Posts by flipper

15

Grandparents take disfellowshipped daughter to court to insist on right to preach to four year old

by usualusername1 in

jw
friends

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/jehovah-s-witness-grandparents-ordered-to-keep-faith-to-themselves-1.3282193 .

a pair of devout jehovah's witnesses have been ordered by a b.c.

provincial court judge not to talk about religion in front of their four-year-old granddaughter.. the couple lost their bid for unsupervised access to the girl because they insisted on taking her to worship at their faith's kingdom hall despite the repeated objections of the child's mother.. the girl is identified only as a.w.

flipper

A HUGE problem within the Jehovah's Witness organization is a rabid lack of respect for non-Witnesses personal boundaries. Any mother or father who is raising a child has the right to decide what that child learns. This story in the opening thread could be repeated thousands of times even as JW's go knocking on doors of people they are trying to convert. It's really even disrespectful to make return visits on ANY minor children when you think about it without authorization from their parents.

I remember years ago when I used to be a JW getting negative feedback from parents of teenagers I used to place literature with ; and the parents would tell their teenagers I couldn't call on them anymore or the parent would come to the door saying to " stop calling on my child, we're not interested. " And THAT is as it should be. JW's do NOT have the right to force their religious beliefs on anyone ; much less a minor child. JW's do NOT honor personal boundaries. For most JW's there ARE no boundaries

10

I'm not religious I'm spiritual?

by Joliette in

jw
friends

how do you guys feel when you hear people say this?

whenever i tell people that i'm not religious, a humanist, they said i'm not religious either, i'm spiritual.

i consider myself to be a humanist, and i can't tell you guys how happy i am being a humanist.

flipper

Definition of spiritual in the Webster's Dictionary : " 1. Of the spirit or the soul as distinguished from the body or material matters 2. of, from, or concerned with the intellect ; intellectual 3. of or consisting of spirit ; not corporeal 4. characterized by the ascendancy of the spirit ; showing much refinement of thought and feeling 5. of religion or the church ; sacred, devotional, or ecclesiastical ; not lay or temporal 6. spiritualistic or supernatural - n. 1. any of a type of American folk hymn ; any of such songs originating among U.S. blacks in the 18th and 19th centuries combining African and European musical elements 2. religious or church matters. "

So definitely spirituality covers a large brushstroke for different people . Personally I'm like you Joliette- I consider myself a humanist who gets " spiritual " feelings from doing OTHER things that are not religious. Like enjoying the company of close friends . I feel " spiritual " when I play music , write songs, or just practice guitar on my deck looking out over the forest and canyons . I feel a " spirituality " well up in me when I walk in meadows, near rivers, lakes, and remote mountain canyons as it helps a person think deeply using their " refinement of thought and feeling " mentioned in definition # 4.

I'm definitely NOT religious in any sense of the word - but feel I can be spiritual in an assortment of ways ! Take care, Peace out, Mr. Flipper

38

My First Birthday.....

by The Marvster in

i awoken today and realised immidiately i'm 44 today... and after 3 years of being out, decided to acknowledge my birthday.... i'm off out to treat myself to a big hearty breakfast with cup of tea in the local weatherspoon's by the massive pond full of weird bird-life, later today i'm giving myself a gift of a 90 minute relaxation session in a float tank down by canary wharf in london.... only really have 2 close friends (it's a slow process trusting people agian) and they probably won't be able to see me today, but i'm sure i'll have a belated surprise from them both.... the first thing i did when i remembered was to rush to the computer, connect to the web and put on stevie wonder's 'happy birthday', as i listen to it, tears stream down my face... all those years of my life stolen ' but..... i'm free....'.

flipper

MARVSTER- Have a very Happy Birthday and lots of fun ! You deserve it ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

43

What are the things that wake people up from the Watchtower Corporation?

by punkofnice in

when i became an elder i saw the dark side.

a side i previously believed couldn't possibly exist in the one true religion of the happiest people on earth.. then they rolled out 'overlapping generations(tm)' and that was the last straw.. all my life i had doubts but surpressed them thinking i was at fault and not the cult leaders.. it seems more likely that now the governing body are parading around like popes, wearing their expensive jewellery, that this will nauseate even dyed in the wool jws.. i wonder if the wake up can be condensed into main categories?.

1. experiencing the cruel handling of matters by the wbt$ reps.. 2. crazy doctrine (eg.

flipper

PUNK- Yeah, I definitely agree with you, it seems to be either suffering unjust treatment from others or authority figures within the JW cult or disagreeing with doctrines and teachings that get people to exit. I know I initially exited due to suffering unjust treatment from elders AND watching OTHER people suffer unjust treatment caused me to wake up also. Narrows it down quite nicely although at 7:15 A.M. in the morning out here in California on the west coast in the U.S. I'm not thinking too clearly right now. I can't think of any other reasons at the moment. Too early in the morning

212

Why Do You No Longer Believe in God?

by Tenacious in

i know this question has popped up from time to time but i really would like to know how you guys, those that no longer believe, came to that conclusion?

was it the wts and all its crap?

was it something you read?

flipper

Observing human behavior - the lies and manipulations done to control those lower on the food chain. And to put others lower on the food chain.

I was raised with the myths of Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, the easter bunny and God.

The message was simple: be good (obedient) and you will be rewarded. Be bad you will experience loss (no gifts, no attention). And with God the threat of torturous punishment.

Age 6 to 7 kids figure out no Santa, fairy or bunny and adults admit it's just fun stuff for little kids.

My kid mind thinks that they wait till high school or so to tell you about God. Then realizing they believe it themselves, and how useful their belief is to keep them in line to authority.

As someone stated earlier, the whole gruesome set up of living things eating each other certainly didn't point to some loving sky entity.

