BlackSwan of Memphis

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Posts by BlackSwan of Memphis

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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

  Wellllllll okay, it makes sense. And here in MI I can see how having fewer windows would make a difference with energy, especially in the wintertime.

  One of the things I remember about virtually every KH I've been in is how classroom like they are. When I started to visit different churches, I noticed how very different they all were from the average KH.

  Most of the time, despite the denomination, there is an aura of sacred space. A place to worship and pray and whatnot. The KH really has none of that.
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  21

  TRESPASSING

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  woman wins trespassing judgment against jehovah's witness.

  miscellaneous news.

  source: foxnews.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  I have a No Solicitation sign on my door and I still get people who solicit crap. The last time it happened, I tactfully pointed out the sign and the lady said I didn't see it.

  bs.

  People think, too often, they can completely ignore those things without penalty. Ridiculous.
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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

  I read it somewhere but I thought it appropiate for my life "All of the people I know that are perpetually unhappy are those that jump from one self-help program to the next. The problem is not with themselves, it is with their focus. Self-self-self. If they spent that time volunteering in their comunity or helping their friends and family, they would be much more content."

  I really like this statement. I think I may print it out and put it on my refrigerator. I know someone, who happens to live with me, and uhm, happens to be my mil, and well is perpetually unhappy and cannot for the life of her figure out why. And we know why.

  Her entire existence is solely about her own happiness. It's about her all the time. We have tried to encourage her to volunteer at various places like maybe a hospital or maybe the nursing home where she rehabbed from her broken hip, to no avail. Yes, she is physically able to.

  It sounds like you are so totally on teh right track Plummet!! Tell me more about the HS group. How did you get involved with this? It sounds really interesting.

  I'm so sorry that you've lost so much.
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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

  Some of these subjects are hard to put down in succinct, two line posts. Sometimes you just have to ramble to get it out...but those of us who went through it as well, we get it.

  Well thank you for understanding. These topics are so often very unique to people with the same experiences and one of the things that feels good about coming back is that 'knowing' that we've (mostly) all been there.

  When you think about it, this whole topic is creepy.
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  224

  Where Are You From?

  by finallysomepride in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  alot of members don't have a flag or country name beside their user name, and well frequently one doesn't know where that particular person is from, tell us your country, state, county or what ever you feel like giving out.

  if you are going to post please at least devulge your country.. me, i'm originally from taranaki, new zealand via auckland.

  for the most of this decade i have been living & working in brisbane, queensland, australia.. .

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  Hockeytown USA

  otherwise known as Detroit, MI (or well in the general vicinity)
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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

  @ ada, this year for Rel. Ed at our church we're talking about world creation stories and this last month I have been volunteering with the Iroqouis story of The Woman Who Fell From The Sky, it's been so much fun. Then again I got the best job of making sea turtle cookies, which are more like big globs of sugar on sugar with a wafer cookie, but the point is there.....

  Somewhere along the way someone created the Universe and then there were turtles and COOKIES :)

  Our Reverend is actually a very Hindu inspired humanist

  Ah yes I am starting to really see that there are some big differences in our experiences with KH's. :)
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  7

  The Woman Behind the JW's Hotline (1-800-why1914)

  by koolaid-man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for 26 years, marilyn zweifel has been standing by to take the calls from all of those who have been touched by the tentacles of the watchtower organization.

  she has helped so many people to work out their problems and suffering because of the jehovah's witnesses.

  marilyn will be our guest on the six screens of the watchtower conference call saturday, november 21, 2009 7pm est.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  I sent my mom one of her newsletters about 2 summers ago. Oh man, was my mom mad. She tried refuting it by writing in all these little comments and then sending it back to me.

  But it was mostly just angry JW verbatim.

  I really get a kick out of reading those things.
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  7

  The Woman Behind the JW's Hotline (1-800-why1914)

  by koolaid-man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for 26 years, marilyn zweifel has been standing by to take the calls from all of those who have been touched by the tentacles of the watchtower organization.

  she has helped so many people to work out their problems and suffering because of the jehovah's witnesses.

  marilyn will be our guest on the six screens of the watchtower conference call saturday, november 21, 2009 7pm est.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  Is this the same lady who does the newsletter?
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  57

  Evil lying Manipulators OR Captive Duped Slaves Duping Others (or some of both)?

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i see many threads that address this issue, but i still don't have a clear thought on this.

  so i want your help.. the governing body misleads the members- no doubt.

  they do change some of their history to make the wt organization look smarter or better-guided by "jehovah.

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  BlackSwan of Memphis

  Fear and pride

  They certainly aren't stupid. They have deliberately lied to protect their butts.

  Why do that? What do they have to save? I may not know anyone in the Ivory towers, but I have met a number of people working up there and it has not struck me that any of them are making enough cash for a posh pad.

  So I don't think it's the money.

  I think that were they to truly consider that they have made a grave error, they would have to face some very harsh judgement. Further, to admit, at that point, how very, very wrong you are, takes a great deal of humility.

  I don't think of them as evil. I think slaves is probably accurate. They are slaves to themselves and sense of pride. That is how I see them.

  It's sad, but what is more sad, is that so many people fall into believing the junk and therefore make themselves slaves to other slaves. The blind leading the blind.....
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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

  This is true, keeping things balanced can be difficult. I'm sorry about your back That can make life difficult, very difficult.