Posts by OnTheWayOut

19

What if moving the world headquarters of the Watchtower is just a cover-up?

by WireRider in

what better way to scam a few hundred million off the top?

with all the conversations, and truly distractions, of shortfalls and money problems - sell off about 1.2 billion of highly valued, tax exempt, property in brooklyn ny and build an ehhh 500 million property upstate.

what happened to the missing 700 million?

OnTheWayOut

They are obviously skimming off the top for their well-connected suppliers- builders, accountants, lawyers, realtors, etc. They are obviously building nicer headquarters than they need. I mean, they could have sold all the Brooklyn properties and moved to existing New York state properties. If they are going to become a web religion, they could run it from one building.

I don't believe there is a false money problem, though. I think it's deeper than they let on. We do not get to hear about the pedo-lawsuits where a gag order was in place. We know that voluntary donations from non-Witnesses for the literature has always been tough to even ask for, let alone collect. We know that the expectation upon the members paying for the literature has been met poorly all along. We know that assemblies/conventions have been their cash-cows but we don't know if they have not kept up with the organization's money woes in other areas.

The thing with members is that they always feel that they give their time, so they only give so much money. I mean- straight up, if the Mormons encourage education and a male member earns $70,000 (USA) a year for his family, he gives his total yearly tithe of $7,000 and probably gives time also. Can you imagine a Witness anywhere giving that amount of money? If they drop $100 a month in the congregation box, $100 in the box at the Assembly Hall (both waaay high from what I have seen in years past) then they contribute only $1,500 a year.

100

10 Years out of the JW Organization- What I've Learned ( For what it's Worth)

by flipper in

jw
friends

10 years ago i stopped attending jehovah's witness meetings for good.

walked out of the kingdom hall cold turkey never to return based on injustices i observed among others and myself at the hands of elders giving out not god's counsel but personal opinions as counsel .

some of them weren't even giving out wt society counsel- just personal opinions.

OnTheWayOut

I wanted to add this important thing that I learned, just in case some faders are reading:

Many (if not most) who wake up to the truth about "the truth" could just walk away from the Kingdom Hall all at once, "cold turkey."

I didn't do it either, but I wish I did. Many, even with children, will find that the kids hated it and will come around to appreciate Mom or Dad walking away and opening up alternatives. Many with family "in" can maintain their life of not openly defying Watchtower and its rules, and just walk out, to retain just as much family contact as a slow fader.

The sooner one gets away from the thought-control speeches, the sooner their head clears up and they start to figure out why they were depressed.

Oh, and this food for thought- there really is no difference between "inspired" and "spirit-directed." It is only used by Watchtower to allow them to change what they have proclaimed. Why would God inspire the correct understanding in the ancient past, but only spirit-direct those proclaiming His truth often with errors?

77

In The Name of Love, Need Your Opinion

by thankyou in

i'm non-jw.. been following this forum.

most of you folks have been through hell, but are still loving souls.

i'm reeeally impressed and glad to be here.. my question is at the end of this.

OnTheWayOut

I wanted to say, "Hurry and run back to the two more attractive girls as kinky threesomes are way better than the sex you would have with the JW girl."

But if I did, you would probably not take me seriously.

Seriously, your story has been repeated on here before by other men who have the hots for a JW girl. It is repeated so often that I thought I might have commented to you on this before, but I looked and it seems I did not. Don't get too worked up about a nice-dressing clean girl who seems pure to you. If she's not fully "out" of that religion, she will give you heartache and go back-and-forth.

See if you can't hook up with the attractive girls.

11

lets go surfing now everybodies learning how

by Sabin in

here is something that i don't get, the wtbts bangs on bout the value of life & how we shouldn't take chances with it cause it would be disrespectful to jah.

g. yeah, like parachuting/sky diving/speeding & all that.

however, they say naf all about surfing do they.

OnTheWayOut

"If you have time for the mall, you have time for the Hall."
"If you can go to the beach, you can go out and preach."
"If you can't pioneer, you can still volunteer."
"If you still take chances and surf, take no chances and bring your cart out on the turf."

2

This generation again on tv.jw.org with a guest role of teacher Splane

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

it seems there is still need to explain the this generation fable again, now by a helper of the teaching committee with of course a guest role of david splane, the teacher of the gb.. fun!

(and fellow jw's, do you get it now?!?).

http://tv.jw.org/#en/video/vodprogramsevents/pub-jwbmw_201511_3_video.

OnTheWayOut

I know nothing about this "helper" but he sure is kissing GB butt. He praises Spane's exSPLANE-ation and acts as if these guys have it all so wonderfully figured out.

