BB-Thank you for that assurance! Obviously you are well-informed. I should have also said that occasionally I have to login to the jw.org website for congregation business. So they can connect the dots between my login and my IP address, I assume. Can they use that information somehow to discover that I've visited here?
Socrateswannabe
JoinedPosts by Socrateswannabe
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15
How BIG is Big Brother?
by Socrateswannabe inwhen i visit the jw.org website, can the wts it department know that i've also visited this site?
i use a freeware program called ccleaner but i don't use it every time after i've visited here.
i also don't know if my browser (i usually use ie9 or chrome) keeps records of my browsing history, independent of the ones on my pc that ccleaner deletes, that can be accessed by big brother wts.
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15
How BIG is Big Brother?
by Socrateswannabe inwhen i visit the jw.org website, can the wts it department know that i've also visited this site?
i use a freeware program called ccleaner but i don't use it every time after i've visited here.
i also don't know if my browser (i usually use ie9 or chrome) keeps records of my browsing history, independent of the ones on my pc that ccleaner deletes, that can be accessed by big brother wts.
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Socrateswannabe
When I visit the jw.org website, can the WTS IT Department know that I've also visited this site? I use a freeware program called CCleaner but I don't use it every time after I've visited here. I also don't know if my browser (I usually use IE9 or Chrome) keeps records of my browsing history, independent of the ones on my PC that CCleaner deletes, that can be accessed by Big Brother WTS. I googled this question and most of the forums that discuss this subject are in techno-speak, so I can't understand what they're saying. Does anyone have network security or IT experience with this issue, and can you give me an answer in layman's terms? I know it seems paranoid, but I'd like to know how to protect myself. Thank you.
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From Colloquialisms to Creative Cursing
by Socrateswannabe ini love colloquialisms and creative cursing.
i present to you a "top ten" list of sayings that i remember from my upbringing in texas.
please share your favorites from your "neck of the woods"!
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Socrateswannabe
I love colloquialisms and creative cursing. I present to you a "top ten" list of sayings that I remember from my upbringing in Texas. Please share your favorites from your "neck of the woods"! By the way, these expressions were used by Texans, but I'm not implying that they originated with them.
1. He's as tight as Dick's hatband
2. He don't know shit from Shinola
3. She's as ugly as the south end of a north-bound heifer
4. He was havin' a conniption fit
5. It was a knock-down-drag-out
6. She can talk a blue streak
7. He's nuthin' but a drug store cowboy (probably never been on a horse)
8. He come in lookin' like he was rode hard and put up wet
9. He's as crooked as a barrel of snakes
10. It's colder than a well digger's ass
Actually here's Number 11 and my personal favorite since it was so often spewed by my saintly old mom: "Shit fire and save the matches!"
Enjoy!
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New Pattern regarding Science in the Awake
by konceptual99 inreading the first couple of awakes for 2013 i think there is a pattern developing.. they have the regular "could it have happened by chance" article on something amazing in nature but they are also interviewing a scientist who is also a witness.
this is a pretty interesting tack on a number of levels.. firstly it is sending out the implicit message that "look, this educated person accepts creation, the flood and every other account that is at odds with generally accepted science, so that should give you confidence that you are right as well".
secondly, as a magazine designed for public comsumption is suggests to non-witnesses that there are many well educated people who accept the bible.
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Socrateswannabe
Sorry to be a late-comer to this party but I just took a look at the hard copy of this rag that I got from the Hall, and was blown away by the last question of the interview:
Has your study of science weakened your faith?
Tistarelli said: "On the contrary, science has strengthened my faith."
So if a study of science can strengthen a person's faith, why are we prohibited from pursuing it? I cannot believe the hypocrisy!
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9
It's Not What You Know...
by Socrateswannabe in...because most of what people are searching for is unknowable!.
the more i use my brain instead of let the wts do my thinking for me, the more i believe that it's impossible to identify truth.
i think we're capable only of identifying what is not true.
