Divergent

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Posts by Divergent

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  15

  Attractive Sisters: what are you lurkers thinking right now?

  by pomo6780 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  dear lurkers, you won't be disappointed by this topic.

  when i was in the org, there was a strict dress code.

  no woman was attractive, and when i was a young witness child i was conditioned to believe every woman in the world must be ugly.

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  Divergent

  Attractive sisters??? There were just a handful in my whole circuit! There were literally only 5 sisters who I felt were truly attractive out of a circuit of around 400 people! And out of the 5, 3 of them are married. So being a teenage boy with raging hormones, JW land was not a good place for me to be
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  46

  What Makes Someone Become a JW?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my excuse is that i was born in the religion.

  but if someone wasn’t, why would they become one?.

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  Divergent

  a watcher:

  Wanting a better life than what this old system has to offer.

  What a depressing outlook on life. I guess you learned nothing at all even after being on this forum for 5 years+
  
  
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  12

  JW.org Featured Artical: When Your Adolescent Questions Your Faith

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  this is one of the featured articals on jw.borg at the moment.

  could it be because the young ones are googling their parents religion?, seeing the bullshit?, and calling their parents out on it?

  i hope so.. https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20120201/adolescent-questions-faith/.

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  Divergent

  For example, if your adolescent balks at attending Christian meetings, try to find out if something else is bothering him. But do so with patience. Little good is accomplished by the parent in the following scenario.
  Son: I just don’t like going to meetings anymore.
  Father: [hostile tone] What do you mean you don’t like going?
  Son: I find them boring, that’s all!
  Father: Is that how you feel about God? You find him boring? Well, that’s just too bad! As long as you live under our roof, you’re going with us—whether you like it or not!
  God requires that parents teach their children about him and that children obey their parents. (Ephesians 6:1) However, you want your child to do more than blindly follow your spiritual routine and reluctantly go with you to Christian meetings. If at all possible, you would like his mind and heart to come along too.
  You have a better chance of accomplishing that if you discern any underlying issues that might be contributing to his attitude. With that in mind, consider how the above conversation could have been handled more effectively.
  Son: I just don’t like going to meetings anymore.
  Father: [calmly] Why do you feel that way?
  Son: I find them boring, that’s all!
  Father: Sitting for an hour or two can be boring. What do you find most challenging about it?
  Son: I don’t know. I guess I just feel like I’d rather be somewhere else.
  Father: Is that how your friends feel?
  Son: Well, that’s just it! I don’t have any—at least not anymore. Ever since my best friend moved away, I feel like there’s no one to talk to! Everyone else is having a good time. I feel so left out! By drawing out the adolescent, the father in the above scenario not only gets to the underlying issue—in this case, loneliness—but also builds trust, thus keeping the door open for further discussions.

  This article brings back memories for me. There was an assembly demo part a couple of years ago featuring this EXACT same conversation. Guess who played the role of the adolescent? ME. That was near to the time where I began to wake up. And the brother who played my father in the demo is now shunning me. Ahh... what a "loving" organization!
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  10

  JW's Dancing at a Special Convention in Indonesia

  by disfellowshipped1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  video: jw's dance at the jakarta, indonesia special convention.

  things have really changed over there in jw land...... holding up phones like lighters now?.

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  Divergent

  jookbeard:

  the publisher rate is just over 26k yet this convention drew in almost double the publisher rate, something doesn't add up

  Special Conventions are ones that include international delegates, hence a large number of those in attendance are from other countries. I can verify this because I have attended such conventions before
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  15

  Making real friends

  by KindEyes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hiya, firstly i’m new to this website, so sorry if this topic has been covered before.

  i have been out of “the truth” for almost one year.

  i live with my non-witness mother, have an amazing boyfriend, work and am in college.

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  Divergent

  Hi KindEyes... this is what I did:

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5694191818506240/found-something-better-truth
  
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  102

  If mathematics teacher made a mistake, would it mean mathematics itself is wrong!

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of god by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

  in either camp, god is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents god, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without god).

  it is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake.

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  Divergent

  venus:

  design means designer.

  And designer means design which means designer of designer which means designer of designer of designer which means... (continues on endlessly)
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  34

  Bringing reproach on Jehovah's name.

  by ScottyRex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have thought long and hard about this, you know in those midnight hours.. you will probably string me alive in what i say, but here you go-.

  i feel that the jw's do have the truth.

  i do agree with the doctrines and biblical exgenesis they propound.i do feel that they have the 'truth' i do understand they are imperfect, and i think they have had to 'refine' their teachings as time has gone on-and change accordingly- i see nothing wrong with this.

