Posts by TheListener

58

Can You See Thru A Phoney Poster?

by minimus in

jw
friends

are you able to tell the real from the phonies?

i see some posters that automatically raise suspicions because of how they state things.

others, after reading what they have to say over a period of time, show their true colors.

How many of you are still in?

by IP_SEC in

.

i just thought i'td be neet to get a poll of how many people on this board are still meeting attending, time reporting publishers, who believe the wts is all crap?.

Who left the JW's after getting on the internet?

by toladest in

jw
friends

vitta's thread above got me wondering.

how many here still believed the "witnesses" to have the truth until they came to sites like this?

how many actually came here to defend the jw's and ended up leaving?

Watching the Dateline show really made me think. I was pretty angry at how some were treated. I've been on the internet for years and wouldn't even think of checking an apostate site. Not until after Dateline. I wouldn't review apostate material but I did check out CoC on amazon. After that the rest is history.

32

Why 5 meetings a week?

by G Money in

i was recently being ragged on my a jw friend and he was raggin on me for not goin to the meetings.

he said i am foresaking the gathering of ourselves.

i then said where in the bible does it say i must attend 5 meetings a week spread over 3 days?

TheListener

Here is why I think they don't have more evening meetings: attendance would be abysmal. In fact it already is.

So what do they do instead? They tell you to prepare for each of the meetings you do go to. So you have Monday night preparing for Tuesday night. You have Weds. night preparing for Thursday night. You have Friday night preparing for Saturday service. You have Saturday night preparing for WT Study.

If you actually follow the advice (bombardment of Fear Obligation and Guilt) you will have very little time to do anything else. Exactly what they want. It appears to me that most of the dubs are doing those things but in a most basic manner. They don't study their WT like they used to, they preparing in 15-20 minutes. The old timers would take an hour or more. Same for the rest of the preparation.

Perhaps ljw is right. A change could be coming. They changed the school two years ago(?) and that hasn't really panned out. Attendance is still low. Perhaps they'll move the Bookstudy into the service meeting as a 20 minute weekly Q&A part. Then have each bookstudy group meet separately for service on Saturday (some halls do this already) so the bookstudy overseer can still watch over every one.

This would eliminate one meeting night and still cover the information.

6

Demons and the World's Largest Garage Sale, eBay!

by VM44 in

remember the watchtower and awake!

used to print articles with experiences of how people bought items at garage and yard sales, and after bringing them home, were bothered by unseen spirits or demons?.

well, what is the world's largest garage sale in existence?.

TheListener

I've never heard anyone in dubville speak evilly of ebay. There are a lot (LLLLLOOOOOOOTTTTTT) of dubs making money on ebay. They buy at yardsales and second hand stores and sell it on ebay. This allows some of them to pioneer. Ebay is quickly becoming this generations window washing or house cleaning pioneer job.

43

Meek Shall Inherit the earth

by golden age in

.

i was talking to a witness the other day and i was explaining from revelation how there is only one calling to heaven and there is not an earthly calling.

and the jw asked me to explain the verse from pslam which states teh meek shall inherit the earth and reside in it forever, any one have any scripture to refute his argument.

TheListener

This is an excellent discussion.

The paradise earth is something I've been really thinking about. I'm finding I don't believe in it, but perhaps only because it was part of my JW belief system. Instead of taking what others say on a subject and going along for the ride I am trying to understand the different viewpoints and make up my own mind about how I feel.

There have been many excellent scriptural discussions lately and I really enjoy them.

12

Bookstudy - Ch30 "Go On Walking In Love"

by TheListener in

so this is the title of the chapter we'll be starting this week at bookstudy.

sounds promising eh?

well don't get excited.. here are some tidbits:.

TheListener

I totally agree with you Euphimism. Dubs are trained from the start that the world and everyone in it deserves to live - if they becomes dubs. Otherwise we're (the dubs) better off without them. They work and go to school with worldly people, but are trained to only listen and look for the bad things. The things like pagan holidays, or trouble with children or mates. They listen for any sign of depression or loneliness. They do this because if confirms their beliefs; and so they'll know when it's the best time to preach to someone.

Once a dub starts to realize that all worldly people aren't evil, that they are aren't some caricature as portrayed in the literature or on the platform, they tend to be confused. Once a dub hears and listens to workmates or schoolmates talk about the good things in their life, or the happiness they have in their faith or whatever, they have a harder time hearing the same old tripe from the platform. The dub won't fall out of the truth over it, but they will slowly open themselves up to saying 'hey, what that brother said about worldly people isn't really true, in fact it's kind of offensive'.

I've seen this happen. Once the dub starts picking apart certain aspects of the literature or talks they are on the road to really thinking. Getting them to the next step is what I have trouble with.

13

Why didn't I take the blue pill?

by ljwtiamb in

cypher: i know what you're thinking, 'cause i'm thinking the exact same thing.

actually, i've been thinking it since i got here: why didn't i take the blue pill?

- the matrix.

TheListener

ljw I have asked myelf that very question this weekend! After loggin in this morning and seeing your post I can only assume Jehovah is providing me some information just when I needed it . All I can say is that I wasn't really happy as a JW. I thought I was but in hindsight I was just fooling myself. At some point I would have woken up and realized something wasn't quite right. So I'm glad it's now and not later. I only hope that I can help my family wake up and see things for what they are.

24

Thoughts on Reading CoC

by love2Bworldly in

jw
friends

i am reading crisis of conscience and am wondering what goes through people's minds when they read it, i am on about page 115. i find it slow reading because of the way it is written.

even though i have been out of the org for going on 20 years, i am a little shocked at some of the stuff i'm reading and i feel like it shouldn't shock me.

i remember when i was a jw, how the governing body was put on a pedestal; everyone assumes they spend all their time studying and praying over matters from a scriptural standpoint.

TheListener

Ray Franz wrote the best books I ever read. I was fairly convinced everything I knew was wrong. But I was equally convinced I was going to die at Armageddon. After reading Ray's books I began to feel much better and even to research things for myself.

Thank you Ray. You reached a toughened old school elder with your gentle and loving approach.

8

About The Best of Series

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

i am glad to read that so many of you are finding the best of the board helpful to you.

for some of you who haven't browsed it yet, each section contains links to various discussions that have been posted on the board that many people have found helpful.

if you have a question feel free to browse through the best of to see what may have already been posted.. you will discover also that you cannot post to any thread in the best of section.

TheListener

I love the best of and appreciate all your hard work. I've used it many times to bone up on a subject before discussing it with someone.

thank you so much.