Posts by LisaRose

50

An Atheist Visits A Kingdom Hall

by Bangalore in

jw
friends

http://nerdinthebrain.com/2015/01/25/why-i-spent-my-morning-in-a-kingdom-hall-partying-with-jehovahs-witnesses/.

he seems to have quite a positive view of jw's.. bangalore.

LisaRose

Nerd in the brain,

I am sorry you feel people have been unfair to you. I think the problem is that most of us belonged to this religion for a while, in my case thirty years. During this time we believed that this was God's chosen organization, that it was the only thing that would allow us to live through Armageddon, which was supposed to be any day. We all tried very hard to be good Jehovah's Witnesses, it's not an easy religion, you are expected to give up a lot of things most people consider normal. It was only after many years and many experiences that we found that, underneath the facade, this religion had problems, problems so severe we couldn't believe in it any more. It was a life changing thing, to lose our faith, family and friends, some are still struggling with this even years later.

So when people read your blog, talking about what a great group of people this is, it was like chalk on a chalkboard. For so many here this is still very painful. I know most here do not hate individual Jehovah's Witnesses, as we understand that they are simply decieved, as we were once deceived. Most people here do talk badly about the organization, because we feel we were lied to and manipulated and because we know they lie about their history, beliefs and practices. For many that come here, this is the first time they have been able to even talk about these things, it's not something that you can even speak of as a JW, to say you don't believe the Governing Body is being directed by God is to risk being disfellowshipped and shunned

The organization calls us mentally diseased apostates, people are warned not to talk to us, simply because we no longer believe the Watchtower is chosen by God and the only path to salvation. I am sorry if some here offended you, I am sure that was not the intent. I am sure you will investigate more before you consider getting more involved with this group. They will tell you not to talk to us apostates, but doesn't that just make you wonder what they are so afraid of? They are struggling with getting new converts these days, despite millions of hours spent in proselytizing, the internet has not been good for them; failed predictions, doctrine flip flops, pedophiles, it's all out there for anyone to see. So don't take anything at face value, verify everything, whether from them or us.

Lisa 🌹

49

Dont Give Them More Power Than They Deserve

by Tech49 in

jw
friends

a new montra that was recently adopted by the wife and i is this:.

dont give them more power than they deserve.. here's why i say that, and i point this to those of you still in the congregation, still trying to decide what you want to do.. recently, our family had a little family reunion gathering of sorts, and we were in the company of some extended family that were either df or da, to varying degrees.

we made it very clear, to any and all in attendance, that we wanted to be respectful and kind, despite any previous perceptions about our "status".... and that our feelings on a lot of things had "softened", and "changed" over the last 2 years.. i am being purposefully slightly vague, but i think you get the point.

LisaRose

I started to wonder why you still go to the meetings, then it occurred to me that people like you actually do more to destabilize the organization from the inside. If enough people do what you do it, it may cause others to take note are realize that the elders only have the authority you give them, they are paper tigers. Of course they may eventually disfellowship you because you won't meet with them, but that may take a while.

So carry on my friend.

26

Something nice, non-jw

by FadeToBlack in

i was out with my 4 dogs last night around 10:30 under a bright moon.

it was frosty (-4 c).

i heard some noise in the field behind my house (my backyard is a national forest).

LisaRose

We have wild turkeys here, I often see them on my morning walk. This time of year they are mating, the toms strut around with their feathers fanned out trying to impress the ladies, but they don't seem too impressed. Every so often there is a little kerfuffle, then everything calms down again. Next spring you will see the babies start to come out.

41

Minimum wages..raising the minimum question

by James Mixon in

jw
friends

across the u.s the minimum wages are $5.15 in wyoming to $9.50 in dc,.

average $8.00.

eve montes in california pick grapes for $9.50 an hour and she.

LisaRose

What people sometimes don't acknowledge is that low wage workers sometimes earn so little they end up getting government benefits, so the tax payers end up partially funding these low wage jobs. The businesses that pay these wages are basically getting government funding to keep their prices low, that is not a good use of taxpayer money in my opinion.

Of course simply raising the minimum wage is not a cure all, and raising it too much would be counter productive, which is why no one is really suggesting $50 an hour, but I do think the wage we are paying now is too low. If a person is able and willing to work a full time job then they should be afforded the dignity of enough money to keep them off government benefits.

3

Merry Armageddon

by Watchtower-Free in

.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/excult.

LisaRose

I think Jesus has been demoted to a bit part these days. For a supposedly Christian religion don't talk about Christ very much, it's like they don't want to share the glory.

19

Of Minions and Smurfs

by oppostate in

didn't take too long for the minions to join the smurfs as being satanic in the minds of some jw's.

whadda-bunch-of-bull-hukey-puckiesi!.

this showed up on jw facebook timelines today.. .