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  Divergent

  ScottyRex:

  I have thought long and hard about this, you know in those midnight hours.

  Obviously not long and hard enough
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  15

  Today's Text: Draw Close To God And He Will Draw Close To You???

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wednesday, november 22 .

  draw close to god, and he will draw close to you.—jas.

  by continuing to ponder over spiritual things, we will maintain our enthusiasm for the truth.

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  Divergent

  return of parakeet:

  Scripture edited (and improved) by the parakeet: "If God draws close to you, you will draw close to him."

  Why doesn't God take the first step for a change? Is he shy? Why must we do all the work?

  Some relationships just aren't worth the hassle.

  Exactly! Why does the burden fall on us since we are supposedly lower beings with lesser intelligence & capabilities? Why would a loving God make drawing close to him so unnecessarily difficult & unachievable? Why distance himself to the extent that even his very existence can be questioned & doubted? It doesn't make sense & neither does the JW cult which has no satisfying answers to all these critical & fundamental questions
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  15

  Today's Text: Draw Close To God And He Will Draw Close To You???

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wednesday, november 22 .

  draw close to god, and he will draw close to you.—jas.

  by continuing to ponder over spiritual things, we will maintain our enthusiasm for the truth.

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  Divergent

  Wednesday, November 22

  Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you.—Jas. 4:8.

  By continuing to ponder over spiritual things, we will maintain our enthusiasm for the truth. Thus we will be a source of refreshment to our brothers and to the interested ones we meet in the field service. Meditating deeply on God’s greatest gift, the ransom sacrifice of Jesus, will help us to cherish the privilege of having a close relationship with our Holy Father, Jehovah. (Rom. 3:24) Mark, a South African who spent three years in prison because of his Christian neutrality, said: “Meditation can be compared to an exciting adventure. The more we meditate on spiritual things, the more we discover new things about our God, Jehovah. At times when I’m feeling a little discouraged or anxious about the future, I pick up the Bible and meditate on a passage of Scripture. I feel that it really calms me down.” w15 10/15 4:15

  Any of you ever felt close to Jehovah? I can honestly say that I definitely haven't, even when I was fully in. How can I be expected to draw close to someone who does not interact with me??? Keep in mind that we are already at a great disadvantage by not being able to see or meet Jehovah, so the VERY LEAST he could do is to find a way to interact with us. Unfortunately, he does not do so but still expects us to draw close to him. Does this even make any sense???

  We are asked to draw close to Jehovah by prayer. The problem is that we live in a scientifically advanced age where communication is instantaneous. For example, when I send a WhatsApp message to another person, I would see 2 blue ticks as proof to indicate that my message has been read. When I pray, however, what proof do I receive that my prayer has been heard by Jehovah??? None at all!!!

  JW's say that we receive proof when Jehovah answers prayers. In all my years as a JW, however, I can't recall a single instance whereby I received irrefutable proof that my prayer was answered by Jehovah. Anything viewed as an "answer" could simply be attributed to coincidence rather than something definite & undeniable which can be clearly attributed to Jehovah's hand in the matter. There was no hard evidence at all!

  Speaking about evidence, with the obvious lack of communication & interaction, there is no evidence at all that Jehovah exists in the first place when such proof is critically needed during our time! We are at a very unfair disadvantage. Think about it according to the biblical story:

  Adam & Eve: Perfect human beings who were able to communicate with Jehovah & thus had proof that he existed

  Us: Imperfect human beings with no such proof at all!

  By being asked to "draw close to God" in the absence of any irrefutable proof that he exists, we are in fact being asked to put the cart before the horse. Logically speaking, Jehovah should first of all convince us beyond all doubt that he exists BEFORE asking us to draw close to him! I do not want to turn this into a debate about whether God exists or not, but based on what we were taught as JW's, IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE for a "loving" God to NOT convince people beyond all doubt that he exists then proceed to destroy them for not believing in him!
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  10

  JW gatherings

  by Jules Saturn in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  one of the things i don’t like about witness gatherings is the way everything you have to do or say has to be witness related.

  the songs played at a party couldn’t be played if the lyrical content was “worldly”, and also hearing the same phrases.

  a conversation about something in the news and someone will say “well, we’re living in the last days” or “we’re in this wicked system of things, everything is horrible”.

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  Divergent

  Also, many fun games were often left aside in favour of Bible games. Ever felt the urge to punch the person who says: "Let's play a Bible game!" when those were the LAST games that you wanted to play???