Posts by rebel8

26

I feel like I'm losing my religion/faith

by christina1111 in

i'm a baptized jw...been baptized for 8 years...and throughout the years i've been baptized i see "hypocrisy" so to speak in the religion...when you're new and not baptized that's when the jws want to invite you to every gathering they have, they want to appear like they're your best friend...they want to help you out when needed and so forth...however, once you're baptized you go to the elders for help they don't help you....all they do is gather you around the office...have bibles in hand and so forth...they give you articles as well, instead of physically helping you out....but yet when you weren't baptized they would physically help you out and not throw scriptures and articles in your face.

also when you ask for help and so forth with the bros/sisters they want to throw the "each one must carry his/her own load" scripture at you.....but yet what happened to the scripture of taking care of widows and people who are orphans?.

it's not just one congregation...throughout the 8 years i've been baptized i've been through many kingdom halls...many towns...many states...when i was inactive for awhile i even pretended to not be baptized and just play dumb when the witnesses came to my door...they're much nicer to you when you're not baptized then when you are baptized...why is that?.

rebel8

when you're new and NOT BAPTIZED that's when the jws want to invite you to every gathering they have, they want to APPEAR like they're your best friend… It's not just ONE CONGREGATION...throughout the 8 years i've been baptized i've been through many kingdom halls...many towns...many states...when i was inactive for awhile I even pretended to not be baptized and just play dumb when the witnesses came to my door...they're much nicer to you when you're not baptized then when you are baptized...why is that?

Yes, many others have noticed this too. It is called love bombing.

I would love to talk to the elders about it, but then they'd either mark me and judge me.

Probably

..and I'm "thinking" this is a safe place to go to without being judged and ridiculed and marked...

Yes it is. There are a few jerks here but mostly nice people.

I don't even feel like going out in the ministry

You shouldn’t go in the ministry, straight up. There are many reasons for that. Take a total break from it right now while you sort it out. Jehovah is eternity. The ministry will be there if you change your mind. In the meantime, ponder if the religion, in real life, lives up to its claims:

John 13:35: "By this all will know that YOU are my disciples, if YOU have love among yourselves"

11

Happy Valentine's Day

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

when i was jw, my standard answer to "saint....anything" day was "well, i am not catholic.

" that's still a valid answer that i would feel like giving if i was seriously questioned on any catholic or religious holiday, although i might change it to "well, i am not christian.

but fun is fun.

rebel8

Valentine's used to be the most painful day of the year for me.

In school, girls would be getting hearts and flowers. They would carry their flowers around all day with them to show them off. It was a painful reminder that I would never have a normal date or even a normal adulthood. I knew I never wanted to marry a jw, so what was I supposed to be for eternity, a spinster living among jws? eww.

Then, in the aftermath after escaping as a young adult, I had missed out on normal dating and was single longer than I wanted to be. I hated seeing people getting flowers at work and stuff in the stores.

9

What could it be?

by Randy notmarsh in

jw
friends

i'm doing some research.

someone snitched over something minor-ish on me about six months ago the person is from a different hall, person got df ( over some other stuff) why haven't the elders talked to me?

.

rebel8

Because Jehovah is unable to keep the congregation clean. This is a myth. If he really was able, there would be no child molesters in the congregations either. Think about it.

28

I would like to rant about how I get really upset when I get some weak invitation back to the cult.

by schnell in

jw
friends

my mother wanted me to know that the co gave a talk that kinda-sorta reprimanded an elder in her hall.

he is not the reason i left at all, and this does not address anything to do with me or our family.. my mother-in-law sent me texts which i ignored and now she has sent a picture to my wife on facebook just for me, and it's a prodigal son meme that says, "you see the signs, come back it's not too late".. yeah, it's not too late to accept a global flood in 2370 bce, or that man was created in 4026 bce from a golem spell, or that an us-and-them cult mentality is at all healthy or loving, or that religion is going to be banned by the un, or that i should expect anyone else at the door to accept these stupid ideas in the information age.. what am i supposed to say?

i usually just ignore them, but before i do that, i see that shit and i storm into this weird internalized rage where i start writing a response and deleting it.

rebel8

What am I supposed to say?

What I said to all of those dumb invitations is a very truthful answer.

Surprise, surprise--I haven't received one in years.

"When are you coming back?"

"NEVER EVER EVER."

"Oh, you say that now, but so many have returned to jehulu. They see what it's like in the world and realize we are in Thee End Times. You will too."

