Heaven

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Posts by Heaven

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  4

  Updates

  by Cthulhu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  greetings!.

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  Heaven

  YAY! Missed ya! Have you got your Hallowe'en decorations up yet?
  
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  50

  The NEW "Bible Teach" book

  by Oubliette in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the new "bible teach" book is out!

  thetruthbr has posted links for this and several other of the new publications.

  as an educator, i am very interested in where the society is heading with their alleged "bible education" program.

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  Heaven

  Now I want to get that book "Stellaluna" even more that I did before. Adding it to my Amazon cart now.
  

  I have "Bats at the Beach" and various other children's books. I love illustrated children's books. I'd much rather read these than any of Botchtower's publications any day.
  
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  18

  Just recovering from a 'Mormon Mind Melt' ...

  by LoveUniHateExams in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i was in town centre about an hour ago to buy a shirt and tie for an upcoming job interview when i was stopped by a youngish, clean cut american young man (20-ish) in a cheap suit.

  my heart sank as i thought it was local jws.

  to my slight relief, it was mormons!

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  Heaven

  Mormons were found by a fraudster. I think that says it all.
  
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  44

  The Witnesses Are Really Trying Hard To Get Me Back In

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  at my mom's bed side all i see is either jw family or friends making a concerted effort to have me return to their fold.

  evidentlyy, my mom has encouraged this and i'm a trapped prisoner, as they do their best to have me come back.

  it's bad enough that i have to endure my mom's dying, now i have to be bombarded with this bs..

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  Heaven

  That is tough for sure. Emotional blackmail is nasty.
  

  If anyone were to do this to me, I would say "You claim to have the truth. Mom has told me my whole life that Armageddon was coming soon. Mom was <insert Mom's age here> years old and Armageddon never came in her lifetime. <insert Mom's age> years is not soon. This, alone, is a testament that you do not have the truth."
  
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  21

  Top three reason for it to be cult and/or not the true religion.

  by Powermetal4ever in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  alright, i want everyone to list your top three reasons for jw to be cult and/or not the true religion.

  1.you can't look, or wear whatever you want.. 2. blah.

  3. blah.

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  Heaven

  From Steven Hassan's B.I.T.E model (Behavoir, Information, Thought, and Emotional) of control, the JW's hit all 4 of these categories.

  Their policies on shunning, medical treatments, higher education, their restrictions on books, videos, movies, the internet, their sexual restrictiveness, and denigration and hatred of anyone who is not a witness are all indications the group is a high mind control organization.
  
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  43

  So sick of the abuse...

  by iwasblind in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am still serving as an elder but just hanging in there.

  i think their quandry is that they don't see me out in the field, but when they need encouragement and decent prayer they come to me.. i just got off the phone to this poor sister who i have only met twice.

  she is not even in my congregation (her sister is).

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  Heaven

  While I am a non-believer (aka atheist, secular humanist), I do feel for those stuck in the Borg who know the TTATT and are in positions where they must try to help the 'sheep'. Using love is really the only way.

  It's what I did with my folks. I tried to show them that not all 'worldly' people were evil by living a good decent life. I gave them unconditional love even though I did not agree with their religious beliefs. I never attacked their religion directly. I used the Bible and basic common sense when they were talking nonsense (you know, like Armageddon is coming soon).

  As my Father became ill with dementia, one of the Alzheimer's Society's social workers told me that "Love transcends the dementia barrier." I have found her to be correct. You can't use legalism, anger, guilt, fear or any other negative, destructive tactic with someone who has dementia. These do not work and actually make things worse.
  

  When I asked my Dad if he wanted the brothers and sisters to help him with his post cataract surgery regime he told me "No. You are supportive." Which also says, they would not be.

  For this sister who is having trouble, I would tell her simply "The Bible says God is love. Keep that in mind. If you are being told unloving things or being asked to do unloving things, this is not coming from God."
  
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  447

  Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

  by LaurenM in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

  even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

  the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

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  Heaven

  I have read through most of the posts here. So far I have not seen anyone answer Viv's and cappy's question on which God is being referenced. There are thousands of them. As human knowledge has expanded, the gods have diminished. I think that's the answer right there.

  Reality and facts refute everything I've ever been told about who and what God is. My doubting began as an older child, upon learning of the massive scale of suffering during the Ethiopian famine of the 1970's. EVERY believer must deal with the issue of theodicy at some point in their 'belief' journey. Some come up with excuses, others come to the only logical conclusion: god(s) does/do not exist.

  Epicurus' quote sums it up:

  “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
  Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
  Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
  Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”

  Since being on this board, I've seen the main question posed several times. I've yet to see the question "Does anyone still believe in the Goddess?"

  I wonder why that is.
  
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  74

  A call from family - Armageddon this month!

  by kaik in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i very seldom receive a call from my jw siblings, i mean seldom.

  i can count them on my hand in past 10 years.

  while we talk about mom a lot and i am in touch with her, i was very surprised when i received this call.

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  Heaven

  I like to say the following to JWs who are hyping Fail-mageddon:

  "I've heard this 'Armageddon is imminent' story my whole life. I am 52 years old. If I told you I was coming to your house 'soon' or 'imminently' and 52 years passed, would you still think I was coming over soon?"

  I let that sink in for a few moments, you know, because there is usually that stunned, deer-in-the-headlights look of silence.

  If they don't respond, I feed them the answer by saying "The answer is No you wouldn't think I was coming over soon."
  
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  27

  Hey Simon

  by ShirleyW in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm noticing that when i open quite a few of the posts here i notice that the end of the sentences on some lines are breaking improperly.

  like for the word paragraph, it's broken up with the "aph" on the next line for an example.

  it's happening a lot i'm seeing it just about in every post i open, is it just my view and my computer?.

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  Heaven

  I'm using Mozilla Firefox. I see that ShirleyW's OP got cut at the 'bre' - new line - 'aking' and then again with the word 'happe' - new line - 'ning' having the same issue. Not sure if mine are doing it yet but let's see what happens here with what I'm typing now. I saw one of Vidiot's posts do it yesterday and thought it odd. I copied his post into mine to quote it and I couldn't fix it.

  Edited to add... Yep... the word 'word', 'with', and 'quote' are broken in this post of mine.
  
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  21

  Using the internet can destroy your Faith.

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  that's the conclusion of a study showing that the dramatic drop in religious affiliation.

  in the u.s since 1990 is closely mirrored by the increase in internet use.

  of the u.s population had no religious preference.

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  Heaven

  The Internet helps to make information more widely available that refutes with clear evidence the mythology religion presents as truth.