OldSoul

Joined

• started 44 topics
• posted 1,785 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by OldSoul

• 
  28

  Limping on two opinions - mine and theirs!

  by atypical in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking at these sites for a while and have finally decided to post.

  forgive me for not wanting to give any clues as to my identity, but i am still struggling as a fence-sitter - knowing how i feel but not wanting to be cut off from my family and friends.

  so my meeting attendance is sporadic; when i go to the meetings i am told "i'm worried about you" or "where have you been, your wife has been coming by herself".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  The panic attacks are almost like I'm choking on what I really want to say.

  ((((atypical)))), stop choking. Get practice in speaking your true views here. Being able to do it outside requires practice doing it in a safe environment first. For a lot of people, that safe environment is their home. For you, you had to go out and find a safe environment because home was anything but. So, lay it on us. We are (mostly) adults, we can take it. Many of have been there. Many still are there. Many lurkers here are on their way to where you are.

  You may feel that the anonymity here makes you a coward, since this is the only way you can express yourself, but you are brave. You are brave to have a thought that is yours, independent from the spoon-fed dogma. You are brave to risk exposure to the thoughts of others who have thoughts of their own. You are brave to meet these people on any level, even anonymously, and confess openly to them and yourself that you can think for yourself.

  You are welcome here. Go wild!

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  63

  Can any JW answer OldSoul's 4 questions about JW teachings scripturally?

  by kwintestal in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i am waiting for any jehovah's witness to offer support in scripture of these four articles of faith: .

  (1) the faithful and discreet slave is a class of people, .

  (2) that the holy spirit directs organizations in addition to individuals, .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  I am waiting for any Jehovah's Witness to offer support in Scripture of these four articles of faith:

  (1) the Faithful and Discreet Slave is a class of people,

  (2) that the holy spirit directs organizations in addition to individuals,

  (3) that the Faithful and Discreet Slave is responsible for revealing "new light" (as opposed to "food at the proper time") to anyone, and finally

  (4) that Jehovah deals with individual other sheep differently than the little flock.

  Where is the Scriptural support for any one of these teachings? Can they be established Scripturally without uninspired human interpretation?

  If someone publicly denies the validity of any one of these foundational doctrines or publicly affirms a contrary belief to any one of these, they risk expulsion from among Jehovah's Witnesses. Surely, a teaching worthy of a sentence of spiritual death if rejected should be easily established by Scripture. Well, I can't find one Scripture to support any of these.

  Why do I care? Because I have family who are Witnesses, I have friends who are Witnesses, and I cannot figure out why I should be expelled for contradicting a teaching that is of human origin. If it is founded on Scripture, I am wrong and will do my very best to make right what damage I may have done to the faith of others. It is as simple as that. If it is not founded on Scripture, then the GB is wrong and I expect the same of them. Is that unreasonable?

  These four teachings combine to form the entire basis for authority within Jehovah's Witnesses. I am ultimatelly interested in whether this composite teaching is true: The Faithful and Discreet Slave has Scriptural support for its claim that (1) as a class they comprise (2) God's spirit-directed organization on earth today for the purpose of (3) discerning and dispensing "new light" (4) to the other sheep who can't get this light through any other means.

  Every Witness will immediately recognize this as the foundation for all subjection due the Faithful and Discreet Slave or its agents. Well? Can anyone prove this to be founded on Scripture? ANYONE?

  OldSoul
• 
  28

  Limping on two opinions - mine and theirs!

  by atypical in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been lurking at these sites for a while and have finally decided to post.

  forgive me for not wanting to give any clues as to my identity, but i am still struggling as a fence-sitter - knowing how i feel but not wanting to be cut off from my family and friends.

  so my meeting attendance is sporadic; when i go to the meetings i am told "i'm worried about you" or "where have you been, your wife has been coming by herself".

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  Give me liberty, or give me death! ~ Patrick Henry

  I find solace in reading the documents and orations that led to the outbreak of the American Revolution. I don't read it for the political rhetoric, I read it for the mindset of these men who risked and/or lost their lives as treasoners for something they considered to be of value. Their appeals to conscience are, in my opinion, directly relavent to this struggle to break free from what we consider to be, in essence, oppressive governance.

  oppress (e-près´) verb, transitive
  oppressed, oppressing, oppresses
  1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority: a people who were oppressed by tyranny.
  2. To weigh heavily on: Poverty oppresses the spirit.
  3. Obsolete. To overwhelm or crush.

