“Heaven”: “Once I discovered the complete sham this religion is, my nightmares and the demons all disappeared.”
That’s really about it! I’m sure my superheroes, Carl Sagan and Steven Hawking, couldn’t agree more.
does anybody remember some of the sensational demon stories jw's would tell back in the day?
i was a kid in the early 80's and i remember a few times hearing of people having real life encounters with demons.
for example, one sister claimed that before she became a jdub she would regularly talk to demons and they would even fix stuff like her washing machine!
“Heaven”: “Once I discovered the complete sham this religion is, my nightmares and the demons all disappeared.”
That’s really about it! I’m sure my superheroes, Carl Sagan and Steven Hawking, couldn’t agree more.
well that`s what was impressed on me to differentiate between the true religion and false religion , when i was converted in 1960 , do they still claim that ?
believing that they still do , i will say this.. what about ,:the governing body who definitely are set apart from the rank and file for their attitude towards the r&f , but also from the attitude of the r&f towards the governing body members.many do seem to idolise gb members by their actions , and the gb members dont seem to discourage that.. and not only for their attitude , how about their life-style , being housed in bethel with all the mod -cons of modern civilization as opposed to a r&f member living in a third world country .does the wt society do anything to make their lifestyle improve ?
{ did jesus have a place to rest his head ?
“johnamos”: “Another point on this, do you agree that the terms ‘the faithful and discreet slave class/the faithful and discreet slave /the faithful slave class/the faithful slave/the slave class‘ or ‘Governing Body‘ – w/capitals G&B) are titles,…i.e. [lower case (g) (b) for first century> vs. ]”
Excellent point! The current governing body entitles themselves with capitalization to drive home the point to everyone their self-perceived status of being elevated above any and all other earthly humans – now even above the rest of their anointed bretheren, in that the “faithful and discreet slave,” according to themselves (big surprise!), comprise soley the governing body! (I forgot to capitalize this last reference to the governing body – on purpose!)
update on mouthy (grace gough)this is graces granddaughter.
i wanted to send an update that today my beautiful grandmother passed away - surrounded by friends and family.
- may 22 1927 - sept 2nd 2016. mouthys_granddaughter.
That sucks! When I just heard that our dear Mouthy has passed away, it gave me a twinge of shock and nausea. I really hate it big-time when I hear of someone so dear and principled as our Monthly has died. I certainly did NOT like hearing about the loss of Mouthy, As I said above, it really sucks. But, know that Mouthy has touched many lives – including my own, for sure.
I absolutely HATE hearing about the passing of anyone such as our dear Mouthy. It is most certainly the very last thing I wanted to hear today!
As I said above, it most certainly sucks hearing about Mouth’s passing. But, apparently, everyone is going to realize the same fate; but, still, it’s rather crappy news that someone so dear as Mouthy has died.
i am a curious person.
i am challenged by the unknown.
i can be driven, out of sheer frustration, to penetrate a closed veil of conspiracy.
Sometimes people derive pleasure from just “letting go” and allowing themselves to be fooled. We all do this when we pay to go to a movie theatre to be entertained, and somewhat dazzled, by the state-of-the-art special effects. We’ve paid good money to allow ourselves to be “fooled,” even if it’s for a mere couple of hours. And that’s just fine and dandy.
However, where it can become unfortunately harmful and destructive is when the basic, primal elements of fear and shame are employed by religious groups to control people to such an extent that their natural logical, critical thinking ability, as well as conscience, are hijacked to the end of serving the leaders’ self-indulgence quest for power and glory.
“Your brain REWARDS you when your expectations are defeated by something unexpected!”
This is actually also a functioning of how we can enjoy music. (I saw a documentary on that recently.) Music presents us with certain patterns which build a sort of micro expectation and throws us a loop by changing to notes and chords which are pleasurably unexpected.
“. . . these magicians were variously called Prophets, Miracle Workers and Demi-gods.”
Don’t forget “oracles” – Fred Franz certainly comes to mind there.
“Fool me once; shame on you. Fool me twice; shame on me.”
You really stole my thunder there, Terry! That was one of the first things to come to my mind. I think pretty much all of us on this Website are in that class of having been fooled by a certain religion (the one with the spiffy new blue square logo, bearing within a certain “JW” dot “org” in white print – yes, that one) but are now much all the wiser for it. And thank goodness for that!
to save us all a lot of time and effort..... [some complex structure in living organisms described].
[i can't imagine how this could be the product of evolution].
[therefore god created it].
Don’t forget the old classic:
. [There has never been a human baby born from a monkey; therefore, humans couldn’t have evolved from monkeys.]
However, as most of us no doubt already know, humans and “monkeys” are both primates. In other words, it’s not that humans came from primates, but, rather, humans ARE primates!
when jehovah brings armageddon, will he let me live long enough to witness the deaths of my children and grand children because they didn't believe in him?
.
since i've faded and i don't promote worshiping him anymore, i am just wondering.. at least i'd know for sure what kind of god he is?.
“watson”: “When Jehovah brings Armageddon, will he let me live long enough to witness the deaths of my children and grand children . . . ?”
Well, I’m sure he wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to put on a good show for you so you can see what he’s really like.
