Rubber face is a few french fries short of a happy meal, a few sandwiches short of a picnic, a few peas short of a casserole and dumber than a box of rocks.
LisaRose
JoinedPosts by LisaRose
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19
Stephen Lett spouting stupidity
by Watchtower-Free inshort cliphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faru4hjj7rc
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32
Yearbook - will they drop figures that show a decline?
by freddo indo you think the yearbooks will stop showing negative information as the numbers stagnate or even drop?
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LisaRose
I agree with OTWO, they will spin it to give the impression that it means the end is near.
I am reading a book about cognitive dissonance. They have found that the more people have invested their time/money/emotions into a cause the less likely they are to be discouraged by negative information about that cause, in fact it is the reverse, they often become even more convinced.
They gave an example of a woman who predicted the world's end on a particular date. The most faithful went to her house to wait for the end with her. When the world did not end she had a new revelation that their faithfulness caused God to delay the end. Those who waited in their own home eventually drifted away from the group. The most faithful, those who waited with her became even more devoted followers.
Sound familiar? Just like the bible students who believed Christ would return in 1914. When that didnt happen, instead of admitting they backed the wrong cause, many readily accepted the ridiculous "invisible return" explanation. It's just human nature to believe what makes us feel most comfortable, nobody wants to think they were wrong. It happens with cops when they zero in on the wrong suspect. They tend to ignore evidence that exonerated the suspect, sometimes even DNA evidence.
That's why falling numbers will not be a problem for the Watchtower, increases prove God is with them, decreases prove the end is near.
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31
The fade did not work
by BeautifulMind innot long after learning ttatt, my hubby and i decided it would be best for us to fade.
his entire family is in, but not in the same cong.
we made it to the region convention and one sunday meeting after that.
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LisaRose
I have been thinking about this (to fade or not to fade) lately. I think what happens is that, assuming you were a fully believing JW at some point, to understand and believe tatt you must have already made some changes that set you apart from the average JW. It may be subtle at first, little things that happen that make you think differently or open your eyes. Then you learn tatt and that changes you even more, to the point that you are now somewhat of a different person. The person you are now cannot easily sit and listen to what you know is not only false, but designed to keep you enslaved to an organization.
Some people can stay and pretend at this point, but I don't think it's possible for many. You have evolved, those still in did not, and you will continue to evolve, making it harder and harder to fit in. You are a square peg that no longer fits into that round hole. I understand why some might stay for family reasons, but I don't think they truly get what that decision is going to do to them psychologically in the long run. Of course leaving can be extremely difficult as well, but it does allow you to live your life with integrity, and to continue to grow and evolve as a person.
This is just the beginning, so welcome to the rest of your life!
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9
Enjoying autumn
by kaik infor some reason, i love autumn .
i always did as kid.
warm days, and cool nights, changing leaves, sunny days of the indian summer or eastern european equivalent called "grandma summer".
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LisaRose
It's been a beautiful fall where I live, the weather has been perfect. People think we don't have seasons in California, but we do, the days are shorter, the leaves turn color, it's a bit nippy in the morning. After a warmly than usually summer it's nice to have cooler weather, it just about perfect right now.
Halloween is huge in my neighborhood. It has gotten a reputation as the best place to trick or trick, people come here from all over, we got 600 trick or treaters last year, we will spend $60 on candy alone and will probably still run out. We decided to just go with it, so we decorate and wear costumes, last year we did steam punk, this year my husband and I are going to be minions. We just sit our porch and hand out candy all evening, it's so much fun seeing the kids in their costumes.
My husband used to wear a costume I originally made for myself, an over the top flower fairy outfit. After several years of use we retired it, as it was getting worn out and a bit small for both of us, but we have gotten so many requests for it I think I will have to recreate it for next year. It had a huge pink tulle skirt with silk roses inside, a huge floral head piece, a bodice covered in rose with a giant rose in the front, and of course wings. I called it the over fifty fat and flirty flower fairy and it was funny on me, but with my husband's hairy chest and beard and white running shoes it really made people laugh. He even wore it at work, and he works for a very conservative government organization whose name I can't mention. I didn't think he would actually have the guts to do it, but he did and won first place too, beating out Elvis and wonder woman.
