Posts by AllAlongTheWatchtower

37

As a JW, did you ever stand for the national anthem ...

by Frequent_Fader_Miles in

my conscience wouldn't allow me to do otherwise.

after all, this is the country that schooled me and fed me.

i use all the infrastructure here, and am entitled to all rights and benefits that any other citizen was entitled to.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

To choosing life: Yes, WCG stands for Worldwide Church of God, and yes they were just as bad as JWs, and very similar, in my opinion. Sorry if I was unclear in my post, it's just that I sometimes feel I go on and on about WCG since that is my background, so rather than risk sounding like a broken record, I gloss over it to get straight to the point of the topic. If formatting wasn't so screwy on profiles, I'd put a short little bio in there which might save some confusion, but the time I tried to, there were no paragraph breaks.

37

As a JW, did you ever stand for the national anthem ...

by Frequent_Fader_Miles in

my conscience wouldn't allow me to do otherwise.

after all, this is the country that schooled me and fed me.

i use all the infrastructure here, and am entitled to all rights and benefits that any other citizen was entitled to.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

I don't remember whether the WCG made an issue of standing for the anthem...I do remember that I did stand, whether it was because I personally thought it was ok, or because official doctrine said it was ok, I just can't recall anymore. I seem to have a vague memory of "standing only shows respect, not worship' or something like that, but again, that could have been my own thoughts.

What I do remember is being sent to the principal's office on several different occasions for refusing to say the pledge of allegiance. Ironically, I also remember saying "I affirm" instead of "I swear" during the court sessions I was involved in, AFTER I was already DFed from the WCG, just like I had been taught. The irony being that I was DFed BECAUSE of being in court, and testifying against my parents when the state and social services removed me from home and placed me in the foster care system.

24

Affirmative arguments for the non-existence of Jesus

by WhatSexRU in

i was just reading a thread on this forum called saviors of the world?.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/136105/1.ashx.

that thread discussed similarities between the various saviors, or messiahs that are said to have walked the earth, most of them appearing long before jesus supposedly emerged.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Not to detract from your point, which I tend to agree with...but who is John Bunyon? Or do you mean Paul Bunyan?

25

Did The Watchtower Society Give You Your Personality?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

did the watchtower society give you your personality?a good friend of mine on the discussion board had this conversation .

with me a couple of times.

after spending decades in the organization, .

AllAlongTheWatchtower

I would like to be able to resoundingly say 'no', but there are little niggling doubts in the back of my mind, at times, that my high control group (WCG, not JW) upbringing had such far-reaching effects that everything I do is simply a reaction to it, no matter how much I might wish/think/protest otherwise. I will occassionally analyze my life and actions, in an attempt to dispute this, and I'm not always happy with the conclusions. I am reminded of the MacBeth quote "...methinks the lady doth protest too much".

Smoking: This is at least one thing that I know for a fact I started doing in direct defiance of WCG teachings and general rebellion against them, and my parents. Still stuck with this one.

Alcohol/drugs: Something else I know for a fact that I started doing simply to defy WCG and parents, and out of curiousity as well, I suppose. Unlike with smoking, this one ran it's course, fun for a while, but not who I am today. The partying lifestyle is not for me.

Atheism: Were it not for becoming angry enough to investigate religion on my own, I may have never become atheist. 'Normal' Christianity is fairly mild, and I may have accepted it had I been raised that way. However, I consider it a winding road full of thought and effort that I followed to atheism, and I resent when someone implies that it was a direct path...a kneejerk reaction to cult or high control group participation. But is my self-perception valid, or wishful thinking?

Military: This one I'm not sure about...at the time I joined, I would have said I was doing it for college money, life experience, and because as a kid just turning too old to stay in the state juvenile system, I had no idea what else to do with my life, and had to do SOMETHING which would provide me with a place to live. In retrospect, I often wonder was this just yet another taboo to break, subconsciously.

My marriage: This is the one that can really keep me up at night. In the WCG, interracial relationships were forbidden, but I am now married to a black woman. I love her dearly, and it pains me to the quick to even think that our relationship might be based on some mental checklist of 'what taboo have I not broken yet?', but I do wonder just that, sometimes, a sort of self-torture, I guess you could say. I would LIKE to think that I am simply a more enlightened individual than some, with the ability to see beyond skin color to the person within...that I possess the traits of acceptance, reason, logic, fairness...etc etc. But what if it's all just self-delusion...what if, what if, what if...this is the mantra that can spiral down and down, unendingly.

27

The Eden Story

by choosing life in

in the garden of eden, god supposedly didn't want adam and eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad.

he preferred they remain innocent and incapable of deciding for themselves what is right or wrong.. along comes satan who wants them to eat of this tree and says they will become like god, knowing good and bad for themselves.

he says they will be like god.. as we all know, they chose to eat and find out what they were missing.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Something just occurred to me while reading this thread, that I never thought of before. Several people mentioned how Adam and Eve were created as full grown, yet innocent adults-childlike. God would have had to teach them everything, including language. The way you teach a child language, is to give them a few words at a time, starting with the names of things. Yet in the bible, god has Adam name all the animals. How in the world do you teach someone language, when nothing has a name yet? Just more evidence, in my opinion, that the creation story is bunk.

