DanTheMan

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Posts by DanTheMan

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  13

  realization

  by musky in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just realized this today.

  i started doubting the witnesses teachings about 16 years ago.

  being raised a witness made it difficult to believe that this was not the truth.

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  DanTheMan

  The WT ascribes more power to Satan than they do Jehovah and Jesus. It is a fear tactic. Do some research! If it's the truth, it would withstand scrutiny, right?
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  25

  Out with a bang....plus Elders (Gestapo) visit....

  by TheApostleAK in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just da'd myself the other day...announcement tonight.. -------------------------------.

  alan xxxxxxxxxx.

  xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.

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  DanTheMan

  Wow, way to go mate! I wish you happiness in your newfound freedom.
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  13

  Anyone here from Central Ohio?

  by Aunty in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm now in ca, but grew up in central ohio.

  wanted to see if there's anyone i know on this board.

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  DanTheMan

  I currently live in Reynoldsburg, I just closed on a house in C-bus and am moving in a couple of weeks. I went to the Gahanna (Gehenna) congregation for a few years, also attended Canal Winchester & Reynoldsburg. I don't know if I ever knew any dubs from the Delaware area.
  Borgfree, I sure would like to know some of the ex's in C-bus. I'm in need of some local support. Shoot me an email if you don't mind.
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  14

  Obessed with sex?

  by DB in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  now that i have your attention....really, this is about sex.. this week's issue of newsweek contains an interesting commentary by anna quinlan, found on the last page, that deals with the catholic church's priestly sex scandal and how, for so many years, repressive teachings by the church in matters realting to human sexuality have been very counter-productive and have missed the mark badly while the church at the same time tried to cover-up cases of pedophilia among priests.

  examples given include teachings like no divorce (while people suffer in bad marriages), no birth control (thus teaching that sex is not be engaged in simply for pleasure but with the purpose of procreation), and so on.

  and yet in the meantime, they obviously missed the boat on the whole problem of sex abuse within their own priesthood.. while jw teachings are not as repressive, at times i have noticed a seeming obsession, if one might call it that, among some jws in matters of a sexual nature.

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  DanTheMan

  In another post i wrote of how it was only after leaving the borg that my craving for internet and other porn subsided. I'm not an eloquent enough writer to give a detailed, thought provoking explanation as to why, but I sure don't think it is a coincidence. JW's, from the top down, in general only reach an immature level of maturity, if you will.
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  8

  I don't wanna buy 2 books

  by DanTheMan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  crisis of conscience, or in search of christian freedom - which do you recommend if i was only to buy one of the two?

  thanks

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  DanTheMan

  Crisis of Conscience, or In Search of Christian Freedom - which do you recommend if I was only to buy one of the two? THANKS
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  20

  My girlfr and I went to the Assembly Hall today

  by coult9056 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  5 years removed from being inside the indianapolis assembly hall of jehovah's witnesses, 4 years from attending a meeting at the kingdom hall, this morning my girlfriend and i walked into the assembly hall.

  we were taking an early morning walk in our jogging clothes in downtown indy.

  she asked if there was anywhere i'd like to go.

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  DanTheMan

  Thanks for that experience. Gives me confidence that the pain I'm going through right now as a recent disassociate will eventually subside. One website stated that typical recovery for an ex-dub is 1-5 years. I sure can't imagine walking up to an assembly hall right now. I drove past a KH the other day, I couldn't bear to look at it.
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  14

  Traits of Abusive Churches and Toxic Faith Systems

  by Richie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  an exhaustive study has been done on the behavior of cult groups - in several books about "cults", they enumerated 21 major points where you can identify the traits of a cult-like organization.

  bear in mind that the authors did not target jehovah's witnesses as a specific group at all, which made it all the more frightening!

  but this dissertation generalized all cult-groups existing in the world.... 1. control-oriented, arrogantly assertive, power-posturing leadership.. 2. authoritarian and legalistic with dictatorial, dogmatic doctrines that are proclaimed to be "the truth".. 3. claims of being the channel of communication between god and humankind; having unique knowledge that makes them special.

