under_believer

Joined

• started 118 topics
• posted 1,767 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by under_believer

• 
  10

  Is the Society more Orwellian than it used to be?

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was born in the 70's, grew up during the 80's, was a young adult during the 90's.

  i was born into the witnesses and attended meetings that whole time.

  i am still attending meetings, in fact, for my wife's sake.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  I was born in the 70's, grew up during the 80's, was a young adult during the 90's. I was born into the Witnesses and attended meetings that whole time. I am still attending meetings, in fact, for my wife's sake.
  
  And is it just me, or does the Society talk a whole lot more these days about
  * loyalty
  * obedience to "God's Organization"
  * avoiding independent thinking?
  
  Maybe I just wasn't paying very much attention before. Or maybe I'm more sensitive to it now that I know what to look for. Or maybe they really do beat that drum a lot harder than they used to.
  
  For those who are still reasonably well acquainted with the current steam of "$piritual food" coming out of Brooklyn, what do you think?
• 
  39

  Terror Level - ORANGE!!

  by badwillie in

  1. social
  2. current

  homeland security advisory system.

  current threat level march 12, 2007 the united states government national threat level elevated, or yellow.. the u.s. threat level is high, or orange, for all domestic and international flights.

  only small amounts of liquids, aerosols and gels are allowed in carry-on baggage.. see the transportation security administration (tsa) website for up-to-date information on items permitted and prohibited on airlines.. recommended activities all americans should continue to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately.everybody should establish an emergency preparedness kit as well as a communications plan for themselves and their family, and stay informed about what to do during an emergency situation

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  It's because of the Halliburton announcement. You think the Arab world is happy about Halliburton moving to Dubai?
  
  Neither does your federal government. In fact they believe it will increase terrorism. Whether or not this opinion matches with reality is an open question.
• 
  46

  Long Time Current Bethelite's Take On the Young, New Gov. Body Members

  by Seeker4 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was talking to a friend yesterday whose sister and brother-in-law have been at bethel for three decades at least, working in important departments that put them in contact with the writing dept., gov.

  body, etc.

  on a daily basis.. this friend of mine has been a witness for half a century, and has been fading for the past 3-4 years.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  The current crop was appointed by the Jaracz-dominated GB. It's no wonder they're hardline.
• 
  10

  Carl Sagan: Reflections on a Mote of Dust

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in 1996, the year he died, sagan gave a commencement address.

  the following is an excerpt from it.

  (the picture was taken by voyager 1 in 1990 as it left our solar system.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  Nvr,
  
  I hadn't thought of it that way but you are absolutely right. If the Witnesses could write like that I might still be a Witness. :)
• 
  40

  For the kids is it better to stay married and miserable or...?

  by brunnhilde in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  ...get a divorce and at least have a chance at happiness?

  my husband and i would never have gotten married if we weren't both in the borg.

  now we're both out and we have nothing in common.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  Decki,
  
  Thanks for responding to that post. I always appreciate your insight.
  
  Realizing that every situation is different, and taking everything with a grain of salt, how did you decide that it was time to call it quits? At what point did you go from "maybe I can salvage this" to "I need out for the sake of my kids (and myself?)"
  
  I ask because I'm in a similar situation to the one you describe and the one that brunnhilde opened the thread with, and I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out what to do and if/when to do it.
  
  Of course my situation is a bit different in that my wife is still a (fairly) faithful JW.
• 
  10

  Snopes says toasting, clinking glasses has nothing to do with superstition

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.snopes.com/food/rituals/clink.asp.

  excerpt:.

  each of those explanations is false.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  Snopes lists a bibliography of sources at the bottom of every article, so you don't have to take their word for it. In cased you missed it AV and OTWO, here is the bibliography from that article:
  

  Brewster, Katherine. "A Toast to Toasts!"

  [Cleveland] Plain Dealer. 29 December 1993 (Food; p. E1).

  Marquardt, Tom and Patric Darr. "Accept Your Chance to Toast."

  The [Annapolis] Capital. 22 December 2004 (p. D1).

  Mitchell, Mary. "Here's to You! (Clink) and You! (Clink) and You!"

  The Seattle Times. 9 September 2006 (p. I6).

  Okun, Janice. "Here's to Ya."

  Buffalo News. 1 January 2003 (p. D1).

  Visser, Margaret. The Rituals of Dinner.

  New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991. ISBN 0-140-17079-0 (p. 215).
• 
  10

  Carl Sagan: Reflections on a Mote of Dust

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in 1996, the year he died, sagan gave a commencement address.

  the following is an excerpt from it.

  (the picture was taken by voyager 1 in 1990 as it left our solar system.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  In 1996, the year he died, Sagan gave a commencement address. The following is an excerpt from it. (The picture was taken by Voyager 1 in 1990 as it left our solar system.) I found this text at http://obs.nineplanets.org/psc/pbd.html.
  
  
  We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam.
  
  The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light.
  
  Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity -- in all this vastness -- there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It's been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
• 
  10

  Snopes says toasting, clinking glasses has nothing to do with superstition

  by under_believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://www.snopes.com/food/rituals/clink.asp.

  excerpt:.

  each of those explanations is false.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  http://www.snopes.com/food/rituals/clink.asp
  
  Excerpt:
  Each of those explanations is false. While making a racket for the purpose of scaring off evil spirits underpins other customs that carry over to this day (e.g., the tolling of church bells at weddings, and the loud shouts and noisemaking at the stroke of twelve on New Year's Eve), the "clink" is a relatively new aspect of toasting and, as such, came along well after folks had relinquished the notion that demons both lurked in every corner of typical day-to-day existence and could be sped on their way by a bit of noise.
• 
  8

  I have a little problem with minor & major fullfillments in Bible prophecy

  by beginnersmind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi this is the 1st thread (posted only a few times as well) ive started.

  dont know why, maybe i thought i would get my head bitten off.

  you know like a sheep amongst lots of wolves!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  Nark's second possibility is again one of those straws I grasped at several years ago when trying to salvage my faith. I couldn't accept that history was written out beforehand, and the attendant lack of free will that goes along with it, so I had to go with the idea that Jesus was WORKING really hard to make all the prophecies come out right, and there was always the possibility he could screw something up or forget something.
  
  My theory was bolstered by the "it has been accomplished" exclamation of John 19:30.
• 
  18

  A truly whacked out scenario

  by Jourles in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was just reading a news article and this jumped out at me for some reason(this isn't a political thread!):.

  another traveler, khadija tawfek mouhsin, said his brother was killed last year en route to karbala, but that he was determined to make the journey.

  "the terrorists give us the chance to go to paradise," the 39-year-old shiite pilgrim said.. my mind went to work on the word "paradise" and what we(exjw's) used to picture paradise as being.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  under_believer

  I'd choose life over death.
  
  And if that was really the way things were supposed to be, I'd go along with it.
  
  However we clearly aren't going to need to worry about it.