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Socrateswannabe
Thank you for your responses!
@ Honeybucket and Goatshapeddemon: Yes, so true. My studies have taken me toward being agnostic. For me it is the only approach right now that makes sense, as really nothing related to god can be certain. SURELY though, if there is a god, he can't possibly be the god of the bible. Let us hope not. I would say he would be considerably more benign and benevolent than that.
@Moshe: As in the personal opinion of the GB which becomes the personal opinion of 7 million JWs when it is revealed to them? I agree!
@Clarity: I now think of how arrogant I was, along with my fellow JWs, to declare "the Truth" to poor, ignorant householders and bible students. You are so right, it is really a burden to think you know all and to then have to teach it to others. Actually reading the bible cover-to-cover convinced me that no one (aside from those on acid) could correctly "interpret" that jibberish, and no loving god would have presented the truth in such a ridiculous way!
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It's Not What You Know...
by Socrateswannabe in...because most of what people are searching for is unknowable!.
the more i use my brain instead of let the wts do my thinking for me, the more i believe that it's impossible to identify truth.
i think we're capable only of identifying what is not true.
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Socrateswannabe
...Because most of what people are searching for is unknowable!
The more I use my brain instead of let the WTS do my thinking for me, the more I believe that it's impossible to identify truth. I think we're capable only of identifying what is not true. How many absolutes (beyond physics and mathematics) are there, I mean, at least in the realm of spiritual beliefs? As much blustering as the WTS does about how the bible is a book of provable truth, their arguments always boil down to faith, which really means the suspension of reason.
I'm going to stop chasing truth and simply try to eliminate what is untrue from my belief system, and see where that gets me. Is this your approach or what works for you?
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How the Governing Body Solved Another Problem
by Cameron_Don inthat interpretation had caused a problem that the governing body was never able to satisfactorily explain.
they needed to be able to show that there has always been a functioning faithful and discreet slave in one form or another ever since.
but they were never able to provide any evidence for the existence of an ongoing 1900 year-old slave prior to the appearance of the watchtower society.
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Socrateswannabe
It was less than a year ago, in the January 15, 2012 study edition of the Watchtower, that they attempted a tortured connection between the current FDS/GB and a line of worthies leading all the way back to the Jerusalem Council. The article was titled, "True Christians Respect God's Word". In addition to the older men in Jerusalem, it suggested that such divers personalities as Waldo, Wycliffe, Tyndale, Grew, Storrs, and others (notably some Catholic clergy!) were the wheat class and thus formed an unbroken continuum of the FDS through the centuries. With the new light coming from the annual meeting, these former worthies have been relegated to just plain folks-simple anointed ones who aren't really any more exalted than the great crowd.
At the time we studied this article in March of this year, I thought it was an oversight on the part of the writing committee that, when it came to speaking of the modern-day FDS, they referred to them only as "a group of sincere Bible students" who began searching for the truth in 1870-with no mention of C.T. Russell. I conducted this study at our Hall that week-the week of the CO visit-and I added Russell's name into the discussion. For that I didn't get shot down by the CO, so I guess he was just as ignorant of the coming new light as the rest of us!
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Living Through the Brief Liberalization of Jehovah's Witnesses, Never Recovering
by TMS inwith the book crisis of conscience detailing the turbulence at bethel during the early to mid 70's, the transformation from autocratic rule to governance by committee or a body of men, many of us can speak to how that felt among the rank and file of the local congregations during those years.
we learned new concepts based in large part to research done for the aid to bible understanding volume, then we were asked or coerced into unlearning those principles, going back to the old ways.
some of us never readjusted, finding ourselves very different from our more hardline compadres.. the inertia for the changes that eventually were initiated in the congregations came from the discovery that the greek words episkopos and presbyteros were used biblically to refer to all qualified men in a congregation, not just one.
