Welcome Winston
Remember, there is no thoughtcrime on these boards, so feel free to say anything you want
Bradley
New member
by Winston Smith :>D 58 Replies latest jw friends
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RAYZORBLADE
Wow! welcome to the forum.
Looks like you're in good company, pull up a chair and hang with us awhile.
Pleased to see that you've been examining the WTBTS material....closely. It's amazing what you'll find.
Best wishes Winston.
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wannaexit
Hello Winston,
I am glad you found this board. You will learn more here than in all your years in the organization.
wannaexit
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little witch
Glad to have you here Winston, there is alot of info on this forum, as well as links to other information sites. Good luck on your journey!
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proplog2
Winston:
Get a good book on logic. You weren't taught logic by the JW's. And you won't hear much here that is logical. Mostly you will hear "bad-mouthing". Bad-mouthing is meant to relieve personal tension but it doesn't achieve anything.
There are some real gems that have been posted on line that refute JW teachings. You may have to go to the earlier archives. Many of these excellent posters have abandoned these forums because they were honing their skills at sorting out the TRUTH from the "truth". They didn't want to get involved in the endless sniping that goes on.
Some like Farkel, Focus, posted some really excellent stuff. (There are a few still attacking JW doctrine) but their efforts don't get much attention.
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Winston Smith :>D
Wow, I have been involved in a lot a of forums before, but I have never seen such a huge, positive response in such a short period of time!
So, this is the evil, vindictive, hateful, apostate group that the WTS has warned me about all these years. ;p
First off, I want to apologize to any who may have thought that I was someone they may know because of my moniker. The name is purely fictional though, as a few may have caught on to [O’Brien, damn you and the Ministry of Love ], and is merely a reference to the doomed protagonist in Orwell’s "1984". Wow, did that book, plus his "Animal Farm" , strike a chord with me when I read it recently.
Anyway, I will reveal more about my identity as time passes as I really want to come to know more about the rest of you and draw closer to other JW survivors. But my anonymity is required for now as most of you all too well will understand.
Yes, it is funny how more bible study really opened things up. There were quite a few things in the past that struck me as odd:
~The Alpha & Omega,
~the Holy Spirit being described eerily as a person beyond the literary tool of personification,
~how Jesus described the law being written in our hearts - but then the elders setting laws up and not using me for sound because my hair isn’t groomed to look like a bad toupe,
~how the WTS is always seemingly begging for money in the WT and OKM. "See this wonderful new branch? Now you have the privilege of picking up the bill." Didn’t Russel say that the day the WTS has to beg for money is the day they will close their doors?
~how in the WTS pubs the society floats ideas out there and then seemingly retracts them in a following paragraph? Isn’t the floated idea subconsciously followed by the JW’s?
~It is like a trial lawyer asking a defendant, "Didn’t you really kill Mr. X? You hated Mr. X and you are glad he’s dead, aren’t you?" and then a defense lawyer yelling, "Objection!" Well the Judge may say "Sustained" and then instruct the jury to disregard the last comments made by the Prosecution. But the damage has been already done. The trial lawyer has floated an idea to the jury and the idea has been planted subconsciously in their minds.
~how the WTS falls just short of humble speech in their publications. Or it blames it’s readers for their mistakes. The one that really irritated me was this:
July 15, 1976, The Watchtower regarding the prophesy of 1975, "If anyone has been disappointed through not following this line of thought, he should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that failed or deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own understanding was based on wrong premises."
But then in the March 15, 1980, The Watchtower, said, "In saying "anyone," The Watchtower included all disappointed ones of Jehovah’s Witnesses, hence including persons having to do with the publication of the information that contributed to the buildup of hopes centered on that date."
What a great apology! For five years putting this blame on the faithful JW readership, then in 1980 saying, in the most back-assward way, that yes, the writers of WTS pubs and WTS speakers at conventions could be to blame also. Humble and modest indeed! Man, even Peter had his denial of Jesus recorded, but I guess the WTS didn’t pick up on that type of humility.
Or another WTS apology that tickles me is in the Proclaimers book:
"This later led to the idea—sometimes stated as a possibility, sometimes more firmly—that since the seventh millennium of human history would begin in 1975,"
What exactly is a statement more firm that one stated as a possibility from the WTS? It’s the one that is a suggestion telling you exactly what to do, that’s what it is. Like a Bethelite getting caught with an "R" rated movie,
"Um, Bethel thinks it would be a good idea for you to continue your service to Jehovah back in your home congregation." Not much room for one to misunderstand the desire of the WTS in that suggestion, or the 1975 suggestion, is there?
Anyways, beyond these rants...