Jehovah is like a big bully in a tank top muscle shirt who enjoys picking on small guys to show off how wonderfully strong and tough he is. When people act like that, we call them narcissistic, sadistic sociopaths. But in the case of Jehovah, well, apparently he’s just being a wonderful, manly god of war.
Good thing that sh^tty thing doesn’t exist! (The WT made a good atheist out of me.)
well it took awhile.
i've downsized.
got rid of my bmw.
I am actually working on securing some theocratic appointments myself! It’s true. I have already been appointed to the position of spiritually weak. I have aspirations of becoming inactive, and I am trying to be optimistic about reaching my ultimate theocratic goal: to attain the formal position of disassociated one.
I guess I should pray about attaining my goals. I should pray that my old rich aunt, who has me in her will for over $100,000, passes away peacefully so that I can finally pay off my debts and move out on my own. And after my parents are gone, I will make sure that my name is announced as having reached my ultimate theocratic goal being disassociated.
Note that I’m certainly not wishing any harm or early demise of anyone, especially my parents. But I like to have those goals to focus on as a sort of light at the end of the tunnel.
today at the utrecht international convention in holland there was no "word in spanish" about dissassociation.. "we avoid any contact with dissassociated witnesses.
not only sinners, but in a broader perspective, also inactive witnesses".. there was a lot of noise in the hall direct after that moment.. so, no fading escape in the near future, i expect.. g..
“Gorbatchov”: “"We avoid any contact with dissassociated witnesses. Not only sinners, but in a broader perspective, also inactive witnesses".”
That is extremely shocking, to say the least! One can’t help asking oneself what Jesus, or his apostles, would say about that if only they could know how an organization supposedly representing his name would end up treating its followers.
One word comes to mind: Pharisees! I’m sure that Jesus would have some very strong and poignant words for these modern-day Pharisees comprising the so-called “faithful and discreet slave” of the Watch Tower organization. Yes sir, he would really let them have it, I would imagine.
How dare these Watch Tower buffoons deliberately and maliciously vilify their fellow Christians. They talk about “apostates” ‘beating their brothers,’ but, when you think of it, nobody ‘beats their brothers’ like the Watch Tower organization does!
there is a fundamental lie which i couldn’t help noticing today in the our christian life and ministry—meeting workbook for august 1-7, 2016. it is in the little supplemental page considered this week under the title “improving our skills in the ministry—helping bible students to progress to dedication and baptism,” in the first paragraph (labelled “why important”), third sentence.
here is that sentence:.
“a christian’s dedication is to jehovah—not to a human, a work, or an organization.”.
There is a fundamental
lie which I couldn’t help noticing today in the Our Christian Life and Ministry—Meeting Workbook for August 1-7,
2016. It is in the little supplemental page considered this week under the
title “Improving Our Skills in the Ministry—Helping Bible Students to Progress
to Dedication and Baptism,” in the first paragraph (labelled “WHY IMPORTANT”),
third sentence. Here is that sentence:
“A Christian’s dedication is to Jehovah—not to a human, a work, or an organization.”
(The highlighting of the pertinent words is mine.)
Here is a direct link to that particular page: http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/202016284
Did you catch it? As I’m sure everyone is aware, the two questions addressed to baptismal candidates were changed in 1985 (as per the Watchtower of June 1, 1985, p. 30).
BEFORE 1985, those two questions had been:
(1) Have you recognized yourself before Jehovah God as a sinner who needs salvation, and have you acknowledged to him that this salvation proceeds from him the Father through his Son Jesus Christ?
(2) On the basis of this faith in God and in his provision for salvation, have you dedicated yourself unreservedly to God to do his will henceforth as he reveals it to you through Jesus Christ and through the Bible under the enlightenment of the holy spirit?
HOWEVER, SINCE 1985 the questions were changed to:
(1) On the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, have you repented of your sins and dedicated yourself to Jehovah to do his will?
(2) Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with God’s spirit-directed organization?
(Again, all the highlighting of the pertinent words is mine.)
It’s rather sly and crafty in the way this somewhat subtle change was brought about. It may not seem like a lot, at least on the first glance, but in actuality it is rather glaring and quite telling about the workings of the Watch Tower Society and how it views itself. This week’s Meeting Workbook states that a Christian’s dedication is not to a human, a work, or an organization. Yet, indeed, as we can readily see from the current second baptismal question, the candidates are asked to confirm that their dedication and baptism are in identification with Jehovah’s Witnesses (a fundamentalist sect) and their supposedly “spirit-directed” (very human) organization!
Just how honest is that statement being read at the evening meeting this week in all the congregations? Well, I believe that I don’t need to answer that. I will simply let everyone answer for themselves. It’s all, as they say, in black and white.
spanish branch starts to be nervous since a few days.
clear and detailed child abuse accusations has been posted on spanish forum:.
http://www.extj.com/showthread.php?28145-la-marikamaladealella-y-sus-cómplices&p=513578#post513578.
TO “Saename”:
You know what would really be best is if there were something similar to the Australian Royal Commission (ARC) but set up by the United Nations. Then, the various issues of child abuse and cover-ups within the Watchtower organization could hopefully get the international attention it needs. Now, wouldn’t that be great publicity exposure for the WT!