Pretty mealy-mouthed, careful replies. I also noticed how very few of these FAQ's are answered in any great detail on this public website.
We all know that in the Pharisee-led WT articles, they then pick apart to the nth detail these very subjects.
Muddy Waters
JoinedPosts by Muddy Waters
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Bizarre, nonsensical answer from JW.org on their FAQ page...
by Muddy Waters inthe answer on the faq page makes no sense.
the question is: "why don't you call your meeting place a church?".
the answer makes no sense at all.
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Muddy Waters
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More lies and clever duplicitousness from JW.org...
by Muddy Waters inat jw.org, on their faq page, they try to respond to this question: "do you ban certain movies, books, or songs?".
their first word: "no".. they then go on to briefly answer this question.
their final statement says: "outside the family, however, no one is authorized to ban specific films, songs, or artists as being unacceptable for members of the congregation.
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Muddy Waters
At JW.org, on their FAQ page, they try to respond to this question: "Do You Ban Certain Movies, Books, or Songs?"
Their first word: "no".
They then go on to briefly answer this question. Their final statement says: " Outside the family, however, no one is authorized to ban specific films, songs, or artists as being unacceptable for members of the congregation."
Most clever how, in this last sentence, NO MENTION is made about BOOKS. (Thinking here of Ray Franz's books and others).
But equally duplicit is the ludicrious comment about " no one outside the family is authorized" to do this!!!???!!!???http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/do-jehovahs-witnesses-ban-certain-entertainment/
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Bizarre, nonsensical answer from JW.org on their FAQ page...
by Muddy Waters inthe answer on the faq page makes no sense.
the question is: "why don't you call your meeting place a church?".
the answer makes no sense at all.
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Muddy Waters
The answer on the FAQ page makes no sense. The question is: "Why don't you call your meeting place a church?"
The answer makes no sense at all. It begins by saying how a *church* meant a congregation of PEOPLE. A kingdom hall, on the other hand, is a BUILDING.
So it makes more sense (form the weird WT perspective) to call a gathering of people who worship together by the name of a building.
I suppose referring in any way to a gathering of PEOPLE is too crunchy-good-feeling and heartwarming. Can't have that!! After all, their publications don't even call people "people". It is always "ones". Righteous-hearted ones. Meek ones of the earth.... the humble ones who are searching... "These ones" whom Jehovah loves, etc.http://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesses/faq/jehovahs-witnesses-church-kingdom-hall/
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Gawd, I wish I'd have gotten my teeth fixed.... :(
by Muddy Waters inhere i am, getting old and having my teeth and fillings (literally!
) falling apart now, and barely any dental coverage.
i just feel so sad and pissed off that i didn't do more when i was a jw and actually had coverage at the time.... .
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Muddy Waters
Yeah, I remember the unreal feeling at the KH after I had my tooth capped. NOBODY expressed any happiness at my improved smile. There were suspicious whispers, bad feelings, jealousy from the one sister so bad that the elders had to get involved. And when the elders did get involved they counselled ME for having the temerity to get my tooth capped in the first place. Unfreaking-real.
Villagegirl, your post about those experiences is sickening. I can't believe I spent so many years in such a backwards, guilt-inducing, mind-numbing, judgmental, petty, and ultimately hostile environment -- where they TOTALLY focus on the tenth of the dill and the mint and the cumin!!! -
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Gawd, I wish I'd have gotten my teeth fixed.... :(
by Muddy Waters inhere i am, getting old and having my teeth and fillings (literally!
) falling apart now, and barely any dental coverage.
i just feel so sad and pissed off that i didn't do more when i was a jw and actually had coverage at the time.... .
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Muddy Waters
Oh yes, totally, SoConfused. This was about 20 years ago, mind you. Perhaps JWs are finally clueing in about dental health.
20 years ago it was a "stumbling block" and you were full of vanity if you wanted to get your teeth fixed. -
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Gawd, I wish I'd have gotten my teeth fixed.... :(
by Muddy Waters inhere i am, getting old and having my teeth and fillings (literally!
) falling apart now, and barely any dental coverage.
i just feel so sad and pissed off that i didn't do more when i was a jw and actually had coverage at the time.... .
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Muddy Waters
Well. Here I am, getting old and having my teeth and fillings (literally!) falling apart now, and barely any dental coverage. I just feel so sad and pissed off that I didn't do more when I was a JW and actually had coverage at the time....
But we all know the story... why spend money, time, effort, etc., in getting your teeth fixed when the new system is right around the corner, yes, any day now! Not to mention that you must be full of pride and vanity if you want to expend any extra effort to have nice teeth and gums.
When I got my front tooth capped, it caused a whole furor in the hall. Stumbled all kinds of idiot JWs about my trying to improve my oral health. (Oh, wait, it wasn't about oral health -- it was totally about vanity, because the JWs certainly know better than the dentist who helped fix my tooth!) Elders got involved in speaking to this one sister who was especially vociferous about my capped tooth. (She had very bad teeth herself.) I was told to be careful about not stumbling others and to remember that the Kingdom preaching and teaching work must always be a priority. Jehovah will fix our teeth in the new system (right around the corner!) So leave all our troubles and worries with him and don't think too much of ourselves than is necessary (obviously at the time, teeth weren't necessary!)It depresses me so much....
