No, not surprised. Through the years I always had questions and doubts, but I wanted to make it work. I had too much time invested. I tried every way I could to ignore the cognitive dissonance and all the "new light" adjustments. The internet, of course, but more than that, reading Crises of Conscience was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
DisArmed
JoinedPosts by DisArmed
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26
Were You Surprised You Remained a JW As Long As You Did?
by minimus inwe have been told there's no place else to go.
and to some degree mentally speaking, that is true especially if you were raised in the religion.
at 50 i was out of the organization's clutches.
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(Not so) Subliminal Shave Your Beard Message
by Funchback ini'm in the middle of dissecting the june 2017 jw broadcasting video.. in the first minute, they summarize a story about a guy who apparently was a one-time bad ass (showed a picture of him with a beard while posing on a chopper).
then, they show him shaving at the exact same moment the narrator is saying how he regained "a clean conscience".. this no-beard obsession by the jws is beyond nuts.. .
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DisArmed
I'm not sure which is worse, JWs obsession with beards or exJWs obsessed with JWs obsession with beards.
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31
Have Jehovah's Witnesses Become Boring?
by David_Jay inokay, that new video about 1975 has got people talking, and yes, the child abuse cases will always require us to remain vigilant...but after my having left in the late 1980s/early 1990s, it seems all the real "exciting" stuff is gone.
when i left the witnesses were still preaching that the "generation that was old enough to understand the events of 1914" will not pass away before armageddon comes.
no blood cards were our badges (not that stupid jw logo) and that card meant what it said, "no blood"!
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DisArmed
"There's nothing really else to talk about." - David_Jay
No truer words...very well written OP...it's over...move forward!
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This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe
by cofty insometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.
various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.
i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.
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DisArmed
A biology professor was questioned by one of his Bible Belt students, "What would it take for you to believe there is a god, him coming down here and kicking you in the ass?" The professor simply replied, "Yep, that would do it." (True story)
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133
Election Post-Mortem
by Simon ini'm sure many people, republicans included, are shocked at the results of the 2016 presidential election.
really, wtf!.
the polls were wrong and although it's tempting to blame voter suppression and fbi interference, that would just avoid looking at the real issues for the loss.
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DisArmed
sparrowdown,
"Trump supporters have all sorts rationalizing on the pussy grab comments.
I mean, why should a little pussy grabbing get in the way of becoming President right?"
Right! Just ask Bill Clinton! 😎
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133
Election Post-Mortem
by Simon ini'm sure many people, republicans included, are shocked at the results of the 2016 presidential election.
really, wtf!.
the polls were wrong and although it's tempting to blame voter suppression and fbi interference, that would just avoid looking at the real issues for the loss.
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DisArmed
My view is much more simplistic. Hillary is just not a very likable person. Charisma, of which she has none, goes a long way in presidential elections. Her husband dripped with it. His successor, Bush, had some in his early campaign, and Obama is one of the most charismatic I've ever seen.
"Van Jones described it as a #whitelash which is a pretty good description." I think it was more middle-class-working-person-tired-of-being-ignored-and-told-what-to-do-without-consultation...lash.
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Elder asking for help
by untruth inthis is my first time posting on here so i’m not sure where to start.
i’m trying to keep it as short as possible since i could expand much more.
i’ve been in the process of waking up in the last year and a half.
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DisArmed
Welcome untruth,
When I left Wally World I didn't try to persuade my wife or two adult children. I didn't make any great proclamation or statement about how I no longer believed. I just slowly stopped going to meetings and participating in any JW activities. I knew if I tried to convince or persuade them, the doors would close and they would shut down and feel they were being courageous and fighting the fine fight. (Sheesh) As they saw my disposition change and saw me prosper with my new lease on life my children started asking questions. I would answer their questions and eventually they came around and are both out of Wally World. It was a process and it took some time but I'm glad I did it that way. My ex was a different story. Even though she is one of the smartest people I know she continues to blindly follow the gb and won't admit to any reasoning when it contradicts them. Good luck with your journey and again, welcome.
