Posts by Freedom77

9

Mrs. Russell's Tract - Anyone Seen It?

by Freedom77 in

i was just looking over this list of wt lies http://hourglass2.com/historical/the-list/list7_03.htm and found the following, circa 1906, in the middle of a self-justification by ct russell about his ex-wife:.

by 1903 mrs. russell had laid by in bank a little sum of money which evidently was consecrated to the injury of her husband.

the opportune time for its use came, and with it she published a new kind of tract .. to misrepresent me, to slander me.

Freedom77

Atlantis, thanks so much. I guess this is it, and all I can say is Wow. So much revealing stuff here.

Mrs. Russel, p. 7:

You demand perfect confidence in all you do and say. That would be almost clothing you with infallibility.

Mr. Russell, p. 7:

You have declared yourself a doubter, and that without a cause - merely some evil surmise or suspicion. . . . To the queries of the faithful I am ever attentive, but he that doubts without cause is the waverer who is unstable and unreasonable and who is undeserving of confidence or friendship.

Mrs. Russell, p. 8:

I have confidence in the integrity of your heart and purpose.

Mr. Russell, p. 8:

I must wait for some evidence of a true repentance in a full and hearty recantation, or else I must hold you at a distance and doubt your object and meaning and look for some solution . . . as I would with any other attacker and traducer.

Mrs. Russell, p. 8:

These letters were followed by withdrawal of support, . . . and . . . he refused her even her clothing, claiming it belonged to him . . . .

Well, we see where the cold-hearted arrogance, victim-blaming, and utter ruthlessness of Jehovah's Loving People (TM) comes from, don't we?

Mrs. Russell, p. 13:

If "Tower" readers are sincere and honest, . . . let them take measures to learn the truth and act accordingly . . . you have . . . no arrangements for calling anyone to account. Consequently, you are dominated by one, and that one may be blind to the operations of the principles of righteousness, and following such leading together you may fall into the ditch. If you would "watch and be sober" here is something to watch against.

Too bad the readers didn't all cancel their subscriptions instead of getting down in the ditch with CT and staying there - where they still are, more than a hundred years later!

Thanks again, Atlantis, this is great stuff.

9

Mrs. Russell's Tract - Anyone Seen It?

by Freedom77 in

i was just looking over this list of wt lies http://hourglass2.com/historical/the-list/list7_03.htm and found the following, circa 1906, in the middle of a self-justification by ct russell about his ex-wife:.

by 1903 mrs. russell had laid by in bank a little sum of money which evidently was consecrated to the injury of her husband.

the opportune time for its use came, and with it she published a new kind of tract .. to misrepresent me, to slander me.

Freedom77

I was just looking over this list of WT lies http://hourglass2.com/historical/the-list/List7_03.htm and found the following, circa 1906, in the middle of a self-justification by CT Russell about his ex-wife:

By 1903 Mrs. Russell had laid by in bank a little sum of money which evidently was consecrated to the injury of her husband. The opportune time for its use came, and with it she published a new kind of tract .. to misrepresent me, to slander me. It purported to give letters which I had written to Mrs. Russell and copies of her replies. It was declared therein that I ill-used her, would not speak to her, and wrote her these unpleasant epistles. I remembered .. when I was obliged to tell her that my time could not be used continually 'discussing affairs.' To save time I wrote her several replies on my common manuscript paper. The tract as a whole was a gross perversion of the facts, and written expressly to injure the interests of the cause which I represented. These were sent to all the WATCH TOWER addresses she could secure . . .

Does this tract exist? Has anyone ever seen it? Would make great juicy reading if anyone could find it.

56

Is this a new "This Generation" or not?

by Doug Mason in

first of all i want to express my sincere gratitude to atlantis and his good friends for making this 2014 book available.. ------------.

as i see it, and i am absolutely open to contradiction, the wts appears to be giving another new meaning to this generation.

this time the term means all of his anointed followers, including his immediate disciples.

Freedom77

Whoa, wait, this is too freakin' funny. And sad at the same time. So now "this generation" really means two generations?? Um, so why wasn't that spelled out in the TRUTH book I studied so dilligently back in 1970? Why was that NEVER, EVER, NOT ONCE mentioned in any talk, book, magazine? Oh - I forgot. New Light. Tacking into the wind. And all the other totally lame, bullsh!t excuses. Right.

This makes no freakin' sense at all - not theologically, historically, or grammatically. None. But when has that ever stopped Big Brother from rewriting the facts?

Thanks much to Focus for reprinting the new, improved chart and text that exposes the continuing LIE that this hateful, wicked cult has anything at all to do with Truth! I've known that for 37 years now, but it's nice to be reminded so graphically.

