The better question would be "after people leave for x,y,z sin, why do they go back?" Why do good people who maybe slept with their future mate but after getting married live a completely clean and moral life then choose never to go back? And then there are Jws who go on with their 'sinful' life but keep it more guarded and become better liars while continuing to identify as JW or, they continually get df'd but keep retuning. Why do people STAY is the better question.
fiddler
JoinedPosts by fiddler
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54
According to one JW there can only be 1 of 3 reasons why you left.
by Bonsai ini asked an old jw friend of mine why so many baptized individuals leave the jw religion.
"did it ever occur to you, old friend, that maybe they know something that you don't know and have valid reasons for leaving?
", i asked.. his response set me back for an answer.
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What do you think would have happened to you if...
by LevelThePlayingField inyou found out about ttatt way back in the 70's or maybe the 80's (basically before the internet) and you thought that you were all alone in this knowledge?
what do you think would have happened to you?
no jehovahs-witness.com, no john cedars, no arc, no jwfacts.com and no crisis of conscience to fall back on.
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fiddler
What the final catalyst was for me has always been something I wonder about. I almost woke up after the Jonestown event in 1977 because there was so much information about cults in the news. I remember saying to my husband "by this definition, Christianity itself is a cult!" With that thought I decided to ignor the obviously cultish aspects of JWs. I mean, Jesus was cool, right? Then I got really busy just trying to be a mother to what ended up being four children and keep up the regimen of being JW...never was good enough. At some point I think we were encouraged to read old publications but by the time I got around to doing it the admonition was to NOT read them. I missed that memo and read The Commentary on the Letter of James and was so excited about the admonition so to love and fairness that were in that letter. I was scolded by a Pioneer for reading that book and had no idea why. 1995 came with the first change in the generation....stored that in my brain with a big ?. I became the subject of another 'sisters' gossip and slandering of my character during the following 5 years...that wore me down and allowed me to look a little more objectively at the teachings. We were 'studying' the Revelation book for the umpteenth time (it seemed) and my children were leaving the nest and then...the biggest bombshell! My husband announced he was Done with meetings and JWs. I was devastated! Then we got the Internet and I started looking up stuff on archeology and other science related interest and voila! The so called 'truth' just became ridiculous. I didn't look at an exjw site for another 3 - 4 years but by then I was totally out. So, yes...the Internet had a big part in my learning TTATT. Would I have left without the Internet? I think I would have with all that I'd gone through personally...lack of love, etc...but I think my mental state would have been worse. I guess I should add that in 1999 I was treated for depression and given SSRI antidepressants. The doctor said it would 'reset' my serontinine level (or something like that) Whatever, it brought me to a mental point where I basically was at a point pre-indoctrination level. (I decided that I had been clinically depressed my entire life of being JW and didn't know it because it was my constant state of mind). I looked at and listened to everthing I had thought was 'the truth' and just said, "this is bs and how did I ever believe it?!" This is it in a nutshell but really, the process is just that...a process. There were things that happened during that transition that I am not proud of but leaving JWs was not one of those things. Leaving JWs was the best and most significant event of my life!
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What is the Education Level of the Governing Body members?
by Wild_Thing ini would love to compile a list of the education obtained by the governing body members both past and present.
can anyone provide any information to get me started?.
it still amazes me they think they can translate ancient languages with an 8th grade education.
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fiddler
They will just throw back at anyone that they are in line with the Bible, (Acts 4:13) that they are unlettered and ordinary men. Well, not being impressed with most of what's in the Bible that doesn't mean anything to me, but for them...it's all the impressiveness they need. Theirs is a belief system based on fluff...I mean faith...not knowlege and reason.
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Stand Up Comedy about JWs
by usualusername1 inhello all,i have just signed up to do a comedy course.
it starts in september.in order to get a headstart, i did my first 5 minutes tonight about jws.i explained that i celebrated my first birthday last week.
bemusement and a tittle.explained that if you could choose between hare krishnas and people standing at a trolley/cart as a religion who would you choose?got a laugh.explained that the whole world will be destroyed if you do not listen to our message, yet we are not prepared to initiate a conversation at a trolley.big laugh.
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fiddler
I am sure there will be much more of comedic value that will come to mind but you seem to be off to a great start!
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Is it me or were the experiences at the assemblies really contrived?
by keyser soze inmy favorite were the ones where they were reading a wt publication in the break room at work, and an inquisitive co-worker, thirsty for spiritual knowledge approaches them.
this leads to an informal witness, which eventually leads to bible study and baptism.. in all my years of working, i've never had anyone show the slightest bit of interest in what i was reading while i was on my break at work.
but as i said, maybe it's just me..
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fiddler
I used to take notes in shorthand at assemblies and one time it was noticed and related to the CO that there was a sister who took real detailed notes. He asked (rather rudely) if I would transcribe the part his wife was in and her experiences. They were looking for some kind of 'press release'. I took the experiences down in shorthand and transcribed them to the best of my ability. At times I admit I took more 'notes' than word for word (bored a little bit maybe?) but I went home and typed up the transcript. I don't remember the details at all today but whatever I typed up (and it was what was said and the gist of blah blah blah) he looked at it and with a disgusted face gave it back to me as unacceptable. I don't know what the hell he was expecting asking a random person at an assembly to do this and all but I remember feeling really put down and like I'd been such a disappointment. I was only in my early 20's, young married. I must have had at least one kid...I had four by the time I was 28! I don't remember. If I could go back in time now I would have called that CO what he was to his face, a rude and insufferable asshole. That incident really shook me up but I chalked it up to just one bad apple. The next year there was a new CO. He was even worse! Can't believe I stuck with it for so long.
