Posts by maksutov

18

Books by Former Witnesses

by GiftsinMen in

i am interested in reading books published by former jws which detail personal experiences of their time with the organisation.

i know of coc, exiting the jw cult, mamas club, 30yrs a wt slave, and told ones were written by otwo, punk and terry.

i'd like to spend some time making my way through them so titles, authors and links would be really useful.

maksutov

I also wrote one. It is free to download as an e-book from here: http://scepticalmusings.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/jehovahs-witnesses-reasons-for-leaving.html

Also available in paperback from Amazon. I don't get any royalties from it.

13

New Child Abuse Lawsuit

by maksutov in

can't see this having been mentioned already - forgive me if i missed it and it is old news.. velicia alston brings lawsuit against watchtower (irwin zalkin representing):.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=8nmgrvlmvxo.

maksutov

Sorry - didn't realise this was an old-ish case - the video was only uploaded yesterday and I hadn't heard of it, but I should've googled it before posting really.

13

New Child Abuse Lawsuit

by maksutov in

can't see this having been mentioned already - forgive me if i missed it and it is old news.. velicia alston brings lawsuit against watchtower (irwin zalkin representing):.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=8nmgrvlmvxo.

maksutov

Can't see this having been mentioned already - forgive me if I missed it and it is old news.

Velicia Alston brings lawsuit against Watchtower (Irwin Zalkin representing):

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=8NmGrvLmVXo

26

Buddhism Anyone?

by LaurenM in

so, i have recently been delving in buddhism and i must say it all makes sense!

like, the philosophies and ideas are what i've always believed but could never put a name to.

for example, they don't believe in god, they teach acceptance of all faiths, that peace can be achieved - not by changing other people - but by changing yourself, that everyone has goodness in themselves, that happiness can be gained internally (not externally as a gift from god), and that life is temporary so we should enjoy it!

maksutov

Whether or not something "makes sense" is a poor indicator of its truthfulness. JW theology makes sense in a circular way, as long as you don't mind the fact that it cannot be tested. All sorts of pseudoscience makes sense to those who believe in it. Quantum mechanics on the other hand, does not make sense, but it is nevertheless something that can be tested and verified to be true (in so much as anything can be).

In favour of Buddhism is the fact that they have been practicing meditation for a long time, and have become quite good at it. There are elements of Buddhist philosophy and practice that probably have great value. But adopting a world view comes with the danger of filtering everything through that world view, rather than based on what can be observed, tested, and verified.

I would wager that Buddhism is probably generally less harmful than JWism though!

83

What woke you up?

by Israel Ricky Gonzales in

in march of 2014, i was a very active jw, a ministerial servant, gave a public talk, was an attendant for the memorial, and one of 4 cleaning captains for an international convention of 40,000+ attendees.

so what woke me up?

an innocent comment from a co-worker about the candice conti court case rang a bell that could not be unrung.

maksutov

I spent 10 years feeling uncomfortable at the lack of any strong evidence for the existence of God (if he is real, and all powerful why can't he just make it more obvious that he actually exists?), and found it increasingly difficult to believe that Armageddon was still really 'just around the corner'. It was only after I left that I started looking at what apostates had to say, and I was so shocked and offended by the GB's dishonesty that I became a full-fledged apostate myself.

17

" See ourselfs as others see us"

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

the membership rule is simple, you join the organisation for life and undertake to serve for life.. my o.p is based on the poet robert burns who talked about the gift to " see ourselfs as others see us".

i think maybe the hardest thing for me to leave, the jehovers witness " organisation" was to accept how my family and friends will now "see" me.. so my questions are how difficult was it to leave:-.

a) knowing the reaction of friends and family?.

maksutov

A) I don't really care how they see me. If they think less of me just because I don't believe the same things they do, they are not the kind of people I want to be friends with anyway.

B) Hell yeah.

Having said that, I think it does take either a very strong mind, or a certain type of personality (non-sentimental, more logical than emotional, or very easy going) to cope well with leaving. Even then, it is still hard. It must have been harder before the internet though.

18

what happens when one informs elders that one's baptism was invalid?

by quincemyles in

is it possible to move from baptized publisher to unbaptized status perpetually?

what do elders do when you inform them that your baptism was invalid?

maksutov

As far as I know, baptism annulment is never used as a means to leave without being disfellowshipped - it is only used to justify getting baptised a second time if the first one was not valid.

27

Making wise use of magazines letter

by Saltheart Foamfollower in

hi all, just got this letter (sorry about formatting - anyone clean it up?).

christian congregationof jehovahs witnessesthe ridgeway, london, nw7 1rn telephone: 020 8906 2211august 13, 2015to all congregationsre: making wise use of our magazinesdear brothers:millions of people worldwide appreciate the bible study aids that are provided by thefaithful and discreet slave.

(matt.

maksutov

When I was "magazine servant" (yuk), if we didn't have enough mags, I would get truckloads of abuse. One particular pioneer really laced into me once - he used to take more than 50 of each (Watchtower and Awake) every issue, and if he didn't get all of them, there would be hell to pay. I soon learned to make sure we ordered too many. When I was "literature servant" it was even worse - for some reason they never sent all the stuff we ordered, and what they did send always took several months to arrive. The brothers were constantly complaining and blaming me. I resigned as literature servant as I couldn't take the abuse any more.

69

Could the Independent Inquiry in England and Wales expose jw.org's child abuse failures? And how can we help?

by defender of truth in

with all the talk about the org's policies and failures regarding child sexual abuse being publically exposed in australia, i thought that it may be a good time to highlight this... i apologise if this has already been discussed, but on the 9th of july the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse in england and wales was opened.

here is some information regarding it's aims.. "about the inquiry.

the inquiry offers an unprecedented opportunity to examine the extent to which institutions and organisations in england and wales have taken seriously their responsibility to protect children.. the inquiry will investigate a wide range of institutions including:.

maksutov

I just sent this:

Hello,

I understand you are currently considering which institutions to investigate as case studies in your inquiry. I would like to recommend that you include Jehovah's Witnesses as one of your case studies, as they have consistently refused to make improvements to their child protection policies (believing as they do, that their archaic and inflexible interpretation of the Bible is superior to "worldly" best practice).

You are no doubt aware that the JWs were included as a case study in the Australian Royal Commission, which exposed the severity of the situation (their policies and practices are pretty much identical in every country in which they operate).

Thank you for considering this request, and I send my best wishes and support for your work over the coming years. I am hopeful that it will have a positive impact on the lives of many children.

81

Do you believe Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body is the "faithful slave"?

by Marvin Shilmer in

this question is known to be posed by jws to other jws as an acid test of loyalty.

i'm not the first to notice what i'm about to point out and comment accordingly, but today i felt compelled to add a short article on my blog highlighting the new language that governing body member geoffrey jackson supplies as a response.

a person who honestly hesitates to respond with a robust "yes!

maksutov

I know I shouldn't feed the trolls, but...

SimonSays: Better email the Pontiff to let him know that he’s mistaken about papal infallibility and worldwide Bishops are liars according to you people, since they hold themselves to a higher standard than the GB. The Pope speaks directly with God, and the Bishops are Apostles according to their creed.

You are correct, the pope is mistaken about papal infallibility. I don't think we have grounds to call all bishops liars unless they actually make deliberately deceptive statements though. It is very clear that GJ tried to use prevarication to deceive. But that's not really the point of this thread. There is clearly a stark incongruity between the way GJ answered the question (as to whether the GB are God's spokespeople) in comparison to the required response of a rank-and-file JW whose loyalty to the organisation is being questioned. Of course you can claim that technically he was telling the truth, but that doesn't resolve the irony.