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DF ones can now choose where to sit...New WT Policy
by Quarterback inaug wt q and a has now stated that any df'd person can sit with anyone, anywhere at a congregation meeting.. before, they had to sit at the back of the hall.
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Muddy Waters
Come to think of it, they're really big into who sits where, aren't they. I mean, wives are not even supposed to sit in the aisle seat. The aisle seat is where the husband, as family head and lord, are supposed to sit. If a man's wife sits on the aisle seat, she is looked at as being presumptious and the husband is seen to be weak or not taking the appropriate family lead or headship. Another "unspoken" rule....
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DF ones can now choose where to sit...New WT Policy
by Quarterback inaug wt q and a has now stated that any df'd person can sit with anyone, anywhere at a congregation meeting.. before, they had to sit at the back of the hall.
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Muddy Waters
OMG. This is so seriously sad. What utter bullshit.
When I was DF'd, the PO (as he was called back then) specificially told me at the JC that I ought to come into the hall during the song and to SIT AT THE BACK and then to leave immediately after the prayer.
I was so humbled at the time, I followed every last direction and instruction (which, as always, totally goes beyond "what is written") and I was actively trying for reinstatement. *gag*It was only after being reinstated that the whole "lack of love" thing started to nibble at me and perhaps I should be thankful now for the horrid way I was treated, as it was one of the things which helped wake me up.
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Symposium: Beware of Apostates! - 'God's Word is Truth!' District Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses 2013 - not on JW.ORG
by mindnumbed insymposium: beware of apostates!.
satanhuman apostates also of interest ..... the truth brings "not peace, but a sword" .
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Muddy Waters
Wow. Awesome. Total freaking hateful. So controlling.
Interesting that now they say, "blah blah blah [and more blather] from the faithful and discrete slave, the Governing Body...!!"I've heard people say that once you "learn the truth about the truth", you just can't go back to believing it. The lies are so blatant, the reasoning so twisted, the words so judgmental and controlling, the scriptures misapplied and misused... the faulty conclusions, the circular reasoning, the weird analogies that don't even apply or make sense, how so much is based on FEAR and CONTROL and OBEDIENCE to only them... so much emphasis on the Organization, the organization, the organization... Ack, makes me sick to think about it now.
Especially feel so sad to hear the young babies and little children crying in the background.... :( -
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There are *good* people out there! Yes -gasp!- in the "world"!!
by Muddy Waters init is still a wonderful discovery and pleasant surprise to continually keep finding that there are some awesomely *good* people out there in the "world"!.
it's such a neat thing, this (slow, yet very rewarding!
) process of making new, non-jw friends.... i recently had my first meal at the home of one of these new wonderful people we've just met and i just must share this!
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Muddy Waters
It is still a wonderful discovery and pleasant surprise to continually keep finding that there are some awesomely *good* people out there in the "world"!
It's such a neat thing, this (slow, yet very rewarding!) process of making new, non-JW friends.... I recently had my FIRST meal at the home of one of these new wonderful people we've just met and I just must share this!
Because -- guess what!!
There were NO wild orgies (okay, that may be disappointing for some of you to hear, lol! ;), there were NO goat sacrifices, no conversations filled with constant swearing and references to sexual practices (as the WT would try to have you believe!) no circle dances around a living nude altar... None of that! Also nobody was eating steaks or sausages dripping with blood nor was anybody shooting heroin at the table, or sniffing coke.Oh, there may have been the craftier, more subtle references to COLLEGE and charities they were involved in (oooh, those sneaky "worldlings!) but my goodness, these were normal, happy people doing normal everyday things!! The evilness of it all, I tell you...!
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And so I had a wonderfully enjoyable time! And you know what else I've noticed, and this also comes as a surprise -- is how CANDID people are!! People (well, some of them, not all, but many!) talk freely about things, personal things that as a witness are so surprising to hear.
Because as a JW, one of the "happiest people on the planet!", you cannot speak freely about problems or depressions or hard times... JWs will look at you strangely or uncomfortably. JWs will tell you that Satan or his demons are trying to slow you down or steal your joy... or they begin thinking that you must be spiritually weak... or you perhaps have some "secret sin", or that you need to do more field service, study, prayer, meeting attendance, ugh!
With JWs, so much is SURFACE. You don't know if people really like you for *you* or if they're spending time with you because they "have to", or because it's their Christian duty, or because it's your turn to be shown hospitality.... so many smiles at the KH are phoney, so phoney. Surface, surface, surface.The more I am coming to know some of these wonderfully kind, generous, helpful and hospitable "worldly" people, the more refreshing it is to see that they are, for the most part, HONEST, hard working people, who are exciting, who have ENERGY (that's a whole other concept, lol!) and who are unique, individual, candid people. It is such a totally cool thing now... and to think that a year or two ago, I was worried that I would never make any new friends because, as the JWs always like to say, "people are so busy, they haven't got time..." etc.
People on the ex-JW forums a year or two ago would tell me that it keeps getting better, the longer you are away from the mind control and all the JW stuff, and YES, it is true!!!
Life is good, life is exciting, life is refreshing and FULL of discovery and experiences, and yes, wonderful, *good* people! :)