Posts by New Worldly Translation

The thought that it will evolve and become like other mainstream religions could be true but then that would make it a fundementally different religion so the org as we know it would cease to exist.

Damn double post, soz

16

Will your congregation exist in 50 years?

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

fifty years is a long time.. do you think your congregation that you did/are associating with will exist then?.

the probability may exist that for congs.

of elderly publishers, they will either have to merge or disband.

New Worldly Translation

If it does I'll lose a bet. I bet my parents that the org wouldn't last another fifty years.

The thought that it will evolve and become like other mainstream religions could be true but then that would make it a fundementally different religion so the org as we know it would cease to exist.

25

Are you grateful you're out?

by bluesapphire in

jw
friends

the reason i ask is because i am in a dilemma with my husband.

long story short:

i joined and we met.

New Worldly Translation

I think he's just feeling sorry for himself and looking for an easy excuse for his being resentful of losing contact with his family.

The fact is you didn't take his family away the JW religion did. You didn't force his sister, his mother or his friends away, they did that themselves under direction from the org and the shunning policy.

11

stuff i think about...

by bluebeads in

jw
friends

->is it fair/just/loving that innocent children be punished for their parent's wrongdoings etc...?

a passage from the new book released @ the dc p.131-2.

"(malachi 4:1) in that day of accounting, young children (boughs) will be dealt with justly according to jehovah's assessment of their parents (roots), who are responsible for minor children.

New Worldly Translation

Then wouldn't that mean Jehovah is ultimately responsible for the actions of his son that became Satan ?

Yeah exactly. I was gonna say the same thing.
Of course the old testament god never had much thought for children and delighted in regaling tales of how they had been butchered, raped, starved or eaten so his handing down judgement through a generation gap is par the course

The standard answer I get from JW's to that question is that god knows the heart condition and if it's good they will be saved. When you analyze that statement though what does it actually mean. What is a persons heart condition? Are people inately good or evil? Surely this can fluctuate during a persons lifetime and is subjective anyway. Does gods ability to read the heart condition of a new born child negate freewill? Is a baby stamped with a G or an E at birth and there's no variation from that path?

18

How long till...

by Quentin in

jw
friends

.

how long were you "out" of the tower before you realized you had a brain and could use it for yourself...took me about six years...short time...long time...how do you feel now that you can think for yourself?

New Worldly Translation

I've been out for 3 years now but there are still bits of residual JW mindset left and I'm not sure if they ever leave you. I've totally rejected the WT org and all it's teachings and no longer hope for an afterlife or dread an armageddon but there are simple day to day psychological quirks that I need to get over.
I find it difficult making close friends because I always keep part of myself hidden away and if they get too familiar I back off. I suppose it's that bad associations thing that was drilled into us from being young.
I find it difficult to stop judging people, like all JW's do. My ex-girlfriend said I was like Simon Cowell from Pop Idol cos I always had a sarcastic comment to make or a judgement on what people said or did.
A decent career path has been difficult too. When I left the org at 26 I still felt going to uni was a rebellious thing to do even though I wanted to go. Also when in work as a JW I always viewed it as transitory so I just used to joke around, which makes you popular with your workmates but not with your boss. That has been difficult to comprehend, the seriousness of life and it's not just a rehearsal for something else; this is it and you'd better make the most of it.
I tend to worry about things too much happening around the world and feel slightly helpless probably due to the negative and paranoid propoganda we were fed by the org.
I think the biggest obstacle I need to get over is feeling like an outsider. Even though I'm out of the org I still don't feel totally in the normal world. Kind of like peering through glass at the world, watching people getting on with their lives thinking that could have been me.

It's sometimes difficult to seperate aspects of my personality that would have been there without the JW upbringing and parts that were due to it. How much of your personality is due to environment and how much genetic or inate?

11

ITS NOT ABOUT THEOLOGY; ITS ABOUT YOUR PEER GROUP

by Terry in

jw
friends

i never converted to becoming a jehovah's witness as an act of volition.

i gradually found myself absorbed into a group that "accepted" me.. being a part of something larger than myself was key.

i'd never been inside a functioning group.

New Worldly Translation

Very true Terry. I've confronted doctrinal issues with my parents and they can't dispute the facts I put in front of them but they don't want to break out of the dream world they've bought into. There are two main things keeping them in; expectation from their peer group including the family and the resurrection hope.

A lot of JW's have bought into Pascal's wager and even if you showed them irrefutible truth that they were wrong they'd still edge their bets on the org.

17

?? The gospel accounts read entirely different regarding the resurection??

by Lady Liberty in

last night i recieved a call from my sister and she told me to compare the last chapters of each gospel regarding the resurection of jesus.

she said she was blown away to read that they all had drastic differences.

i haven't had the time to compare this yet, but have any of you discovered this?

New Worldly Translation

Well like Gordy says this has been discussed for years, since 1795 at least when Thomas Paine wrote Age Of Reason. Which I would recommend as a read. Tom Paine really was quite a guy, one of my personal heroes.

Another book I would recommend is 'Is It God's Word?' by Joseph Wheless. Written in the 20's but still a great read and witty too.