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JWs in denial, so sad
by Simon ini had a couple of jw sisters call at my door today.. they started with the bizarre "can we read you a scripture" and read about "death being no more" and asked what i thought of that.. i said it sounded like a mix of disney and dumb.. they then launched into how god was going to put an end to death and wasn't that wonderful?.
i said it would have been more wonderful if he'd not created death in the first place.. they thought man created death by disobeying so i questioned why god couldn't have just forgiven them.
apparently "because he loves us" is supposed to be a satisfactory answer to why he kills us.. i asked how loving it was to kill hundreds of thousands of children in tsunami's, disease and so on.. at this point, they gave up on the 'god is love' and switched to the bible being true no matter what because it was an old book and moses had written the first chapter (says the book).. when i suggested it really wasn't that old and that most of the bible myths were copies of older stories from before it was written they questioned if i studied the bible and theology.. then i told them i was brought up as a jw so knew it was all crap.. now it was game on, they immediately switched to play defence questioning why i'd left (and i think they'd already taken a step back away from "the evil" obviously emanating from me).. not much time to say much before they cut and run so i told them i'd left because i found out it was all based on lies and that the watchtower was corrupt and covered up things like child abuse.. oh no, you're thinking of the catholics one of them said (some disdain in how she said "catholics" as though "we're so much better than them").. "well, i challenge you to do a search for the australian royal commission and you'll see the testimony the watchtower leaders gave and the damning evidence that they covered up abuse and reported none of it to the police.".
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DisArmed
jookbeard,
"Any changes, concessions or actions come from within." - DisArmed
Perhaps a clairification. I should have written, within oneself. Didn't mean within organization.
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45
JWs in denial, so sad
by Simon ini had a couple of jw sisters call at my door today.. they started with the bizarre "can we read you a scripture" and read about "death being no more" and asked what i thought of that.. i said it sounded like a mix of disney and dumb.. they then launched into how god was going to put an end to death and wasn't that wonderful?.
i said it would have been more wonderful if he'd not created death in the first place.. they thought man created death by disobeying so i questioned why god couldn't have just forgiven them.
apparently "because he loves us" is supposed to be a satisfactory answer to why he kills us.. i asked how loving it was to kill hundreds of thousands of children in tsunami's, disease and so on.. at this point, they gave up on the 'god is love' and switched to the bible being true no matter what because it was an old book and moses had written the first chapter (says the book).. when i suggested it really wasn't that old and that most of the bible myths were copies of older stories from before it was written they questioned if i studied the bible and theology.. then i told them i was brought up as a jw so knew it was all crap.. now it was game on, they immediately switched to play defence questioning why i'd left (and i think they'd already taken a step back away from "the evil" obviously emanating from me).. not much time to say much before they cut and run so i told them i'd left because i found out it was all based on lies and that the watchtower was corrupt and covered up things like child abuse.. oh no, you're thinking of the catholics one of them said (some disdain in how she said "catholics" as though "we're so much better than them").. "well, i challenge you to do a search for the australian royal commission and you'll see the testimony the watchtower leaders gave and the damning evidence that they covered up abuse and reported none of it to the police.".
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DisArmed
"Now it was game on" - Simon
Waste of time, breath and energy.
"Damn I wish they would call on me!" - Cofty
Nothing you could say or do would be so profound or different that it would change their views. Sure, in your mind you would win any argument, that's easy. But in their minds the shield would immediately go up. You would be of Satan and anything you say would fall on deaf ears. They have the Internet and the same means we all have. Any changes, concessions or actions come from within.
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I cringe when I think about the talks I gave.
by James Mixon inyou brothers who gave talks do you thinks about the crap you spoke from the platform.. thirty years old, no knowledge what so ever of the world we live in, barely making the grade.
to graduate from high school, a year and half in jc college and now with schooling of jw higher.
education i thought i was a hell of a speaker.
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DisArmed
"I feel so embarras when I think about that time." - James Mixon
JM,
Don't be too hard on yourself, we all thought we knew more than we did.