Posts by AuldSoul

Thanks for the input. There is an actual purpose to this. I am seriously considering my "Out With a Bang" move: An "Apostacar." We have two. One is an older model that needs some "sprucing up." Heh-heh...

Keep 'em coming. I need as many as I can get that JWs would understand but that I couldn't technically get DF'd for. Many of these are great, so far. Later I'll add some that I can get DF'd for...

AuldSoul

75

I'm not buying it! That people left the Witnesses and became Christians.

by free2beme in

jw
friends

i tried it, could not swallow all the lies and misinformation they had.

i am sorry, but even if you deny the whole witness faith, there is still parts to christianity that they pointed out that you can not just ignore and act like it is okay to join another faith that is christian.

are you going to become catholic when your know their history?

AuldSoul

I agree, but in many ways they are. I think the biggest problem with Organized Religion, is the Organized part. I am in a less organized philosophy now. More about thought and less about instructions. I see Christianity as way to much instruction, rules, judgement, etc.

free2beme, you sound like C.T. Russell here. He believed the exact same thing. He said that those early ones should never become an organization because all organization become corrupted and rule-oriented. He said no man should have religious authority over another man.

Christianity does not necessitate organization, and this is where you are missing the point of an awful lot of posts in this thread. Christianity does not equal organization. You are treating them as one and the same. I am still nominally one of Jehovah's Witnesses, but whether they know it or not they have NO authority over me. None of their rules, instructions, or judgments apply to me.

From what jgnat has said here and (aghast!) other threads (cue dramatic music), it seems the same is true of her in her religion.

...as I find such post pretentious and annoying.

Yeah, that is pretty much my feelings about your posts in this topic. Especially the post that I pulled this quote from. Wasn't my quoting this from your previous post pretentious and annoying ?

If you are bringing your work stress here, please stop. Vent some other way, as a favor to me personally, if you must think of it that way. You come across as unreasonable when you do not read what others say in response to your own thread topic. You admitted to not having time, well if that is true who is pretentious? The one raising an issue and then admittedly not reading the discussion of the issue, or the one considerate enough to think it through from various angles and post according to their reasoned thoughts on the topic at hand?

You post responses on this thread without reading, and not caring, what has been said by others. Then you accuse someone of pretentiousness. Bad form, in my opinion.

Lighten up. Your life may be stressed, but that is no reason to take that stress out on strangers who've done nothing to add to your stress.

AuldSoul

28

The story of my life (part 15- Betrayed)

by onacruse in

jw
friends

i'd recaptured the "community," (or, perhaps, better said: the "community" had recaptured me).

my wife and i were invited to one party after another, old friends, and new friends.

indeed, there was a considerable degree of subliminal suspicion about me; after all, i'd been dfd, and who knew what i really thought?

AuldSoul

(((Craig))), thank you. It is good to know we're not alone in our pain and confusion. It is good to see that there is another side to get to, where it doesn't hurt as much. You have dignified yourself by helping others.

AuldSoul

39

Ideas for bumper stickers/signs...what can you come up with?

by AuldSoul in

jw
friends

from kid-a's post on another thread: millions once living are now dead!.

607 bc?.

watchtower bedded the beast (1991-2001).

AuldSoul

Mary, just ask my wife. I chose bust ! 36H when I married her, but we got 'em reduced for her back.

AuldSoul

89

How the Internet Means 'The End' for Apostates and Opposers of the Society

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

the received wisdom is that the internet has dramatically damaged the ability of the watchtower society to gain and retain followers.

there was a very eloquent article to that effect written some time ago by a commentator who attempted to buttress his argument with reference to the postmodern condition and the breakdown of metanarratives in todays secular society, nay, even the come-back for enlightenment notions of truth.

in the 1970/80s there were major challenges to the watchtowers theology (great crowd in heaven) and chronology (1914) in norway, alberta canada, dublin ireland and in the newyork bethel itself: but the damage caused by those involved in the dissent was limited because knowledge was dispersed merely through personal contact and minimal use of obscure publications that seldom met the eyes of witnesses innocent of the watchtowers doctrinal and chronological vacillations in any case.

AuldSoul

SBF, here is a point you might not have considered.

In the old days, before the Internet apostate community, when an apostate was raging mad over a point he or she would vent publicly and loudly on a local level. The pressure would build up until it burst. That apostate woud be disfellowshipped and only those already disloyal to the org would listen after that happened.

Now, the Internet apostate can vent in anonymity and preserve their ability to quietly work on the local level. Going out with a bang limits the amount of local damage that can be done and scares Witnesses into digging their heels in deeper. Going out quietly increases the amount of damage that can be done to the bOrg and the length of time over which such damage can be done. It sharply increases the liklihood of getting some family members to start thinking deeply for themselves.

I have to disagree on the basis that you are only looking at damage done at point of exit. A fader can doo much more damage over a much longer period of time because anyone with questions and doubts will feel more comfortable discussing such with...a fader who is not disfellowshipped. Among my former circle of friends and acquaintances I have already helped keep one person from getting baptized—no longer even goes to the meetings, have helped two people know that this can't be the truth, and have helped one person to leave entirely. I strongly disagree that the fade is less effective than the big-bang.

