ivanatahan

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Posts by ivanatahan

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  49

  "If I wasn't born a JW, I would never have become one."

  by OneEyedJoe in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i've seen it mentioned by a few on the forum that at some point there was a realization that had they not been born a jw, they never would've converted no matter how many times the jws tried to study with them.

  this was my experience too, and i'm wondering how universal it is for those that were born-in but eventually left.

  i think i started having this thought (more specifically that if i were not born a jw, i would surely have become an atheist by now) in my late teens.

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  ivanatahan

  I felt exactly the same way. When I was at a low point in my life where I felt the organization/Jegoober was too demanding and didn't love us, I thought to myself how I wish I was never born into the religion, even if it were true (as I still believed at the time), so that I could die but be resurrected in the "new world" because I never got to know "the truth". It was a bad time, but ultimately it made me realize this cult is really a cult. I never regretted anything more than getting baptized at age 11. The vast majority of my problems are linked with my family's involvement with this cult. It would fulfill me to see JWism fail.
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  43

  Counsel from Bro Losch (GB Member) to the Elders about the NFL

  by James Jack in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  while attending a week long training class for elders in patterson, bro losch gave the concluding talk about loyalty to the borg, which i was in awe of(i went more in detail in a recent post about a s.a.d.

  where losch was the speaker).

  at the end of his talk, here's what he said: .

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  ivanatahan

  Surely he doesn't see the immense hypocrisy in "representing" a violent god that condoned the very-specific destruction of the Canaanites, banging of children against rocks, stoning of lawbreakers, and mistreatment of women. Maybe he wouldn't condemn a sport like football if he realized "Jehovah(tm)" actually supports violence.
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  3

  I thought Christmas was more a catholic origination???

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  from when a jw, it was at least always told to me how catholics took on christmas, and all the other pagan celebrations etc.

  recently i met a russian who said they are catholic and in russia they don't really celebrate christmas.

  it's more an american thing and that new years is the bigger deal and the closest thing to christmas to them is something on like jan 7th.

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  ivanatahan

  Christmas is now a pure mix of consumerism and capitalism.

  It's time to change.
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  16

  This Cult Should Be Called to Account

  by berrygerry in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  the emotions from this are surreal:.

  (kudos for the kid to record it).

  https://soundcloud.com/throwawayjw1914_2/abuse.

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  ivanatahan

  I had a similar reaction from my own parents.

  Unfortunately, I wasn't as calm as he was.
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  34

  Do most ex JW's go politically left?

  by Lightgrowsbrighter in

  1. social
  2. current

  i've found it interesting that- imho- most of the politically vocal ex-jw's at this website seem to lean left.

  i'm personally pretty centered- right on some issues, left on others, but overall have a pretty cynical view of all political/religious leaders.

  i find it somewhat ironic that people who leave such a dogmatic group like the witnesses become so politically dogmatic.

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  ivanatahan

  I find myself pretty far on the left side of the political spectrum. Whether it's a result of my JW background, I don't know.
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  21

  Hey, this is me... I'm the guy on the left! =)

  by Divergent in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (picture taken from the wt study some weeks back).

  all these years, i've always dreaded waking up early for field service.

  i'm a night owl & love to sleep late, so it was excruciating for me to have to wake up early in the mornings & go door knocking.

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  ivanatahan

  Lately, I've been looking at those images they produce of "bad examples" and they look much better than the "good examples".
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  74

  Jehovah's Witnesses May Have Peaked in Membership at 8 Million (+/-)

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't have all the details of their new "service year" numbers, but i have read enough on jwn to state my opinion pretty strongly.. memorial attendance for 2015 was down.while they kept saying they were going to build a bunch of new kingdom halls, and everybody is still in recovery from watchtower taking all the local money away, they say pretty much that there isn't enough money to build new kingdom halls.putting gb members on the videos at jw .

  org has allowed people to really put a face and personality to these guys and remove the mystery of how they should be such deeply spiritual serious men.

  instead they see silly thoughts about tight pants and, really everything that comes out of lett's mouth is delivered ultra-goofy, along with the money reports.. the gb lost credibility a little more with every new light that shone down, with the strangest one being "overlapping generation.

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  ivanatahan

  I agree. The JWs have reached their peak.

  I remember when I was still in a few years back when the number was still around 8 million and I expected an exponential growth and at least 10 million JWs by this time. Where are the 10 million? It's utterly disappointing. You have these elders and COs and everyone saying that Armageddon is coming and that the growth is bigger than it ever has been and that all these success stories. I can't imagine how disappointed I'd be if I were still in and, after years of high expectations, the number of JWs has pretty much stagnated. That doesn't seem like a religion supported by God to me.

  As other have mentioned, it's clear that with the advent of the Internet and better communication people are more likely to realize the extent of stupidity prevalent in the religion. The financial disaster the cult is experiencing supports that. People are finally realizing that God's "chosen religion" is just another man-made religion that can't even fend for itself. Even my highly pious mother questioned their decision to build a new headquarters when they don't have the money to support themselves, the project, or any other projects.
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  4

  Google Translate has an attitude

  by MaxTan in

  1. social
  2. humour

  so i came across this today when i was trying to translate something to russian.

  also, i did not know where to post this other than jokes and humor.... so according to google translate, jehovah in russian is "lord".

  the name itself was not available in alternative translations either.

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  ivanatahan

  You can always trust Google Translate to screw up its translations. I know for a fact it commonly screws up its Russian (and other Slavic) translations a lot.
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  14

  How did your close JWs react when they found out you know TTATT?

  by ivanatahan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'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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  ivanatahan

  I'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. My mother is cracking down on me, infringing in parts of my life she never got involved in. She even told me to move out of the house (I'm not even of legal age yet) once when I was falling asleep at a Sunday meeting (?) and even enforced it the next morning. I used the excuse that I was doing my laundry to pack my bags with clean clothes before moving out (my girlfriend's family was willing to take me in if anything happened). Fortunately, she calmed down before I could leave, but she's still being really snoopy. My dad is still very depressed and since my sister is moving he's gotten worse. I wish it didn't have to end up like this, but ideally things will get better.
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  128

  Participate In The EX-JW Personality Test!

  by C0ntr013r in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  first of all; i must admit that i'm not a huge fan of putting people in boxes like this, it is not an exact science.

  but i still think the data can be quite interesting and i intend to collect it and share it in a structured way with you guys.

  so without future ado here are the details.. link to test: .

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  ivanatahan

  Born in: Yes
  Personality type as JW: ENTP (The debater quality in me, which I still have, led me to question the nonsense known as the Jehovah's Witnesses cult. I still consider myself an ENTP.)
  Personality type Ex-JW: ENFP

  40% Extraverted

  25% Intuitive

  34% Feeling

  38% Prospecting

  64% Turbulent