Posts by OnTheWayOut

54

Explain why you are happy if you believe there is no afterlife vs when you joined JW's

by Bad_Wolf in

one thing that has intrigued me are so many who have left, who are wholly convinced everything in existence is merely by chance now, also claim they wouldn't want to live forever, and perfectly fine if this is the only life.

now, i would understand that if you were raised into the religion.

i was raised into it.

OnTheWayOut

I joined JW's as an adult with childhood exposure to it. So I bought into the "everlasting-life" thing for awhile.

Opening post says: "The reality you are embracing now is the worst case scenario of when you were in it, eternal death. But if you joined it of your own accord and not raised in it, why did you want eternal life then and now say you would never want it?"

One huge problem with your statement is that the reality of our futures does not depend on what we believe. It is what it actually is. I bought into their promise but then realized it isn't true. So regardless of what another person thinks I am "embracing," it has little to do with what will actually happen. I learned not only that the Watchtower's promises are lies, but that people have been using the Bible to promote lies since the Bible was written.

You can say I don't know what the future after death is. For an absolute certainty, I cannot prove that I do know it. But we live and we die, we exist no more. If that is wrong, then some megalomaniac demanding my licking his boots during this life to grant me part of that afterlife while he is practicing his high level neglect of mankind, it's just not worth it to me.

42

Liberal vs. Democrat in the U.S.A.

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

it seems that many believe that a liberal in the usa must be a democrat, pretty much following the party core teachings and some even think it means approving the party history of, during the 19th century, supporting or tolerated slavery and opposing civil rights reforms after the civil war.

some even insist that a liberal loves anything and everything obama did..

balderdash!!.

OnTheWayOut

Great post, Searril. Great thoughts.

42

Liberal vs. Democrat in the U.S.A.

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

it seems that many believe that a liberal in the usa must be a democrat, pretty much following the party core teachings and some even think it means approving the party history of, during the 19th century, supporting or tolerated slavery and opposing civil rights reforms after the civil war.

some even insist that a liberal loves anything and everything obama did..

balderdash!!.

OnTheWayOut

Too many points then counterpoints in this thread for me to address them all.

One main thing I was trying to say was that we are all free of the Watchtower library telling us what our belief is on each issue. Many of us are further free from some preachers interpreting the Bible for us to tell us how to feel about various peoples and acts they call sins.

Really- no matter how much you hate Hilary or Donald or gun control or taxing everyone to pay for programs, we need civility. I don't hate conservative posters or simply bash whatever they say. Oh, I've poked the bear here and there and expect it in return on issues of politics and religion.

The unwritten rule in general internet debate is that the first person to bring Hitler into the debate generally lost that debate (although he doesn't think so).

In ExJW issues, a similar thing would be comparing one's adversary to Watchtower leadership. I did that on purpose to stroke people here to respond. It wasn't necessary.

I don't wish any ill-will here. I am not attempting to anger people. Just wanted people to know that there are varying points of view.

42

Liberal vs. Democrat in the U.S.A.

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

it seems that many believe that a liberal in the usa must be a democrat, pretty much following the party core teachings and some even think it means approving the party history of, during the 19th century, supporting or tolerated slavery and opposing civil rights reforms after the civil war.

some even insist that a liberal loves anything and everything obama did..

balderdash!!.

OnTheWayOut

Simon, I hate the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. They divide the US and polarize people. Each party is so loaded with a rich history of some types of bigotry and prejudices. I am often a fiscal conservative and believe in responsible gun ownership. (But to be fair to my liberal side, I believe in gun permits and required training and strict enforcement of gun laws upon criminals.) I think that spending so much effort attacking the politics of those that disagree on these things fits right into their agendas. Both the Democrats and the Republicans steal us blind because we are arguing over far right and left issues and don't remove the policies that make them richer in office.

I am a liberal in the sense that government can be used to solve many problems. I am not going to debate them one-by-one, but I feel the need for an Environmental Protection Agency, a Food and Drug Administration and other protective agencies- granted, they need to be adjusted as any bureaucracy departments would need be.

But the greed of the wealthy would overrun the little guys without governmental protections. Without governmental protections, homosexuals would mostly all be hanged as they used to hang African Americans. People would work under unsafe conditions and get laid off when they got hurt because of those same conditions.

I believe in socialist policies on schools and healthcare and an equalizing in both areas.

I get that such things have to be paid for and that might mean that people do with less. I am not opposed to people paying with their own dime for extra education and healthcare above and beyond a reasonable standard for all. I believe every American should get the benefits that Congress votes for itself. I doubt we would all be able to get what they get now, so they would probably get less and have to pay more of their own for more.

