Posts by LongHairGal

47

Why Do Intelligent People Still Believe In The Jehovah’s Witness Religion?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i understand it’s a cult.

but what makes an intelligent person actually believe they have the “truth” as taught by jehovah’s witnesses??

?.

LongHairGal

CARMICHAEL:

The problem is that people did not think they were joining a cult when they got involved with the JWs.

I certainly didn’t know and in fact I didn’t think it was a real religion per se. There was no internet back in those days and no way to really research anything. They said a lot of things which turned out to be not-so-factual: they told me ‘everybody was equal’ and ‘they had no clergy class’.. Meanwhile, they have what I consider a plainclothes clergy - and just about as many titles as the churches they knock.

I was young and made a wrong detour. I didn’t fit in because (thankfully in retrospect) I would not make the stupid concession that I quit a decent job to pioneer..I lingered a little longer than I should have but at least I got the hell Out.

47

Why Do Intelligent People Still Believe In The Jehovah’s Witness Religion?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i understand it’s a cult.

but what makes an intelligent person actually believe they have the “truth” as taught by jehovah’s witnesses??

?.

LongHairGal

JUST FINE:

I agree with what you said even if somebody else downvoted your post...I also had the same opinion of many JWs. They either didn’t want to think or they didn’t want responsibility. I felt they wanted to be told what shoe to put on first.

I was raised Catholic but joined JWs as a young adult in the workforce. I was interested in end-time prophecy..I was appalled at certain attitudes there. One thing that frustrated me was what I now know to be a culture of ‘fear’ that I certainly didn’t experience as a Catholic... Fear of giving an opinion, fear of being thought of as not spiritual, paranoid of what people thought..the list goes on.

This is probably because they wanted to be ‘righteous’ (or be seen that way). That way they get invited to gatherings I was excluded from. I’m grateful my ‘worldly’ 🙄 upbringing saved me from succumbing to peer pressure.. I’m so grateful I held onto that job they all hated me for until Retirement.

27

November WT study article

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

in one of the study articles from the november 2020 edition, is mentioned (free quotation):.

"don"t get disturbed if your kingdom hall will be sold".

food on the right time, i asume?.

LongHairGal

There have been many threads in the past months on this topic of selling off kingdom halls.

Some people believe Zoom is the answer to this and besides..who will miss the halls?? Answer: the faithful elderly, diehards and needy people looking for handouts will miss the halls and the human contact they had at meetings!! (It’s kind of hard to go around with an envelope and approach ‘certain’ people to contribute money for the ‘needy’ if you’re not in person. OR are the brothers going to make cold calls in the community asking for money??). If at some point, meetings did resume, Witnesses will have to drive ever further to go to another hall.

Also, what happens in the event bethels decide to expel yet more people?? At least in the past they had a physical kingdom hall to go TO..It would be many times harder for them now.

Even though I’m Out of the JW religion and don’t care about any of this - I’m not believing that Zoom can be a permanent substitute for meetings and real congregations. I’m not so sure the religion can continue like this indefinitely. And, as has been mentioned, what about the JW brand of being visible in the community.

People may disagree but that’s how I feel.

19

I don't get it - Praying before eating while ...

by menrov in

i noticed recently.

there was an item in the news on some terrible / horrific child pornography in germany.

really disgusting to hear what these people were doing with children as young as a few months.

LongHairGal

AVERAGE JOE:

I won’t argue about whether JWs pray for non-JWs. Maybe some do. But I remember most only praying for others inside the religion.

Sadly, I don’t believe the governments are going to get involved with protecting our children aside from some laws being enacted.

The major burden, unfortunately, falls on the parents to protect their children. Nobody is going to care as much about your child as you and nobody can afford to be ‘trusting’ anymore, IMO.

When I was in grade school, a small girl was kidnapped and killed. It was a tragic story of a child being left on a stoop in the city while an adult went into a candy store. This story made the front page for weeks - from the beginning until the end when she was buried. You don’t see this coverage now. Why is that?..I think it has very much to do with today’s moral compass as compared to years ago.

I agree that you can’t take your eyes off your child for a second. Gone are the days when you could let younger children play outside unattended or walk long blocks to school!..Now you got predators cruising through neighborhoods looking for a small child playing in the front yard. They could be snatched in a second.

28

Do You Think We Will Ever Get To “Normal” Again?

by minimus in

jw
friends

will we ever be able to congregate together for a concert or a theater?

will we forever be wearing a mask at walmart?

will restaurants and bars allow people to eat drink and simply hang out?.

LongHairGal

PHIZZY:

I am totally in agreement with you about people’s filthy habits...Hopefully, with advice with the Covid epidemic, people have learned or relearned essential things..such as washing hands.

So pathetic that so many people don’t want to wash their hands! I’m like a surgeon with washing my hands...I wondered if it was a part of dumbing-down of US culture along with bad grammar and other lazy habits over the last few decades OR if it was the influence of people who have come recently?? ..All I can say is that I felt we were going backwards in this direction of sanitation - and this was before Covid.

In any case, I hope some of the better advice sticks around in our new ‘normal’.

43

Today's WT Study: "Return to Jehovah" - Lots of Elephants in the Room

by Room 215 in

today's article prods active jws to participate in the effort to reactivate us backsliders.. unfortunately, it fails to prepare the participants to adequately address the real reasons so many have left and want nothing frtherethan to be left alone: the un and child abuse scandals, prophetic failures; dumbed-down, increasingly specious and simplistic verbiage in literature and talks, the cult of personality and unwarranted veneration of those 8 singularly unremarkable members of the gb, etc., etc..

