OnTheWayOut

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Posts by OnTheWayOut

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  5

  JW Comedy By An Ex-JW

  by Joe Grundy in

  1. social
  2. humour

  deborah frances white 30 min radio show 14 oct.. highly recommended.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07x6mf3.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I am listening right now. This is pretty good.
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  4

  I need to know what is truth?

  by Chook in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  is it a perception only.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Webster tells us that truth is “that which is true,” but that isn't very helpful. I could make a statement and say that it is a true statement, but that just leads to questions such as these; What is a true statement? Is it different from a statement made truthfully? Such highly abstract discussions will get us nowhere.
  
  Some feel that truth is subjective and personal, that one man’s truth comes from his inner feelings and
  thinking, his viewpoint. Many add that truth is relative, only defined by its comparison to something else. This would be similar to the abstract question, “What is beauty?” In subjective truth, different persons would
  have different truths. Outside of philosophy, truth is not generally thought of in subjective terms. Truth is determined by existing realities, based on facts independent of the mind. Most people think that truth is objective. Some go so far as to say that only absolute truth matters."Absolute truth" is defined as inflexible reality: fixed, invariable, unalterable facts.

  Even here, truth can be a perception. Absolute truth requires an absolute standard. If I make the objective statement that “Earth is the third planet out from the sun,” it seems like a fixed unalterable fact. But another person could ask, “Whose definition of ‘planet’ are you using?” “Is it possible that there are other undiscovered planets between the earth and sun?” “When you say ‘out from the sun,’ do you mean in distance or a straight line?”

  But to the original question, the definition of objective "truth" is generally that which is accepted by the vast majority as factual. Not a simple majority, but the VAST majority. So it's mostly boring uncontroversial facts. As soon as someone objects to the subject or the conclusions, they also decide to question whether something is "truth." Examples are things like global warming, or facts that fly in the face of beliefs.
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  6

  Article: Are There Contradictions in the Bible?

  by ttdtt in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when online looking at the recent wt there was a link to this..https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/are-there-contradictions-in-the-bible/.

  here are the "big" ones they disproved - though not really:).

  if god rested on the seventh day, how has he continued working?where did jesus heal the blind man?will the earth be destroyed?in capernaum, who brought the centurion’s request to jesus?do we all sin?is jesus equal to god or lesser than god?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Are There Contradictions in the Bible?

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpGO2VTksIw
  
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  14

  Impact of NWT

  by menrov in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi all, just recently i was thinking about the period of my study and eventual baptism as jw.

  it took many years, i guess in all about 10 years.

  various times i stopped the study but after a while it started again.

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  OnTheWayOut

  There have been many who have become JW when the NWT was not available in their language. That's all I got to say about that.
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  23

  Hey everyone

  by coffee_black in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  popping in to say hi.... been away from the forum for a long time.... had some serious health issues starting at the beginning of this year.

  on the mend now, and getting back into the swing of things.... great to be alive!.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Great to hear you are alive and on the mend. Power to you.
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  44

  The Great October 2016 Invite to the Sunday Meeting campaign ...

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well how's it going round your way?

  massive increase of interested ones?

  did you even know it was supposed to be happening?

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  OnTheWayOut

  Hey, I am an inactive one. Nobody invited me. I knew nothing of a campaign.
  
  Don't get me wrong, I am happy they leave me alone. But it shows that this isn't a real thing, just busy work.
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  39

  Can Someone Explain To Me, Are The Org In Debt Or Rich?

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  hi guys.. im aware of the orgs blatant hints to donate, donate, donate to the org, the sacking of bethel staff, selling of buildings, reducing mags and books, emphasis on digital rather than physical books etc which is obviously a money saver - but are the wt org in money difficulty?

  because elsewhere on here and on youtube there's stories of the watchtower being mega rich, one even called it "a billion dollar organization".

  and if there is any money in there, who's benefiting off it?

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  OnTheWayOut

  When you are a giant publishing company, and all publications from newspapers to magazines to books are yesterday's profits and today's burden, it's hard to change and stay profitable. And then there are lawsuits galore.
  
  Borders book stores were forced to start selling e-readers. It was the beginning of their end. No point in buying a $25 book at Borders when you can buy it on Amazon for a download fee less than half of that. No point in even going to Borders if that's the case. Watchtower is heading that way right now. But even worse, their "product" is laughable to young people, so while some members won't be "buying" literature, others are heading away from the religion and never going back.
  
  But just as the Wall Street Journal is still around, it takes awhile to get rid of a giant. After Brooklyn, there's still all those Kingdom Halls and Assembly Halls. There's still some profit in annual conventions and there's still many ways they can cut costs until it's just the Governing Body and a few internet gurus running the company. I think they are doomed, but I think they will be around for my lifetime. I hope I am wrong.
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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.