Bubba of the Donkey Punchers MC
RFLMAO...... thanks Valis
Brad
outbutnotdown
JoinedPosts by outbutnotdown
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57
Is The WTBS Really Crumbling?
by exjdub inthere have been posts and topics about the wtbs imploding and feuding factions in bethel etc.
some have said that the end is near for the wtbs.
is this just wishful thinking...or do you really think that this is a reality?
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outbutnotdown
I personally think their numbers will continue to dwindle but they will likely never disappear as an organization. There are too many emotinally disturbed people out there that THINK that they can't exist without it. (My family being one such group of people..... )
(I was going to write more about my opinion, but my desire to predict their downfall kind of made me feel like I was being like them. Scary thought. On to more positive topics......... )
Brad
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27
1975 - Love it or hate it?
by outbutnotdown ini find it quite interesting that, due to minimus' thread about "the end", there were a lot of comments about 1975. everybody who made comments about it here didn't seem very bothered by the fact that they had such high hopes for the year and were let down by yet another false jw prediction.
yet the borg chastises and condemns as being arrogant those same people who may have drifted away because of it.
to me, that says a lot about how, even subconsciously, great it must be to be out of that high control organization.
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outbutnotdown
I find it quite interesting that, due to minimus' thread about "the end", there were a lot of comments about 1975. Everybody who made comments about it here didn't seem very bothered by the fact that they had such high hopes for the year and were let down by yet another false JW prediction. Yet the borg chastises and condemns as being arrogant those same people who may have drifted away because of it.
To me, that says a lot about how, even subconsciously, great it must be to be out of that high control organization. The ones who were guilty of the false prophecy are bitter and yet the victims of the false prophecy are able to put it in the past so easily.
Makes me believe even more that it is against good mental health and against human nature to be involved in an organization that teaches us delusional thoughts.
Brad
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47
How Many of You Felt That The "End" Would've Been Here By Now???
by minimus infor what it's worth, i never did.
i just never really believed in '75 or any other time.....signed, faithless minimus
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outbutnotdown
Oh yeah, I definitley thought "the end" would be here by now. But hey, I was just a kid. If I still believed it NOW, then I would feel really stupid.
Brad (of the "man I feel sorry for those poor blokes who are still in" class)
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The strange case of my JW mom
by logansrun inmy mother has been a jw for the last forty years.
she attends all the meetings and goes out in service every other saturday.
yet, recently she admitted that:.
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outbutnotdown
It sounds like she just has the JW religion in her life as a social safety net, now. (Which is cool) Maybe she can be a positive influence on some of the less open-minded ones there. People like her are few and far between in that religion, IMO. Most seem to need it to fill a deep-rooted need for acceptance, no matter what the cost to them and the others they judge.
Brad
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14
Should I renounce my baptism to the JW organization?
by outbutnotdown ini got baptized in 1986, when i was 17. i got df'd in 1992, when i was 22.
(april birthday.. df'd early in 1992.... .
i don't want to sound like i am complaining about this next part because i actually have a very happy life right now with very few exceptions/concerns.
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outbutnotdown
Craig,
By the way, I like reading your posts. Always enlightening. But as far as having a reason for invalidating "my baptism"...... does masturbating without admitting it to them count?
'Cause if it does, I'm a shoe-in for renouncing my baptism. LOL
Brad
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122
Do you fear death?
by onacruse in.
the ultimate test of our existence: termination.. i don't fear death...no reservations, no nightmares.. craig
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outbutnotdown
What an interesting conversation between markfromcali and LittleToe.
LT,
You seem to be quick to take comments and classify them into certain specific areas. Had you not mentioned that Mark's comment was Calvinistic, I would have just thought that it just made good sense. (By the way, I still think that it made good sense... )
There are a lot of sayings in this language that are so profound that they become cliches. It is not the fault of the authors that they then become ridiculed as being cliches. It is the people who have made them so.
Mark,
Great comments, bud. I understand what you mean.
Brad
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122
Do you fear death?
by onacruse in.
the ultimate test of our existence: termination.. i don't fear death...no reservations, no nightmares.. craig
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outbutnotdown
Great question!!!!!!
