Posts by Divergent

18

Scripture fatigue

by New day in

i wondered why i felt so fatigued over many years from hearing the same things again and again at the meetings.

even the scriptures become too familiar.

a few days ago i quickly read through all the gospels and realised i knew all the verses in detail.

I always wondered if the Bible was really inspired of God, couldn't he have done a better job? Why on earth does everything have to be so confusing & complicated? Why the heck do we have to flip all over the place, looking for scriptures here & there, when the Bible could have been arranged in a more logical way? Why is it so difficult to use the Bible to explain / defend our faith? Why are there so many inconsistencies & controversies in the Bible? Why do God's laws & standards change from time to time in the Bible? Why are Bible "prophecies" vague & unconvincing? Why do people get stumbled by reading the Bible? Why is it so easy to challenge & dispute the Bible? Why does reading the Bible result in more than 40,000 Christian denominations? What's the point of having an "inspired" book when even Christians themselves can't make sense of it???

If I was a loving God writing a book that is to serve as a guide for my children whom I deeply treasure, I would write it in such a way that it is logical, uncomplicated, clear, concise, convincing, conclusive, straight to the point, leaving no room for any misinterpretation, dispute, or doubt!

Read this & form your own conclusions

25

The new brchoure

by Sabin in

the gestapo body, brought out a brochure, i believe it was called return to jehovah.

in it they gave 3 reasons why some-one left the borganization.

if i remember 1 was because the person is angry at some one in the cong, or something along those lines.

Divergent

The 3 reasons:

1. Anxiety

2. Hurt feelings

3. Guilt

The reasons were irrelevant to me, except for the hurt feelings part. But that was not the main reason either. My main reasons were:

1. Gross misinterpretation & misapplication of scripture / man-made rules - 2 witness rule, blood, organ transplants, etc.

2. False prophecies - 1914, 1975, millions now living will never die, etc.

3. Changes in doctrine / flip-flops - this generation, etc.

4. Scandals - Child abuse, Malawi, UN, etc.

5. Hypocrisy - JW's are supposed to be "no part of the world". Then why is the organization "riding on the back of the wild beast" by being affiliated with the UN???

6. Lack of remose for actions - The organization has NEVER once sincerely apologized for the damaging effects of its policies even after backtracking or being proven wrong! On a side-note, neither does it apologize to those who they are trying to reach out to in this brochure. Something like: "We are deeply sorry if you have been affected in any way by the actions of some fellow believers. Please let us know what we can do to help!" A sincere apology goes a long way. Sadly, this is not the case in WT-land

7. Lack of love in the congregation - The brochure addresses "hurt feelings", but misses the root cause of the problem altogether! There wouldn't be hurt feelings if there was true love in the first place! The brochure attempts to put the blame on the individual who was hurt, RATHER then telling the individual that if they return, the elders would do their utmost to address any problems with the individuals involved!

8. You can NEVER do enough - The 2nd part of the brochure is titled: "Anxiety - Hard-Pressed in Every Way". My problem was that the congregation WAS the source of that very anxiety & causing me to be hard-pressed! Asking me to "DO MORE" does not help!!!

9. I couldn't believe it anymore - I couldn't believe the common belief that God would destroy 99.99% of the world's population at Armageddon & only JW's would be saved. Wait... NOT all JW's would be saved - those "spiritually weak" ones would probably be destroyed as well. That DOES NOT fit the description of a loving God at all! I realized that the only reason why I was a witness was because I was born-in. If I was not, there was no way that I would be!

10. I am NOT proud to be a JW anymore - It is an undeniable fact that the organization has more negative points rather than good - If you ask people what their impression of JW's is, would it be more positive or negative? If you think about it, the organization has brought more reproach upon God's name rather than glory, by means of all their scandals & man-made rules! They can't blame Satan as they are the ones shooting themselves in the foot!

23

"Don't think too much...."

by Tornintwo in

jw
friends

a couple of middle aged jw sisters dropped round unannounced the other day, they were only being kind i suppose, after some awkward silences i voiced a couple of my issues with the religion, (the safe ones), sort of an explanation as to why i'm no longer attending, namely: everyone else will die, lack of support for young ones, mistreatment/judgementalism by prominent ones who get away with it because 'they're imperfect and we have to wait on jehovah' etc.

well, after sympathizing and telling me horror stories about awful elders and their own kids' issues in the past (how some left the truth, had bitter divorces from fellow witnesses etc) they then begged me to 'come back to jehovah', 'he misses me' apparently.

finally, the more pushy one summed it up with 'you're thinking too much, it's not good for you', 'some issues you just have to put in a drawer and forget about....'.. hmm nice reasoning sisters, theocratic school training at its finest!

Divergent

some issues you just have to put in a drawer and forget about....'.

As for this, I would say: Well, that’s exactly what the brothers in Australia did by not reporting child abuse cases to the authorities. Guess what happened eventually? (proceeds to highlight shocking facts about the ARC)

23

"Don't think too much...."

by Tornintwo in

jw
friends

a couple of middle aged jw sisters dropped round unannounced the other day, they were only being kind i suppose, after some awkward silences i voiced a couple of my issues with the religion, (the safe ones), sort of an explanation as to why i'm no longer attending, namely: everyone else will die, lack of support for young ones, mistreatment/judgementalism by prominent ones who get away with it because 'they're imperfect and we have to wait on jehovah' etc.

well, after sympathizing and telling me horror stories about awful elders and their own kids' issues in the past (how some left the truth, had bitter divorces from fellow witnesses etc) they then begged me to 'come back to jehovah', 'he misses me' apparently.

finally, the more pushy one summed it up with 'you're thinking too much, it's not good for you', 'some issues you just have to put in a drawer and forget about....'.. hmm nice reasoning sisters, theocratic school training at its finest!

