Posts by Alive!

38

Honestly, Did Jehovah's Witnesses Do Anything POSITIVE For You?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was raised as a witness and am very thankful that i am out.

having said that, i think my upbringing produced positive qualities in me.

do you believe that anything positive came from your being a witness?

Alive!

Yes, various brothers and sisters were kind, supportive and I had a full life....

I stopped smoking and never smoked again - never want to and happy with that.

In turn, I had opportunities to help others, providing shelter and care - I wouldn't have been in a position to help some dear people if I hadn't met them through being a witness.

There were many happy days, great shared holidays and more.

I loved talking about God, Christ and sharing a faith that we are part of something much bigger.

I Loved the feeling of being part of a 'great crowd' (which was negated by my anxiety that so many were not part of the great crowd, and how could we expect those ones to trust us given the organisations 'tactics')

I'll leave it at that - there were 'good' elements as there are in many aspects of life....

475

What is the alternative to JW?

by Formerbrother in

i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

the the bible is word?

Alive!

Hi,

I was a fast learner when I initially got pulled into a 'study' with JWs. I quickly mastered the art of learning how all the bible books are organised, picking out 'special' scriptures.....learning the mystical 'equation' from daniel and revelation that makes 1914...

Long time ago now.

Oh, and I learned how JWs were involved in a separating work, actually dividing the sheep from the goats. Those who turned down God's provision of a 'holy' magazine at their door, were in effect, turning away from and rejecting God. This belief and doctrine was valid right up to the early 90s.

A 'no thank you' to me standing at their door was in fact a rejection of my message from God - according to the WTBTS.

Yet my magazines, leaflets and publications contained erroneous 'truths' it would later turn out...

I thought we were 'different' to other religions ....

Just my thoughts.

14

Preaching = Salvation... NOPE!

by Divergent in

jw
friends

today's text:.

monday, january 25. to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.—matt.

25:40.. early in his discourse found in matthew chapters 24 and 25, jesus indicated that the sign of his presence would include a remarkable feature—the good news of the kingdom would “be preached in all the inhabited earth.” (matt.

Alive!

@oldhiopie.

Well, I have never met a JW who uses the word 'grace'.

Have I missed something?

66

The wt has now changed Jesus definition of neighboor

by poopie in

jw
friends

the man asked jesus who is my neighbor jesus stated the one who acts mercifully toward other humans.

not good enough for watchtower neighbor must fit in three catagories only according to yesterdays wt wow changed the words of the son of god.

Alive!

Lanalonger,

Good for you - you are pulling the 'good' out of everything you learn.

So, I was a convert to JW, but first and foremost I was turned onto 'Christ'.

I'm on a journey, and whilst in that journey, I paid attention to the things of Christ - and had to learn reject the false and misleading things of 'men'.

There can only be good in teaching the true things of Christ - but you know, that teaching is in many writings, many human expressions and it's universal - if you care to search.....it really exists everywhere.

Just my thoughts :-)

And.... May I feel a little offended that my sincere search is cast as being under the judgement of separation from God, according to the religion of JWs.

66

New Light: Clap when it is given a Reinstatement ad

by TheTruthBR in

jw
friends

a new letter was posted in jw.org to the elders who are under the brazilian branch:.

january 25, 2016to all bodies of eldersref .

: clap when given a readmission addear brothers:we would like to inform you about a recent adjustment.

Alive!

You know what is desperately sad about this topic?

Even if it proved to be a false circulation, somehow, it actually 'rings true' as the kind of instruction that would come from Brooklyn. It's only when you stand back and recognise the overall mentality that underwrites the 'spiritual guidance' from the WTBTS that you start to see its all a wee bit crazy.

66

New Light: Clap when it is given a Reinstatement ad

by TheTruthBR in

jw
friends

a new letter was posted in jw.org to the elders who are under the brazilian branch:.

january 25, 2016to all bodies of eldersref .

: clap when given a readmission addear brothers:we would like to inform you about a recent adjustment.

Alive!

Reading this leaves me shaking my head - such micro management! Always written in a soft, reasonable way - but with a no compromise allowed until 'we say so' !

Watchtower explains why we don't - and now, clapping is acceptable.

Absurd isn't it? What a good topic for the door to door ministry.

