My JW spouse seems to entertain no thoughts that I may just "prove" it's the truth to myself and come back. I got there by some brutally honest talks with her. But I have not really directly said how I feel about science vs. God and how I have grown to realize that all the gods were created by men. Still, she must know by our conversations. I highly recommend that people gauge their own family situation and decide how honest, how quickly to reveal things, but to always work more toward mental and verbal freedom.
OnTheWayOut
JoinedPosts by OnTheWayOut
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69
Thinking of Going Full Disclosure With Wife. Sorta
by freemindfade insoliciting any and all opinions.
as some of you may know, wife is full in pioneer.
my fade has gone from us fighting.
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'Equality' at Wimbledon
by LoveUniHateExams inserena williams has just won the wimbledon ladies' singles championship.
she beat garbine muguruza in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. the match lasted 1 hour 24 minutes.. tomorrow, djokovic plays federer in the men's singles final.
it is a rematch of last year's men's final.
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OnTheWayOut
Regardless of how equal men and women are, there is a difference. The very best male athletes can go longer than the very best female athletes in many endurance-type sports. This is not anti-feminist of me to say this. Olympic records and world records attest to it. Because of this, Wimbledon has more sets for the men so that they can prove their endurance. If they could get them (and the women) to go even longer, I am sure they would consider it.
It is the way that women players draw crowds and television audiences that got them equal prizes at Wimbledon. Besides, equal pay for equal work is really more about white and blue collar jobs. Women can endure just as long at a desk or assembly line as a man or can typically accomplish just as much physically, at a labor job. Most laborers are not "very best athletes" and the degree of difference quickly tapers off once we've left that arena or tennis court.
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Hello Everyone
by MarieK ini hope everyone is having a good saturday.
i've visited this many times in the past month or so, joined yesterday and finally got the nerve to post!
needless to say, i'm super nervous, being new to this whole experience.
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OnTheWayOut
Welcome MarieK. Many things led to me waking up, but similar to you, it was simply overcoming fear and researching my own religion. That's what they tell people to do, except they subliminally mean for anyone not a JW to research their beliefs and for any JW to just go along.
Looking forward to reading more from you. Hi back at you for now.
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A difficult yet necessary decision
by Brother Jeramy inthe past five weeks have been perhaps the most painful in my life as a witness.. some months ago a young man (i'd say in his late thirties or early forties) began attending meetings at my kingdom hall.
he had just moved to my area from another state.
he had disassociated himself from his home congregation many years back, when he was 20 years old and going through many of the typical trials and temptations most young men experience.. two of the elders met with him initially, and they later shared the details with the body of elders.
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OnTheWayOut
Congratulations and good luck. A toast to you. -
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Is the Org Putting Elders in the Firing Line?
by The Searcher inin view of the conti verdict of negligence by the org, are elders who are selected by the c.o.
now in a precarious position?
"charity trustees face potential liabilities in a number of ways.
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OnTheWayOut
If a governing body member ever finds himself facing charges or a lawsuit, they will spend every dime they took away from the congregations to keep him out of jail and to keep him from paying.
If they every feel it's easier to throw local elders under the bus for following their orders, they will do it.
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Article: Family poisoned by disgruntled Jehovah’s Witness Brett Darren Mardon sues him for $100,000 over malicious, spiteful crime
by AndersonsInfo indon't know if this article was posted here recently.
but be mindful, if you're an elder, it could be dangerous to disfellowship someone.. the andersons.
perth - western australia , june 5, 2015. http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/national/family-poisoned-by-disgruntled-jehovahs-witness-brett-darren-mardon-sues-him-for-100000-over-malicious-spiteful-crime/story-fnii5yv8-1227385223087?sv=9dc7c522db1e83c6f7c6990365090aec.
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OnTheWayOut
Don't know if this article was posted here recently. But be mindful, if you're an elder, it could be dangerous to disfellowship someone.
The AndersonsI will remember to stay on your good side. LOL.
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My wife , Son and DIL living with us ,have still not acknowledged my birthday today @ 5:15 pm , I might have to drop them a subtle hint.
by smiddy ini know being a witness for 33 years and not celebrating b/days you do lose the habit , but i thought one of them would have remembered ?
oh well .. maybe i will just rub it in with them tomorrow .make them feel guilty , eh ?.
then again i might just start singing "76 trombones" at the dinner table tonight .
