Van Gogh

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Posts by Van Gogh

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  66

  Today at the KH, Hopefully opens my wifes' eyes

  by DaCheech in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the kids were sleeping, and one brother came up to me "is there a microphone on thats picking up some loud noise"?..

  i said "all mikes are off except for the stage".

  he said "there's gotta be something because the noise is annoying!".

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  Van Gogh

  Can we have the vote now?
  I'm all for snoring babies during the meeting - would seem kinda soothing to me (perhaps we could all join them then).
  And no, I don't even have children.
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  23

  tetrapod: a year ago today....

  by tetrapod.sapien in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i joined this board in march of 05, if i recall correctly.

  i had da'd shortly before.. a year ago today, dec 25, 04, was hell for me.

  i was already an atheist, but had not da'd yet.

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  Van Gogh

  
  Dear tetrapod,

  At this life-changing moment for me I can identify very much with the substance of your writing.

  But what impresses me even more than that is your writing ability: it gives me goose pimples - you are a writing talent.

  Write your novel.

  (Tell your editor to leave out the capitals. It adds to your message)
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  20

  seems quiet - is everybody enjoying pagan festivities?

  by stillajwexelder in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it seems quiet on the board -could it be is everybody enjoying pagan festivities and getting a life?

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  Van Gogh

  Satanus,

  Puffing a cigar with some trusted! exjw friends....such a great prospect for the new year!
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  7

  How often is Christ view of headship followed?

  by stillAwitness in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i did go to a wedding last night.

  the talk was painfully boring and same as always.

  seemed to be more directed to the bride at times: .

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  Van Gogh

  PoppyR,

  The emancipated cong members of course laugh at the bOrg rules. They apply whatever suits them and leave out the rest. Sometimes it is called common sense - sometimes it is blatant double standards.

  It is the WEAK ones that get hurt by the system. They take the system seriously. That's the whole point. The "lambs" that remain "silent" get abused.

  Reproach cannot be brought on God's organization. So it isn't that well known what goes on behind closed doors.

  Coming from a more or less abusive elder's home myself, I experienced first hand the mechanism of keeping silent.

  It is hard to believe, I know, but a trusted ex dub from (not from the Netherlands - so untracable) finally confessed to me only yesterday how she/he was raped by an elder 35 years ago after seeking spiritual assistance - after knowing me for 25 years... She/he told me how for years she/he had to deal with him as an elder and his wife.

  She/he only told me after I confessed to her/him yesterday that I had definitely and finally left JW.

  I know, it boggles the mind...
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  50

  Over 160,000 Simply Left The "Truth" Last Year

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  that was the comment that a former elder made at the local meeting today in his comment.

  evidently, he and his wife heard a bethel speaker's comment during his talk say that (i believe the figure was) 167,000 people did not get disfellowshipped but simply left.

  the ex-elder made it a point to say that the elders should be watching to help out the flock before they up and leave.

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  Van Gogh

  Great comments here, especially observador and confession. I agree with you both.
  The "truth" is based on quicksand.
  That's a problem when you're caught lying.
  But whole continents can sink and dissolve in lava only to erupt at the other end as solid rock.
  The cycle is unending.
  There will always be a customer base for a cult.
  

  Van Gogh, of the "167.000 class""

  
  
  
  
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  15

  What were the reasons you would say it was "the truth"?

  by DannyBloem in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a question, because i'm trying to find out how to bring up good arguments to people still in the borg.... a) what were the reasons when you were (or are) still a jw that you would say that "you were in the truth"?.

  b) and what would you say now, that were the reasons that you thought it was the troof?.

  a) 1) the prophecies come truth.

