Posts by LisaRose

17

JW Sites?

by EternalPettingZoo in

long time lurker who just created an account.

i was raised a witness, never dunked, have new jw bride ( why u ask?

um... i do love her, just not the dub side, which is raising its little head more and more now) and a little 5 month old that i would like to have other options in life than a full time pioneer married to a 23 year old ms who works for his daddy's janitor business.

LisaRose

Sometimes the most effective thing is to ask a JW to explain something, then raise questions. A lot of the logic falls apart if you question it. You have to be very careful to not arouse the cult mind set, open challenges dont work unless they are already questioning. Pay attention if you go to meetings to find things to ask about, ask her to explain it.

Use the bible, there are a lot of scriptures the organization avoids because it conflicts with what they teach. For example, jesus said that the identifying mark of his followers was that they have love among themselves. Not the preaching, which is what the Watchtower seems to think is all important, but love. when did you last hear a talk on that?

What everyone else said about using the organizations own words to show how much they hide their past. You must be very careful, dont do too much at once, a little bit here and there is better.

36

Elders now ORDERED by the Org to fleece the sheep

by The Searcher in

the org is now demanding money from the witnesses, via the latest letter sent to elders regarding the circuit's excess funds.

succeeded in getting elders everywhere to hand over their own congregation's "excess funds" - now their circuit's bank balances are going to be plundered.. the spineless and subservient elders will cooperate without a whimper, because they're afraid of losing their little bit of power which the org has bestowed upon them.

(john 11:48).

LisaRose

Doesn't this simply fit the first-century model? That there be an equalizing out of the wealth? I mean, really, isn't the ploy that wealthy congregation be helping their less fortunate fellow-believers? What's actually wrong with that?

What's wrong with it is that there is nothing voluntary about it. The elders present it to everyone as if it was their own idea, it's not mentioned to them that the society demands it. They could save it in case of a future deficit, use it to purchase supplies for future conventions or save it for future remodeling, but that is not an option, it's "send us the money". In other religions the congregation decides how to spend every penny, they have control, in this religion there is no decision making at the local level, just the illusion of such. Everyone knows if mother asks it's not a request.

37

Noah's Ark

by Darkknight757 in

so i'm reading the book "the atheist book of bible stories" and something just occurred to me.. noahs ark rested on the top of mount ararat.

how the hell did all the land animals, dinosaurs and other monsters get to ground level?

did noah and his family just push them off the mountain and hope for the best?

LisaRose

There are estimated to be between three and thirty million animal species here on planet earth. How many of those do you think Noah actually got onto the ark? How long would it take him to find them all, figure out how to get them to the ark and find the food they would need? How big would that ark have to be? It's ridiculous isn't it? Of course, every believer has the out that God can perform miracles, but if so, why did he need the ark in the first place? Why not just kill off the bad people and skip the silliness with the ark?

Do you think that maybe, just maybe, this is just some silly story somebody just made up sitting around the camp fire one day?

26

Which Spiritual belief system or non belief system is right for you?

by Giordano in

we have done this before but we have a fair number of newbie's on this site and some are struggling with the question about other belief systems and non belief.

where are you now in your own mind?

here's a quiz http://www.selectsmart.com/nontheism/ that is pretty accurate, at least in my case as to where i am at this point in my life.

LisaRose

Objectivist? I am not sure what that means.

I agree the questions were poorly worded. I don't think my spiritual beliefs can be distilled into a one word description.

77

Feeling rejected

by Esmeralda001 in

just a little disclaimer: english isn't my first language (i'm from france) thus the poor writing skills.here is the situation: i'm not a jw.

however, i'm in the process of becoming one.

in fact, i'm studying with the jw's, and i'll proceed to become an unbaptized publisher as soon as i finish the first book.to make a long story short i was introduced to the truth when i was 18een.

LisaRose

All religions change and misinterpret the bible's content, even the Jehovah's witnesses, or I should say especially the Jehovah's Witnesses. Have you ever noticed in the Watchtower study they quote a part of a scripture here, a part of a scripture there? It's because they are picking and choosing what parts of a scripture fit their agenda. This is then wound up with a heaping helping of just plain guessing and conjecture. And since this is them guessing, it will change tomorrow. This deep scriptural truths they teach you today will be "old light" tomorrow. They flip flop on so many things, how can you take what they say seriously? Is Jesus your mediator? It used to be he was for everyone, now just the anointed, tomorrow, who knows what they will say.

I used to think they must be the only true religion because they didn't teach a literal hell fire and the trinity. I ultimately realized that did not matter because so much of what they taught was garbage, that getting it right in a few things was meaningless, and I'm not even confident they got it right on that anymore.

As Jesus said, you will know if they are true disciples of they have love among themselves. No doctrine is enough to make up for the complete lack of love and caring in this organization. The early Christians sometimes had conflicting and divergent views, but that did not mean they were not true Christians, nor were they kicked out of the congregation for disagreeing. Not accepting everything taught by the governing body is grounds for Disfellowshiping in this religion. Moving congregations may work for a bit, but you will still end up with the same problems with ever changing doctrine and failed date predictions.

I was a convert in 1969, I got baptized at 14. The Awake magazine said not to get an education, that I would have to face the fact that I would never have a career in this system. Kind of silly, since I am 61, my career come and gone, college would have been nice, too bad I listened to that bad advice. And they are still saying the same thing, young people are still giving up on an education, convinced the end is so close. They taught 1975 was an "important date", the end of 6,000 years of man's existence. Everyone believe Armageddon was going to be in 1975, or very shortly thereafter. Now they pretend that never happened, so funny, I was there.

