Internet...the best revenge against the Watchtower

by DevonMcBride 51 Replies latest jw friends

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  boa

  Heh heh....I chuckle cuz I have a possibly soon-to-be exjw at my house this very day - he's thiiiiiiis close to breakin' out.
  I didn't see any q's for this thread, so I'll simply add a bit of a story to the Internet being the best revenge against the Watchtower......

  I don't really consider myself 'against' the Watchtower but arriving one day at this site WAS the key needed to help me leave the borg and getting deassimilated.

  Wifee also able to exit together with me due to information received here and through Franz' books and subsequently the courage to act on it.

  I have several friends and a few family members heading out bit by bit due to all of the above.

  boa
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  Steve Lowry

  I'm very encouraged by your post, BOA. It seems the other night in chat, that you became aggitated after I asked you some tough questions about leaving the group and possibly showing the way to others in your family. I am fully awre that this is by NO means an easy task and I repsect your decision to move forward. After that encounter I realize that the chat room may not be the place to get into this kind of dialogue with folks, so in the future when in chat, I'll wait for others who may be questioning to start the dialogue about thier personal struggles with the watchtower Society. Anyway, I meant no offense at my questions to you, I just think it was ill timed.

  Good luck,

  Steve
• 

  Undaunted Danny

  There are 2 million EX JW's including tens of thousands dedicated to exposing the WT$ for the fraud that it is.I am proud to serve in our mighty army.
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  zugzwang

  For me what the internet and this site and others like it did was it helped me see that I wasn't crazy. They helped me see that the unthinkable (that the WTS was corrupt) was in fact a reality. If it had not been for the internet and this site and others I would probably still be living in fear. Fearing that God would destroy me for the sin of questioning "his organization." Now that fear is greatly reduced, near to the point of being gone completely. This is due to seeing and hearing and reading about others (other one time "loyal JW's") who also could no longer engage in the self deception that one must engage in once one has all of the facts. So what is the impact of the internet and sites such as this? Well, if this site has helped even one person (and it has- me) then it has been beneficial. And following the 6 degrees of separation theory, each person affected by this site and others, is bound to have an effect on others as well. Will cults always exist? Yes. Will JW's always exist? In one form or another, yes. Will they continue to change and evolve as circumstances dictate? All successful institutions do and the WTS will have to do the same. They always have and they will continue to do so. Take for example the recent restructuring of the corporations that the WTS uses, and the removal of the GB members from any association with the legal end of matters. It's all in preparation for the legal storm ahead. Will the WTS survive? If their past record is any indication then yes they will survive. But with every shake up at the WTS (1914, 1925, 1941, 1975, 1995) usually there is a great disappointment which follows and then a great exodus. The internet may serve the purpose of giving those persons who are a part of the next great exodus a place to go for comfort and understanding and community. For that reason I would say that the internet will continue to have an effect upon the future of the WTS.
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  azaria

  I haven't read all the responses yet, but will later. I do have to go but did want to respond. I'm thankful for sites like this. When I first wanted to find out about the witnesses quite a few years ago I went to H2O and then I found this site just over a year ago. All I knew about the witness was what my parents had told me. I thought them an odd people, with odd ideas, who wore odd clothes, going door to door. But I had a strong sense that something wasn't right about this belief. There was a lot of arguing, that I had my head in the sand, that this was the truth and it was one of the things that tore our family apart. I was glad to move out when I turned 20. Thankfully my three brothers and I aren't witnesses. My father passed away so now my mother is the only witness in our family. I can't imagine how she feels. She must feel so alone because her brothers and sisters are there for her just to pick her up to go to all the meetings. They don't socialize with her. I've asked her to ask them for tea at her place so she would have company, but all she ever says is that they have their own lives. Don't witnesses ever have fun? What I have learned coming here is to be more tolerant, that it's the religion, not the people that I dislike. I did meet a a couple of witnesses that I liked, but I met a few that I really disliked, very rigid, In the end I think that my own faith became stronger because of it. I looked into things a lot more. But in the end it's the condition of ones heart not head. You can have all the information but if you don't have a loving heart you don't have anything.
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  Mary

  something on the Big Boards is somehow going to have an effect on the success of JWs and the WT. It doesn't . And it Won't.

  I disagree as we can see that the internet has been having an effect on the Borg for several years now. Without boards like this one, I would have never known that Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BCE, instead of 607 BCE; I would not know the name of Ray Franz or what he went through as a member of the Governing Body, and I would have thought that Satan was trying to "get to me", had it not been for this board showing me that this is not the 'one true religion.'

  While the Organization will probably never dissolve, I don't think it'll grow in leaps and bounds like in times past. Virtually all the growth is in third world countries where people don't have access to the internet and have nothing to reference the WT teaching to.
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  Stefanie

  Getting online was the first step for me. Making freinds online and realzing that there was more to the world than the WTS.
• 

  Badger

  Before I ran into this site, I was worried sick about being inactive and on the outs unofficially with everyone who I thought was my world.

  Since, I'm a happy fader who now has almost no ties to the org anymore. Whereas DFing would have been tough for me to swallow, now It's scarcely an afterthought.

  This site helped the WTS lose a "cherished brother." That's an impact, however slight.
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  talesin

  First, it somewhat negates the power and effectiveness of disfellowshipping and shunning. Once, people were alone. Now, they are just click away from a world-wide community

  YES!

  On another note, I have a friend (not connected to WT) who I was surprised to learn reads this site and others, out of interest. He was just surfing religious websites, and started reading up on JW (before I knew him).

  He is horrified by what goes on within the bOrg, and does everything he can to 'anti-witness' to anyone he knows who is contemplating any type of association with the WT. He feels it is a most dangerous cult, and actively discourages any and all from listening to one word they have to say. He even removes the magazines from doctor's offices and other public places. It's surprising how little folks know or care about JW, but the internet is changing that to some degree as well.

  I have found that, in the last 10 years, a lot more people are aware of the 'real' activities of the JW. A lot of folks I have worked with in the mental health field are very aware of the depression and problems with JW youth, as they have a disproportionate number of 'youth at risk' who are JW. One Social Worker friend said that at least 1 out of every 10 teens she deals with is from a JW family, and she was astounded by this because the JW represents such a small percentage of society.

  talesin
• 

  SAHS

  Will Sites like this turn out to be the eventual demise of the WTBTS? Or will their end be possibly from a plethora of present/future legal cases? Or will it be simply from overwhelming apathy in the Western world? Or maybe a combination of all these?

  Well, I honestly don?t know. But one thing I do know for certain: One of the most powerful things is KNOWLEDGE. May it be put to good use.

  ?SAHS