Posts by zack

18

What are some common misconceptions about JW's among ex-JW's?

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

we come out of the org.

we caught them in lies.

they stole our time, our money, our families from us.

zack

Yes, lumping all JW's into one category is unfair. The LEADERSHIP is at fault. I was duped because my family was duped.

However, I believe that anyone in the religion who teaches its lies as "adjustments" or "current truths" knows he is being dishonest and prefers the lie to the truth.

That being said, it is very sad for some who have their whole lives invested in the system of the WTS to simply walk away and acknowledge that their faith has been

misplaced and their lives wasted. The men who run this corporation and justify their control over people's consciences, rationalize their myths as part of a greater good, and prefer

tradition over a change that will liberate their followers from guilt, are the ones who I hold responsible and for whom a weighty judgement awaits.

Most JW's are just like everyone else: they have problems, they have dreams, they want a better life for their children, and they--- like so many others--- have been duped.

15

"Religions tell us we have to give up this life for another ...

by serenitynow in

jw
friends

give up our desire, passions, pleasures ... what type of comfort is that?

'die while you are alive so you can be alive when you are dead?'".

this was a thought-provoking quote i read on the weekend from a french philosopher michael onfray, particularly when we know how much one gives up for life as a dub.

zack

This is something I reinforce to my friends. I am alive TODAY. I my be dead TOMORROW. The postponement of life, of dreams, of goals, of LIVING is very

detrimental to a person's emotional and mental well-being. Solomon said 'that whatever your hand finds to do , then do.... because there is NOTHING in Sheol the place where we are

going.' That sounds a lot like "Live your Life now."

Religionists want you to be under their control and use fear to keep you there. Once you lose the fear, they get very frustrated.

56

Comments you will not hear at the 5-13-07 WT Review (Loyal to GB Jesus)

by blondie in

loyal to christ and his faithful slave.

what interesting points: cross, christmas, pyramid.

q12, 13) what scriptural reasons are there for showing respect for the slave class?.

zack

As much as they quote OT examples, why can't the R&F see that even the men thar were directly assigned by God to lead the nation did not themselves

ask that nation to follow them. Joshua himself was the leader of the isrealites and what he said was: "As for me and my house, we will follow Jehovah."

And right up to the times of the first King, the book of Judges says that each one did was was right in his own eyes. They did not need a human authority.

I didn't attend this meeting but had read this article and it was all I could do to keep from barfing and screaming att the same time.

I am so glad I know the TRUTH. Thanks JWD, thanks Randy Watters, thanks RF.

23

End of life

by Phil in

jw
friends

i have recently been diagnosed with lukemia with a limited life left in the old bod.

my daughter is a jw and was lured into the institution by her then boyfriend (now husband).

my present intention is to prepare some idea of what she has got herself into.

AN EXAMPLE OF HOW J.W.'S PLAY THE "GUILT CARD"

by Warlock in

the world plays the "race card".

jw's play the "guilt card".. my wife gets up this morning, with great difficulty i might add, and starts getting ready to go to the meeting.

that's fine with me, and i don't mind taking her.

zack

Whatever you do, DO NOT GIVE IN. I personally cannot stomach sitting at a meeting. I had to go to the "Special" talk, but have not been to a meeting since. It is

simply way too difficult. To me it feels like I am the sane person inside a lunatic assylum. Today was the Faithful Discreet Slave WT STudy (which Blondie was good enough skewer)

I could not have kept my mouth shut had I gone to that meeting.

So, stay strong, and DO NOT GIVE IN. This is your time, now. And if you are anything like me, you don't want to live in a world ruled by a God that is going to kill

99.99% of every one He is allowing to be born, do you? The JW God is not the God any sane human being would want to live under.

14

Well the Witnesses are right about something

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

it seems clear that witnesses have inflated and distorted figures on earthquakes since 1914 in order to bolster their belief in the end times.

their claim that diseases are on the increase also seems a bit incredible when you consider all the medical advances and extension in life-expectancy in the last century.

as for famines, well they are terrible when they still happen, but history shows that this is one problem humans are starting to get to grips with compared with previous centuries.

zack

The population of Earth broke the 1 billion mark in 1930. So many more people are available as death statistics simply because more people are ALIVE.

