Gina and I were not regular meeting attenders, we'd been inactive for over a year. But I always felt guilty. Every other day of the week, miss the meeting, feel guilty.
Now I'm liberated from that guilt, and it feels wonderful!
AlmostAtheist
JoinedPosts by AlmostAtheist
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22
Do You Now Feel Liberated Since Leaving The "Truth"?
by minimus ini do.
once you realize how much bondage you were under....it's easy to feel good not having the weights of man made rules.
it's very liberating for me to tell people that i no longer associate with the jw religion----very liberating!!
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Your favorite JW made-up word
by dorothy in.
ok, they have lots of "witnessy" sayings.
but the best is the words they keep making up.. mine is "super-fine apostles" (from an awake a few months ago).
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AlmostAtheist
Did anybody mention "class" yet? It's hardly a made-up word, but nobody can corral a group into a "class" quicker than the Watchtower. Jonadab class, FDS class, Jehu class, etc
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Your favorite JW made-up word
by dorothy in.
ok, they have lots of "witnessy" sayings.
but the best is the words they keep making up.. mine is "super-fine apostles" (from an awake a few months ago).
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AlmostAtheist
Calling your wife or husband your "mate".
"I'm searching for a mate" -- that's a definite Borgian phrase!
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Out of Curiosity...Does Anyone Believe Anything They WereTaught??
by confuzzed ini think the question speaks for itself?
while there is much we don't believe, there are some things we can't ignore.
anyone agree???
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AlmostAtheist
one of my biggest problems is the lack of love in the congregations also. my mum keeps saying that i should be in the truth for jehovah not the people in the congregations
In part, I feel the same way as your mum. You can't choose a bank simply based on the friendliness of the tellers.
But there are some excellent reasons to satisfy your spiritual cravings outside of the Watchtower. All their teachings serve to reinforce the "we know more than you do" mentality, an attitude they then bestow on you to take out in field service, believing YOU know more than the people at the doors do. It's a vicious cycle, the more involved you are, the more dedicated you become, the less likely you are to see the glaring flaws.
Ray Franz's book "Crisis of Conscience" was mentioned. Ray reveals much about the inner workings of the organization, having himself been a Governing Body member for a number of years. It's well worth purchasing and reading. (Available at http://amazon.com, and that other site. CommentaryPress.com? ) In addition to studying with the JW's, also read Ray's book, read the material at http://quotes.watchtower.ca, and ask questions here and of your study conductor.
Take note that your study conductor will strenuously discourage you from reading Ray's book and talking with former JW's. Why? What's so scary about information? If it's the "Truth", it should easily be able to stand up to scrutiny and criticism.
Good luck,
Dave
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Jan 15th WT - Quiet desperation from the Governing Body
by truthseeker inthe january 15th wt, "can you control your future" is the prelude to the feb 1st watchtower that contains the 2004 annual service report statistics.. .
in the second study article (pages 15-20), the gb acknowledge the fact that people aren't paying attention to their waffle.. .
there are some surprising statements in the last paragraph, but first, let's highlight some points in this article.... .
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AlmostAtheist
At that time a group of Bible students discerned-contrary to popular opinion-that Christ's return was to be invisible
I thought the 'invisible return' shtick was a decision made after the date passed? Until the date passed, they believed he'd come marching right down out of heaven and straighten the Pope out and all that, didn't they?
Revisionism indeed!
Dave
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So What Is The Point Of It All?
by Swan inwe talk it to death.
every subject.
is it really of any benefit to you to let it out here?
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AlmostAtheist
I was going back over your topic history, Swan. This question has come up in your mind before. But you also have threads like this one:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/60473/1.ashx
I want to score a few bumper stickers. I think $30 worth of bumper stickers might be just the thing to liven up the parking lot of the local KH on a Thursday night! (I did order some Get-Out-Of-Hell-Free cards, I'm looking forward to passing those around!)
No one's going to make the Watchtower go away. But this forum has helped thousands to get out. Just the other day a guy wrote to me about my birthdays-are-ok document. He wanted a copy, since he's been out for 3 years, but still feels funny about birthdays. This forum lets us all get the demons out of our heads. (Like the one's that made me think Santa was a bad idea... )
You need real-world friends, too. But I hope you'll decide it's good for you to hang around here as well. But of course, you're FREE now! It's entirely your call.
Take care,
Dave
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How would you answer this?
by NewLight2 inthis is an e-mail that i recieved regarding one of my web pages.
i thought that i'd let the "dude" see some of your answers!
i will e-mail him this url for his answer.
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AlmostAtheist
He doesn't sound like a Witness. He sounds like somebody who's just upset because you appear to pointing out the flaws in another religion. That upsets some people.
Most people don't realize that Jehovah's Witnesses aren't a religion in the standard sense of the word. They're a destructive cult, severing family ties, ruining people's careers and lives and futures. Most religions don't take such control over their adherent's lives. It's one thing to make fun of a fat kid, but it's an entirely different thing to point out why people might want to look elsewhere to satisfy their spiritual need. Poking fun for it's own sake isn't necessarily a good thing, but helping people learn the truth about the Watchtower definitely is.
Dave
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is there any concrete proof the JWs are wrong? Iam new here.
by Buck iniam very new to this forum.
so glad to meet all of you.
ive been reading here for quite a while but never felt the need to join in.
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AlmostAtheist
I had a discussion about Birthdays with my father-in-law, I ended up writing out their whole doctrine, why they believe it, and why it doesn't make any sense. I still have the Word doc lying around. If you'd like a copy, pm me your email address.
Essentially, the 2 birthdays of bad people in the bible and the pagan origins are what they lean on. But there are only two instances in the Bible of people putting on eye makeup, both of them wicked, and it also has pagan origins. But it's totally cool with the Watchtower. Funny how the "bad" things are also the things that would likely expose Witnesses to non-Witnesses... (birthdays, holidays, "worldly" parties...)
Good luck!
Dave
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The Divine Name That Will Endure Forever
by undercover inthe divine name that will endure forever .
that's the name of a brochure by the wts that tries to impress upon us why what god's name is and why we should use it.
we all know that jehovah's witnesses use the name "jehovah" for god in all their bibles and publications.
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AlmostAtheist
we may as well call him Jimmy
I love it!
Christian Association of Jimmy's Witnesses
And as a superlative, "Jim Jimmy"
Jim-jimminy, jim-jimminy, jim-jim,jeree...
Dave
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we just renounced our belief in the wtbts 2 hors ago,but still love jehovah
by ko38 inafter reading ray franzs 2 books and much information on this site we did a search comparing wt qoutes and had a local elder soon to be circuit ovsr at our house and the funny thing was he was unaware of much of the early wts.he also expressed some doubts when he applied to be a ministerial servant and they sent him back a letter making him an elder.his wife was here and when we brought coc out she jumped up like a person on fire.
the elder asked where else could we go?so there is doubt amoung the elders for sure.
i have a sense of loss however cannot support a self proclaimed prophet that is contrary to scriptural teaching and associated with falsehood and bloodguilt.
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AlmostAtheist
Nothing to add, just another chorus of "Welcome"! My wife and I only learned the truth about "The Truth" a couple of months ago, and we've found a wonderful new life not shackled to the Watchtower. Crisis of Conscience is quite an eye-opener, isn't it?
I agree with the above, go to the Quotes site. Amazing stuff.
Take care, and congratulations!
Dave&Gina (Who is, by the way, nowhere near to being an atheist!)