35

I love my life, I don't want to die

by losingit in

hello everyone..... i've been thinking a lot lately, when i have a chance to be alone my mind immediately comes to the topic at hand-- i don't want to die.

what would happen to my precious little girls?

but i'm so scared that it's going to happen.

Freedom77

Losingit, concealing vital info from your therapist is totally sabotaging any help you might get from him or her. If it's too hard to tell them face to face, why not write it out in a brief letter and leave it for them to read? They cannot help you if they don't know what's really bothering you.

Or if you simply have no confidence in this therapist, try another. Chances are there are any number of free or sliding-scale therapists in your area to choose from, and women's and family centers who can give you a referral.

But what you're doing now is not working for you at all, that's evident. For your own sake, and your children's - try again.

Good luck.

9

37 years later, I finally got the CULT thing

by Freedom77 in

jw
friends

hi all, just happened to come across this site again after 10 or 12 years - i see some old posts of mine under a diff username (can't reopen the account, forgot the freakin' password).

i left the borg in 1977, age 21, haven't looked back but every now and then i am amazed to find there's some old, old attitude from the jw days that i find is still clinging to my pants leg like a stray sticker.. looking over some of the posts here and some linked ex-jw sites yesterday it finally hit me - it is an effing cult.

when i was in, we were always accused of being that, so naturally we totally spouted the society's line and got all defensive, etc.

Freedom77

Appreciate all the comments, guys. Here's an update in my little 48-hour mental awakening: I've discovered Danmera has some great vids over on YT, y'all should go watch some if you haven't seen them, and this one in particular ("JW's: The Watchtower is Laughing at You") just made me spew my coffee across the room and say bad words: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylVFghVHEeQ . Which is talking about the brainwashing techniques the WTBTS admits to in black and white!

She reads these quotes in the vid and posts the texts too - Holy Crap! Emphasis mine:

"Consider some of the other "twisted things" used to mislead God's people today. On occasion opposers will question the various teachings that Jehovah's people hold in common. Often this becomes a debate about words, just as it was in the first century. (1 Timothy 6:3, 4) They may also question the need for an organization to direct the minds of God's people. Their view is, God's spirit can direct individuals without some central, organized body of men giving direction." Watchtower March 1, 1983

"Minds must be cleansed and made over, mental circuits formed by old-world thinking and acting faded out and new ones put in according to new-world specifications. By privately studying regularly, by attending all meetings regularly, and by engaging in all features of the preaching work regularly mental circuits are deepened and such good activities become habitual, not at all the struggle they are when the mental circuits are weak and faint because used only occasionally. For ourselves and for others, make them strong!—1 Tim. 4:16." Watchtower June 1, 1953

It hardly takes "spiritual discernment" to see what they are really talking about - in plain view. So they totally knew what they were doing - deliberate thought control - the bloody b*stards!

I'll say it again: HOLY F*^&@%# CRAP!!!

Wow. Oh wow. And here all this time, even four decades after leaving the borg, and totally rejecting all the other indoctrination I got, I was still in the back corner of my mind resisting the cult label. Amazing.

Man, the brainwashing really goes deep, don't it?

*****

PS - Having been through the whole 1975 debacle, it's been amazing to me all these years that the JW's are still even around. But the cult leaders are soooo slick, so devious, they obviously managed to massage the message enough to keep it going. Here's some totally creepy sh*t I just found that they are pulling right now - pure cultic manipulation:

http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/jehovah-and-watchtower-are-they-now-to-be-thought-of-as-one-and-the-same

http://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20131115/seven-shepherds-eight-dukes/

Wow oh wow.

52

reading COC for the first time

by This is my tigersuit in

Freedom77

Tigersuit, I left in 1977 long before the internet era. There were some books out even back then I remember, but I knew it was totally wrong for me by that point so I wasn't interested in reading more about the borg, right or wrong. Wasn't until sometime in the mid-1990's.I happened to discover CoC in a bookstore - long after I'd dropped all the JW doctrine and crap - bought it, took it home, and was totally freaking ENRAGED by all I read. I remember year after year all the heart-rending stories about the friends persecuted in Malawi, dragged out of their homes and beaten, bicycle spokes stuck through their calves and forced to run, etc., etc. - the special talks at assemblies about all that - the letter-writing campaigns and so on. Then to read about how the Mexico thing was handled - WTF????? I was screaming at the walls, wanted to punch somebody! Plus of course all the eye opening stuff about the GB and 1914, etc., etc.