Do you know there are some Christian churches that have no doctrine? That's right, none. They know that what is important is fellowship, charitable works and love. You would be better off looking into one of them.

56

The watchtowers view on Rape!!! must see

by Khaleesi in

this person did a great job putting this together... i am disgusted with wt policies & them acting both judge & jurywatch "noonespecial - rapists - jw" on .

youtube.

https://youtu.be/lwufz7gyozm.

LisaRose

Life is too short, that is simply horrible, even when I was a fully brainwashed dub I would never have treated anyone the way you were treated. This religion is still in the dark ages when it comes to women's rights that's for sure. You must have been a strong person to get through all that.

But that's what happens when you use a book written by bronze age people as a model for justice in a modern society. In the bible where if you are raped out in the country you are forgiven, but if you were in the city you were put to death, because you could have screamed. What if they gagged you? What if you screamed but no one heard you because you were in a back room? What if you didn't scream because you feared for your life? Nope, put to death, a life sentence because you were a victim. All this from the supposedly just God Jehovah. Sadly some women have had to submit to rape to protect their lives or the lives of their children, but if they are a Jehovah's Witness they will be disfellowshipped. It's hard to believe that these kind of things still happen in our society, but they do.

19

Please i need guidance

by alex_Am in

i know im young.

i know i still have so much to learn i mean im only 14 but but even at a young age i have learned and i know what love is.

this is where the problem comes in.

LisaRose

We not current Jehovah's Witnesses, for former members who found out that the leaders of this religion lied about a lot of things, so we can't really recommend you become a member. It's a cult actually.

I know that love is just as real and painful when you are 14 as when you are any other age, but you are very young, it's way to soon to know of this is going to be permanent thing, the odds are that it won't be. The fact that she is a Jehovah's Witness doesn't help either, you know her parents will be opposed to anything serious between you. I know that is hard, but it is what it is.

Please research this religion before you go any further, encourage your girlfriend to do so as well. I like JW facts.com. also check out howcultswork.com.

19

Some thoughts on the Brooklyn real estate website

by JeffT in

jw
friends

i took another look around the new website ( https://www.watchtowerbrooklynrealestate.com/ ).

first they have two properties listed here 124 columbia and 85 jay street.

these have to be worth a lot of money.

LisaRose

It's like the joke about how to make a million dollars in the airline industry. It's easy, you start with two million dollars.

I wouldn't be surprised if they suddenly had "new light" about tithing. It would be a hard sell because so many JWs are barely making ends meet as it is, but they may be desperate enough to try it. They may feel a smaller organization with more hard core followers would give them a better return on their investment. So much has changed in the last few years that nothing would surprise me at this point.

238

Another mass shooting, three or four hours ago.

by James Mixon in

san bernardino california.

up to 12 people have been killed.. the center a private non-profit agency that assists people with developmental.

disabilities.

LisaRose

Mass shootings on a regular basis are a symptom of the direction society is going. Take away guns or make them illegal won't do a damned thing other than change the killing methods. Any illegal commodity has always been available just about anywhere. Prohibition era, drug laws, censorship etc. pretty ineffective.

You will never stop all guns, but that doesn't mean you just give up. Control guns better and you will reduce the problem, not stop it, but reduce it. The statistics show there are less deaths involving guns in countries where they are more difficult to obtain.
There are sensible measure that can be put into place that would help, but the gun lobby is strong, so nothing will happen until people demand it. Gun control wouldn't have stopped what happened yesterday, but it doesn't mean it won't help at all. It's a start, after that we try to address the problems that are making people want to do things like this. We know some mass shootings involve mental health issues and we know that we have problems in the way we deal with the mentally ill, so get the guns out of their hands, then you can work on the underlying causes.

475

What is the alternative to JW?

by Formerbrother in

i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

the the bible is word?

LisaRose

Is Jehovah real? The the Bible is word? If not whats the alternative? I cant see how any thinking person can believe evolution.

How sad. Do you not realize the Watchtower lied about the evidence for evolution? Please watch this video, it is short and easy to understand and shows how different things all point to the same conclusion.

http://www.upworthy.com/this-should-be-required-viewing-for-deniers-of-evolution

Is God real? I don't see the evidence of it, there are way too many things unexplained by the bible account, too many logical fallacies, too many things that could not have happened the way the bible says.

What is the alternative? How about just be a good person? Why do you need a religion to tell you not to lie, cheat or steal? It's not that difficult, really. Find meaning in your life by being good to others and leaving the earth better off because you were in it, raise responsible children, be kind to your fellow man. Why does their need to be anything more?

Look, religion was invented to make people feel better about their eventual death and to scare people into being moral, so it served a purpose, but we know now there is zero evidence for life after death and so much evidence that man has been a long time on earth, much longer than six thousand years. These is so much evidence of it that to believe otherwise is to foolishly close your eyes to the truth. There have extracted DNA from at least two different groups, genetically close to modern man, but not modern man, and this is supported by other evidence This directly contradicts the bible account, and it would be impossible to fake this evidence.

You can believe in God if it makes you feel better, but something is not true simple because we want it to be true or we don't like the alternative.