Posts by Piercingtheveil81

34

Apostate Symposium 2013 San Diego District Convention

by problemaddict in

sorry i did not get audio.

too much going on around me that would give me away anyways.

i think someone posted audio, but it is different from what i heard on some levels.

Piercingtheveil81

problemaddict, are you in english or spanish?

I am in San Diego and served in both in the east county area as an MS and pioneer. I left about 4 years ago.

33

Blood Transfusion Increases Mortality in Heart Attacks

by Earnest in

i understand that the objection to blood transfusions by jehovah's witnesses is purely a scriptural one.

whether or not there are medical benefits to avoiding blood transfusions is, or should be, irrelevant.

however, for those who are not convinced by jw understanding of the scriptures in this regard, and those who don't believe either in the bible and/or in god, the fact that blood transfusion is associated with increased mortality in heart attacks may be of interest.. a systematic search of studies published between january 1, 1966, and march 31, 2012, was conducted using medline, embase, cinahl, scopus, web of science, and cochrane central register of controlled trials databases.

Piercingtheveil81

Earnest, I am studying to be a cardiovascular technologist, with a specialty in Invasive Cardiology. In other words, we clear a clogged coronary artery that is causing the heart attack.

I have to say that I have never heard of someone needing a blood transfusion from a Myocardial Infarction. In fact, Nitroglycerin is given to the patient to dialate their blood vessels and lower their blood pressure.

In the end, the issue of accepting blood is based on whether or not a person wants to continue to live in the event of a severe trauma or condition that would otherwise prove to be fatal. The benefit far outweighs the risk. Just like being exposed to an X-ray. X-ray is not healthy and there is no such thing as a healthy dose of X-ray radiation. Without it, however, we could not diagnose the problem of an individual without cutting them open which is far riskier.

PTV81

119

worn out ministerial servant!

by El_Guapo in

jw
friends

Piercingtheveil81

Hello and welcome El_Guapo,

I totally understand your feeling tired and worn out. I served as a MS for 9 years too until I finally just formally resigned and disassociated myself. Even then, after spilling all my real beliefs and "apostate" feelings, they (elders) were surprisingly trying to convince me to stay and just take some time to think about it. Some of the elders even cried when I had my finally meeting with them. Some of them honestly do care.

So in your case its either one of two things. Either the elders have a big work load and they can't afford to lose another worker or they really do care about you and don't want you to leave what they consider to be a "special privelege". Either way be friendly but firm at the same time. Thats what I did.

PVT81

21

Who did Paul pray to:

by fulltimestudent in

i recently bought geza vermes new book, christian beginnings-from nazareth to nicaea, ad 30-325, i thought it may useful for a study unit i want to take next year, on the topic of early christian writings.

these documents, such as the shepherd of hermas, help us to appreciate what early christians really believed and also provide details of their behaviour(s).. vermes*, as well as being extremely knowledgeable on the subject of the dead sea scrolls, is regarded scholastically, as one of the world's leading jesus scholars.. so to the point of this thread: on page 106 of my hardcover, allen lane/penguin, 2012 edition of this book, vermes commences analysing the status of christ in the pauline religion, and under that sub-heading he concludes that in (authentic) pauline theology, the son always occupies an inferior position, and draws on paul's writings to support his position.

on pages 111,112 he lists texts to demonstrate that paul directed his prayers to god alone, and "never to jesus!

Piercingtheveil81

This is an interesting thread.

When I started to leave the JWs, naturally I started looking more closer at mainstream christianity to see if there was something that the JWs had dead wrong regarding the trinity and so forth. This studying of mainstream Christianity made things even more confusing when I started to come across information like some mentioned in here.

Needless to say, I eventually lost complete faith in Christianity as a whole and while some may find it strange and wierd, I eventually became a Muslim. The NT and Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Robert Eisenman strongly held the opinion that Islam was the inheritor of the faith of the historical Jesus and his closest of followers. Not saying that everyone has to agree with that, but that was the conclusion I came to as well.

I'll definitely have to check out this author and his book.

Salaams

45

Am I on thin ice with my friend?

by cedars in

i'm a former mts graduate, and it's a long story but i recently became inactive after realising it was all nonsense.

the problem is, i've noticed that my mts background makes it almost impossible for people to accept my new status as an "inactive" one.

people think that, given the amount of knowledge i have, there is surely no excuse for me to reach this preposterous decision.. a friend from my mts recently began emailing me to find out my reasons.

