Posts by Etude

29

The Ultimate Conversion

by Etude in

one thing that surprised me shortly after joining this site was the number of individuals who, after experiencing the deception of being a jw and the hypocrisy of the “truth”, switched to being catholic or “born-again” evangelists.

it seemed to me like jumping from the hot pan into the fire.. i don’t want to piss anyone off for his or her choices.

i feel everyone is free to believe what they may.

Etude

Scratchme1010

I absolutely agree. There are all kinds of reasons why people join other religions. And I think some have a legitimate need to satisfy their sense of belonging or to satisfy their need for spirituality. That doesn't mean they are not deluding themselves. In fact, I venture to say that my need for answers and for some sort of fulfillment or satiation of deep needs is what led me to become a JW. I was tired of the same rhetoric from other religions. What they offered sounded pretty good at the time. That proves to me that I can be sincere and very wrong.

So, to address your statement, in the logical sense, reasons can be VALID and be entirely wrong. That would be because the premises upon they are built are incorrect. I would rather avoid the mistakes that led me to something false and a waste of time. That's all the JWs ended up being and that's what most of religion is, including some "new-age" thinking.

Etude.

29

The Ultimate Conversion

by Etude in

one thing that surprised me shortly after joining this site was the number of individuals who, after experiencing the deception of being a jw and the hypocrisy of the “truth”, switched to being catholic or “born-again” evangelists.

it seemed to me like jumping from the hot pan into the fire.. i don’t want to piss anyone off for his or her choices.

i feel everyone is free to believe what they may.

Etude

waton:

I tend to agree. Life progresses and evolves. I just don't think (like some people do) that God created life and then let Evolution take over. It's a nice idea but has absolutely no basis.

Etude.

29

The Ultimate Conversion

by Etude in

one thing that surprised me shortly after joining this site was the number of individuals who, after experiencing the deception of being a jw and the hypocrisy of the “truth”, switched to being catholic or “born-again” evangelists.

it seemed to me like jumping from the hot pan into the fire.. i don’t want to piss anyone off for his or her choices.

i feel everyone is free to believe what they may.

Etude

Wanton: I'm not callused to your views. I just think they're not sustainable, not enough for me to be convinced that deism has any value. It's a nice and reassuring construct. But I feel that believing just "because" has no value. For it to be otherwise, the arguments for it must be very solid. I know we can enter a discussion in which we attempt to support our own views, (you can try) but I've been there and done that. Still, my point of the post was to comment on the idea of switching to Catholisism or Evangelism after being a Witless. That will never make sense to me. At least they are happy.

Etude.

29

The Ultimate Conversion

by Etude in

one thing that surprised me shortly after joining this site was the number of individuals who, after experiencing the deception of being a jw and the hypocrisy of the “truth”, switched to being catholic or “born-again” evangelists.

it seemed to me like jumping from the hot pan into the fire.. i don’t want to piss anyone off for his or her choices.

i feel everyone is free to believe what they may.

Etude

It is "the sigh within the sigh within the sigh", as the "reverend mother" would say.

Etude.

41

Want to read a surprising comment/complaint posted on my website about JW's encouraged not to have kids. Who would have thought!

by AndersonsInfo in

http://watchtowerdocuments.org/did-you-know-having-children/#comment-474.

here's the short article found in the "did you know?

" series found on watchtower documents, and, underneath it, is the unusual comment:.

Etude

OK. So, I'm reading all these examples of the definitive view of Witlesses through time and it paints a good picture of the recurrent zeitgeist. "HAVE NO KIDS. HARMAGEDDON IS COMING!" At the same time, I can just picture the denials from the Organization that they never advocated such a thing. Lying bastards.

Etude.

29

The Ultimate Conversion

by Etude in

one thing that surprised me shortly after joining this site was the number of individuals who, after experiencing the deception of being a jw and the hypocrisy of the “truth”, switched to being catholic or “born-again” evangelists.

it seemed to me like jumping from the hot pan into the fire.. i don’t want to piss anyone off for his or her choices.

i feel everyone is free to believe what they may.

