yes, it sounds crazy doesn't yet.
if a religion went around preaching that today no one would take them seriously, and yet that is what the watchtower used to preach.
"the "time of the end," a period of one hundred and fifteen (115) years, from a.d. 1799 to a.d. 1914, is particularly marked in the scriptures.
Being an old hippie, I have to agree with the above. Lol
But I can see that the relevence of 1914 has been watered down to the point of "so what" to any young jw. Once the generation belief became invisible, 1914 had to be on the same path e.g. less and less focus, until new light is not even seen as that but "We always taught this!"
And jw's will swallow it too...
have you ever heard a female referred to as a "pervert"?.
Trying not to catholic bash but nuns in this country have a long sordid history of abusing children. I knew one women who never got over ritual after school floggings by a nun. Pants down bend over.
My exwife's brothers also copped abuse/discipline that teetered on sexual gratification from nuns as little boys.
Many stories and thankfully lawsuits have stopped this behaviour.
it's amazing to me how many of the exjws no longer believe in god.
i know some of you have many reasons to believe in what you do now.
but this is a big testimony to what the wts does to people's concept of god.
As stated on other threads I believe that humans created gods because we were/are terrified of being alone in the Universe.
Why?
Because it puts a huge burden of responsibility on each of our shoulders. Without god, we are personally responsible for what happens on this planet.
i don't post here much but i enjoy lurking.
i thought i'd share an experience i had recently.
this may be long.
Krishnamurti (your avatar?) would be impressed with your decision to leave all to the state of love.
Me? I'd be callin'!! LOL
Nah, fine experience and who knows what the future holds.... Ain't love grand?
I eat a fair bit out of my garden all organic. Mainly greens for stir fries, spring onions, tomatoes. Plenty of organic meat in this area too.
the thread on creepiest things at the door got me to thinking about the field service.. when i was having my initial doubts, and keeping up with "theocratic" requirements was hard (we had a new born and a two year old diagnosed with asthma which had us in the hospital several times, and only one vehicle), i had mine broken.. i can't really remember what the man said.
he was angry and took out all of his frustrations on me.
i had never been so abused before.
I remember a "door" that broke my spirit but for different reasons.
This guy was a writer from New York who no longer needed to worry about earning a living, despite only being about 40 at the time. He was so tolerant of our spiel and honestly respected our point of view. He had a beautiful, tasteful home near the beach, a lovely girlfriend and was happy to have us call regularly.
He never preached at us, so ironically I realised how dogmatic we were. A really nice person.
...hahaha...not quite what you think;).
after the lovely encouraging posts i got yesterday.
i decided to take their advice and start bit by bit exploring my new free life:).
Skinny dipping reccommended and a nice naked lie in the sun....
Any pitfalls? Just take all new decisions with a bit of a think first. Remember, you have a lot of growing to do after being kept in the dark for so long. Just like S Dipping, too much sun first up can burn you so take it easy.....
as mentioned in my very first port here, i will now give my story and some thoughts i have so far.. i ve been lurking here for about a month, before i registered.
well, a few months ago something like that would be unthinkable for me.. i was raised as a jw, and serve currently as an elder in a congregation.
i have family, also jws.
It's funny, I often read these sorts of dilemmas on this site and yet yours seem to hit closer to home. I guess I have been reminded of my crisis, always believing I had found the "truth" and then finding after a lot of years that what I had been told wasn't necessarily true and in fact were constructed falsehoods.
In my opinion, once your eyes are open, there is only one way to go, forward. I'm one of those bull at a gate types who moves quickly, not realising the damage done by my decision. You seem to be more thoughtful. Good on you and keep reading here.
As so many have said, it's like the Matrix and taking the red pill. It can be a terrifying ride but it ultimately leads to us taking responsibility and deciding for ourselves what is real and true.
the three hares riddle has puzzled archaeologists and scientists for many years.
(reuters) .
british researchers are heading to a remote part of western china to try and unravel one of archaeology's most puzzling mysteries.. they plan to find out why the same sacred symbol has been found in apparently unconnected ancient sites around the world.. .
I'm with BTS. There appears to be commonality in our deep subconscious.
Also
When I was at the museum in Bangkok (Thailand), there was a Roman oil lamp that was discovered only last century still being used in a Wat (temple)!! How did it get there? Believed to traded on the Silk Road.
From the first century too.
seems to me that you could go to any one of those meetings and find a jw.. oh and weren't there alway those theocratic urban legends about some family somewhere who bought into said ponzi scam and they all quit their jobs and are pioneering now that they've gotten into it?.
OH the memories...
I forgot the house alarm craze...