Piercingtheveil81

Hey, cedars, I feel your situation. It brings back memories of when I disassociated myself. I was also an MS and pretty much on my way to being appointed as an elder when I realized the truth about the "The Truth".

I never became inactive, however. I just would not comment at the meetings anymore, but continued to give talks until a week before my disassociation.

How is wife with this situation? Mine still attends because of family but does not believe in it anymore.

I wish there was an easy way out.

81

Why I didnt left JW an dont plan to do so

by Lazarus in

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[endif][if gte mso 10]> <style> /* style definitions */ table.msonormaltable {mso-style-name:"normale tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"times new roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif].

in another thread i wrote: i didn't left the jw's and don't plan to do so.

Piercingtheveil81

If you are not religious, then I guess I can understand your position. If you are religious, then remaining in the organization for family and friends is not a good reason.

The worship of God is more important that ANY person in the universe and we must be willing to lose it all if necessary. As Jesus is recorded as saying at Mark 8:36 "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?".

But, again, if you are not religious, that probabely doesn't matter and I can appreciate your situation.

PVT81

8

Cyrus the Great was the Jewish Messiah?

by sabastious in

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/history_of_ancient_israel_and_judah.

the biblical historythe hebrew bible contains "myths, legends and folktales, sagas, heroic epics, oral traditions, annals, biographies, narrative histories, novellae, belles lettres, proverbs and wisdom-sayings, poetry (including erotic poems ...), prophecy, apocalyptic, and much more ... the whole finally woven into a composite, highly complex literary fabric sometime in the hellenistic era.

"[2] although tradition ascribes them to times and authors contemporaneous with events, they were in fact written in many cases considerably after the times they describe and by authors with a clear religious and nationalist agenda, and it is therefore critical to treat them with circumspection.[3].

Piercingtheveil81

This is interesting because there are quite a few ocassions when the word messiah or "mashiach" in Hebrew are used of individuals like king David, king Saul, and Cyrus.

Christian translators of the bible, however, will render the word as "anointed" when referring to such ones but when spoken of Jesus will leave as "Messiah" as if to give it some special meaning and glamour.

PVT81

26

A former CO elder wants to speak with me. What do you guys make of this?

by Piercingtheveil81 in

a former co elder visited my grandmother, who studied years ago with jws, and said he wanted to speak with me.

i da'd myself about two years ago from the org after 11 years.

i was an ms and pioneer for 8 years and the whole bit.

Piercingtheveil81

Sherah, My grandmother is not a witness so it can't be influenced by her. She is not religious.

Freetosee, Its actually him and his wife that want to meet my wife. He said they would stop by on saturday to meet her. A little strange.....huh?

PVT81

26

A former CO elder wants to speak with me. What do you guys make of this?

by Piercingtheveil81 in

a former co elder visited my grandmother, who studied years ago with jws, and said he wanted to speak with me.

i da'd myself about two years ago from the org after 11 years.

i was an ms and pioneer for 8 years and the whole bit.

Piercingtheveil81

Thanks for the comments.

I was also wondering if they were trying to learn more about my wifes feelings. I was also thinking what the heck, why not. I'm definitely not trying to get reinstated for sure. I practice a different religion now.

brotherdan, No I didn't name myself after the band "Pierce the Veil". Although I used to listen to them and even seen them live as "Before Today". I got the idea from the concept of piercing the veil of ignorance to see the truth.

PVT81

26

A former CO elder wants to speak with me. What do you guys make of this?

by Piercingtheveil81 in

a former co elder visited my grandmother, who studied years ago with jws, and said he wanted to speak with me.

i da'd myself about two years ago from the org after 11 years.

i was an ms and pioneer for 8 years and the whole bit.

Piercingtheveil81

A former CO elder visited my grandmother, who studied years ago with JWs, and said he wanted to speak with me. I DA'd myself about two years ago from the org after 11 years. I was an MS and pioneer for 8 years and the whole bit. He is quite knowledgeable and was always nice to my family.

Anyway, he left his house and cell number and told my grandmother to tell me to call him so "we can speak about my doubts or any unanswered questions"

What do you guys make of it? They also want to meet my wife who is still going meetings.

PVT81