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The story of a secret Apostate Anointed
by TerryWalstrom inthe remarkable sister pettifog.
this morning i arrived on my bicycle at the local starbucks early, before the intensity of the texas sun boiled to full blaze rendering me a soggy, wrung out mess.. i took up my perch on the outdoor patio in the shade, eager to work on my book of short stories.
this will be my 3rd book and i’ve been enjoying the process daily.. .
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fiddler
Terry, I loved that! It did make me think some of my grandfather Elijah. Yes, his name was Elijah. He was born in 1885 and was a follower of CT Russell. All I ever knew about him was that he was considered an apostate and that he was somehow into 'spiritism' He died of TB in 1966 and it was the only time I saw my grandmother cry. Mind you, I loved my grandma dearly. My JW aunts used to tell me how they would cross the street when they saw him and later, my only non JW aunt blamed him for bringing the scourge of the JW religion into our family. I mostly just wish I could have known him and talked to him. He was actually college educated but, as one of my aunts described him, one of the original hippies in that he chose a life of anti establishment over the status quo. I really think I would have loved this man. I only remember him shortly before he went into a TB sanitarium as a little smiling (toothless) man who I decided I liked as a 7 year old child.
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What is the current suicide and mental illness rate among JWs and previous members
by 060702015 inthere seems to be no current data on this information and there is questions concerning the validation of past data.
apparently there is high rate of mental illness and suicide.
jehovahs witnesses suicide rate 5 to 10 times above average.
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fiddler
I was born into the JW religion and experienced my own mental health decline due to constantly having to deal with the cognitive dissonance. Before I left I really just wanted to die. The 'new system' was not a happy prospect for me to contemplate knowing that many family members, good neighbors, good people were going to be destroyed by my so called 'loving God'. That part of their theology in itself is a recipe for mental health disorders and don't tell me they don't teach the destruction of billions today. We only have to listen to the JW broadcast and governing body members to hear that mass genocide of the human population us still being shoved into the brains of the 'sheep'. ...human hotdogs anybody???
I also observed many depressed individuals from sisters to elders. I've wondered if the mentally unwell are drawn to this religion in fact. They would call them 'the sighing and crying ones..'.
I would call them depressed. These are people who can't cope with life. They are people often living with the consequences of their own bad choices. To hear that 'God will fix it all AND bring back their dead loved ones AND you that they can live forever and pet lions AND panda bears, SIMULTANEOUSLY just appeals to their every desire! Sure, there are also a few educated people that fall for that bait as well but by and large, it is the less educated and depressed.
The rest are born in. My grandmother started our family in the religion straight out of the Great Depression! I think many 3rd and 4th generation witnesses came from that background. And there you have it!
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Jesus Knows the Day & Hour Now?
by KillerJones ini was skimming the july 2016 wt study article and came across a paragraph indicating that, despite scriptural evidence, the governing body indeed feels that god's son now knows the exact day and hour of armageddon.
is this 'new light'?
from the second study article, page 14, pgh 4:.
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fiddler
Saw a "Jesus is coming soon" sign on a 7th Day Adventist church yesterday. The end timers are channeling the same propaganda. Have to get back to them in a couple of years; 2, 5, 10 maybe and ask the to clarify what they mean by 'soon'
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The best way for a witness to wake up, is to simply read the societies own older publications!
by stuckinarut2 inonce again the society is on a push to scare witnesses away from doing any research, or "stumbling" upon any "apostate" material (from workmates, neighbors, or online).
however, the most enlightening, mind blowing and eye opening things are found simple by reading the early publications themselves!.
read how ct russel, (the supposed channel god was using) had the most far fetched and laughable ideas, such as obtaining pivotal dates by measuring the pyramids of egypt!...
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fiddler
Blonde, you nailed it "it takes time to marinate"! As I was reading tor1500's post I was thinking a lot said in that post sounded like me in the 1980's thru 1990's. I was not trying to find fault with the organization? I was trying to strengthen my own faith. The Greatest Man book really got me reading the gospel accounts about Jesus much more closely and then I started using the law of Love as a measuring standard for everything I was seeing in the congregations and reading in the literature. I did start going back over old publications like the Commentary on James...boy did I get blasted for bringing up That book by one of the pioneers! I had no idea why she was so adamant against a publication that was, to me 'spiritual food', set out by the governing body for us. There was nothing in that little book that was not scriptural and that went against the law of love, in fact, it reinforced the kind of love I felt Jesus was trying to teach. I found out years later that Ray Franz had a big hand in that little book. No wonder ms. Pioneer was so miffed! Anyway, as has been noted, all those little things are part of the marinade but boy, what an 'aha moment' when it all came together!
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Instruction Manual for Life
by skeeter1 ini saw this on another jw forum, and thought it summed me (and likely you) up without using religion or jws.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaiprrzvnjg.
instruction manual for life [cc] 40 videos subscribe603,832 like add to share uploaded by theramintrees on dec 22, 2008. piano score written/performed by qualiasoup.
http://www.youtube.com/qualiasoup.
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fiddler
Thankyou for bumping these! Although I was around 5 years ago, I missed this.