"I am so much happier now that I left, and so much healthier too. World events show life has gotten so much better over the millennia. I am absolutely certain I will never return. I have known this since the day I left. It is such a horrible, depressing way to live, with no future. I would rather kill myself."

This pretty much puts an end to the discussion.

This is what's right for me, in my situation.YMMV

7

Old Watchtower Literature

by biblexaminer in

somewhere, somewhen, a dubb died.... waiting for the end no doubt.

when they died, they left their precious watchtower literature to somebody else, another dubb.. and that dubb also waiting for the end, living some austere life as they hovered over their precious and aging watchtower library, eventually died.. and again.

and again.. eventually, the last dubb to die left their bound 'salvation' to the congregation, who put it on a shelf, never to be read again.. and that's where i came in.. watchtower bound volume originals from the 1800's and others.. very old.. the watchtower .

rebel8

[email protected]

78

Did you know that J.F. Rutherford was part of the Knights of Pythias? There's PROOF for this!

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

wow.

wow.someone just sent me a scan of the boonville advertiser newspaper in which it mentions j.f.

rebel8

This stuff is interesting, and maybe there are some people who would be moved to leave the cult based on this info. I wouldn't have been one of them, but it's plausible somebody, somewhere, would be.

I knew the org was full of "pagan" stuff back in the day. I always knew that even when I was (trying to be) a faithful jw. It is not difficult for a jw to come across that info. Golden Age era publications are available in print. I can only imagine how exponentially this availability has increased now that the Internet has arrived.

It was always explained as proof the org was fulfilling scripture about old light and new light--if anything, faith strengthening. (As crazy as that sounds.)

Back then, the average jw knew they celebrated Christmas at Bethel and had a cross as their symbol.

Masons were very common back then. Even if thee Rutherford was one, it has never struck me as important, for the reason I described.

19

Back again to say hi! Life update after walking away from the cult.

by Darkknight757 in

i hope all is well.

my last post over a month ago was going to be the last considering i wanted to get away from all things jw but this place is much harder to ignore than previously thought.

life has taken some very interesting turns since late last year.

rebel8

great story!

but you have me worried by quoting Osteen.

21

Serpent in the Garden of Eden is not Satan

by anointed1 in

many interpret serpent in the garden of eden as the satan hence miss the whole point because satan himself does not exist.

he is a fictional character [for example, in the temptation account, satan is shown as reflecting the erroneous belief of ancient time that shape of earth is flat, thus taking jesus to the top of “a very high mountain” and showed him “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.” (mathew 4:8, 9) the fact that jesus did not correct the mistaken view of satan shows the account of temptation is allegorical.

further, jesus knew that satan was only a personification of evil (mathew 16:23; john 6:70) and categorically declared that “all evil thoughts proceed from one’s heart,” not from satan.

rebel8

Satan is shown as reflecting the erroneous belief of ancient time that shape of earth is flat, thus taking Jesus to the top of “a very high mountain” and showed him “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.” (Mathew 4:8, 9) The fact that Jesus did not correct the mistaken view of Satan shows the account of temptation is allegorical.

The conclusion you drew (bolded)--think about that some more.

What are all other possible reasons for Jesus not correcting Satan's statements implying Earth is flat?

Out of all of those other possible reasons, what made you conclude only the reason you gave is the correct one?

2

precise and specific

by Jerryh in

*** insight on the scriptures vol.1 page 1007 ***.

greek.

vocabulary.

rebel8

The bible is fiction, honey.

26

My Story

by WeatherLover in

jw
friends

i'm a 4th generation jw.

i started to realize it wasn't the truth over 2 years ago in late october/early november 2014. i don't know how exactly it happened.

i remember i had just heard about confirmation bias, and it hit me: i realized that i would be guilty of confirmation bias if i didn't look at the other side.

rebel8

I really can't stand the thought of bringing my mom to tears.

No healthy, normal mother would be sad about her child being honest, using his intelligence and logic, and doing the right thing.

If she is brought to tears over this, it is because her chosen religion has misled her to believe falsehoods about nonbelievers.

Therefore: Not your fault.

Imagine if we were talking about a person who believes in Thor, doesn't believe in going to college, dating, having careers, and insists everyone skip medical care, holidays, and many other normal/healthy things to serve Thor. Are you supposed to go along with this just because she might cry if you don't?

to stop preaching a message that I don't agree with

Yes, and more. The message destroys and actually ends lives. I nearly bled to death many times during childhood because of it--no exaggeration. And think of all those who have committed suicide or done other deeply self-destructive things because of the teachings and shunning. You can't preach a message that could result in someone's death. It's not right. (You know this.)