Posts by OnTheWayOut

11

Happy Valentine's Day

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

when i was jw, my standard answer to "saint....anything" day was "well, i am not catholic.

" that's still a valid answer that i would feel like giving if i was seriously questioned on any catholic or religious holiday, although i might change it to "well, i am not christian.

but fun is fun.

OnTheWayOut

Thanks all. I would love to share these silly holidays with a certain loved one some day. But at least I got you guys.

11

Happy Valentine's Day

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

when i was jw, my standard answer to "saint....anything" day was "well, i am not catholic.

" that's still a valid answer that i would feel like giving if i was seriously questioned on any catholic or religious holiday, although i might change it to "well, i am not christian.

but fun is fun.

OnTheWayOut

....and those of you who are Christian should try to get St. Joseph's Day to be a bigger thing. Maybe associate it with step families and going out for pizza.

11

Happy Valentine's Day

by OnTheWayOut in

jw
friends

when i was jw, my standard answer to "saint....anything" day was "well, i am not catholic.

" that's still a valid answer that i would feel like giving if i was seriously questioned on any catholic or religious holiday, although i might change it to "well, i am not christian.

but fun is fun.

When I was JW, my standard answer to "Saint....Anything" day was "Well, I am not Catholic." That's still a valid answer that I would feel like giving if I was seriously questioned on any Catholic or religious holiday, although I might change it to "Well, I am not Christian."

But fun is fun. I have no problem with gift exchanges at Christmas- because that's when people do that. St. Patrick and St. Valentine have been turned into something fun. This one has also been turned into something of a sexy/romance day. Enjoy.

SO HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY. Just a light-hearted thought.

64

Day 1 - Fessler vs. Watchtower – Opening Statements and Motions in Jehovah’s Witness Child Abuse Trial

by AndersonsInfo in

news bulletin: fessler versus watchtower – opening statements and motions in jehovah’s witness child abuse trial – day 1. .

posted on february 12, 2017. city hall, philadelphia, pennsylvania.

on a cold philadelphia morning the 7th of february, 2017, stephanie fessler walked into the court of common pleas of pennsylvania, first judicial district, civil trial division.

OnTheWayOut

I don't know what the elders were told, but it should become clear whether they violated a law about the duty to report.

With a judge ready to allow a witness in the punitive portion, I imagine the judge already knows whether the law was violated.

Thanks for reporting to us, Barb.

22

New to site...let me intro myself

by LarryCope in

first, i've been out of the organization for 20 years this very year!

i was baptized in 1979 and attended one of the lancaster ohio congregations.

realizing i was gay, i left and after being in the columbus gay community for 6 months, decided bar hopping and cruising was not my cup o' tea.i decided to return in late '90 and was reinstated in '91.

OnTheWayOut

So being gay had little to do with your leaving the final time.

Similarly, I left because I discovered it's not "the truth." So congratulations on your own discovery. If I had not left already, I would have laughed out loud during the Watchtower study that introduced the "overlap generation" and stormed out shouting "On that teaching, I am outta here."

Thanks for sharing, enjoy the forum. I look forward to your inputs.

21

Serpent in the Garden of Eden is not Satan

by anointed1 in

many interpret serpent in the garden of eden as the satan hence miss the whole point because satan himself does not exist.

he is a fictional character [for example, in the temptation account, satan is shown as reflecting the erroneous belief of ancient time that shape of earth is flat, thus taking jesus to the top of “a very high mountain” and showed him “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.” (mathew 4:8, 9) the fact that jesus did not correct the mistaken view of satan shows the account of temptation is allegorical.

further, jesus knew that satan was only a personification of evil (mathew 16:23; john 6:70) and categorically declared that “all evil thoughts proceed from one’s heart,” not from satan.

OnTheWayOut

Wait wait wait wait.

From what I read here, you say that the Garden of Eden, Eve, the story about the snake- all that is true?
....but the snake wasn't Satan?

.....or are the whole story and the characters in it also fictions as allegories?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sin is a religious term. Sin was created by religion to make people feel guilty, then they can contribute to religion monetarily or otherwise to appease their guilt.

People do wrong/bad things for self interest or other strange reasons. But it's only sin when religion gets involved.

49

Infinity versus nothing

by Fisherman in

some people like to believe in something others believe in nothing; so in what location did the substance that expanded into the time/space universe exist before the big bang?

where did the energy that caused the big band come from?

how did the substance that became the big bang change from being inert and sterile and come to life to having the properties and drive that it does?

OnTheWayOut

Even if science could provide the answers to where the matter/energy came from before our universe existed, I get that our limited minds would not process that well and we would still be hung up on wanting a simple explanation.

Regardless of where you are on your questions, putting God into the equation does not eliminate the problem.

Where did "god" come from? How did this "god" come to life to having the properties and drive that it has? Did "god" simply always exist? How? Then why can't matter/energy have always existed? It's just as difficult to answer with or without a god.

17

What would you say to the HH if you could?

by purrpurr in

jw
friends

ok so there's no other jws in earshot and your on the ministry, the hh comes to the door, what would you say to them about jws if you could?.

would you explain why your there when you don't want to be?.

would you warn them about it being a cult?.

OnTheWayOut

If I found myself going through the motions of "recruiting" and was working the doors alone, I wouldn't even ring the bell. "Nobody answered at all my doors." Should someone open the door on me, I would not tell a stranger that I am in a cult. I would simply say "We are leaving this religious material, would you like a copy?" The end.

If anyone takes it, I would not write them down as a future "return visit." I would simply write a couple of return visits on my time slip every month even though I never made any of them.

22

Hi I'm new to the site

by Raque Invierno in

hi everyone, i've just registered and thought i might introduce myself and tell my experience.

my name's raquel.. i was born into a jw family.

i started leading a double life around 14y/o and got caught drinking by another sister when i was 15 and saw that as my opportunity to quit the panthomime and stopped going to the meetings.

OnTheWayOut

Congratulations on waking up. There are many who left the JW's and did not learn that they are not "the truth" so you are doing great. Great to shake off that guilt, huh? As far as what you feel, it's like the stages of grief- you will go through various emotions depending on situations and things that trigger thoughts like birthdays and holidays or when you see JW's on the street. You just allow yourself to go through those emotions, it's okay.

I am sober today, taking things day-by-day. I fell off that wagon a couple of times when I found out about the lies in Watchtower, but I kept getting back on board with my sobriety. Strength to you.

26

My Story

by WeatherLover in

jw
friends

i'm a 4th generation jw.

i started to realize it wasn't the truth over 2 years ago in late october/early november 2014. i don't know how exactly it happened.

i remember i had just heard about confirmation bias, and it hit me: i realized that i would be guilty of confirmation bias if i didn't look at the other side.

OnTheWayOut

I understand that its up to my family to decide whether they associate with me or not, but I can't blame them because they are also victims. I blame it on the religion itself, the idea that holds them captive.

I share that thought. But you are in a really tough place. A good counselor would tell you that you need to be yourself, but they don't fully understand Jehovah's Witnesses. Being gay or bi would be a huge thing to hide, if that's what you should choose. I faded from Jehovah's Witnesses for the sake of a few family members, but I don't hide that I don't go to meetings anymore. I do have life choices to hide, but they are pretty minor- things like celebrating birthdays and holidays with non-JW's. And I am free enough to do those things without going through much to "hide" it.

Anyway, please please please continue to plan for college as you said. Things that you know are not wrong, and you know are not disfellowshipping offenses- get your family used to the idea that you are going to do those things when it is important to you. Let things like college be a way to open conversations with your family. Good luck.