1. Family study
HAH!! Did one once I think.... like once EVER, and that was only coz Mrs D had a guilt trip after a talk... It just seemed so pointless.
2. Daily text with the family
Can't remember ever doing that... not even the day of the sole family study... maybe I did though? I never read the bible either unless I was at a meeting and following along.
Couldn't see the point of reading the bible - what was in there was only valid if it was confirmed in the publications, so I used to just wait untill the publications were read to me at a meeting.
3. Pre-study on public transport
You must be joking!!!!!! I did go through a phase of pre-study for a month or two. In the end it was a scribbled highlighter randomly scrawled over the mag on teh drive to the hall or while slipping inot the back room during the talk.
4. Street witnessing
Once, and once only... that was at a Shopping Ctr... bloody awful idea... you had to talk to people and be seen with the JW's and all that sort of bad stuff...
5. Backroom meetings!
Yuk... had a few of those... no avoiding them though... I was fairly good at getting away with it though.
6. Shepherding calls
Making them was fun, recieving them was a pain in the arse. In latter years I was always the Book Study Asst, so the Conductor had a vested interest in not hassling me lest I be unavailable to take the group when he wants to nick off one night or for the weekend group...
7. Offerimg a subscription
Only offered it a few times, placed a couple... it was all the damn forms that was annoying. It wasn't much different to offering a mag really.
8. Hall cleaning
Only went if I had to if I'd be conspicuios by my absence.
9. Reading the secondary articles
What are they? :-) I never read the main articles!!! My total attention span was about 1 minute per magazine, I'd hear someone say somthing if there was anything I needed to know.
10. Brother/Sister Zealous
I pretended to be one so as not to be hassled and enjoy the maximum congregational privilages for the minimum possible work... so being around those ones wasn't a bad thing, though it was trialsome and strong liquor was required after ones escape... they were painful...
11. Other (please detail)
I was incredibly busy doing Sweet F. All really.
Max Divergent
JoinedPosts by Max Divergent
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12
Ozzie's Weekend Poll #119
by ozziepost inwell, it's certainly been an eventful week!
i hope this weekend is a time of resting and recharging the batteries.
so, let's settle down with a relaxing drink (especially a shiraz!
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Max Divergent
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39
You mean Britain has increasing violent crime? I'm Shocked, Shocked!!
by CaptainSchmideo in[ home page | message boards | news | archive | ask cecil | books | buy stuff | faqs, etc.
[ previous week | recent columns index | following week ]have great britain's restrictive gun laws contributed to the rise in violent crime?.
dear cecil:.
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Max Divergent
>>Simon, you are always dissing america...
You guys just aren't used to a certain class of the English ... their main sport isn't soccer, it's sledging the French... if they're not doing that, then it's the Americans or the Germans... minor amusement is gotten from making fun of the Welsh or Irish.
If they find an Australian, then saying something about colonials or convicts is a reflex action... if they can't find a white 'forigner' to pick on, then they have a complex system of internal bickerings/snobberys seemingly based on regional accents and social class... or even which newspaper people read...
It's truly astonishing how embedded and reflexive all that stuff is with so many people over there... but if you complain about it, that just encourages them... -
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New book by Jim Penton, and revised book by Carl Jonsson.
by cyberguy injim penton?s new book is out, "jehovah's witnesses and the third reich: sectarian politics under persecution.".
see amazon-- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802086780/qid=1099371922/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/002-3179410-1163212?v=glance&s=books&n=507846.
also, there?s an updated version of "the gentile times reconsidered: chronology & christ's return," coming out shortly (as indicated from an email i?ve gotten from carl jonsson).
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Max Divergent
When I visited the Holocaust museum in Washington, DC we were given an identity card of a person who died in the Holocaust.
Mine was of a Witness, Willibald Wholfhart (1927-1945) of Austria. His family were active in the ministry and his father was the local overseer, despite Govt opposition. After the Nazi's invaded in 1939, his father was arrested and executed. His older brother went to a concentration camp and his other brother was executed for refusing to join the military. The rest of his brothers and sisters were taken away later by the Germans.
Willi was sent to a convent where a Nazi instructor attempted to indoctrinate him. He later refused to salute Hitler and was sent to dig trenches in front of the invading allies in 1945.
He was killed there. -
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Do You Look Down on "Religious" People Now That You're No Longer a JW?
by minimus ini try to respect everyne's opinions on religion but i find myself thinking, "what's wrong with these people?
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Max Divergent
I'm only really bothered when they get jobs like Prime Minister or President... right now I'm very botherd since they've gotten those jobs in the UK, US and Australia...
Since the conservitive god-fearing nutcases got re-elected with a majority in the House and Senate in Australia, the abortion issue has suddenly come up out of nowhere... apparently there's a newly discoverd 'epidemic' of abortions that they didn't notice until after the election...
God, please help us against Your followers... -
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Found an Awake at the rest stop today..and I knew exactly what to do....
by Dawn infound it at a rest stop today while traveling.
i thought about tossing it, but decided it had a much better purpose.
it was an issue on what to teach your young child - cute picture of a little girl (about 4 years old) on the cover.. so - i took it to my car, got out a pretty purple pen and wrote on the cover "this religion has a major probelm with pedophiles and is hurtful to young children.
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Max Divergent
Hi gdt - I understand the vast majority of JW's and elders would deal with such situations with good sense and with a sense of justice, but these problems seem to affect most sectors of the community where vulnerable people are present and the JW's are not an exception.
