donny

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Posts by donny

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  447

  Does Anyone Still Believe in God?

  by LaurenM in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  do any of you ex-jw's still believe in god?

  even with the new rebranding/softening of this religion, i still don't see how people can believe in him.

  the god of the old testimate is an angry murderer who approved rapes and slavery and killed thousands of men, women and children.

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  donny

  I tried several "traditional" Christian faiths after leaving the Society, but after applying the same skeptic logic to them, I found them to be easier to accept, but equally untrue. I am now an agnostic atheist.
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  10

  It's not your conduct, it's your status

  by donny in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jw's often state that their practice of disfellowshipping is used to keep the congregation clean and free of "worldly" influences and the like, however that is just pure b.s.

  in actual practice, all they actually care about is your status according to the watchtower society.

  case in point is ray's situation.. ray disassociated himself about 20 years ago because elders and other jw's were constantly spreading false rumors after he quit attending meetings.

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  donny

  JW's often state that their practice of disfellowshipping is used to keep the congregation clean and free of "worldly" influences and the like, however that is just pure B.S. In actual practice, all they actually care about is your status according to the Watchtower Society. Case in point is Ray's situation.

  Ray disassociated himself about 20 years ago because elders and other JW's were constantly spreading false rumors after he quit attending meetings. After a while of putting up with this, he wrote a letter of disassociation which then placed him on the black list of JW world.

  From that point on he was cut off and ostracized from the community he had been a part of for many, many years. His wife filed for divorce shortly after and moved away with his three kids, one son and two daughters.

  Over the years he did nothing to harass the Witnesses but yet he was considered as dead, described as a bad person, an evil slave, a person full of demons and so on. Actually he is a very nice guy and remarried a few years after his wife divorced him and has done well for himself.

  His son remained in the religion and is now an elder.

  Daughter #1 married a JW about 12 years ago and divorced him 2 years later. She then married a man who was in the U.S. Marines and unfortunately he died in Iraq about a year later. A year later she moved in with a man with whom she has had two children out of wedlock. She left him for about a year and lived with a 4th guy, but has now reconciled and is back with #3.

  Daughter #2 faded from the religion after she graduated from high school several years ago and has told her mom and friends around her that she does not "believe that shit" anymore and is an atheist.

  As of today, Ray is still considered someone worthy to be shunned even though he has no animosity toward any JW's nor has said anything negative about them.

  However, his two daughters have never been counseled, marked or disfellowshipped from the organization even though their lifestyle is known by several elders and other Witnesses. They can still attend meetings and freely associate with those in attendance.

  Why is that? Because their status has not been updated to one worthy of being shunned even though their lifestyle says otherwise. The youngest daughter even plays golf on occasion with an elder in the congregation she grew up in and he knows how she feels about the Witnesses and religion in general.

  So it is not your conduct or lifestyle that makes you unworthy of fellowship, it's the status or label that is assigned to you by the Society that does.
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  18

  This newly leaked letter PROVES the WTS are hypocrates and do not speak the truth.

  by Dunedain in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  after reading this newly leaked letter, something profoundly "hit" me.

  myself, being born a "witness", and most of us here, who have learned their teachings for years, know of the "importance" the gb/wts always placed on the watchtower and awake magazines, themselves.. from the magazines inception, from back in probably the 1920's, or somewhere that far back, the wts claimed that the preaching work, and specifically the distribution of these magazines, were a sign of the times, and a fulfilment of bible prophecy in these last days.

  they would compare the watchtower magazine to a "stinging scorpion", claiming those magazines fulfilled that verse in revelation.

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  donny

  I remember back around 1991 when a fellow ministerial servant was telling me about the slow collapse of his cousins church, The Worldwide Church of God. They produced a popular free monthly magazine called "The Plain Truth" which had a circulation of around 8 million a month.

  The WCOG, like the Witnesses, sprang from the Adventist movement of the late 1800's and they too stated holidays like Christmas, Easter etc were of pagan origin. Some members, who had become JW's, talked about how similar the religions were.

  In 1986, the oracle of the church, Herbert W. Armstrong, died and the group began to unravel. Eventually the magazine became smaller and less frequently issued and this "brother JW" of mine began to say that this was an obvious sign that the religion and its publications were not approved by Jehovah.

  However, the WT and Awake were increasing which showed the big mans blessing upon them.

  Well I wonder what he has to say on this development. Does this mean Jehovah no longer supports the organization and its publications?

  What goes around comes around.
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  23

  What was the strangest off-the-cuff remark you ever heard from and elder or higher appointee?

  by donny in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i showed up for saturday morning field service and i was partnered with an elder who had transferred to our congregation in the dallas, texas area from michigan.

  i told him about a recent embarrassing moment where i had played a "worldly" song during the sunday meeting due to someone replacing the cassette i had placed in the cassette player late friday night that had the correct "kingdom melody.".

  out of the blue he said "about 4 years ago i was giving the sunday talk and i kept sporting a boner from time to time which was bizarre since being horny and teaching about jehovah is typically not something one associates with one another.".

