Posts by anewme

57

How ethical is it to sow DOUBT in the minds of sincere Jehovah's Witnesses?

by nicolaou in

we know that we can't always take the direct approach and we know that even a short, reasonable discussion is often out of the question with jw's we may love dearly so we often try to place a little doubt in their minds.

we want them to start questioning cherished beliefs.. is this fair of us?

are we placing our our own agendas ahead of their needs?

anewme

Lady Liberty is right. Their beliefs and practices put the organization ahead of human life and feelings.
Blood transfusion is very much a LIFE SAVING PROCEDURE! The Watchtower Organization is a controlling invasive entity that should modify and restructure many of its policies.

What I tell people today is that all religion is a stepping stone to true worship...worship from the human heart.

We should all strive to be good sons and daughters of the creator, making decisions based on thoughtful consideration of his perceived will and practicing righteousness and goodness on the earth in harmony with
reality and truth.

Who needs a building to do this? Who needs some boobs to tell you how you should make love to your wife or when you should get up on a Saturday morning?
You dont need to confess your sins to any man, a mere man who wipes his behind every morning just like you!
You are a son and daughter just like the holy ones. Develop your own god given conscience and pray for wisdom just like Solomon did and devote your life to God as Christ did.

.....And you wont need religion anymore.

Anewme

37

What Positive Things Have You Achieved Since Leaving?

by sweet pea in

purps' wonderful thread about love made me wonder about something else.

what have you achieved/become since leaving the organisation that proves there is a happy, successful life outside being a jehovah's witness?

for me, although it's only been a very short time, too short to achieve much, i count becoming: non-judgemental of my fellow man; a mum that can give her kids all the room to grow and blossom without fear of 'sinning' or being kicked out for bad behaviour; a person that can feel comfortable worshipping in a church or not, depending on whatever i feel like doing; someone who can love and give freely and celebrate life in all it's glory (i just love birthdays!

anewme

I feel I have awakened from a coma and have been asleep mentally for the last 35 years!
Everything is new and exciting and interesting and Im glad to be here!
Im glad to be ANYWHERE after what I went through!

For me, just staying alive now and laughing and enjoying each day is a triumph over that creepy group who would rather see me dead!

Anewme

37

I finally took my stand.

by Orgull in

i just missed two meetings for the first time in five years.. this past week i went "on vacation", housesitting for relatives nearby.

i told my bookstudy overseer i'd be "away", even though i was only a twenty minute drive from the kingdom hall.

i spent the entire week away from my insane family, away from the meetings and away from my "brothers and sisters".. it felt great.. coming home felt... not so great.. but the first brick in my fade has been laid.

anewme

It is really a very easy thing to leave a religion. You just dont go back!
But when you have family in it you love and they are zealous JWs, it is not so easy.
I feel for you to have to go through this game. It is one of the few religions
that you cannot leave gracefully.

The JWs on the fringe have somehow learned to give the token amount of attention
to the KH and the JW community. Somehow a former brother in law of mine managed to just stop going to meetings and grow a beard and give his attention to work. He claims the brothers stumbled him and he got his feelings hurt. He continues his game and it works I guess. He continues to be a family member in good standing. (No one wants to be the one whose remarks hurt him further and set him back further) Its a good cover he has got going.

I couldnt do it. I couldnt play a game. Life is too short.

So I left the religion and all the family behind forever. It was tough, but I got over it and am living
life as a free person today.

Anewme

34

I'm sick of "the truth"

by exwitless in

the more i think about the dubs claiming they 'have the truth', the more it irritates me.

there are countless other religions who claim they 'have the truth'.

first of all, "having" "the truth" implies that the truth was either given to them or discovered by them.

anewme

You are sick of it because it is somebody else's truth and not your own.

Instead of accepting anyone else's truth, why not throw out all ideas and start over.

Decide for yourself what is important to you and what is not.

You will not be "sick" of your own quest. For it will be ever changing and interesting to you.

As you ponder and come to new realizations you will gain greater insight into everything!

ENJOY THE RIDE!

Anewme

80

I JUST FOUND OUT.......!!!!!!

by Es in

jw
friends

that im having another baby!!!!!.

just done the test and the line came up straight away....... we were planning on falling pregnant in about three months and happend to fall pregnant straight away...im still in shock but had to share it with you all my family.

luv ya.

anewme

Thats wonderful Es! I am so happy for you!!!

Anewme

34

How Jehovah's Witnesses Encourage Mental Illness

by metatron in

jw
friends

while being a witness does not automatically make one mentally ill, it should be clear that huge.

numbers of witnesses are - and moreover, that the watchtower society encourages certain kinds.

of mental ills to maintain its control over publishers.

anewme

Danny's parents were extremists as you say Minimus. But there are many of them in the organization...and in many religions. And like the others the Watchtower does not discourage extremism. The extremists set an example and put pressure on the others for the Watchtower.

I think helplessness is behind alot of depression and certainly because the Watchtower discourages independent thinking, there is no quicker way to become helpless, thus depressed, if you cant think for yourself!

The organization is like other scams, you dont realize what you have gotten into until it is too late.
The recruiter who studied with you was a con-man who used every tool in his arsenal of theocratic tricks to get you in (all for the cult glory of reporting a Bible Study and looking good in the hall)
Studying with people and bringing them to meetings is praised by the cult and "probably you may be saved on the Day of Destruction" if you exert yourself in His Service. The pressure to survive Armaggeddon is at every meeting. The fear of being slaughtered because of not crossing every t and dotting every i in the cult
is very great.