'Good morning, in these trouble times have you ever considered if it is appropriate to clap in positive response on hearing at a congregational meeting that a disfellowshipped Christian has been welcomed back into the church? May I show you this interesting Watchtower article?'

26

My Story "Act 2"

by MarkofCane in

“it has been said, 'time heals all wounds.

' i do not agree.

the wounds remain.

Alive!

The walking dead.....

Yes, funny but I've heard that expression re spiritually weak or inactive.

There was an abundance of 'in-house' jokes of a callous and cynical nature.

Another one I heard was when referring to fellow non- witness diners by a career pioneer who was highly respected - 'look at them all - scoffers in the past days'.

All these things over the years kept drilling into me, worms of discomfort in my gut.

26

My Story "Act 2"

by MarkofCane in

“it has been said, 'time heals all wounds.

' i do not agree.

the wounds remain.

Alive!

MarkofCane,

Thank you again for a well written OP.

It's incredible how all our stories seem to reflect each other's.

The hard part for us, has been the managing of life on a day to day basis post WTBTS.

A whole structure has evaporated, and I'm not the sort to just 'be carefree' and live it up - (not that I don't know how to have a great time!) I do care, I do strive to get a sense of it all....and whilst I don't have a succinct WT illustrated life picture, with all the judgemental characteristics that follow - I do find a bigger picture settling into place....I'm going with my heart and gut and it's Good.

I tend to self blame a lot and take responsibility for stuff - and can be very unbalanced in this. Rejection hurts me like a twisting knife - the being viewed as undesirable associates (as a couple) started about a couple of years before we woke up - my husband had never reached out and eventually this left us a bit high and dry.

His good qualities that were part of his make up were trashed by the org's male corporate structure - to survive, I noticed his personality over the years changed from gentle and humble, to swaggering and over jocular. He found it hard to be himself amongst such 'false' identities - and I guess both of us grew a false personality.

Lot of damage done.

We are in repair mode.

All is not lost....we have non-JW friends and family who have come back into our lives - and have made a couple of new meaningful friends, a very slow process....but it's going to be OK.

Stay strong friend!

61

New here

by MarkofCane in

hello and thanks to everyone for participating on this forum it has really been of much value, for those of you that post here know that your words are not lost you never know who is reading your expressions, lives are being changed and nonsense challenged.

i’m not much of a writer so excuse my untrained writing style and grammar but i want to share my story to help anyone who is visiting here to see that we are real people, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who have come here for answers, there is no agenda, just searching for truth.

i hope my story will help others as so many here have helped me..

Alive!

We stood as little more than hypocrites when we criticized the members of the churches of Christendom for lazily leaving matters of docttine in the hands of their leaders when we as Witness were the same.
So true. It's the criticising of other 'Christians' and their churches on a wholesale basis that gets me these days - what hypocrites we were.

61

New here

by MarkofCane in

hello and thanks to everyone for participating on this forum it has really been of much value, for those of you that post here know that your words are not lost you never know who is reading your expressions, lives are being changed and nonsense challenged.

i’m not much of a writer so excuse my untrained writing style and grammar but i want to share my story to help anyone who is visiting here to see that we are real people, fathers, mothers, sons and daughters who have come here for answers, there is no agenda, just searching for truth.

i hope my story will help others as so many here have helped me..

Alive!

Thank you so much for your well written story.

Realising that Russell had heavily drawn on his numerology style prophetic 'utterances' from pyramids etc was a shake up.

Wouldn't that be consulting with demons, I asked as I read the accounts.

And how did Rutherford manage to divine from scripture a resurrection of the old prophets in the 1920s, to live in a luxury mansion built for that purpose? With Rutherford caretaking until they 'arrived'? Surely that could only be demon inspired?

I'm not writing about 'Demons' to offend the sensibilities of atheists - but if we are going to be all boots in regarding 'belief' - then there has to be conceded that only 'Demons' would have inspired this abstract idea.

The WT doesn't seem to be at all alarmed by this 'dabbling' by the founders of the religion. But, I'd get disfellowshipped if I stood up and said it kind of points to demonic interference.

I'm not obsessed with 'Demons' by the way - just using the scriptural measuring line for what is Christ inspired and what isn't....

Isnt it all crazy??? :-)