Things that may have affected 1,000 villagers 200 years ago, would now affect 100,000 townfolk today.

The WTS loves doomsday. It can't sell anything else. Oh, did I mention they were evil?

33

Do You Miss Not Being With Your JW Family & Friends?

by minimus in

jw
friends

personally, i keep very little contact with any of my witness family except my mom.

i don't miss the conditional friends or family, really.

but i do know that many here are devastated by their being abandoned.

zack

I am only a slow fader at the moment ( well, actually, the fade is pretty speedy) so i cannot comment on a total lack of contact.

But about three months ago, maybe four, I told my closest friends that I wasn't going to three meetings a week, feild service every Saturday, and three weekends a year at

Assemblies. Couldn't do it. Wouldn't do it.

This, of course, is far less drastic then an all out DA. So far everyone has accepted what I had to say and why I said it because I think they see the truth in what I have to say.

I know the day will come when I will not be able to straddle the fence. I simply cannot stay part of something which has so heinously misrepresented itself and which has by device and

strategy heaped guilt and dissension on the lives of so many who trusted it for so long. I will not be able to stay quiet. And so, I beleive my "friends" will at that point not be

my "friends" any longer. The more I think about it, the more I can accept it. The choice is theirs. No one who chooses a nameless, faceless corporation over a living, breathing, memory

sharing human being do i want as a friend. Somehow I feel, and this is strictly personal, that if I do not explicitly end my association with the WTS, I will become a sharer with it

in its guilt.

Sorry for the long answer, but I am at the point that mentally I have moved on. It was all a lie and any good feelings I may have felt and any sincerity with which i was fed these lies cannot

overcome the fact that it was a lie. I cannot give my silent assent to the lie much longer, and if being able to live with myself comes with the price of loss of friends and family,

then I am resigned to pay it.

10

Arguments JW's can't argue with.....I think???

by Adolfius in

these are just a couple of arguments i think would cause any half sane jw (if any current and actively brainwashed "true believer" could ever be described as sane), to stop and think for themselves.. thinking person: is the bible and the events it describes true and factual?.

jw: yes.....to the letter.. thinking person: could evolution be true?.

jw: no way.. thinking person: ok, so i just want to get this perfectly clear; evolution in no way happened, is happening, or possibly ever will happen?

zack

Micro v. Macro Evolution

Excellent way of summing up Witness belief.

21

Arguments about the flood.

by Adolfius in

i posted a thread yesterday about evolution and population since the flood, http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/134218/1.ashx and there were some arguments from the point of view of jw's that would be hard to counter....for me anyway.

but it raised some other questions that i'd like some feedback on.. namely, is it just me who thinks it's just ridiculous that noah could've collected all the animals from across the globe and got them on the ark?.

according to the united nations global biodiversity assesment, there are an estimated 1.75 million species on the planet.

zack

Two things about the Flood as explained by the WTS that never squared with me:

1. Why did God take out his vengeance on the animals? This seems contrived and part of the whole hebrew god legend.

2. Forget about collecting the animals, how the hell did they then swim across the now vaster oceans to end up in South America, North America? How did the animals

now only found on the ISLAND of Australia get there? And since all the species were on the ark when it settled on Ararat, why are not, then, all species found in Europe and Asia?

The more one thinks, the more one think this is all bullshi#.

7

My Discovery- I Broke Free of WTS Because I Can Admit Mistakes

by OnTheWayOut in

i am reading mistakes were made (but not by me)- why we justify foolish.

beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts.

it came highly recommended .

zack

I'm with you on admitting mistakes. In business you have to be brutally honest about the performance of your company or you will go bust.

With me, it started by wanting to make sure I wasn't wrong. I needed to re-inforce I was RIGHT about what i had beleived in all my life.

If my EVERLASTING future depended on my choice of religion, then I better examine everything--- just like a business decision.

Well, the religion could not stand up to honest scrutiny. It needs and feeds on lies, half truths, distortions, wishful thinking, and everything

else that is NEGATIVE. It really sunk in that being a JW is about being negative, not positive. It's about being busy NOT dieing, instead of

being busy LIVING.

Thanks for the post. Your insights are always appreciated.