Posts by OnTheWayOut

15

Asking For More Money Again

by rosesinbloom in

we had another letter read this week from the 'slave' that asked for more money again.. it asked for a resolution to be passed by all congregations in support of the circuit overseer to pay their expenses and medical expense was included in there.. a resolution was put on the floor and voted upon and agreed by show of hands that our congregation would send over $2,000 for the year 2016.. the society broke it down to how much it would be per year for each publisher but i do not remember what they suggested.. i was glad i was listening in and not present this week because it would have been obvious i did not support the resolution because my hand would not have been up when the attendance took a count.. has anyone here also had the letter read at their service meeting this week?.

OnTheWayOut

I believe in the past, the once-a-year letter was to pay for the C.O's insurance. So this sounds like nothing new. It's sounding a bit high for one year. I doubt that amount actually gets sent off to some insurance company.

Here's the thing: their membership is their primary source of money. If members are squeezed for money like balloons could be squeezed for their air, there's only so much there. If members used to donate a great deal at conventions and assemblies and now have to contribute more at their local congregation to pay the bills and meet Watchtower's inflated rates for insurance, then the same members will take it out of their assembly donation money and say "I gave at the Kingdom Hall." The balloon only holds so much, especially when you don't go to college, don't work overtime very often, need time off for conventions.

10

Crises of Conscience by Raymond franz hardcopy book

by Olivia Wilde in

can anyone tell me where is the best place to buy the hardcopy book from?

i need it for a friend, i need to buy it from a place that the proceeds go to a good cause, not amazon,..

OnTheWayOut

I remember paying a bunch for the book when Ray was alive, but bound print versions seem enormously expensive now, much more so than when I bought it (and passed it on to others). Ray and Cynthia are gone. Do yourself a favor and download a free copy from the internet and donate $40 to a proper charity.

I am all for helping out people when they have given so much, but I think Ray and Cynthia would love knowing that the book is freely available and widely read years later.

6

Bending Truth- A look at Cognitive Dissonance by Theramin Trees

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

a reflection on the importance of acknowledging that we can all be manipulated.. this is an excellent presentation on the problems with leaving the group, problems with disagreeing with the group, why recruiting children is important to religions.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iauhr-trkhy.

OnTheWayOut

John Aquila, while they would never admit to such a thing, I do tend to think that recruiting is not really a think they are after right now. They are trying to have retention of members and get donations from members. They know that recruitment costs money in literature and they are not really able to spend money right now. Children recruitment is definitely very much their focus just to keep some getting baptized at assembly halls.

under the radar, glad to help. I hope it helps your friends.

sir82, they have painted themselves into a corner with poor recruitment and encouragement to stay poor among members.

KateWild, I tend to agree. Current leaders are in crisis mode. Someone will change everything eventually.

Vidiot, very true.

27

No longer wanting to attend meetings

by breezy in

hello everyone.. first post here.

long time follower of this website, probably 4 years now.

i've known about ttatt since ive been 18, im now 22 going on 23 but still go to meetings because of parents.

OnTheWayOut

I don't have your situation and I really didn't use scriptures when talking with JW family, except to say that I should be examining the doctrine for myself as the Bereans did.

I suggest taking a hard look at jwfacts.com to aid you in talking to your folks.

Three great areas for preparing yourself are
1. 15 minute guide to truth: http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/15-minute-guide-to-truth.php

2. Is it Truth? : http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/truth.php

3. Fear and Mind Control: http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/fear-cult-mind-control.php

Try not to say "mind control" this early with your discussion, but talk about the fear of questioning anything they say.

31

What if.

by LAWHFol in

what if we only find god, once we have found our self?

OnTheWayOut

I have found myself. The gods of man's creation do not exist.

I am glad you offered this thread for me to get that cleared up for you.

6

Bending Truth- A look at Cognitive Dissonance by Theramin Trees

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

a reflection on the importance of acknowledging that we can all be manipulated.. this is an excellent presentation on the problems with leaving the group, problems with disagreeing with the group, why recruiting children is important to religions.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iauhr-trkhy.

