Just to add - that's not a judgement call re Rutherford or Russell - their journey, not ours. The issue - do we follow this very specific sect which does not allow for mutual dialogue / or keep searching and knocking?
Alive!
JoinedPosts by Alive!
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Would Jesus have been disfellowshipped by the "Elders" of his day . . . . . .
by Dunedain ini bet jesus would have been df'd by the "elders" in his day.
lets think about it, jesus hung out with "worldly" people.
his closest friends were known prostitutes, money collectors, men of "prominence" in the world of that day, non "beleivers" of the "faith" like samaritans, and many others that todays "elders" would have deemed "unworthy".. jesus spoke against the "organization" and "elders" of his day.
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Would Jesus have been disfellowshipped by the "Elders" of his day . . . . . .
by Dunedain ini bet jesus would have been df'd by the "elders" in his day.
lets think about it, jesus hung out with "worldly" people.
his closest friends were known prostitutes, money collectors, men of "prominence" in the world of that day, non "beleivers" of the "faith" like samaritans, and many others that todays "elders" would have deemed "unworthy".. jesus spoke against the "organization" and "elders" of his day.
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Alive!
Lol.
The character of Jesus has absolutely nothing in common with the religious culture of The Watchtower.
So - back in the mid to late 1800s, a man called C.T. Russell went 'searching' - he worked with numerology/pyramid mystic key points - nice foundation for the 'real Christian congregation' ahem.
Wonder how Jesus would have felt about 'judge' Rutherford consulting with demons?
I can't understand how a man ( Rutherford) can excuse himself from making such false prophetic statements - 1) the resurrection of the ancient patriarchs to live in his purpose built mansion - obviously he was listening to the wrong inspirations - certainly didn't come from 'Jesus'.
Why wasn't Rutherford disfellowshipped - surely spritistic false prophecy is a gross sin? He made Jehovah's name look foolish at that time - in the worst possible way - and he didn't get disciplined?
Oh - I forgot. He was just a dear imperfect 'annointed' brother - hmmmmm.
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How did your close JWs react when they found out you know TTATT?
by ivanatahan ini'm not sure if this topic has ever been posted (surely, i believe it has), but it would be interesting to revive such a topic and hear your stories!.
when my parents heard my first rant (after they told me to be home schooled when i was caught kissing a girl) they entered into a long depression that continues to this day.
my father suffers knowing his once amazing family is now divided, and my mother is equally angry.
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Alive!
Certainly, it became clear - you cannot question a darn thing.
Its been said here before - to question the very existence of God is acceptable to a degree within the JW religion - that is a cause for empathy, encouragement and support - but question our 'annointed brothers' = the GB aka 'The complete and final FDS of seven' Νever!!!
Well, you know what - I wouldn't want to bring any human being into such a stranglehold - I don't want to 'study' the bible with anyone with the kind of manipulative training we've all had, the 'tricks' we learnt in the KM school, the so called 'conversation stoppers' - decades and decades of this intense 'selling' - and turned around in a blink of an eye to visual appeasement with feel good videos end cartoons.
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How did your close JWs react when they found out you know TTATT?
by ivanatahan ini'm not sure if this topic has ever been posted (surely, i believe it has), but it would be interesting to revive such a topic and hear your stories!.
when my parents heard my first rant (after they told me to be home schooled when i was caught kissing a girl) they entered into a long depression that continues to this day.
my father suffers knowing his once amazing family is now divided, and my mother is equally angry.
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Alive!
After years of me offering myself as a constant listening ear to her vitriolic venting re how she and her family were treated by elders and 'High profile' witnesses and their families, supporting and encouraging her to go out in service (Yeah OK - I know :-( ) giving her financial help, lending money for her children's medical bills, paying for lunches, dinners and more -well, when I voiced my despair re obvious lies and inconsistencies, she accused me of being ungrateful to Jehovah.
I sent her stuff from our publications - with question - what are we saying????? How can we print this???
She's an intelligent woman.
She has cut me out of her life - I was her only true friend for years. Seriously.
Sad.
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What was the strangest off-the-cuff remark you ever heard from and elder or higher appointee?
by donny ini showed up for saturday morning field service and i was partnered with an elder who had transferred to our congregation in the dallas, texas area from michigan.
i told him about a recent embarrassing moment where i had played a "worldly" song during the sunday meeting due to someone replacing the cassette i had placed in the cassette player late friday night that had the correct "kingdom melody.".
out of the blue he said "about 4 years ago i was giving the sunday talk and i kept sporting a boner from time to time which was bizarre since being horny and teaching about jehovah is typically not something one associates with one another.".
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Alive!
Lol - the thing is - I know that these kind of stories are true - not nasty little apostate lies.
What I'm trying to say - is that even if THESE stories were made up - any 'apologist' JW reading here would have more than a few terribly uncomfortable stories too!
It's global.
The bad mad stuff that comes from the 'platform' and the stuff the comes out of the mouths of those 'appointed by holy spirit' not to forget - we are ALL 'ministers' and 'ambassadors of Christ' - and as a religion we've had the bare faced cheek to mock and deride other Christian based churches.
Madness.
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E-Mail, Just recived. About Bethell adjustments.
by DwainBowman ini just read an email from a friend, and she shared some very interesting emails from her friends about information on changes now happening at the bethels around the world.
here is the email: .