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  DanTheMan

  Could the borg more closely resemble these characteristics? Methinks not!
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  1

  John 3:16 and Matthew 24:45

  by DanTheMan in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i recently did a search of all wt publications on my 1995 wt cd-rom for these two scriptures.

  which did you think had more hits?

  1082 for matthew 24:45 vs. 723 for john 3:16. it just struck me funny how the wt puts way more emphasis on their "authority" scripture than they do the scripture that clearly should be the most important scripture of all for christians.

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  DanTheMan

  I recently did a search of all WT publications on my 1995 WT CD-Rom for these two scriptures. Which did you think had more hits? 1082 for Matthew 24:45 vs. 723 for John 3:16. It just struck me funny how the WT puts way more emphasis on their "authority" scripture than they do the scripture that clearly should be the most important scripture of all for Christians. I imagine if I had a more recent CD-Rom, the discrepancy would be even worse.
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  3

  dantheman....i posted this elsewhere recently ....

  by lostmyself in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  but conscience hit hard with me..... and things didn't work out and i went to the elders to tell them of how i felt.... and what i did..... to be honest they were really great.... and have been.

  i don't know.... don't really care to think about it at the moment.

  take care all.. love me.

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  DanTheMan

  I feel so much for what you are going through. The WT has an answer for everything, and life as a Witness can be very comfortable, until you really start to ponder the teachings and start to wonder if everything in the org is as A-OK as they would want you to believe. It is a shame that leaving the org is such a big hairy deal. The whole shunning thing is so extreme and unloving, and completely contrary to the scriptures.

  As for me, right now I'm just trying to take things a day at a time. Looking for a big huge answer to everything was what got me sucked into the org in the first place. Fear of Armageddon kept me in long after I had ceased to be a JW in my heart. My honeymoon was very short, it was only a few months after I was baptized (1993) that I really started seeing some things that made me go "hmmm..."

  I appreciate the fact that you've been able to be so candid with the elders and your JW friends. It wasn't quite like that with me, when they saw that I was seriously wavering, I was pretty much shunned at that point. The last elder I talked to, a guy I really like who I think has some doubts of his own (but hell, he's put such a huge time investment into the org, he probably can't imagine ever leaving), he didn't seem to disagree too much with the frustrations I was sharing with him. Those frustrations are too numerous to mention, everything from time collection (bizarre) to the memorial (more bizarre) and everything in between, including doctrinal issues. One scripture kept coming to mind - Jesus said that his yoke was kindly and his load was light, and that he would refresh. I found the yoke of being a JW to be anything but kindly, light, or refreshing. A 20-30 hour per week religion is too much. I could never keep up. I blamed myself and felt guilty for this, but I've now come to realize that the WT expectations are not realistic.

  BTW, do we know each other? Are you in central Ohio?

  You sound like a searching, deep thinking person. Another reason I left the org is that it seemed to me that JW's progress spiritually only to a point. And it's all about what you don't do. I never felt like I had a relationship with God when I was in the org, because a big part of the WT mentality is that people are grossly sinful and bad, that we fall so short of Jehovah's standards, that we constantly need to be in fear of displeasing him, etc, and without big Mama Org we are as good as dead. I came to hate that. I never felt like I measured up. It's hard for me to quantify or explain this in-depth, I think some of what is on other websites explain this better.

  Anyways, be true to yourself. When I was going through my disassociation, I spoke for several hours with a professional counselor who is an ex-dub. Call 1-800-Why-1914 and if you don't get Marilyn, leave a message and she will call you back. She helped me out a lot. The org villifies former JW's by resorting to name-calling and other tactics. These characterizations are unwarranted, you will find.
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  19

  Could humans live forever on Earth?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  could humans live forever on earth?.

  since i was born i believed it was my destiny to live forever in a paradise on earth.. now that dream has been put aside, i question the whole concept of an everlasting earth.. of course scientists have long pointed out that the earth does not have an infinite life span.

  and even if it did there are other factors to consider.

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  DanTheMan

  The 'paradise' message really wasn't what attracted me to the dubs. I never really believed it in my heart. Seems like pure fantasy. I'm not sure what to make of the creation account with Adam and Eve, though.