governing body member david splane has a new video on tv.jw.org where he talks about all the horrible things committed by martin luther and the protestant reformers.. his conclusion is that there has been no faithful and discreet slave on the earth during the past 1900 years (before 1919 i guess.).
he also says that maybe there were a few anointed on earth, maybe not.. he did add an interesting statement that he doesn't condemn the other churches just for misunderstanding the bible because the society has done that.. another odd point, was that he actually mentioned catholic missionary work in a somewhat positive light, while totally condemning the reformation views on predestination..
WT has always had it both ways. They want the structure and authoritarian nature of the Catholic church's hierarchy, with the bible thumping Fundamentalism of Protestantism. They just adjust the scales from time to time to their most relevant audience.
d4g
if you had to pinpoint the time or experience that finally made you open your eyes, what would it be?.
i think for me it was the time i saw my dad shun his brother who he had not seen in decades just because he was a da'ed jw.
i thought to my self "no way jesus would do that.
Subjectively - When I left my ex-wife and realized it was the best decision ever and should have done it sooner. Somehow the whole of JW rules on sex and marriage became utter nonsense to me.
Objectively - 607/587
d4g
due to some recent developments i find myself in a new place, and at this point i've lost all of my family and fri....oh that's right, i never really had any friends in the organization anyway.
just people that wanted something from me and a few people that i would invite to do things that occasionally said yes.
the recent rejections of me got me thinking, so let's take a rejection inventory.. i had to reject all of the holidays when my parents started studying.. i had to reject any worldly friends that i already had.. even family became rejected, and the new religion had some place in that.. i was rejected in school and bullied all of the time, not just because we were poor and i made good grades, but for jw reasons too.
Good read, dubstepped. I appreciate your thoughts, and can relate. In my case family mattered little, but a few key friends I lost, (one recently), hurt very much. I deal with that pain daily.
Rejection sucks for sure. But I agree that it is the nature of the organization. On a further thought, I believe it is why most JWs don't feel the loss caused by their shunning. They are institutionalized to become used to dealing with rejecting everything, to the point of dehumanization. They live a life of loss.
For that be thankful you are not one of them anymore.
d4g
so, many of y'all know bits and pieces of my story of waking up, but i thought it might be nice to have it all in one place.. i was baptized at 11, auxiliary pioneered every summer, regular pioneer at 17, ministerial servant by 19, then went to bethel for a year.. i always had minor doubts from time to time, but nothing serious.
always dismissed doubts and decided to "just have faith.".
after leaving bethel, i was never really firing on all cylinders "spiritually speaking.
Good story, Cappytan. I enjoyed reading that. I agree that 607/587 was the lynchpin that took all of the support for the rest the doctrine away immediately. No chance of ever going back after learning that.
d4g
i just dont get it.
the gb moved to patterson and are conducting business from there, right?
they are not printing as much literature as they once were and they are still operating walkill for the magazines...er a ....pamphlets.
Brooklyn Heights is prime real estate, on a worldwide scale even. Most of those properties they are selling for dollars on the penny, considering what they paid for them decades ago.
Warwick is barely suburbia in the greater NYC area. Its cheap, and will be worth at least 10x as much in 30 or 40 years. Its all about long term financial planning.
d4g
so this weekend there was a part about not following jesus at a distance.
the speaker made a big point of stating that any baptized jw male who was not either appointed ms/elder, or at the very least "reaching out" actively, was in fact following jesus at a distance.
he said that the only way to live through the big a was to follow jesus closely.
so this weekend there was a part about not following jesus at a distance.
the speaker made a big point of stating that any baptized jw male who was not either appointed ms/elder, or at the very least "reaching out" actively, was in fact following jesus at a distance.
he said that the only way to live through the big a was to follow jesus closely.
Is not the proportion of men to women in the org something like 3.5 to 6.5? With this policy, it seems in the new world this might be something like 1 to 10...Hell, with that ratio, maybe I'll go back!
Just kidding.
d4g
i was thinking that maybe the monthly broadcasts are a occasion for some jw's to wake up.
before those broadcasts they probably imagined that the gobgoverning y members are some very special peopleand that you see in their behavior and words that they are "chosen".
but now all jw's can see them for who they really are: average men, some full of themselves, some ridiculous, some just normal men with nothing special.
FMF - We are far more aware of content with the JW's, the Bible, the Broadcasts than in R&F. They just check out, do their time, look at the pretty lights, then rave about how wonderful the koolaid tastes. You have to pay attention to wake up.
there are a lot of people on this site and others who even though they don't believe anymore still fill the seats at the meetings.. i was just wondering, if they all decided to leave at the same time, how many do you think would leave?
would the numbers drop dramatically?
i would love to see that..
Shunning, (and fear of it), keeps people in. Humans are social creatures and shunning is unnatural treatment that people are instinctively fearful of. Many believers that don't fit into the category of "needing" the religion would stop believing if this threat did not exist.
I count those that "need" the religion as those that are dependent on it for career or existential needs.
d4g
if crisis of conscience is one of the top watchtower doctrine killers, what is the coc of theism?.
i'd like to read a book, or other material that does the best job logically arguing for atheism.. i've not read any darwin, however it is my assumption that his focus is primarily on evolution, is this correct?
if you were to recommend one book or a few pieces of reading material, which do the best job of defending atheism, what would they be?.
Doltologist-
I agree at a practical level, any sky daddy wizard concept falls outside of what we call common sense. My point was, common sense is relative. Until someone learns to think critically, what might be common to us, is not so much to a theist.
In case I was not clear, I understand atheism is not a belief system. I am an atheist myself. I kind of thought that was clear. That said, prior to reading Dawkins' book in 2006, my understanding then was incorrect, just as it was for almost everyone else here at one time. By framing the definition of atheism correctly, this gave me something to build upon over the next 5 years.
I am not here to pat myself on the back. I offer this information as someone with 10 years experience out of the cult to help others who are not as far along.Take what you need, and leave the rest.
d4g
