No, I did not believe in many things WT taught. For example evolution and the earth history. My grandfather was geologist who taught it at the university level and had at home an extensive collection of stones, fossils, and minerals. He knew that some of these minerals were millions of years old and I could listen to him about the geology and plate tectonics movements, etc... He said that WT are semiliterate group only interested in money and self-worship and warned my parents not to get engaged with them. Other issue I had, I did not believe in Flood, and man was around for 6000 years. As a student we went to several excavated sites in Europe and we visited places which were inhibited by humans in interglacial period in southern Moravia. These people died there 20000 years ago. Therefore, I doubted the literal interpretation of the Bible. I had also several Jewish friends with whom I had debated OT and various Jewish myths and theology and this was last blow to the idea that WT knows much on Jewish faith. I later encountered a lot of antisemitism among JW and I was warned by elders not to socialize with Jews because they are damned people. One sister used to say that Jews will be destroyed and no single Jew born after 33 AD would be resurrected.
Posts by kaik
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35Before knowing TTATT did you really believe in things as...
by roberto avon indid you really believe in things as ;- the earth is only 6000 years old- the 144.000- 1914, based upon the destructiono of jerusalem- harmagheddon or the end of the world coming soon???
?i married a jw when i was an interested person and studying with the jw's ( not the way they wanted) but i told my wife before marrying her that " most probably " i would never have been a jw.she accepted me as i was and married me.
after that i had interrupted the study for one year, i started all over again with an elder of my wife's cong.
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kaik
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36
Devouring the Forbidden Fruit - Higher Education
by cappytan inwell, i told my wife over the weekend i was going to go back school to finish my degree.
she is 100% supportive of it!
apparently she doesn't think higher education is so evil either.. since my former major was computer programming and that was in the late 1990's, i was told i'd have to retake a bunch of classes since times have changed.
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kaik
There is never too late to go back to school. I left WT when I was 22. Did not finish my BSc until I was 30~31. People were already established in their careers, while I was going to school after work. I was lucky that I knew computer programming and I had various certification, so I was able to earn a bit while finishing my B.S. in computers. This gave me a boost for better job and I was able to pursue professional certification my field and have two post-bachelor degrees. Last year I got accepted into prestigious Master's degree program and my school accepted couple credits from professional certification. I am at the process to complete my Master's degree about year from today.
Education is a whole life process. It never ends due extremely competitive job market. I am think to earn another Master's or go for PhD/doctoral degree so I can work in research. My regret is that I did not start my advanced education earlier due WT.
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Connections between blood transfusion and sexual repression in the Victorian Age.
by dropoffyourkeylee inhere is an interesting essay (seems to have been written by a college student) which explores the topics of sexual repression and its relationship to blood and blood transfusions featured in the 1897 book dracula:.
the importance of blood during the victorian era: blood as a sexual signifier in bram stokers dracula by by nilifer pektas.
http://sh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:16204/fulltext01.pdf.
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kaik
Dracula stories were popular in the middle of the 19th century, and there were short stories published and circulated in Germany, Austria, and Hungary as early as 1830's. Stories of Blood princess or count of Bathory based on the true historical event was published already in 1817. -
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Be cautious about the excessive use of the most-favored medicine called paracetamol, say studies!
by abiather instudies have found an increased risk of mortality, up to 63 percent, among long-term paracetamol users, compared to those who had not been prescribed the drug during the study period (http://www.interaksyon.com/article/106187/long-term-paracetamol-use-poses-risk-says-study).
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kaik
This is well know that paracetamol can cause liver damage, and it can elevate its effect with combination of alcohol. I don't take it and it is also extremely toxic to cats and dogs. In some countries it was available only on prescription due the side effects unlike aspirin and ibuprofen. -
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Israel fears extinction
by abiather inwhat a spirited, brilliant speech isreali pm mr. nethanyahu delivered yesterday to the congress against the negotiated nuclear deal with iran which israel fears would make iran a legitimate nuclear power with the ability to wipe out israel.
(http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/03/netanyuahu-congress-iran-nuclear-deal-path-to-bomb).
he also said: if no one supports, israel would defend itself alone.
