OnTheWayOut

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Posts by OnTheWayOut

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  13

  Cart Witnessing Today In Liverpool [See Pic]

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  remember the jw command only a few years ago "fully accomplish your ministry"?

  looks like these young jw's didnt get the memo.. whats interesting is, just a few meters away were some street preachers handing out flyers and shouting about jesus.

  i cant stand them either but at least you couldnt say they were skiving on the job.. bet they're still counting this as time as well.. .

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  OnTheWayOut

  The main things to the members- get some time, get a good parking space, get a place to sit, have coffee & lunch.
  
  I imagine they laugh at the street preachers and think about how much of a nuisance they are- without thinking about their own past or their own door-to-door nuisances.
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  22

  I need some serious help

  by bulldogg1877 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i grew up a jw kid until the age of twelve.

  since then i have lived a worldly life.

  i have enjoyed alot of my life experiences, but i now feel like i am lost.

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  OnTheWayOut

  As Smiddy pointed out on page 1, you left at 12. You don't know the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. You only know that they say they are right and everyone else is wrong, they teach living forever in paradise.

  I can tell you that anyone can start a journey of spiritual learning. Each person's journey will be different. I will tell you a little about mine if it helps.

  I first started learning that the religion I believed (Jehovah's Witnesses) was loaded with contradictions and changes and failures of predictions. jwfacts . com was a big help. Reading books such as COMBATTING CULT MIND CONTROL and CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE was my biggest help.

  Next, I assumed that "Christendom" was probably correct. But I continued learning before just accepting that. I examined the Bible, their main tool. One great book that helped me was THE BIBLE UNEARTHED by Finkelstein and Silberman. Also, there were two video series, one from Nova and one from BBC, both called THE BIBLE's BURIED SECRETS. There was much much more, but all must find their own path.

  After being positive that Christianity was not the way, I briefly looked at Buddhism. The greatest thing about Buddhism is that you can accept any or all of it, you can reject as much as you want and still benefit from the wisdom and guidance remaining. But that wasn't satisfying enough. As a former JW, I had to know "the truth" from the lies. So finally, I started learning what science has to say. I read about the origins of the planet, life, the universe, the big bang, etc. Also, while I was learning about beliefs outside of Christianity, I was meditating on thoughts that were critical of God. Would a "loving" god allow a tsunami that wiped out tens of thousands of children? ....or an earthquake that killed and injured tens of thousands of children?

  Anyway, I think you can see where I went. My point is not to just return to the religion of your youth. I did that in a time of trouble and went back to Jehovah's Witnesses. I wasted precious time and stayed in a depression for a long time. I could have gotten the professional counseling that I needed and started my proper journey of spiritual learning much sooner.

  Best to you.
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  37

  WT Society Creates the Atmosphere which Spawns Child Abuse in Congregations

  by flipper in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  been thinking about this lately after almost 14 years out of the jw cult myself.

  when you think of the language used within the jehovah's witness organization in such a closed society environment in how the wt society promotes almost absolute " trust " in the elders , the governing body, and trust even in the " friends " in the congregation themselves- is it any wonder that unscrupulous child molesters can enter any congregation pretending to be " spiritual " and take advantage of unsuspecting children or the parents ?

  think about it : an individual is judged as a " spiritual " person within the jw organization based on what wt functions or duties they are good at performing.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Even today after all this trouble, they would think nothing of allowing their male or female child to be isolated with a "brother in good standing" especially a pioneer, ministerial servant, or elder. At the same time, they would never do this with a barely known outsider. Much of this is because they continue to deny any problem in their ranks and to hush up such talk anywhere that the problem actually does exist.

  This is because they perpetuate the idea that all of their people that perform the regular recruiting and Kingdom Hall assignments are spiritual and good and trusted.

  It would be a simple matter to say "NEVER EVER leave your children (minors under 18) with people outside of their family. They should never go into the ministry without an adult from their family. And Watchtower does not approve of any activity where they are potentially isolated with any adults." [And of course, trusting/not trusting family members is another discussion, but at least this is a first step toward eliminating hunting grounds for predators.]

  But I don't see them ever doing that. Can you imagine actually forbidding teens under 18 to "pioneer" without their parents? I mean, an even simpler answer would be to forbid the minors from even doing any recruiting work but could you imagine such a decision?

  Despite their changes in rules about such a problem, they still stick to a basic idea- Call Watchtower first and foremost. Elders assume this is because they will get guidance from men in the best way to aid their abused minors. But it also has become common knowledge, even to those same elders, that they call Watchtower so that lawyers can figure out what is legally necessary and what will most minimally trouble the congregation.

  Even when a predator is found, he can deny charges. He can appear to be repentant. And despite changes, local elders still go on a "witch-hunt" often to blame the victim for participation in sexual acts.
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  53

  Best statement a householder made to get you to leave them alone.

  by Esse quam videri in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  knocked on a door on a saturday morning.

  a window opened on the floor above me.

  a grizzled old man stuck his head out and said, " we're all heathens here!