---------------------------------thanks sally, jesus is directing the org and all decisions and instructions to us may not seem practical from now on, neither will we understand the reasonings behind many of the changes that the organization makes.
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Alive!
Bethelites being deployed and sent out to live in the territory as regular pioneers, paying rent and trying to make a living.
Will the GB be amongst the first to willingly forgo their bethel accommodations?
Will the Governing Body follow brother Paul, John's and Peter's example now? Living in the community, earning their own crust ( bit of tent making perhaps?)
No need for them to be living in centralised accommodation, in just one place.With today's technology, they could each have an iPad/ laptop and communicate globally at the swipe of a screen - and do all this from a run down bedsit whilst living amongst their other brothers and sisters. How wonderful to have the self proclaimed anointed living amongst us like Christ, like the apostles and the early disciples.
Hmmm.
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After leaving did the feeling go away?
by committeechairman inthe feeling that you're never good enough.
the feeling that you're wicked and evil.. .
because i'd give anything not to feel this way.
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Alive!
I was not raised as a witness.
It seemed to me, over the years, that the culture of the org was to keep us 'looking at eachother' and measuring ourselves against eachother.
So many sermons about not comparing ourselves to our brothers - and yet there played out the constant 'comparisons' through parts in assemblies, the signing up and announcing of pioneers, the marking, shunning.... The marking of ones character according to meeting attendance and answers at meetings ..the assignment of simple things like carrying the mic - or worse, being taken off this 'privilege'.
At a time when I was seriously digging hard in my 'soul' for the best treasures to manage a horrible ongoing and private situation, daily making Christian sacrifices - I slipped off the heartily approved by JWs scale as my meeting attendance wasn't 100 % and I couldn't face those insane JW social get togethers....
It seriously messed with my head, heart and soul.
In recovery :-)
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The bridge burning has begun.
by sparrowdown ini was feeling particularly hopeless about the whole jws being assholes thing and sick to death of pretending so ....
i rang my sister and told her that i no longer believe jws have the truth and the phone went silent, when i asked her to say something she just said if that was the case then she would have to hang up on me and then proceeded to indeed hang up..
so i texted her back immediately with fu..
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Alive!
" I no longer believe Jehovah's witnesses have the truth"
Say that and these wonderful 'Christians' with the 'right heart condition' cut us dead.
Say...
" The Jehovah's Witnesses fail ME and many truth seeking people to impress as having supernatural and divine monopoly as the only association one can have to be a follower of Christ due to false prophecy, demonic led utterances (the ancient prophets to be resurrected in 1925 to live in Beth Sarim mansion) and the utterly bizarre reasoning of the blood doctrine - and there is much much more.... "
The loss of your belief is not your fault - it is the failure of the FDS/GB/ org to build trust.
They are not looking for real truth seekers.
Their bible says that finally, the greatest of the gifts would be love.
Lack of respect for the individual conscience is NOT love.
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What is the most strange action of a witness while out in field service?
by adjusted knowledge ini was paired with this older "brother" when i was a teenager.
he was very very strange.
he was a nice guy but goofy.
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Alive!
'Looking back at it now I realize the whole experience was crazy. It was just full of bizarre tales naked people, dangerous animals, hoarders with houses full of cockroaches not to mention all the weird JW's and their quirky ways. i remember riding around all day looking for elusive return visits that hadn't been home in years. Coffee, ice cream,spring rolls and chicken breaks.'
Nancy Drew - this made me smile from head to toe and shake my head in wonder!!
It must be the same the world over.
I remember cringing on some RVs where certain sisters would say 'lets go visit so and so' - if the poor HH was at home, they'd be subjected to all sorts of nonsense small talk as the sister gabbled on - the HH unable to get a word in edge ways - and then finally presented with the latest awake article on growing lettuce indoors ( with a WT on Armageddon tucked inside and obscured) "I'm sure you'll find this interesting - I know I did" referring to the lettuce or whatever article, carefully covering the scary Armageddon pic on the WT mag!
I know the sisters meant well - but a life saving work??
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The bridge burning has begun.
by sparrowdown ini was feeling particularly hopeless about the whole jws being assholes thing and sick to death of pretending so ....
i rang my sister and told her that i no longer believe jws have the truth and the phone went silent, when i asked her to say something she just said if that was the case then she would have to hang up on me and then proceeded to indeed hang up..
so i texted her back immediately with fu..
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Alive!
Island Man4 hours ago
"I rang my sister and told her that I no longer believe JWs have the truth and the phone went silent, when I asked her to say something she just said if that was the case then she would have to hang up on me and then proceeded to indeed hang up."
I think her response highlights the ugly truth about the JW religion. When you really get down to it, it's really not about worshiping and serving Jehovah. It's about the pride of being special, the grandiose thought and religious prestige of being the only true religion.
So much truth in this nugget, a great post to ponder :-) - although a big issue for 'Lovers of Jehovah' is that Jehovah = the religion = everything the GB says. They wholehearted believe their loyalty is directed towards the 'Grand Creator of the Universe' - don't you think?
Sparrow - you must have reached the end of your tether - the tension is really terrible when you realise that's it's likely just a matter of time. Take care dear.
Your sister is probably heartbroken too - and she's a prisoner of the GB's directives.
(((( hugs)))