Come to think of it, if you consider Adam and Eve as little more than adult babies, the creation story takes on a whole new silly aspect...imagine them wearing diapers, and god changing them.

60

Why, why can't a girl start the lawn Mower?

by restrangled in

jw
friends

ok, my husband is in bed, there is just enough light to mow the lawn.

the gas tank has just been refilled, and there is fresh oil.damn it, i have primed it as required, and have pulled and pulled and pulled the stupid string.. why cant the damn thing start with out a guy???

my husband is now asleep and the damn lawn is 5 inches tall.. god help me!!!!!!!!!.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Terry beat me to the "big jerk" joke, so I will just offer some practical advice:

My father made me mow the grass since I was about 6-7 years old. At that age, I had similar problems in trying to start the mower, especially as all the mowers we ever owned were old and cranky to work with anyway. I assume you're talking about a push mower here, not a riding lawn tractor? Probably a safe bet, since I doubt they even make the pull start riding mowers anymore.

Anyway, you're killing yourself if you use only your arm to pull, and that's what it sounds like you're doing. It helps greatly to put your foot somewhere on the mower (a safe spot, like on top of the mower deck, or the top of the engine-NOT on a wheel, it can roll, don't want you cutting your foot off), and simultaneously straighten your leg as you pull with your hand... That way you're using your leg muscles to sorta kick/push the mower away from you, while pulling at the same time. You might still find that you need a double-hand grip to get enough oomph in it, but you should be able to start it that way. Might be tricky to work out the coordination/timing of it, but once you have it down you should have no problems.

If you have trouble visualizing what I mean, imagine you're putting your foot up on the mower and bending over to tie your shoe...that should be your starting position. Only, instead of laces, you grab the cord handle, and yank+kick, while you straighten to an upright position again. Uses your whole body, really. Lol, probably a great exercise routine as well, I should patent it, The Lawnmower Workout.

36

which celebrity death....?

by nowisee in

jw
friends

just heard about the death of joel siegel, the entertainment critic for abc, and found myself, surprisingly, in tears.

maybe it was because he had such a young son and made plans to let him know how much he was loved, long before he died.

maybe because i have watched him for so many years.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

Ronald Reagan; even though it was expected, I grew up during his presidency, haven't really liked any of the presidents we've had since then. I still have the newspaper from that day with his pic on the font page.

Charles Bronson; used to watch lots of his old movies on tv with my father, didn't know how little I knew about him until he died and I Googled him, though. Found out his real name was Buchinsky, he changed it during the 'better dead than red' years out of fear of being blacklisted. Also discovered that not only did he play a lot of military characters, but he actually served during WWII, which made me respect him even more. Biggest shocker of all to me though, was finding out that like many other fans, I mistakenly thought he was Hispanic, his ancestry was actually Lithuanian. Anyway, I went out that weekend and rented a bunch of his old movies as a sort of tribute.

Gene Rodenberry, DeForrest Kelley, and James Doohan; I love Star Trek, for many reasons, and all of the people who die that were connected to it sadden me, but when/if Nichelle Nichols dies I will probably cry. I suppose it might seem silly to some, but she was one of the very first black women I found attractive, and sorta broadened my perspective on women...I grew up in a town that was 99% white. Since I'm now married to a black woman, I give some credit for that to Uhura/Miss Nichols.

Isaac Asimov; not really a 'celebrity' per se, but I'm a big sci fi fan, grew up reading Asimov and Heinlein, all the greats... I re-read a lot of my old Asimov books when I heard.

10

Scientists have a pretty good idea of where your kitty has been...

by Nathan Natas in

jw
friends

a fascinating article:.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/science/06cats.html?ex=1294203600&en=4b75c4da1cdc2167&ei=5090.

.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

"Dr. O'Brien said the cats [cheetahs] were very successful predators, second only to humans, and quickly explored new territories as opportunity arose."

Guess it's lucky for us they never developed opposable claws, lol.

20

Do any of you know about the iphone?

by misanthropic in

jw
friends

i'm planning on getting one today, they have some in stock at the at&t store near here.

but i wanted to know if anyone has one already and if you can tell me what your experience has been so far- short as it may be.. are there any major cons that outweigh the pro's of getting one?.

i tried to check online if there was any information on any negatives of the iphone but i couldn't find anything.. any input anyone might have would be appreciated.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070701/wr_nm/iphone_dc

According to the above article I saw this morning, people are smashing them open to find out what makes them tick. Oh, and apparently AT&T, the service provider, is having lots of issues connecting people.

9

Oh ! The horror my JW free zone is being violated.

by 5go in

jw
friends

i have managed to stay at a job free of jw's except for one exjw who really wasn't one.

an old workmate who's family is in but he isn't asked at the hall if there was an opening at my work for him, and his brother.

i said yes hoping it would be him only.

AllAlongTheWatchtower

"My work isn't JW friendly work." - 5go

By that I'm guessing you do something JWs aren't supposed to do, like have to sell cigarettes, or working for a military contractor...maybe you don't have anything to worry about, since if the person wants the job, they must know it would violate the JW 'conscience', right?