Posts by DanTheMan

47

Do You Believe Any of "The Truth"?

by XBEHERE in

jw
friends

i've been lurking for several months, its my first post here.

i am currently an active jw.

i have a very jw family so i have to be careful.

DanTheMan

that savage, predatory, anthropomorphic tribal God

Good description Frank.

All the time we heard about how loving, merciful, long-suffering, etc. Jah is, but supposedly this same God is just itching to destroy the 99.99% of the earth's population that is not JW, including all of my never-JW's family. I never felt any sort of closeness to or love for this Jehovah that the Witnesses worship. I felt so guilty all the time, because I didn't "love Jehovah". The Jehovah of the JW's is largely J. Rutherford's invention. And from what I can gather, Rutherford must have had one hell of a dysfunctional upbringing, I think you could pin on him just about every disorder listed in the diagnostic manual that mental health professionals use. I think his concept of God reflected his bizzarre and often drunken mind.

The one thing that still pushes my "maybe they're right" button is conditions in the world. But, was there ever a time when the world was peaceful and ideal, unlike today? I was watching a PBS documentary about the American Civil War last night. A complete bloodbath, and this was before the supposed last days began. And how about all those crazy invasions and massive human slaughters that happened in China through the ages? And how about all those dreadful diseases that people used to die from that science has since cured and created vaccinations for? Life at this time in history is certainly difficult, but I'm not sure that things were so great in centuries past either. I would not rather live at any other time period than today.

Edited by - dantheman on 26 September 2002 19:29:4

21

Why JR Brown is a Fool

by JT in

my mamma always told me it is better to thought of a fool than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt.

here we are in the serverroom all is well- win2000 is running fine-- so what are the 6 of us doing --we are looking at the words of the wt spokesman.. .

i asked the guys and gals to read the comment above and what they thought about it.. .

DanTheMan

A chance to see JR or TJ being completely humiliated by a cross-examination such as this would be the ultimate. Great post.

20

Pet Peeves

by jgnat in

jw
friends

i am bored today.

want to help me make a list of pet peeves?

any subject.

DanTheMan

Shoppers at the store who converse on their cellphones at top volume.

Another "pet" peeve - people who keep dangerous/unstable dog breeds or other potentially harmful animals as pets - my mind starts to spin out of control when I try to get into the heads of these kind of people, to try to understand their motivations

31

why did you leave?

by showme in

i am not a jw so i don't have any stories about the organization.

but i would love to hear about your reasons for leaving.

DanTheMan

what was the Korah Drama from the 2001 conventions?

The Watchtower is a narcissistic authority cult that tolerates no dissent or questioning by its followers. They have an elaborate system of using scriptures to "prove" that they are God's chosen channel of communication. In WT publications, they continually draw parallels between themselves and the ancient Bible prophets (Moses, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, etc.). They claim to be the modern-day equivalent of these persons (though if you check their list of predictions, this claim becomes laughable).

One of the WT's favorite ways to instill fear and guilt into its followers is to prattle on about the outcome of those who Rebelled Against Jerhover's Arrangement (tm). If you are familiar with the Old Testament, then you know about Korah, Nadab, and Abiram, the three rebels who turned against Moses, (Jerhover's "Annointed") and suffered dire consequences. This bible account is frequently referenced in WT publications, as a warning to those who would Rebel Against Jehovah's Modern Day Organization (tm).

At the 2001 district convention (the last one I attended), the drama performed was, you guessed it, the Korah Nadab and Abiram story. It was sooo heavy-handed, and sooo obviously designed to instill fear, it felt like cold water being splashed in my face. I took it as a veiled threat, and for some reason it made me angry instead of scaring me like it would have done in the past. It was, in many ways, the beginning of the end for me. I stopped attending meetings regularly after that DC, my last meeting was in January 2002. I cried as I drove home from that meeting, because I knew it was over.

22

Hi, I'm Darren from Melbourne, Australia

by Darren in

jw
friends

hi everybody... i stumbled across this site in my travels and thought i'd say hi.

as mentioned in the subject my name is darren and i'm from melbourne australia.

i was born into the witnesses, the perfect little jw child.

DanTheMan

Hi Darren,

Welcome to the board! There are quite a few from Oz that post here.

31

why did you leave?

by showme in

i am not a jw so i don't have any stories about the organization.

but i would love to hear about your reasons for leaving.

DanTheMan

Got tired of elders and others judging my spirituality based on how many hours (or lack thereof) I reported on a time slip every month.

Also, the Korah drama (which I understand they now have on video) that they performed at the 2001 district conventions was utterly ridiculous, the submission and obedience crap got to be too much

26

Witnesses DO NOT Love Each Other

by metatron in

jw
friends

the watchtower claims that witnesses love each other - and that this love marks them.

as being the true religion.. nonsense!.

witnesses love each other?.

DanTheMan

Witnesses love each other?
Then why does the Watchtower have to remind them (again and again):

Geesh, tell me about it bro. The neverending barrage of counsel about how True Christians (tm) should be Conducting Themselves in These Last Days (tm) so as Not to Bring Reproach Upon Jehovah's Organization (tm) got to be almost comical to me, my last couple o' years in the troof.

I remember really cracking up at some of the pics in the mag, showing two sisters standing apart from each other with their arms folded in one pic, then the follow-up pic has them sharing tea and cookies at a perfectly arranged table(with a perfect flower arrangement of course), smiling pleasantly having obviously overcome their differences following the Bible-Based counsel from the slave LOL. Made you realize just how far removed from reality the boys in Brooklyn are.

6

megachurches

by kelsey007 in

jw
friends

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2002-09-22-megachurches-1acover_x.htm

DanTheMan

Here in Columbus Ohio we have the 'World Harvest' church - you may have seen Rod Parsley (the pastor) on TV. It is humongous.

14

The rise and fall of the Jehovah's Witness faith

by kenpodragon in

jw
friends

often in society we let every business and organization have there day.

it seems that we do not want to stifle freedom with endless restrictions, so we let people go to a point that will either bring success or failure.

the thing is, those are not always the results.

DanTheMan

I think that the freedom that people have in the U.S. can be a double-edged sword. The freedom that American citizens have is really unprecedented in history. I think that is why cultish, high-control religions like JW flourish in the U.S. Some people need heavy-handed, authoritarian rulers to surrender their will to. And since the U.S. gov't (in general) is not heavy-handed and authoritarian, people who need this sort of power to dominate their lives must look elsewhere.

Eric Hoffer puts it better than I ever could:

"To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint. They are eager to barter their independence for relief from the burdens of willing, deciding and being responsible for inevitable failure. They willingly abdicate the directing of their lives to those who want to plan, command and shoulder all responsibility."

13

Faithful and discreet

by A Paduan in

.

can someone tell me how the wtbts came up with the idea of pronouncing themselves to be the f & ds?.

paduan

DanTheMan

Matthew 24:45-47, in the New World Translation, reads "Who really is the faithful and discreet slave whom his Master appointed over his domestics, to give them their food at the proper time? Happy is that slave if his Master on arriving finds him doing so. Truly I say to you. He will appoint him over all his belongings."

You will find these verses quoted or cited in WT publications more often than John 3:16 and Matthew 14:6 combined.

The only verse I know of that gets more hits in the WT library is Revelation 21:3,4.

It is funny, they could easily have used a number of Jesus' parables to come up with some looney authority doctrine (how about the man with the 10 minas? Why isn't there a "man with the 10 minas class"?)

"Friends, Jerhover, through his man with the 10 minas class, has continued to provide us with an abundant supply of spiritual food. Are we showing ourselves appreciative?"