peacefulpete

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Posts by peacefulpete

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  29

  Censuring medicine and information; our new culture.

  by was a new boy in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  'last night's flccc weekly update featured stories of families who fought in court to compel hospitals to give their loved ones ivermectin.

  that it has come to this is tragic.

  63 studies have now shown ivermectin’s efficacy in all stages of c19 disease.'.

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  peacefulpete

  https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/c19hcq-com-bias/
  
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  8

  Help needed

  by NewLight in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i’ve been visiting this site for quite a long time, although i rarely posted.

  i would like to thank simon and all the participants, for the valuable information and support that is available here, for anyone searching about the jw organization.. just a brief introduction of myself: i live in europe (english is not my native language, so please bear with any mistakes i make).

  i was born in a jw family and i’m still in the organization, but i’ve been “on the fence” about leaving the organization for quite a long time.

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  peacefulpete

  Seriously and slowly read works like:

  Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves

  Some of it naturally won't apply but soon you'll realize much does. Understanding why you have the feelings you do, and why members feel they way they do about those that leave high control groups like the JWs is of tremendous value for moving on without fear or pointless bitterness.
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  11

  How About.....YOU Doing the Shunning?

  by titch in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hello, folks: about a month ago, stan livedeath started a post about.

  how many of the readers here on the site have been or are now being shunned by friends/relatives?

  well, let's turn that around a little bit: how many of the readers here have purposely shunned a witness, when they encountered them?

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  peacefulpete

  If you know they don't want to engage with you why would you try to force a confrontation? Would I leave my place in line at the grocery store? No, I'm an adult and know not everyone wants to be my friend. If they initiate a nod or hello, sure, I'd reply in-kind. As a shop owner I had JWs in who didn't recognize me. Their money was as good as anyone else's.
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  4

  Senate votes to codify same sex marriage into law

  by Jeremiah_Weed in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  breaking: senate votes 62-37 to break filibuster on bill to codify same-sex marriage into law:.

  gop senators who voted yes:.

  blunt (mo).

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  peacefulpete

  “While I believe in traditional marriage,” said Sen. Mitt Romney (R., Utah), “this legislation provides certainty to many LGBTQ Americans, and it signals that Congress—and I—esteem and love all of our fellow Americans equally.”.
  Lawmakers have changed the wording of the legislation in response to concerns about how it would affect religious groups. The latest version says nonprofit religious groups won’t be compelled to participate in or support a same-sex marriage. Declining to do so wouldn’t put the group’s tax-exempt status at risk, lawmakers behind the measure said.

  Wall Street Journal yesterday
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  17

  The length of a public talk

  by Farmer Jim1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does anyone ever wonder the good they could have done instead of giving a public talk for 45 or 30 minutes?

  i remember giving my first public talk aged 18 and even then i was thinking ' this is just me making up half truths trying to blind people with jw propaganda'.

  fast forward 15 years to when i gave my final public talk and i was so close to seeding the 30 minutes with ideas that could possibly wake people up but i never had the guts.. in that 30 minutes i could have done so much real good for a person instead of spreading this awful religions dogma.

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  peacefulpete

  I was the PO and only guy in a foreign assignment. I often gave the entire meetings. At the end I had enough doubts to prevent my actually delivering a part but asked the congregation to pray for help. I was in a weird place. Years later I spoke with someone from that KH and they said they didn't remember that, and that they never could understand my accent anyway. lol
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  35

  Former Elders Please - Disbeliever recently married to a JW

  by doasthouwilt in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i recently married my best friend of 32 years.

  she is a life-long jw and once an active pioneer, i am a 'worldly' person through-and-through, always will be.

  we married because it was the only way we could find a way of staying together while giving her a path back to her religion ultimately, which she does not want to (or cannot) let go of.

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  peacefulpete

  doasthouwilt......No I just walked away. I made no conscious effort to influence my wife or anyone else, it was a tough couple years. At a point I thought the right thing to do was let her be free and we separated. She found her own path out when she found the advice and sympathies offered to her to be insulting and empty. She finally asked me to share what I knew and it took very little to convince her she was correct in her conclusions. A determined witch hunter elder moved into the area and demanded we be disfellowshipped 'in absentia' years later. I'm sure it had something to do with our past positions in the church that made us someone to be made examples of. That's the condensed version. We had no desire to avenge or destroy the church, we saw it for what it was, a church like so many others. And we understood the pointlessness of forcing loved ones to chose between us or the religion. We knew we would lose. We had shunned many ourselves and we knew the score. So if you are asking what to expect, who knows, I've seen everything.
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  35

  Former Elders Please - Disbeliever recently married to a JW

  by doasthouwilt in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i recently married my best friend of 32 years.

  she is a life-long jw and once an active pioneer, i am a 'worldly' person through-and-through, always will be.

  we married because it was the only way we could find a way of staying together while giving her a path back to her religion ultimately, which she does not want to (or cannot) let go of.

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  peacefulpete

  Your comments bring back some very uncomfortable memories of when I left the church before my wife. I wish you the best friend. Some do make it work. Glad she is not a purist and you are not a button pusher.
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  4

  Extraordinary CLAIMS require extraordinary EVIDENCE

  by BoogerMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some of christianity's denominations/tribes/clans claim that god almighty/christ jesus personally selected their leadership/clergy to represent heaven on earth.. question for jw's: what scriptural or divine proof convinced/convinces you that it was the org/governing body?.

  self-proclaimed statements from literature does not qualify as proof..

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  peacefulpete

  Ask a JW (or any similar) if they ever wonder how other people can be devoutly loyal to their church but still be wrong. (of course they believe them to be wrong)

  They will likely say they were "lied to, deceived" because they haven't really deeply considered what makes a person devoutly loyal to a religion. Instead of getting mired in a debate about doctrine with them ask :

  Might culture and family have had an influence?

  Might it be a sense of community, commonality even affections members of the church have for each other?

  Might it be the religion gives them a sense of certainty in a changing world?

  Might it offer comfort in times of grief?

  Then ask if those are also true of their religion, does it offer certainty and comfort? does it have a warm familiarity from years of memories with family and friends? Do you feel a part of the community of worshipers?

  So might what you believe to be true of others be true for you?
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  35

  Former Elders Please - Disbeliever recently married to a JW

  by doasthouwilt in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i recently married my best friend of 32 years.

  she is a life-long jw and once an active pioneer, i am a 'worldly' person through-and-through, always will be.

  we married because it was the only way we could find a way of staying together while giving her a path back to her religion ultimately, which she does not want to (or cannot) let go of.

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  peacefulpete

  No two ways about it, it will complicate your relationship. Be a good husband and your behavior will belie the narrative about "worldly" men. She must already recognize this but it may take a while to fully penetrate. It may never. In fact I've seen cases where the JW pursues the church activity as a penance. Do you wish to participate in the holidays with your family? Do you want to share religious and political opinions or discuss science? Movies and TV? I wonder what your dates were like if topics like this were openly discussed.
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  15

  Future

  by punkofnice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i wonder what this earth will really be like in 500 years from now?.

  what are your thoughts?.

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  peacefulpete

  Don't you watch Star Trek?

  I envision a more homogenous world, the zeitgeist of this century is one of cultural exchange and adoption. McDonalds in China and Panda Wok in Montana. (K-pop, that's something to ponder). Information is instantaneous (factual or not). Environmental and political necessity will increase migration. This sharing cannot be suppressed.

  There will be pockets of terrible suffering and probably another nuclear light show or two. But people will adapt and memenically evolve into a single society administered by local authorities.

  Oh, and about half the animal species will be gone but we will have tackled safe clean energy production.