I am expecting very soon for the Witnesses to tie up loss ends and start to recommend in the Watchtower that "inactive" ones should be treated like DF'ed ones. This way they will try to scare up attendence at all those empty KH's.
My thought
Dragon
kenpodragon
JoinedPosts by kenpodragon
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Elder update--good elders
by VeniceIT inthe former elder i posted about last week, (see this page http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=36893&site=3) has been doing research in the elder book, which he still has, and wt's apparently trying to understand why the elders took away his privileges because he allowed his wife to associate with inactive witnesses, rumored to be apostates.
he, himself, is always very kind to them, and welcomes the wife to their home when she comes by.
his wife found a stack of papers on his desk, and showed them to me, where he had highlighted and underlined, and added stars to many segments of the printed materials.
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Words don't have letters, they have thoughts
by kenpodragon inwhen i was a child, my mom only called me by my first name.
unless i was in trouble, then i heard my middle name come screaming across the back yard and i knew i was not in her good graces.
it did not matter what that name was, or how it was spelt, it had meaning to me when i heard it and that was all that mattered.
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kenpodragon
When I was a child, my mom only called me by my first name. Unless I was in trouble, then I heard my middle name come screaming across the back yard and I knew I was not in her good graces. It did not matter what that name was, or how it was spelt, it had meaning to me when I heard it and that was all that mattered.
So much of the English language is like that, where certain words can have different thoughts attached depending on how you say them. Most of which are based on the idea of getting a certain response from their listener. Think about your time in the religion, do certain words still hold meanings beyond what a outsider would hear? Do you think there is a reason for it?
I have always felt since my exit from the religion, that everything inside the faith was about control. So when I examine the individual parts of that life. I can not overlook their use of certain key words as a means of controlling us. The biggest example is the word "truth" or as it was more often said "the truth." This was a powerful thought, as the word "truth" is thrown around constantly in normal life, but every time you heard it, what happened? You thought about the fact that you were in God's religion, and that you were in the one true religion that existed in this time. Thus, you were being controlled to hear a common thought outside of the hall and with a little preprogramming it meant something that sent your mind into the organizations teachings.
Then their were words like, "association", "encouragement", "service", "study", and many more that were automatically rooted into your mind to have a meaning that went along with something the Watchtower taught or you heard from fellow Witnesses. I can not count how many times I heard people say, "It is like we speak our own language in the Jehovah's Witnesses" and they were right! The thing is, what was that language about?
Well in ancient times, language caused wars. It caused them because people of two different regions would come together and they could not communicate. Thus, when someone left their tribe they always had to stay within a certain region to be safe. If you went to Germany and only spoke French, you were evil and thus you were killed and burned. So the French stayed with the French, the German with the German and the English with the English. They accepted what the land brought for control, as they could not leave to another land to make a better life without risk of death. So is this the same in the religion?
Well go back to what I was saying, "words do not have letters, they have meaning" and the language of the Witnesses was not the same of other churches and even the common people. Thus, you were constantly going through your mind taking words you knew, and putting them into a frame that worked outside the Kingdom Hall. Yet that translation, did something. It reminded you, it reminded you about Watchtowers, Kingdom Halls and what else "the control they had over you." .
Yes they did control you on more levels then you ever imagined. Now you are free though, and you can find the proper definition of these words and how they can benefit you. Because after all, "isn't the study of the real truth far more encouraging then the associations you had in your former service to the Watchtower?"
I think so, and I enjoy writing the correct dictionary in my head each day. How far are you, hope you got past the "A's" and know the real meaning of Apostate now.
My thought
Dragon
Edited by - kenpodragon on 24 September 2002 20:14:31
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One for the Aussies...The Apostle has a rant...
by TheApostleAK in.
just letting you guys and girls know that i have sent letters off to the s.a. child & youth services minister, the s.a. police minister as well as my federal representative......more to be sent out.. ps i spoke to a pastor from a church yesterday here in adelaide and i asked him had he seen the sunday program.
he said no but that he heard all about the silentlambs thing over here.. the word is out.... ak.
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kenpodragon
The real truth spreads fast!
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New Functionality on site?
by Elsewhere ini just noticed a new button on the site:.
it lets me show/hide a user's posts.
is this something new, or did i miss its announcement when it happened?
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kenpodragon
I like it!!! Very good move. Can we do this in real life too?
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Does leaving Jehovah's Witnesses ruin you
by kenpodragon inone of the things i hear mentioned a lot about being a jehovah's witnesses.
is that once you leave, it ruins you for all other religions.
as you think that you know all the faults of other religions, and could not put any faith in them.
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kenpodragon
One of the things I hear mentioned a lot about being a Jehovah's Witnesses. Is that once you leave, it ruins you for all other religions. As you think that you know all the faults of other religions, and could not put any faith in them. Is such a statement really true?
