OneEyedJoe

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Posts by OneEyedJoe

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  58

  A Question for Underground Apostates, How Many Are There?

  by Village Idiot in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i first came to this forum i was of the belief that those of us who were still in due to family reasons were few in numbers perhaps one in a thousand in the jws.

  soon i came to the realization that there were many more.

  we have dozens of posters here who are mentally out but still in.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Because of the steadily increasing levels of apostate-related paranoia and propaganda that's constantly force-fed to congregations across the planet on a daily basis.
  

  Has there been much of an increase? To me it seems about the same as ever.
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  12

  How did you find the truth? - the loaded question.

  by user100 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  had dinner this weekend with a jw family and met a bunch of new jws.

  one of them who was not very talkative at all and out of the blue asked me how i found "the truth".

  i answered how my family has always been starting with my great grandfather.. then he clarified his question.. he said something about how this is a great question and people always talk about their spiritual heritage.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Whenever I'm asked a loaded question like that, I've taken to restating their question without the phrase "the truth." I just can't stomach it to support someone calling it the truth these days. I honestly think that's the worst part about being around JWs these days - the constant "the truth" this and "the truth" that. It's gotten to the point that I have to excuse myself to stay sane.

  I've also found that honesty in this situation can be a fun way of shutting people up. "How did you find the truth?" "Well my parents raised me as a JW so I didn't have much choice." Usually you get an uncomfortable silence and a quizzical look before they change the subject. Most JWs' faith is so thin that they're too scared to explore a topic if it looks like it's not going to result in getting 100% positive feedback about the cult.

  Also, another fun way to approach this type of situation is if you find someone that was recruited and you find out (as is often the case) that it was after some traumatic event in their life try saying something like "Wow, you're really lucky you found the JWs. After something like that, I bet it was hard to think clearly - if things had been a little different you might've ended up a mormon or something!"
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  48

  Just woke up

  by Doctor Who in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  new to the site.

  currently i am a ministerial servant and was told i was appointed to be an elder.

  i told the brothers i was not ready for that assignment.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Welcome! I hope you'll find this to be as good a source of support in a difficult time as I've found it to be. My advice would be to take your time and go slow. As it turns out, Armageddon isn't imminent, so you've got time to figure out how you want to handle things as you come to grasp fully the situation you're in.

  Go slow especially with trying to wake up any family. If you push too hard you could succeed only in alienating them and pushing them further in.

  I wish you the best of luck in your journey!
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  27

  Does anybody know what the "special broadcast" to all the Kingdom Halls (canada) is about on march 22?

  by hoser in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  heard about it today just not sure if i should go

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  OneEyedJoe

  It's the zone visit like we in the states got in November. Basically a couple GB members and helpers go on random rants and do puff pieces about how great everything is going in the ministry with the carts and real estate development.
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  15

  Donations

  by FadeToBlack in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i think that since i am the sole wage-earner in our household, i need to make it clear to my wife that i don't want any of my hard-earned wages going to the wt.

  i know she makes a monthly contribution to an animal shelter and i am fine with that.

  what do you think?

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  OneEyedJoe

  FTB -

  That's pretty rough. Sorry to hear it's gone that way for you. It's probably a small consolation, but it's not your fault. It's actually quite commendable that you're continuing to stick it out, but make sure to take care of yourself too.
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  58

  A Question for Underground Apostates, How Many Are There?

  by Village Idiot in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i first came to this forum i was of the belief that those of us who were still in due to family reasons were few in numbers perhaps one in a thousand in the jws.

  soon i came to the realization that there were many more.

  we have dozens of posters here who are mentally out but still in.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  I just realized that my earlier post might be a little pessimistic. I was only thinking of the regular attendees. There are probably 3 or 4 that show up occasionally. Now they certainly aren't all awake. Most likely they're still indoctrinated but just know that they're unhappy in the cult so they stay away. One might be awake though.

  My estimate would be that on any given Sunday there's probably about 0.25-0.5% in attendance that are properly awake. Obviously the awake ones are going to attend much less, so I wouldn't say that's a small number.
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  58

  A Question for Underground Apostates, How Many Are There?

  by Village Idiot in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i first came to this forum i was of the belief that those of us who were still in due to family reasons were few in numbers perhaps one in a thousand in the jws.

  soon i came to the realization that there were many more.

  we have dozens of posters here who are mentally out but still in.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OneEyedJoe

  I'm still in. I'm fairly sure that there are no other apostates in my congregation as such, but there are a few in their late tees that I suspect are destined to wake up once they get out of their parent's house.
• 
  15

  Donations

  by FadeToBlack in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i think that since i am the sole wage-earner in our household, i need to make it clear to my wife that i don't want any of my hard-earned wages going to the wt.

  i know she makes a monthly contribution to an animal shelter and i am fine with that.

  what do you think?

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  OneEyedJoe

  You might do a comparison of charities. Does the animal shelter publish public statements so you know where the money is going? Does jw.Borg? Is the animal shelter using money to pay sex abuse settlements? If you think you can bring it up without creating another problem you could show the $13.5 million judgement that resulted in the cult's failure to provide the court with required documents and to provide loesch to testify. That judgement would certainly have been lower had they complied, so if they've got that much cash to waste, they don't need your hard earned money.
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  20

  Jw Business Cards??? Really???

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i got one from my mother.

  when the hell did they start doing this???.

  i'm guessing this is the way they're going to do it eventually.

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  OneEyedJoe

  Berrygerry - I was thinking of copying everything but the qr code. That way they'd be unwittingly sending people to jwfacts and they wouldn't just get tossed right away.
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  20

  Jw Business Cards??? Really???

  by Nosferatu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i got one from my mother.

  when the hell did they start doing this???.

  i'm guessing this is the way they're going to do it eventually.

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  OneEyedJoe

  I'm thinking of getting some made with a jwfacts qr code and replacing the ones behind the literature counter.