A House Divided Against Itself Falls-Luke 11:17 (page 3)

SFPW , I cannot speak about love and unity within the Watchtower , but others , who have a lot of experience in the organisation have made their veiws clear on that subject . I wonder why you think that you have to belong to the Witnesses to find love and unity . Any true followers of Christ under any banner have love and unity , and shock , horror, most members of any church find harmony with other Christ followers whatever their label . The work of the Holy Spirit is to bring about harmony and anyone who is guided daily by the HS will find love in his or her heart for fellow Christians .

You seem to be making the common mistake of thinking that you have a straight choice between the Watchtower and nothing . Of course this comes from years of poison being dripped into your mind against Christendom . Many have made the point that on this site we are free to think for ourselves , to question and find out facts for ourselves , not just belive what we are told by our masters . Many have mentioned the things that they realised they had been lied to about . I suggest that you look into these things for yourself , and check out the Watchtower version of the Bible against that of Christendom . See the many places , not just John 1 : 1 where they have added words and dishonestly translated .

Jan

prologos

Nazi and Stalin propaganda oulets cited the dicussion/ conflicting opinions in the "WEST/Foreign" media as a sign of disunity and imminent disintregation.

they mistook the flexabiliy, diversity, testing of ideas, concepts as weakness.

In the battle that the ultimate eight wage with reality, there is no contest.

but there are loosers, see above.

Faithful Witness

Very good quote for starting a thread. Thank you for raising this question.

What color is your bible?

carla

My jw doesn't get the ex jw community either. He doesn't understand freedom anymore (he joined up later in life). jw's expect the ex jw community to run rather like the jw community with some leader(s), underlings and rank & file. There is NO organized ex jw community like that. All are here and elsewhere for various reasons.

You have those who lived the life and realized it is a cult and left.

You have those who were terribly abused physically, sexually, emotionally and spiritually.

You have the shunned, df'd, da'd and those who did nothing but are/were still treated as lepars by the cong.

Then there are the ubm's (unbelieving mates) or other concerned relatives when someone is first interested in joining the cult.

There are also people who merely picked up a Bible and read it, discovered that it doesn't even remotely match what the wt has been teaching and must make a decision to follow men or God?

I have found that most people are on the boards, websites or youtubes to inform and warn the public that the wt is not what it seems. It is a dangerous cult that can and does destroy people and families.

We (those in the ex jw community) may have different beliefs and different political views but we have a common bond of somehow being affected by the wt/jw's usually in a negative way. We can commiserate about borg and it's effects and cheer each other on when life goes well. Outsiders really cannot understand how a cult can affect ones life and family. Here people do. I am grateful for all the posters and webmasters (Simon, Randy, Cedars, Jw Facts, Marvin, etc..etc..) who help folks like me when you are panic stricken that your spouse or loved one has joined a cult.

westiebilly11

dear standforpureworship.....don't suppose you've read any books by ex gb member Ray Franz have you?....gb very much divided...but puts on a show of unity for the masses.....difference here is that opinions can be expressed ..freely ...without judicial committees and threats of shunning....people here can ask/raise questions and get replys/answers.......this is a healthy site....as opposed to the claustrophobic paranoia which shuts down any rational reasoning within the KH......eg ...when I was last at a meeting...12 months ago....a lady raised her hand and asked if she could ask a question relating to the watchtower study.........she was met with a confused look from the conductor who answered tersely no...she couldn't...and then continued with the well rehearsed study..........we're all at different stages of recovery and resettlement after years ...many years.....of being once stalwart jw's.........

MadGiant

"To be fair, maybe it's me"

Yes!!! It's you, but that because you are a cult member.

"The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth)." http://www.csj.org/infoserv_cult101/checklis.htm

You, my friend as a cult member, you are a dependent thinkers you uncritically accept whatever you are taught and rarely question information or ask yourself if the information really make sense.

"Pitifully, that same kind of unity and love isn't evident within the ex-JW community. On any given day, this forum has threads that criticize Christians, or attaboy Atheists, badmouth JWs, feel pity for JWs. LOL, for a conglomerate of folks that get off on accusing the WT of flip-flopping, the ex-JW community isnt exactly consistent ya know!"

That because most people here are independent thinkers, They feel the need to make sense of the world based on personal observations and experiences rather than just going along with the thoughts of others. They are going to des agree at some point.

They are willing to share ideas that differ from those of the rest of the team and sometimes require explanations that force the team to force the team to give careful consideration to information. And when something seems wrong, or they don’t understand something, or they see a better way of doing something, they must have the confidence to voice their opinion. ( you can't do that with others cult members) With all due respect for everyone here, no matter what you do, no matter what you think (if you could), YOU belong to a CULT.

Take care,

Ismael

coffee_black

Stand,

What yuo have in your organization is not unity....it is uniformity. Big big difference. There are many among your ranks that are there only to preserve family relationships. Your house is divided...you just don't know it. There are many on this forum in that situation...and many more who have not yet made their way here.

Coffee

tornapart

@SFPW... I've been a JW all my life, all 50+ years of it. It's not been bad, most of it I can say I've been happy. Why would I throw all that away if I felt everything was right?

I have had lots of questions, questions that not only couldn't be answered but questions that can't even be asked. Why is that? Why can't I go to the elders and ask them lots of questions? What would happen to me if I did? I'm afraid to ask.

Here, I can ask what I want! I can share ideas and opinions, I can argue, debate (if I want). I'm not afraid of what will happen to me if I do. People get hurt, they come here and vent their feelings. Everybody understands. They've all been there in one way or another.

Many of us are here anonymously, afraid of being caught. Why is that, in a free world with free speech? You are here anonymously... you must be afraid too? Otherwise you would give your name and your photo.

You say there's no love or unity here. I beg to differ. I follwed one story of a man who was suicidal after a harrowing event. He was tracked down by members on this site and given real life help and support not just a few days but for months. I've read similar stories too. Just because everyone on here disagrees with each other on lots of things doesn't stop the unity we feel that we've all come from the same place and we understand the hurt and the pain involved emotionally and the very real support that can be a life line for many.

Gayle

Forced unity is nothing to brag about!

The Catholic Church was universal, one creed, then finally with education developing, hundreds of 'divisions' groups developed. That did not 'prove' the Catholic Church to be any 'truth,' did it.

The U.S.S.R. claimed to be united and very forced. It went down. There are many separate and different governments developed there since. This does not justify or prove that the U.S.S.R. was good for the people at all.

The WTS has a form of hurting people by their "shunning" practice. It is not from God. It is from 'men' in order to keep their control only. It is not love. The WTS takes the place of God, and truly judges people, especially when these 'thinking' ones disagree with the GB. The GB are not perfect, individually, NOR as a group. They have no more right to absolute obedience, than the Pope, governments nor religion.

Some JW individuals are loving but the GB doesn't allow them to be as loving as their personal heart wishes.

A House Divided Against Itself Falls-Luke 11:17

cantleave

jhine