Posts by OnTheWayOut

even if you don't regard yourself as a practicing jw, some may view you simply as inactive, a lost sheep, etc.. if you were baptized but not disfellowshipped or disassociated, you may still be a jw---right?

your thoughts please..

OnTheWayOut

I am technically a JW in an inactive state, but that's because of their shunning rules.

But if that's what they force me to do, I will live with that.

9

Which Steve Hassan book?

by Tornintwo in

jw
friends

can anyone recommend which steve hassan book to read, i see there are 3.. my mind is all over the place during this process of finally acknowledging and researching my doubts, ive been recommended his books on here, but which one is best?.

OnTheWayOut

The third is like a merger of the first two. For the sake of saving money, it could be read online instead of the other two, but I much prefer the first two.

I felt that COMBATTING was better for my personal freedom of mind and that RELEASING was better for helping someone else.

9

Re: Local Design/Construction Department Broadcast Highlights

by suavojr in

jw
friends

bullet point #13 is what they want to focus on .

7. construction servant ............................................................................................................................ par.

11. kingdom hall maintenance ............................................................................................................... par.

OnTheWayOut

We are in control.
We have our buddies in positions of authority.
We want your money.
In case you didn't get the point, your money buys you loyalty points with Jehovah.

13

Anointed, Crazy, Overzealous, or Good Acting?

by Tenacious in

i don't believe for a second that the wts can be god's chosen organization, if he does have an earthly one, especially one with such a hypocritical past.

but the question begs; why are there people professing having the heavenly calling usually found in the wts?.

does anyone know or have heard of other denominations having the genuine heavenly calling?.

OnTheWayOut

Most "anointed" Christians (or those with the calling) are simply overzealous and dealing with some kind of cognitive dissonance. It may seem "crazy" to many of us, but they seem to be fully functional people. But there are some crazy ones mixed in, too.

Top Ten Signs That Your Christianity is Conflicting With Your Sanity

10 - You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 - You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 - You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 - Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, and trees!

6 - You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 - You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen and ancient goat herders sitting in their tents telling how people lived hundreds of years and guessing that Earth was a handful of generations old.

4 - You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs -- though excluding those in all rival sects - will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

3 - While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" may be all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

2 - You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 - You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history - but still call yourself a Christian.

39

Does What We Say Here Or In Person Really Help JWs To Get Out Of The Religion?

by minimus in

jw
friends

if we are in the congregation, do you think our comments or questions actually reach elders or others in the congregation?

do our comments on this board affect witnesses to the point of questioning their faith?

OnTheWayOut

I had wanted to start a thread like this one, but found that Min's thread was current. You all know how my greatest quality is humility, but I have to toot my own horn to make this point.

I mostly post on this forum for self-therapy. (Apparently, I still need quite a bit.) Recently, another fader said this to me in a text:
"Just wanted to remind you to keep it up! You're more help to more people than you realize."

That fader couldn't really know how "more people" are helped, but it indicated that I've helped make a difference in one person's life.

I wrote a book for my own therapy, and it greatly helped me. I self-published it on Amazon secretly (http://www.amazon.com/Fade-Truth-Learning-Unlearning-Witnesses/dp/147523001X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432912259&sr=1-1&keywords=Fade+from+the+truth ) because my JW wife was too highly upset by the idea of me actually putting such a book on the shelf in Barnes and Noble. The reason I put it on Amazon was to help even one person. I set the price as low as could be because it wasn't about money. I think I made $400 in the years it's been available.
Anyway, I have met more than one person who thanked me and said it made a difference to them.

If not for these people, I wouldn't have thought I was making a difference.

16

Rutherford, Knorr or Franz - Who has the most influence on doctrine & process now?

by konceptual99 in

so, i was thinking - who of the above still has the most influence on current wts doctrine and dogma?.

rutherford obviously created the smokescreen around 1914/607 but overall his work has been superseded i would suggest.. knorr created the various schools and they or their offspring still live on.

wasn't it during his tenure that all the blood doctrine, types/anti types (now chucked away of course), transplants etc came along?

OnTheWayOut

Rutherford turned Watchtower from a fringe belief to a serious business and used Fred Franz' strange writings, then Knorr fine-tuned the idea of "publishers" and was all about efficiency while he was using Fred Franz' strange writings. Fred Franz is virtually single-handedly responsible for keeping the "generation of 1914" alive for so long and including 1975 and "the 20th-Century." While there's nothing spectacular about Fred's presidency itself, it seems he was rewarded for his long years as the oracle with that title, and others saw the need to make a "Governing Body" and take away the all-encompassing power of the single leader. Also, Fred being there, further reward for his long years got Ray Franz onto the GB.

Ray is responsible for revealing more things about the GB than anyone else, responsible for more people waking up, and his situation is more of a reason why GB 1.0 turned further toward harshness and shunning.

Such a combination gets us to today's GB 2.0. So it's gotta be Fred who is most responsible for "process" now. And while his take on doctrines is pretty much dead now, GB 2.0 is having to deal with long-held Freddy writings in morphing WTS into something else. So Fred is still most responsible for doctrine.

35

THIS IS WHAT WITNESSING HAS BEEN REDUCED TO IN 2015

by steve2 in

threads on the newer jw face of public "witnessing" have shared in common the astonishment that jws safely park themselves behind their literature trolleys and exercise incredibly little contact with passersby.

whether the poster is talking about europe or the united states or australia, descriptions here are the same.. literature stands are protective sheilds behind which jws huddle, talking to each other, sipping on their espressos, whilst the disinterested world passes by.

neither the jws nor the passersby catch each others eyes.

OnTheWayOut

Cell phone providers set up tents. Even though they have a free product that people want, they have learned that the prominent word needs to be "FREE."

I tell you what, though. I am glad it wasn't so easy when I left. I doubt it, but I might have stayed.

47

"Make a list of people you want to meet in the New System!" (New September Watchtower)

by FusionTheism in

watchtower september 2015 study edition, "stand firm in the faith," paragraphs 16 and 17:.

following jesus example, we must read the bible daily, study it, and meditate on what we learn.

along with general bible study, dig into topics about which you may have questions.. you can imitate jesus by meditating on the wonderful promises jehovah has made to you.

OnTheWayOut

Christopher Hitchens
Charles Darwin
Jimi Hendrix
Freddy Mercury
Marilyn Monroe
James Dean