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  OnTheWayOut

  Never happened, but I have always wondered when someone would come to their door with a gun in their hand and say "We good, don't come back."
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  12

  I need advise. I' exJW in Japan.

  by yoko N in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i need advisei need advise about lingo　of jw community.a publisher is required to report time spent in preaching, and field service.in japan.

  we say something like“ put time in report card’how do you say in english language?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Please feel free to say more. Why do you want to know more about the language and lingo?
  
  People here will help.
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  58

  No more official visits to disfellowshipped & disassociated ones

  by AverageJoe1 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  new letter today (please visit avoidjw.org for a copy of the official letter and yes, i also noticed they got the date wrong!).

  february 28, 2017. to all bodies of elders.

  re: visiting disfellowshipped or disassociated individuals.

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  OnTheWayOut

  As an inactive one, I am not officially bothered by them. It's been several years. I imagine it's normal to excuse themselves from bothering most of the time anyway- "OTWO is not receptive, doesn't technically live within the borders of the territory, is probably just going to slam the door on us, knows where we are if he wants to talk, YADDA YADDA."
  
  And it's a good thing for me. I don't want to bother with them.

  But yeah, I can see that this was causing some elders to learn from the dark side.
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  7

  MOVIE REVIEW; SILENCE (A story about Faith, Martyrs, Apostates, and Stupidity)

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  silence (movie review)_________.

  unless you are a catholic, ex-catholic, an evangelical christian, or a total apostate to your former religion or church--this film is not for you!_____.

  martin scorsese has wrought a filmwhich no 2 eyes will see in the same way.. on the surface, it is about the clash (the push back against christianity and priests by buddhists and officials particularly in nagasaki) resulting from catholic evangelism inside japan.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I wondered if I would like such a movie or not. Your review helps me. I will give it a try.
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  3

  Elders initial letters from WT When read

  by Lostandfound in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  one of my abiding memories of the truth was after hard work for years as secretary and then presiding overseer.

  three new younger 'pioneers' appointed who clearly wanted the position.

  well i did not want it and could see the future chaos and self aggrandisement such younger ones would lead to if given , what they was as, positions of influence.. circuit visit elders meeting with co, i always checked which elder had worked with co and likely brownosed and clawed their way up the appointment ladder.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I believed in all the crap Watchtower taught, so I wanted to be the School Overseer. Once I was, nobody ever coveted my assignment. They wanted me to keep doing it.

  I never desired more assignments. I never desired to kiss the C.O.'s ass to get circuit assembly talk assignments. There were so many others that did want them. I also remember elders who had their heads so far up their own asses because they spoke at conventions and assemblies all the time, that they acted like they could only go to a Kingdom Hall for a public talk if some in the congregation had a big gathering afterward so everyone could praise them for their wonderful talks. I went out all the time and didn't expect anything.
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  12

  Self Brainwashing

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so i would love to hear and make more comments here on how "self-brainwashing" is done in jehovah's witnesses and how it becomes a problem when trying to wake up our loved ones.leah remini was on bill maher's show on friday, feb. 17th.

  she had some great comments about things said on her series about scientology.

  one was how members are "self-brainwashing" because they spend some hours every day doing self-study.

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  OnTheWayOut

  smiddy, thanks. So true. I have seen, a handful of times, where someone raised a question or strayed radically from the main answers. It was met with words to the effect: "This is not the time for that" or it was just ignored and another answer was taken to get back on point.

  I just got into one of those bizarre moods thinking about "selfr brainwashing." I dragged out the books or the computer library to eliminate any doubt in my mind about doctrine. I just kept going until I found enough Watchtower information that indicated that they "always" made room for the newest doctrine.
  I just find it crazy that I could support in my head that Jehovah protected "His Word" yet "His Word" was altered by men to remove "His" name. I never really went along with "spirit-directed" vs. "inspired" to allow for today's "spirit-directed" men to be allowed to make errors. The very idea of the 2/3rds majority blew me away when I read of it in CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE, but I was already on the way out by then.
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  58

  Assembly Dramas:They were so bad.... but.... you waited for them to break away from the monotony!

  by RULES & REGULATIONS in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  .

  you do remember the four day assemblies... sitting outdoors being fried in the sweltering heat,getting heat stroke in the middle of july in an outdoor baseball stadium.sitting outdoors from 9:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. was so much fun while you wore a suit,long sleeve shirt and a tie while your brain fried.

  mom's who had children to take care of,lug strollers,feed all the kids,take them for bathroom breaks and try to not faint from the heat.. the sound and audio was always breaking and barely audible from the wind,airplanes flying over and (if you attended the cicero,illinois circuit )you would smell horse manure from the horse stables next door.. you know that you are a jehovah's witness.... when the only excitement waiting for the drama... where brothers and sisters dress up in ancient cloths,fake beards,fake rocks and fake soldier uniforms and wave their hands incessantly to pretend that they are acting out a drama.the excitement was unbearable!.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Sir82: To this day I would obscenely overpay for a breakfast of a cheese danish, a bagel with squeeze-out-of-the-tube cream cheese, and a semi-frozen slushy orange juice.

  Sounds great, but it would give me a weird deju vu trip down memory lane.