by ARoarer 87 Replies latest jw friends
I just wanted to add my small comment to the impressive list that is steadily growing here. No one who has not been a witness can appreciate just what is involved in what you and your husband are going through.
Walking away is very difficult to do in such a situation but staying would be harder. I wish you and your family well. I am very pleased to note that your faith in God has not been destroyed. My best to you and yours.
P.S. The French Knight sends his greetings as well. (smile)
Barbara and family-You have touched us as well. Also, being here in NJ, I was wondering when the Star Ledger would pick up the story. I was getting pretty impatient, LOL, since I had emailed Bill Bowen's PRESS RELEASE earlier in the week. Glad to see that they are able to get the story in, and are doing proper research.
Hang in there, and thanks for keeping us posted on developments.
Booz
Who's next on the list?
{{{Barbara and family}}}
If you are all branded as *apostates* by/of the Watchtower Tract and Bible Society, just bear in mind the origin of the word *apostate*:
ORIGIN Middle English: from ecclesiastical Latin apostata, from Greek apostates 'apostate, runaway slave'.
As a result of the WTBTS branding you *apostate*, they have *disfellowshipped* you. And what does *disfellowship* mean but - exclusion from fellowship, especially as a form of discipline.
And why does the WTBTS *disfellowship* people? Well according to J R Brown's recent reported statement: The consequences of excommunication are severe for a reason, Brown said. It is hoped that the harsh isolation that disfellowshipped members feel will draw them back to the organization.
May you and your family find that you do not need to be part of an organisation which seems to depend on *conditional* love and unchristian ostracism in order to *mould* you. You can become a member of the body of Christ by freely *moulding* to His example if you so desire and finding His *unconditional* love :o)
God bless you all.
Christian Observer,
I've gone it basically alone these past three years, although my mom, even though she is a JDub has been very supportive. No one else was though, and one of the elders in the cong. told her to stop talking with me because how would I ever learn to be sorry for what I did and come back? FUCK that! I will never go back....ESPECIALLY because of that LOVING comment of his. He abused me emotionally for years when I worked for him the fucker and he can go hang from a tree by his balls for all I care!
Terri
: Oh we raise quarter horses.
Are they as good as full ones? {;)]
Farkel
To Farkel:
This is Ronin1:
You are so way out of line. First: you have no respect with your foul mind and mouth.
Second:you need to really study God's Word the Holy Bible and realize what it means to be spiritually strong and spiritually close to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. Then, YOU NEED to get spiritually close to Jehovah God and Jesus Christ.
Third:if the WTS cannot stand up to any critical analysis of its teachings and actions, then the WTS need not be critical of any other
religion or anybody else.
Fourth:if you really opened (I mean pulled your eyelids apart) and saw the WTS for what it really was, has been, and currently is, you would see that it is the real apostate of Bible Truth.
Fifth: since your brain is full of the so-called permafrost, maybe if you defrosted your brain and your thinking patterns, you would and could see past your own spiritual stupidity.
You know, I could go on and on and on...........but in your case:
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES.
RONIN1
Hello Sunnygal :o)
I had been researching the WTBTS for some time when I came to this board as an observer.
What was said in another thread about most people not having a clue about the organisation and what it represented, I agree with wholeheartedly. Ask most people about Jehovah's Witnesses and they will generally mention the blood issue and door to door work. Ask practising Christians about Jehovah's Witnesses and they usually know more about them than the average person on the street.
As I learnt more and read the publications that I came across (I have never studied with them), I investigated for myself the sources of the information which they represented as scholarly. I was very perturbed by what I found. I was even more perturbed that members of the group did not seem to approach the literature produced with a *critical* mind, partly as a result of the style of writing which is employed in the publications which can be very persuasive and appear very scholarly.
Having visited this board, I was overwhelmed by the very strong feelings which were expressed by those who have been labelled *apostate*. I read of family breakdowns with horror. This was not the picture that I had previously formed about these people. *Shunning* seems to me to be a most contemptible practice. As a cult, the WTBTS has obviously developed its own way of enforcing group discipline.
I am just so sorry for all of you who have been hurt by this organisation in so many different ways and who have struggled, often alone. Perhaps the public at large will, as a result of the negative publicity and the recent damaging statements made from HQ, start to be more aware of the nature of the group that they might be getting themselves into at an earlier stage. This doesn't help those who have been *born into* the organisation, but the advent of the internet will ensure wider dissemination of information and possibly result in changes at the top in response to external and even possibly - internal (?) - criticism.
And the once silenced lambs may feel able to speak out .....
Christian Observer,
Thank you for your candid and compassionate observations. I was in the "high-control religious group" -- the JW's, from birth to age 39. I've spent the last two years beginning to understand what I was a part of, and trying to relate to the outside world as a whole. To see how it turns families inside out, and how it beats up on people like the Pandelos, is truly saddening. The WT Society, when aroused, does not treat people with any kindness or compassion.
-J.R.
This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
Ronin1,
Do you really know Farkel? It's obvious you haven't read his writings over the years.
Why do you accuse him of not seeing the WT apostasy? That is almost the most ludicrous thing I've read on this board, and I've been here well over a year!
I may not agree with how he comes across, but to classify him as uninformed shows that you need to be much more careful before you make such rash judgments.
-J.R.
P.S. -- For a brief biography/background on Farkel, read http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=27534&site=3
This post was not evaluated by any mental health professionals.
Any opinions expressed are those of a fuzzy, cuddly rodent.