Now of course anytime day or night 24/7 you can pull all that and much more up on the 'net - and lots of good vids on YouTube - plus you know you are not the only one who can't stand the lies and guilt and mind-numbing crap any more. When I left there was none of that, all my good friends - spiritual brothers and sisters - dropped me like a hot potato altho I was not DF'd or DA'd - just stopped going. (We didn't even have the verb "fade" way back then.) So just to say all you are feeling right now is completely normal and you should be upset to discover all this time when you thought (as told over and over) that you were worshipping Jehovah God, you were really just worshipping a corporation and a bunch of manipulating, totalitarian liars.

And that bites big time - but the real truth does set you free. Don't look back like Lot's wife, just keep walking straight for the exit door. And when you get past it - run like hell. You will be glad you did.

60

The hardship of being a gay Jehovahs witness.

by truthwillsetyoufree in

please spare a moment to consider the difiiculties faced by gay jehovahs witnesses.

i was raised and baptised as a very serious jw.

every waking moment of my day was lived for jehovahs and his organization and for nothing else.

Freedom77

Yeah DJS I saw that report too. Who knows what the truth is. I've noticed over the last 3.5 decades of being out that gay organizations have seesawed back and forth constantly on this topic: playing up the poor, pitiful angle when they want to get legislative or government support for something (just like various other groups of all kinds, playing the victim card - a very human trait) - or when they want to attract advertisers or corporate sponsors, singing how affluent teh gayz are, yada yada.

Personally, I'm living hand to mouth. I've known plenty of gay men and women at all levels from bricklayers and truckdrivers to lawyers and doctors. My strong feeling is that we are as a group just about the same, percentagewise, as the straight society around us, some rich some poor and most somewhere in the middle, and fighting to stay there like everyone else.

9

Singapore's Pink Dot celebration

by fulltimestudent in

jw
friends

a few years ago i had an opportunity to discuss the situation for gay people in singapore with a gay chinese man from that country.

he told me that despite the fact that the singapore government persisted in retaining an old british law that criminalised male to male sex, and that the government banned any normal method of protest, that gay people in this small (essentially just one city on a small island) had decided not to use western methods (i.e.

as used by gay groups in western countries) but to basically use a large picnic to celebrate their sexuality.. this was the first i'd heard of what has become known as singapore's pinkdot.. starting very small it has grown.

Freedom77

Love Mr. Miyagi's comments. Awesome straight ally.

60

The hardship of being a gay Jehovahs witness.

by truthwillsetyoufree in

please spare a moment to consider the difiiculties faced by gay jehovahs witnesses.

i was raised and baptised as a very serious jw.

every waking moment of my day was lived for jehovahs and his organization and for nothing else.

Freedom77

@villagegirl

I have also seen single moms struggling in poverty, ever see gay men struggling in poverty ?

Yup. Here I am. Your question makes me wonder why you feel a need to justify your own (presumably) situation by putting others down or saying their problems don't exist? Just askin'.

9

37 years later, I finally got the CULT thing

by Freedom77 in

jw
friends

hi all, just happened to come across this site again after 10 or 12 years - i see some old posts of mine under a diff username (can't reopen the account, forgot the freakin' password).

i left the borg in 1977, age 21, haven't looked back but every now and then i am amazed to find there's some old, old attitude from the jw days that i find is still clinging to my pants leg like a stray sticker.. looking over some of the posts here and some linked ex-jw sites yesterday it finally hit me - it is an effing cult.

when i was in, we were always accused of being that, so naturally we totally spouted the society's line and got all defensive, etc.

Freedom77

Hi all, just happened to come across this site again after 10 or 12 years - I see some old posts of mine under a diff username (can't reopen the account, forgot the freakin' password). I left the borg in 1977, age 21, haven't looked back but every now and then I am amazed to find there's some old, old attitude from the JW days that I find is still clinging to my pants leg like a stray sticker.

Looking over some of the posts here and some linked ex-JW sites yesterday it finally hit me - it IS an effing cult. When I was in, we were always accused of being that, so naturally we totally spouted the Society's line and got all defensive, etc. - and I guess and hope that's the last of the rotten JW thinking still with me. But seeing comments here and other sites finally brought home to me that it really, truly is a cult - a "corporation cult" I would call it - totally gray, bland, and boring - not at all mystical, psychedelic, or beads-and-incense which is what lots of people think a cult is. But a totally lying, wicked, mind-controlling, deadly, heartless, and totally UN-godly cult.

Just to clarify: I have realized all the above for many years - it was just the word "cult" I was still subconsciously in denial about.

I feel so stupid just now realizing this and no doubt most of you long since got that. Just wanted to say it "out loud" as it were, in front of people who know what I mean, and what it means to me. Of course I feel so stupid too having swallowed it all hook line and sinker but I was young - and you all drank the kool-aid too, so you can relate. Peace, y'all.