Posts by LisaRose

174

Awake #4/2016: Homosexuality

by Designer Stubble in

the new awake is up on jw.orgwith the legalization of gay marriage in many countries, they decided it was time to show: "what does thebible say about homosexuality?

"does the bible promote prejudice?still, some people would say that the bible promotes prejudice against homosexuals and that those who adhere to itsmoral code are intolerant.

‘the bible was written at a time when people were narrow-minded,’ they claim.

It's a slight change from years ago when they basically taught that homosexuality was a choice. I remember an Awake or Watchtower article by a former homosexual who claimed he used to enjoy promiscuous sex and that it was the thrill of the forbidden, meaningless sex that was the attraction, it wasn't that he was born gay. He became a JW and was supposedly happily married to a woman at the time the article was written.

This idea has pretty much been debunked in society, most people even within the organization, know that it is not a choice, so now they are saying that a person might have an inclination to homosexuality, but they can still choose to be celibate. Of course they have a right to believe and teach that, but when you are telling people they must live without sex, intimacy or love with another, then that is not really an acceptable choice to most people.

29

Where did Jehovah go ?

by Deleteandrestart in

for the many years i was mentally " in " the congregation, i equated the organisation as interchangeable with the persona of jehovah, in effect whatever the organisation said or thought, that was what jehovah thought and that was what jehovah said.... it was that simple.

so when i found out the ttatt and the cynical moves of the organisation over the years,including 1975 , the donation arrangements, the united nations, etc i was devastated and thought " where's jehovah in all of this?".

the god who i'd poured my heart out to on many occasions and who i thought was silently listening and hearing my pleas ..... was not there , .

LisaRose

Of course when you realize it's all just horse pucky it's very hard at first. You go from having all the answers to having none, it's like being hit in the face with a gallon of cold water. Reality bites! But it gets easier as time goes on. You realize that you don't need to have all the answers, that it's better to deal with reality, however uncomfortable, than have a false certainty. You realize you have been avoiding uncomfortable subjects, burying your head in the sand because you needed to protect your fragile belief system. You now have intellectual freedom, you can live your life however you think is best, no need to follow a strict set of rules or have others judge you.

13

Contradictions of the "no blood" policy....

by stuckinarut2 in

so according to witnesses, the bible states that all blood is sacred, and once it leaves the body's circulatory system it must be "poured out on the ground" to show respect to jehovah.. it mustn't be eaten or transfused.. so how do they justify it being ok to take in fractions of blood components when these have been produced from donated whole blood?.

the whole blood was not "poured out".

it was taken to a laboratory, stored, manipulated, put through processes to separate parts of it, broken down etc.... it certainly was not "dealt with in a sacred way".. and yet these blood fractions are deemed "ok" by the society?.

LisaRose

The blood policy is a remnant of the past, a leftover of a time when they also didn't trust vaccinations, based on primitive fear and superstition. They would love to get rid of it, but it's difficult for them since they have celebrated individuals for throwing their life away by refusing this life saving treatment, so they can't now say it was all for nothing.

As a weasely compromise they give people an out by allowing factions. They know it makes no sense, that if blood transfusions were wrong (which is really not true and not supported by the bible) then fractions are wrong too, but they don't care, they will continue to let people die rather than admit they were wrong, just like they have always done, because this is an organization with zero integrity.

32

Suffering and existence of God

by elbib in

many people find it difficult to reconcile suffering and existence of god.

it seems they feel that it is god’s obligation to shield humans from ill-effects of their short-sighted acts..

people’s hobby has something to do with this kind of reasoning!

LisaRose

You are acting as if each person's problems were brought upon only by themselves, which is absurd. A child born into poverty or abuse did nothing to deserve his life of pain and misery. Their pain is real and serves no purpose.

If you had children and stood idly by while your children beat each other up, or died from something you could easily treat you would be considered a poor father, yet we are to believe our "loving, heavenly father" leaves us to suffer the effects of disease, famine and war? That makes no sense. Either he doesn't exist or he isn't a loving, heavenly father. I vote he doesn't exist.

41

Angst and the Jehovah's Witness Mindset

by cofty in

there is no typical jw personality type.. any of us who were in the religion for a number of years will remember all sorts of individuals.

there is as much variety among jws as there is in the general population.

some were arrogant and judgemental but others were humble and kindly.

