cappytan

Joined

• started 165 topics
• posted 2,094 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by cappytan

• 
  111

  CONGREGATION FLEECING RESULTS?

  by The Searcher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how much did your congregation and its bank account get taken for?

  share your horror story!.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  Yeah, our congregation didn't send a lump sum, we are sending monthly stipends - any surplus is staying in our accounts. In fact, every time the account starts getting a little fat where there might be some questions from the CO, we update certain things like the Wifi network, Sound equipment, etc. We send in about $1,100 a month to WT. We still collect around $3,000/month.

  We just spent about $2,500 on new Wifi equipment to handle the iDevices like 2 months ago. We also are going to spend around $15,000 on a really nice utility shed with masonry and everything. Of course, all these projects are passed by resolution.

  Maybe our elders have a spirit of independence. Or it could be that all this is technically OK even with the new direction from the Branch.
• 
  25

  When did you realize evolution was true?

  by Coded Logic in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ) which person/source first made you reconsider your position on creationism?.

  ) how long a period of time did it take to fully convince you?.

  ) what books and videos did you read and watch?.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  1.) How old were you?
  Well, I started believing certain aspects of evolution in High School, but wanted to believe in God so bad that I decided that Jehovah must have used evolution for all the species except humans. I still felt humans were special and that God existed.
  It wasn't until my early 30's that I realized that I also believed in evolution of man. It wasn't until this year that I admitted to myself that it was more reasonable to admit you don't know something than to say it was God/Holy Spirit/Magic.
  2.) Which person/source first made you reconsider your position on creationism?
  When I learned TTATT, I decided that certain subjects weren't off limits to me any more. So I read some Richard Dawkins. Watched more science documentaries with an open mind. Evolution and Big Bang made much more rational sense than believing there was some magic or metaphysical force involved.
  3.) How long a period of time did it take to fully convince you?
  See above. It was gradual.
  4.) What books and videos did you read and watch?
  The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins.I also watched the debate between Dawkins and Cardinal Pell on QandA. (available on YouTube.)Still learning and gobbling up all I can about the subject.
  5.) How much better do you think you understand biology is now vs. before?
  I feel I have a real understanding of the world around me. I also feel comforted that it's okay to have unknowns. Unknowns eventually become knowns, even if it's not in your lifetime.
• 
  33

  Doh! wife is about to hear the trololol song

  by freemindfade in

  1. social
  2. humour

  doh!

  here i sit on my laptop on this site, while the wife is watching dubtv over there, she is watching the feb one with trololololy song at the end... i am trying to hold back my laughter because i know it is coming soon!

  how will she react???

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  stuckinarut2: What about a singing serpent? The kids would LOVE that.
• 
  29

  Had a major blow out

  by freemindfade in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mom was emailing a group thread of rhetoric about isis and armageddon, and i finally got sick of it and said some pretty intense harsh things about ideals, and wishing for armageddon.

  then it went back and forth like some debate, all the while i am holding back unloading serious ttatt on my family.

  i put a whole bunch of scriptures where the wonderful yahweh committed infanticide.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  Dear freemindfade's mom:

  So, those children were punished because of who their parents were?

  OK, then explain this:

  Premise 1: Jehovah punished those children for their parents' sins.

  Premise 2: Jehovah doesn't change.

  If those two things are true, then how do you explain Ezekiel 18:20? When we read it in the ministry and on the stage, we usually stop at the point where it says that the soul dies. But what about the rest of it?

  Eze. 18:20 - The soul who sins is the one who will die. A son will bear no guilt because of the error of his father, and a father will bear no guilt because of the error of his son. The righteousness of the righteous one will be accounted to him alone, and the wickedness of the wicked one will be accounted to him alone.

  So, which is it, freemindfade's mom? Did those children deserve to die for their parents' sins or not? Does Jehovah change? Is Jehovah a God of Justice or not?
• 
  15

  REASON demands belief in God

  by abiather in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it has been the history of mankind that they proceed from the crude to the subtle in all spheres of life: they seek the subtle amidst the crude, and in the subtle, they seek the subtlest.

  when hunger is extinguished, humans looked for art.

  ancient humans appreciated the harmony of music; they also liked to dance in joy.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  Reason demands a belief in God.

  Wrong.

  Reason demands you say, "I don't know," when you don't have the answers. Saying that Magic is the answer for questions that are as yet unanswered is not reason, it's arrogant delusion.
• 
  29

  Had a major blow out

  by freemindfade in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mom was emailing a group thread of rhetoric about isis and armageddon, and i finally got sick of it and said some pretty intense harsh things about ideals, and wishing for armageddon.

  then it went back and forth like some debate, all the while i am holding back unloading serious ttatt on my family.

  i put a whole bunch of scriptures where the wonderful yahweh committed infanticide.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  Oooff. Sorry man.

  I bet the whole bible being fairy tales thing is what sent him into cult mode. Breaking faith in the organization has to come before breaking faith in the Bible.

  My wife still believes the Bible. Drip irrigation from the scriptures about how the organization is wrong is what's working right now. I can enlighten her to Dawkins after she's free of the cult.
• 
  41

  How many were baptized in your area, last assembly?

  by brandnew in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  how many were baptized in your area, last assembly?.

  santa paula, ca..........17..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  San Antonio, TX...........3.
• 
  5

  Stephen King Freakouts?

  by cappytan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have this memory of deciding to get a stephen king novel (tommyknockers) from my high school library.. went home and started reading it.

  first few chapters were pretty amazing.

  felt guilty because i had heard urban jw legends about people who owned stephen king books having demon problems.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  I have this memory of deciding to get a Stephen King novel (Tommyknockers) from my high school library.

  Went home and started reading it. First few chapters were pretty amazing.

  Felt guilty because I had heard urban JW legends about people who owned Stephen King books having demon problems. And that their problems continued until they burned his books in their BBQ pit.

  I marked my book, went to take a shower. Came out and my mom was freaking out. She said I was "inviting demons into the house." She made me burn the book and reimburse the library for a "lost" book.

  I never read a Stephen King novel again...

  ...until I woke up to TTATT.

  Here's the dumb part: Tommyknockers is just a run of the mill SciFi thriller.

  I remember years later, watching The Shawshank Redemption on TNT with the family, my mom saying at the end it was such a great movie. Little did she know.....
• 
  17

  Caleb & Sophia video Getting Big Coverage

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  wow, i am kind of surprised the amount of attention this appalling video is getting from the media.

  not surprised because it is appalling but that something that i grew up with was encapsulated in a cartoon and is exposing the witnesses publicly for mind control.. www.nydailynews.com/news/national/jehovah-witnesses-video-slammed-threats-kids-article-1.2116873.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  Dean's the bomb! Which book?

  I'm reading some of his older Sci Fi stuff right now.

  Dark of the Woods was the one I was reading on Sunday. Really short novel. More like a novella or novellette. Finished it Sunday evening. It was a good escape. Nothing to write home about.

  I had yesterday off, so I started Stephen King's Tommyknockers.
• 
  17

  Caleb & Sophia video Getting Big Coverage

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  wow, i am kind of surprised the amount of attention this appalling video is getting from the media.

  not surprised because it is appalling but that something that i grew up with was encapsulated in a cartoon and is exposing the witnesses publicly for mind control.. www.nydailynews.com/news/national/jehovah-witnesses-video-slammed-threats-kids-article-1.2116873.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  cappytan

  The watchtower is way too long, beating these things out into an hour is painful at best.

  Wholeheartedly agree. I was so bored last meeting I decided to read Dean Koontz on my tablet instead, and I still gave a comment.