digderidoo

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Posts by digderidoo

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  21

  Why i liked being a Jehovah's Witness...

  by digderidoo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there are so many reasons why i liked being a jehovahs's witness.

  1. we got to count time when we share our faith with nonbelievers or our young children.

  2. we didn't have to go to college to get a good job as a janitor or a window washer.

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  digderidoo

  We also had the privilege of becoming experts at fighting off vicious dogs with our umbrellas.

  Or book bags!

  Paul
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  51

  Are You a Glass Half Full Type Person ? Optimist or Pessimist ?

  by flipper in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  we've all heard the cliches .

  " when the going get's tough, the tough get going .

  " etc., etc., ...... " better to have loved and lost .... than never loved at all.

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  digderidoo

  Half full every time.

  Both my father and ex wife are half empty type characters, they do my head in always looking for the negative.

  I am of the belief that if things are getting bad, then the only person who is going to put them right is me. Nobody is going to do it for me so what's the point in moaning. If it's something out of my control then accept it, if it's something that i can change then change it, but don't bring others down just because i feel fed up as it will only make things worse.

  Paul

  P.S. Have you noticed the reading glasses advert at the bottom?
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  29

  Afraid of the end of the world?

  by LearningMore in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am wondering how much of my anxiety about the end of the world is from the wt experience, and how much is just me.

  i just watched wall-e, and while a cute movie, it really made me anxious.

  scifi in general makes me nervous.

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  digderidoo

  I felt like that in the early stages of leaving. It takes time to see through the BS you have been fed, but you will get there.

  Paul
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  7

  How would you choose a God of your own understanding?

  by digderidoo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ok for those that don't know i have been going to aa for about six months now.. within the aa program step 3 of the 12 step program speaks about turning our will over to a higher power.

  as the aa does not align itself to a religion or sect the closing prayer in an aa meeting is said to a god of our own understanding.. when i first went to a meeting and it closed with a prayer i left fuming.

  i thought i had put the god thing away 12,13 years ago.

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  digderidoo

  Ok for those that don't know i have been going to AA for about six months now.

  Within the AA program step 3 of the 12 step program speaks about turning our will over to a higher power. As the AA does not align itself to a religion or sect the closing prayer in an AA meeting is said to a God of our own understanding.

  When i first went to a meeting and it closed with a prayer i left fuming. I thought i had put the God thing away 12,13 years ago. This has made me look into the JW doctrines and beliefs and see why i am so angry with it.

  I decided to go back to some meetings, the BS i heard really made me seperate God from that religion. I now realise that to have an understanding of God i do not need to be a JW, which was my ultimate dilemma.

  Now i am at a point where i do not know what i believe. I am a creationist of sorts, so i cannot go along with any other thing than a higher intelligence. I have tried the Atheist route, but i think that had more to do with rejection of religion, God just went out of the window with that.

  Within the AA many have come to the conclusion that the group can be a higher power, this i can live with in the short term, but not the long term because ultimately i believe in a God, problem is i don't know what or which God. I have read the 'we agnostics' section in the big book but as to yet this doesn't answer my questions. Some in the AA say anything can be a higher power, Elvis was one response, a motorbike another. I cannot follow this line and don't feel comfortable with this.

  Now if i want to remain sober i have to come to a decision on a God of my own understanding, because anything less and i am not being true to myself. So my question is this...

  If you had to choose a God of your own understanding, what would you choose?

  Paul
• 
  74

  I'm over my pouting now.......may I come back?

  by journey-on in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i disassociated myself from this board a month ago, regrouped, caught up on necessary business, and now i want to come back.

  you newbies won't remember the circumstances, but you "oldies but goodies" will.

  is it okay if i return.

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  digderidoo

  Have you been sitting at the back and listening to the talks on a regular basis?

