OnTheWayOut

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Posts by OnTheWayOut

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  6

  Amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic...Ben Carson

  by James Mixon in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  laughing my a-off watching the comedian lewis black and he mention what carson said, and i thought surely old ben didn't say that.

  i b- damn, he said it.

  black said " he said this in front of a lot of people and i'am surprise no one came up to him and said ben, you must come with us now"...                                                                               .

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  OnTheWayOut

  Ben Carson must have one of those minds where he learns something and it is embedded as fact. He learns how to do surgery and he's good at it. He learns that the fundamentalist view is real and he embraces it.
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  21

  What steps did you take to free yourself from the cult? mentally or physically?

  by HereIgo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  first i ignored all of the elders phone calls to send my recommendation letter to my new congregation, truth is i had already started my fade and moved across town and didn't have a new congregation.

  i deleted all jw friends on facebook.

  i also threw away all of my public talks recorded on cd, all literature, even my book bag and my bible.

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  OnTheWayOut

  While in, I finally reached the doubt stage that allowed me to thoroughly investigate the internet links such as jwfacts and freeminds. I ordered and read Steve Hassan's COMBATTING CULT MIND CONTROL and Ray Franz' CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE. Since I was a very involved elder, I had to make some drastic changes. I resigned as an elder claiming I had doubt, particularly in following the lead of the anointed without knowing any of them personally. Basically, I was honest enough to make the brothers scared to talk to me, because they seem to believe that apostasy is contagious.
  
  I quickly faded because my doubts were well-known among the elders.
  
  To deal with my own psychological letting go, I embraced the idea of meeting other former JW's. I went to counseling to face the things that made me join the JW's and to face letting go. I even had a solemn private ceremony denouncing my baptism and allowing myself to violate my own conscience when dealing with lying to the JW's or withholding information or dealing with JW family in the same way. Since baptism was a water thing, unbaptism included fire- the burning of Watchtower literature.
  
  I have since traveled across the United States and included meeting with other former JW's. While not afraid of them, I have found it better in my case to just avoid all JW's except for my mother and my wife and her family. I just have no reason to have any interaction and it keeps the elders from bothering me- no fellowship means no need to investigate a need to disfellowship.
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  98

  Steve Hassan. Can some one verify if this is true.

  by joe134cd in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  https://culteducation.com/group/1289-general-information/8227-disclaimer-regarding-steve-hassan.html.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Drwho on page 3: All this said and done , I believe he is genuine and has a wealth of knowledge in this field . What is totally different and maybe almost unique to the JWs is the fact that so many are long term / born in members . His books are 90% directed at people who have just been sucked in to a cult .

  I am a huge fan of Steve Hassan's books. COMBATTING CULT MIND CONTROL was huge for me. It was written when he didn't know much at all about JW's.
  
  But I was primed to leave JW's and I was ready to hear it. I could sing the praises of Steve Hassan and say he is probably worth $400 an hour. But honestly, he's probably worth that to get your young adult relative out of some hardcore cult that s/he joined in college or high school that is more gang-like or like a commune.

  For yourself, if you want to consult with Steve Hassan, go ahead and try. You will probably like it. For an intervention (especially with a long-time member), I am quite sure it doesn't really work with Mormons and JW's to simply make them a captured audience for awhile.
  
  If you are searching for a free intervention, you won't find experts out there to do it. If you are searching for free or reasonable help for yourself, you will probably find that to some degree.
  
  I would gladly pay Steve Hassan several thousand dollars if there was some guarantee I could get my wife out of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but I am pretty confident that it wouldn't work. I never went so far as to consult on this, but I considered getting Hassan or someone similar to sit on a long airplane ride next to my wife and make her a semi-captive audience. But she would probably engage in conversation for a few minutes to be polite then do the same she has done with me, which is saying that "this conversation is giving me a headache" and insist that the person stops.
  I mention that, because I think most here who are against the high fees are thinking similarly- that thousands of dollars later, their JW loved one is still a JW loved one, and what a waste of money.
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  98

  Steve Hassan. Can some one verify if this is true.

  by joe134cd in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  https://culteducation.com/group/1289-general-information/8227-disclaimer-regarding-steve-hassan.html.