  To me it seems that the yoke of the Governing Body is neither kindly nor light. It is a shackle to a human institution that, as far as I can tell, is none of God's origin (awaiting Scriptural proof to the contrary here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/98798/1.ashx). If their authority is not of God and they claim that it is, then any punishment or authority it exercises is unjust, and is therefore oppression.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  31

  Does the sadness ever leave?

  by pc in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi everyone, haven't posted for awhile.. i am probably just rambling tonight( a few glasses of great red wine) so pardon me.

  every once and awhile i just have such great sadness that begins to permiate my thoughts.not just for me but for everyone who has walked this path.

  i happen to have a pretty great life, but sometimes this deep sadness rises up in me for all the things that might have been.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  Yes, it does (((pc))). You already know that, if you feel it rising up at times. It comes and then it goes. I find that it goes faster if I focus on the time when it wil be gone while it is here, but yes, I know exactly what you are talking about.

  Also, you have only posted here 266 times. That isn't a lot of opportunity to run across someone that recognizes you from your posts. There is a lot of opportunity to make new friends here, and if any of your old friends are out you will be more likely to make a connection with them with each friend you make here. That has to do with the theory of Six Degrees of Separation. Every friend you make in a circle of ex-JWs increases the odds that one of them will know one of your friends.

  So, I know where you are coming from and I hope you can find a positive way of coping. Maybe that suggestion will help, maybe someone else's suggestion will help. For some of us, we ex-JWs are all we have left while we struggle and try to start a new life.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  168

  Has there been any "New Light" on the Blood Issue?

  by Mastodon in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  someone asked me if i knew anything about that.

  oblviuosly i don't, so i'm reaching to all of you in this enlightened crowd to shed some light on this for me.

  thanks!

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  Welcome, rootcause!

  I don't remember whether I welcomed you yet. As you can probably guess, we feel free to challenge each others dogma in here. Please understand, I am not disagreeing out of mean-spiritedness, I just don't think there is reasonable basis for your conclusions.

  Circumcision was performed on the eighth day because that is when the Mosaic Law said it should be performed. That answer is based on Scripture. Did you have a different reason? Is your reason based on Scripture?

  You wrote:

  What is really taking place after the sellers cuts the throat of an animal? lets see, the animal starts to shake relenlessly and bleed out to death until it stop moving. what made the animals do it? whereas it can just die without moving?

  The brain retains more blood when the animal is in this position making the nervous system, if unsevered, stay intact. This results in spasmodic movement of the muscles (twitching) for a longer period of time and the net effect of the gravity and spasming is that more of the blood is squeezed out of the muscles/veins/capillaries and spilt onto the ground. This was a practice not unique to the Israelites in that region at the time. What point were you trying to make?

  Also, if God really not particular with Blood then, Daniel and the other Hebrews during ;their Babylonian captivity what they've done in abstaining from blood was just a pure plain foolishness?

  Again, a dietary -- not a medical -- proscription. I fail to see how this adds any shred of weight to your argument.

  I await your considered reply.

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  65

  Post something to make me laugh

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  post anything to make me laugh, a picture, a riddle, whaterever

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  [pssst! FlyingHighNow! I was trying to make him laugh...]
• 
  23

  E-mail from a Former JW Friend

  by findingmyway in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hey sweets:.

  hope all is well.

  it is not a day that goes by that i don't think about you and wonder will i ever get the chance to be with you again.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  From the tone of your response it seems like she is an exception to the way you feel about most JWs. Seriously, if you care for her still, invite her over for dinner. SHE broached the idea. If she refuses later, well, at least you offered. She really may be starting to look for a way out. Just send another email, "Hey! Quick note for dinner plans: How is [date] at around [time] for you?"

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  65

  Post something to make me laugh

  by JH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  post anything to make me laugh, a picture, a riddle, whaterever

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  Someone telling you that you see zebra butts in your dreams results in you going to bed happy...WTF???

  Dude, if I had known that your psyche was that far out of whack...you need to light one before putting out the lights!

  Make that, two. Light two. And, dohn'tchya wurry, mon! It gonna be awl-riiight! Pass it to da left.
• 
  13

  UBM's

  by carla in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  does it seem like your past with your spouse is slowly being erased?

  do they remember earlier times?

  does it seem they are not allowed to or should not even think of time before becoming a jw?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  It is starting in my family, too. Fortunately, she refuses to give up experimentation w/ sex.

  I am hoping to keep at least that segment of our lives untainted by the CULTure of Jehovah's Witnesses.

  But, she is starting to study the Bible on her own, something I feared she may never do. If she keeps that up, she will revert to doctrines taught more than 100 years ago! I know, 'cause the Watchtower said so. They are scared to death of real students.

  Cure for GBItis? Bible study. So, the way out of the bOrg initially called Bible Students is through Bible Study. A slight hint of irony there?

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
• 
  21

  "We aren't prideful, we are just giving credit to God's organization"

  by Check_Your_Premises in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i reply, "well if that were true, then why do you have to run down all the other christians?".

  jw response: "nobody is attacking them personally.

  it is the teachings.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  OldSoul

  Hee, hee! JamesThomas, THAT is what I previously judged to be the case!

  You were starting to sound like a querulous old goat for a minute there.