mack moore ex-jw recovery writes:.
yes, that is how they want people to esteem the magazine.
they believe it is the unique mouthpiece of god.
VANDERHOVEN7:
He’s SO right.
I always felt the altered bible they have is really just a prop they reach for once in a while to make it look good..
And, incidentally, those so-called ‘bible studies’ JWs have with new recruits are really literature studies. To be blunt, I considered them indoctrination sessions to show how things are ‘done’.
NIKOLAUS:
Yes, you are correct and it is regardless of what side of the political spectrum they are on in addition to their attitudes towards current events and trends!
Just human nature, I suppose.
PETE ZAHUT:
You are absolutely 100% correct about ‘pursuing goals based on a false premise’ and also ‘NOT being responsible for saving/ enlightening the whole world’. Also, about ‘Gods personal happiness and the fate of the whole world was not revolving around you and your minuscule life’…You hit the nail right on the head.
That’s what is drilled into the heads of JWs. Can you think of anything that could be more mental-illness inducing than having a mindset like this?? I can’t. This is all too much for a human being.
When I finally saw the ‘light’, I realized I was not responsible for the fate of the world or whether other people were saved, preached to or cared about God. Who, then, was responsible for me? This is all designed to keep JWs on a treadmill with no rest mentally or physically, constantly neurotic and worried and guilt tripped, etc.
When I began my ‘Fade’ and took a good look at people around me, I realized they were all living their lives. Whether I wasted precious years knocking myself out in vain following ‘somebody else’s agenda’, the world would still go on oblivious to whatever sacrifice I supposedly made..I know I wasn’t as zealous as other JWs (since I worked to support myself), but plenty of other JWs were!
i might do it one day.
.
LAMALLCOOL:
Over the years there have been very many discussions on this forum about this topic. I’m sure in the future there will be more since this question comes up every now and then.
There are two schools of thought. Either a person does a ‘Fade’ or they ‘Disassociate’. Both are correct in the sense one is not more ‘right’ than the other. It depends entirely on the circumstances of the persons involved. I can see the reasons for both. I have always admired those who have written a DA letter and especially admire those who are able to do it like the poster JEFF above. Others choose to ‘Fade’ because they have JW family or friends.
What’s sad is when some people DA (possibly because they acted rashly) and sound angry at people who do a ‘Fade’, imagining they are getting away with something or have it ‘easy’.
Nowadays, people who ‘Fade’ are shunned almost the same as a DFd person. It’s not like years ago.
EVER APOSTATE:
Yes, they have no idea what life is like in the Real world and so they make flippant statements along these lines.
Nowadays, as most know, it’s not easy to even get or keep a job.. If anybody is fool enough to imagine they can just quit a job like it was nothing and imagine that another suitable one will just come along, I can’t even feel sorry for that person.. I also felt this way about gullible individuals in the past who were guilt tripped over attending district conventions when they couldn’t get the time off from work.
Anybody who lost their jobs over this surely learned the hard way!!
i just heard this story from one of my relatives.
i'm leaving a lot of things out.. a jw couple had three kids and raised them in the religion.
the oldest one got disfellowshipped at 18 years of age because he committed fornication with a jw girl.
FISHERMAN:
Do you realize how tricky you sound when you say this? It’s like them saying ‘something is not a lie if a person isn’t entitled to the truth’.🙄
Is something really subjective if it is well known to have happened? The JW religion has knocked college/careers for decades and labeled people who got them as ‘unspiritual’.. Nowadays they’re asking for money and targeting people perceived as ‘responsible’ to give money in many instances for people who never wanted to work. This is hypocritical because it is saying one thing and doing something else.
A better example of a ‘subjective’ opinion would be if somebody says so-and-so is immodest in their dress. Because this isn’t a fact and the person might be perceived differently by different people.
What I said in my post is totally correct, even if you chose to ignore it: the religion denies to outsiders about their shunning and tries to present a different face to the public; and also hides this stand from potential members.