17

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ERRRRRRRRRR BODY.!!!

by brandnew in

jw
friends

just wanna say.....im thankfull for y'all....n stuff

OnTheWayOut

I had to figure what "ERRRRRRRRRR BODY" was. Thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, brandnew. And the same Happy Thanksgiving to "everybody" else here.

40

Reasons for doubting.

by New day in

somebody mentioned in a recent topic that they had a conversation with a former elder whose breaking point was when the overlapping generation was highlighted in recent times and how he would never serve again until somebody gave him a scriptural reason to believe it.

i am in a similar position.

i have gone in the last 18 months from taking the wt study, leading fs groups, and doing talks on the mtngs to doing almost nothing, as i resigned a little over a year ago as an elder due to a combination of family responsibilities and huge doubts.

OnTheWayOut

Good for you, New day. Resigning as an elder is probably psychologically tougher than just fading out for non-elders. The ones who do, typically are not caught up in the title, but want to do the right thing. And they notice that something is not "the right thing."

I left before the 2008 flip in definition of "generation" from "the wicked" to "the anointed." I swear that would have been enough for me to walk out had I not done so already. Even if I am wrong and would have stayed, I would have got up from my chair loudly laughing about "overlapping generation" during that WT study article and never walked back in.

The current money situation could have caused the same thing for me- they take all the money away from congregations and say they need it for the worldwide building projects, then they put all the worldwide building projects on hold because there isn't enough money. "Ha, they sure burned us there. Won't get fooled again, bye all." That would be my phrase as I headed out the door.

"Obey at all costs" might not have gotten to me, as it sounds like what they have always wanted even if they didn't form the words that way before. But I always thought I would examine everything for myself anyway, and would have ignored that request. My only problem doing that (and the same for many who stay) is that they think they are examining everything for themselves, but they exclusively (or nearly so) only use Watchtower materials and fall for the flawed logic.

Even their current explanation of "overlap generation" uses the short-lived idea of "wicked people" as "our" former belief, so that they can act as if they are so much more enlightened now, and if anyone wants to scoff at "overlap generation," they can say it's much "light-brighter" than what "we" used to believe. Thus they can ignore decades of believing in the "1914 Generation."

Anyway, good luck to you moving forward toward more freedom.

47

Elder harassed my mom and asked for donation

by kaik in

my mom had surgery last month and she developed complication and had to be on antibiotics to treat infection.

so, she is recovering slowly, but things was tough on her and she was not attending kh or went to assembly two weeks ago.

nonetheless, elder showed up at her place and instead providing her with comfort he started to harass her that her faith is weak, she does not put trust in jah, etc.

OnTheWayOut

They are supposed to be different from "Christendom" and remain anonymous with donations. I would have said, "Do you have any idea how much I had sent to the Kingdom Hall in donations through people who really encourage me while I am recovering?"

That or "Did you bring your credit card machine with you?" If he happened to have one, tell him to shove it.....

27

Missed the Meeting

by konceptual99 in

jw
friends

so yesterday was a lovely day where i live and so instead of going to the meeting we went, as a family, out for the late pm/early evening to have a bbq.

we were far more relaxed than if we had gone to the meeting.

we spent far more time talking that if we had gone to the meeting.

OnTheWayOut

kc99 (can I call you that?) I did a fast fade over a period of 7 to 8 months. Everyone has to look at what they need to do. I have a JW wife who is too far "in" to get out, and I have no kids. No kids means no shunning by Grandma or a forced constant issue with my spouse over holidays, sports, hobbies, friends, future goals.

I tend not to agree with a very long fade, but that's me. As long as you have some progress- some goals. Your skipping some meetings sounds like you do have those.

15

Just read "Zealot - The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth"

by EdenOne in

so, keeping in mind that mrs. eden isn't so comfortable with english, i have been searching for books on the subject of the historical jesus and who wrote the bible, and i got very frustrated because there's not a lot of those in my native language.

most of what i read in english simply hasn't been translated, which is a shame.

in any case, i managed to get two: bart ehrman's "misquoting jesus" and reza aslan's "zealot".

OnTheWayOut

TimDrake1914 on page 1: Bart seemed to view Zealot as more of a fictionalized account of Jesus, rather than an actual scholarly take on Jesus.

Yes. While it isn't written as fiction, I took it as a fiction that said "Who would Jesus have to be in order to grow up and live in that time in a way to become literally immortalized?" But to me, it was a scholarly explanation.

There are now plenty of Jesus-Isn't-Real books, so it was refreshing to read. Even if it's a fiction, it helps the reader to understand the culture that could create the "zealots" for the era.