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OnTheWayOut
Happy birthday. Just declare it if you already haven't. -
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On the Relevancy of The Institutionalization of Sin
by Perry inchild murder, sodomy & corrupting the human genome are not new sins, they are old ones.
what is new is their institutionalization.
but even that isn't totally new.
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Looking Back In Retrospect To 1975...
by titch ingreetings, folks: so, it's been 40 years since 1975. and, if you were actively involved with the witnesses back then, the mindset of many was, that by early autumn of 1975, it would mark the anniversary of 6000 years of human existence.
and, the hope was then, that it would mark the start of the 1000-year of christ, from the heavenly realm.
but, looking back now, 40 years ago, in june of 1975, only 3 more months remained until early autumn.
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OnTheWayOut
So, looking back in retrospect, do you remember anything---ANYTHING at all---that was happening on the world scene, that you would have thought, "Yeah, this is it, the Great Tribulation will soon be here, and the start of Armageddon"?
I haven't read all the answers, but Watergate was wrapping up, so there was huge distrust of government feeding the thoughts that they would do something big and against religion.
The Cold War was underway and the Soviets had broken some trade agreement early that year- fuel for the fire leading to war.
The Soviets were doing nuclear tests.
The violence between Ireland and England was going on early that year.Like any year, there was plenty for people to speculate about.
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Looking Back in Retrospect to 1995 ...
by LoveUniHateExams ini very much enjoyed reading through titch's thread: 'looking back in retrospect to 1975 ...' and all the comments from posters that lived through that event and remembered it.. i was born in 1979, so had nothing to offer for that thread.. however, i do remember very clearly living through 1995 (the end of the 1914 generation) and remember how it affected me and my view of the wts.
up until oct/nov 1995, i genuinely believed the society to be god's one true earthly organisation.
the watchtower presenting the new meaning of generation seriously shook my faith in the wts and, i suppose, started me on my journey to ttatt.
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OnTheWayOut
1995- They put a couple of paragraphs in a study article of the WATCHTOWER magazine about how Jesus didn't mean what the Watchtower leaders had been saying he meant all these years, but obviously Jesus meant something else. It wasn't an admission that they were just as wrong as they were about 1975 or any other previous failed prophecy/prediction. It was more like it had come to their attention that they can be more right with this new understanding than they previously were. The end of this system would come right on schedule, but we just don't know quite when it is.
It read like the new understanding was so logical and easy to follow, so of course all the readers will accept it. In reality, it was using a wild definition for the word "generation" and it was very difficult to understand. When I studied the doctrine originally, it was heavily stressed that Watch Tower's teaching about the nearness of the end was not wrong. Now, I saw that they were avoiding the word "wrong" but they were still saying that their previous understanding was not right.
I spoke with others about this upcoming study and some of the members were quite excited about this "new light." I asked the other more experienced elders about it and was amazed that they simply thought it was no big deal. "They change things sometimes." Well, the day comes when we studied the magazine article in the Kingdom Hall on Sunday. The paragraphs with this huge change in doctrine were covered just like any other paragraphs. The paragraphs were read aloud, the questions at the bottom of the page were asked, and someone answered them. That was it. In less than ten minutes, we were supposed to all change our long held beliefs that we were told were coming from Jehovah through Jesus through the Bible and believe something completely different from now on.
Despite childhood exposure, I came into the JW's as an adult in 1988 and this was the very beginning of the end of my relationship with them. I had been allowing the literature and lectures to prevent me from thinking for myself for 7 years up until the time those paragraphs were studied. That ended the very moment it was breezed over in the Kingdom Hall like it was just another change. I didn't abandon doing what was expected of me. I didn't say anything to anybody about my new freedom to question things and think for myself, but I was not the same lemming willing to run right off the cliff if the other members did so. The words, "They change things sometimes" spoken by a fellow elder stuck with me. I had expected the end of the world to arrive so soon ever since I first embraced the doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses, but now I knew it would possibly not come in my lifetime.
I had never counted on retiring before Armageddon. I knew I was going to have to change my priorities. I laid the foundation to focus on finding a career instead of a job, and I stopped standing in my wife's way to get a college education. Sure, I stayed another 11+ years more, but with a different attitude. 1995 was huge for me.