LongHairGal

FEDUPJW:

I can almost visualize the face of an arrogant brother who would make a comment like that. Maybe decades ago when they had enough interested people there was an arrogant attitude and they just weren’t interested if somebody wasn’t treated well.

I remember mentioning this observation to somebody and remember the callous mentality and the ‘counsel’ I got back. They threw it back in your lap and said ‘well..you should be doing., etc.’ In essence:.. turn yourself into a doormat. Anything less by a woman and you weren’t ‘putting on a Christian personality’ 🙄 or some such nonsense.. (I didn’t buy it.)

Yes, it’s true that Jesus said: “go and make disciples”. But, he didn’t say we should tolerate the things that I and others have experienced!!

I noticed they fawned over new people..but treated certain people already there with open contempt. Oh, well, I suppose that’s because I worked and didn’t do favors for the Users.

...and now they want the people who couldn’t run fast enough to go back.

43

Today's WT Study: "Return to Jehovah" - Lots of Elephants in the Room

by Room 215 in

today's article prods active jws to participate in the effort to reactivate us backsliders.. unfortunately, it fails to prepare the participants to adequately address the real reasons so many have left and want nothing frtherethan to be left alone: the un and child abuse scandals, prophetic failures; dumbed-down, increasingly specious and simplistic verbiage in literature and talks, the cult of personality and unwarranted veneration of those 8 singularly unremarkable members of the gb, etc., etc..

LongHairGal

MAGNUM:

No, I’m not ‘weak’ or ‘lost’. They can keep telling themselves those are the reasons people leave the JW religion. Maybe it makes some people feel better about themselves for staying.

JWGONEBAD:

Yes, that is correct. I didn’t ‘stray’ from the JW religion. I walked away in a planned ‘Fade’. And I walked away before the scandals that hit the media and before literature got dumbed-down to first grade level reading comprehension.

Those weren’t my issues at the time. It was a combination of factors. I remember one Sunday looking around the hall after a meeting and realizing there was nothing there for me..No true friends. Then the 1995 Generation teaching happened. I added up all that plus their attitude towards responsible people with full time jobs.

I’m sure reality was a shock with many reaching retirement age and bethelites being kicked out..I’m sorry about them but I certainly wasn’t going to be targeted— ESPECIALLY how I was viewed because I DID work..No Way.

I knew the long standing policy of the religion knocking college and careers HAD to come back to bite them when people got old!

The latter reports of the religion’s scandals in the news just adds more reasons why I’m glad I’m Out.

2

Shunning and who does it?

by Giordano in

only the most gross and controlling religions shun...... it's a tool for coercing someone to shut up and go along or lose contact with friends and family.. they often don't know why they have to shun a family member or a friend just that they are compelled to do so or suffer the same punishment.......... that's a criminal act by the way........ it's coercion.

coercion means you are being forced to act in a certain way where you would normally not be inclined to act in that manner.. "family estrangement is the norm in jehovah's witness families.

every jehovah's witness suffers from shunning - either you're being shunned, or you have to shun.

LongHairGal

PHIZZY:

Even though shunning is a denial of basic human rights, it’s really hard to see how anybody is going to stop shunning in the groups you mentioned. Some of the groups are religious or racial like the Roma. The Jews can be perceived both ways.

I think this is a grey area that nobody can do anything about. I don’t think everything can be fixed in this world.

As for the JW religion: we can leave..it is big enough and looks to actively bring converts in so therefore it might be easier to compel them to change harmful policies. Many of us knew nothing about their shunning policy when we made the mistake of getting involved. But, I’m ‘Out’ so many years and I’m glad.

84

Does Anybody Here Sympathize With The Looters That Cause Destruction?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i realize some here are diehard democrats.

whether you are democrat, republican or independent, do you support any of these looters that cause mayhem and destruction for their cause?

i have heard some people sympathize with these law breakers saying they understand why they do what they do and leave it at that.. of course i wonder how they would feel if their own property was burnt or stolen or destroyed..

LongHairGal

MAGNUM:

I agree that what’s going on today is not the same as what happened with the Boston Tea Party. What’s going on today is lawlessness and stealing..pure and simple no matter what excuses people are giving.

FEDUPJW:

I don’t know which post you were responding to but an easy way to remember is:

The word ‘your’ is possessive

‘you’re’ is a contraction for ‘you are’.

I see these two things confused and butchered all over the place. Sometimes it’s because people were never taught correctly OR sometimes lazy and adopted bad habits.

30

Did you feel contempt for Non Witnesses

by Steel in

the other day i went to this farm owned by this jw lady with my wife being a jw and my mother being a non witness.

later taking to my mother she noticed this vibe like this jw lady really hated her.

she just had these little slags like when we tried to pay for the fruit we picked , she looked directly at my wife and said " don't worry about it, i only charge wordly people ".. i also have this aunt who is a jw we are estranged from.

LongHairGal

STEEL:

No, I never felt contempt for non-Witnesses but I sensed that some JWs did.

If these people could have an attitude towards ME in the congregation because I worked full time..they could certainly feel contempt towards people in the ‘world’. What makes me laugh is that Witnesses don’t ‘get’ it that people do not care what they think. I was not raised a JW and felt they were deluded in their feelings of self-importance or even relevance.

I remember being puzzled that some judgmental or shabby person there thought it meant ‘something’ that they didn’t approve of me..I wasn’t invited to special gatherings because I worked full time.. Their dislike meant absolutely nothing then and means even less now that I am Retired.