rebel8

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Posts by rebel8

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  58

  No more official visits to disfellowshipped & disassociated ones

  by AverageJoe1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  new letter today (please visit avoidjw.org for a copy of the official letter and yes, i also noticed they got the date wrong!).

  february 28, 2017. to all bodies of elders.

  re: visiting disfellowshipped or disassociated individuals.

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  rebel8

  This sounds like great news to me.

  But check out the backwards logic: We found a strategy that is effective; hence, we're going to stop that strategy now.

  
  
  
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  13

  I just don't have the lies to give...

  by Captain Schmideo2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a friend of mine (a jw) delivered a premature baby, and the outlook is grim.. she is posting updates on facebook, and where everyone else is offering prayers for them both, and how "jehovah loves them both very much", and i got...nothing.

  nothing that would be comforting.

  big man in the sky has zero to do with this, only medical science and chance will have any bearing on this.i wish i could lie convincingly to her and to myself and have something nice to say.

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  rebel8

  +1 for the fresh fruit, and if I could like freddo's comment more than once, I would. I said a similar thing in a similar situation recently.
  
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  24

  So JW's are not allowed to vote because.... "no part of this world." Ok then explain why the WTBTS lobbied politicians on numerous

  by kpop in

  1. social
  2. current

  sorry if this was posted before but if it was then it is worth repeating and discussing.

  the hypocrisy of the jw cult knows no bounds.

  supposedly, the reason jw's are not allowed to vote is because they must not be a part of this world.

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  rebel8

  There was a referendum years ago on whether we should have 'day-light' saving.

  So did you vote for old light or new light?
  
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  25

  More fun! Did you know that Judge Rutherford had a daughter? I sure didn't......

  by sparky1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  .

  i have too much time on my hands.

  my investigations are turning up some neat historical facts..

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  rebel8

  Can you imagine being the descendant of JFR, who caused the death and suffering of so many people?

  Kinda reminds me of this (of course, I am not equating the 2 infamous men, just the feelings I imagine the relatives would have).
  
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  26

  I feel like I'm losing my religion/faith

  by christina1111 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  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?.

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  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"
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  11

  Happy Valentine's Day

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. 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.

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  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.
  
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  9

  What could it be?

  by Randy notmarsh in

  1. jw
  2. 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?

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  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.
  
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  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

  1. jw
  2. 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.

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  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
  
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  7

  Old Watchtower Literature

  by biblexaminer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  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 .

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  rebel8

  [email protected]
  
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  78

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

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wow.

  wow.

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

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  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.