can be mushy ... .
or can be craaazyyy ... .
okay, i'll start :).
I'm pagan, but I still like this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsCp5LG_zNE
These always make me cry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XFK3ayRQ1s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXV3Kt98ISk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu_rItLPTXc
Not sure how to embed here?
excerpt:.
does your religion affect your income?by mari cockerell, ktxs newsabilene, texas -- the pew forum on religion and public life recently put out the results of a survey on wealth and religion in the united states.. you may be surprised to learn which religious groups in this country have the most and the least wealthy members.an infographic produced by the folks at www.good.is breaks down information gathered by the pew forum on religion and wealth.
it maps out distribution of income for the 14 major religious groups in this country, charting those whose income is less than $30,000 a year all the way up to $100,000+.. what they found is interesting.the religions whose members earn the most money are jews and hindus.
Likely a combination of both factors at play here.
i had to complete some mandatory training today for my job on child protection.
one of the types of abuse described was "making a child feel responsible for the abuser's happiness/unhappiness.. then i thought of this:.
.
Paragraph 14 is such bullshit. Makes my blood boil.
"The parents, on the other hand, had no say in the matter". The hell they didn't. They have the choice to follow the WTB$ man-made rules or to do the right thing by loving and supporting their child.
the generation wasnt right (repeat).
the generation wasnt right (repeat).
the generation wasnt right (repeat).
Awesome, Ray. ROFLOL.
i have been noticing we ex-jw's are very different in our choices of beliefs once we leave the wts.
some choose christianity, others flee christianity.
some find they can't beieve in anything any more.
My answer is rather complex.
After freeing my mind from the WTB$, I have to admit, I was at a loss for a bit. I went through a brief athiest period, but I now hold a personal belief system, largely based on Asatru (Germanic/Norse Neopaganism), also incorporating, in whole or in part, the following Precepts (obtained from.... another source):
I also believe that it is entirely possible that all the entities we call "gods" and "goddesses" are not supernatural but are highly evolved alien beings. Much like ourselves, there are both evil and good ones.
when your child disobeys, you punish him.
simple answer: so he will listen next time and won't disobey again.. if the child has a learning disorder and is incapable of learning from the punishment, odds are you will stop punishing him and will deal with his condition in other ways.. we punish children in order to change their behavior.
if the punishment does not promote a change in behavior the punishment is useless and possibly evil.. .
Hell would be about par for the course for YHWH.
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it, a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” - Richard Dawkins
just would like to have a place for those who went today to post their experience and the reception of the 7/15 study article on apostates..
Went. Didn't comment. Made me angry and disgusted. Really wishing I could get some big financial break so I could move out of my parent's house and start my fade.
i've done a thread on this before, but i've made new observations at the hall (trust me, i just go now for entertainment value and baptism has been put off until forever) thus have new questions i want to ask the "great crowd" here.
i might be imagining it because i've become so skeptical of jehovah's witness behavior, but when i ask them certain things, they shut down as if i'm heavily criticizing or they imply that only "spiritually up building things" should be spoken about.
it's bizarre.
- A servant or whoever organizes seating was hell bent on me not sitting at the back. I told him "why would i want the front, it's not a concert." (he didn't see the humor) He said they were reserved but didn't say for who. I'm more comfortable at the back, (close to bathroom and exit.) but he wasn't straight forward with me about WHY I couldn't sit there. I didn't win.
Never heard of this. It's usually encouraged to leave back seats for latecomers or parents with young children, but I never heard of it being enforced like that. Sounds like someone with a big head.
- I was wearing a skirt to just above the knee, but I was also wearing boots up to the knee, so my knees weren't showing. 2 elders on their way to the stage made a point to look. Are they just perverts or am I breaking some rule I don't know about?
Yes they quite likely were perverts. Wouldn't surprise me. Skirts above the knee are frowned on, however.
- Before the meeting i was talking to a girl who said her husband was in the car park taking off his bow tie. "WHY?" I said. She said it could upset someone and "sometimes the elders pull us back a bit about that stuff." WTF?
Elders following the lead of the FDS and making up rules. I have seen brothers giving parts on District Conventions wearing bow ties. Not forbidden.
- What's the deal with the high heels?! I was wearing flats and felt pretty out of place. It's like every woman in there except the elderly had a 4 inch or above heel on that they couldn't walk properly in. Don't get me started on the makeup...
Probably just personal taste there. Meh.
-Is the main enemy of this religion the Catholic church? Because they were brought up in a negative light all throughout the talk. Jehovah's witnesses don't get a mention in a catholic church, they're not even acknowledged as a religion. A destructive sect, yes. Oh, i sorta got schooled on not saying "church." "I thought you were a witness until you said church *fake smile*." Whats wrong with that word?
Someone once told me that a lot JWs (at least in North & especially in South America) are ex-Catholics. To be fair, the Catholic church has strayed pretty far from the simple gospel of Christ. Veneration of saints, the lavish lifestyle of the Pope, etc. They make themselves a pretty big target, and a number of Fundementalist groups (not just JWs) don't consider them "truely" Christian. While I remain "officially" a JW, I privately consider myself pagan, so I have no horse in that race.
As for "church", JWs don't use that term. For the building, they call it a "Kingdom Hall". The group of people is called a "congregation". So, yea, using the word "church" to refer to anything JW related marks you as an outsider.
- Not a question, but open to discussion. I got absolutely NO feeling from it. The songs were so dreary, and the talk on the platform was depressing (closing line: "Armageddon is imminent friends,be certain you've done enough to qualify for Jehovah God's new cleansed earth." APPLAUSE.)
Replacing true spirituality with empty formalism will do that.
i've heard of an s-10 form that elders are to have filled in called an "analysis report".... what is the "analysis report" (s-10) form that co's request from coboe's?.
what information is requested?
does it evaluate other elders and ms's and people with responsibilities in the congregations or the physical status of the kh itself?.
Ok, trying this with Firefox, as my postings from IE are showing up blank. It is basically an inventory: how many publishers, pioneers, Elders, MS, inactive, reactivated, etc.
I can provide a copy if you want.
Edit: Seems to work in Firefox. If admins could delete the two blanks, thank you.
i've heard of an s-10 form that elders are to have filled in called an "analysis report".... what is the "analysis report" (s-10) form that co's request from coboe's?.
what information is requested?
does it evaluate other elders and ms's and people with responsibilities in the congregations or the physical status of the kh itself?.
