Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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  10

  "Signs of the Times" Magazine published since 1874 - better than Watchtower and Awake!

  by yadda yadda 2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have you ever seen the 'signs of the times' magazine published by the seventh day adventists?

  i saw one at my local take-out recently for the first time and had a quick flick through.

  i thought it was rather better the awake and/or watchtower!

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  The magazine and the website are eerily similar to WT.

  I had a classmate that was SDA. She took every opportunity to use sabbath, passover, whatever, to get out of working on the required group projects.
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  3

  Let Truth and Falsehood Grapple

  by jgnat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have a favorite new quote, john milton, .

  let [truth] and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Milton was clearly not talking about JW 'truth'. But then, the word 'truth' is omitted from the WT mantra, "listen, obey, and be blessed."
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  20

  I got asked to do the literature cart witnessing!

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so as i have told everyone here, i am well along in my fade, and know ttatt.

  i have even been pursued by the elders and interrogated re my "seemingly loss of spirituality and activity etc..." even though i am still an ms.. but cop this!...

  i have been asked to join in the exclusive literature cart witnessing activity!

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  You had such a good response to JW harassment on your other thread, I would love to see you match it again. Maybe...

  "After watching the new video, I realize that I should spend more time with my family. Certainly during service time I need to be policing all their ambitions, thoughts, and desires or they'll be going wild and then I'll have to have a magical old JW couple move into the basement to get my kids to obey. Right now, I just don't think it will go over well if my family has to do d2d while I get to just stand (or sit) around counting my time.

  "Besides, this would be a perfect opportunity for Br. CantWalkButInsistsOnTakingEveryDoor. This way, he wouldn't have to walk around and the people could come to him. Or maybe Sr. PhantomPioneer. She never goes out on the weekend, so maybe this would be a good way for her to be more visible in the ministry and set a better example for supporting weekend witnessing."

  Think anything like that would work?
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  41

  International Convention...Same Message, Same Emotional Manipulation

  by HeyThere in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  well, of course nothing else would be expected, but it passes me off.. for example, they show this short video that shows a child dying, shows her father crying as he visits her grave...and then she is reunited with her family in "the new system" and then it shows a handicapped girl who is sad she can't ice skate with friends...fast forward to tns, she can skate!!!

  then an elderly couple is shown happily young again.... .

  and of course the end is "so close!

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Sounds like something they could sell to lots of other religions once they're done showing it at this series of crapventions. Just trade "New System" for "Heaven".
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  21

  What to do when my wife is away for a week and I am supposed to attend this years RC?

  by suavojr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  easy... skip it!.

  but already i had people calling me asking where i was yesterday!!!!

  the system the jw's have in place can be compared to a communist regime , where everyone keeps a check on each other.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  It's enough to give you explosive diarrhea. I recommend that you stay home and look after that.
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  71

  Kate Wild

  by quellycatface in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been given permission to post news of our friend.. kate hasn't been very well.

  not well at all.

  i think much of it has been a delayed reaction to her df'ing, the general fallout when leaving the wtbs and family issues.. i just wanted to give you guys the heads up and give you a chance to show how much we care about her.. thanks for listening..

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Kate...

  
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  19

  JW.org says that the Bible knew that the earth was suspended in empty space

  by opusdei1972 in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  "the earth is suspended in empty space.

  (job 26:7) many ancient peoples believed that the world was a flat disk supported by a giant or an animal, such as a buffalo or a turtle.".

  http://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/science-and-the-bible/.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Certain verses can be cherry-picked and translated to say whatever.

  For me, one complete deal-breaker is that Genesis says that two (or seven) of all "kinds" of animals were put in a wooden box the size of a large parking garage, and then there was a global flood. Taking that Noachian flood story literally is completely illogical, unscientific, and absurd. Just thinking about Watchtower's defense of the flood legend still makes me ill to think that I ever believed that nonsense. I look at that JW.org content and am ashamed that I was involved with such deception.

  Anyway, I don't think I've welcomed you to the forum yet, opusdei. So, WELCOME!

  Here's an old thread I started about kangaroos and the flood.