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  OnTheWayOut

  The Cult Education Institute (in your link) is run by Rick Ross, a controversial cult deprogrammer. Read this one organization link to see what they have to say about Rick Ross and his ongoing attacks on Steve Hassan.
  
  http://www.apologeticsindex.org/132-rick-ross-not-endorsed
  
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  62

  the new understanding

  by heathen in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi guys , i know i was never a favorite here and haven't posted in awhile ... question .

  what do you think of the new understanding of , " this generation " they seem to go in circles on this one big time , once 1914 generation was almost gone they said they didn't know what it meant and now in the new publication the generation includes the second generation after 1914 .... i agree they don't know what they are talking about and this is just another control move .

  any comments ?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Old doctrine (loosely) based on scriptures is the biggest hindrance Watchtower has to overcome when the calendar says they are wrong. They will invent any bullshit to do this. Reading over some of Freddy Franz' stuff, there is no real basis for 1975 and for the length of earth years given to a "creative day." He just invented bullshit that was more dazzling than the bullshit the current bunch came up with.
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  54

  According to one JW there can only be 1 of 3 reasons why you left.

  by Bonsai in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i asked an old jw friend of mine why so many baptized individuals leave the jw religion.

  "did it ever occur to you, old friend, that maybe they know something that you don't know and have valid reasons for leaving?

  ", i asked.. his response set me back for an answer.

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  OnTheWayOut

  " The vast majority of those who leave the truth do it for one of three reasons:
  1). They want to go out and fornicate, or are already fornicating, get caught and leave.
  2). They have homosexual desires and finally go out and decide to act on those desires.
  3). They've been stumbled and their pride pushes them out."

  Don't forget the 4th one.

  4] They are too lazy to do the door-to-door work.
  
  They rumored that it was #3 for me. I suppose learning the truth about the truth can stumble one out, but pride wasn't part of it for me.
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  9

  My JW mother asks me to be 2nd on her "Medical Directive" card

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother's parents, my grandparents were not jw.

  my jw mother had medical power of attorney and her husband (never jw) was secondary on that.

  when grandma needed blood, mom let her husband sign off.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I had not abandoned this thread. I have read all responses. When I have some time, I will start responding. Thanks.
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  15

  Adult survivor of sexual abuse as a child

  by life is to short in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i showed the video from the midweek meeting of september 12th to my counselor to get her take on it.

  she said that it clearly was a propaganda video and was appalled that it was shown to an audience that had small children in it.

  she said that they could have been way more generic in their way of portraying the women as having been abused.. the subject of sexual abuse and the way the video zeroed in on it would have small children asking questions that really did not need to be addressed.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Thanks for your report. The black pot is complaining that the kettle is black. And they will continue to run, hide, appeal cases.
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  21

  Is remaining ignorant a choice?

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  is remaining ignorant about the society a choice?.

  surely every witness has a moment in time when "something just doesn't seem right"?

  perhaps a teaching, doctrine, an article, a talk, a news report about child abuse handling, or a jwdubdotorg broadcast, a video, a cartoon for the kids....you know....?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I realized that, no maater what, I would have woke up with a WTF moment. If I had not left already, "overlapping generation" certainly would have caused me to get up during the study of it, walk away, and laugh on the way out.

  If I am confronted by JW's, I may still just keep saying "overlapping generation" in a laughing tone.

  But not all the ones who are heavily invested will wake up no matter the crap they sell. Younger ones are using google and modern common knowledge from the internet to get away, so it will continue to shrink.
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  9

  My JW mother asks me to be 2nd on her "Medical Directive" card

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother's parents, my grandparents were not jw.

  my jw mother had medical power of attorney and her husband (never jw) was secondary on that.

  when grandma needed blood, mom let her husband sign off.

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  OnTheWayOut

  My mother's parents, my grandparents were not JW. My JW mother had medical power of attorney and her husband (never JW) was secondary on that. When Grandma needed blood, Mom let her husband sign off. Going back in ancient family history, when my brother was sick with Leukemia in the early 1970's, my JW mother stayed silent about his medical treatment and let my father (never JW) sign off on blood.
  
  So she's always found the loophole to let people get what they need.

  It's happened before and it's happening again- apparently, it's time to sign a new medical directive. So she asks me to be second after her (never JW) husband for medical power of attorney (or whatever the specific term is). I agreed. My mother is in generally good health. I can foresee her husband caving in to giving blood to her. If I can see it, I imagine my mother can see it. Then if he's not able, I might honor her wishes. But I might cave in also, depending on the situation.

  She said she doesn't want the elders making decisions. My JW wife did ask me a few years ago to sign her card and honor her wishes. Maybe she will also ask me again. I know we argue here whether we should honor their wishes or not and I am not wanting this to turn into such an argument. I mean it when I say I will honor their wishes, but I just may change my mind if I think it will make a difference.