Posts by Onager

47

Hoping I can stay

by allyson in

i started studying with witnesses about 21 months ago.

started going to meetings in march 2017, went to the memorial and attended my first convention.

i love it.

The Witnesses that you are meeting and who are making you feel welcome are doing so because of Conditional Love. They love you on the condition that you do everything that the Organisation says, and act and think the same way as everyone else in the congregation.

And even if you try and conform to their ways once it is known that you are Trans, the love will stop.

When I was a JW there were two gay men in my congregation. One was a pioneer who tried to deny he was gay. He ended up having a nervous breakdown, leaving the JW's and going "ultra gay". But the few times I saw him in the street he looked tormented.

The other chap was a study who tried to change himself to conform, then tried to be accepted as gay but still study but who was eventually driven out of the congregation by the passive aggression showed towards him.

I know gay and trans are very different, but they're not to the JW's. They're "Wrong" in their eyes and will never be accepted or accommodated.

23

Key to some universal truths—Queen Jezebel has it!

by venus in

even wicked queen jezebel knew ‘what is good and what is bad’ because she described those who hurt others for no reason as “good-for-nothing.” (1 king 21:10).

from her comment the following universal truths can be discerned:.

1) everyone is endowed with the knowledge of good and bad, which makes god’s communication with humans unnecessary.

Onager

EH?!

So your dad plans before opening a hotel, therefore God exists?

Are any of your dad's hotels like "Hotel Earth" where guests randomly get killed by a wide variety of means?

Do your dad's hotels have water you can drink and water that makes your bowels explode?

The point is, the Earth doesn't show any signs of being planned. The whole universe shows no signs of being planned. There are stars exploding all over the place, whole galaxies crashing into each other, asteroids whizzing about. It's complete chaos.

Religions give rise to atheists only in specific cases. The Mormons put forward their idea of God, the atheist disproves and therefore doesn't believe in that god and so on. But everyone is born an atheist. Atheism is the baseline. It's only from there that people learn about Gods and religions. That's why if you're born in America you'll most likely be a Christian. If you're born in Pakistan you'll be a Muslim.

If humans started off with knowledge of God then there would either only be one religion or the religions would be evenly mixed across the globe.

23

Key to some universal truths—Queen Jezebel has it!

by venus in

even wicked queen jezebel knew ‘what is good and what is bad’ because she described those who hurt others for no reason as “good-for-nothing.” (1 king 21:10).

from her comment the following universal truths can be discerned:.

1) everyone is endowed with the knowledge of good and bad, which makes god’s communication with humans unnecessary.

Onager

"Religions and scriptures are humans questions and human answers."

I agree completely. I just disagree with the God existing bit.

23

Key to some universal truths—Queen Jezebel has it!

by venus in

even wicked queen jezebel knew ‘what is good and what is bad’ because she described those who hurt others for no reason as “good-for-nothing.” (1 king 21:10).

from her comment the following universal truths can be discerned:.

1) everyone is endowed with the knowledge of good and bad, which makes god’s communication with humans unnecessary.

Onager

1) Everyone is endowed with the knowledge of good and bad, which makes God’s communication with humans unnecessary.

Very true. Do you think the Hebrews arriving at Mount Sinai just suddenly realised they'd been doing things wrong?

"Dude, I've been totally coveting your ass. My bad."

"No worries dude, I've been dishonouring my father for, like, AGES man! I'm, like, totally bad too dude."

7

writings of Conan Doyle.

by zeb in

jw
friends

i have just began to read the above.

yes he is the man who created the fictional detective sherlock holmes.

in his first story called the "scarlett letter" he deals with (i stress this is fiction) with a couple escaping from the new paradise just founded in utah of the mormons.

Onager

I thought exactly the same when I read A Study in Scarlett. This is what a country governed by JW's would look like except with fewer wives per husband.

38

Is There Any Thing That Would Make A JW SERIOUSLY Question Their Religion?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i realize that jehovah’s witnesses have been dumbed down for long time now.

.

still, i think there must be something that would make them really question their beliefs, even their life.. i think that if witnesses were told they could take blood or that disfellowshipping was unloving, they might stop and take a hard look at everything they have sacrificed their lives for.. i know the organization has muddled these subjects before but the i think even die hard witnesses might start to second guess the governing body..

Onager

The only thing I can think of to answer the OP's question "Is there anything that would make a JW seriously question their religion" is god actually revealing himself in the heavens and saying "The Catholics were right all along."

I really can't think of anything other than a universal divine revelation.

55

11-5-17 Warwick Protest Photos

by thebrokenkite in

let the reader use discernment:.

i was disfellowshipped in june of last year.

while i've been awake for nearly a year, i still often feel groggy.

Onager

Hi Heather Collins,

Do you know one of the key signs of an internet ranter? Multiple posts without waiting for replies. Posting three times in a row says (to me) that you're here to preach, not to listen. This is a forum, a place for discussion.

The other thing I'd like to address is your false dichotomy of protesting with placards being the only viable form of activism when you say “What did you do? How did you help? What did your signs look like?”. It has been said that the best way to defeat the organization is to live a happy life. There are many, maybe even a majority, EX-JW’s who disagree with active protest and do their bit to help in other ways, living happy lives, having lively discussions on forums… lots of different ways.

Personally I can’t make up my mind as to whether active protests are a good thing or not, even after reading thebrokenkite’s well written and reasoned post, but I do know that It’s not the only positive course of action.

21

Is the Bible truly inspired?

by MrRoboto in

so i was reading the book of daniel, starting with chapter 4 (nebuchadnezzar's famous tree chopping/banding dream where the 7 times is introduced) but i noticed that when you don't cherry pick verses and just read straight thru - it really seems like some children's book that was poorly written.

even though the borg says that this book as written by daniel, chapter 4 is clearly written by "king nebuchad·nezzar to all the peoples, nations, and language groups dwelling in all the earth" after the tree chopping business.

) of the rest of the chapters seem to be written in 3rd person (odd, if you are writing about your experiences).

Onager

Ok.... So Jahveh and Josua Yahshua are the two most powerful beings in the universe? And they both truly love us? And the true scripture(tm) in the bible is their message to us?

Can you point me to the verse in the bible that commands us to boil water before drinking it?

Do you know how many people, mainly children, have died, horribly, because of water born diseases?

Whatever you call them your gods have no power, no agency in this world and certainly no love for us.

19

Who is Jesus?

by Jarred K in

new to the forum.

hope today finds everyone well.

i’m not super familiar with jw theology concerning jesus.

Onager

Hi Venus, I think we're saying the same thing? That the gospels are stories made up by men? The point I was making is that the story is probably based around a real human being who would have been a wandering prophet (of which there were many) and who probably ran foul of the Roman law (also not uncommon) and may even said some memorable stuff but who was definitely not the son of god or possessed of magical powers.

19

Who is Jesus?

by Jarred K in

new to the forum.

hope today finds everyone well.

i’m not super familiar with jw theology concerning jesus.

Onager

I like Christopher Hitchin's reasoning that there probably was a real person that the Jesus story is based on because if it was being made up wholesale then the writer wouldn't have invented a census that can be proved not to have happened just to make a man who was known as Jesus of Nazareth somehow be born in Bethlehem.

If it was completely made up then you'd just have your man be from Bethlehem.

Also, the resurrection account is only attested to by women. If the story was completely made up then you wouldn't have the key event that proves that your man is more than a man verified by the least regarded members of society at the time.

This coupled with the fact that the rest of the story does fit into the mythological format that was widely used points (conclusively to me) to an actual historical person being fitted into a mythological story narrative.