Posts by done4good

42

After you left JWs how did you work out what you believe now

by awol in

jw
friends

i left jws 10 yrs ago and have just considered myself drifted.

never df'd.

could never go back as i personally found it too hard to live up to.

done4good

Hi Awol,

First of all, take a deep breath. You were finally able to get passed the hardset two steps, leaving and LEARNING the wts is false. Many people accomplish the first one, scarce few the second. Before the internet, such information was much harder to come by, so when someone left the org, because of being "burnt out", they blamed it on themselves, "Well, I just couldn't do it", many have said. You are already passed that point, so kudos.

As far as working out a belief system, while not HARDER than either of the two first steps, it does take much LONGER. In the wts, we had a simple answer for everything. In the real world, no such simple answers to life exist. We have to make life meaningful, is basically what I'm trying to get at. Study history, as it pretains to religion, and what you will find, if you dig hard and long enough, is that religion is merely a tool used partially to develop moral codes, and partially to explain the unexplainable. I'm not teTELLING you what to believe, that is something you need to develop for yourself. It is FAR more rewarding that way. Have fun with this, really.

j

113

Question: Demons

by ladybug25 in

growing up, i remember hearing stories from my own parents and others in the congregation about experiences with demons.

sister x wore a t-shirt that she purchased at a second hand store and the demons attached themselves to the shirt and gave her problems.

certain movies and/or cds would give a family problems.

done4good

In reality, of course, demons do not exist. They are simply used, like their "good" counterparts, angels, to "explain" certain phenomena. In modern western society, the number of unexplained phenomena is much lower than in more primitive times and places, which, thankfully dilutes the harm of such beliefs. For example, we now (mostly) understand diseases such as epilepsy and schizophrenia and realise they can be better treated by doctors than priests. The danger arises when someone comes across an unexplained phenomenon, or one they are unfamiliar with - such as sleep paralysis, the likely cause of dido's experiences - and due to religious indoctrination, assumes demons to be the cause. Sometimes that doesn't matter too much, as there is an imaginary cure to go with the imaginary cause of the imaginary affliction. The right incantation to the right deity vanquishes the demons. Sometimes, however, the affects of this absurd belief are not so neutral. People may live in fear for years due to something as mundane as a clanking water pipe, because they have been conditioned to believe they are engaged in a spiritual war with invisible enemies. Or worse, they may avoid treatment for a real medical condition because they - and their loved ones - believe it to be a demon attack. Aren't we advanced enough to throw of the shackles of primitive superstition? There are no invisible people waging war for our souls, no spirits trapped in old houses, no incubi or succubi wanting to breed with us. There is only reality - actual, hard, cold, measurable, understandable, beautiful reality.

Amen!

j

43

The Internet: A greater threat to the WTS than we ever dreamed

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

change "politician" to "watchtower leadership" and "voter" to "jehover's witness".

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20061004/2006-10-04t005304z_01_l03419567_rtridst_0_news-google-politicians-dc.html.

google boss warns politicians about internet power.

done4good

if you look at the world wide rate of publisher growth reported for the past 20 years, it looks consistent in slowly dropping.
I don't see "the internet effect" in the graph as any acceleration while it became popular during that period.

I'm not so sure about that. In the late '80s there were a little over 3,000,000 in the org, by 2002, that number DOUBLED to 6,000,000. That was in a 14 year peiod, or so. In the last 4 years, the org has not seen growth at anything close to that rate. In fact, the growth from 5-6 mil was much slower than the 3-5 between 1988 and 1995, or so.

j

66

WELCOME MY AWESOME FRIEND BODHISATTVA!!!!!

by Good Girl or Bad Girl? in

jw
friends

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/member/24752.ashx.

this is one cool (and hot) chick, y'all.

give her a warm welcome.. luv ya, boddhi, xxoo, gg/bg.

done4good

GO CHIEFS!!!

j

66

WELCOME MY AWESOME FRIEND BODHISATTVA!!!!!

by Good Girl or Bad Girl? in

jw
friends

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/member/24752.ashx.

this is one cool (and hot) chick, y'all.

give her a warm welcome.. luv ya, boddhi, xxoo, gg/bg.

done4good

Welcome Bodhisattva!

I spent some time in the Raytown and Gladstone congs when I lived in the KC area. I know people in Olathe, Bonner Springs, etc.

