Posts by itsallgoodnow

I don't know how long this is going to go on or what I will go through, but I'm much better prepared to go through it now than I would have been if I had been disfellowshipped for something 2 years ago.

It won't be easy, but it won't be the end of the world.

So, as things are now, I'd say I think it's kind of a joke. I can only laugh at the absurdity of it all.

18

IN YOUR OPINION

by Honesty in

does the watchtower society show the bait and hide the hook when it comes to being open and honest with newly interested ones?.

in other words, do they make themselves appear to have all the answers, the most righteous crowd and the only truth from god until a person is hooked by the 'fear factor' that unless they conform to watchtower doctrines they will surely be destroyed by god at armageddon or, if they decide the jw's are not for them they will never be resurrected should they die before armageddon?.

itsallgoodnow

for the person who does no outside research, this tactic has been successful.

they meet a nice person who tolerates their visits, they agree to a bible study, they are shown the "promises" and other positive aspects of the teachings and when it's time for the harder stuff, the person is led to believe they have learned enough to be accountable. they don't even need to have been to a meeting to reach that point.

43

The Internet: A greater threat to the WTS than we ever dreamed

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

change "politician" to "watchtower leadership" and "voter" to "jehover's witness".

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20061004/2006-10-04t005304z_01_l03419567_rtridst_0_news-google-politicians-dc.html.

google boss warns politicians about internet power.

itsallgoodnow

I think we can dream and get caught up in wishful thinking, but nothing's gonna change. Sure, the leaders seem worried about the internet, but there are enough people who can look at the same information we have and remain in denial. This religion is in their hearts and minds and they are fiercely protective of it. Sure, numbers will go down, but at least I'm pretty sure my family will be true to this religion to the end of their lives.

I've pretty much given up thinking maybe someday they will get out.

My guess is over time they will splinter off again as they did with the bible students way back. My family will line up with the most annoying splinter group they can find and the fun will never end.

24

See Ya Next Year!

by HadEnuf in

jw
friends

(emotional music swelling in background) good-by hostas, roses, coneflowers and daisies.

farewell astilbe, vinca, hops, black-eyed susans.

adieu to sweet potato vines, ferns, day lilies and cat mint.

itsallgoodnow

awww. I can't imagine.

Although, I am looking forward to wearing a coat. And boots! How fun!

55

Is there Racial harmony among the JWs?

by Amazing in

jw
friends

when i joined the jws, racial issues were not really discussed much, other than some mention in the material given to me during my bible study in the "truth" book.

our kingdom hall had only one dark skinned individual, who is portguese, and one of the anointed.

i believe that he is now deceased.

itsallgoodnow

It's interesting what Amazing said about racism in Houston. I'm guessing it was the Bellaire congregation, since that area of town contains many Jewish people, or at least it did before. I went to that cong once and it was said to me in so many words that things would not be so great for me there socially because I'm not from texas originally.... BUT (this is the good part) at least I'm not black.

Horrendous.

IMO - it's the older crowd. Mostly the congregations that have been around a really long time still have these people who hate blacks, mexicans and yankees. Eventually they will die out for good and most of these places have been taken over by a younger crowd, because the older parts of town are pretty much where all the wealthier young people want to live. That doesn't mean they haven't been brought up with these weird ideas about race and true Texan-ness, but I'm sure it helps.

71

WT monitors sites?

by Gordy in

jw
friends

there was a post on the other day someone was asking about whether the wt monitors websites such as this and other "apostate" sites.. unfortunately i couldn't find it to add this to it.

i remembered a jw who worked on installing computers at london bethel, some time ago telling me that the wt did monitor websites.

this jw is gradually fading away from being one, so can't say to much about him.

itsallgoodnow

if all they can do is get to your city, that's what I have understood all along. I haven't lied about my city.

but if you give out too many details about yourself, and you live in a small town, or even a city where they could figure out who you are if you have said too much about yourself, then things could get bad for a fader.

but how could that be proven? anything anyone says about themselves could be partially untrue in order to throw them off scent. I have been careful to get a few key details wrong about myself in order to protect my anonymous identity.

by the same token, if you wanted to be really awful to someone you know, you could pretend to be them in a post or with an identity. you could claim to be them, use their real name, give details about them, etc. that doesn't mean it's really them. not giving anyone ideas, but.. it is possible that could happen to someone because someone is angry with an elder, a CO, or whoever they could be angry with and want to cause trouble for. IF someone was monitoring who knew this person by name, it MIGHT cause a problem for them, but since this is all anonymous, how could any of that be proven?

48

Heard at last Sunday talk...

by Justice-One in

jw
friends

i almost had to sneeze and scream bullshit when i heard this.

the brother giving the talk said that the society has never made a prediction about when the end would come.

he said people just read what the society published, and added their own thoughts to it!!!

itsallgoodnow

with all of the recent buzz going on since the circuit assembly where the DO went pretty far with his end of the world about to come BS, which I would doubt will land in an actual watchtower any time soon, these subjects are being talked about in my family. For the first time I can remember, the 1975 subject has come up. I always need to act like I know far less than I really do, or else they will suspect I'm getting information from an "illegal" source. But I asked my family about it and they said 1975 and 1925 the governing body proclaimed the end of the world would come. This really surprised me. That they knew this and keep believing. I figured they would be among the bunch of idiots that would deny deny deny like the man talked about in the first post. It's actually disappointing, in some ways. I'll never get them out. They are convinced it was human mistakes, egos, bad intentions, etc. Nothing will stop them from living out the rest of their judgemental lives in denial, huh?

27

2007 YEAR TEXT: (Zephaniah 1:14) 14 The great day of Jehovah is near.

by What-A-Coincidence in

message: .

i was just told that the 2007 years text is (zephaniah 1:14) 14 the great day of jehovah is near.

it is near, and there is a hurrying [of it] very much.

itsallgoodnow

onthewayout, that's exactly what I was thinking. I think if anything the message has been so watered down recently, the Witnesses from the early 1900's through the mid 1900's would not recognize it.

I think what they are doing is they are figuring out there are a lot of people out there who are buying into the idea of the end of the world coming soon, like the rapture or something like that. Think about the popularity of the "left behind" series of religious books lately. I think they are trying to attract these types and the way to get to them is to talkfire and brimstone and the end of the world and making these freaky "announcements". People are becoming more like they were back in the day when the witnesses were all about gloom and doom. They are just trying desperately to attract somebody, anybody to their message whatever way they can. They think stressing the "feel good" parts of the message, if you could call it that, hasn't been working for them.

15

Ever wonder why so many inactive ones never actually become ex-jws

by done4good in

jw
friends

i have been considering this often lately, as i know many who have for all intents and purposes, left the organization, yet they still believe it is the truth.

i know when i left, it wasn't long before i had to really investigate for myself, (after a matter of about three months of just taking a "breather"), weather or not what jws taught was actually the "truth".

i think, this was because i realized that something other than just my own weakness had to be what made me "give up".

itsallgoodnow

outlaw, I think you have it exactly right.