AuldSoul

14

defd phoning Bethel about Thanksgiving...

by wanderlustguy in

jw
friends

did it happen?

what did they say?

i have my cranberry sauce, turkey, stuffing, and a big tv for watching football after the meal...can i use em?

AuldSoul

I'm proud of you, defd. It is hard to work up enough nerve to question the Slave (Governing Body) directly.

Awake! 76 11/22 pp. 12-13 A National “Day of Thanks”—The Dream and the Reality
On the contrary, the idea of a single day of thanks undoubtedly would have reminded the early Christians of the pagan Romans, who held an annual thanksgiving celebration in December. A writer of the second century noted: “We [Christians] are accused of a lower sacrilege, because we do not celebrate along with you the holidays of the Cæsars in a manner forbidden alike by modesty, decency, and purity.”

I noticed this doesn't say they didn't celebrate these holidays. The writer only addressed the "manner" with which these holidays were celebrated.

The only answer I was given over the phone about things like this was that these were conscience matters, entirely up to the individual. Until I started asking, "Would a baptized Witness celebrating Thanksgiving prompt an investivative committee?" Then I didn't get an answer at all. Was this similar to your findings, Listener?

I thought this was sad:

Watchtower 85 4/1 p. 24 Serving God as a Family
Then there was the occasion when a turkey dinner was served in the school cafeteria just before Thanksgiving vacation. Rick, who was in the first grade at the time, refused to eat it. Only after persistent explaining by the teacher that it was not Thanksgiving Day nor a real Thanksgiving dinner, and after a phone call to Carol, did Rick’s conscience allow him to eat that meal.

Was it conscience or fear preventing him from eating? Did his conscience really change?

AuldSoul

67

anyone ever wonder whether IT could be the TRUTH?

by Cordelia in

jw
friends

i cant believe im posting this either!.

but ive got a huge decision to make wont go thru it all again its on my last thread, and i have decided that i am stopping going to the meetings completly (ive been dfed 7 months and because i didnt want to hurt my family even more i continued going to all the meetings and hid my boyfriend, wno was wonderful about it, put a letter of reinstatement in which they refused but relised by the way i paniked when i thought they might reinstate me that it is not what i want!).

i love my bf and want to be with him without any secrecy but i also want my family to accept him and still speak to me but i know that will not happen, so i have two choices either get reinstated and then leave (and risk losing mybf) or tell them now i dont want it and stop the meetings altogether before i go insane.. thing is to be free of the meetings and be with my bf, i will lose my family they are all so strong in the 'truth' they will not have any contact with me and my husband is divorcing me so ill lose finacially and my house and have to share time with my daughter, not to mention all my old friends who are wanting me back, and if i stop now all those months of trying to be reinstated will be wasted id be set right back,.

AuldSoul

((((Cordelia)))) Yes, sweety. I did. I hurt for you so much. I am so sorry.

But (1) there are too many unanswerable questions about too many key doctrines, (2) there are too many inconsistencies on application of doctrine for a religion that claims unity as a hallmark of truth, (3) there is too much readiness to lie, deceive, or deflect any criticism for an organization that says it is spirit-directed, (4) there are too many prophecies that were utterred in Jehovah's name that failed to come true, (5) there is too much deceit about their own history and about their early teachings, and (6) there is too much pressure to avoid looking at any opposing viewpoint.

For me, these add up to one certainty: This organization bears no marks of a religion that God would use to proclaim a message to the world. It bears all the marks of the false religions it judges with damnation from God, except one. Most false religions don't prophesy in God's name. This organization says Joel 2:28, 29 applies to the Faithful and Discreet Slave, and by extension to the Jonadabs. Do you really believe they are right? That this is from God?

If not, then it is a lie.

AuldSoul

39

So NO Russians ever walked on the moon? None?

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

hey guys,.

i was reading popular science and i staggered across a line that suggested that russia had never landed men on the moon.

that struck me as blatantly false, i knew i'd seen footage of cosmonauts on the moon.

AuldSoul

kristyann: His name is "doogie" like "doobie." Which, it's a funny story, actually explains the misspelling .

99

guys i really need your help

by Cordelia in

jw
friends

todaythings have really come to a head and i have a massive decusion to make by 7pm tonight!.

basically i have been dfed since march tryed to get reinstated two weeks ago but they said no, thing is i only did it for my family esp my dad he is not well and i love him to pieces.

but when i got dfed i had a boyfriend and things have been up and down (hes put up with alot) but he is sticking by my side and i love him and want to be open about him and not lie anymore, .

AuldSoul

Cordelia, it seems like for proof he will accept you will need write the Branch. The only way he will believe you is if you show him their reply on their letterhead. You will get the same meatheaded and outrageous reply I got, or a close approximation.

Make him focus on how they try to use "Associate" and register/registration interchangably. An Associate is a member. A subordinate member. They filed an application to Associate. A "registrant" just signs up for something and is not formally attached to the organization in any way.

This NGOs and the United Nations Department of Public Information Brochure on the UN Web site lays out the requirements for being considered as a candidate for Association, the obligations of an Associate (including upholding the Criteria for Association), and the entire involved application and approval process (which takes three to six months).

Here is the first of the Criteria for Association: The NGO must support and respect the principles of the Charter of the UN and have a clear mission statement that is consistent with those principles.

Can a Christian do that and remain neutral? No way.

AuldSoul