Posts by AlmostAtheist

311

Urgent! Need help - I told my parents.

by filip in

jw
friends

we have just gotten home from sunday-meeting, when my mom ask me if i believe in god and so on.

so i tell her, cause you adviced me to be honest.

and despite all my fears, she took it very calm, and then told my dad whos also taking it calm, and it doesnt seem like theyre hating me now or want to throw me out of the house.. the thing is.

AlmostAtheist

afin:

I see a kid who found an audience on the net that makes him feel good. No rules ... don't obey parents ... life (outside org) is just a bowl of cherries.

There's certainly some truth to what you're saying. Everyone wants to feel accepted, especially at filip's age. He could easily be developing an us-against-them attitude toward his parents. That won't help him at all.

However, I can't agree at all with this "no rules" comment. This is typical JW paranoia -- everyone "worldly" is evil. It just isn't true. And it isn't at all the advice he's been given in this thread. He's been warned to be respectful of his parents, not start on drugs or smoking, not "go wild". No one's telling him to go live on the streets, peddling crack.

When a JW is out in service and a 15 year old answers the door, asking questions about religion, do the JW's ask him first if it's ok with his parents to talk to him? Some may, but most in my experience do not. They consider the information to be important and they share with anyone old enough and mature enough to seek it. Filip isn't "mature" -- he's 15 -- but he's mature *enough* to make some decisions about his spirituality for himself.

Should he submit to a study? I think so. His parents want it, and it's easy to do and won't hurt him. If anything, it would help him see that the JW's really don't have the truth. Then when he decides to abandon it altogether, he'll be able to defend that position.

Dave

8

"Jehovah God's Organization" (to the tune of "Hotel California")

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

this has been rolling in and out of head for weeks (as so many things do) and so i finally got it all out.. dave.

with apologies to the eagles.... "jehovah god's organization" (to the tune of "hotel california").

on a warm summer morning, a ring at the bell.. two nice dressed folks, claiming there ain't no hell.. makes sense to me, i thought, sure, i'll take the book.. what i read in there seemed true at the time,.

AlmostAtheist

(i noticed this line needed no modification 'We're just prisoners here, of our own device")

Yeah, I tried to keep some things intact, particularly the thought of 'checking out any time you like, but you can never leave'

Now if I could only sing...

Dave

8

"Jehovah God's Organization" (to the tune of "Hotel California")

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

this has been rolling in and out of head for weeks (as so many things do) and so i finally got it all out.. dave.

with apologies to the eagles.... "jehovah god's organization" (to the tune of "hotel california").

on a warm summer morning, a ring at the bell.. two nice dressed folks, claiming there ain't no hell.. makes sense to me, i thought, sure, i'll take the book.. what i read in there seemed true at the time,.

AlmostAtheist

This has been rolling in and out of head for weeks (as so many things do) and so I finally got it all out.

Dave

With apologies to the Eagles...

"Jehovah God's Organization" (to the tune of "Hotel California")

On a warm summer morning, a ring at the bell.
Two nice dressed folks, claiming there ain't no hell.
Makes sense to me, I thought, Sure, I'll take the book.
What I read in there seemed true at the time,
So I took a deeper look.

They came to my doorway;
'Bout every week or more.
And I was thinking to myself
This sounds so good, I want more.
Then they shined some "new light", they showed me the way
So I went to their Kingdom Hall,
And all I heard them say...

Welcome to Jehovah God's Organization!
Such a paradise!
It's a paradise!
Everyone's loved in Jehovah God's Organization!
You can have it all, at the Kingdom Hall!

My study was "progressing" in this "time of the end".
I shed off all the worldly fools, that I called "friends".
I finally found The Truth, a whole new life.
I'm freed at last from, all that worldly strife.

So I called up my pastor,
'Please delete my name.'
He said, 'Mixed up with that crazy bunch? Ain't that a shame.'
But I still heard those voices calling every other day,
I go to the meetings thrice a week
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to Jehovah God's Organization!
Such a paradise!
It's a paradise!
We're livin' forever here in God's Organization
Just gotta keep your eyes, on that future prize!

Judicial Committees,
And marking's not so nice.
A small group said, 'We're just prisoners here, of our own device'
'We knew what we were doing,'
'for our baptismal vow.'
Then they sadly lamented,
'If we knew then what we know now!'

I turned to my new friends and "family",
"Quick, let's run for the door!"
I could tell at last we had to get back
To the place we were before.
'Stop,' said the elders,
'You must have been deceived!'
'Besides, you can check out anything you like,'
'But you must NEVER leave!'

You belong to Jehovah God's Organization!
Such a paradise!
It's a paradise!
We all agree here in Jehovah God's Organization!
If any have a doubt, we will boot 'em out!

15

My wife it´s a JW yet and used to take may daughter to KH, what i can do?

by Kaique in

jw
friends

my wife it s a jw yet and used to take may daughter to kh, what i can do?

i m afraid because they may control her mind (my daughter has 3 years old).

i don t kanow how can i manage this case.

AlmostAtheist

How would your wife react to you trying to teach your daughter your religion?