Etude

Wanton: (I assume you're not yanking my chain) How can you assume He "endowed us with the tools to to succeed" when the world is replete with failures and enough misery to make Him go away? I can think of a lots of cases where the bounds of creation simply screwed people. It may be obvious to you but not to me. At least not based on any observable rationale. How do you demonstrate that?

Etude.

25

Outraged After Watching The May 2017 Broadcast

by pale.emperor in

ok, so i've just put myself through another months broadcast so i can see what bull they're feeding my still in relatives.

all was going fine... well, i say fine, i mean the usual cheesy videos, rehearsed reactions from jeffrey jackson (you remember him, the one who told half truths and lies at the royal commission) and propaganda from jw land.. the last feature brings up 9/11 and the paris 2015 attack at the bataclan.

just as im thinking "how are they gonna spin this in their direction" i hear these words:.

Etude

Yes, I'm outraged but not surprised. As a whole, Witlesses can be down-right callused and judgemental. I was guilty of that as well on a couple of ocassions. I guess it's that feeling of superiority for being on "the right side" and surety of survival that makes them smug.

Etude.

41

Want to read a surprising comment/complaint posted on my website about JW's encouraged not to have kids. Who would have thought!

by AndersonsInfo in

http://watchtowerdocuments.org/did-you-know-having-children/#comment-474.

here's the short article found in the "did you know?

" series found on watchtower documents, and, underneath it, is the unusual comment:.

Etude

It's ironic. My one JW sister told me years ago that the main reason for sex (according to the infinite wisdom of Jehovah) is solely to procreate. I was marveling in a conversation how nice it was for Jehovah to give us that extraordinarily delicious pleasure. She had resented my mention of all the sexual references in the O.T. contrary to her perception of Jehovah as a husband and father, rather than a cheated person whose wife spread her legs at every opportunity. "She lusted after them like the concubines of men whose male members are like those of a donkey and whose genitals are like those of a horse." Ezekiel 23: 20 NWT

My sister had 3 kids. Before all of this, I was newly arrived at Bethel and wondered why a married couple was "checking out", leaving Bethel. Thinking that there must be some hardship for leaving, when I asked them why, they simply told me that they wanted to start a family. That was back in 1974! Obviously, some people just didn't buy it, including my sister.

Etude.

29

The Ultimate Conversion

by Etude in

one thing that surprised me shortly after joining this site was the number of individuals who, after experiencing the deception of being a jw and the hypocrisy of the “truth”, switched to being catholic or “born-again” evangelists.

it seemed to me like jumping from the hot pan into the fire.. i don’t want to piss anyone off for his or her choices.

i feel everyone is free to believe what they may.

Etude

Thanks waton:

As I mentioned before, we can believe deeply and in a great deal of things. But my idea of belief is not to contemplate what could be and only consider what can be known. Deism seems a contradiction to me because the very idea that God exists and just simply abandoned everything (especially us humans) seems to deny His very own existence. He offers not explanations and He doesn't indicate via His creation the reason for his indifference. I can "reason" the Universe just fine without attributing its existence to a Supreme Being.

I also realize that there is much more we cannot know than we what we seek to find. But, in those cases, I'm perfectly willing to remain ignorant and say: "I just don't know." We do that in Science constantly.

Etude.

44

Just got back from Field Service

by biblexaminer in

i had to work with an elder in fs today.

there was no way out.. this elder is from africa somewhere, right off the boat.

how do they view children?.

Etude

"You can guess what I called Bro B" -- biblexaminer

What? A bullshitting beeotch? Bumbling butthead? Ball-busting bastard? I realize that there are people with different temperaments. And, I don't judge you for sticking in there while trying to stick it to them. But I would have been out in a heart beat because I would have laid into that guy like gangbusters. Normally I'm very tolerant when people from an entirely different culture. I tend to excuse them for not knowing the social graces we depend on. However, that was a teachable moment. Perhaps not for other JWs who would have excused him. For sure, I would not have. I don't have your kind of patience. That was shameful. What an asshole!

Etude.