Very cool little calculator. Looks good for me too.
dubstepped
JoinedPosts by dubstepped
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28
So here is my long winded story....
by GTSfromSY inthanks for the warm greetings all.
wow!
i am very moved, really.
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dubstepped
I'm late to the party and that is an epic post there Gabe. Wow, you have a way with words and I felt like I was there with you going through it all. Of course, some of the things that you went through, particularly watching the ARC like it was a movie, absolutely riveted, was big for me. It was just after we disassociated anyway, I think, but still it cemented that we made the right decision. I'm so happy that you still have a connection with that original guy that helped you question things.
Welcome to the forum! I don't know where you live but I'm sure there are other ex-JWs around. My wife and I are in southern Indiana, just across the river from Louisville KY. Over time you will extend your circle of friends, we've been able to form more friendships outside the cult than we did inside in the two years we've been out. If I can be of help in any way let me know. There are lots of helpful people here.
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29
What if the crucifixion never took place..
by Jayk ini googled it and pretty much my understanding is the same as what i imagine.
no one really knows, your guess is as good as the next.
interesting thought to consider imo..
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dubstepped
Or what if Adam and Eve never existed? No original sin, no need for a redeemer, and there's even less evidence of their existence.
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Is this life all there is?
by Fisherman inwhat do you sincerely think?
do you nurture any hope?.
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dubstepped
Yes, until proven otherwise.
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Higher Education
by Brian J injust spent 8 hours in a 1 day elders school last weekend.
clarification given: "moving forward any elder, ms, or pioneer who themselves or someone under their roof enrolls in higher education, may no longer qualify for privileges in the congregation.
their qualifications will have to be reviewed by their boe.".
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dubstepped
Fisherman2 days ago2 days ago
But, when they can't pay their bills they better go ask their "spiritual" friends for money!!!
If God is real then they will manage
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No, if taxpayers fund government programs they will manage. God doesn't provide for them, often actual hard working and diligent people do in funding programs as JWs live off the government, not some imaginary god. Soooo many JWs live off of the same government they despise. Some pioneer off of it and are held out as examples on assemlies. JWs are often terrible employees because they are told to see their job as no more than a means to an end. That attitude doesn't foster dedicated workers. They want to work as little as possible to get by so they can live in denial of how close to the edge they are, knowing that the collective is there to catch their lazy ass on the other side, evil worldly entities that they preach against.
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38
How do I handle this?
by Phoebe ina little advice please.. it's now 7 months since i stopped going to meetings.
we still get regular calls by elders - at least every 2 weeks.
i can handle them.
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dubstepped
Again Phoebe, you need boundaries. If you don't want to DA that's fine, but why are you engaging when the elders stop by? You can make it stop but it's up to you, not them. Tell them, in no uncertain terms, that you don't want their visits anymore and that if they come by you will no longer answer the door so they will waste their time and gas. You need space and are taking it.
If you keep doing what you're doing you'll keep getting what you're getting. I'm not saying you should DA, though I personally believe it to be a great option, but I am saying that you are the reason you're getting harassed. You can stop it. Take your power back. Do what YOU want and stop letting toxic people dictate your life. I'm trying to empower you. Don't continue to be a victim of theirs. They instilled that in you, in me, etc. You aren't alone.
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Charging $150 To Tell Your Stories
by Bangalore inhttps://www.indiegogo.com/projects/how-to-escape-from-jehovah-s-witnesses-religion#/.
for $150: collaboration with the backer so that their story of successfully escaping an abusive belief system (300 words max) features along with others in the final pages of how to escape from jehovah's witnesses.
the text will be written by the author but will include a minimum of one quote worded by the backer.
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dubstepped
I'll help you tell your story for free (shunnedpodcast.com), and you get more than just a guaranteed minimum of "one quote" (wtf?). I do get that it takes time and effort to do this stuff and honestly if people want to donate I have no problems there either. Charging for minimal inclusion feels gross though. If he wants to fund things he can make money on the back end through sales of his book. Don't charge the people that are helping create the content for you.
When I started my podcasts (which are free) I reached out to other podcasters that weren't JWs and a few people for advice or collaboration to help me get listeners to what I felt was an important message. The only place where I got no response was at jwsurvey. I figured they might have advice. They never bothered to respond.
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dubstepped
Sure. When I left I still believed a lot of the JW teaching so I kept digging until I realized how it was a lie. Then I decided that everything I ever believed was based on the assumption that the Bible was truly the word of god. So I looked for the truth about it's origins and started seeing the horrific god portrayed in it and all of the contradictions. Okay, so now that's not true either.
So I started looking for answers, learning about things with actual evidence that can be seen like evolution. I am still in my infancy stages there, but that's just part of life. I realized that I could no longer believe in things just because emotionally it was easier, and I've had to accept hard truths. This life is it. No god created me, a natural biological mechanism did. So much of life is random and out of our control. Death is the end as far as any evidence shows. But on the other hand there is beauty. I actually got to be born. I live in a time of great things. I get to choose my perspectives and how I experience the world, not some preconceived notion from a massively flawed book that has been passed down as a form of often toxic denial of reality. I'm free.
You may have a different experience. Truth can be somewhat subjective as we don't have all the answers. Maybe there is some god out there, but he can provide real evidence if he wants me to believe. I don't have to know all of the answers. Life isn't black or white, all or nothing. That's a fabricated way of thinking that JWs espouse.
Run with those who search for truth, don't listen to those that claim to have it like the JWs. As the quote goes, "I'd rather have questions I can't answer than answers that I can't question".
So keep searching if you want, but don't hold anything sacred like the Bible or god that you can't question. Question everything. The more uncomfortable it makes you, the more you need to question it.
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55
Very Lost
by Jrjw inhi i've been a jw for 12 years and got married 2 years ago.
i'm now separated.
my husband hid from me that he suffered from depression, extreme anxiety issues and a personality disorder.
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dubstepped
You might even go farther back and research the origins of the Bible and how it was all put together. It hit me after finding out that what JWs taught me was false that it was all based on a book that I also took as true by default. Where you end up is up to you, but you owe it to yourself to start from square one, not just assume that one thing is true and go from there because you didn't look into it deeply. That's what got you believing untruths on the first place, and me too, most of us really. Just a suggestion.
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38
How do I handle this?
by Phoebe ina little advice please.. it's now 7 months since i stopped going to meetings.
we still get regular calls by elders - at least every 2 weeks.
i can handle them.
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dubstepped
You don't have to win the lotto to leave. Install boundaries that keep them out. Or (and I can't remember your entire backstory) just disassociate and get distance that way. You have to create distance and it sounds like you're still playing their games. Maybe I'm missing something.