Can you teach your daughter also? As she grows up, she can make her decision for herself.

Dave

311

Urgent! Need help - I told my parents.

by filip in

jw
friends

we have just gotten home from sunday-meeting, when my mom ask me if i believe in god and so on.

so i tell her, cause you adviced me to be honest.

and despite all my fears, she took it very calm, and then told my dad whos also taking it calm, and it doesnt seem like theyre hating me now or want to throw me out of the house.. the thing is.

AlmostAtheist

"friend in need"'s post is interesting. There was no attempt to justify JW's doctrines. Nothing was said about the validity of a God belief. No logic at all.

Instead he appealed to your emotions -- "why listen to strangers instead of your own loving family?" -- and tried to lay on some guilt to coerce you into a study. (If you were trying to determine the answer to a complex question, would you only accept answers from your "loving family" or would you be willing to consider the opinions of "strangers" that had faced a similar problem before?)

Compare that with the other posters. They also largely encouraged you to accept the study, but with an open mind. We encouraged you to show respect to your parents. But we also provided you with solid reasons for believing the JW's are incorrect in their beliefs. Rather than simple emotional appeals, you've been given *reasoning* to consider on your own.

This is why JW's fail so often in their attempts to "correct erring ones". They don't have anything to correct with. So if they can't beat you into agreeing, guilt you into agreeing, or love-bomb you into agreeing, they have to write you off and move on.

Dave

27

Don't wanna be a JW...Don't wanna be ex-JW

by FreedomFrog in

jw
friends

ok...i definitely don't want to be jw any more.

i just want to be me.. on average, how long does it take to give it up?

to move on?.

AlmostAtheist

in the vain hope that he'll suddenly decide to take you out for a romantic candle-lit dinner...
...sorry, that was the dream again - keep on clicking!!!

lol...it doesn't hurt to dream...
Gotta go now...to get dinner on.

Let me cover dinner tonight, sweetheart.

Froglegs sounds good, 'k? ;-)

Dave

23

I can't get a straight answer

by Glofishy in

can anyone tell me if the organization believes that when a married spouse is addicted to pornography, they are actually cheating?

i mean cheating in the sense that the "innocent" spouse can then declare that they are victims of adultery, and be free to marry again?

i looked around their website and found nothing that specifically stated that it is considered cheating.

AlmostAtheist

No, porn's not cheating. But they really do consider phone sex to be "porneia" (or however it's spelled), and you can scripturally divorce over that?

Don't get me wrong, I can sure see a wife (or husband) feeling totally betrayed by it. I just have a hard time imagining them calling it fornication.

(Edited to add: I suppose nothing they come up with should surprise me anymore, but still...)

Dave

10

I am not a number

by Peppermint in

jw
friends

in the proclaimers book it mentions that from 1944 no credits were given any longer to authors or composers of kingdom melodies.

compare this though to examples in the bible.

david is credited with many songs in the psalms.

AlmostAtheist

It would be particularly embarrassing to have to say, "This fine spiritual food brought to you by Ray Franz."

9

Should I send this response or not?

by Hecklerboy in

jw
friends

i sent an email to my brother about a new truck i bought and got a reply about how the end of this system is so close and i should really return to jehovah.

as far as going back to the meetings, no thanks.

i've had my fill of having my life ran by a religion.

AlmostAtheist

You make good points, but could you make the same points over the phone? Then you could discuss it with him without leaving behind a paper trail. If it's important to you not to be DF'd, a one-on-one phone call would be safer.

Or meet him for lunch. Just make sure it's one on one. No "two witnesses" to your APOSTASY! ;-)

Dave

311

Urgent! Need help - I told my parents.

by filip in

jw
friends

we have just gotten home from sunday-meeting, when my mom ask me if i believe in god and so on.

so i tell her, cause you adviced me to be honest.

and despite all my fears, she took it very calm, and then told my dad whos also taking it calm, and it doesnt seem like theyre hating me now or want to throw me out of the house.. the thing is.

AlmostAtheist

Give your dad some space, Dude. From his perspective, his son is *choosing* to die at Armageddon. As a parent, he's trying to figure out what he did wrong, how he could have possibly raised an "apostate". When people feel utterly trapped, they respond with anger. If he demands a prayer, ask him, respectfully, if it would be appropriate to pray when you don't believe it. Wouldn't it be hypocritical? Remember, *respectfully*.

Compromise now can buy you huge rewards later. Give him his prayer if he's insistent. From your current perspective, there's no God, so you're not hurting anything by praying to it. If later you decide there really is a God, it still didn't hurt anything to thank him for food.

Just try to remember, your folks are PANICKING. They are scared to death for you, angry at themselves for doing whatever they did to turn you into an apostate, angry with your "worldly" friends that no doubt led you down this path. They are mentally flailing around trying to find something to explain your "irrational" behavior. And of course, they're sad, sad, sad.

So please try to keep it even keel. Give what you can to help them through this. Stay calm (much easier said than done, I know) and try to not feed their fire.

Take care,

Dave