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Socrateswannabe
Thanks, TMS, for that history of the '70s version of the WTS. I lived through it as a born-in, and would have been in my teens to early 20s during that time. So much of this escaped me as a typical brainwashed and blind Witness. I have to admit that my attention during conventions, where this "new light" would have been presented, was divided since I spent most of my time scoping out the young sisters and didn't worry too much about what was being presented from the platform. I guess I benefitted from the temporary liberalization though, as I was able to be on the ministry school and run mikes, even with my chops, modish clothes, and long hair. At the time I just thought our ancient congregation servant/presiding overseer's eyesight was getting so poor he couldn't tell that I no longer met the dress code.
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YPA Video vs. World's Deadliest Snake
by Socrateswannabe inalright so the title of this post doesn't seem to make any sense, but give me a paragraph or two and i will try to pull these disparate subjects together.. for those still "in", this week we studied the interviews portion of the "young people ask-what will i do with my life" video.
the comments by these young people are predictable.
they extol the value of prayer, daily bible reading, personal study, meeting attendance, field service, and reaching out for other privileges.
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Socrateswannabe
Alright so the title of this post doesn't seem to make any sense, but give me a paragraph or two and I will try to pull these disparate subjects together.
For those still "in", this week we studied the Interviews portion of the "Young People Ask-What Will I Do With My Life" video. The comments by these young people are predictable. They extol the value of prayer, daily bible reading, personal study, meeting attendance, field service, and reaching out for other privileges. Repeatedly they say that young people are to "trust in Jehovah" and he will provide. Need a job to keep you in the fulltime ministry? Don't worry-Jehovah will help you find it! Too shy to preach? No problem! Jehovah will give you courage. These youngsters seemed to wholeheartedly believe in a God who watches over them 24/7, cares about their every care-and as long as they stay faithful-will guide and direct them to success.
Interestingly, only a few hours before studying this material, I stumbled across this link:
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/snake-bite-inland-taipan-boy-australia-151652685.html
A young boy in Australia was bitten by what is believed to be the world's deadliest snake. According to the Reuters report, a drop of this snake's venom is strong enough to kill 100 men. A drop. Making things worse, it is not the most cautious of all creatures, in fact the report describes its personality as "fierce".
If you are a believing Jehovah's Witness, you can draw no other conclusion than God purposely created this monster with both the ability and the inclination to kill. Of course, any attempt to explain what a snake like this is doing on a planet of the benevolent Jehovah's making, will yield nothing more than nonsensical mush. The snake needed the venom for protection! On a perfect earth, protection from what? This snake didn't become a killer until after the flood! But creation ended with Eve...so it had to be created "as is" long before the original sin, and it was created to kill.
Okay, so here's where I try to put this all together. Which is it? Loving, caring heavenly father-figure who watches over his young ones and the rest of us 24/7; or cruel, sadistic creator who purposely made killing machines to walk or slither amongst us, which maime or kill other young ones? The former is out of the question, but the later seems unthinkable as well. I would rather take my chances with heartless, unfeeling evolution than try to serve and please the maker of the inland taipan snake.
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The WTS "Brain Drain"
by Quendi ini posted this on another thread and am pasting it here to start a new one because i would be interested in getting others' thoughts on it.. there has been a downward spiral in the quality of the written publications since the death of fred franz in december 1992. whatever else can be said about franz, the man did have some education and his writing was of good quality.
others in the writing department also had some skill and command of language that gave cogency to their work.
but since franz's death, a huge leadership vacuum has opened in the wts.
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Socrateswannabe
Haven't they simply run out of compelling things to write about? Fred Franz and his cronies could beat the drum for 1975 and the supposed 6000 year anniversary of man's creation, and in the 1970's, the generation theory--those who were old enough to understand what was happening in 1914--was still (barely) valid. Now, any idea that there is a valid date to work for is gone. What biblical prophecy could they possibly hang their hat on at this point, that will inspire R&F confidence? Fred was crazy enough or gutsy enough to let it all hang out and go for a date. Present GB members don't have that kind of fire, and, they're simply out of ammo!