Darkside Blues

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Posts by Darkside Blues

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  20

  Why JWs Often Have a Hard Time Thinking For Themselves

  by Jeremy C in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  today, cedars had a really good post on a questions from readers article in which the watchtower instructs jws to consult the watchtower library index when they have questions on personal matters.

  the watchtower article explained that the branch cannot answer all personal inquiries that come into their offices.

  this post got me thinking about an area that i gave a lot of thought to prior to; and after leaving the organization.

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  Darkside Blues

  No wonder the majority of JWs do not have a college education - if they did, they'd have the critical thinking skills necessary to see what a load of BS the WT has been feeding them all this time.
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  26

  Tax Exempt status - is there a way to get JWs to lose it?

  by Black Man in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ....................................

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  Darkside Blues

  ^ Agreed! I don't see why they get a free ride when everyone else has to pay through the nose in taxes.
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  28

  Typical earthquake comment

  by MrFreeze in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my mom texted me after i texted her letting her know i felt the quake today.

  her only response was "'matthew 24:7".

  it really annoyed the hell out of me..

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  Darkside Blues

  Yup, was with my Mom and two "sisters" this afternoon (they're taking care of someone who recently had surgery) and we felt the quake. All they could talk about was "signs of the times" and tried to lure me into sharing my thoughts on the matter. An earthquake happened - big bloody deal! I swear if I hear one more person talking about it, I'll kick a puppy.
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  140

  Why So Many Young People Are Leaving The Watchtower

  by Jeremy C in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been giving a lot of thought to the young people who are leaving the watchtower organization in recent years.

  last night, i was reading the thread posted by jwfacts a while back in which he provided some statistics and graphs showing the rapidly declining growth in the watchtower.

  one factor that was discussed at length was the high number of young people who do not stay in the organization.

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  Darkside Blues

  Agreed with many of the points mentioned here! I'm counting down the days and hours until I can escape from the Borg myself.

  I've noticed in my parent's cong that some have left (I know one person who no longer attends meetings now that they've moved out) and I've also observed what SirNose mentioned upthread. Some of them "fell into sin" - had children out of wedlock, married out of the truth, got tattoos - but they're still hanging around the KH.

  Also agreeing that other religions have better retention numbers because they allow for secular activities that go beyond picnics and potlucks. The JW idea that "you can never take a vacation from being a Christian" will inevitably lead some people to relinquish being Christians.
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  13

  In Lima, Peru 15 year old JW child commits suicide

  by discreetslave in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i'll translate the artcle since online translators did a terrible job.

  the link to the original article is below.

  lima 8/3/2011.

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  Darkside Blues

  This angers and saddens me. And this poor victim will be held up as an example of why "young ones" shouldn't leave the organization. They'll pin the blame on her for her troubles, not the WT. *headdesk*
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  98

  JW directives you thought were downright stupid

  by fallen_princess in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i remember one time when i was about 17 years old, i wanted to arrange a costume party for the young brothers in the congo around my age.

  i suggested it to one of my friends and was told that the elders had advised against it because it could be construed as pagan and masks have their roots in demonism.

  of course, i was never shown any biblical proof of this but just that response took the wind out of my sails and i decided to just not go through with it.

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  Darkside Blues

  I remember from the platform there was some "counsel" against watching R-rated movies, though this was never mentioned in any of the literature, AFAIK. Nevertheless, when I go to JW houses, they have DVDs lying around in plain view, or sometimes even talk about movies they've see in the theatre (and there's no way they could not know what the rating was if they went to see it.)

  ...but I get Scarlet Letter-ed for watching anime.
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  5

  Watchtower and Dropouts

  by Marvin Shilmer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  watchtower and dropouts.

  today i uploaded a brief article to my blog with current academic commentary on membership retention rates of adventists, mormons and jehovahs witnesses.

  my article is titled watchtower and dropouts and is available at: http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com/2011/08/watchtower-and-dropouts.html.

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  Darkside Blues

  ^ Agreed! A lot of the JW kids that I knew growing up have either "left the truth" (never got baptized) or they're still in but only because of parental and family pressure. They're just zombies who attend meetings, put in their field service time, etc.
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  38

  Empathizing with homosexual struggles as a hertosexual

  by sabastious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i was a bible fundamentalist jehovah's witness it was easy for me to dismiss homosexuality as a sin and move onto the next, more interesting, topic.

  it is much more complicated than that for me at this point in my life.. i think about it this way:.

  what if i, a heterosexual, were raised in a community where everybody was homosexual and heterosexuality had a harsh taboo attached to it.

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  Darkside Blues

  Having to keep myself off the radar as a non-believer in the KH has made me realize how terrible it must be for a gay person to be in the closet. Hence I'm very sympathetic to LGBT issues and want them to have the same rights as straight people.

  I could never wrap my head around the whole "hate the sin and not the sinner" concept. Isn't that like separating the dancer from the dance? Why would someone choose to be gay? I didn't choose to be straight. And I could never understand why God (at least as defined by the WT) would hate homosexuality to begin with. Are gay people harming others by loving each other?
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  20

  Thinking about loosing my friends ....

  by Dudu in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i think the harddest part of all this process of fading is losing friends .... ive been jw all my life and my all my close friends are jw ... im sad.

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  Darkside Blues

  Echoing others above that you're not losing much except fair-weather friends. True friends don't ditch you simply because you decide to change your beliefs.
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  18

  Things to inspire JW Youth...We're rooting for you

  by discreetslave in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jehovah's witnesses have the lowest retention rate of any religious tradition.

  only 37% of all those who say they were raised as jehovah's witnesses still identify themselves as jehovah's witnesses.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d2w-enhvdk.

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  Darkside Blues

  Yes, I've been noticing this trend, even at the KH my parents currently drag me to. Quite a few of the people who were closest to my age have left. There's one JW couple who has 10 children and none of them are active JWs (if they even got baptized to begin with.)

  Once I get a better-paying job, I'll be out too!