conflicted

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Posts by conflicted

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  14

  Religious Ideology

  by outsider_looking_in in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  religious ideology.

  taoism: shit happens.

  confucianism: confucius, he say: "shit happens.

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  conflicted

  Outsider, you forgot one

  Former Jehovah's Witness: I've heard this shit before.
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  41

  I D Cards First Step Down Slippery Slope?

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the uk government has announced that it is very serious about making it compulsory for citizens to carry an id card in view of the risk of subversive activity increasing.

  it seems to me that this is the thin edge of the wedge.

  i spent years trying to get out of a repressive organisation, and then even more years getting that organisations brain-washing out of my head.

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  conflicted

  E-man, I don't mean to sound insensitive to your position, and I do agree that being required to carry an ID is somewhat bothersome.

  Here is my stand on it though, in the US we are already required to carry ID - if you want to drive or purchase something without cash you have to have an ID. You can't function in the US society without one unless you rely solely upon public transportation and always make sure you have cash on hand for purchases.

  It's not a law, but the principal is already in position. We have to carry ID to live our lives normally - from that standpoint our lives won't change.

  I don't know how it works in the UK, except what I read earlier that you don't need to carry a license to drive. If you try that here they take your car. I prefer to carry my ID - another one won't make a difference, just another piece of plastic in my wallet. If someone wants to see it - I show it. No biggie.

  On the other hand, I don't see how it's going to help - like seeker said, the bad guys will find a way around it.

  My point isn't that it's a good/bad idea, my point is if they do this it's not so much different that what we have in the US now - and I'm not suffering for it.
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  21

  Sunday Meeting 9/23/01

  by peaceloveharmony in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  sorry all, this is quite long.....and of course, nothing new.

  but i found it interesting...i've been out 9 years and this all sounds eerily similar, like i'd heard this bs all before...... ------------------.

  opening song #91, being taught by jehovah.

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  conflicted

  Hi Harmony, I hope you didn't assimilate too much propaganda this weekend.

  I also wanted to thank you.
  My boss came into my office and I was sleeping - nodded off during your synopsis of the Watchtower. Just like old times (sigh). Just kidding, no trouble on the work front, but a little warning next time would be appreciated. Somthing in the topic like: Incredibly boring sh*t, those with narcolepsy are strongly advised against reading.

  Seriously though, I haven't been to a meeting in 11 years, and it really hasn't changed - it is the exact same boring, self-indulgent, deluded crap they have always taught. I thought that maybe there would have been a glimmer of 'new light' in eleven years, but appearantly not. I don't see how the lifers can take it, hearing the same stuff rehashed over and over - their minds must be jello.

  I'll come back and read this again when I'm having trouble sleeping. You know, you may be on to a cure for insomnia - make 'em sit through a JW meeting.

  Luv ya,
  conflicted
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  21

  How did you leave the JW's?

  by rhett in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my question for everyone is how did you leave the org?

  not really what led up to it but what did you do to no longer be a part of it?.

  personally, i think i have to have one of the more humerous stories of leaving.

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  conflicted

  Fortunately I have a happy story about leaving (my only happy story involving the JW's at all). My whole family were witnesses (excluding my step-dad, who isn't my family anyway). Me and my mother were the only baptized ones, the others were too young. We all sat down on Friday night, the night we usually prepared for the Watchtower on Sunday.

  This night we all sat down and my mother asked us what we thought of being JW's, and all the answers were resoundingly negative. None of us had done any studying of false doctrine or anything like that, we were just tired of going through the motions. After about 15 minutes of hearing everyone's opinions my mother called the PO and stated that she was DA'ing herself and didn't wish to be visited by them anymore. She only mentioned herself, and yet I was never spoken to, visited, councilled, or anything. I assume that I was DA'd, but I really don't know.

  The happy part is that we all came out together and no family was lost to DF'ing or any or that mess.

  The family that DA's together stays together. :)
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  67

  God's image

  by Rex B13 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we are made in god's image and he is a person, not just some invisible, omnipresent force.

  here is some more research for those who love to ask questions yet won't do the digging.. the bible consistently portrays god as a passionate individual, whose inner experiences of love, compassion, grief, delight, joy, peace, anguish, and moral outrage at atrocity dwarf ours in the extreme.

  the bible makes no apology for this, but rather exults in the living one, in contrast to the dead and lifeless idols that surrounded its writers.. one scholar put it thus:.

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  conflicted

  I'm going pretty far back in this thread, but I just found it this morning.

  suntarr, you said in regards to what has god done fopr us...

  We broke the easiest of commandments: "DO NOT EAT FROM THAT TREE!" We turned our back on him. We gave up paradise and perfection under his care.

  I didn't break any such commandment, and yet I was born as an imperfect individual into an imperfect world. God got pissed at two people, and punished the entire existance of man. I never got a chance to prove myself, I was assumed guilty from birth, as we all were.

  We have to do next to nothing to enjoy benefits in paradise and perfection forever.

  I have never heard of any religion that claims all of mankind can find redemption by sitting in front of a television, or reading a book, or any other example of 'next to nothing'. In fact every religion I have ever heard of requires quite a lot of it's subjects. Number one being faith.

