Alive!

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Posts by Alive!

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  4

  LEADERSHIP OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND "PRIMUM NON NOCERE"

  by Nicholaus Kopernicus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  primum non nocere is a latin phrase that means "first, do no harm.

  " the phrase is sometimes recorded as primum nil nocere.some businesses have adopted this aphorism into their day to day psyche, one such example being the airline industry.

  this is so deeply ingrained that here in the uk, many observers opine that the uk's national health service ought to adopt the same psyche as the airline industry and incorporate the "first, do no harm" into day to day practice as a priority.but what about non-medical and non-airline organisations?

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  Alive!

  Excellent OP, thank you - it is a very good read.
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  27

  Who am I to screw up their happiness?

  by Crazyguy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  that was the question to me tonight.

  because of their beliefs they have a moral compass, a net work of friends and a support group.

  they have what they believe is a loving god.

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  Alive!

  The witnesses (under instructions) have irresponsibly left tracts at the doors of people - depicting frightening scenes of humans dying ( including children) terrifying illustrations of monster like dragons, lions and all sorts....

  Without pausing to consider the mental and emotional health and age of whoever may pick up the publication.... And off the JW trots, for an afternoon drive around and coffees...

  I remember speaking to a woman who said that at a very fragile time in her life, the witnesses had frightened her and left her feeling anxious and miserable, due to their clumsy and ridiculous way of picking out just one scripture and following that theme at a time when she simply needed warm human care and gentleness. And... They kept coming back...flip flopping between warm fuzzies and frightening warnings.

  UNQUALIFIED.

  I have watched needy people being brought to the meetings, being 'made a friend of' only to be dumped, absolutely dumped when they back off.

  I wonder what damage has been done over the years to those we 'met' on the doors...
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  49

  Extreme emotions re today's watchtower

  by Tornintwo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was supposed to attend the meeting today, one of my once a month duties for the sake of my family and my fade.

  i read the wt and i just can't stomach going.... what this wt does is again and again reiterate that only jws will survive the coming destruction and that they should be happy about this and raise ourselves erect...eg:.

  we cannot expect that many people will suddenly convert to true christianity.

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  Alive!

  Re derogatory remarks when people declined our mags etc - let's not forget the global tradition of having dibs on outstanding properties!!!

  Used to make my blood boil - they chortled away when someone said they'd leave their songbook in the letterbox - such Christian hearts!!!
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  49

  Extreme emotions re today's watchtower

  by Tornintwo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was supposed to attend the meeting today, one of my once a month duties for the sake of my family and my fade.

  i read the wt and i just can't stomach going.... what this wt does is again and again reiterate that only jws will survive the coming destruction and that they should be happy about this and raise ourselves erect...eg:.

  we cannot expect that many people will suddenly convert to true christianity.

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  Alive!

  Yes, I think that may have been the tract DOTT.

  Thank you!

  i think inside or overleaf it made some daft comments by a Jewish POWW2 .. Anyway, it was badly worded.

  You know, like others here I put faith in that ultimately everyone who wasn't truly wicked at the time of Armageddon would turn to Jehovah. My poor mind was tortured with the flip flopping between 'Jehovah will judge the hearts' - spoken in a positive and hopeful way - through to 'it will be too late, the doors of the ark will be shut'.
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  49

  Extreme emotions re today's watchtower

  by Tornintwo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was supposed to attend the meeting today, one of my once a month duties for the sake of my family and my fade.

  i read the wt and i just can't stomach going.... what this wt does is again and again reiterate that only jws will survive the coming destruction and that they should be happy about this and raise ourselves erect...eg:.

  we cannot expect that many people will suddenly convert to true christianity.

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  Alive!

  I remember in the mid 2000s being overseas and visiting family.

  One Saturday afternoon, I arrived at a relative's home - I was to stay for the weekend.

  They were visibly upset - and after an hour or so, I found out why.

  They showed me a tract that had been delivered that morning - one of those 'bold and hard hitting' messages that the FDS had cobbled together, damning all false religion, depicted by macabre illustrations. My relative, a very peaceful athiest, was shaking.

  I remember my gut turning as I saw the tract through their eyes - and with hot internal prayers I had to quickly go into damage control after this tract had seriously alienated my relative.

  Meanwhile, the FDS were nowhere to be seen as this small, non consequential 'publisher' shed tears over the damage caused by this tract, after all my careful work to show that witness's are a loving 'family' of believers.
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  30

  JW Elder Lawsuit Update: AAWA Fliers are Illegal and Uncle claims he is "Going to Kill us in Court"!

  by ReligionOfHatred in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi, my uncle made the first move by taking my mom, dad, grandma and grandpa(all in good jws in standing and non have put out anti-jw fliers or speech), that's who he is taking to court.

  i have left the organization but than again, i was only a unbaptized publisher.

  my grandma (whom i love so dearly was shocked to learn "i am not going to marry a pioneer and i don't want anything to do with any pro-jw females, i feel this religion is one of the most hateful religions mankind has seen).

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  Alive!

  You sound distressed beyond words with so much toxic stuff happening in your family.

  Hope letting it all out here is helping you in someway.
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  20

  Humanism and Witnisam.

