i couldn't help myself.
it was so obnoxious what the paragraph was saying about apostates.. so i said that having a difference of opinion is not a problem but really as brought out by thessolonians it is when a person raises themselves up above god to have people follow them instead of god that they are considered bad in god's eyes.. i don't even know if it had anything to do with the question, but i just wanted to say that, lol..
@ Tuesday, I watched the entire discussion. It was very illuminating. I like how Jim brought out that the WBTS was the true apostates.
I am amazed at how long the jws allowed this to go on. I also wondered if the jws knew this was being taped and agreed to it? Jim did say once that the jw should be glad that the camera was not on him.
There can be only one true God. He made that really clear. Cognac's statement about apostates was spot on.
today, god does not speak to his servants directly as he did to job.
spoke directly to job but now through organization.
more logically, jehovah would speak directly; his perfect son, and even imperfect humans nearby, heard gods own voice.
The story of Job is very disturbing, if taken literally. Even a small child can see that there is a problem with Jehovah "allowing" Satan to torture a family while he stands idly by.
I don't know of any other religion that carries on about apostates like the jws. They love to instill that sense of paranoia in their members. Yet they talk in secret words and never address exactly what makes a person an apostate.
Thanks for the review, Blondie. It always reminds me why I left in the first place.
j
our cat carmel has been sick for over a month.
she started puking every morning and about a week later, on barbara's birthday, she puked five time before 8:00 am.
we canceled our plans and took her to the vet, he ran a bunch of tests and sold us some medicine for the puking.
Always a tough decision to make when you love your pet. I always look at the quality of life they have left.
Then, if they are really suffering, I have my husband take them to be put down. I don't have the ability.
Sorry, hope something helps your cat.
i have already lost nearly all my friends....maybe just a handful will even be social........but i so hate to lose my mom and dad and my jw son.....one is df......so he still shows that he loves me.....but damm........i so hate to lose the little bit of fam i have left.......is that normal?......stupid question.....i guess i know from my time here....i so hate these guys that can take them away.....oompa.
i know a bunch of you have done it.....just please help me through it...........
I thought your wife already knew you believed it was all bullsh*t? Does she still want to stay with you? Do you still love your wife? Do you have minor children that will be affected?
Leaving the bogus religion is something only you can decide about. It doesn't have to include leaving your wife and kids unless your wife decides that for you. I thought you wrote that she still adored you?
I'm confused?
i don't get much chance to post on jwd, err, jwn anymore thanks to a major tightening of web policies where i work.. .
this place was a lifesaver for me.
i owe simon and the heavy-lifter posters of yore an enormous debt.. .
Glad things are going according to plan for you. I miss your posts too. I have to say, I would avoid the dunking of the oldest if at all possible. You know your family's situation better than I do though.
what movies have you seen so far this year?
what are you looking forward to seeing?.
i thought star trek was fantastic.
You named the two i have seen. Star Trek was good. Angels and Demons was great. I read the book and was looking forward to it. It was much better than the first one.
when a person no longer cares about the past, they will accept the present without question.
the witnesses we talked with are always interchanging the gb/faithful and discreet slave for example, even if you point out the origins of each.
doesn't matter.
I was conducting 2 bible studies when I started to have doubts. Both were to the point of starting to attend the hall. I could no longer teach just what the little book said, so I started to sabotage the studies.
One person was really good at asking questions about the way the book misused the scriptures. I just quit trying to refute her. Both studies got the message when I started to quit going to the meetings. One study was taken over by another person and the other just quit. The 1st one still is a return visit for the jws, but has quit attending the meetings.
I could no longer teach someone else something that I didn't believe anymore. It helped me to leave pretty quickly. I still believe in a creator and being honest is best for all involved.
The studies are actually set up to keep info from people until they are more involved. It is dishonest.
i remember thinking growing up that i wasn't sure it was the true religion but because my family were so sure of themselves and so many people believed it that i loved and respected it had to of been the truth.. then, i reasoned that because we were the only ones who fulfilled the preaching work that there was no other way any other religion could be the true religion except us.
plus, we used jehovah's name and didn't take it out of the bible but the preaching work was really the main thing that kept me in.... i was always afraid to really study just the bible because i knew a ton of things might not be right.
otherwise, why would so many jws be afraid to run into a greek scholar out in field service.
I think there were always things that I never accepted, but I was convinced this was the best way to raise my kids. Crazy, huh?
It was when my oldest child was dfd that I couldn't buy into things anymore. The elders waited until we were out of town and my son had turned 18 to have a JC with him in our absence. We were informed of the decision when we returned. I was livid.
I couldn't do the shunning thing. I just didn't have it in me. The situation made all those things I didn't really go along with surface in my mind. Then they came out with the fractions doctrine on blood. I couldn't accept it because I worked in the healthcare field and I knew it was nonsense.
The other major change was the 1914 generation change. I had taught too many people that the 1914 generation was the last one before the end.
These changes and the mistreatment of my son gave me permission to get down to the nitty gritty of this religion. I started researching on the internet and had so many aha moments when I found out the real reasons for the decisions the GB made.
I read COc and the jws continued to be inflexible and unloving, especially the elders. I still have feelings for many ones that I knew, but those relationships were lost after fading.
tomorrow, or when ever you read this, june 6th, my jw daughter gets married.
i have thought about it since hearing she was getting married.
but i somehow cannot bring myself to go.
It is situations like this that show just how heartless the jw religion is. They not only break up immediate families, but make sure to carry the damage into succeeding generations.
Jw nonsense has disrupted all the weddings of my kids. Why can they not realize that this is a private, special occasion for families? They have no shame. It is really none of their business.
The one thing I tried to concentrate on is how I could support my son/daughter in the crazy circumstances forced on us by their cruel "rules". They are often totally stressed by the circumstances too. I always felt guilty for bringing them into this crazy religion to begin with.
Your daughter may be behaving in a cruel way, but you are her only father and secretly she may be wishing things were different. Playing whatever part you can to support her may someday pay off in your relationship with her. I know it hurts to be rejected from the proper honer she should be showing her father.
Let her know that her father will always be there for her, no matter what. Hug her and tell her you will always love her. Hopefully, she will come to you when she needs advice or help and the mind control is wearing thin.
did your congregation have any so-called dynasties, or "a succession of rulers who belong to the same family for generations"?.
my last congregation had a family who had or seemed to have complete control over most aspects of congregation operations.
they like to run the show and make it obvious that they are in charge.. then there are those who receive unearned privileges because their father is an elder who fast tracked his son to eldership.. .
I've attended a few different halls and there always seemed to be that one family in each one who liked to control things. I started to look for the controlling family when we would visit a new hall. My husband would give the PT, so we got to visit frequently.
Most of the time, one could pick them out by the end of the meeting. One controlling elder would handle the WT regurgitation and kept making jokes out loud about him and his wife. Wifey would raise her hand and banter back. Some would laugh. I felt nauseated.
This elder's son was made an elder and then PO at a ridiculously young age. There was no way I would have discussed anything personal with a kid that had such limited experience in life.