Divergent

My response would be: "That's ironic... coming from a person who's not thinking at all!"

Some might feel that this is too harsh though...

17

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ERRRRRRRRRR BODY.!!!

by brandnew in

jw
friends

just wanna say.....im thankfull for y'all....n stuff

Divergent

Happy thanksgiving! (raises paw & gives puppy a high five)

47

Elder harassed my mom and asked for donation

by kaik in

my mom had surgery last month and she developed complication and had to be on antibiotics to treat infection.

so, she is recovering slowly, but things was tough on her and she was not attending kh or went to assembly two weeks ago.

nonetheless, elder showed up at her place and instead providing her with comfort he started to harass her that her faith is weak, she does not put trust in jah, etc.

Divergent

Welcome to the board, Irish Dame! The lack of love is one of the factors which made me wake up too. Everything is superficial & conditional. I have drastically faded myself & in the midst of doing so, found that those who I thought were my true friends were actually not!

25

Is the JW Broadcasting having good results for the Org?

by thewalker in

jw
friends

when speaking with brothers, i can see they really like the jw.org site more than magazines and books.

i can imagine them publishing more and more articles and news as it's more dynamic and creates a sense of alert with brothers looking for new articles to read instead of the boring monthly magazines.. but when it comes to the jw broadcasting, it's something different.

even elders admit they aren't watching the monthly broadcastings.

Divergent

Nicolaou... misclick, perhaps? Did that unintentionally a couple of times while on a smartphone

JW Broadcasting? I think it's great! Everytime something crazy is aired or a GB member says something stupid, it would get people thinking. The overlapping generations teaching is something which stumbled many, hence the org sees the need to explain it repeatedly. Problem is - the more they attempt to do so, the more people would see that it makes no sense! Great job indeed!

47

Elder harassed my mom and asked for donation

by kaik in

my mom had surgery last month and she developed complication and had to be on antibiotics to treat infection.

so, she is recovering slowly, but things was tough on her and she was not attending kh or went to assembly two weeks ago.

nonetheless, elder showed up at her place and instead providing her with comfort he started to harass her that her faith is weak, she does not put trust in jah, etc.

Divergent

Lovesjehovah, if you are appalled at the audacity of this elder, you haven't seen anything yet. For example, google Jehovah's Witness together with elder & sex abuse and you would be even more appalled. Also, search for information on the Australian Royal Commission & Jehovah's Witnesses. If you really love Jehovah as I do, you would be ashamed to be in this organization!

24

Churches helping neighbors instead of JW"s

by life is to short in

last week where i live we had the worst wind storm in the history of our area.

we had gust of 71 miles an hour from 3 in the afternoon till 8 at night.

it was like a hurricane at times the wind did sound like a freight train.

Divergent

Bangalore:

*** w51 11/1 pp. 643-644 Charity in Christendom ***
A train derails and crashes into the headlines. Or perhaps a factory explosion covers the front page. On such occasions or when flood, fire, earthquake or windstorm make many homeless and rob others of life or limb, as surely as the press is there to report it, so will other familiar figures turn up. The community chest will be there, the Red Cross with its blood bank will be there, priests fully outfitted with pious face and last rites will be there and politicians will rush back from a Florida vacation so that they can be there—all to offer charitable help.

But let the disaster be on a smaller scale where the returns in publicity are not so promising; then the widely acclaimed charitable organizations do not flock to the scene. It is clear that they choose the publicized tragedies, that their giving may be publicized along with the event. The motive of attention and credit perches plainly on their every “good deed”. Contributors to the community chest receive a red feather; to the Red Cross, a button; to disabled war veterans, a poppy. A religious cardinal is considered a particularly appropriate individual to open a charity drive. He is photographed performing his contribution act, then his benign generosity is re-echoed from coast to coast through the newspapers reporting it. Sometimes it seems as if such figures scheme to see how little they can give and yet receive the maximum credit, praise and attention. Finally, after all of the shouting is over, greedy charity racketeers move in to scoop up the lion’s share, leaving only scraps for the supposed objects of the “charity”.

It's ironic that the WT does not offer any physical help at all, yet criticizes those who do!

Jesus advocated using one’s substance for preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. (Matt. 19:21, NW) He specifically prohibited advertising his acts of mercy in curing the sick when the only return would mean self-credit to him personally. (Luke 5:12-14; 8:49-56) On one occasion the apostles Peter and John caused a lame man to walk rather than heed his request for money, which they explained they did not have for that purpose.—Acts 3:1-8.

They completely miss the point that Jesus & the apostles offered practical help - curing the sick, healing the lame, etc. What practical help do JW's offer to those in their community? The "preaching work" does not count as it is neither practical nor helpful. In times of crisis, people need immediate physical help, not delayed help that is supposed to come at an unknown time! Telling people that God would destroy 99.99% of the world's population to solve mankind's problems & that the only way to be saved is to become a JW but even then salvation is not guaranteed - that is supposed to be good news??? What a depressing message!

47

Elder harassed my mom and asked for donation

by kaik in

my mom had surgery last month and she developed complication and had to be on antibiotics to treat infection.

so, she is recovering slowly, but things was tough on her and she was not attending kh or went to assembly two weeks ago.

nonetheless, elder showed up at her place and instead providing her with comfort he started to harass her that her faith is weak, she does not put trust in jah, etc.

Divergent

Seems like donations have dried up, thus the harassment for funds. I take it as a good sign that people ARE waking up & not donating, hence the KH is in need of money. Conclusion: God is not blessing their work... if he really was then they wouldn't be begging for money!