The boiling point were the recent book studies in the Isaiah books. Almost every week the lesson pounds 607 b.c. = 1914 c.e. and 537 b.c. = 1919 c.e. The WTS was chosen as the F&DS because they were doing the right thing and were therefore released from Babylon the Great.
It was just too much to bear. So I started digging. Really digging. Not for dirt. But I dug with the mind set of, "If I had to explain this to someone at the door with the Bible, how would it be done?"
So I started looking up exactly what the WTS was doing in 1914 that made them God’s chosen F&DS. Well it seems that they were doing quite a bit, none of which from my or the Bible’s viewpoint made any sense. The erroneous book, "The Finished Mystery" is a testament to that.
After that, my fear of the WTS and it’s F&DS was gone.
Oh, and the sad realization that I have been in a cult for over half my life then set in. Damn, that really sucks! It would have been nice to go to college. Or my HS prom. Or just date for that matter. of be at family gatherings. [none of my or my wife’s fam were or are in the truth, for the most part.]
So that’s where I am at now.
The next big step is to slowly let my wife stumble upon these ideas RE the F&DS not really being God’s mouthpiece without me frightening her that I am apostate. I guess family studies will help with this. I think I can keep up the act of being a good J-dub for a while. Heck, going to the meetings seems so entertaining now. But going out in service to keep the charade up until my wife gets it may be pretty hard. I’ve thought about going door to door by myself in odd numbered car groups to my RV’s and warning them about the WTS
Thankfully my wife will be stepping down as a Reg Pio soon because she just started a full time job to help out financially.
I will be getting RF’s two books, they look excellent, although they will have to be read here at work. And Randy mentioned a couple of other books to help understand cults and how to break free from them.
Anyways, thanks for letting me vent. I’m dying to tell someone about all of this, so I guess the lot of you will bear this brunt until my wife and I are safely free of the WTS.
~
Man, I hope my next talk in the main school is "How to identify a false prophet"
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MrsQ
Just wanted to add my 'welcome'. I'm a new member, too.
Q
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minimus
Winston, that was a great post!!!! I too am dealing with a wife that can see why I am not for the "truth" anymore. But she tends to get emotionally sucked in to the "sisterhood". Just be patient and realize that such things do take time. One week it seems that you're all on the same page whikle the following week you wonder what's happened......Good luck, bro.
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LyinEyes
Hi and welcome Winston.
My husband started reading everything he could get his hands on, mostly the internet ,,,,,and slowly over time came to the realization you are at right now. He was an elder for over 10 years and had so problems with things, but the generations change really hit him hard, because they were told they shouldnt question the change but embrace it. That just made him look deeper into things that bothered his conscience and it was all history after that.......lol.
We both disassociated ourselves last August and have never been happier. BTW, I was raised a JW.
When my husband first showed me the sites he was reading on the internet ,,,,,,, I went bonkers!!!!
I called him evil, I said he was bringing demons in the house, I cried, I pleaded for him to not be fooled, etc. etc. I was so afraid of losing him, losing our life, our God, all of it. I know now how pitiful our life really was, I was sick and depressed all the time, bored out of my head. But I was faithful!!!!!!!! I would have died and almost did for the JW doctrines.
I finally after one of my tantrums , decided to look into what my husband was saying. We have 3 kids, have been married 18 years, and I thought ,,,,,,, that I have been with this man so long, I know him well enough to know he is not one to take the word of someone or something without deep study of it. He wouldnt be fooled into something and he is not run by emotionalism as I often am.
The first thing I learned was things about Russell, the pyramids , the way he came about the year 1914 from a pyramid measurement, the statements the WT made about aluminum cookware being demonized etc. etc. and I was so shocked at the sheer stupity of it that I had to learn more on my own.
I did alot of reading at Randy's site about the mind control issues of a cult and saw myself in a way that I could not believe I had become. I never thought I was brainwashed!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was hard for me to let go of my religion, it was so scarey, the fear, the doubts, the good days when I was sure we were right and the days I still feared Armeggedon, came and went .
I am in a good place right now, I still am not sure what I beleive as far as the afterlife, if there is one, or if God and Jesus are the same person , but even if I never know those answers in this life, I am happy and content for the most part, and I am glad I am not longer part of the JW's.
Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to give you an idea my experience and how the patience of my husband paid off. Just give her time, and I would suggest letting her read the WT's own bullcrap articles from way back, as a start. I think it kind of put the seed of doubt in my mind, because I saw the WT for what it really is,,,,,,,,, just a few men , with some of their own ideas , not God's.
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Agent Double- O- Soul
Hiya Winston. and you too, Mrs Q. No Inner Party Here thats for sure. Just watch out for the Telescreens, though. coz "Big Bethel is watching you!!" ( laughs ) Seriously , though, welcome to the Bro'hood.
Best wishes....
00 - Soul.