alanv

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Posts by alanv

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  26

  canada's "zone visit"

  by agent zero in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ...the whole of canada hooked up by phone.. no big announcement that it was all a scam, no cancellation of the field service arrangement, just a praise of the new printing press and some regular drab.

  what a waste of my saturday evening..

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  alanv

  I am from the U K and have no idea what you are talking about. Can you explain?
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  13

  Tribute to my JW mother.

  by Aussie Oz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  having read a lot of threads on how difficult it can be to deal with parents who cannot understand why a child leaves the jw's etc, i decided to post about my mother.... mum joined the jw's in the early 70's.

  she had 3 children, about 8,10 and 12. after divorce and remarriage she had two more (twins) when i was 15ish.

  we three first children all left home, older brother d/f first, younger sister d/a years later and i left my wife and was d/f too.

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  alanv

  You're mum sounds a great woman, she realizes I think that she may or may not be right in what she believes. There are others like her. My mother in law never said anything negative to me when I faded. Unfortunately they are not in the majority. Most take the hard line the society preaches and cut themselves off from the one leaving.
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  24

  So.....do you or don't you want them to come after you?

  by Quillsky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've noticed an interesting dichotomy in these discussions.

  as a starting point, i understand that we are all different --- there is no "we" here except that we have all been, or been involved with, jw's.

  but this is interesting..... some people complain about being "hounded" by elders and shepherding calls and previous "friends" and so on.

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  alanv

  There is nothing more I would like than to be visited by an elder. Trouble is when I tell him how I feel about things now I would leave myself open to disfellowshipping. I think this is true of many that have faded. We have all learnt so much abour the org. since leaving it would be really good to tell the elders those things. But as I say we can't. They have us over a barrell as it were. So all we can do is help people anonymously, or at least away from the prying eyes of the elders.
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  18

  Please explain the point of being Good?

  by Brocephus in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i never understood the point of being good and righteous if the only punishment for not doing so was "nothing" i would die and nothing would happen.

  just nothing, no hell, no pain, no regret... just nothing.. on the other hand if i am good.... i have to deal with the jw's and their rules and boring meetings forever!!!

  no worldly girls to sneak around with on saturday night.. no keg parties to sneak off too on friday?....

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  alanv

  It depends on what is meant by good. There are many things the society disapprove of which do nobody any harm. So we could reason that is perfectly all right. Other 'bad things as Terry says will hurt people so most people would call that bad.

  The old adage to do unto others as you wish them to do to you is a pretty good benchmark.

  The reason JWs try and be good is because the carrot is living forever in a paradise earth. If that were really true it would be well worth living a 'good and righteous' life. Unfortunately it is not, so we have to set our own standards of what we feel is right or wrong
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  38

  How Did YOU Finally Leave The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was it a long process?.

  is it still ongoing?.

  did you have a long range plan?.

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  alanv

  Thinking back, I didn't really give it a lot of thought or the possable consequencies. I had gradually realized that so many things simply did not make sense. I was a mini. servant at the time and I remember 2 elders coming round and more or less saying if I don't have and report a bible study with my son then I would be taken off as a mini servant.

  I just thought how shallow these people are. From then on I just did less and less until I completely stopped going to meetings and on the doors. My wife was upset but was o k about it. All her family were in so it was difficult but I just new it was all wrong.

  Since then my wife and all her family have died and I am still around. A bit ironic really considering they were all expecting to live forever.
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  7

  A Little Light is a Little Dark.

  by jwfaith33 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the watchtower society claims that all their changed beliefs have scriptural backing since the path of the righteous one is like a bright light that gets lighter and lighter until the day dawns.

  so gods people today cannot be expected to have the correct understanding on the scriptures.

  of course the watchtower society wont use the word correct.

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  alanv

  I think they would say the imformation we have from the first century is in the bible, which was written by men who were inspired by God, to right what they did.

  The governing body today do not claim to be inspired like those early christians so they will make some mistakes.
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  6

  The Governing Body is Powerless (Without Comradeship)

  by acolytes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the governing body is powerless (without comradeship) and comradeship is one of the great needs for people.. the price for this companionship is a persons individuality, as individual love is exchanged for communal individuality and communal love.. because of the humun need for comradeship the governing body can teach whatever they like and demand what ever they like from the masses.. iam glad i exchanged comradeship for an individual life and freedom .. acolytes..

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  alanv

  I think you're right acolytes. I'm sure the reason I hung around so long was because of the great social life. Always someone to go around with. Friends who agreed with practically all you said which always makes us feel good.

  Much harder in the real world but at least you know they are genuine friends, and won't drop you as a friend the moment you decide to disagree with something in their religon
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  2

  The view on abortion, website article

  by Lekore in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just for fun i decided to have a quick look on the wt website and the first article was of abortion and why it is wrong... http://www.watchtower.org/e/200906/article_01.htm.

  what really suprised me is the lack of any scriptual support that the religion used here, normally persuasive arguments are flooded with verses and religious examples.

  linked with this, i think it's interesting that so many "studies" here are used to support accounts of mental trauma from abortion when i was under the impression that the wto was far from scientific.

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  alanv

  There is a Question from readers about abortion in the 15th March 1975 Watchtower pages 191-192. In it they cite Exodus 21:22-25 which implies if you take a life even of an unborn child then the punishment is death.
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  60

  I just got reinstated!

  by maryacclaim in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  alanv

  I can only imagine you got reinstated so you are able to speak with friends and family again. If you still regard the WT organisation as false then you are now in a position where you can gradually fade away. This is by far the best way if you can do it successfully. I would be interested to here your story
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  12

  Awake! A simple way to show the flip-flopping....

  by Quillsky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this was the stated purpose of awake!

  before the generation-change of 1995..... why awake!

  awake!

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  alanv

  Thanks Quillsky, I think you realize that this has been dealt with before but it may well be that there are many new to this board that haven't seen it, and it is always good to have a clear record of something that can be searched for at a later date.