The overlapping group thing woke me up. Elder of 14 years MS for the previous 10, pioneer for most of those years. Still stuck in a fade right now.
Reasons for doubting.
by New day 39 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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whathappened
Thank you for sharing your story. It gives us hope that our loved ones still in will one day awaken also. -
elderINewton
Sabin to your question "what is it easier for us to say, "I don't believe this is Gods organization, or I don't believe God would approve of protecting child molesters". it's the same thing is it not."
Personally I would tend to the latter, but it is the same thing.
I'm always left wondering how the Jews would likely stone a child molester yet we send them door to door. I don't think Christ would approve.
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James Jack
Overlapping Generations in 2010 was a real eye opener for me and the wife.
What is kind a neat by not serving is that the friends without any titles have been more open to me and letting their hair down by frank and open speech. We cuss a little bit, drink more and have a really good times together!
Recently, I noticed a Single Sister in her 30's had gotten 2 tattoo's. I was the first to notice(she told me she got them 2 months earlier), I said "your secret is safe with me".
The Elders found out from her father, she was called to the back room for a meeting. I told her to tell them(yeah I prepped her what to say), "Tell them you are a little depressed being a single parent, but Jehovah knows I am doing all I can".
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Ding
What scares me are all the JWs who have lived through so many doctrinal flip-flops and swallow them all as "new light" without being troubled at all... -
OnTheWayOut
Good for you, New day. Resigning as an elder is probably psychologically tougher than just fading out for non-elders. The ones who do, typically are not caught up in the title, but want to do the right thing. And they notice that something is not "the right thing."
I left before the 2008 flip in definition of "generation" from "the wicked" to "the anointed." I swear that would have been enough for me to walk out had I not done so already. Even if I am wrong and would have stayed, I would have got up from my chair loudly laughing about "overlapping generation" during that WT study article and never walked back in.
The current money situation could have caused the same thing for me- they take all the money away from congregations and say they need it for the worldwide building projects, then they put all the worldwide building projects on hold because there isn't enough money. "Ha, they sure burned us there. Won't get fooled again, bye all." That would be my phrase as I headed out the door.
"Obey at all costs" might not have gotten to me, as it sounds like what they have always wanted even if they didn't form the words that way before. But I always thought I would examine everything for myself anyway, and would have ignored that request. My only problem doing that (and the same for many who stay) is that they think they are examining everything for themselves, but they exclusively (or nearly so) only use Watchtower materials and fall for the flawed logic.
Even their current explanation of "overlap generation" uses the short-lived idea of "wicked people" as "our" former belief, so that they can act as if they are so much more enlightened now, and if anyone wants to scoff at "overlap generation," they can say it's much "light-brighter" than what "we" used to believe. Thus they can ignore decades of believing in the "1914 Generation."
Anyway, good luck to you moving forward toward more freedom.
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New day
Thanks to all who responded to my post. Sabin, you make a very interesting point about how you think that maybe those not in the limelight might find it easier to fade. Of course, there is always the potential for gossip, "what was he up to?" Some in the cong have been standoffish. Not helped by my wife's health problems so she has missed many meetings. She told me the other day (and she is a true believer) that it all seems so" performance based". She's not visible so, by implication, possibly bad association. -
Beth Sarim
I'd say those ''hard core'' ones who have been in the Borg 45-50 plus years will swallow everything up the Borg says as ''new light''. I hate to say it, but they will never ''wake-up''.
The have been in the ''Truth'' for so long, that they have invested half a century into something which they can never, ever be told something is ''wrong'' no matter how false it could be proven. That's because that's all the know.
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New day
I know it has been addressed in other posts here but I also cringed at the morning worship video in jw tv which praised David Splaine's "masterful"explanation of the generation teaching in a recent broadcast. As we used to say as kids, "this guy was missing on the day God gave out the brains." -
Alive!
"So performance based"
How true.