I joined after learning TTATT, but before leaving the Witnesses (still in).
Same here. I took years to confirm that it was not the truth before looking to external sources, but the exit was quite rapid after that due to help from sites like this.
i visited this site about 2 years after leaving?.
when did you first visit jwn?.
paul.
I joined after learning TTATT, but before leaving the Witnesses (still in).
Same here. I took years to confirm that it was not the truth before looking to external sources, but the exit was quite rapid after that due to help from sites like this.
darkest area is most anti-gay.
perhaps they need to focus on those areas since they seem to agree with them on this issue.
jehovah.
Same sex relationships are unatural as they can't lead to reproduction.
Same sex relationships occur frequently amongst numerous animals, so it is very natural.
Sex does not only need to be for procreation. Prior to the availability of contraception it was common for married men to take male lovers, so as to prevent their wife having too many children. A woman's body takes time to recover from pregnancy, and child birth is dangerous, so same sex relations is a naturally effective way to satisfy the male sex drive and have the most number of healthy children.
many jws don't know the basic doctrines we all use to debate the clergy with.. .
jws don't know the bible, the know a few proof-texts but can't handle the bible like the witnesses of 1950s-1990s, what happened?.
the caliber of the new elders is horrible when compared with the elders of 1950s-1990s, they don't know how to use their bible, they are turning towards orgnazational minor details while ignoring the bible and gospel message.. .
Tim Hopper - He was so au fait with his Bible that he could give a public talk with only the scriptural references for notes. Once, after I'd left, he phoned me and I mentioned that I was suffering with piles. He immedediately quoted a scripture that stated somethimng about those deserting would have a sore arse - something like that anyway.
Whilst many knew the Bible inside out, they did not know how to interpret it with any degree of logic, but rather have always does so in line with how the Watchtower forces them to. The Watchtower uses an Eisgesis approach to interpretation that is poor when compared to standard Christianity, yet educated and intelligent JWs still followed it without question because the religion was always about indoctrination and control. For example, JWs were unphased by flip flops around the great crowd, the worship of Jesus, or the ridiculous Revelation interpretations and antitypes. I has always been Watchtower devotion ahead of Bible accuracy.
many jws don't know the basic doctrines we all use to debate the clergy with.. .
jws don't know the bible, the know a few proof-texts but can't handle the bible like the witnesses of 1950s-1990s, what happened?.
the caliber of the new elders is horrible when compared with the elders of 1950s-1990s, they don't know how to use their bible, they are turning towards orgnazational minor details while ignoring the bible and gospel message.. .
Gingerbread - For a century they have been telling us that we can come to a true understanding of the Bible ONLY by reading and studying their publications.
BOTR - We were never taught thinking skills. My experience is from the 1950s but I had notes/lit from deceased family members. There had to be self-selection going on in who became a Witness. I thought I knew the Bible and WT doctrine.
Those two comments sum up the situation. JWs have always been forced not to think or research, but rather learn Watchtower doctrine by rote. They forcefully felt they knew more than others, and still do. That does not make Watchtower doctrine right, it is just that most religious people do not know their own doctrine well enough to hold such a debate.
Overall, both JWs and people of other religions are becoming less interested and educated about their own doctrine. That is product of society in general. TV, computers and ipads have led people to short attention spans and information overload. This generation operate off sound bites rather than extensive research.
have been going to a few meetings to support my kids that have to go with their mother.
i knew it would be a powerful lesson for them to see how these loving people treat their father who da'd a while ago.
couple of elders tried to corner me the 2nd or 3rd time i went to remind me that i cant talk to anyone.... i however reminded them that i am not df'd and i can talk to whomever i want to.
"I however reminded them that I am not df'd and I can talk to whomever I want to."
That is a great comment, and I had not considered it before. Since you da'd and do not want to go back, you have no reason to abide by their rules. That same reasoning can also be used by someone disfellowshipped that has no intention of going back. The comment by a df'd person would be slightly different, such as "I do not agree with Watchtower rules, and can talk to whomever I want to."
recently attended a sad.. bethel speaker was gushing about the wt's embrace of new technology, in the part of his talk warning about "apostate" web sites.. a loose summary of his comments:.
"and the brothers at headquarters have made it very safe for you to go to our website.
in fact, the brothers talked to the folks at google, and they made a special arrangement so that when you type in 'j w period' into the google search engine, it automatically shows you the jw.org website.
The guy doesn't know what he is talking about. What happens in Google Chrome is that if you have visited a site before, it appears in the type ahead results. Because he has visited jw.org more than any other site starting with jw, it now appears as soon as he types the jw.
You cannot pay Google to be top of the search list, but you can pay to be in the Google's ad related results. Their algorithm is based on a large number of factors, including your website history, cookies, location, and demographics if you are logged in. It also shows related searches based on what other people are searching on.
hey i joined this thread recently and thought this was a good way to introduce myself.
i am 15, still going to school and i live in the uk.
a good chunk of my mum's side of the family are jws.
Welcome, it was a pleasure to read your story.
We debated for a a couple of hours with no change in opinion. Since then I haven't had an actual discussion with him but he always gives me the old smile, ...
I've been waiting since then but he's always been giving talks away or busy.
That is very revealing. JWs will spend hours going door to door trying to find a new recruit, but are too busy to devote time to help one of their own. Maybe they realise that you know too much about both sides of the story, and so will affect their faith more than they can help yours.
tell us a little about yourself and your family.. i was raised as a baptist in oregon.
after my encounter with jws (in 1994) i have been with my mother to charismatic churches but also studied with the mormons (a few months) and a bit of exposure with the seventh day adventists.
i'm currently in the u.k. and working through immigration to stay and work here.. were you a born in or a convert?.
Thanks, it is interesting that the trigger for you was regarding the pronunciation of God's name. There are so many different triggers to get a person to first start thinking that things may not be right.
hey guys i am new to the whole forum thing (long time reader, first time postererer) and i wanted to get some other opinions on something that has bothered me ever since i first became a jehovah's witness.. i was always taught at the kingdom hall that friends inside the orginisation were the only ones i could count on and that the ones out of it (mainly at school) were just being controlled by satan to trick me into leaving the religion.. however, i always found it to be the opposite.
my "worldly"friends were all accepting of my religion (back when i was ok with being a jw) and are the only ones i have really opened up to about wanting to leave.
the only things i have in common with the other teenagers in my hall (3 boys, 3 girls) are that we've all been raised in the truth and... well that's it.. i was just wondering if anyone else found the same thing when they were a teenaged jw or if anyone still in my age finds the same thing..
Interesting comment. My worldly friends never discussed religion with me, nor tried to get me to leave. I did not associate with them much, but when I did, they never tried to force me to get drunk, have sex or smoke. On the other hand, I did most of those sorts of things with my JW friends.
When I had a recent school reunion, my school friends were all very interested that I had finally left that crazy religion.
if the catholic church doesn't want to support abortions in any way, i don't think she should be penalized by the government.. your thoughts?
?.
IMO, Religion should be free to make illegal, things that the government say are legal, but is should not be allowed to make legal what the government says is illegal.
For example, with abortion or gay marriage, the government may allow it, but a religion has to right to prevent it amongst its members. However, with something illegal, such as murder, freedom of religion should not be used to allow it. This is how the system generally operates.
The grey area, which affects JWs, is when it is hard to determine exactly what the legal situation is. Should the Watchtower be allowed to prevent a blood transfusion, and does that constitute manslaughter? Should the Watchtower be able to enforce shunning, and does that break the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 12 which states:
“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation.”