Posts by LongHairGal

51

Jehovah's Witnesses lose registration as a religious community in Norway

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

https://www.statsforvalteren.no/nb/oslo-og-viken/folk-og-samfunn/tros--og-livssynssamfunn/jehovas-vitner-taper-registrering-som-trossamfunn/.

published december 22, 2022. the state manager in oslo and viken has decided to withdraw jehovah's witnesses registration as a religious community under the religious society act.. .

we sent a notice to jehovah's witnesses about possible loss of registration on october 25 this year.

LongHairGal

THOMAS MORE:

Those are a lot of reasons for the ‘drain’. I had no idea about their investments and am not knowledgeable about those special building projects so you must ‘know’ people.

But, as far as people leaving I am well aware of that! Many older JWs are passing away (Boomers and ones older). Many Witnesses have walked away in the last two+ decades, myself included..

No way will younger ones left contribute as much as their parents did!.. I don’t believe anybody will ever see the like of those old ‘faithful’ ever again. They ‘bought’ it all, hook line and sinker. However, they weren’t poor and were collecting pensions!

This must also mean things can’t be looking good at congregational levels. There are many ‘needy’ in the religion (too many in my opinion), because of following the dictate that they ‘shouldn’t get careers’. That’s not counting the ones kicked out of bethel..

Now that there are fewer elderly to go up to privately with an envelope for money to give to broke pioneers who never planned - this won’t be good for anybody in congregations expecting handout$.. Any responsible people left in congregations are going to be pestered.. Sounds unpleasant to me.

17

Christmas and the name jehovah

by nowwhat? in

for the same reasons jw's reject christmas they use the name jehovah.. dec 25 is the recognized day to celebrate the birth of christ in the world.- we use jehovah because it is the recognized name of the father in the world.. it dishonors jesus because we don't know the actual date of jesus birth- even though we don't know the actual pronouncing of gods name it brings honor to god to use it.

even though the angels rejoiced at the birth of jesus, no where in the bible does it say we should celebrate it.

even though no where in the bible does it say christians are to be witnesses of jehovah, we proudly bear his name!.

LongHairGal

BETH SARIM:

It’s something more than nostalgia that I experienced when I ‘Faded’ from the JW religion years ago and finally spent time with my REAL family after years.

You would have had to feel it to know what I mean. I felt several emotions which included gratitude, relief and a feeling that I fought my way out of a dark place. I also felt a sadness that this was stupidly on my part.. I felt I ‘escaped’ from mental abuse and unnecessary deprivation and joined the human race again.

There is no other way to explain it, but, I am glad it’s in the past.. What a sobering life lesson learned!

17

Christmas and the name jehovah

by nowwhat? in

for the same reasons jw's reject christmas they use the name jehovah.. dec 25 is the recognized day to celebrate the birth of christ in the world.- we use jehovah because it is the recognized name of the father in the world.. it dishonors jesus because we don't know the actual date of jesus birth- even though we don't know the actual pronouncing of gods name it brings honor to god to use it.

even though the angels rejoiced at the birth of jesus, no where in the bible does it say we should celebrate it.

even though no where in the bible does it say christians are to be witnesses of jehovah, we proudly bear his name!.

LongHairGal

VIDIOT & BETH SARIM:

Exactly. The REAL reason they don’t want members to celebrate Christmas and other holidays is to keep them away from non-Witness relatives and friends.

They use the excuse ‘it’s pagan’ as a cover. The problem is many things have a pagan origin such as the calendar, etc. No, they’re afraid a JW may have a good time if they associate with non-JW relatives and friends. God forbid they experience acceptance and love from people who aren’t judging them (like the people in the hall). Maybe they won’t want the vacuum of a religion any more.

To a person who wasn’t born in who joined the JWs later, the pleasant association may remind them of what they miss!.. To somebody born in, the pleasant association is something they never had with the JWs and they may want more!

33

Pioneer couple sense of entitlement

by nowwhat? in

so there's this middle age pioneer couple.

he works part time and the wife doesn't work at all.

their daughter is getting married and even though it is known they go on multiple vacations a year, they expect the grooms parents to pay for 100% of the wedding!

LongHairGal

THOMAS MORE:

On top of all you said, the JWs have absolutely NO programs to help any needy.

This is in sharp contrast to other religions of Christendom that have different social programs to help people (food pantries, etc.) whether it’s people in their congregations or people in the community.

5

Jesus's brothers-apostates?

by enoughisenough in

this came to me today.

at first jesus's own brothers didn't believe in him....thought he was crazy...can you imagine him shunning them for apostasy?

i would think disbelieving in jesus would be far worse than disbelieving the gb.

LongHairGal

FEDUPJW:

Just clarifying that that is what they say about themselves: that ‘not believing in them is sinning against the holy spirit’. Okay then!😮

Someone please let me know when they start answering people’s prayers!

12

Similarities Between JW's & Mormons

by Sea Breeze in

jw
friends

over the years, i have found it helpful to see the similarites between jw's and mormons to help me understand what happened to me and my family as jw's.

robert bryan discusses this in one of the best presentations i have heard on the topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wok7e3utzy8&ab_channel=bibleready .