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9
TWO WITNESSES IN VITERBO (ITALY)
by Giorgio Cardellini init 'was given to man to govern alone for some time trying any form of self-government, but was not successful, then from 1914 satan has taken control over the nations, but failed, ruined land and forced men at great sacrifice and austerity.. 100 years have passed since 1914, jehovah had given one hour to the nations, the time is up, jesus christ came back at the end of 2013 and his slave was found faithful, jehovah himself has anointed with a baptism in the holy spirit, with oil of gladness more than all of his anointed brothers, he has delivered humanity enslaved, he is the chosen one, the four winds have passed (4 comets in the sky of 2013, ison, lovejoy, linear, encke) the last the saints have been chosen and their number is complete, 144,000, the heavenly tribunal was convened and then satan has been judged and fell (daniel 7:26).
1 corinthians 10:13 - what you had to refine it is perfected, it happened!.
the world has got a new jehovah's prophet like elijah.
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LisaRose
The world was moving and she was right there with it (and she was)
The world was moving she was floating above it (and she was) and she was -
35
Hello from an exmormon
by Cold-Dodger insomeone named john free popped in on one of my posts at exmormon[dot]com and mentioned this website.
i have a lot of questions.
i never knew much about about the jw church.
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LisaRose
Welcome! I know a few ex Mormons, including my daughter-in-law. While the beliefs are different, the culture is very similar. We also used to think the Mormons were weird and couldn't understand how they could believe such far fetched things, lol.
We also were taught that Satan was always trying to deceive us, so we should not trust anything but the organization. Family life was pretty similar, life revolved around meetings and field service. They now have two meetings a week, about two hours each, usually one on Sunday and another on a weeknight, but there used to another one hour meeting in small groups in people's homes. Saturday morning was usually field service. Families were encouraged to study together one night a week. All were required to do field service, at least ten hours were expected to be spent in door to door work a month.
It's like any small closed group of people anywhere, some nice, some not so nice, a few nutters and some real jerks. Meetings are pretty boring, rote question and answer sessions where the answer is given, content of talks (sermons) are from outlines provided by the governing body or leadership. Unity and obedience is strictly enforced. There is little tolerance for individuality or independent thought.
Mormons believe in "milk before meat," which means they will not tell you certain things about their beliefs until after you have progressed another circle in towards the most inner circle.
JWs study for at least six months with interested individuals before baptism. They also don't tell them certain things until they have been properly prepared, as in mind control, some things you don't find out until after you are baptized. They practice disfellowshipping, or shunning, people can be shunned for just about anything that three elders agree on, but they are especially alhard on apostacy or disobedience to authority. It's a very rigid heirarchy. Three elders meet with a person, if they agree they are disfellowshipped, an announcement is made and you will lose all your family and friends overnight, they are not told the reason and you will have no recourse. Shunning is pretty strictly enforced, more so than the Mormons, from what I understand.
As in any religion, it's not all bad, I had many friends that I miss now. There are some biblical principles they teach that are good, honesty, integrity, morality, etc, but you can get that from any religion.
All in all I regret wasting thirty years of my life in this. They constantly make you feel guilty for not doing enough, they discourage higher education (at least Mormons don't do that), I made so many bad decisions. But like any cult, they have you convinced they, and only they have the path to salvation.
If you haven't read this yet I recommend the book Mistakes were made (but not by me), why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisionand and hurtful acts. It explains cognitive dissonance, and why people reject facts when it conflicts with a cherished belief system.
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INSPIRED ERROR: new phrase among JW CO
by wannaexit inthere is no end to their madness.
the co gave a talk on inspired error.
i have never heard of it.
