Posts by Dawn

if we would now live in the time of ancient israel and if we would want to adore god in the correct way then we would have to be part of the choosen people of israel.

adapt to its laws and customs, etc.

Dawn

My response to the JW who uses that argument on me now:

Me: "So - what do I need to do to be saved?

Them: a whole list of things that "God Requires"

Me: You know, Nicodemus asked Jesus the same thing and he did'nt say any of that - his response to Nicodemus is that you must be "born again" - but you didn't mention that - why?

Them: a long explanation that only the 144,000 are "born again" and the rest of us can only be saved if we stick with the 144,000

Me: "so - someone already asked Jesus this question and he answered it. But now you are telling me not to listen to Jesus - I should listen to you instead?"

No thanks!

54

Another survey from Lee

by Lady Lee in

jw
friends

reading simon's post about how things used to be i started thinking about how the internet has changed things.

many believe the internet and the freedom of information it contains will be the undoing of the wts.. when i was a jw, there were a few dfings but maybe one a year or even less.

people drifted away but we really didn't pay a lot of attention unless it was a close friend.. in here we see new people coming in all the time.

Dawn

What year did you leave? 1989
How old were you when you left? 24
Did the internet have anything to do with your decision to leave? No
If you left before you got on the internet what reading did you do about the WTS or cults that helped you make your decision? The Bible - and some other non-jw christian books
What was the one most important reason that helped you decide to leave (even if the decision was made for you through a DFing). I felt like I was living in a prison - I wanted freedom - and I did not want to break up with my "wordly" boyfriend to stay "in"
If you left and still thought it was "the truth" what helped you change your mind? 2 things: reading Crisis of Conscience, and reading the Bible (without the "help" of the WTBS)

3

i was reading an earlier post from people who are still jw's and are basically trapped in their life as they have it now; it got my own mind turning and finding out the exact moment when i decided i was leaving.

quick backstory: mom is a jw, dad is a well known apostate (when i was an adolecent and questioning things he asked me if i wanted to speak to ray franz, i kid not he had his number), lucky me my sister and i were given into my mother's custody.

so in my musings i realized my whole life was somewhat of a dichotomy, i remember my first christmas going to my dad's house and on my christmas list were bible toys of david, and samson.

Dawn

BTW, I grew my hair long too, and I have a horrible cursing habit :)

I had long hair when I was in......and cursed now that I'm out I cut my hair and cleaned up my mouth.....oh wait.......that's because I had kids, not becuase I left the JW's........darn little munchkins....have to watch everything you say or they repeat it at the grochery store

5

Sister Doreen and the Real-Life Noah's Ark Survivors

by Duncan in

jw
friends

one of the things that has interested me over the many years since i?ve been out of the watchtower is the mindset of the ?intelligent?

christian fundamentalist.

specifically, i mean the educated type, the sort who really ought to have enough educated reasoning skill and basic native brain-power to see the hopelessness of the fundie position on all that early-genesis mythical stuff, but who doggedly sticks to it (or pretends to in public) as if it were a respectable, logical scientific point of view, as if it really were gospel.

Dawn

Great post Duncan! I struggled with many of the same questions - especially once I had studied anthropology and such in college. I am familiar with the Gallapagos Isl - I did a research paper on it for environmental science.

My struggle was because at some level I really do believe in God and in Jesus. Yet, I also believe that the Genesis account simply can not be taken literally - which then creates a problem for the gospels that draw the lineage of Jesus from a large portion of Genesis.

UNLESS......as I have come to accept....the Old Testament is really just a history of the Jewish nation. That perhaps many of the stories there are an attempt for these men of old to explain their existence and the world around them. And yet - there is also a message within the stories to us. I have also come to accept that, although we have reached a great level of understanding in the science relm - there is much that we do not yet know or understand. So somewhere in the middle - between the stories of old - and our understanding today - somewhere out there is the real truth - and once we know it, we will probably realize that both parties (men of old and modern science) had a part of the big picture.

Have you ever heard the parable of the 3 blind men and the elephant? One blind man, holding onto the trunk describes the elephant by it's trunk, the second blind man, feeling only the leg, describes an elephant by it's leg, and the third blind man feeling only the tail, describes the elephant by it's tail. Each man had an accurate description of the portion they had discovered - but each description of the elephant was contradictory because none of the blind men had experienced the elephant as a "whole".

I refuse to close my eyes to scientific evidence - I did that for far too long as a JW! But I also refuse to accept that we are infallibile in our understanding of the universe...we are still learning. I feel comfortable here - God is a big part of my life, but I don't feel that I have to live in a box avoiding all other information in order to remain in a relationship with God and Jesus. I don't believe God wants us to do that either.

The "truth" whatever it is will only be found if it is searched for. So hiding from information is definately the wrong direction to take.

5

X-JW Meet-up

by Dawn in

jw
friends

.

hey all...... if anyone here lives in the vicinity of tri-cities, wa and would like to attend an x-jw meet-up this month send me a personal message

Dawn

oh...suprise guest?! That would be fun.

We actually have about 5-6 people here and have organized a time/place for our meeting this month - but we didn't use the x-jw meetup on-line as we didn't want to advertise...like I said.....some still have family "in". But one of the members suggested posting a quick blurb here in case other posters from this area want to meet with us.

34

What's So Wrong With Telephone Sex?......Young People Ask....

by minimus in

jw
friends

the feb. 22, 2004 awake has this article.

here's some comments that i thought you'd appreciate.

"telephone sex, however, promotes coldness and anonymity...... telephone sex is one of the means that satan the devil is using to corrupt young ones today.....if you are currently engaging in telephone sex, why not get some help?

Dawn

and the elder's advice would be....(1) study more, (2) get to the meetings regularly, and (3) be more active in service. In other words - do more more more more more......and everything will be oookkkaaayyy...

By the way - I was watching a techy show the other night (I'm a computer nerd) - did you know that the adult film industry (politically correct term for porno shows) has developed an interactive DVD - you tell the girl what you want her to do - and she responds to voice commands. Interesting.............I wonder if I could use that same technology on my husband?