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well it seems for many on this board the time came to leave the w.t and cross the bridge in to a real world.

  speaking for myself l feel i did not enter the cold and lonely world i was lead to believe i was entering.

  rather i have discovered it was no great loss leaving a world that had protected me with false, dreams, fantazy and false promises.. but what have i really achieved by my leaving that i value?.

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  Alive!

  By the way - I'm not claiming I had special spiritual insight re the sheep and goats thing - a close friend who like me was a newly converted witness argued the same thing with me - the elders shut us down.

  But it just didn't make sense!!!

  I remember us both looking at eachother somewhat shocked - so much for being truth seekers - we should have ran!
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  20

  Humanism and Witnisam.

  by The Rebel in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well it seems for many on this board the time came to leave the w.t and cross the bridge in to a real world.

  speaking for myself l feel i did not enter the cold and lonely world i was lead to believe i was entering.

  rather i have discovered it was no great loss leaving a world that had protected me with false, dreams, fantazy and false promises.. but what have i really achieved by my leaving that i value?.

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  Alive!

  After 25 odd years following the ever changing interpretations of men, I'm making myself accountable.

  I remember my feisty self during my initial bible studies saying 'well the bible can be interpreted whatever way you choose'

  I was of course assured by the JWs that the bible interprets itself - remember that phrase? It just so happened to interpret itself only for the JWs.

  Hmmm. One of the first 'obstacles' I had to get my mind around was after baptism - the adjustment in the 'interpretation' re separation of sheep and goats.

  Current 'truth' at my baptism was that giving a witness was in itself a moment of 'judgement' for the hearer - remember that everyone? If the hearer declined or rejected our message or visit or worse still, our magazines which contained supernatural power with their hidden nuggets of scripture - even if heavily disguised by a front page asking if insurance is for Christians ;-) .....if declined the individual was surely rejecting God himself.

  I remember quizzing some elders on this very thing - I dared to say it felt like giving 'a witness' was like handing the majority of the population a death sentence - at the time there was much debate over how those who hasn't had a witness would be resurrected and those who had 'heard the word' from witnesses would have had their chance - and were judged accordingly.

  That belief changed - I remember excitedly reading the watchtower that explained that this is not a season of judgement after all - my relief was also disturbed by this sense of 'how come I understood it made no sense, but the FDS didn't get it straight away??'

  So, firstly, sorry about the long winded stuff in previous paragraphs - but you see, today, I no longer labour under such insane making disturbances caused by men who claim they alone hold the keys to understanding Gods word.

  With that, comes tremendous peace.

  And.... I've regained my sense of reality, to the best of my ability! ;-)
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  24

  Conditioned to fail

  by Jordandemm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just want to say hi and a big thank you to all that post in this site.

  it has been extremely tough waking up as a born.

  but in slowly removing any doubts about leaving this man made religion.

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  Alive!

  By the way, volunteer work is a brilliant way to meet people who are likely to have a caring mindset.

  There is a world of wonderful people out there :-)
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  24

  Conditioned to fail

  by Jordandemm in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just want to say hi and a big thank you to all that post in this site.

  it has been extremely tough waking up as a born.

  but in slowly removing any doubts about leaving this man made religion.

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  Alive!

  For a while, after stopping all meeting attendance and all JW activities it seemed like our lives (husband and self) were fragmenting and falling apart.

  We simply were not coping with the trauma of not knowing who the hell we are anymore, what our lives mean outside of the Org, and reflecting on so much bad air about our lives as witnesses. The pressure we had put on eachother - or rather the pressure I had put on my husband as a WT wife, who was anxious to be perfect in the WT fashion. It all blew up. Years of repressed discomfort, dissonance and so much more.

  Difficult to jolly along with other humans in a social way when you are confused and hurting internally.

  The isolation was so painful, as was the realisation that we had partnered with a worldwide org that enforced Intellectual and spiritual subjection to the leaders who slipped and scuffled about 'truth' - whilst demonising those who dared to throw out honest questions, reasonable questions.

  What a journey. For us, especially me - it was a battle to come to terms with myself. And it has clearly emerged that the radical shift caused a series of breakdowns for me.

  Good folk here and in my daily life kindly strengthened me when I thought I was losing the plot - through PMs and forum posts - and together, my man and me - we're finding our balance.

  I was talking to an athiest relative and explained to her, that for me, I cannot ignore my inner sense that there is 'something' driving this world, universe - I really believe we are all 'made in the image of God' but we are broken versions. That Christ, truly lived on this earth and truly come from 'above' - from another world, place, dimension.

  And all creation will one day be reconciled.

  I'm not meaning to preach - just I can't explain my position without explaining my current spiritual position... If that makes sense. Even if that position appears to be a delusion :-)

  Our lives are taking shape. The fear of failure (whatever that is) has evaporated. The anxiety and depression has left.

  Gradually our lives are filling up again.

  I have made several new friends, over the past two to three years in real life who are proving to be 'stickers' - it takes time.

  We are not beset by 'bad things' - or at least, not overcome by them - and there have been some tricky things to manage in the past couple of years.

  Lose the superstitious fear that the WT culture encourages. It's all a lie.

  There is hope. As folk said to me - one day at at a time.