31

who have you murdered? my life is over again

by coaster in

is it wrong to even think about it?

how can a religion take over and have so much control.

i know truth, but only when is walks up and sticks a finger deep into my eye socket.

anewme

Dear Coaster, I can really relate to your despair. For me, it took almost 6 years to get over the whole JW disaster after being in the org for 35 years. Coming on board here helped so much. The pain of family rejection was so strong and severe I had to go to a doctor too and get some anti depression and anti anxiety meds. I got fired from my job for breaking down in tears on two occasions in front of customers.

But one day melted into the next and I gradually got better. A thousand conversations with new friends about religion and ethics and God and truth and reality and sin and guilt and heaven and hell resulted in many brand new thoughts and concepts. One important reality I woke up to is the FACT THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE LIARS OUT THERE!!! I know, DUH!!! But somehow I gave the Watchtower a blank check of trust that I should not have. They ripped us off like any other scam. They are a religious scam. There are many of them out there, if not all of them. It takes time for it all to sink in. And then it takes time to get over it and move on.

We are trying to tell you though that your life WILL IMPROVE over time!
IT WILL GET BETTER!
AND LOVE WILL FIND YOU AGAIN!

Like the others have said, hang on to your beach cottage because in the future you will be curled up with a true friend and lover and be looking ahead to a new life!

Welcome,

Anewme

60

Is the World Really More Violent Today?

by nvrgnbk in

jw
friends

a quick perusal of the bible reveals an extremely violent world.. any brief study of human history reveals acts of barbarism and bloody atrocities dispersed across millenia .. is the world of today perhaps safer than ever?.

anewme

I do not think the world is a more violent place than in the past.

Violence has been around since Cain killed Abel.

Violence has always been in the cities where there is unhappiness and jealousy.

Violence has always been associated with bully dictators and power hungry governments.

But peace is still reigning where friends are and where families practice love between themselves and where neighbors practice ethical behavior.

The TV and radio news is in competition to relay reports of violence and we have CNN and overseas news to complete the worldwide report of horrific human mistreatment.

The world is not at war at the moment.
Nuclear bombs are not exploding at the moment.
These conditions were the case in the past century.

Terrorism is surely on the rise in the world today. There are definitely whole groups dedicated to sabatoge who feel absolutely no qualms about taking innocent lives to seek revenge against political enemies.
Terrorism is a study taught by brilliant but twisted strategists and teachers. Whole education centers are now devoted to the subject and willing students both men and women are cramming into classes to become the next wave of suicidal bombers.

I think danger has always been around, but now more people are aware of it than ever before.

That crock that the world is getting worse and coming to an end is just old Watchtower B.S. (Any astute reader of history and of charlatan religions is aware how a percentage of the population falls for fear tactics and cult speak and twisted statistics. Russell and his goons just used the same)(Works in every generation)

Anewme

19

Do witnesses visit loved ones grave sites?

by NotaNess in

jw
friends

curious about that one.

were visiting my wifes family in new orleans this week, and she brought up going see her relatives graves.

if they do how does the experience differ from a non-witness.

anewme

This topic gets me so angry at the Watchtower Society! What right have they to destroy a person's love for their dead loved ones and deny them the attachment they feel after losing someone in death?
I do not believe for one minute any of those Russells or Rutherfords or Franzes or the current phony in charge has ever received Holy Spirit from Heaven which gives him the right to tell others what God thinks!

The nerve to interfere with others like this!!! I boil thinking how I placed so much confidence in the Watchtower's viewpoint in every aspect of my life, including my view of my parents and their deaths.

They promise people spiritual freedom but keep them in spiritual slavery!

contributions and sufferings and losses and accomplishments than by all means do it!

God meant for your heart to be a shrine of worship by itself! Follow your loving heart!

Anewme

12

My first Church communion this morning...

by AK - Jeff in

as i have stated, religion is not a big part of my [our] life now.

but we remain very spiritual.

not the uppity self-righteous type now though.

anewme

The gal I live with is taking her first interested look into Christianity at 53 years of age.
Her husband of 25 years just dumped her and now she has this new guy in her life who says the Catholic Church is important to him. So today is her first time in a Catholic Church. She has been asking me what she should expect etc as I was a former Catholic myself.

I thought it was very odd I would be placed in the position of trusted spiritual advisor after spending (wasting) 35 years of my precious life as a Jehovahs Witness.

I thought of her background (atheism) and took a long breath before answering her many questions.

I told her that the Catholic Church was invented by Constantine The Great as a brilliant idea to unite the Roman Empire and stop the religious fighting and murdering that was going on. The Catholic Church means Universal Church which gathers religious beliefs from many religions to satisfy everyone's needs, but sticks to certain Christian basics.

I was not condemning of her interest in the church. I actually said that The Church may very well be a stepping stone for her to achieve a new sense of spirituality in her life. Churches are excellent for that I said. However, I do believe that God intended for each man and woman to worship from their hearts (like the first man was intended to do) and not rely on go-betweens or mediators to convey messages back and forth between God and man. But I added that churches also provide a space for like minded people to gather and assist one another in this life and that is good too. Together they can bring Gods love and mercy to the needy and poor. The Churches are the caretakers of the Sacred Scriptures which give us insight into the mind of God and of Holy men and women who have lived before.

So she is probably sitting in a pew as we speak. I hope she enjoys the experience and is touched by the heads bent in worship all around her. I know being in a church and seeing the reverence all around does that to me. I believe in reverence, and respect for God and our neighbors and for the earth and life.
Church reminds us to be respectful of these things. That it is right and ethical to show concern for the welfare of others.

Good religion which produces good respectful people has an honored place on the earth.

Im surprised to find myself saying that really.

Anewme