Again, I would never have joined if I knew all the hidden things about the religion. It just so happens I have no family there and never had to deal with family shunning me..But this is a tragedy nonetheless regardless of whether the misguided individuals involved aren’t ‘breaking the law’ per se.
i just heard this story from one of my relatives.
i'm leaving a lot of things out.. a jw couple had three kids and raised them in the religion.
the oldest one got disfellowshipped at 18 years of age because he committed fornication with a jw girl.
FISHERMAN:
The problem is JW standards are hypocritical.
Yes, you say they have the ‘right’ to Df or shun. But, don’t hide it or be hypocritical about it. I cannot stand hypocrisy which is why I’m not there anymore. Another Example: They knocked people for having decent jobs..but have the audacity (and hypocrisy) to ask these same people for money to give to people there who never wanted to work!! Glad I’m not around this!
They deny to outsiders that they practice shunning and breaking up of families. They want to present a different face to the public. They keep things hidden from prospective ‘bible studies’ who may not have joined the religion if they knew the Real story. I am one such person and could have saved myself wasted time years ago.. But, thankfully, I pulled myself out of this trap.
the watchtower—study edition | december 2021.
7 a merchant might take pride in the fact that he had never taken anything that did not belong to him.
but what about his business practices?
OVERRATED:
I just had a conversation similar to this with two JWs that I know from years ago.
We compared stories of crooked dealings and horror stories we heard about. Sadly, they are far TOO many for a religion that purports to be the so-called ‘truth’!..I am convinced the ugly culture there has contributed to this.
My question was: do the beliefs of the religion make people believe they can get away with doing anything to their so-called brothers? OR, does the fact the religion knocks education and careers and anybody falling for it ends up poor, desperate and angry, thus imagining they are ‘entitled’ to freebies and special treatment from anybody they think is better off than they are?.. Answer: I believe it’s a combination of both.
Mind you, JWs are in the predicament they are in because they listened to bad advice..I sure as hell wasn’t the one to tell them to pursue poverty and not get decent jobs! Since I was knocked for working full time, I was determined to WARN young JWs that they better look out for their future!
giles gray writes: .
if the end is so near as the jehovah’s witnesses leadership claims (somehow they must have special insight), why are they building a movie studio that will be finished in 2026?.
it’s not the first time something of this nature has happened in the society’s history.
OVERRATED:
Yes, that is what happened.
I wasn’t in the religion yet but came in several years after ‘75. Not a word of this fiasco was mentioned to me (among other things) or I doubt I would have joined the Witness religion. They kept this embarrassment hush-hush.
People supposedly did stupid things like get into debt because they thought they would never have to pay it off. I also heard crazy stories about people selling homes and belongings and living off it so they could be in the full-time ministry until the supposed ‘end’ in ‘75…
The end didn’t come so they had to start over again. Well, guess what? History has repeated itself and JWs did this again in the last decade or so with people having their money run out. These people are over 60. The congregations are filled with too many needy people looking for handouts and anybody who is perceived to be ‘responsible’ is being hit up for money left and right. Glad I got out years ago.
does the watchtower/jw organization regard its readers & jws as fools and are they secretly laughing at them?
for some examples consider the following.. the wt literature has many times used odd language where they say one thing but word it in such a way as to suggest something else.
they have said that a number of jws drew incorrect expectations about a number of things, including about 1914 and 1975, though it was the wt itself which proclaimed and taught those expectations in the wt's literature to jws.
DISILLUSIONED JW:
I always thought so.
I also felt maybe they said outrageous things to DARE people to disagree so that they could pounce on somebody. Unfortunately, you heard crickets as the stupid ‘sheeplike’ people just went along with whatever was said.
From what I read online it seems they are saying ever nervier things!
Thankfully, I was never the type to go along with the crowd back then or I would be in a serious predicament today.. In my opinion, any JWs at this late date STILL pursuing poverty and avoiding college/careers on the say-so of hypocrites.. (in spite of ample warning seeing older people reaching retirement age unprepared, Bethelites kicked out and other needy types in the congregation)..deserve absolutely No pity from anybody.
