The Smiths, Heaven knows I'm miserable now.
In my life why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die.
Talking Heads, And She was.
i was listning to a song by ian dury " what a waste" such perfect and apt lyrics to explain my witness life.... anybody got any songs that explain there watchtower existence?.
.
The Smiths, Heaven knows I'm miserable now.
In my life why do I give valuable time
To people who don't care if I live or die.
Talking Heads, And She was.
wanted to say hello to you all.
i am new to the forum and just wanted to introduce myself.
i was raised a witness, never baptized (yay) and am married to a lovely baptized witness of jehovah.. i had been trying to get back into it due to both our families being j dbs but just never could get it into my heart.
Welcome to the forum, glad you found us.
Lisa
it seems like the list of people who are accusing him of rape and sexual assault is growing every day.
i'm skeptical of single accusations but the number of people and the similar stories seem overwhelming now.. it's not a conviction but to the court of public opinion ... guilty?.
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I grew up listening to Bill Cosby records, I always loved his humor (Chicken heart, so funny). Lately, the few times I have heard him speak he seemed more like a grumpy old man. As far as the allegations, it's not looking too good for him. I wondered why these women didn't speak up sooner, but I guess it's hard to make accusations like that against a powerful person, especially if you don't know he attacked others.
You don't see a bunch of people rushing to his defence and saying he couldn't have done it, and his refusal to talk about it seems strange too. My gut says there is something to this.
it's been 12 years since i first read ray franz's books and the scales came off my eyes.
by that time i was in my forties.. since 2002 i went back to school and have worked with 3 very professional organizations.
but my biological clock is ticking away and while my peers are looking forward to retirement, i am only beginning.
Yes, I have those same feelings, by the time I left the Watchtower my health was compromised and I will never get that back. But I try to focus on those things I do have, a loving husband and a comfortable life, and the freedom to pursue my artistic interests. I am also so grateful that I mentally free of the cult.
Just think of all those who are still enslaved, still running the JW treadmill and still feeling guilty for not doing enough, then pat yourself on the back for getting yourself out.
I couldn't see their my Kindle. :(
my mum recently told me that even surgeons won't have blood transfusions, but the common people don't get told this.
i have also seen or heard others say that a bunch of doctors/health officials/surgeons were asked, at some point, if they would accept a blood transfusion and they all said no.
is this true?
Authoritarian regimes absolutely hate capitulating to their opponents (or being percieved as doing so).
Bingo. Also, if they changed their stance now, it will be painfully obvious that the Jehovah's Witnesses who died for lack of a blood transfusion did so for no reason whatsoever, so that will never happen. They would rather have people continue to die than admit they were ever wrong.
It's a tragedy that in 2014 people are still dying based on an irrational fear of transfusions, dating to the time they were first being used and considered dangerous by the ignorant. People still think they are "following their conscience", when they would have followed their doctors advice if the Watchtower hadn't filled their heads with misinformation.
i was thinking of doing a pop-in visit when they're doing their thing(what ever that might be).
to just see what it is that lures and hooks people, like our son.
i was worried there is some sort of subliminal messages in audio or video that start to brain-wash a person.
It's been a long time sincere I left, but I doubt it has changed much. The meetings are excruciatingly boring. They follow a strict pattern. On Sunday, they first sing one of the boring, unsingable "Kingdom melodies", in the usual perfunctory manner, using prerecorded music. This is followed by the public talk. All speakers use society provided outlines, there are only so many, so everyone has probably heard the same talk several times before. Then they have a go at another boring, unsingable song, then the Watchtower study. It's a question and answer type thing, someone reads a paragraph, then the conductor asks the question supplied in the magazine, then someone raises their hand and reads back the very obvious answer they have previously dutifully highlighted in yellow. Then another horrible, unsingable song and finally annother long winded ending prayer, by which point you will be very, very happy it's over. There is no room for personal expressions of faith or any joy or any deviation from the schedule of any kind.
nfl commissioner roger goodell placed minnesota viking's player adrian peterson on indefinite suspension for using extreme measures in disciplining his son using a tree branch switch.. sports illustrated covered details about how the process works with the players union, the player, and the nfl.. www.si.com/nfl/2014/11/17/minnesota-vikings-adrian-peterson-suspended.
i remember vivid scenes in kingdom halls and in the homes of jws who used extreme measures to discipline their children.
a father and assistant p.o.
I think it's a good thing this has been made an issue. Peterson has said this was the way he was raised and he did not know it was wrong. There are probably a lot of parents out there who think this way, now they are at least being exposed to the idea that this is not acceptable in our society, that there are better ways to discipline a child. It's easy to get frustrated and lash out physically, much harder to come up with better solutions, people have to know the better options out there.
Peterson has not lost his job, he is merely been suspended. He will take a financial hit, but it's not like he is going to be living on the streets, as a professional athlete he will still make ungodly sums of money. It's probably more of an issue for him that he is missing the season, plus the damage that has been done to his reputation, but his fans will forgive him and he will come back from this and probably be a better person and a better parent.
Did the NFL go too far? Maybe, but better to err on the side of protecting defenseless children than on the side of wealthy, entitled athletes.
before anyone gives me the "bears/wood" similarities, this is a post based on insidethekh's reply on the mormon v jw thread.
(http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/287545/1/who-is-copying-who-jws-or-mormons) i like to see wt friendly posts on here as some of the wt bashing displays the same logical fallacies as levelled against the wts and it's followers so it's good to consider reasoned debate.. on the one hand i think itkh makes a fair point if you compare the worldwide success of mormons v jws but there is an overall context to the preaching work that is completely ignored by those fully "in" and has been a major factor in my move from being an active witness to one on the cusp of getting out.
from a statistical point of view there are great headline numbers presented by the wts but if you put them in the context of the number of witnesses, conversation ratios, ratio of new witnesses to birth rates, numbers that must be leaving, growth differentials across the globe, penetration in muslim nations and so on then these numbers become meaningless.
The preaching work contributes to the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.—Mark 13:10.
We prove ourselves obedient by participating in the disciple-making activity.—Matt. 28:19, 20
Jehovah wants the wicked to be warned about the consequences of their course.—Ezek. 3:19.
We owe it to people to share the good news with them.—Acts 20:26, 27; Rom. 1:14, 15.
Participating in the preaching work protects us from bloodguilt.—Ezek. 3:18.
Teaching Scriptural truth is a requirement for our own salvation, and it saves others too.—1 Tim. 4:16
Speaking about Jehovah and praising him publicly are important features of our worship.—Heb. 13:15.
We demonstrate our love for Jehovah and Jesus by obediently doing this work.—John 14:15; 1 John 5:3.
They are not doing the work that Jesus said, only the works the Watchtower wants. FAIL
Our ministry helps to counteract the lies that Satan promotes regarding Jehovah.—Isa. 43:10-12; 2 Cor. 4:4.
http://time.com/3583781/jonestown-massacre/.
it was 36 years ago today.. the watchtower has caused far more deaths due to the blood transfusion ban and the suicides from disfellowshipping.
unfortunately, these deaths are mostly invisible to the public, since they didnat occur at once and in one location.. .
My son was born on the seventh of November 1978, Gregor. I remember there was a photo on the front page of Time magazine. My daughter, then three, saw it and I had a lot of explaining to do, she was very observant and had a strong bs detector, she got the whole story out of me. I remember thinking I was glad I wasn't in a cult.
I have never thought about it that way, but yes, they have killed more people than Jonestown.
Sad.