HA HA HA...oompa is not in bed yet! Just clicked on Inactive's profile page and she has 66.5 posts per day!!!!!! love it.....oompa
are we inactive or what?
by inactive? 252 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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ldrnomo
look at this a a blessing. you now know that the organization does NOT have love among it's members. You can now have a real life out of the WT organization you do not need the WT to have a relationship with God. remember two scriptures that point out how wrong any organization of men is not where God is
Jerimiah 10:23 Man cannot direct his own step and
Ps. 146:3 do not put your trust in nobles or man
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4digitcode
i was only saying to look at all the possibilities. Not all of us are angels here. i repeated a few times 'if that is the case' i wasn't saying you did but suspect it COULD well be. Gopher--thanks for bringing that out. I guess i just got kind of confused between her jumping through hoops to get back into their good books for the past few years and failed to see that she was not doing that at the moment anymore. inactive? I'm quite blunt but i sure don't want to cause you pain.I'm the kind of person that questioned my every motive while in the organization...and in life generally. The sister i mentioned earlier could one day be disfelloshipped and find this site and write her 'heartbreaking story' here. She's still a slanderer, liar and gossip who will put her own need for satisfying her vile tongue before thinking of the consequences it will cause her victims. (i was her main victim at our hall but she had others). And there are many of those. I'm not saying you are like her but that you should look at what you may have done to cause or contribute to your situation....if you feel you haven't done anything then forget my suggestion it doesn't apply to you. I'm not jaded by the trevorgate situation of this forum but by 'watchtower-gate' fiasco that is the organization. People have different motives and you may never know what they are. Is it reasonable to swallow anything a person tells you without being even able to make a comment that doesn't promote their cause? i don't respond well to emotional statements like ' well guess i should go back to the hall then?' or 'well you may be blaming me for it..' it's leading to these kind of posts where all i see in my post is ' I..I..I' when who cares about me?really we were talking about a situation you're facing. other posters have to defend their comments saying I I I too and in the end we forget what the hell we were ven talking about in the first place. I was just saying to look at your own actions. that's all. but really if i understand well now you just want to leave then you will find useful information to help you be strong in your fade away from the society. cheers.
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BizzyBee
we're former JW's. Many of us don't have another group or religion to draw JW's into, so technically we're not apostate. But of course the WTS is paranoid of us ex-JW's too.
I am not just an ex-JW, I am in opposition to the WTS and have been actively involved in exposing them for what they are - heartless liars and manipulators.
This is the definition of apostate that I use (Wiki):
Apostasy (from Greek ap?stas?a, meaning a defection or revolt, from ap?, apo, "away, apart", stas??, stasis, "standing") is a term generally employed to describe the formal abandonment or renunciation of one's religion, especially if the motive is deemed unworthy. In a technical sense, as used sometimes by sociologists without the pejorative connotations of the word, the term refers to renunciation and criticism of, or opposition to one's former religion. One who commits apostasy is an apostate, or one who apostatises. Apostasy is generally not a self-definition: very few former believers call themselves apostates and they generally consider this term to be a pejorative. One of the possible reasons for this renunciation is loss of faith, another is the failure of alleged religious indoctrination or brainwashing.
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flipper
Hello Inactive- Mr. Flipper here. Welcome to the board ! I'm so sorry you and your husband have been hurt and gone through suffering and pain at the hands of imperfect men who ( falsely ) claim they were appointed by God's holy spirit . At the risk of not offending my fellow posters here, I'm going to avoid debating on this issue of being legitimate or not. Let's talk initially Inactive and let's focus and address the problem at hand here ! They say truth is stranger than fiction, and it's entirely true that this happened to you, I believe you , because I've seen weirder things happen in my own experience in my dealings with ridiculously insane elders!
First of all Inactive, wrap this thought around in your mind , most of the elders are controlled by a man made cult, the Watchtower society, and Jehovah's Witnesses. They will first show alleigance to that cult over the Bible ! You have to distinguish this FACT in your mind. I was raised in " the witness cult", got out 4 years ago because of unjust treatment by elders as you are describing. I was told to put my teenage children in danger by accepting back a methamphetamine addicted wife who had left me , yes the elders gave me this counsel ! They said I could live with my wife , and seperately visit my children at a neutral site without her . I essentially told them they were wrong to give me bad counsel, and I was not going to sacrifice my children for a drug addict. Inactive, I researched the Family Life Book and found the elders were NOT following the counsel in that book about not forcing a married person to accept a mate back who had left. It is a personal decision based on YOU and JEHOVAH ! No one lives in your 4 walls and knows what you are going through . So, do you see my point ?
No one here is living your life ! We are not flies on the wall to see how your husband and you deal with this situation, privately . However I will tell you this, and please listen, the elders will only have control over your life if you let them ! You need to make a stand , and support your daughter, who needs you a hell of a lot more than the mind controlled elders. God wants you to love your daughter, not the elders. They are nothing more than men who bleed red like you and me, nothing more nothing less. Stop deifying them, get on with your life, your husband and yourself ! You can have a relationship with God, outside of an organization that tolerates child molestation coverups, blood transfusion deaths, and breaks up families unmercifully ! I feel what you are going through ! It is hard to change your thinking when that is all you've known all your life, however don't give these people or elers in that religion any more power over your life ! You control your destiny, they don't !