OnTheWayOut

A reflection on the importance of acknowledging that we can all be manipulated.

This is an excellent presentation on the problems with leaving the group, problems with disagreeing with the group, why recruiting children is important to religions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaUhR-tRkHY

72

Have you heard the one about "Back to the Future" Predicting 911??

by EndofMysteries in

when somebody posted this on fb, i was anxious to see how ridiculous it would be, probably worse then the gb prophecies, etc.

after watching the clip, i honestly don't know what to believe.

at the very least it's very entertaining and interesting.

OnTheWayOut

Two things- The BACK TO THE FUTURE STUFF is reaching and even if you think it's odd, it's a huge frigging coincidence.

As far as THE WIRE goes, I wouldn't doubt the man noticed the odd stuff in the BTTF movies and played it up a bit into THE WIRE.

How about this: the Twin Pines Mall and terrorists had nothing to do with the Twin Towers. Showing them in the window was a coincidence, but it's because the guy liked the Twin Towers and how they represented New York so well. His fascination with the towers led to THE WIRE.

And when the Cubs do indeed win the World Series, it won't be against "Miami" so the first part is a big coincidence.

Look for patterns, find patterns. Look for patterns after the facts and make them fit the facts and you will be able to find a way to find them fitting.

112

Did an EX-JW wake you up to TTATT or did you put the effort to wake up yourself?

by John Aquila in

how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.

how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.

how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.

OnTheWayOut

The feeling that this religion just wasn't quite right kept building like a fire inside me, with doctrine change, a double standard for elders families or those of other connected ones. Nobody like Rick Fearon with a bullhorn would have woke me up. It had to be on my own. It just built up until I asked "What prevents me from googling 'Jehovah's Witnesses'?" So I did, and went anywhere it took me. The rest is history.

30

Who would you like to hear of leaving the Jehovah's Witnesses ?

by wozza in

jw
friends

i'll start off with this one:.

some years ago when i was formulating my exit, i employed for some time an ms brother from another congregation.. i'd had a couple of young "worldly" lads work for me but they proved unreliable as they used drugs or alchohol and consequently would'nt arrive at work and such like.. so when i was was contacted by this brother and spoke to him and heard he'd worked at the australian bethel for some time on construction and wanted an opportunity to learn the trade of bricklaying ,i thought ,"great someone to finally trust and be reliable".

he was in his 40's at the time and he worked like a trojan ,was honest ,really likeable and interesting ,could play the classical guitar beautifully ,had a beautiful family.

OnTheWayOut

Besides my wife, mother, and in-law family, I would just love to hear about upper echelon members, especially governing body members, bugging out like Ray Franz did.

He did so much for the cause and with these guys so "out there" now, imagine the damage a fresh whistle blower could do.

Short of that, I would hope for the loved ones of my dear friends from the ex-JW community to wake up and embrace us all.

28

Is the end of Watchtowers hated No Blood doctrine in sight?

by nicolaou in

i won't pretend to know things that i don't but just look at the incredible rate of change we've witnessed recently.

it seems that since candace conti and the australian royal commission the watchtower are scrabbling around to shore up their finances in the face of unprecedented legal action against them.. abuse settlement claims are one thing but what happens when children die as a result of your religious teachings?!

you can bet wt legal are arguing for a complete rewrite of policy to protect the organisation from litigation.. do you think their religious privilege will protect them forever?

OnTheWayOut

The Oregon case is an example of how slow the process is. The state is trying to save infants from the religious beliefs of their parents and not from the religion itself. Headway toward elimination of that religion will come when someone, say a grandparent who felt the loss, successfully sues the religion over the matter.

But the groundwork is there.

I read a rumor that Watchtower eliminated the Theocratic Ministry School, largely in part because Australia and other places require background checks or other minimum standards of training for anyone involved in a "school" where children are enrolled- no exceptions. So Sunday School or Theocratic Ministry School would come up under that requirement. Watchtower's response to eliminate a "school" with children in it would be a solid reaction similar to the (hoped for) abandoning of the automatic disassociation for a blood transfusion. It may take one successful lawsuit or one aggressive new law in some country to bring that about.