My experience today (page 2)

DesirousOfChange

Sounds like you planted some seeds.

Be patient.

Let them grow.

Doc

Hi leaving_quietly, I am sorry about what your wife told you. I agree with Black Sheep. only ask her simple questions that will encourage her to think critically again. The WTBTS admitted in the January 2013 Watchtower that they have made mistakes? Ask your wife what mistake would be significant for her to question the WTBTS and then ask her what mistakes did the WTBTS admit to making.

Don't give up on your wife. You have lots of options. Have you read Steve Hassan's books or watched his videos? Have you started making non-JW friends who have similiar interests as your wife? Have you taken your wife on outings so that she can meet more non-JWs who may have similiar interest to your wife. If you knew Steve Hassan's BITE model you could even compare how the Pharisees treated Jesus and Jews to help your wife to become more sensitive to the WTBTS's mind-control tactics. Best Wishes for you and your wife fading together.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

mind blown

"she hinted that the marriage did indeed depend on me being a good little witness boy."

Say what? I guess you'll have to remind her you're the head of the household, even wives are to be in submission to their unbelieving spouses. And that's from her beloved WTS.

Rufus T. Firefly

Thank you, leaving_quietly, and rest assured of my empathy for your situation. As far as I am concerned, JW dogma consists of many issues that do not amount to a hill of beans. Did Jesus die on a cross or on a stake? Are Michael and Jesus different names for the same being? Is the number 144,000 literal or symbolic? The list goes on, and on, and on. In the final analysis, these are arguments that cannot be won. So, for me the final straw was the fact that unless one blindly submits to the current view of the so-called "faithful and discreet slave," or the current view of one's local elder body, one is subject to being labeled an apostate and treated the same as an unrepentant wrongdoer or as one who has rejected the good news about the Christ. This fact, more than any specific disagreement over doctrine, led to my decision to become inactive and to fade away as a JW.

leaving_quietly

All, your comments are appreciated. Strangely enough, it was because of our strained marriage that I started down this path to begin with. When researching the scriptural views of divorce and separation, I found that the Society put three constraints on separation which were NOT backed up by scripture. I asked myself why they did this, and what else were they saying that was 'going beyond the things written'. The rest is history.

I will continue to do my research. If you've read my previous postings, you will see that I don't simply accept things at face value anymore. Not from the Society, and not from here. If a claim is made here, I research it. If a claim is made by the Society, I research it. Simple as that. If I don't come to any conclusion because of too many conflicting thoughts on the subject, I just let it be.

I tend to agree with you, Rufus, that the Society makes way too big a deal out of certain things. It's the dogmatic stance that really frustrates me. Birthdays are on that list, too. Even the angels in heaven rejoiced on the day of Jesus' birth. And there were more than one prophet who was designated by Jehovah before they were born (e.g Jeremiah, John the Baptist), so the whole thing with the day of one's death is better than ones birth is not really applicable carte blanche. My feeling is to just lighten up and let people use their conscience. After all, we're supposed to be individually accountable before God. When it comes to things that are not clearly spelled out in the Bible, isn't it best to leave it up to our own consciences?

Pickler, love that quote. Awesome.

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

ABibleStudent: "The WTBTS admitted in the January 2013 Watchtower that they have made mistakes?"

I don't have it in front of me, but I think they used "weasel words" and didn't actually admit that it was WTBTS or the FDS. Instead they wrote something like "Jehovah's Witnesses" or put in "some". The tone was more like it was the fault of individual JWs, not WT Corp's fault.

In reality the "individual JWs" to blame would be all WT clergy from the GB down through the COs, continuing through the elders and mindless pawns knocking on doors. Since individual JWs are not allowed to have independent views on anything, it's a sham for them to try to lay the blame on the sheeples.

ablebodiedman

They came out and said they have not yet been appointed over all of Christs' belongings, which the OM book said is the number one reason we *should* trust them.

If they have not yet been appointed then the "Evil Slave" must still be in amoungst them!

This is a biggie!

They are painting themselves into a corner they will not be able to get out of.

Matthew 24:45-51

45 "Who really is the faithful and discreet slavewhom his master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Happy is that slave if his master on arriving finds him doing so. 47 Truly I say to YOU, He will appoint him over all his belongings.48 "But if ever that evil slave should say in his heart, ‘My master is delaying,’ 49 and should start to beat his fellow slaves and should eat and drink with the confirmed drunkards, 50 the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know, 51 and will punish him with the greatest severity and will assign him his part with the hypocrites. There is where [his] weeping and the gnashing of [his] teeth will be.

So then what about the "evil slave" who in his heart says my master is delaying?

Are there any slaves who outright said that the end would happen on such and such a date and were wrong?

They are now OBLIGED to say in their hearts; "My Master is delaying".

If they have now come out and said they are not yet appointed then all of the above is still valid and ongoing!

Does anyone understand?

Romans 9:25-26

and in the place where it was said to them, ‘YOU are not my people,’there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.

[Name of Person] is no longer a Jehovah's Witness .................................. YOU are not my people,’

Who really is the faithful and discreet slave?

abe

ablebodiedman

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Like I said before;

The Ex Jehovah's Witness Community is THE key target audience for the bible!

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abe

ablebodiedman

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Here is something the Apostle Paul said in 2nd Thessalonians Chapter 2 after describing the condition of Christianity immediately before Jesus Christs return which, I am convinced is targeted at people in the Ex-Jehovah's Witness Community:

2 Thessalonians 2:13-14

However, we are obligated to thank God always for YOU, brothers loved by Jehovah, because God selected YOU from [the] beginning for salvation by sanctifying YOU with spirit and by YOUR faith in the truth. 14 To this very destiny he called YOU through the good news we declare, for the purpose of acquiring the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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abe

problemaddict

Hey LQ,

I found one particular part of your conversation with her interesting. I have heard it several times. I think the way you respond to the thinking is key. When she says "Do you think you are smarter than the GB?", you said of course not. But this is not really about intelligence. From her perspective (and maybe yours depending on what you currently believe about the bible), its about truth. Truth wherever it leads.

Just continue to show her love, and to do what you think is right. Try to discuss things on your terms, and if she comes at you ina huff try to defer the conversation. It will NEVER end well if it already starts heated.

My experience today

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