LisaRose

44

Decrease of numbers in Jehovah's Witnesses via Deaths, DFings, or Turning Inactive

by flipper in

jw
friends

so i'm sure a good number of us saw the chart that i believe the poster splash put on another thread of figures since 1990 regarding how many baptized and % of increase each year .

i started analyzing it ( and i know some referred to it briefly on the other thread ) and guessing of reasons the % of increase didn't match the number of newly baptized.

and of course common sense tells us that either jw's leave the cult each year through death, fading into inactivity, or getting dfed.

LisaRose

There are some great graphs at JW facts that looks at this information, although they don't have the last few years.

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.pho

They basically used the method as you did. They note that there is a time difference between when a person starts publishing and when they get baptized, but they feel the numbers average out over time. While it's not exact, I do think looking at this numbers in this way does tell you that a lot of people leave or at least stop publishing each year. The increase in publishers is only about half the number baptised, and this is quite a change from prior to 1990.

This is one of the most telling graphs, showing that the number of people leaving has tripled from the rate in the early 1990's. For the 10 years from 1986 to 1995 the rate was an average of 12%; for the 10 years from 1996 to 2005 it had risen to 41%.

So there have been clear indications that a lot people were leaving as far back as 1995. Twenty years of slower growth and a lot of churn, but it seems that it is only recently that the governing body realized they have a serious problem. They are trying to change now , but I think it's too little, too late

JW facts also look at the conversion rate, or how many get baptised compared to the number of bible studies. It's very telling, the number of studies increased, while baptisms plummeted.

Whilst there is roughly one Bible study conducted every month for each publisher, only a minute amount of these ever progress to baptism. Although the number of studies doubled in the 20 years from 1995 to 2014 to 9 million, the number of baptisms plummeted from over 350,000 per year, flatlining around 275,000.

113

I just found out that my youngest brother committed suicide

by SnakesInTheTower in

jw
friends

my middle brother called me a couple of hours ago.

our youngest brother, josh, who was 38, was found by his friends in his apartment.

he hung himself.

LisaRose

I am so sorry, that is just so sad. There is no "should" when it comes to grief, different people process these things in different ways, I am sure at this point you are just still in the denial stage. It may hit you all at once in a day, or a week or a year, or just gradually over several months. I think that when suicide is involved it's more complicated, your sadness may be mixed with anger, so don't be surprised if your emotions are over the place .

We are always here if you need to vent.

Lisa 🌹

47

Are we participants in this forum because of bouts of "loneliness"?

by Wonderment in

i wonder how many of us here hold on to this meeting place out of "loneliness.

could it be that we harbor feelings of "abandonment" and "loneliness" from being left cold and dry by the wt people and our families?

perhaps we do have a need to reach out to people with similar experiences.

LisaRose

Hey Mrs. F, it was nice meeting you and Flipper at the lunch in Folsom. My daughter and I enjoyed it very much. Her husband didn't get why she was interested in meeting people she didn't know, he said " I used to be a boy scout but I don't go to boy scout reunions". We both immediately said "but the boy scouts are not a cult!"

I think that what people are looking for when they come here is a connection, someone else who gets it, that knows how hard it is to lose family and friends, that gets the damage caused by being in a high control religion, the betrayal you feel when you realize how much you were lied to. We understand how you can be affected even years after leaving, people who have never been through it cannot.

6

16 Jehovah's Witnesses on trial in Russia

by LisaRose in

i apologize if this has already been posted, the search function doesn't work on my kindle tablet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/sixteen-jehovahs-witnesses-may-be-russias-most-pacifist-extremists/2015/11/20/6e046610-8898-11e5-bd91-d385b244482f_story.html.

as much as i hate this religion, i don't see that it does any good for any religion to be banned.

LisaRose

I apologize if this has already been posted, the search function doesn't work on my Kindle tablet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/sixteen-jehovahs-witnesses-may-be-russias-most-pacifist-extremists/2015/11/20/6e046610-8898-11e5-bd91-d385b244482f_story.html

As much as I hate this religion, I don't see that it does any good for any religion to be banned. All it does is make martyrs out of people and make them even more determined to practice their faith. If you are busy defending yourself from attacks from the government you don't have time to think about the issues that exist within the religion itself. Many Jehovah's Witnesses who were put in concentration camps in Germany in WW2 went on to leave the religion after the war ended, they were willing to die for a religion they later abandoned, it wasn't that they had great faith, it was that the persecution made the situation very black and white.

Officially, the Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned from Taganrog in 2009 for inciting religious hatred by “propagating the exclusivity and supremacy” of their own religion, a charge that defense lawyers say every major religion is guilty of. Unofficially, the case is a potent example of the bizarre and byzantine forms that anti-extremism legislation, primarily meant for violent nationalist and religious groups, can take in lower courts here.