what are the benefits of having created the human mind being able to have doubts inside (or regarding) the true religion (jude 22)?.
because if you have doubts, you are not sure, so it is difficult to believe and trust.
and if it is difficult to believe and trust, it is even more difficult to have faith since it is the "assured" expectation of what is hoped for (hebrews 11:1).
PSYCHO:
We have doubts because we have reasoning ability and intelligence. We are able to hear a thing and our minds analyze it and kick it around and then we come to a conclusion.
It’s being involved in a cult or fear-based religion that gets us to doubt our own God given intelligence and causes us to ignore the obvious and makes us stupid, in my opinion.
As somebody raised Catholic whose family weren’t necessarily church-goers except for weddings and funerals, we didn’t analyze all these holidays!
We didn’t give a second thought about Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Flag Day or whatnot. They were just days on the calendar and if a person chose to celebrate or partake or whatever, nobody cared.
When I became a JW I let it go in one ear and out the other.
It only seems to be JWs who pick every crumb apart and worry if something supposedly violates bible principles. Or they take interpretation to an unnecessary extreme. It’s no wonder they are neurotic and scared of their shadow but worse yet they imagine they are more righteous somehow because they want to separate themselves. Meanwhile, the whole world carries on without them oblivious to what they think.
hi everyone i’m a pimo elder ex bethelite and pioneer who has been having doubts for many years.
as of late i’ve come to have even more doubts mainly due to the gb pushing the vaccines and acting like salesman for big pharma companies .
i will never take these vaccines even if it meant i couldn’t go to the hall as was previously said but the gb have done a big u turn on this now.
What gets me is the idea the person claimed to be a JW elder - yet he supposedly didn’t believe it. You’d think somebody like that should step down at least.
Just HOW many people in the religion are like him is the question…
It’s bad enough when other people in the congregations are faking it. Somebody in a so-called ‘responsible’ or ‘insider’ position is more accountable (in my eyes) for propping up something that he knows is not 100% right - and all so he can enjoy social benefits!
All in all, it just shows the whole thing to be fluff and insubstantial smoke and mirrors that somebody would have to be a world class idiot to stick with.
what is your opinion of the wt's impact on children?.
here, children get to connect the dots and see what will happen to you if you are disobedient.
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TRUTH_B_KNOWN & SEA BREEZE:
Reading your childhood experiences and observations as a Witness are unbelievable and extreme:.. seeing the scared child who thought ‘worldly’ kids 🙄 are the devil; and having parents put your belongings on the front lawn for seeking outside friendships.
For somebody not raised a Witness, you have my condolences. I have to say this religion is truly harmful to children. Hearing all this, how can anybody think otherwise?
i saw this thread on reddit.
i think the reason for this is that the 1975 fiasco is never mentioned in the jw religion.
nobody mentioned it to me when i came in the years after.. the problem with this is that all the sad stories were never told (or hushed up) of people who sold off homes, etc.
HOSER:
I guess I wasn’t ‘spiritual’ according to the definition of the JW religion.🤣
I wouldn’t quit my full-time job or do favors for Users to appease them. (Never mind that all the older people in the congregation were collecting pensions and living cushy lives. None of THEM apparently were stupid enough to sell their houses and go pioneering in some dirt hole like some suckers did.)
The younger people my age back then who wouldn’t be caught dead in a full time job are struggling and needing handouts today. They were the ones invited to special gatherings I wasn’t invited to. They didn’t like me. I accept that. I’m Retired now. What I do NOT accept, however, is any of them imagining I’m going to give them anything..I would run from them.
As you say, it ain’t cheap.
As you say, they were ‘socially stratified’ in the JW religion and part of a clique. So..Let them track down their ‘spiritual friends’ in their ‘Clique’ and ask THEM for money.
i saw this thread on reddit.
i think the reason for this is that the 1975 fiasco is never mentioned in the jw religion.
nobody mentioned it to me when i came in the years after.. the problem with this is that all the sad stories were never told (or hushed up) of people who sold off homes, etc.
FOOLEDNOMORE:
They aren’t looking for me because they know they’d get nowhere. But they’re certainly after you it seems.
The fact that they keep turning up at your place of business preaching and asking for $$ is very nervy and would make me feel uncomfortable.