  And here's another about population issues between the flood and the tower.
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  17

  Science and the WT

  by Giordano in

  1. social
  2. current

  ive been reviewing the scientific claims that the society promoted through the golden age magazine (later replaced by the awake).

  not since reading the laws of leviticus have i had so many wtfs as found in the list http://hourglass2.com/historical/the-list/list7_01.htm .

  each statement comes from an official publication of the wtbts.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  I didn't look closely through the list. Didn't GA have a quote saying that perfect people wouldn't poop.
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  36

  Changes to Watchtower publication pictures

  by rory-ks in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  are there any more examples like this?

  pictures changed because a person was disfellowshipped?.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  All such changes that I've known of were for judicial reasons. There are several pictures from the ragazines that were changed when they printed the bound volumes because people were DFd in the meantime. It's part of the art department procedure to check these things when it comes to releases and reprinting stuff.

  It's more complicated for audio/video projects. These projects drag on for years, so they have to do a background check before the shoot and then have to do another 'spirituality check', often years later, before they can finalize the product for release. Editing can be a disaster when interviews have to be cut or drama scenes have to be revised when the project is nearly finished. I think that's why videos, like the newest one, have dropped in quality. They need to reduce the number of characters to a minimum and get them out as quickly as possible before one of the featured teens leaves the cult. As far as the videos, once it's released, it's released. Some of the oldest are still distributed, but include people that were DFd long ago.
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  41

  Critique of new JW DVD: “These Words Must be on Your Heart.”

  by WingCommander in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://youtu.be/dhn2to663cu.

  im really channeling my inner blondie with my observation and critiques of these new watchtower videos.

  something about them really turns my stomach.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  On another thread I mentioned several things wrong with the video. One thing that still really stands out to me is the extremely undersized cast. Except for the couple in their basement, this JW family seems to live completely in a vacuum. No JW friends shown or even mentioned. The only reference I seem to recall was the daughter saying her worldly friend (from what I saw, I'm not even sure he qualifies as a boyfriend) was nicer than JW dudes. That would be one reference to them knowing any JWs, and puts them in a less than glowing light. Toward the last that I was attending, there were no picnics or 'get-togethers'. There was no social life. So I guess the video was accurate to show that unless you have a JW couple living in your basement, you'll avoid contact with other JWs outside of the Kingdumb Haul. And I suppose if they would have had any scenes at a KH, they would have to show the reality of a mostly empty building, sheeples with vacant stares, and lots of other parents whose kids have already left the cult.

  It wasn't just the lack of JW friends, it was the lack of anybody. When I was a kid growing up on a rural farm, I could relate to just being around the family most of the time. But for a family like this, in a big house in suburban utopia and kids with wheels, the video setting may as well be rural North Dakota for the lack of any people interacting with the members of the family in any meaningful way. The 'boyfriend' seems to be the only significant nonJW character, and frankly, his character wasn't developed. It was like a random collection of lines spoken by an "actor" (who looked too old for the part, in my opinion). Except for the dead brother and some reference to the wife's dad (did he actually say he went to 'the old country' to meet him? Did he travel to Europe AND 100 years back in time?), it was as if they had no extended family on either side. If the kids knew nothing about this dead uncle until this age, the dad must have no living family. The wife also has no reference to family. If it is a case where all her family is "in the old country", why is it that she has no accent of any kind? If these parents are so determined that their kids need to cling to them as they're reaching adulthood, how is it that these parents seem to have absolutely no relationship with their own parents? Personally, if I were working on my relationship with my children, my primary frame of reference would be my relationship with my parents, not some 'we need to have family worship night'... and I would talk about my childhood and family at nearly every turn. That's something that is completely ignored in this video. So for me, it all seemed fake and scripted.

  After observing that during the video, it just made the conclusion all the creepier. The family continues to be shown with no friends in many different times and circumstances. They sell the house to simplify, so does that mean the older kids downsize to twin beds and the youngest sleeps in a crib? In my estimation, it wasn't that they 'came together as a family'. It was like they went back in time so that the kids were more childish, reliant on their parents with no plans for growing up, planning careers, and being independent. Their plans for the future were to play bible games until they all grow old and die.

  Creepy.