marketman - I was not raised a Witness...nor was I ever baptized as a Witness. Much of my family is Catholic but I was raised to believe that whatever choice you make as far as religion goes, is a personal one and your relationship with whomever you deem your creator also remains personal. That being said, I studied many religions, joined many church choirs and have enjoyed the journey along the way. Included in my years of learning were Watchtower studies. I too believe in one god and a few other basic bible principles....however...and this is a huge HOWEVER....I realized in a fairly short period of time that there was something inherently wrong inside the Kingdom Halls. Sitting through Sunday meetings where the Elder giving the talk kept harping on 'us' against 'them'...only made me angry and I soon realized that this is one of the beliefs of the society. I did not choose to belong to any organization that felt so arrogant in their own existence that they would find it constantly necessary to judge and condemn every other person in the world as unsavory or unclean. Not to be associated with. As soon as I realized this one fact - for me - I did more and more research on the actual orgins of the society. What I found was that there was no consistency and that the whole organization was based on nothing more than one mans voice claiming he was the speaker of the 'truth'. I know a few mentally ill people who will claim to say the same thing. If the originator of the society had the truth and passed that on to his followers, then those followers don't exist today. The Watchtower spouts a far different truth than it originally did and this must be questioned since they have always claimed to be the directed and appointed channel of God. My research has shown me the doctrines like blood and shunning - both death sentences - are not scriptural at all but simply a way to control the members. There is so much more that is wrong. This is not a religion - it is cult and in my mind, if any person chooses to become a baptized Witness after knowing what it is really about, there must be something severely lacking in their life to draw them inside. The bottom line is - if you have a family - a husband or children, parents, siblings or friends - you will at some point in your life be forced to give all of it up should the time come when you elect to be baptized. They will not allow you to study with them forever before you make a choice. This is not an organization you can walk into and back out of. Please remember that - the Catholic church you can walk away from and simply not attend, ditto the Unitarian..ditto the Anglican..and so on and so on - this is not a house of refuge..this is a mind controlling organization. Beware. sammieswife.
sammielee24
JoinedPosts by sammielee24
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Is becoming a witness the right thing for me
by marketman ini've been struggling for quite some time now about continuing my exploration of the jehovah witness faith.
i am a "cradle" catholic and have been very involved with the church.
i started to become disillusioned several months back with all of the tradition, habits, and teachings of the church--which i began to seriously doubt.
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Letter from the WTBTS
by sammielee24 incan anyone tell me how long i might have to wait - in general - for a letter from the watchtower?
i sent them 2 different letters in regards to some questions that i have and i just want an idea of how long to wait until i send a follow up.
in actual fact i'm not even expecting them to respond but how long do i give them?
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sammielee24
Oh..and I forgot..if they don't answer..I still hand over the copies of all of my letters to those very loyal, very zealous JW's that I do talk to and I let them know why I think I didn't get a response. These are people who have never, ever questioned the WTBTS in anything so when I was asked to let them read the letters of response from the Society, I said I would be happy to oblige. Of course - in sending the response, it is necessary to send them my own letters - and I'm very certain there is information in those that these people have never heard before. Given the content, I fully expect the Society to just toss the letters away but we'll see. The first thing I was ever told by a JW when they were witnessing to me and comparing themselves to 'other' religions..was that there is no such thing as blind faith..there's was a faith supported in all ways only by the bible. The policies enacted by the Society can only be followed if one has blind faith because there is no basis for even the start of the religion and its 607 origins...sammieswife.
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Letter from the WTBTS
by sammielee24 incan anyone tell me how long i might have to wait - in general - for a letter from the watchtower?
i sent them 2 different letters in regards to some questions that i have and i just want an idea of how long to wait until i send a follow up.
in actual fact i'm not even expecting them to respond but how long do i give them?
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sammielee24
Be prepared for a visit from the elders.
Hi Blondie - yes, that was what I was (kind of) expecting but I'm not going to warp out over it. The 2 letters I sent were just some simple requests for them to clarify first - the directive on shunning and a list of what they consider to be allowable family business. I also asked them clarify Cano's response to the directed/appointed/annointed question. I also asked them to do this without scripture and not to engage in theocratic warfare or 'lying' as I think it's most commonly called. What I want without the double speak is just a list of the do's and don'ts without any fanfare. I also let them know that these are letters and information that I will be sharing with JW's who are active.....of course I'm mightily confused by all the 'truth's' I've come across in the organization. If Russel was the chosen one and he had the truth - but then Rutherford came along and he had a better truth - and the truth has been changed and rewritten over the past hundred years into today's truth - well - I'm confused as to who was really chosen and who had the real truth in the first place. There is no new light - the bible has never changed and to say that the organization is nothing more than bible students presents a problem for me. Students are learning - and learning is encouraged but if a student is not allowed to learn the bible but only directed to study the Watchtower, they aren't bible students. Sigh....so many questions - so much paper and I certainly don't want to stumble and JW's in their faith but it all boils down to the Society and their response. sammieswife.