  Paul
• 
  42

  Would You Go Back?

  by Dune in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yesterday, my aunt was talking to one of my siblings about how things have been changing in our [ex] congregation for the 'better'.. she mentioned how a new circuit overseer has come in and is shaking things up.

  the co appointed a ministerial servant (someone, the po & secretary didn't like and i know would never have voluntarily suggested appointment) and some of the 'brothers' that have had no 'responsibility' ever are being given #4 talks.

  she also mentioned that the book study will be cancelled and the meetings are being shortened.. a ministerial servant who had a vendetta against some of the elders wants me to talk to a co and basically tell him i left the congregation [and the religion] because of the incompetence of the elders.. i'm not talking to the co and i'm not 'blaming' anyone.

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  digderidoo

  I did go back to a few meetings recently after an abscence of 10 years plus. I left under a bit of cloud all those years ago and felt as though i needed to go back to re-examine it from the inside. It's a long story that i won't go into here.

  But upon going back it made me realise that it was all BS. I was listening from a different point of view now after all the things i've learnt.

  For me i needed to go back to put the final nail in the coffin, i didn't regret it and am glad i did. I now feel closure.

  Paul
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  23

  Everyone give a big Welcome to Fern, she is one of our newest members

  by StoneWall in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  fern welcome to jwd!!!.

  may your stay be a long and eventful one.

  i too am a newly associated one so glad to have you on board.

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  digderidoo

  Hello Fern and welcome to the board.

  Paul
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  19

  LYNCHPIN doctrine on 1914 NOT from "faithful and discreet slave"--stolen!

  by Terry in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the "chain of evidence" which links jehovah's witnesses with adventist die-hards influenced by william miller (framer of the failed prediction of christ's return which triggered the great disappointment) includes nelson barbour.. nelson barbour.

  one major influence on russell's beliefs during this time was nelson barbour of rochester, new york.

  barbour was the publisher of the adventist magazine, the midnight cry which had a circulation of 15,000. it proclaimed that jesus would return visibly in 1874. when jesus didn't return, barbour was at first puzzled.

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  digderidoo

  This is interesting stuff.

  Do you know if the article of 1914 shown on the front cover of the Adventist magazine was written by Barbour or Russell?

  Paul
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  40

  Blind salamanders - any creationists up to a challenge?

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  interesting article on slate.com:.

  http://www.slate.com/id/2195683/.

  any creationists out there up to a challenge?.

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  digderidoo

  Thanks MJ. That's a better way of wording it than i have.

  Paul
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  40

  Blind salamanders - any creationists up to a challenge?

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  interesting article on slate.com:.

  http://www.slate.com/id/2195683/.

  any creationists out there up to a challenge?.

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  digderidoo

  That's a rather odd definition of evolution, isn't it? I'm not aware of anyone who defines "evolution" as "the process by which salamanders become elephants".

  Ok that was a touch of sarcasm. However what i have pointed out is that it hasn't changed species.

  Vestigial eyes, for example, are clear evidence that these cave salamanders must have had ancestors who were different from them—had eyes, in this case. That is evolution .

  That may not be evolution is my point. If there were two ancestors that had the same characteristics in that they were blind, this could be passed on through the generations. There are different definations of evolution, for me survival of the fittest or poorest in this case, can harmonise with a creationist's view.

  A rather crude, but essentially true, definition of evolution is "genetic changes over time". There are 500+ different species of salamander. Did God create 500 different species of salamander? If so,

  Why on earth would God create a salamander with vestiges of eyes? If he wanted to create blind salamanders, why not just create blind salamanders? Why give them dummy eyes that don't work and that look as though they were inherited from sighted ancestors?

  As i have pointed out there are different definitions of evolution. Did God create 500 different species of salamander? This is the essential question we debate.

  If the answer is "no, he didn't create 500+ species of salamander"....watch your step! You have just become an "evolutionist".

  In your view.

  Take the canary for instance. In the wild the only variety you get is green. From these green varieties man has interbred them to produce all the different varieties we see in a pet shop. Does this mean the canary has evolved? Of course not, it is still a canary.

  Paul