im in the process of drifting out.
my entire family are jw's.
my wife and her family are too.
You call it drifting away. I like that. Most here have called it fading. They probaby want your time from you to prevent your status from going to "inactive" which happens at 6 months with no recruiting reports.
If you want to drift away, sooner or later you must become inactive. If you aren't ready, give them a fake 1 hour. If you are ready, either accept their shepherding visit or not. They cannot take judicial action for inactivity or for avoiding their counsel.
I wish you well.
i just watched a youtube discussion between marc & cora and unwitness.
it was regarding their unhappiness over a few prominent individuals in the ex jw community, one individual in particular.
this individual who on the one hand produces excellent videos highlighting wt issues, yet has been known to peeve a lot of ex jw activists off.
I don't keep up with the latest spewing out of jw broadcasting, so I don't tend to watch any of the videos. I have liked Cedars' videos and very much liked Marc and Cora's videos for the personal touch on issues.
I might tend toward avoiding Cedars and siding with anyone against him because of past issues of outing on facebook, but really don't care to be involved in any organized efforts.
I would have to agree with those that say to appreciate whichever videos help ya and ignore the rest. I get why people felt a need to speak out about issues in the ex-jw community but I hope they all just move on to their own path. A great example in that would be Barb Anderson who moved on to her own agenda and just stays away from divisive activity.
i've left a couple of semi-"humorous" remarks, but not yet said a proper hello....but firstly thank you, to all, for this site and all its comments.i have been lurking on this site for 4-5 years, awake for 5-6 years and seriously fading for the last 4 years.
i am now "out" and widely considered "out" by the congregation but due being very cautious and playing a very long game, (and having a wife who understand the repercussions of blowing the whistle on the few viewpoints i have discussed with her) i have not been df'd of da'd.
this forum has been a crutch and guide as well as helping me wake - and the humour many on here use has been a welcome relief.
Hello Andy.
We have much in common. I faded with no DA/DF actions taken and my wife is an active JW.
I used to get the "Sister Jones said hello, Brother Smith says he misses you" statements from my wife and I would say "They know my phone number hasn't changed, so they could have called." Heck, I waited outside the Kingdom Hall in the parking lot to pick my wife up a few times and the "friends" would see me and turn and pretend they didn't see me, then say at the next meeting to my wife, "Tell OTWO we miss him."
I have also wanted to say things to JW's about TTATT, but you are right- it's not worth risking the relationship you have. It's especially not worth it when those same JW's probably won't listen anyway.
So stick around if it helps. See you around the threads.
i have looked around and i don't see this covered, so i am starting a thread.. 1) the new "blood card" goes beyond being just a "blood card".. 2) a new edict concerning compliance.. pay attention to the changes.. first, the new card is termed "advance decision to refuse specified medical treatment".
the big change with the card itself is that it includes an 'override' of your "power of attorney".
this is huge.
There is always a large number of jws in each cong that don't get them filled out. Be one of those... there is only so much the elderdubs will do before they give up.
I must agree with RichardHaley. And if you are in a congregation with elders that pester you until they have a copy, just refuse. Just say, "I will have to run anything by a lawyer before I hand over legal papers to anyone."
If that's not enough deterrent, say "I have everything on file with my lawyer. He advised me not to leave documents with non-medical non-legal people. So everything is good with me."
actually, they we found over 100 years ago.
but because so many dinosaur bones have yielded soft tissue, blood cells, dna fragments etc.
, many have predicted (including myself) when all this really broke loose in 2005, that many more similar discoveries would be made simply by going back and cracking open old fossils and having a look inside.
If there was video similar to Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone's vault, and being embarrassed on live television that it's empty, I might give some high fives to the people who opened up this "fossil" and dipped a stick or dry fountain pen directly into the fossil in order to draw from it.
But that isn't what happened. I am confident that the terms are exaggerated and that the dark pigment used to draw was derived from grinding the dry dark fossil that would have developed from the "ink" and putting it into a new vehicle- some kind of oil.
Perry, I actually worked in a printing ink factory as a lab technician. Anything ground up can be used for color. Black was typically derived from soot in the past.
And considering Perry's sources, I also have no doubt that most things in his articles are misquoted or exaggerated or directly lied about to bolster a creationist agenda and ignore real science.
how corrupt do you think they are?
if so, in what ways?
i've been compiling my own list and thoughts.