Naturally, you have to be polite to actual customers. But, if somebody is not there to be an actual customer - what are they doing there?? Don’t have idle chitchat. Say, ‘can I help you’? If not, ‘have a nice day’.
Maybe for some JWs it’s too late to get an actual career (not yours or my problem). But they should try to get something.. Some won’t because maybe they are receiving a stipend for special pioneering and they need X amount of preaching hours to qualify. They are in a dilemma and hope to get contributions from people. They are relentless it seems.
The idea that I would have a bullseye target on me because of a business would make me do something to stop this unwanted contact.
Again, I predict they are going to get very strident and nervy asking for handout$ within their congregation..But, I also suspect they are ‘working’ on people who are Out but didn’t get far away enough like in your case. Be wary. Just my opinion.
i saw this thread on reddit.
i think the reason for this is that the 1975 fiasco is never mentioned in the jw religion.
nobody mentioned it to me when i came in the years after.. the problem with this is that all the sad stories were never told (or hushed up) of people who sold off homes, etc.
FOOLEDNOMORE:
I totally agree with you.
The problem is: if you were still active and ‘associating’ in the Witness religion you would privately be confronted for money for all these ‘needy’ types who either never wanted to work OR who made stupid blunders like what is mentioned here and are now broke!
While I don’t have a crystal ball, it would not surprise me if at some point responsible people there not giving handout$ for all the ‘needy’ will be verbally attacked and ‘shamed’..I see this possibly happening.. They’d probably be shunned as well. Oh, the irony!
I really don’t see how it would even be possible to continue in this religion. You wouldn’t be left alone!.. Good luck to everybody but I’m Glad I got out for many reasons over two decades ago.
i saw this thread on reddit.
i think the reason for this is that the 1975 fiasco is never mentioned in the jw religion.
nobody mentioned it to me when i came in the years after.. the problem with this is that all the sad stories were never told (or hushed up) of people who sold off homes, etc.
FF GHOST:
About that woman who decided to live off her 401k:..Here she was wise enough to have one in the first place. I wonder if because of her big mouth she was made to feel guilty for even having it. Then late in the game she decides to do this.👎 Hopefully she wasn’t motivated by guilt and being ‘seen’ to be spiritual 🙄. If and when the money runs out, she should track down her ‘spiritual’ JW friends who egged her on to do this. I don’t believe for one minute that many of these types of ‘sacrifices’ weren’t discussed with people in the congregations!
For those on the forum who have been out of the Witness religion for a long time: The stories that I have heard through the grapevine is that money is being privately asked from responsible people in congregations to help out types who are ‘needy’. This is the reality there now. Also, if somebody gives..it won’t only be one time. They can expect to be asked time and again!
Again, this is why I’m Glad I’m not there anymore..A verbal altercation would be inevitable because at some point the hypocrites would make their way over to Me with their envelope! 👎
i saw this thread on reddit.
i think the reason for this is that the 1975 fiasco is never mentioned in the jw religion.
nobody mentioned it to me when i came in the years after.. the problem with this is that all the sad stories were never told (or hushed up) of people who sold off homes, etc.
FOOLEDNOMORE:
I’m glad your parents never fell for the pre-1975 stupidity!.. But, sadly, some JWs did fall for it.. I came in the later ‘70s with my full-time job and was oblivious to all this.
I had private conversations with a few wise JWs and we were all in agreement that you can’t give up everything. You need something to live on. For the most part, the older JWs back in my congregation were sound in mind and would have never acted foolishly. These people are all passed away now and the demographics of the religion are now made up of mostly less-affluent people including some ‘needy’ types who made unwise self-sacrifices..There are far too many people in the religion now looking for charity!
This is the ‘fruitage’ of decades of policies of ‘no college’, ‘no career’, ‘don’t own anything’ and ‘don’t plan for the future because Armageddon will be here’..along with other dangerously stupid trends.
The sickest irony is that the types of people who criticized me for my full-time job then would hate me Now because I wouldn’t give them any handouts.
i saw this thread on reddit.
i think the reason for this is that the 1975 fiasco is never mentioned in the jw religion.
nobody mentioned it to me when i came in the years after.. the problem with this is that all the sad stories were never told (or hushed up) of people who sold off homes, etc.
Yes, it’s pretty bad, Simon.
But, I think it’s far worse when an older person makes this mistake because they can almost never earn the money back. I guess there’s no Fool like an old fool.
