I would say when they started disfellowshipping people, which I believe was the 1950's. I joined in 1969, they were a cult then, imo. Prior to that they may have had wacky beliefs, but people wouldn't necessarily loose their family if they chose to leave or simply choose not to buy into everything.
LisaRose
JoinedPosts by LisaRose
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35
In what decade was it clearly apparent that Watchtower was a high control religion?
by UnshackleTheChains ini'm just curious to get people's views on this.. the bible students seem to start of as quite a liberal group under charles taze russell, albeit he had some whacky teachings going on.
obviously things began to change under rutherford.
but what decade did it become abundantly clear that the society was indeed high control religion or even labeled a cult?.
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32
My unbelieving husband was offended by the WatchTower just studied
by Isambard Crater init was the paragraph talking about people who don't want to be j.w's being executed, and it being an act of compassion from jehovah towards his witnesses..
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LisaRose
This is why they like to study with people for a while before bringing them to the kingdom hall. To the the uninitiated, the JW beliefs are simply abhorrent, it takes a cetain amout of conditioning to make people not be revolted by the concept of the painful death of billion of people, while the witnesses look forward to it with glee.
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36
"Armageddon is already here"; "the preaching work is done" -- rogue teachings in your congregation?
by FatFreek 2005 inone of my jw sons seems to be putting pressure on his non-jw brother apparently to scare him into accepting the troof and start coming to meetings.
wild statements like our topic title, which i know are not supported at jw dot org, have been made to my non-jw son several times over the past year or so.
while i haven't been privy to the actual phone conversations i tend to believe that the jw son is being pressured by the local elders to cut ties with the non-jw since their conversations seem to degrade into arguments -- therefore tending to weaken the jws faith in wt teachings.. either my jw son is lying about what i would call rogue teachings (and this would disappoint me greatly) or he is in some close knit clique in his congregation which has secretly chosen to go rogue on certain wt issues.. based on many of the recent posts here about drastic money and wt organization problems this could be a sign of pending splits of certain congregation members.. what do you think?
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LisaRose
I guess it's tempting to speculate that Armageddon is imminent, because otherwise, what else do you have to look forward to in life as a Jehovah's Witness, more years of boring meetings and field service? Inevitably some people take that speculation too far and start thinking they know something that others do not. The organization doesn't care that much because baseless speculation is useful for keeping the flock fearful and faithful, as long as the elder involved isn't trying to start his own religion they won't do anything. In two years time collective amnesia will set in and everyone will have forgotten such a claim was ever made and it will start all over again.
My mom once told me "Brother Blowhard thinks Armageddon is coming any day now, and he must know something, because he's and elder!"
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21
A woman without a voice
by SunnyOne026 inthis is my story in a nut-shell.
i hope some of you can relate.
if you can..i would love to hear from you.. i have been crushed and heartbroken more times than i can recount by a religion that claims to be based totally on love and mercy and most of that harm has come from the so called "shepherds" who or are supposed to lovingly take the stray lambs in their arms and lead them gently back to safety.
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LisaRose
Welcome
My heart goes out to you for all you have been through. I was unhappily married for twenty eight years to a disfellowshipped person, so I certainly understand some of what you have gone through. The only good thing that came out of it was that receiving no help or understanding from the elders for so many years made me learn to trust myself (well, eventually) and once I finally realized it was not, nor ever was, "the truth" I was able to walk away from the marriage and the religion. I never looked back, nor regretted my decision, it's been seventeen years now and I am happily married to a man that treats me very well, my life is all I could wish for at this point.
Lisa 🌹
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22
Living with non belivers
by Blade666 inmy question is can you as a jw live on same premises as a non jw.... in split house/property with no sexual relations or anything involved... i am being forced to move due to a "sister" wanting to go back to her god and has made the point of saying she cannot have a male around.
even though the property itself is split with seperate access for both parts of the house.. she has put a blanket rule out saying the whole property itself... doesnt make sense to me nor to any of the elders i have spoken to regarding the matter.. yes i called them as i know next to nothing about the faith.. .
i find it strange that two elders urge a non jw to seek justice from fair trading and rental tribunal as they themselves do not belive the actions of the "sister" in question or her family to be correct or right... .
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LisaRose
Of course she is being ridiculous, if the living areas are separate there shouldn't be a problem. Possibly she is worried about what others may think, the Jehovah's Witnesses tend to gossip and meddle in each other's business, or it could be that having strayed from the faith she is now determined to be a super strict and perfect JW.
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A Little Direction Please
by Brian J ini'm an active elder, cobe, just got home from the meeting where i handled the treasures part and concluded by announcing a friend of mine has been d/f,.....blah blah blah...and over the last year have woken up.
i simply cannot spill my guts to my wife and children as it would be family suicide.
i have zero desire to bash, spread my feelings, or become an "apostate".
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LisaRose
I put together some information on how to help others break free, based on what others have posted here and some research I did.
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5729160790016000/guide-helping-other-break-free
Hope this helps.
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One Year Past Disassociation - An Appraisal
by EdenOne intwo weeks ago marked one year over my disassociation.
time for an appraisal.. quick summary of my story for those who came in lately: my mother brought me into the witnesses when i was 4, grew up the role-model jw boy, baptized at 16, married a zealous reg.
pio.
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LisaRose
Of course no life is perfect and leaving doesn't fix every problem, but it sounds like you are doing very well considering, glad to hear it.
I am INFP, and kind of in the middle of the Thinker/Feeler situation, so I can relate.
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Outside JW World They Barely Exist
by Farmer Jim1 inis anyone else staggered by the fact that outside of the organization most of the general public seem to know very little or nothing about jw’s?
when i was in i was led to believe that 99% of the worlds population had been giving sufficient warning, knew what it was all about and were stubbornly sticking to their immoral ways.
the reality seems to be that the entire jw universe is barely noticeable to the masses.
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LisaRose
Not only do most people in western lands know almost nothing about what Jehovah's Witnesses believe, most of the rest of the people in the world don't even know they exist.
The preaching work they pride themselves on is, by any definition, an abject failure. Most people are "putting in their hours" and couldn't care less that no one is listening to them, the organization knows this.
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22
“There’s nothing out there in the world for you...”
by Jules Saturn inhow would you guys react if or when you were told this phrase by a jw while having a conversation?
another phrase is “this world...” or “this system, like gum will chew you up and when it’s done with you, spit you right back out.”.
one i’ve been personally told was from a convert that had told me “whenever i speak to young ones that want to know if the grass is greener on the other side, i tell them i was a part of it.
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LisaRose
Just one of those things that they use to keep you mentally enslaved. Since by the end there wasnt anything in the organisation for me, I had nothing to lose by leaving, and in fact it was fine, I'm having a great life.
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10
Jw meeting locator
by Done ini was born in and a jw for about 40 years, most of it in the same state.
im getting ready to move about an hour away and typed in my possible new zip code to the meeting locator to see who of my past contacts i will possibly run into.. when the locator gives you the list of nearest congos, is congo "a" the one that your address would be "assigned" to?
the congo that works your territory?
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LisaRose
I asked to be put on the do not call list. It was mostly ignored at first, I was polite but kept reiterating that I did not want them calling. I would be promised that it would never happen again, but they would always come back. This happened about seven or eight times. I finally threatened to call the police and they haven't knocked on my door for a few years now.