The JW's handle most things in ways that meet the standard of their reading of the bible, not in accord with prevailing community standards. That leaves the JW's vulnerable to critisism on this point. I don't envy any honest, fairminded person having to deal with these situations in the raw through the congregational system - or under any circumstances.
Some of the court cases in the US and Canada seem to be providing evidence that most elders handle it as well as ordinary people are expected to, but that there is still a streak of legalism and protectivness of the reputation of the org than seems to hamper these cases sometimes, and with disasterous effect for the individuals involved (espcially concerning inappropriate use of Matt 18, see Boer v Cairns - it's off the court site now but is still on Silentlambs, or I'll send you a copy if you prefer).
All in all, writing that on an Awake! troubles me less than some of the evidence presented in courts recently.
Regards, Max -
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Blacks and Voting
by Mecurious? inokay, this is not meant to inflame or cause another race debate.
but something here is amiss.
why aren't more blacks getting out and registering to vote?
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Max Divergent
I personally don't see the necessity in voting in the presidential election though, the only votes that matter are from the electoral college's votes.
But don't you vote to say who the Electoral College votes for?
Maybe you can tell your friends & brother that if you all vote, then you've got more of a say in the election than George W, George H, and Jeb Bush all put together... if your partners all vote too, then you've got even more of a voice than those guys and their wives...
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Human skeletons found in Flores dated back 18,000 years!
by badboy in.
they have found `fossils' of a new human species in liang ???
cave.. only1.5 metres in height, this is of the most exciting disveries to came from east asia.. i wonder what jws will make of this one?
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Max Divergent
Just to say I was writing a post on the same topic when badboy posted his and ended up being a few minutes later... slightly different content, so I'll leave mine... no annoyance ment!
Jim_TX>> I am just puzzled as to why they are not referring to them as 'Pygmies'. Instead they have some yuppie archeologist (or paleontologist) labelling them as 'Hobbits'.
As I understand it, pygmies are a race of Homo sapiens but these little critters are a new species of humans - sort of like there are lots of species amongst the felines (lions, tigers, domestic cats...). They're not apes, but humans... but not Homo sapiens .
That's why it's such a big deal... Homo sapiens lived on earth at the same time as this species and there's the possibility that folk lore of 'little people' amongst some peoples may be oral history of this species similar to ourselves.
Homo erectus died off long before these guys and may or may not have interacted with Homo sapiens ... but these guys probably did.
Max
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New human species found!! Only 13,000 years ago...
by Max Divergent inmmm... we live not that far from flores and there local indigenous people say they won't go to certain spots becuase of 'the little people'... there are also artworks on some cave walls that noone knows who did... mmmm.... .
max .
(edited to say badboy posted on the same topic while i was still fiddling so i was a few minutes later than him... but diff content so i'll leave mine up...).
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Max Divergent
Mmm... We live not that far from Flores and there local indigenous people say they won't go to certain spots becuase of 'the little people'... there are also artworks on some cave walls that noone knows who did... mmmm....
Max
(Edited to say badboy posted on the same topic while I was still fiddling so I was a few minutes later than him... but diff content so I'll leave mine up...)
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Breakfast
by Englishman ini adore eating out for breakfast.
hl has gone to work and i have a free day.
so i'm off to sainsbury's to do a shop.
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Max Divergent
... the British are subtle about this - trick you into thinking Fish & Chips, roast beef, bangers & mash or whatever is the range of their diet... but that's to distract your attention from their primevil blood lust and unnatural desire for gore in the kitchen...
I was over there once and there was this hermit in the congo who used to catch hedgehogs in the street, slit their throat and put the whole lot in a pot and boil the thing up in its own blood and then eat the lot.
The elders said there was nothing they could do becuase he bled the animal in accord with some scripture or other and the blood was evaporated by the time of eating... therefore it was much the same as eating a rare steak. It took a long time for him to be allowed to be baptised... I think he did in the end, but I'm not sure....
This isn't just one crazy man... I found a cookbook for 'traditional British fare' once... I swear there wasn't a recipie in the whole frigging book that didn't have blood as an ingredient or cooking medium. That was to accompany appitising meals of liver, stomach, brain, kidney or whatever other bits they thought was a good idea to eat... watch out for the dark gravy too... it's more than the cooking juices, I can tell you!
Bloody Brits... :-)
Cheers, Max - who's definatly still got that hang up.... :-) -
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Safran vs God
by BLISSISIGNORANCE in.
have a look...........big hit in australia.. .
http://http://www.boblarson.org/australian_tv_/australian_tv_.html.
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Max Divergent
Hi Sirona - Mmm... Well... Watch the series and you'll see why it's so plausible that if there are spirits then the bad ones got right into John Safran!!
For example, the exorcist said the Mormon garment had a curse and wearing it gave the demon(s) of Mormonism the 'legal right' to enter the person. Likewise calling up viking gods, having a fatwah for blasphemy called on an innocent person by an Islamic court, chomping the goolies off a goat in a voodoo ceremony and so on were seen as giving the relevent spirits ('demons') the implicit invitation and right to enter Safran.
I guess all this grabs me a bit because of the obsession I remember from the JW's about the demons coming into the house with books or second hand furniture or by watching the wrong TV shows, and from all the stories I was told as a kid of 'demon attacks' and so on. The idea that 'spirit activity' was OK if harm wasn't caused was just not on the radar and it wasn't for this exorcist who was Safran's final call.
Max