  Make no mistake - unfaltering, unquestioning, undeniable faith is hard. It is the hardest thing for man to do because man reasons and thinks for himself, and faith requires us to deny reason and believe the unbelievable. That is what god requires, and if you can't fulfill that requirement you are lost.

  I don't claim that god has to justify his actions to me, but at the same time, I reserve the right to not worship him. I need a reason to believe, some sort of proof to base my faith upon. He reqires my belief and faith in spite of that lack of proof.

  You claim that it's not god's fault that we don't understand his actions. I claim that it's not my fault if I that I need proof before I believe, that's how I was made.
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  41

  I D Cards First Step Down Slippery Slope?

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the uk government has announced that it is very serious about making it compulsory for citizens to carry an id card in view of the risk of subversive activity increasing.

  it seems to me that this is the thin edge of the wedge.

  i spent years trying to get out of a repressive organisation, and then even more years getting that organisations brain-washing out of my head.

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  conflicted

  I don't see what the big deal is. Yes I do agree that this could infringe upon the freedom of law abiding citizens a little bit, but there has to be changes in our everyday lives for this conflict against terrorism to finish with positive results.

  An ID card isn't that big of an issue in my opinion. In the US a drivers license must be carried if you are going to drive, some sort of picture ID must be presented when you write a check or use a credit card. If this universal ID could be incorporated into the drivers license (which we have to carry anyway) our lives in the US wouldn't change at all, and your lives in the UK would only change in that you need to carry a card that you own already. Not really a big deal.
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  46

  Jay Dubs right about 1914

  by FrightMare in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  please study this chart very, very carefully: http://www.sru.edu/depts/artsci/ges/d-3-2.htm.

  why has such an unprecedented boom in population and technology occurred during the specific time the bible points to the 'last days', 1914?

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  conflicted

  My post isn't an answer, but a warning.

  This IS the time of the end, the monkeys are gonna inherit the earth.

  You've all seen 'Plant of the Apes', is that what you want?
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  28

  ``Quality Time'' in Field Service: Fact or Fiction

  by Room 215 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  based on comments in various threads, it seems that many of you are acquainted with the various ``dodges'' jws use to strech out their field service time: foot-dragging, driving around on return visits from one far-flung end of the territory to the other, the skilful avoidance of contact with housholders, coffee breaks, etc.

  etc.. do you have any impression of how pervasive these time-wasting such practices are, and what proportion of the time reported by jws is actually bogus and not spent productively?

  or, put another way, how rare is is to encounter who just loves to go out and who uses his/her time efficiently from beginning to end?.

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  conflicted

  MAN, where were these congregations? My former cong must not have recieved the "new light" of wasting time in service. We rushed everywhere, mothers dragging kids by their arms, kids barely able to keep up, brothers and sisters impatiently tappiung their feet waiting for the elderly. It was awful - we could breeze though a territory in a couple hours. And sister "full-time pioneer" kept track of who was with her and how long we were out so nobody could fudge their hours.

  It was impossible to make more that a dozen hours a month unless you stayed out all day every day - it was maddening, then we got councilled for not spending enough time 'spreading the good news'.

  I always hated that term, by the way - What's so good about the destruction of everyone on the planet?

  "Would you like to hear the good news about how God is going to kill you and your family unless you throw away all of your hip clothes and spend every spare moment spreading this same message I'm giving you?" "Why not?"
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  61

  TWO down and counting

  by crossroads in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this weekend in texas a man from over their was killed.

  only reason the way he looked.

  in mesa az.

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  conflicted

  i was merely stating that from what i had read and researched, these attacks and his views on us were more racial than anything else.

  I on the other hand have heard and read that this was strictly a muslim/non-muslim issue. The 'real truth' is probably a combination of the two, but I would be the first to say that my entire knowledge of bin laden and his movement is what I've seen on the news (not the most trustworthy of sources), and it would be in my best interest to research some more.

  I think I'm done on this topic until then - it's been fun tho, see y'all soon :)
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  61

  TWO down and counting

  by crossroads in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this weekend in texas a man from over their was killed.

  only reason the way he looked.

  in mesa az.

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  conflicted

  dubl_a,

  It appears that underneath all the rhetoric you and I have similar opinions regarding how this situation is best handled. Upon reading back I only see one area where we are differing, my desire and your lack thereof, for understanding.

  I may have put too much import upon this point - I 'want' to understand why this happened, but I don't 'need' to understand to bring this situation to a conclusion.

  You don't care to know why the attack happened or why the Afghani's celebrate. That is fine, but my desire to further my understanding of other people doesn't make me a sick person and doesn't mean I support what they have done.

  actually you are dead wrong on this one. they may not agree with our way of life, but you need to do some serious research on bid laden if you think this is why he has attacked the u.s. this is part of a holy war for him, and he and his followers believe that god has chosen them to rid the earth of all americans/christians/jews/etc.,

  And why does he believe the earth needs to be ridden of americans/christians/jews/etc? Because his interpretation of islam lead him to believe that americans et. al. are evil - ie he doesn't agree with our way of life. We can round and round on this for days.