Also, just by way of humorous side note, I've had a commercial janitorial business for 25 years or so, and the elders were always wanting me to clean the carpets for free or anything else about cleaning ! I'd help some times of course, but in my own mind, I'd tell em' to silently take the toilet brush and shove it where the sun don't shine , if you know what I mean ! LOL! I got used enough and manipulated by the organization, it sounds like you and hubby have too ! Stand up, be strong, if you would like to talk, I'll pm you my number, please know there are many on this board who have dealt with weirder things than you guys even, I'm one of them! So, I believe ya ! Peace my friend, and remember please be strong, make a stand ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper
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cultswatter
Inactive?
So what do you plan to do??. Are you bold enough to question or challenge the Faithful and Discreet Slave?? As a former JW I worshiped this evil slave. Now they accuse me of apostacy but I would rather be an emotionally stable apostate than an emotionally crippled JW.
I wish you well in your quest and the very happy day when you will see that your daughter is the center of the universe, not the WTS
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Gopher
Bizzy Bee -- All I can say is, GO!! I think it's great that we can expose the Watchtower as a scam, at every opportunity.
I guess the JW definition of apostasy involves either -- religious teachings opposing the Society, or criticism of the Society.
Here's something I found which referring to the JW elder's manual. Link: http://www.watchman.org/jw/1404-1.htm
Also examined at length in Pay Attention... is the sin of apostasy. The Watchtower defines apostasy as "action taken against true worship of Jehovah or his established order among his dedicated people" (Pay Attention..., p. 94, emphasis mine). This definition is significant: apostasy involves promoting religious teachings in opposition to the Watchtower and articulating any opinion that is critical of any action or position taken by the Society. Let us examine how the Society defines these two subcategories of apostasy.
The Watchtower defines the religious act of apostasy as promoting "false doctrines, supporting or promoting false religion and its holidays or interfaith activities" (Pay Attention..., p. 94). The Society defines the support of false religion as not only the practice of another religion, but also working for any organization involved with a religious group (pp. 94-95). In addition to this infraction, "Owning images and pictures used in false religion" is considered idolatry and can result in disfellowshipping (p. 95). Little religious artwork or iconography (with the exception of the calendar sold by the Society) is found in Witness homes.
The second subcategory, disrupting "[Jehovah's] established order among his dedicated people," is the most potent and controversial weapon in the Watchtower's disciplinary arsenal. Reinforcing its position that the accrual and retention of power is a divine mandate, the Society tolerates no "deliberate action disrupting the unity of the congregation or undermining the confidence of the brothers in Jehovah's arrangement" (Pay Attention..., p. 95)
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inactive?
Wow Mr. Flipper, thanks, I needed to hear about others 'horror' stories. I know what you mean about sticking with a spouse, my husband beat me when i first started studying and the elders said i had to stick it out. Now when he came in the truth, it truly saved our marriage and we learned to treat each other like we should, but now I know he is feeling as lost as I am and feels like he is sticking it out tho being 'beat up' so to speak by elders. Your story really hit home with me.
As for what i will do CultSwatter, i am still afraid to say, but I would really like to be with my daughter more, she is drifting and I just don't think I can help her by ignoring that. I mean she comes to us for help with 'surface' things, but the area she really needs help in I cannot help her until i fix myself, and needless to say she is very confused at seeing us flounder, I guess i could confide in her what is happening. And I gotta talk to my husband and tell him what i have done today, I can tell him my doubts and about this, maybe it will help him too. He has a really hard time not being with our daughter.
Thanks for the link and info Gopher, I will check them out.
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flipper
INACTIVE- I think you are right on in wanting to help your daughter! 3 BIG thumbs up for that ! She will love you for it, and it will draw you and your husband closer to her. Before I left the cult 4 years ago, my son who had turned 18 had an interest in a "worldy" girl who was a workmate, he had stopped going to meetings having doubts. My self righteous ex-wife ( a fanatical witness ) kicked him to the curb, said he could not live with her if he didn't drop the girlfriend and start going back to witnesses. Sounds like a loving view? Ecch! So I told him to move in with me and I helped himget a college education where he is very happy now. I shudder to think where he would have gone if I turned off my parental human affections to him, like that damn cult tells you to ! So,YES support your daughter no matter what the idiotic elders tell you, she has been kicked to the curb by the cult, it's up to you as loving parents to show her the caring and support she needs right now ! You are seeing things more clearly, keep learning and informing yourself ! Peace, and heres to loving all of our kids, show them we care ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper !
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inactive?
We have been helping our daughter when she asks, but only marginally, and most times we tell her to work it out herself and she does!!! But she is in a situation I think is over her head, and i think she does not ask for help so we will not get in trouble. People kept saying, she would fall on her butt and come crawling back, i do not want her to fail, nor crawl back as a last desparate measure. Those statements seemed cold to me, so i just would stare back at them. I have tried to remember if i was that self righteous and heartless to friends whose child was disfellowshipped,, oh God I hope not, but I probably was.