To a lot of my family members "atheist" was a horrible, unthinkable thing so I learned to keep to myself about it until adulthood.

Read the bible a bit as a kid and thought it was ridiculous stuff made up to control people. I've always been blown away by the blind faith people have - to believe something with no evidence. To "just know it"

I understand the human need for magic and escape from the reality of death. My early conditioning kicks in in times of loss and grieving. I find myself wishing for some spirit message from the departed, looking around for signs.

Mrs. F

15

Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christians. It's impossible.

by DATA-DOG in

good morning.

i was just checking out the forum and something occured to me.

jws simply cannot be christians.

flipper

The word "Christian" is nothing more than a marketing tool for the Watchtower.

Not religious myself, but it seems Christianity tries to promote kindness, generosity, forgiveness. Ain't much of that in the jw religion.

As a kid sent to Catholic grade school, I thought that religion was mean and petty. The jws are way worse. And the closer to the top the worse it gets.

They behave like they were raised by wolves. What is more mean and selfish than sucking up to god by throwing your family under the bus (shunning) so that you can cheat death.

Mrs. F

13

All C. O. D.O Who Became Governing Body Members Hands Are Dirty In Many Child Molestation Cases Cover Up Lawsuits

by Brokeback Watchtower in

what say you and i bet when records get subpoenaed many get grilled in court.

flipper

BROKEBACK- You make a good and very valid point in this thread. I mean think about it : Why else would the GB not allow Losch to testify in the Gilbert Lopez San Diego child abuse lawsuit trial and why else would WT leaders refuse to allow the courts to see the database pedophile list of 20,000 or more when requested by the judge in that trial ? And that the WT Society was more willing to pay out 13.5 million $$$$ to Lopez in order not to reveal the details of their database pedophile list ? You bet your sweet ass there is some damaging information on that database list. No worries. It will all tumble out of the closet I believe in true WT skeleton form in the next several years

9

is there trully a GOD

by piledriver in

the answer every person and religion wants to know is .

is there trully a god no false prophets yes .theres two many to even think about who just want your money and time to spread there evil word .no god is more important in this lifetime that you have on this world than the love you recive and give to your real family .

anyone who is a jehovah's witnesses trully knows they are in a cult not a religion minipulated and threatend with emotional blackmail and pain it makes them feed off your sadness and manipulate there flock into beiving this what jehovah ( false prophet) wants pure sanctamonius bullshit read the book shepard the flock of god charles teze russle was the founder but and since jesus is the founder of chrisianity the organisation regard him as the true founder of there fake faith plus he c.t russle was a child molester .

flipper

" Is there truly a God " ?

Possibly not, who knows ? None of us really know. Personally I kind of doubt " God's " existence - but the key is to not lose sleep over it- go live your life. It's not that big of a deal. We can be good people and do good things for others without needing to be " rewarded " for our efforts from a " sky daddy " or " sky mommy ". The " reward " is in seeing people be happy from our efforts at making peaceful relations with others and allowing people the freedom to make their own life's decisions. And honoring the dignity of our fellow humans. Peace out, Mr. Flipper

6

How "aboat" those Royals!

by KC_ROYALS in

jw
friends

woohoo!

how "aboat" em?

congrats, kansas city!

flipper

I'm really hoping the Royals will beat New York even though I'm usually a National league fan more so since I'm a huge San Francisco Giants fan. But we beat K.C. last year so I'm rooting for K.C. to seal the deal and take their turn to win it all for the first time since 1985.

Also I have good friends on the board who are big Chicago Cubs fans and were bummed out along with myself that the Cubs didn't make it to the World Series. So I'd like to see K.C. spank New York. But I do tip my hat to the New York Mets- they certainly have the pitching AND the hitting to go all the way - I wouldn't be surprised to see them beat K.C. - they have the talent- but sentimentally I want K.C. I really have no horse in this race I just enjoy good , exciting baseball

70

Any funny stories of when a"brother" giving a talk, said something "funny" or "questionable", and didn't even realize it?

by Dunedain in

there were always all types of speakers in the org.

myself, growing up a "witness", must have heard all types of talks, and given by all manner of speakers, especially on sundays, when almost every week we would get a "visiting" brother giving the public talk.. sometimes, you would have a "great" speaker, all fluent and animated.

other times we would get a comical speaker, one who would maybe purposelly get a few laughs outta the audience.

flipper

DUNDAIN- Interesting thread thanks for posting it.

Occasionally when I was in the cult we would get some speakers who really were funny in an extremely comical way giving public talks. I had a close friend who was probably about 20 years older than me an elder, an ex-Bethelite who was funny as hell when he'd give public talks. It's almost like this guy didn't believe a word of what he was saying from the talk outline but just wanted to entertain the audience for 45 minutes to make dull material interesting. I swear to god this guy would make you fall out of your seat laughing with his quick witted humor.

An example for instance was when he was reading the scripture in Daniel about the "fearsome looking wild beasts " that represented world powers and the weird descriptions of those beasts ; after he got done reading the scriptures he said, " Well ! That was entertaining wasn't it ? Sounds like something you get after you eat anchovies on a pizza ! " The audience about fell out of their seats. This guy was FULL of one liners all through his talks. He was always this way.

I often wondered if he was trying to wake people up even as far back as the early 1980's to TTATT. Sadly my dear friend died in a car accident at age 46 in 1983 - he was hit in a head on collision when young people fell asleep at the wheel and drifted into his lane hitting his car head on killing him instantly. He was kind of like an uncle to me and I'll never forget him. 1,000 people were at his memorial and they had to hold it at a high school auditorium he was so well loved. He made other people feel important- no ego in this guy whatsoever. His off beat humor and happy go lucky life style has seeped into my life's way of living to a great extent these last 30 + years. I learned a lot from this friend. May he rest in peace