Think about where you were born. If you were born 150 years ago or more, most likely you would have never traveled any further then 50 miles from the place of your birth. Reason being, transportation was poor and it cost money to travel. So you would often see the rest of the world through black and white pictures and small descriptions from authors and columnist. Some of these people might not have liked the places, and thus their description would have reflected that. In the same respect, others might have loved them, and their words would have expressed that feeling. So as you set on some farm in the middle of Kansas and looked through these books, you would have seen the world through another's eyes. You might think that is all their is, and thus felt some fulfillment in thinking this glimpse was enough. Well along came the automobile, trains, and the airplane and suddenly the limit to which you could travel was endless. No longer did someone have to see the world in a photo, they could now travel and see it for themselves. How different did it look?
Well when I was younger I once saw a picture of the temple of Kuclakan(sp) in Mexico. It looked okay, but I did not see what was so special. Then this last year I traveled to Mexico and saw the temple for myself, it was amazing. The photo did not do it justice. The architecture, the feeling, the ability to see the fine artistic sculptures and everything else associated with it. It was a trip I never thought would be so fantastic and worth it. So what does that tell me?
Well it tells me that as a civilization we have come a long way. No longer do we need to sit in our homes and accept the words and photos of others. We can step out and see them on our own. We can travel on the planet, or with our minds through information on the internet or a good book. How does that apply to my topic then, "that being a Jehovah's Witnesses ruins us for other religions?"
Do not assume that just because the Watchtower said it, it is true. Do not assume that because that just because someone from the platform illustrated something a certain way, it is the correct image for your mind. Never assume that you have all the answers about the worlds religions, because some little red book briefly covered them with a motive to proving them wrong. Above all, do not think your journey is complete ... just because another man or woman told you so.
Think of yourself in the religion, as that person sitting on the farm in Kansas, 150 years ago, learning about the world through the pictures and words of others. Think about yourself now, as a person with a first class ticket to anywhere you want to go in the world. As you now have the ability to see and learn the world and it's religions first hand.
Have a nice flight, and take lots of photos with your own camera.
My thought -
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Sabbat of Mabon - 22nd September
by Sirona inthe autumnal equinox
he celtic festival of mabon occurs around september 22nd.
our mother earth is poised with the sun in time and space - a moment of balance.
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kenpodragon
There are many online! ;) Although, I kind of mix Wicca and Shamanism.
Take Care
Dragon
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forward-moving organisation
by ballistic inthe 1983 year book reported that.... to assist his dedicated people to accomplish this twofold publishing work, jehovah has provided his forward-moving organization
with many high-speed offset printing presses as well as modern bookbinding equipment.
he has also equipped his people with the latest technology in the field of computer phototypesetting.
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kenpodragon
It's all about control!!!
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The fox and the scorpion
by kenpodragon ini heard this story when i was a kid, and have seen it repeated on movies before.
so if you have heard it, bare with me .... .
a fox is running from a wild fire and comes to a river, in order to live he will need to swim.
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kenpodragon
I heard this story when I was a kid, and have seen it repeated on movies before. So if you have heard it, bare with me ...A fox is running from a wild fire and comes to a river, in order to live he will need to swim. Because the river is swift, he will have a hard time seeing as he crosses and thus risk the possibility of drowning. Below on the ground is a scorpion, also running from the fire. The scorpion can not swim, so he says to the fox, "let me ride on your head while you swim and I will guide you to the other side."
The fox looks at him and says, "but you are a scorpion and you will sting me if I get near you."
The scorpion says, "but my life is in danger too, surely I can control myself enough to realize the importance of helping us both to make it to the other side."
The fire was growing faster and hotter behind them. The fox felt he had no choice, so he put his head to the ground and invited the scorpion to get on. The scorpion climbed on and the fox jumped in. As the fox swam the scorpion guided him, you could hear "left ... right ... faster ... wait" and other commands as they swam the river together.
Finally the shore was within site, when suddenly the scorpion stung the fox. The fox screamed in pain and said, "why would you do that, now we are both going to die?" The fox slowly stiffened up and could not swim.
The scorpion whispered in his ear as they sunk beneath the water, "I can not help myself, I am a scorpion." Then they both sunk and drowned in the river and were swept away to their deaths.
... so what does this teach us? I was wondering what you get from it, as I can apply it to several aspects of life.
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The rise and fall of the Jehovah's Witness faith
by kenpodragon inoften in society we let every business and organization have there day.
it seems that we do not want to stifle freedom with endless restrictions, so we let people go to a point that will either bring success or failure.
the thing is, those are not always the results.
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kenpodragon
You always have a core group of people that will sink with the ship, thinking the holes will patch themselves and they will sail away unharmed. In the end though, the ship does sink and they do drown. For the most part, I think fewer and fewer Witnesses are in the core group anymore. From what I have seen, a large percentage are just hanging onto the fringe and hoping that is enough to get them into the New System. When things get shaky and uncertain, they fly off quickly.
My added thought
Dragon
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D you meditate?
by Lost Diamond ini went to a seminar yesterday for work on how to manage stress.
the speaker was great...he is dr. mees, author of "wake up, america".. he stated how our diet, exercise, and meditation are very important for our own health.
he described the damage cocaine does to the heart muscles, which cannot be repaired and compared it to the damage stress does as well.
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kenpodragon
I meditate every day of my life. By the way, prayer is a form of meditation ... wonder if the JW's know that?