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sammielee24
Congratulations!! What a proud moment for you all - beautiful pics as well! sammieswife.
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Letter from the WTBTS
by sammielee24 incan anyone tell me how long i might have to wait - in general - for a letter from the watchtower?
i sent them 2 different letters in regards to some questions that i have and i just want an idea of how long to wait until i send a follow up.
in actual fact i'm not even expecting them to respond but how long do i give them?
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sammielee24
It will likely take three to six months for a reply.
WT......$#$%^.....you've got to be kidding! Guess my follow up with be before I get their letter then because I don't want to drop it - I want to send their answers along with copies of my letters to some die-hard, fanatical lifers I know. They are interested in reading the responses so I am more than happy to oblige sammieswife...
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Letter from the WTBTS
by sammielee24 incan anyone tell me how long i might have to wait - in general - for a letter from the watchtower?
i sent them 2 different letters in regards to some questions that i have and i just want an idea of how long to wait until i send a follow up.
in actual fact i'm not even expecting them to respond but how long do i give them?
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sammielee24
Can anyone tell me how long I might have to wait - in general - for a letter from the Watchtower? I sent them 2 different letters in regards to some questions that I have and I just want an idea of how long to wait until I send a follow up. In actual fact I'm not even expecting them to respond but how long do I give them? sammieswife.
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Finally downloaded the application for America's Next Top Model. :)
by stillAwitness inwell, i been "living in sin" for about 5 days now and aside from an elder asking if i was gonna still do a talk i was scheduled for this past monday (i told him no of course.
he knows i moved out and only asked about my literature) i finally worked the nerve to download the application for this season's america's next top model.
i've been modeling for some time now and i figured what the hell...i have nothing to lose but $3.95 in postage.
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sammielee24
Good luck! Sounds both fun and exciting - have fun with anything you do! sammieswife.
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Ballistic Does America
by ballistic inhey guys,.
i can't spend long but just want to say what a great time i'm having in america.
i'm in the middle of a thunder storm in manhattan, new york at the moment.
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sammielee24
Great pics Ballistic - love, love, love Canada!! Go man go! swife.
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District Overseer put out to pasture with no $$$ - sad
by Dogpatch inanyone know this poor soul?
randy
a brother who served as a curcuit and district.
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sammielee24
no, it's choice. What else is the difference between he who stayed and we who left? We chose to research, and then think outside the square, and then act on it. We were all in the same cult and faced the same fears of the consequences of the same choices. I can't believe he's never had a doubt; he probably did just as constantly as we all did, but he never acted on it. And so here he is, unemployable, unskilled, and broke. A consequence of every choice he's ever made. We all build our own future.
The thing that turned me off of JW's most was their absolute judgement, harshness and prejudice - their view of all or nothing - their shades of only black and white. It's hard for me personally to understand how compassionate people can simplify things into one or the other without acknowledging and understanding all of a person or their life. If leaving mind control or abuse was so easy, if the choices were so easy, there would be no shelters for abuse victims. All little children would break free from abuse, all women and men would choose to run from their abuser no matter what form that abuse took, a verbally abused employee would run screaming with indignity from their employer - the list goes on. If we all had a choice and we all made great choices - there would never be a need for prisons or confessional or prayer. It isn't always as simple as saying 'I did it' or 'they're stupid' or ' too bad they are unskilled and broke'. People are people. A persons past will define their future and sometimes it takes most of one's life until they can remove themselves from that definition - or the past they are now. A man will pay for his actions sooner or later - judgement will bring judgement, selfishness will breed greed, arrogance will replace compassion - so while not exempting anyone from their actions - I try at the very least to remind myself of these things. Do I feel sorry for this man? Not really. He has not been df'd so he has no real comprehension the destruction of that action but I believe that he must be humbled from being demoted. As for choices - we are all people with different levels of strength and weaknesses. swife.
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District Overseer put out to pasture with no $$$ - sad
by Dogpatch inanyone know this poor soul?
randy
a brother who served as a curcuit and district.
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sammielee24
Tough Time - those experiences rambled around in my head so thanks for writing them down. That's how I recall him except he was pretty decent earlier on and seemed to get a tad miserable as time went by.
Willyman - thanks - in a nutshell.
I guess it might help a lot of us to delve into the mysteries of brain washing and mind control aka cult bonds. That might go a long way to explain why some people aren't making choices for their behaviour but rather are incapable of making choices as long as they belong to the cult which is circular since if they can't break the control they can't get out. Arriving at adulthood doesn't somehow make a person all wise and knowing - sometimes it takes many years or a lifetime for people to understand life and their own actions in particular. sammieswife.