Already facing doubts about the truth of "the truth" I tried my best to please Jehovah by pioneering for a year. (Get an extra helping of Holy Spirit for my sacrifice and go to Pioneer School, so they can clear up any doubts and get me back on track.) Anyway, I was working with a sister who was paranoid schitzo (sp) and her presentations were very bold, forward. Her look was odd, clearly someone on medication. She did her presentation to a man who was young, had long hair with a gray streak dyed in. He totally fit the part of a laid-back free-thinker. He asked us "If God's name is Jehovah or Jesus or Allah, it doesn't really matter, but let me ask you, do you think God brought life to you just so you can spend the entire life praising him? Your people say you have to do this preaching to live forever- Is He so insecure that he needs to make everyone into preachers? Didn't he create us to work hard and then enjoy life? The message Jesus taught is love, and not to have religion be a burden upon you. If you want to go to church and praise God there, wonderful, but if you just meditate or read the Bible on your own, can't you still find God's love? Won't God bring himself to you? Won't God forgive you if you relax on the weekend?" I was able to mutter some standard JW stuff to him about God bringing himself to you thru the preaching work of his faithful servants, but to tell you the truth, I was profoundly affected by his words. They actually helped me to research differently than I had before. My year of pioneering was totally different because of this one man and his casual straighforward free-thinking.
OnTheWayOut
JoinedPosts by OnTheWayOut
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FS experiences that got you doubting
by greendawn indid things happen eg people told you things that got you doubting about the wts while you were on the field service?
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i recall a girl i had never met before who was crying (after we talked for a while) for being shunned by another local congo, and i thought that it was too cruel to shun people and something was not right with the jws.
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in love with a very confused jw
by limitless inhi guys,.
this is a fairly long story, so bear with me.... twelve years ago i dated a jw man briefly in new york.
we got along really well, but he stopped calling.
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OnTheWayOut
have done a lot of research on the jws in the last month, even read the book crisis of conscience. do you think if i send him that book he'll read it?
limitless,
If you can get him to read Crisis of Concience, I doubt he'd do very much about going back to the jw religion. For a jw, that book is a real eye - opener. That's why jws are under strict orders not to read it. When I read it, I had just left the jws, and it confirmed for me that I'd done the best thing in leaving. A friend of mine read it recently and, after a lifetime as a jw, she recently disassociated. You can read her thoughts on this link: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/115874/2.ashx
Believe ne, if you could get him to read that book, you would be doing him a huge favour.
I second this comment. It's not fair that he waits until your emotions are fully into this guy. Make him decide before moving forward. Push him with information. It's for his own good, and he really is pushing you. Sounds like you want to work it out. Make him promise to read the book when you give it to him. A DF'd person should have no problems reading this. Just give it to him, make him promise to read it, don't tell him about it beforehand.
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DID YOU CUSS???
by mama1119 ini just had this funny memory pop up.
as jw, we were not allowed to cuss, right??
well, i had this friend whose mom substituted "piss" for every cuss word.
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OnTheWayOut
I had no real problem stopping the use of "vulgar" language when I became a JW. I also did not frown when others used it, so they tended to not notice my lack of cuss words. But at work, they eventually noticed. One guy says he will get me to "drop an f-bomb." I tell him it's no big deal, they are only words. He wants to know why I won't say the words then (I still don't). I just say, "Nobody controls me, I say what I want."
Funny though, my faithful JW wife gets upset and uses DAMN under her breath. She feels really bad about it, each time she "slips."
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Do you ever feel like you are still defending what the bible says?
by Sassy ini found myself in an interesting situation.. i've been spending some time on some non jw related boards and one day i ventured into the religion forum.. before i knew it i was there posting about if satan was created evil/ if god intended him to be that way.. and also discussing the free will given to us (and the angels) to make our own choices to be obedient or not.. .
well i haven't found a faith since leaving the dubs.. i still believe in god but i have yet to trust any organized religion.
i haven't even yet been able to bring myself to attend a church, because the thought alone give me anxiety attacks.
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OnTheWayOut
WHY am I arguing with them when I have my own doubts! Its crazy!
It's not crazy. It's self-therapy. If it helps you, do it. If you doubt what you are saying, phrase it differently: "Many/some people believe..." "I used to think..., now I don't know." If you still stand by a belief, state it that way.
I think it's okay to say what you want. I meant don't bother to try to WIN an argument. The old religion and politics rule.
