside from maybe being hearing impaired. Feedback helps so I'd appreciate it.
As to the episode I haven't heard it yet but look forward to listening Monday at work. Has anyone seen Angus since the interview? Louise has quite the crush on him, lol. I think we all do.
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18
Bad teachings for kids
by Freedom rocks induring my time in the cult i sometimes sat during a talk thinking why on earth are they talking about topics like this with kids in the audience.
talking about sex and masturbation was probably the worst one i heard and my daughter was only 5 at the time.. what inappropriate talks or comments have you heard over the years that children should not be exposed to really?.
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dubstepped
My wife's dad wouldn't ever study the parts in the "greatest man" book about Jesus' death with the family, not even during Memorial season. He really struggled with mentions of violence, though he had no trouble getting physical with my wife when she was a kid and taking out his frustrations on her by hitting her. I wonder how he liked the recent videos with the JWs surrounded by people with guns.
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18
Bad teachings for kids
by Freedom rocks induring my time in the cult i sometimes sat during a talk thinking why on earth are they talking about topics like this with kids in the audience.
talking about sex and masturbation was probably the worst one i heard and my daughter was only 5 at the time.. what inappropriate talks or comments have you heard over the years that children should not be exposed to really?.
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dubstepped
How about the death of everyone else on earth and how they will be eaten by birds? Lots of Bible stories read like soap operas with who is sleeping with this person or that, who is executed, stories of stoning and the rape of Dinah, etc. Just good clean fun. :/
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19
Finances
by former2free ini thank all of you for the warm welcome and having read my bio.
i look forward to many discussions and hopefully in the future to be able to be open about it with my wife and kids.
but for now i have a question.
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dubstepped
That's just how they want it. If you want to be tax exempt, you should have to be transparent, in my opinion.
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19
Finances
by former2free ini thank all of you for the warm welcome and having read my bio.
i look forward to many discussions and hopefully in the future to be able to be open about it with my wife and kids.
but for now i have a question.
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dubstepped
Everyone would like that answer. You won't find it. You'll find instances where people have found that Watchtower holds investments in businesses like Rand Cam but it's tough to track that stuff down. They aren't transparent about their finances at the higher levels like they expect of the individual congregations. In some countries you can find out a little more, like how much money they took in or whatever, but even then I don't think there are many details.
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dubstepped
Nice share! I really liked her style in her speech, funny and sarcastic but informative and with a great story.
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48
Healing & Rebuilding Your Life - Feedback Wanted
by jp1692 ini have been invited to speak at an international cultic studies association workshop this fall.
i could use your help in focusing on my presentation subject.. these workshops are for former members of any cult or other high-control, authoritarian group, not just jehovah's witnesses.
last year, i spoke at one of their larger conferences in europe.
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dubstepped
In looking over the various criteria mentioned in the opening post I think that a person would be helped by doing these things in the following order:
First you have to get healthy mentally/emotionally yourself. If you have no healthy tools you're not going to be able to find yourself, cope with loss, or perhaps even examine the beliefs. I personally think that you can do anything better when you start out from a place of health, or at least stability on some level both mentally and emotionally.
So I'm guessing then I'd have to say #4 would be my start. It was my start. I started by getting into self-help. For others that might be therapy. Whatever, but learning how you work, what issues you may have in your personality, cognition, any disorderd ways of being or thinking, etc. can give you a place to start. I think you have to be able to separate who you are and what you've believed or what's been placed on you apart.
I think that #2 plays well off of #4 in that once you start seeing what is yours you also start to see what isn't yours, like I said what has been placed on you. Those things aren't just difficulties that hurt you after you leave, but you'll also see a lot of them in some of the exploration of yourself in the previous step.
I'm not sure that I fully understand #3, but it makes sense that it might fit here. I'm worn out and tired from a long week so maybe something just isn't connecting mentally for me in trying to understand it. The more tired I get, the less able I am to focus and read with my own ADHD issues. Since I don't necessarily grasp it wholly, I won't expound on it, but it also may not be a place to linger and educate, but may be better left out or briefly mentioned. It could take unnecessary time to get into explanations.
Then I'd go to #1 and help the person deal with the grief of their losses, not just family and friends but of faith and the years spent pursuing something that amounted to nothing. I think that people need the foundation from the steps above to really deal well with grief.
After that I'd go to #6 and dealing with the loneliness. Once you've accepted reality in step #1 now you're going to feel lonely. If you're busy in steps 4,2, and 3 at first you may be busy enough not to truly notice how lonely you are. Working on oneself can be beneficial not just to make you a better and stronger person, but to escape from harsh realities until you're more ready for them.
I think #5 comes last. Once you've figured out and understood what you've dealt with in life you can start shedding the things that aren't authentic. Once you get past the grief of your losses you can shed the impact on your identity that those other people had in your life. Now you're free of the past enough to start finding yourself. If you have too much baggage hanging on it's going to be difficult to find yourself. Heck, I'm somewhat at this stage myself today.
So, I'd go 4, 2, 3, 1, 6, 5. My concentration would be on 4 and 2 (and maybe 3?) as I think they're the most important, and that they will naturally lead into some of these other things with that better and more healthy foundation.
I speak of my own experience. I got healthy first while still in the cult. It took me some time but it was a fascinating process and very consuming. Once I was healthy and acted more healthy the cult started distancing themselves from me as much as I was them. Then I left, took time to deconstruct beliefs, realized where I was in life and accepted it, and now I'm finding myself without the baggage of the past weighing me down as much. It does still impact me, nobody gets away unscathed, we all have scars, but it's easier to maneuver without that extra weight.
Oops, forgot to say how long I've been out. My third Shunniversary is coming up on September 2. We disassociated almost three years ago. It took several years before that to wake up and get healthy enough to take stands and get out.