While it may not be asked so directly, it is a huge question for discussion here.
We all have thoughts on whether the men in the governing body are victims or victimizers or both.
My personal thoughts tend toward them adjusting their thinking more in line with the way lawyers sleep at night after getting guilty clients out of prison or the way politicians adjust their thinking toward learning to say almost anything (or nothing) in order to get votes.
They learn to think that the preservation of the organization is way more important than anything else, things like kindness and full disclosure of information. This thinking allows them to manipulate, coerce, and even directly lie.
any cheaper ways of getting a copy?
i won't want to steal.
I know you aren't asking for opinions, but I just can't resist.
Dr. Jerry Bergman is the author of JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND THE PROBLEM OF MENTAL ILLNESS.
It does seem to be over $100 at Amazon.
I attended some sessions of BRCI in Illinois and Jerry Bergman spoke at one about how evolution is impossible. Rather than spend a whole thread telling you how much I disagreed with him, and why I wouldn't spend even $20 on a book written by him, this article can demonstrate what's wrong with his thinking:
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Jerry_Bergman
To be fair, it seems that this book was written when Dr. Bergman was an active JW, and there might be other reasons beyond agreeing with him or enjoying his way of thinking that a person might want this book. But it does seem that Jerry has abandoned JW's without examining his deep-seated "Young-Earth-Creationist" beliefs.
Good luck to you.
saw this while browsing through the good news brochure:.
is it any wonder people aren't listening to jws anymore?
what an absolutely delusional scene!
i was 11 years old and i was sitting at my desk in homeroom class when the student on my left, gregory, tapped me on my shoulder.. he held a folded note in his hand and was gesturing for me to take it.
he leaned toward my desk and whispered barely loud enough for me to hear,“pass this note to robbie.” robbie was the girl sitting on my right.. i took the note, unfolded it and read it just as gregory punched my arm.
a shout-whisper came along with the fist, “don’t read it, you moron!”i picked up my pencil and scribbled one word of my own and passed the note to robbie.. i had a crush on robbie and so did gregory bunn.
l;ve been giving this some serious consideration lately.l dont have all the answers no one does.we are all entitled to our opinions.l certainly dont believe in evolution as lve researched that subject extensively.lt's important to believe in something even if its for mental health.l believe everything happens for a reason.l also believe if we all live as close to the 10 commandments as possible this world would be a far better place to live and no one can argue with that.
l also believe if we all live as close to the 10 commandments as possible this world would be a far better place to live and no one can argue with that.
Many can argue with that.
Don't Kill, Don't Steal. Those are great. But those type of rules were not "invented" at the time they were supposedly written. They were widely accepted tens of thousands of years before that. The Code of Hammurabi predates the 10 C's by centuries and there is an existing copy from days gone by in stone. And other civilizations (China, India, Sumeria, Egypt) had law codes that had prohibitions against murder, theft, adultery, fraud.
So don't assume the 10 C's are good because many of it's tenants are good.
The first commandment, punishable by death or suffering for generations, to have no other gods- we have the start of an enforced belief system that could and did lead to things like the Spanish Inquisition and the dark ages. Today, another group has a similar commandment- The Taliban.
The second commandment about no graven images, that's pretty much unenforced in Christianity. Could you imagine it's enforcement today. You don't have to imagine. Muslims were enraged at drawings of Muhammad. In United States law, the second commandment is nowhere. I could not imagine the U.S. would be "a far better place to live" if the second commandment were enforced similarly to Muslims laws about "graven images."
The third commandment about taking the Lord's name in vain, this is just a restatement of the first commandment, enforced belief. This one is just more specific in that someone will define what "in vain" means and can put scientists and thinkers to death for daring to defy the church.
The fourth commandment about the Sabbath. Could you imagine a world where nobody does anything on Saturday (or Sunday)? There are little groups that try to enforce this one. Technically, driving your car to church on the Sabbath is a violation of the commandment, punishable by death.
Honoring your parents is a good idea, but if some priestly body were to define this, many many many teens would be stoned to death over the objections of their parents.
Here's the guts of the ten commandments that are okay:
Don't kill people.
Don't take what isn't yours.
Be fair.
Be good to your parents.
I could add things like
Don't be an idiot.
Be good to your children.
Don't own slaves.
Be a good neighbor by cleaning your property, shoveling snow, cutting your grass, helping the elderly.
Do the right thing.