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  donny

  I showed up for Saturday Morning field service and I was partnered with an elder who had transferred to our congregation in the Dallas, Texas area from Michigan. I told him about a recent embarrassing moment where I had played a "worldly" song during the Sunday meeting due to someone replacing the cassette I had placed in the cassette player late Friday night that had the correct "Kingdom Melody."

  Out of the blue he said "About 4 years ago I was giving the Sunday talk and I kept sporting a boner from time to time which was bizarre since being horny and teaching about Jehovah is typically not something one associates with one another."

  My only reply was, "No, they don't sound compatible to me."
  

  What strange things have you heard from those "appointed by holy spirit?"
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  53

  What's the craziest thing someone INFORMED on you about?

  by Londo111 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the culture of jws as encouraged by the watchtower is one of informing on one another, reporting to either the elders or ones designated head.

  whats the wackiest thing that someone reported on you?

  im not talking about a black-and-white watchtower rule that would land you in a judicial committee, but some judgmental nonsense that someone thought they should turn you in about?.

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  donny

  Yeah we were "mentally diseased" then. I still remember the feeling I had when they told me why I was called to the back room at the Hall.
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  53

  What's the craziest thing someone INFORMED on you about?

  by Londo111 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the culture of jws as encouraged by the watchtower is one of informing on one another, reporting to either the elders or ones designated head.

  whats the wackiest thing that someone reported on you?

  im not talking about a black-and-white watchtower rule that would land you in a judicial committee, but some judgmental nonsense that someone thought they should turn you in about?.

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  donny

  That I performed oral sex on my wife who had asked for it, but had an "attack of conscience" over the next couple of days and decided to inform the elders. They then approached me after the next Thursday School/Service meeting.
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  43

  New here!

  by Mandy97 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi guys !

  hm.. i'm new in this website !

  my name is mandy and i just want to meet new people!

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  donny

  Welcome Mandy to the wonderful world of the Great Unwashed.
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  17

  A Total Waste of Time "In The Field"

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so i am walking down the street in a spanish neighborhood and two men, obviously jw's, are standing between houses writing furiously on their tiny slips.

  i am nearly a block away approaching and they just kept writing the whole time i walked up.

  i finally arrive to pass them and they are still both writing.

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  donny

  I have noticed this phenomenon over the past 5 years myself. I would see JW's out in field service while I was doing my morning walks and every time I would stop and wait for them to approach and give them a warm smile and even say "good morning."

  What was my result. Nothing other than a returned salutation and they would pass me an keep walking down the street. Only once did they stop and that was to hand me a tract and then continue on their path.

  Back in my day we were to take every opportunity we could to witness to those in the field whether at the door or in the yards as we passed by.
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  13

  Prayers, are you worthy to do them? [5/15/90 wt]

  by sowhatnow in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for those who still pray, and go to the kingdom hall, when was the last article on prayer?

  whats the view now?.

  king solomon asked that jehovah hear only foreigners who prayed toward gods temple in jerusalem.

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  donny

  I came to the many of the same conclusions. After I left the JW's in 1992 I began visiting several "conventional" churches and I was especially interested in the subject of prayer. During my JW tenure, I did not see any evidence of God responding to such petitions.

  I found the same in the other churches. Many of the prayers were generic and vague asking God for strength in helping to cope with an issue, or help in finding a job or heal an ailment. What I found was that it was a crap-shoot. The folks who prayed would wait a bit and then fit the conclusion to what they prayed for. If God acted positively then the answer was yes, if not then it was no.

  I have heard many, many anecdotal stories regarding how God answered their requests, but I never saw anything divine in them. The vast majority could be explained as just random and flip of a coin, others had answers that could be explained by science or the fact that the person who prayed actually did something to ensure that something positive happened.

  What was amusing is these results are found in every group or religion that prays. I could not find one instance where any belief system had a lock on the act of prayer.

  I always chuckle when I hear the ad for "Christian Mingle.com" where the announcer says instead of waiting on God, he is waiting for you to act. In other words, you need to put forth effort to get a result. Sounds like the natural world to me.

  Donny
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  9

  convention this weekend

  by zeb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my wife has just left for the convention.

  i dread it.

  she will come home tired and cranky as always.

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  donny

  I remember those days well and I am so glad they are behind me, Over the last several years one of persons I worked with was married to a woman who became a JW several years after they were married. He asked me "what do they do there all that time?"

  I told him that you sit there and listen to very boring speeches by very boring people. I also told him that most people do not recall much after they return from such conventions. I told him "At the first dinner when she gets back, ask her what did they talk about at the convention?"

  She could not recall anything other than stuff like "Read your Bible, Don't miss meetings, Love Jehovah, etc.

  He replied "That is what you tell me they tell you at the Kingdom Hall. Was there anything new revealed or anything that required this 3 day convention?

  The more he pressed more information from the convention, the more frustrated she got.

  She finally blurted "I went there just to go there, no one expects you to remember much. Its about seeing people you haven't seen in a while."