To be fair to those that say such things will make people lazy, I believe that all should be working. If you receive government benefits as far as housing and food subsidies go, the government will find suitable work for you. If you don't like it, you are welcome to go out on your own.

Socialism has not worked in the world because true socialism has not existed. In current socialisms, some people are more "equal" than others.

Mainly, I am a liberal because I believe that laws and budgets should put people first. But I don't support abolishing the death penalty and I do believe that Affirmative Action should be phased out in the workplace and replaced with leveling the playing field at the school level.

42

Liberal vs. Democrat in the U.S.A.

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

it seems that many believe that a liberal in the usa must be a democrat, pretty much following the party core teachings and some even think it means approving the party history of, during the 19th century, supporting or tolerated slavery and opposing civil rights reforms after the civil war.

some even insist that a liberal loves anything and everything obama did..

balderdash!!.

OnTheWayOut

Okay, just going to have a say here. It seems that many believe that a liberal in the USA must be a Democrat, pretty much following the party core teachings and some even think it means approving the party history of, during the 19th century, supporting or tolerated slavery and opposing civil rights reforms after the Civil War. Some even insist that a liberal loves anything and everything Obama did.

BALDERDASH!!

People are people and they don't typically fit nicely into broad categories.

If a liberal voted for Hilary Clinton, it could have been an anti-Trump vote, and vise-versa. They may not have liked "their" candidate so much as they hated giving Supreme Court nominee powers to someone with a very different ideology, or some other things may have influenced them. Or, like enough liberals apparently did, they may have refrained from voting or voted third party because "Hilary sucks" as a choice.

On and on it goes. To say that someone supports the 200+ years of history of the party by voting for its candidate is silly also. It reminds me of Watchtower yelling "Pagan" at anything they want members to stay away from like birthday cake.

Alright, I stirred it up. I said my piece.

33

Irrationality of in important teaching

by Ireneus in

jesus used illustration to make things clear.

hence imagine yourself in a situation which reminds you of an important teaching:.

you are in a super market, and you are told: “someone has already paid for whatever you have purchased”[as churches teach through their ransom sacrifice].

OnTheWayOut

I kind of miss the point of the opening post. Are you saying it is like with Watchtower, we are told to be "deserving ones" in order to get "undeserved kindness" ?

My head is spinning here also.

"If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else."
- Yogi Berra

11

Jehovah's Witness woman killed on the way to convention

by StoneWall in

just saw this news story that was shared by one of my family on facebook.sad that she lost her life to an attempted car jacking.https://abc7chicago.com/3773297/.

OnTheWayOut

I would normally be up on such stories, but I was on vacation at Tahoe Apostafest last Sunday and shootings are so common in Chicago.

I wouldn't normally make light of such stories and hope that nobody is offended by my attitude toward Watchtower and the way it's members would react to such a story. If you are offended stop reading NOW!

It's funny that if she escaped the car-jacking and made it to the convention, they would say that Jehovah did that, but no such mention of Jehovah's protection when the results are tragic. I am sure it's just more "We sure need Satan's system to end soon." Maybe they can spin it into "Use the approved hotel list instead of driving in every day."

10

Why can't Scarlett Johansson play a transgender character?

by LoveUniHateExams in

scarlett johansson was cast to play a transgender role in rub & tug.. recently she pulled out.

i don't know whether she jumped or was pushed but trans activists, despite claiming to represent only 0.3% of the population, have quite a powerful voice.. do they want a trans actor to play the trans role, is that it?.

if scarlett johansson shouldn't play a trans role, does that mean a trans actor shouldn't play a cis role?.

OnTheWayOut

It has been asked for decades why Brits would play Egyptians in movies.
They are MOVIES, for heaven's sake. People should protest with their ticket dollars.

22

I Think There Should Be Laws Against Political Discrimination

by minimus in

jw
friends

i think it’s terrible and simply wrong not to serve a person in a restaurant simply because you disagree with their political views.

i think that when a uber driver dumps a car load of people simply because they speak amongst themselves about politics that the driver doesn’t agree with—-it’s discrimination!

this type of discrimination will cost people their lives someday!.

OnTheWayOut

While I believe that a gay couple who want two grooms on top of their cake should be served, the administration has determined that it is okay to decide not to serve them.

So really, isn't not serving someone based on their politics the same thing? The morals of the servers are against the morals of the patrons.

22

If the Borg is a Death Star, what is it's weakest spot?

by Darth FayDehr in

.

OnTheWayOut

If the Star Wars analogy of destroying the Death Star were viable, then one person using the force would "let go."

That was Ray Franz.

The problem is that the Empire continued to exist after the Death Star exploded. Unlike Luke, Ray did not last to destroy the Governing Body.

But "there is another."