BlackSwan of Memphis

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Posts by BlackSwan of Memphis

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  15

  Volunteering

  by BlackSwan of Memphis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when we were jw's we 'volunteered' our time to help others learn the 'truth'.. in what ways do you volunteer your time now that you are out and are free to help others as you see fit?.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  When we were JW's we 'volunteered' our time to help others learn the 'truth'.

  In what ways do you volunteer your time now that you are out and are free to help others as you see fit?
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  29

  Are you a blood donor?

  by GLTirebiter in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  in another thread, creativhoney said:.

  the bible says there is no greater gift than you lay down your life for another, the bible refers to blood as life.

  i conclude we should all give blood.. and chalam replied:.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  I have done it, and need to get back to do so again.
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  1

  Erasmus and Theologians In His "Praise of Folly" -- Sound Familar?

  by Room 215 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  theologians depend upon folly for their happiness.. 1. they are happily full of self-love.. 2. they use too many newly-invented terms and definitions.. 3. they 'play' around with complex questions.. 4. they have ridiculous ethical rules.. 5. they try (and ultimately fail) to express things better than the apostles did.. 6. they correct and criticize the church fathers.. 7. they try to convert unbelievers with their logic rather than their lives.. 8. the most pious men are disgusted by them.. 9. they believe they uphold the church.. 10. they make-up their own pictures of hell and heaven.. 11. they don't follow the proper use of grammar and use a language of their own.. 12. they glory in the title of "our masters"..

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  Familiar yes. Interesting read. Further reading suggestions?
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  35

  Were You Proud To Be A Witness?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  as a kid, i was.

  whenever i recieved "persecution", i knew i was doing something good for jehovah.. "worldly" people about my being a jw.. were you proud or ashamed as a witness?.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  Depended on what time of the month it was.....

  Heh

  In all seriousness..... sometimes yes sometimes no. I think there were aspects of it that I was proud of. But it wasn't a 'good' sense of pride. To be perfectly, unfortunately honest, it was a feeling of "I'm better than you <raspberries> and you suck."

  I think it filled some sort of dark, emptiness that was not being filled otherwise. That sense of esteem that I was searching for, most specifically as a young person. Deep down I was NOT proud of that part of me or of the religion.

  Other times, when I saw how it could really 'help' people find 'true' happiness, I was proud of that. I thought that that is what it was supposed to be about. Helping others. That was something I was proud of.

  The further away I get from the religion, the more I see how it mirrors some of the stranger cultic religions that suck people in with promises of family, happiness and being special.....
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  10

  Talked to my Ex. from 35 years ago.

  by Decided in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i found my first wife's telephone number on the internet and called her.

  we talked for a while and she told me why she divorced me.

  she couldn't stand the controlling jw life that we had.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  Go buy her some flowers with a kiss.

  yah, I'm in agreement. Flowers, chocolate, nice fine wine....whatever floats her boat. Do that thing that reassures her :)
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  16

  Validation and defense mechanisms, or why it's ok for billions to die

  by zoiks in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  more and more i have been thinking about the mindset that considers the idea that billions are to be destroyed at armageddon as perfectly ok. farkel's articles on freeminds.org really helped to bring it home for me.

  as jws, we do (or did) think it was perfectly reasonable that billions will have earned a death sentence simply for not accepting religious literature from an uninvited person at their doorstep.

  how do otherwise good people (for the most part) come to accept genocide as an acceptible, even good, solution to the problems they see and experience?.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  I was just explaining to a friend yesterday how JW imagery is so dark. Even the Book of Bible Stories much of the imagery is dark and scary. Even though the KH are fairly bland, the publications are filled with pictures of people dying horrible deaths or being chased away by exploding volcanoes. Further so much of it is heavily peppered of nonbelievers being evil drug abusing, Satanists who reject God. Of COURSE they deserve it.

  The whole notion of non JW people being for the most part, loving, kind, generous and remotely acceptable to God is so completely foreign.

  They teach Not to unnecesarrily associate with non believers. It was us vs them.

  They deserved to die because they were not one of us.

  It was pounded into our brains to see them as the outsiders, as the ones who are not worthy. There is no logic, there is no reason. There just is.

  How did we justify it? On a personal level.....

  I dont' know that I ever did. Being a JW since birth (so to speak) it isn't like my thinking was given an opposing view to consider. Plus, for me, I had a horrible time in school with the kids and I'm sure that reinforced that worldly kids were bad kids....

  Maybe that is one of the keys....... I wonder if we did a poll, how many of us had rotten experiences in life and were looking for some Utopia and so believed the JW's to be it?

  Hm, hope this makes sense, it turned into a bit of a ramble...
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  22

  I never believed in demons

  by drew sagan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for the entire time i was a jw (1999-2007) i never believed in demons.. a few times i remember this getting me into small confrontations with jws.

  a jw would talk about how demons were scary and powerful.

  i would argue that i've never seen a demon, and that to be affraid of such things was silly.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  are ALL Ouija boards demonized from the factory (ALL smurfs too?) - or do they have to be put through some special demonization after the point of sale?

  I toured the parker brothers facility once, and they have a special room just for the demonization process. Only they can't let anyone in, so they let the demons bring the boards to the packaging plant. The door is locked and it's anyone's guess what exactly goes on in there.....
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  19

  No windows

  by BlackSwan of Memphis in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a couple years back i read posts re the lack of windows in the kh.

  i think at the time i was still so close to the situation that i thought it was a bit extreme and surely it couldn't be anything like it was being made out to be: conspiracy on the part of the organization.. flash forward to recent days.

  i have been attending our local unitarian universalists church (or universalist unitarian?

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  @ moshe, lol. yah, they would see way too many people counting ceiling tiles, whispering, sharing candy and gum, drawing toons of the speaker or defacing their Sunday watchtower.

  mouthy: you've got it babe :)

  cameo: ohhhhhhh there is some interesting stuff going on in that thread! thx for sharing!! I feel a little like nerd for not going further back in the discussion posts (i almost wrote topics of discussion, shudder)

  diana: yah, the new weaponry of cultism :)
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  35

  Since Leaving The "Truth" Have You Been Naughty or Nice?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was raised in it.

  for the most part i was an exemplary jw.

  i'm a very social fun loving person.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  AtBoth I guess. The baddest of the bad that I do or am, is that I do up Halloween like no tomorrow. Yep, I'm a regular, evil yatch.
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  10

  Talked to my Ex. from 35 years ago.

  by Decided in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i found my first wife's telephone number on the internet and called her.

  we talked for a while and she told me why she divorced me.

  she couldn't stand the controlling jw life that we had.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  Is she mad at you for calling or is she mad at you for not talking with her about it before you did so with the intention of finding out her feelings on the matter?