Any religion that controls your thinking up to the point where you will die for that cause, is a cult. For example you make the choice for yourself or your child to die rather then have a life saving blood transfusion because of your belief in the after life. Also, when almost every decision you make is based around what you are told by some controlling old men in Brooklyn, that for me is signs of a cult.
Stress Free
JoinedPosts by Stress Free
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54
JWs are not a cult................
by vitty in...............or so i thought.
when you were an active jw, how did you feel when ppl accused you of being a cult !!!!!!!!!
and do you think its a cult now your out ?
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Born In, the Difference
by wanderlustguy inborn in, what difference does it make?
i was thinking about this one a lot over the last few weeks.
what difference does it make whether you were born into a cult or were brought in as a teen or adult?
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Stress Free
Fantastic post WLG, its very touching. Thanks.
I can relate to most of what you stated. Your post has brought flooding back many emotions of what I had to endure as a kid. I was born into the cult and yes when I turned 18 I had the choice, get baptised or stop going. But at that age is there really any choice when that is all you know? When I was about seventeen years of age I wasn't keen on going along anymore, my fathers response was, if you stop going you can leave home now! At that age you are too young and immature to go out and take on the outside world that you don't know anything about. So the choice is made for you until you are old and mature enough to get up the courage and make a informed decision. For me it didn't happen until I was forty years of age. Like you, all I ever wanted as a kid was to have a happy normal life like all those other kids out there and to be accepted by all the so called worldly kids. I vividly remember sitting in the corner of the class room at school whilst all the other kids enjoyed the christmas party, my brain washed mind wouldn't allow me to participate for Jah was watching me and I would be punished should I join in. I remember always trying to hide the fact that I was a J dub but it never worked they always picked it because you were so, so different.
Nevertheless, my family now fully appreciate life and are making the most of it.
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Stress Free
Publisher
Aux pioneer
Roving microphone (got a penis)
Magazine counter
MS
Elder
Apostate
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Stress Free
I probably could remember if I think hard enough about it, but I choose to forget.
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Stress Free
My wife and me have never been disfellowshiped we just gradually slipped out. However, our families know what we think of the troof, that it's all B.S. We had to spell it out to them about 18 months ago, it wasn't easy but we had to let them know as they just wouldn't stop hounding us about not attending meetings anymore. The majority of my family shun us now anyway and one day we will write a D.A. letter. I am no longer afraid to be outed as the damage has already been done, you just move on with your life.
I fully understand though how some would be afraid to be outed. It really depends on your situation and what you have to lose if you are outed i.e. spouse, children, parents, somewhere to live, etc.
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WHAT DID YOU THINK OF APOSTATES ?????????+
by vitty inwhen you were still in the org, did you ever wonder what the apostates were saying?
the society would just say lies and half truths.i always assumed it was about the trinity, and other religious stuff.
i thought they were exjws who had become born agains !.
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Stress Free
I was taught that Satan was using them to spread lies and propaganda about the witnesses. You were to avoid them at all costs and never ever read there literature as it was demonized. In fact, when I was a kid I was terrified of them when we used to see them outside the conventions as all you could think of is that they were from Satan.
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JW visiting JWs in hospitals
by I quit! ini am just heading out to see my sister-in-law (jw) in the hospital.
i have been goinging there to see her the last 5 days.
twice while i was there i met jws who weren't anyone she had met before.
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Stress Free
Each congregation selects one of the elders to be a hospital liason. He is assigned to visit the local hospital on a daily bases. They will find out that your sister in law is in hospital if she has put down her religion on the registration form when she booked in. This information is put on the hospital patient register, the elder visiting each hospital has access to that file and therefore checks to see if any jw's are in that particular hospital.
(PS. They are probably just checking if any j dubs are having a blood transfusion )
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Confused Jehovah's Witnesses Still Believe In Watchtower Interpretation
by minimus ini had an interesting conversation with my mom and she glowed about how "wonderful" the public talk was on sunday.
the brother talked about bible prophecy "was" being fulfilled "for the future">>> huh??
the "king of the north" would be exposed just as jehovah's people have been saying in our day!
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Stress Free
They really are confused!! About 3 years ago the circuit overseer stated in his talk to stop speculating about who is the king of the north, as this prophecy had already been fulfilled. He said we have now moved on to the final stages of Daniels prophecy and that we are only waiting for the 8th king (the UN) to turn on religion.
They are certainly painting themselves into a corner.
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Which meetings did you hate the most?
by JH inout of the 5 weekly meetings, here are the ones i hated the most.. in order.
1. theocratic ministry school ( i hated speaking in public) got me so nervous.. 2. service meeting ( too much crap and statistics and presentations).
3. the book study ( just a waist of time ).
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Stress Free
In this order;
- Theocratic Ministry School ( Just plain old boring, felt for those poor nervous folks up there )
- Watchtower Study ( Hated the study conductors smart arse remarks aimed at those who would'nt answer )
- Book Study ( Depended if there was a cup of tea & cake afterwards )
- Service Meeting ( Looked forward to see what local needs talk they would come up with, something we could have a great big laugh about after. This was the meeting they would come down on all the bad things we were doing)
- Public Talk ( If it was an interesting subject like the talk on sex and marriage, ha, ha.)
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DID YOU KNOW THIS about the BIBLE?
by Terry inthe oldest manuscripts are not considered the most reliable.. there are no "autograph" texts.
none.. there are no "original" manuscripts.. no two manuscripts agree.. the bible as we know it only came together in the form it now holds because certain men decided it should do so.. neither jesus nor his apostles or disciples carried bibles.. the apostle paul didn't carry a bible and none of his letters were in any of the scrolls considered holy scripture at the time he was preaching and forming christian theology as it is now understood to be.. largely, what the bible is today, is the result of certain men with certain agendas who had the authority to make their project happen.
they also had the power to destroy writings which did not agree with their agenda.
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Stress Free
Excellent post Terry.
After researching the history of the bible for the past five years, I have come to the same conclusion as yourself . Its a shame that more people don't put in the effort and research the origins of the bible and christianity, they would be surprised. The Dead Sea Scrolls also help to shed a lot of light on the history of the bible. Isn't it amazing how the religions write off the so called Gnostic books, yet the bible quotes from these books in a number of places. An example of this is how the bible book of Jude blantantly quotes from the Gnostic book of Enoch, which if you have read it is quite bizarre, yet the churches including the jw's do not acknowledge it. So if it is good enough for Jude to quote from, why isn't it in the bible canon? Answer , because once again this book did not fit in with the teachings of the church. Also what about the Gnostic book "The Revelation of Peter" this book was originally chosen to be the finial book in the bible canon in place of the current book of Revelation that we now have. However, "The Revelation of Peter" had a softer viewpoint on hell, again not suiting the churches teaching of eternal torment in hell, so they dropped it in favour of the book of Revelation we have today.
After all is said and done the bible was put together and used to instill fear into people allowing the religious and political leaders at the time to control the people, this has continued to be exploited up to our time.
Nevertheless, everyone is entitled to there opinion, thats what makes this discussion board so great. If believing in the bible and the ransom gives you hope and keeps you going day after day well thats great. As for me even though I believe the bible is just another history book, a bad one at that, written by men and not inspired by God. Meantime I still hope that there is more to life then just our short pitiful existence now, however, I no longer worry about the future I just enjoy each day of life as it comes.