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LisaRose
Stay away from newspapers and news on the internet???? Have they ever done that before? Child abuse cases must be hurting them badly. I think if I was a JW I would be scouring the internet to find out what they were on about. If what is on the news is not true they should be easily able to debunk it, this just make them seem more guilty.
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!
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Doing the Right Thing, Making a Choice (shunning)
by Simon incontinuing a topic that is dear to my heart because of my experience as both a shunner and a shunnee .... some people seem to get very agitated when i talk about the responsibility people have to make the right choices and that despite all the wrongs within the wts, people themselves have a role to play and some personal responsibility for the experience.. notice i said "some" responsibility, not "complete" - this doesn't absolve the wts for the things they do wrong in any way shape or form.
so please don't get argumentative about possible meanings and absolutes - of course the wts has a significant role to play but we need to decide what we're trying to achieve here and why the personal choice is so important.. i'm also not talking about actual crimes that the wts should answer for.
if they cover up child abuse for instance, they absolutely should be reported immediately.
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LisaRose
It's like the people in Natzi Germany who made a defence that they were just doing what they were told. It didn't work for them, it isn't an excuse here. No matter what the Watchtower does, each individual has a responsibility to do what is right. Shunning is really one of the most cruel things you can do to a person, and it certainly isn't needed just because a person made a mistake or simply chose not to practice the Watchtower flavor of Christianity. Many times the reason for shunning a person isn't even known. If you don't know what someone did, what right do you have to judge them? The Watchtower has twisted the scriptures to suit their agenda of maintaining control, if you blindly follow their decisions on shunning you are as guilty as they are.
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Stranger in my own house, Since my wife and i don't talk much anymore nor sleep in the same bed. i feel like a stranger.
by goingthruthemotions inmy wife is shunning me.
she is always in cult mode, we don't talk anymore, we don't sleep in the same bed.
i have been sleeping on the couch.
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LisaRose
Have you considered counseling? If not with the two of you, then by yourself. You need to improve the communication between the two of you. If you love her, then you should fight for your marriage. The bible says that a wife should stay with her unbelieving mate. She can't have it both ways, either she is a good JW and obeys all the scriptures, or she isn't a good JW in which case she has no reason to shun you. Of course you cannot force her to love you, but the way you are right now is no way to live, you both need to figure this out one way or another.
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Double Standards in the JW world
by nevaagain inno other organization has so many written and unwritten rules like the jws.
so it comes to no suprise that there are a lot of double standards.. even though the end is "near", wt is building new and bigger offices.
while the small jw should live in a closet and should make plans to have a bigger house in the new world.
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LisaRose
The Watchtower is the master of the double standard.
We hate child abuse! (but we don't call the authorities unless it's required by law).
A person who sexually abused children would never be appointed an elder! (well, hardly ever, just under certain circumstances, like a whole year passed since he got caught, or we really need elders, or no one found out about it, or....)
We never pass the collection plate, because God loves a cheerful giver! (but we send multiple request for donations in a month and forced congregations to pony up all their cash).
We value honesty in all things, going so far as to disfellowship chronic liars! (but we use 'theocratic warfare' and lie about our history, beliefs and practices).
The United Nations is the scarlet colored beast as spoken of in Revelations, it's existence is an affront to god! (but we secretly joined it, then lied about the reason).
Families are very important to us! (but we break them up with our harsh disfellowshipping policies).
We care about our young people! (But we have the lowest retention rate of any religion).
We don't allow gossip (unless it's done by the elders of course).
Our congregations are a spiritual paradise ! (but don't ask us about the suicides and depression rates).
Jehovah is a happy God! (But he is really, really hard to please, mess up and you die at the big A).
Preaching the good news about God's kingdom is the most important thing we do! (But most of the hours reported are either exaggerated, completely faked or spent on aimless driving around and coffee breaks.