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kaik
Iran and Israel will not wage a war. Iran had not started war nor attacked any country over 100 years. There is sizable Jewish community in Iran, and Iranian government has difficulty to maintain population. Anti-government protests are common there. Any war would undermine the stability and Iranian government would collapse. They do know it. There are also countries between Iran and Israel to make any war difficult. Bombing campaign would end badly for Iran... Any idea that both states can engage in war today needs a reality check. -
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You will never grow old in this current system of things... - Awake, May 22, 1969 p. 15
by cappytan incheck this out.
got this bound volume from my dad.. .
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kaik
baldeagle, while many Millennials are different than other generations in the past due technology, they are still human, and such there will be a group that would still believe WT bs. They will sacrifice their life for it and many would believe that the older generations were wrong and they are right because they have better understanding from the Channel of God's communication. Certainly the WT would be transformed once the millennials will achieve their intellectual and social apex in 25-35 years, but still, human stupidity does not have a limit. -
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How Many Disfellowshipped Are There In The US?
by Village Idiot ini've read in the watchtower, as well as observed personally, that 1% of the congregation gets disfellowshipped every year.
i'm not good at the math but i figure that it's 40% since 1975 (yes i know, they're growing).
i know that quite a few return but still, there must be a large percentage of disfellowshipped jws who will never return.
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kaik
In Czech Republic it is estimated that there is a much as JWs as DFs. In the 1990's 1/6 of males were DFs there through flip-flopping doctrine on alternative military service, which decimated their BOE. -
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Ayn Rand - Opinions?
by cappytan infor those of you familiar with ayn rand and her ideas on morality, rationality and reason, what is your opinion of those ideas?.
i'm talking about her actual ideas, not the ideals that libertarianism has adopted and, in some cases, perverted.
do you think she's a charlatan?
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kaik
I have read her book Atlas Shrugged and I seen some of the historical vintages movies. I don't agree with many of her views. On top of it she was racist and demanded internment camps for the blacks in the 1950's/1960's. In her mind it was unacceptable that blacks would demonstrate against government and demand any other rights. She later was confronted with that views and apologized, but it was too little too late. Additionally, her cult followers often talks about her hatred toward communism as a personal experience, but she left Russia right after the Revolution and have little experience with Stalinism, if any. I am not big fan of Objectivism as it is extreme as much as was Anarrchist movement in her era. Rand is a product of the early 20th century and it is better to keep it that way. World has changed since 1930-1950's to be followed by Rand philosophy. -
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Does everyone here know they are on record with JW's forever?
by runForever inrichard ashe a full-time special servant of the order of jehovah's witnesses testified in the lopez case that every single disfellowshipping and disassociation and other things have all been scanned in 2011 and are and will be on permanent record with jw's forever.
is this legal?
another completely ironic and warped thing is the disfellowshipping form is called the s77 form.
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kaik
I know they keep records of everyone who was associated with JWs. Several years ago, there was even a police investigation in the Czech Republic where they subpoenaed several elders on it. They also collect information on people who they studied with in the past. Of course elders were lying about it but I know several JWs has police visits in past several years due violating privacy rule and collecting PII, which is against the laws. There is a filed complaint on Czech court regarding this by social care work for people with disabilities whose data got into JW hands and were constantly visited by them. -
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Your body of elders - were they liberal, conservative or moderate?
by minimus inin my first kingdom hall, the elders were ultra conservative.
our presiding overseer used to be a zone overseer.
the second hall i was in was moderate.
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kaik
My KH was fairly conservative. Many were the product of WWII and Stalinist oppressions and have lacked emotion or compassion to others. Their attitude was that everyone has to tough it up and they saw themselves as martyrs for the Truth. Even if someone had died, there was never kind words to cheer you up. Many of these men were extremely totalitarian and controlling, and were not educated. They could be a great addition to be a prison guard they once were thrown in.
When I lived in the capital city, the JWs were a bit different as they were product of urban life and sometimes they like to go out to eat or dance, and were generally liberal. I knew elder who loved hockey and was going to his favorite game all the time. They did not suffer with the mentality of self-sacrifice as did elders who were living in the mining regions. I also recall many their women (wife or mothers) were kind, they gave kids candies, they talked to nicely to everyone, and asked about your grades. They were classy and product of the upbringing in the Hapsburg monarchy or interwar republic.