LisaRose

Yes, and fifteen years on I am still trying to learn not angst. I think in my case in was innate, but nurtured by the JW brainwashing. It's not as simple as just knowing there is nothing to angst over, I know in my head there isn't, but my mind still goes there.

62

JW anti-gay children movie viral in Netherlands national media + official reaction of JW spokesman Branch office

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

various dutch (netherlands) media mentioned the anti-gay children movie on jw.org,.

and gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual organizations are shocked, and some gay people.

are reporting the movie to the local police.. the official spokesman of the dutch branch office in emmen declared that the movie is.

LisaRose

I haven't the stomach to watch this bit of nonsense, but doesn't the video show the child being told to tell her friend with two mommies that they won't be in the paradise? They are attempting to recruit their children to teach their hateful beliefs, that's as public as it gets.

35

“Even if this wasn’t the Truth, I need the structure.”

by Londo111 in

i remember many years back a fellow ministerial servant saying this to me.

he felt that even if jehovah’s witnesses were not the only true religion, the regimented routine of meetings and field service and the strict rules and enforcement provided a beneficial structure for his life.

at the time i thought if this wasn’t “the truth”, i’d have no need for all that “structure”.

LisaRose

Imagine that, people can have a great life without an oppressive religion telling them what to think do and say. Good for you!

I think when people say things like that what is really going on is that they are really just afraid of change and are afraid to examine things too much because they would actually have to make uncomfortable decisions. If you can discipline yourself to attend all the meetings, go in field service, give up holidaays, etc., you could do anything else you put your mind to.

10

The new kids video is going viral, and it angered the Elf-Mom

by Captain Schmideo2 in

jw
friends

saw this in my fb feed today... .

LisaRose

They really advised children to tell their classmates with gay parents they will die at Armageddon? OMG, that is wrong on so many levels. It's just cruel to tell a child their parents will be put to death by God, what is the child going to do with that information, even if it were true? It could even could be classified as hate speech and result in repercussions for the child from the school. It shows a complete lack of sensitivity to the beliefs and feelings of others. Would JW parents want their children's conservative Christian classmates to tell them they will go to hell for not being saved?

Unbelievable.

64

Were you beaten as a child?

by purrpurr in

i've been confronting my mother with her dubious parenting skills (abuse) of me as a child.

particularly the beatings i would get with the wooden spoon.

not a light smack but hitting me as hard as she could for as long as she could.

LisaRose

Children do not need to be spanked to be taught to behave, they just don't, it's not even really that effective. I spanked my kids, although not very much, but if I had it to do over again I wouldn't. Hitting, especially in anger, just shows your child that you can't control your temper and that physical violence is the way to solve things, why would you want to teach them that? It is so much better to model good behavior, be consistent, kind but firm. It may take more time and effort, but it's so much better for the child. There are other forms of discipline, time outs, taking away privileges, extra chores, whatever.

My grandson was a strong and determined child a real handful. I was concerned when my daughter said she was never going to use physical punishment, but she was right, he turned out to be a fine young man.

16

Please I have a question about GNLD INT'L COMPANY

by COLLINS in

jw
friends

please i want to read about experiences of those in this forum regarding those who have worked with golden neo life international company (gnld).

i was searching for job and a man saw me and asked me whether i can do a job that would take me from two years to five years.

so i said yes to him; and he took me to a company called gnld.

LisaRose

Very few people ever make money in multi level marketing. It's heavily stacked to favor the first people to join. If you are a real top-notch sales person, a real go getter and don't mind hitting up your friends and family for business and leads you might make some money, but the reality is the vast majority of people in MLM make less than $300 a month.

My feeling is why should I buy soap (or vitamins, or whatever) that has been marked up enough to pay for lavish sales commissions, vacations or fancy cars for the people at the top? They may be good products, but they are never special enough to justify the inflated costs no matter how much they have been hyped. And many of them use the same recruiting tactics as a cult. My ex husband used to join every MLM scheme that came down the pike, he had dreams of getting rich with little work, but he never made any money at any of them.

Your friend who is telling you that it's a good deal is making money off your purchase of the sales material, so can you really count on him to tell you the truth? Will he tell you how much the average rep makes (not just the lucky who do extremely well)?

They are very little better than pure pyramid schemes in my book. All pyramid schemes make money for a few peoole who jump in at the beginning, but they are all doomed to fail because there are only so many people dumb enough to invest in pyramid schemes and even if every person invested in them they would still eventually fail because there are a finite number of people in the world.