LongHairGal

SEA BREEZE:

Yes, that was my observation when I was in the Witness religion:

They were so arrogantly sure and felt the rest of the world was wrong.

16

Am I being unreasonable in this ?

by smiddy3 in

hi friend`s ,i have my son and dil living with us ,which has been ok,overall ,quite a few years now ,however ,a few months ago they decided they wanted a dog ok ?

we had one a toy poodle for about 16-17 years and i just loved her as did my wife.. a few months ago my son wanted a dog and got a french bulldog as a pup ,which was ok by us .. however to cut a long story short, yesterday i was out in the back yard and the dog lunged at me and started attacking me in such a way as i can only describe as being frenetic in his attack ,in trying to ward off his attack and getting away from him i fell over and i believe if my son hadn`t finlly restrained him he would have mauled me .

i am 83 years old and my wife has just turned 80. and i dont want that to happen to her .. i don`t know the dog is what 4-5-6 months old i`m not sure , and been living with us all this time ,however i`m going to tell them to get that dog out of my house by the week and and a half or i will one way or another .. i am not going to tolerate that in my household and if he don`t like it he can go also .. i`m not being unreasonable am i ?

LongHairGal

SMIDDY3:

No, you are Not being unreasonable. This is not okay and this is your home and you should be safe there. I would say the same thing!!! You don’t need this happening to you - and never mind what any misguided animal lovers say. If you HAD been injured, what is he going to say? He’s sorry???

I have a close relative who had a questionable dog that menaced me. I told her I don’t want the damn thing around me. She made excuses UNTIL it bit and/or tore clothing of visiting friends of hers. In my life I have been bitten a few times (nothing major thank God). People need to get real about their dogs.

You are well within your rights!

50

Are the teachings of JW—consistent?

by Fisherman in

i would belief so but if you can point something out, it can be discussed.. i don’t mean what jw taught in the past that they later realized was not correct and amended.

—unless you think and can show something like that is relevant.. i’ve spoken to a lot of believers from different religions.

i don’t want to bash any religion here under this topic but their beliefs are inconsistent and their reasons are sophistry and made up and grounded on circular reasoning.

LongHairGal

TONUS OH:

I always believed that ALL religions are wrong to varying degrees.

JWs like to claim the excuse of ‘imperfection’ or the ‘light getting brighter’.. Well, I felt that if God was cutting them ‘slack’ because of that - he would also give slack to all the other religions as well.

16

Our First Christmas Tree

by Queequeg in

early on, after we left jw land, my wife said to me, “i hope you don’t care, but i don’t ever see myself doing any christmas stuff.

i don’t really understand why some ex jws decide to do that crap.” we agreed that parties were a little different because of the social aspects, but other wise i didn’t care.

now… there’s a 16’ douglas fir with ornaments and lights in our living room.

LongHairGal

QUEEQUEG:

I’d like to see his explanation too but maybe it’s just another JW hit-and-run type of answer: in other words…no real substance and just knocking you for leaving the religion.

29

Why Not Celebrate Christmas?

by Mum in

jw
friends

so, jw's don't celebrate christmas or other holidays.

as bill cetnar once said, there are two reasons for everything: the reason they tell you, and the real reason.

they will tell you it's because christmas is "pagan" and can lead to all sorts of licentious conduct (like drinking too much macallan scotch?)..

LongHairGal

FISHERMAN:

Sorry for derailing MUM’s thread but I have to disagree with you.

First of all, I got baptized before they changed those questions. I NEVER agreed to serve any organization or FDS and do not accept theirs or any other religionists’ assertion of ‘authority’. As far as I was concerned, I served the creator of the universe by whatever name He is called.. But the whole thing was misrepresented to me. A bait and switch. I’m done with it and religion in general.

I also disagree with what your reasoning is about why they dislike education. The bad association thing is nonsense especially if you’re older; I agree with evolution and philosophy and critical thinking. God gave us a brain to use! I still believe the reason the elder told me!

I also disagree with yours and their view of ‘pursuing a career’. When I came into the JWs..ALL the older people were collecting their pensions. They worked. I had to work as well to support myself. These hypocrites made sure I was shunned but thankfully I ignored them. I would not be retired today if I listened to these people. They would not be supporting me! Maybe this doesn’t mean anything to you - but it means a whole lot to me!

Trusting in God?? What about the thousands of needy JWs in halls all over who reached retirement age unprepared who are at poverty level. Are you not in reality that they are this way because the religion misled them?

Well, you and other JWs can believe what they want - and they do believe a lot of fallacies.. Glad I’m OUT as I would have No tolerance to be pestered for money to give to people who felt the ministry was their career instead of a real honest-to-goodness paying job. They wouldn’t be caught dead in one. Well, I have No pity for them.

These misled ‘ministers’ can go ask the religion since that’s who they were working for.. Or, maybe they can ask you? ☺️

(MUM, I apologize for this! Merry Christmas.)