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2007 DC theme " The jig is up. The Watchtower is not the truth. "
by 5go inafter going to this years district convention.
it seems the gb knows it's over.
i don't think the gb thinks that the watchtower is going to make it to 2014. everything was so see thru a blind could of seen thru it, and to top it off the drama sucked.
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OnTheWayOut
and they won't abandon dc's, they are too much of a money - spinner for that
fullofdoubtnow, there is too much money to be made at District Conventions, you are right. They will continue. Watch for them to drop the number of conventions per year, to keep the ones they still have look large.
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If the Apostles "expected" Jesus to return in the first century is that fp?
by booker-t inwhat is the "difference" between what early christians and biblical prophets did in expecting jesus to return in the 1st century and what jw's have done for over 100 years of false expectations?
i am in no way trying to excuse jw's and their false prophecies but why is it so different when born-agains and other christians set a date for something but when it fails no body says one word about it.
but when jw's and mormons do the same thing all hell breaks loose.
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OnTheWayOut
no body says one word about it.
They DO say words about it. You hear less about them because it was either a long time ago, or it wasn't stated as often as JWs state it. I'm sure there were major uproars when mainstream religions let people down.
I think the differences is in how ex-JWs really are upset more than No-Longer-Practicing Catholics or Moonies. I think our expectations were higher, we were strung along better, so we crashed further.
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Do you ever feel like you are still defending what the bible says?
by Sassy ini found myself in an interesting situation.. i've been spending some time on some non jw related boards and one day i ventured into the religion forum.. before i knew it i was there posting about if satan was created evil/ if god intended him to be that way.. and also discussing the free will given to us (and the angels) to make our own choices to be obedient or not.. .
well i haven't found a faith since leaving the dubs.. i still believe in god but i have yet to trust any organized religion.
i haven't even yet been able to bring myself to attend a church, because the thought alone give me anxiety attacks.
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OnTheWayOut
Yeah, I think I understand. While I am new to leaving the WTS, still just starting to get out, I have conversations at work (they know me as a JW). I used to do well at defending a position, and some noticed a change now. But, yeah, you understand things better than the average never-a-JW. You want to stick your neck in there. I would say, "Don't bother" on a religious discussion forum, to try to win an argument with strangers. We have a common bond on this forum, and can say our piece, that should give you enough to say. But just posting a thought about the Bible over there would be okay, just don't let them drag you in, so you can defend your former understanding. I talk at work, but never in a way that will cause argument. I appreciate controversial talk, but get out of it, if I want to.
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Society goes nuts--yet another "special" campaign for September!
by sir82 inin an earlier post here http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/114651/1.ashx i noted the society's "special campaign" for september, an "awake" magazine dedicated to the topic of evolution vs. creation.
there is a "special campaign" to highlight that magazine all month.. got a call from our po last night.
there is going to be yet another "special campaign" in september -- a new "kingdom news" tract.
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OnTheWayOut
Special campaigns this year are for a magazine, a district convention invitation, and for a tract. Let's see, now. How do we save money and keep those publishers busy. If they stop offering stuff, they might get comfortable, that's no good. First we'll have them spend time just inviting people to the District Convention, that's a single sheet of paper. We print the magazine less often, and they're going to place it anyway, let's tell them to place ONLY the magazine, then we will need less books. We still want to cut back on the books, so let's offer a thin tract in the Fall. That should cut costs for a couple months. Maybe we can get another new tract out after that in Spring of 2007. In-between, we'll tell them to place literature in-stock at the Kingdom Hall.
It's happening faster than I could imagine, they are running out of
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2007 DC theme " The jig is up. The Watchtower is not the truth. "
by 5go inafter going to this years district convention.
it seems the gb knows it's over.
i don't think the gb thinks that the watchtower is going to make it to 2014. everything was so see thru a blind could of seen thru it, and to top it off the drama sucked.
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OnTheWayOut
There was disappointment at the literature release(s) this year. Usually there is one book and one brochure. This year, the one book is about the minor prophets, OH BOY, and that's the end of it. The days of thick, big books are over. It wouldn't surprise me if it's only a brochure next year at the 2007 LOVERS OF THE GOVERNING BODY District Convention.
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Milestone anniversaries are an embarassment to WTS?
by bebu ini read recently that the nazarene church (where i currently attend) has 1.6 million members worldwide.
the naz church will be celebrating a 100 year anniversary of its beginnings in 2008.
(october!
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OnTheWayOut
What will there be to celebrate in 2014? Our World Headquarters Bethel staff is back to the same number of people we had 100 years ago.