For me, the interesting thing is that I used to FEAR LIFE. And when I was in fear of the life I was in how could I not fear death. Now that I love life..... (and, yes, I do still have everyday stresses, just like everybody else... )...... fearing death has disappeared as well.
Like others, I don't want to rush it, but, hey, when you're happy being alive, what comes after is of little concern. Thanks again for the question.
Brad
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Should I renounce my baptism to the JW organization?
by outbutnotdown ini got baptized in 1986, when i was 17. i got df'd in 1992, when i was 22.
(april birthday.. df'd early in 1992.... .
i don't want to sound like i am complaining about this next part because i actually have a very happy life right now with very few exceptions/concerns.
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outbutnotdown
I got baptized in 1986, when I was 17. I got df'd in 1992, when I was 22. (April birthday.. df'd early in 1992.... )
I don't want to sound like I am complaining about this next part because I actually have a very happy life right now with very few exceptions/concerns. But, this one major decision has been nagging me for awhile and I would like some advice from anybody here, and some of you may have gone through the exact same thing.
Here goes: My life as a child was pretty stressful. I have three older siblings all of whom were regular pioneering by the time I was 16. I always felt pressure, FEAR and GUILT of not being as "good" as them. (I am sure others here can relate to how their parents, whatever their intentions, used GUILT and FEAR on their kids to try to get them to conform.) Also, my father was emotionally unstable and had, by the time I was 17, tried to commit suicide about 10-12 times. (I now know that he was actually just pretending to, but at that age I honestly thought he had cheated death all those times..... ) And, by the way, believe it or not he was in good standing at the Kingdom Hall despite the elders being aware of all this. (sarcasm intended)
So, I went through the questions with the elders and was approved for baptism, even though I, (trying to sift through the emotions that were going on in my head back then to find the most predominate ones), I was doing things that weren't "approved of" and that basically I KNEW that I was getting baptized because of pressure from family and not because of respect for God or anything. It was basically all guilt driven and not love driven. (I see things a lot better now, by the way...)
My family are EXTREME Jw's. Scary, I know, but they have all completely shunned me, and spend no time with my four beautiful children. Oh well, that's their loss..... my children have many POSITIVE influences on them, so that's OK.
What I have been thinking of doing is writing a letter to the WTBTS and say that because of mental duress, I was not in a position to "dedicate my life" to anything/anyone at the time that I did, and that would in effect renounce my ever being associated with them. To be honest, I have already done this mentally anyway, so I guess the deeper reason for me doing so is to try to have my family accept me. In your responses, I would like to make it clear again that I am in a much happier place now than I ever was in that "faith", but the family bond thing must be strong in me, and my renunciation is just that....... a statement that I NEVER WAS a JW. As screwy as it may sound, my family would actually think that that is better than where they picture me now.
Tell me honestly, am I putting too much stock in blood ties, and instead should I just continue on in the positive path I am on, or should I attempt what I am contempalting? Anybody do the same thing or think about it?
Thanks, in advance, for sharing your thoughts with me.
Brad
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15
Before you get baptised do you have to declare how much....
by farmer inmoney you are going to donate to jw?????
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outbutnotdown
Farmer,
Getting off the money topic just a bit...... sorry...... but you posed other issues that I thought it would do well for me to share my experiences with you.
As far as your relative not having to join, that is in fact true, that he will not HAVE to join, but like Little Toe said, the whole association with them will cause problems in his life for years. Here's a part of my experience with them:
My (now) ex-wife and I got disfellowshipped (kicked out of) from that religion for having sex together before we got married. She got re-instated (accepted into their fold again), and I didn't. There was another JW who was interested in my wife, (YES, she was still very much my wife at the time) and was asking her out on dates over and over. The elders, (heads of the church), knew all about it and did NOTHING about it. The guy was never even spoken to by them.
My point is this: These people with supposedly high morals are only ethical to the ones that they choose to be nice to. If you have ANY opportunity to get your relative out of that relationship or better yet, get the girlfriend out of the religion, do so.
They pass themselves off as being ethical people but it is only so if you are "GOOD" in their eyes. Don't let your relative be put in that situation, if at all possible.
Brad