i will not be able to post this until the evening of 8-20. i worked on 8-27 by mistake and will be out of town until sunday evening.
keep free from murmurings .
"--philippians 2:14 .
Thank you so much for another excellent commentry, It is quite amazing how arrogantly they can say the next article is about murmuring in a more serious way about the earthly part of God's organisation - here we go this is the real reason for the article!
CS 101
in my case, i never did much research or read alot of apostate literature to get out of the jw religion.
all i looked at was their heart and how they treated me.
that alone spoke for itself..
It took me a good while before I allowed myself to do proper research, I had already left and the reason was I became so unhappy in it, I realised if there was a paradise (something I could never see in the Bible) I would never make it, and with a heavy heart full of guilt I left. I made sense of the way I felt and the things I didnt agree with by doing the research.
CS 101
will you react with prejudice when faced with "absolute truth?
sometimes, an irrefutable "truth" can be spoken.
and yet, this statement or fact of "truth" can be glossed over or dismissed or not recognized by the community at large, because of preconceived ideas taught us and engrained in us, from our previous upbringing or training.
This doesn't sound like an apologist, rather someone who respects the Bible, afterall he is saying that the WTS have got the woman mentioned in Genesis as the heavenly organisation (dont they love to promote organisations!) where as this person is saying it refers to Eve and her offspring - I actually found it to be quite an enjoyable read. Although I place no faith in the Bible I still find it of interest considering being involved in the witnesses for so long!
CS 101
i'm brand new here but have been reading for months.
my sincere thanks to those who have come before me, shown me that i'm not alone, that i'm not nuts and not a loser.
i was raised a hoho, pioneered my best years away, i married a nice brother, my dad was an elder, one or of both my parents have been pioneers for 30 years+, we hosted bethel speakers and gb members in our home, my parents have had numerous circuit ass.
Hi catfish!
Enjoyed reading your post, I can hear your anger, many of us experience that feeling, that you wasted so much of your life - made choices based on human thinking purported to have been gods words - the injustice of being shunned - learning the real truth about it. Its part of the long process to recovery, i've had times where the anger leaves me and I think i've turned a corner, only for something to happen and more of it surfaces. As far a family are concerned, you have to try and put yourself back to where you were once like them to understand it, and although it is so clear to you now, they are still so far removed from seeing whats right under their noses - all they have to do is read the Bible, and yet the constant 'spiritual food' they take in clouds that out. I can only think of one analogy to that discription of spiritual food and thats supersize me, the documentary about eating junk food for an extended period, and how bad it was.
CS 101
on the watchtower official web site they still hold to the doctrine that "some of those alive in 1914 will be alive when the end comes" or something to that effect, which flies in the face of the 1995 wt article that speaks of "generation" as being something different.. i brought this up to a witness and she said "no way.
the society wouldn't say that".
well...they did, but what really is the current stance on this?
I am amazed to go to their site and see this old light being given out as truth!!! What a dumbass organisation! I can remember saying to one Elder how we can only go back so far on the cd rom, saying they dont want us to look too far back - and I was completely nieve about what was really in all that literature of the past that our 'generation' didnt get to see. It really does show that the Society is more important than the truth, otherwise how come the elderly ones that have seen so many changes keep going - sure there are loads of peripheral reasons, but still if you base your whole life and future on this, it should be so obviously a sham, unfortunately when all you take in is propaganda, reasoning ability outside of the walls becomes imposible
CS 101
i'd like to hear your thoughts on the following.. the thought of da'ing pops up in my mind every now and again.
at the moment i don't associate with any witnesses.
i do walk into them occassionally, but most of them (from different congregations) don't seem to be aware of the fact that i haven't been attending meetings for over a year now.
Hi there,
A difficult choice to make in some ways, I personally now would prefer to DA, to actually say out right the reasons why and so forth. At the time of my leaving I felt this would be playing by their rules, but now I see it as a way to make a clean break from a lying organisation. I wasnt in full possesion of the facts back then, I just knew there were things I didnt agree with, that seemed wrong as far as the bible was concerned, but I really knew nothing about how much BS there was.
You said you were happy with a quiet life at the moment, maybe your time hasnt come to stir things up yet? Once you've done it there is no taking it back really. But as you say its much more preferable to being DF, is that perhaps an iminent possibility? That could speed up your choice perhaps?
Whatever you do you wont be judged, just accepted. Good luck
CS 101
i got this from the bruno kirby topic.. who is your favorite character actor?
one of my favorites is david morse.. i love him in everything he does.
good guys, bad guys, he's awesome in every one of his roles.. josie
Patrick Stewart
CS 101
i do.... when i was young my mom kept us from speaking to my non witness dad about anything that might upset him .we also could not openly share our problems of being witnesses at school, like the ridicule we endured for not saying the pledge or celebrating holidays .
we had to say we were happy not having birthday parties even if that really was not true .
my husband was raised in an abusive household and must have learned some of those same lessons .
I think it was two things - the emotional growing up after coming out of the dubs and having a friend who wouldn't let me go quiet, she made me talk and would sit there and wait for me to do so. I respected her enough to allow that to happen. So maybe you can learn ways of asking questions and drawing your husband out?
CS 101
i swear my mother used to keep better track of my bladder than i did.
she'd sit me down occasionally for talks such as "i noticed you've been going to the bathroom a lot during the meetings lately maybe we need to cut down on what you drink on meeting nights" etc.
others would go 2 or 3 times a meeting and if i went twice a week i'd get a talk about it!
Very funny read! I feel sorry for the kids at meetings, there is usually absolutely nothing on the program remotely for them and yet they are forced to sit and listen, dont go to the loo, etc etc.
I can remember being at one sunday meeting with a hangover, I simply had to go to the loo to splash cold water on my face to keep the nauseous feeling at bay.
As for people milling about, many girls would come in clearly with renewed makeup, others would take it water from the kitchen we had, presumably so they could go for a toilet break later on! Elders would wander around, even pretending to check outside for security's sake! I actually do remember occasions where I had genuine need for a loo break but feeling guilty and who's going to see me and holding it, how pathetically micromanaged we were - no wonder I eventually got so fed up I left.
CS 101
i was reading "crises of conscience" and came to a part that described the governing body meetings and how some of the gb were asleep and not realy paying attention to the subject at hand but raised their hands at the end of the meeting just to agree with the new resolution despite how it may affect the bro's and sis of the cong.
it reminded me how elders critiqueing my talks and telling me i had to work on a certain point like gestures when i worked damn hard to get checked good on that point and realizing that they weren't paying attention to my talk at all.
other times i was marked good on some point that i didn't even bother to read up on in the tmsgb.
One of the hardest things I had to do was talks. Ok they are only 5 mins long, but often times i'd really struggle with the preparation and waste time reseaching and coming up with lots of irrelevant material (ok now its all irrelevant!) to sift through. And then I found it quite an ordeal to stand up there and give the talk (again i've played in bands live, and although you get nervous, you also get a buzz). It was for me another area that the 'Faithful Slave' had come up with, and we were strongly encouraged to be a part of, and yet their only authority was that it was a loving provision from Jehovah (GB) . As for the Elders that took the school, we had one that tended to praise your efforts - and I found myself wanting to do my best, and then another that always found something for you to work on, which got my back up. In the end i'd say to him 'thats your oppinion'.
CS 101
ps. I remember the falling asleep reference in CoC