Is that name a take on Steely Dan song?

j

38

New Urban Legend! Anyone heard about Hormel?

by gaiagirl in

jw
friends

a member of another conservative cult (calls itself a bible fellowship) where i work told me that hormel, the makers of canned chili and other foods, is run by homosexuals, and that i shouldn't buy or eat their products.

i asked how the bedroom practices of the company owners or employees affected the quality of the food?

their reply was that "everything gives off something" and that the food would be tainted by some kind of deviant unnatural vibes because the owners/employees were deviant and following an unnatural lifestyle.

done4good

Thanks, RunningMan, my memory wasn't too far off.

j

32

Cover Letter and Letter of Disassociation.

by AK - Jeff in

i am forced to either accept df'ing without any defense [i clearly have none against charges of apostasy], or to at least 'speak my mind' one last time as i exit, with a hope of perhaps helping others to 'wake up'.. to that end - i have elected to send a letter of da to the elders - but more importantly - a copy of it, with a cover letter, to several families in the congregation.

most of these things never have a positive result, i know.

but at least i have attempted in this way to give a little defense for my position.

done4good

Good letter, Jeff. If, for no other reason, it is good to at least set matters straight with your friends before any announcement is made. While I too, have decided to just "let sleeping dogs lie", IF it comes down to the same situation you found yourself in with the elders, I'm going to have to do the same thing.

j

18

Is the WTS changing positions on the croos vs. stake?

by whyizit in

jw
friends

my husband was listening to a radio station the other day and said there was news that the wts has decided that jesus dying on a cross rather than a stake may not be as far-fetched as they once thought.. have any of you heard this?

i have been cruising the threads to see if there was already one on this subject.

if there is, point me to it!

done4good

Haven't seen any changes in the literature. I always felt that it really doesn't matter. Who cares if it had a crossbar on it or not? Doesn't change anything important. It is the society making a mountain out of a molehill as usual to be different from other religions.

Even when I was a jw, this was always something I put into the "It Just Doesn't Matter" category. During Rutherford's day, he did everything possible to separate his religion from everyone else's. Hell, he didn't even call it a RELIGION.

j

44

The JWs still blind to the implications of the 1995 generation change

by greendawn in

in 1995 the wts as time finally caught up with them, they had to yield to the inevitable and admit that its hitherto interpretation of the so called 1914 last generation was erroneous.

to all intents and purposes the end was indefinitely posrponed it could be centuries away according to the new explanation.

yet the r&f do not seem to realise these implications and are apparently suffering from collective blindness they still believe the end is as near as it was before 1995, just round the corner.

done4good

I really don't get how it was just accepted basically without question, and I am included in that group.

Me too, Warlock. I knew many who were very troubled by the change at the time, (none that I can think of actually left). As for myself, it didn't seem to bother me that much, then. I guess timimg had something to do with it. When I was baptized in '88, I had a hard time with the whole 70 or 80 year thing, because we were already 74 years into this, and I somehow didn't see the big A happening by 1994. Also, it seemed somewhat like date fixing, (like 1975, etc), as if the system MUST end by the 80 year timeframe. So, I guess, when 1995 came around, (81 years), I simply assumed the change made sense.

What DIDN'T make sense, was the EXPLAINATION of what "generation" now meant. To this day, I still cannot explain the current understanding. From what I can tell, it somehow says, "this generation, (the one that sees the events of the last days), will not end until Armeggedon comes", that seems like a very weak explaination to me, but in fact that's all it seems to say. There is no more significance to the term "generation". It is effectively meaningless by the current definition. Very obvious to me now, btw.

j

38

New Urban Legend! Anyone heard about Hormel?

by gaiagirl in

jw
friends

a member of another conservative cult (calls itself a bible fellowship) where i work told me that hormel, the makers of canned chili and other foods, is run by homosexuals, and that i shouldn't buy or eat their products.

i asked how the bedroom practices of the company owners or employees affected the quality of the food?

their reply was that "everything gives off something" and that the food would be tainted by some kind of deviant unnatural vibes because the owners/employees were deviant and following an unnatural lifestyle.

done4good

This whole rumour reminds me of the story about Proctor and Gamble some years back.

I somehow remember something about that. Anyone care to elaboate what it was about? My memory it sketchy on this, but I seem to remember it having to do with a "Satanic" symbol used in thier logo or something.

j