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  Van Gogh

  A) Restoration of the earth, including ending the violation of the ecosystem, resulting in world peace and the righting of all the wrongs and unspeakable injustices committed against all the faceless ones and all those who died in infancy who are all lost in history not to be remembered by anyone. This seemed to make sense to me. Going to heaven never seemed to - and still doesn't - make sense to me. If those guys in Brooklyn managed to figure out what they managed to, somehow, make so many millions of us believe, then they couldn't all be wrong. Besides, they were anointed. This was supposed to be something so evident to them that, surely, they would not all make this all up, especially considering that everybody after 1935 seemed to suddenly believe in having the - in my eyes at least - better option of living on earth. They couldn't all be all wrong either. Now, if those of the FD&S were so thrilled about going to somewhere that seemed so unattractive to me, they surely must have had a good reason for it. Also, I believed that the world was heading for a catastrophe (and still do...). I also believed that, despite the obvious lack of love - in my opinion unavoidable in any hierarchical organization - the fact that they were at least politically neutral and did not serve in the military, was a sure sign that they heeded Christ's foremost command to a level that was IMO realistically attainable. I still believe that someone who serves in the military cannot be a true Christian. I believed that the lack of love was nothing special. I just couldn't understand why they always had to cover up (=lie about) the facts. Biblical Israel wasn't such a pretty picture either - the bible didn't hide this - but despite this they still managed to be anointed/The Chosen. My family was inside since the early forties. When I was a kid in my old cong, I used to call all the older ones "uncle" or "aunt." There seemed to be a special bond. All my early life I heard stories about the beginnings of the troof. All the old timers seemed such sincere and devout God fearing Christians. I still somehow think that most of them really were. Also, over the years I met some really special people. Some are still my most valuable and treasured friends. B) I was brainwashed in a cultish religion that - I realize now - my parents did not survive. Over the years I learned to despise almost everything about the bOrganization. Reading a short and simple analytical expose on how the boys from Brooklyn could never have been the real deal is all that was needed to make a hollow dead tree come crashing down for me. I now realize that there was never a strong healthy tree to begin with. It turned out to have been a house of cards all along...
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  15

  What were the reasons you would say it was "the truth"?

  by DannyBloem in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just a question, because i'm trying to find out how to bring up good arguments to people still in the borg.... a) what were the reasons when you were (or are) still a jw that you would say that "you were in the truth"?.

  b) and what would you say now, that were the reasons that you thought it was the troof?.

  a) 1) the prophecies come truth.

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  Van Gogh

  
  Sorry, Word messes everything up...
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  50

  i am new

  by lunarlara in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i have been studying with the jw for just over 3 years.i have always believed in god and the bible.

  the path my life took ended up with me being a single parent of 4 children.. the jws led me down the path of the "truth".

  my grandmother disowned me and i just couldnt understand why.i was told that satan was lurking round every corner trying to get me away from god.

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  Van Gogh

  Welcome lunarlara!

  Amen to the others.

  Look at it this way:

  You did them a huge favor by letting them in your home all this time so they didn't have to push doorbells outside.

  All the invested "time" and everything else was duly recorded on their time slips.

  That "counts" a lot.

  You say you're "afraid" they will talk you out of it. Think about it.

  Fear of being influenced against your expressed will can't be a good thing. IMO it's a sure sign...
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  22

  money money money

  by PoppyR in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  feeling pretty smug.. a couple of months ago i cancelled my dd to the society.

  i have since been waiting to be struck by lightening, but as that hasn't happened, and i do feel i want to donate something, but wanted this time to think more carefully about it.

  today i decided on my charity and set up a dd.

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  Van Gogh

  geevee,

  Seven months out for you evidently is a long time removed from the insanity that still goes on inside:

  Not appearing at the KH since two weeks + coming memorial, combined with abruptly stopping my DD is tantamount to DA-ing.

  Know what that means when your best friends and your family are all still inside..?

  Besides, the word is already out and the bloodhounds have already picked up my scent: an off-the-cuff remark about the GB last week has already prompted someone to contact his/her PO who has promised that person to contact my PO - a guy who is after my blood anyway and who has proven to be a liar in the past, not hesitating to call the likes of me poison - all for exposing his lies and slander. Of course, I got burned badly then. Until you experience it first hand, you cannot imagine it.

  You just cannot be straight with these guys... you'll only give 'm the satisfaction to cut off your head.
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  30

  What do you believe in now?

  by YoSista in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am discovering a whole new way of life and thinking now that i have left the *truth*.

  part of me still believes in some of the teachings, i just don't agree with the organization, its difficult to find amiddle ground, i just wondered what some of you have decided on, what your beleif system is now?

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  Van Gogh

  
  Welcome yosista and cantgetout, and thanks everybody for some great insights!

  This thread reminds me of Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot" - Godot did't come for us either as Beckett somehow already knew. The bOrg left many of us - including myself - "bewitched, bothered and bewildered" (as the song goes).

  Believe what is true to yourself, the rest is Matrix - except for one thing: listen to Bach, and you'll know there is a God for sure.