Eyes Open

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Posts by Eyes Open

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  5

  Hypocrisy at the Bookstudy

  by DoomVoyager in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  at today's corporate book study, some anglican church was condemned as being teh satan!

  !11 for holding stock in a company that published r-rated movies and sold cigarettes.

  i seem to recall reading something about the washtowel bible and crap slave-holdery having bonds in a company that invested in cigarettes, among other things.... info?.

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  Eyes Open

  Philip Morris? How would one find out and prove this? Thanks.
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  3

  The Bible Generosity Board Game. Anyone remember it?

  by ThomasCovenant in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  don't know how widespread this was but i recall my parents buying this game in the late 70's early 80's.

  developed buy some enterprising jw.. the idea was to give all your shekels away.

  we hated it.

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  Eyes Open

  Does your Ouija board work WTWizard? If so, what does it run on? Demons?
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  37

  WINGS NEEDS A HUG - let's show some JWD LOVE

  by AWAKE&WATCHING in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  if any of you have read her posts you know that she is going through a rough patch.

  group hug, whaddya say??

  ?

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  Eyes Open

  (((((wings)))))
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  106

  So what caused you to have doubts in the first place?

  by nicolaou in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had no doubts at all about the 'truth' untill a friend of mine in the cong' began falling away.

  in trying to help him i had to ask questions and do research and that of course cracked the doors of my mind open for the first time in over thirty years.. years ago, when jwd allowed members to have signatures, i used the following quote from voltaire as mine.

  i still love it.. doubt is uncomfortable, certainty is ridiculous..

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  Eyes Open

  There were things that made me think way back in my childhood, but I didn't have the guts to do enough about them. Got close once - I decided to go to the library to get a book on bible prophecy but the one I could find by searching on the computer was out on loan and I didn't go back to get it.

  Coasted along into adulthood feeling happy to be part of the social group but not experiencing the apparent enthusiasm that others did. Never did much in the ministry. Gave in and got baptised as I was fed up with worrying about it.

  It wasn't until something happened in my life that made me consider how I would choose to verify my supposed beliefs and course of action that all the doubts became pertinent again. I just knew I wanted to do what was right.

  So I decided I'd have to research and sort myself out for good, one way or the other. I had lots of things I wanted to study, but ended up spending the most time on investiaging the modern scholastic view of the bible, particularly apocalyptica. Needless to say, the belief system completely fell apart.

  I plan to write and post the story in more detail one day.

  ...I shit you not, Jehovah answered my prayer, when I woke up the next morning I didn't "believe" anything...Every day since has been a naked journey, looking at what generations of people have thought before me, trying to draw my own conclusions/decisions, and being absolutely sure I know nothing and this life is more extraordinary, strange, terrible and wonderful than I think most people understand. We were impossible, everything we have thought about what we are is probably bullshit, and here we are, what are we? "Spiritual enlightenment" and peace have come from completely losing my faith in god. Its not a sad thing somehow, its liberating...

  Thanks for the interesting post Bring_the_Light. I agree that admitting we don't know shit is liberating. We shouldn't have to know - we're human.
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  140

  huge announcement after the Watchtower study on the 27 of April?

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  there will be a huge announcement after the watchtower study on the 27 of april.. for what it's worth, this was just sent to me anonymously.. randy.

  www.freeminds.org.

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  Eyes Open

  Could be a fire drill. Doing one simultaneously worldwide would unite the brotherhood like no other religion.
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  26

  the meetup

  by sh4m3sh4m3 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, i went to an ex jw meetup last night & the weirdest thing happened.

  one of the elders that went over my questions for baptism with me, was there.

  and i don't live in a small area.

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  Eyes Open

  Hi sh4m3sh4m3,

  I agree with the other posters. Give yourself time. Something which I came to realise is that even though the WTS is good at pervading your life through emotional control, they cannot ever take who you are away from you as long as you choose not to let them do so. It may not feel like that right now. Time will help. The important thing is not to be rushed by anybody. Respect yourself and choose to do things in your own time.

  Do you have the support of your husband?

  You mention that you're not sure what is the right thing to do. Can I ask what research you have done into the bible? You mention the UN fiasco, but I was wondering how much time you've spent comparing what the WTS teaches to what the bible was actually written for. If this is something you haven't done yet, I recommend it. I spent months doing it and the basis for the WTS teachings was completely blown away.

  Can I recommend a book, which isn't actually too long, for you to read if you think the above would be useful?

  How to Read the Bible: History, Prophecy, Literature - Why Modern Readers Need to Know the Difference, and What It Means for Faith Today

  Synopsis
  More people read the Bible than any other book. Indeed, many try to live their lives according to its words. The question is, do they understand what they're reading? As Steven McKenzie shows in this provocative book, quite often the answer is, "No." McKenzie argues that to comprehend the Bible we must grasp the intentions of the biblical authors themselves--what sort of texts they thought they were writing and how they would have been understood by their intended audience. In short, we must recognize the genres to which these texts belong. McKenzie examines several genres that are typically misunderstood, offering careful readings of specific texts to show how the confusion arises, and how knowing the genre produces a correct reading. The book of Jonah, for example, offers many clues that it is meant as a humorous satire, not a straight-faced historical account of a man who was swallowed by a fish. Likewise, McKenzie explains that the very names "Adam" and "Eve" tell us that these are not historical characters, but figures who symbolize human origins ("Adam" means man, "Eve" is related to the word for life).Similarly, the authors of apocalyptic texts--including the Book of Revelation--were writing allegories of events that were happening in their own time.

  Not for a moment could they imagine that centuries afterwards, readers would be poring over their works for clues to the date of the Second Coming of Christ, or when and how the world would end. For anyone who takes reading the Bible seriously and who wants to get it right, this book will be both heartening and enlightening.

  The book shows how genuine Christainity is nothing like fundamentalist Christianity, or the apocalyptic-cult style of religion (e.g. do what we say or you will die a terrible death not very long from now).

  Keep being true to yourself, and you'll get there.
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  221

  Watchtower Comments THE GENERATION CHANGE Featuring LEOLAIA

  by V in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible
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  Eyes Open

  Thank you - it's great to have this. Will read over the weekend.
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  1

  Atheism under Shariat law

  by Eyes Open in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it could be worse for us ex-jw's, at least in some ways.. have a read of this: my predicament.

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  Eyes Open

  It could be worse for us ex-JW's, at least in some ways.

  Have a read of this: My Predicament
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  5

  THIS WEEKS NEW SCIENTIST

  by badboy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it has a special feature about evolution.

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  Eyes Open

  Thanks badboy. Linkie:

  Evolution: 24 myths and misconceptions
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  11

  Kicked off a plane for praying! Or *was* it for that...?

  by AlmostAtheist in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the headline reads: "praying passenger is removed from plane" i figured it was some poor shmuck whose religion requires him to babble or mumble or something and someone smelled "terrorist".

  but no, he was a just praying, maybe even quietly.

  the problem was, he was standing at the back of the plane prior to take off, he had begun a prayer, and apparently was unable to stop once he starts.

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  Eyes Open

  If he was afraid of flying, maybe that was the answer to his prayer. :P