OnTheWayOut

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Posts by OnTheWayOut

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  10

  Young Couple Stopped with Invitation

  by mrquik in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i had a young couple stop by yesterday to drop off an invitation to the memorial.

  i told them i was a bible student & had studied a number of religions.

  i got into all the hot topics.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Good job. As I was walking past a parking lot on a busy atreet, I had JW's try to wave me over to their car as they parked in a good spot to begin their preaching. The passenger held what looked to be a Memorial Invite and got my attention. Even though I declined to step over, I sensed the joy of the car group that they had ifficialky started their time.
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  10

  Cuts since 2012

  by pepperheart in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i know that on paper the watchtower have about 8 million members but what if lots of them are just around so they dont get shunned and dont give any money in the box..they have been making cuts for a long time and in 2012 they closed 20 branch offices around the world,of course some people are giving lots of, money but they have to find the money for from 40 and 60 million magazaines a month..

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  OnTheWayOut

  Watchtower is a printing corporation trying to find a new path in a world where printing is dying. Regardless of how many members they have who are seriously contributing, they are suffering monetarily. Add the lawsuits in, the untold settlements- who knows how much trouble they are in?

  You are certainly probably right about people just being around so they don't get shunned. And when they took the money from the congregations and started saying how they needed MORE MORE MORE, they profoundly changed many of those members. They still give, but most of them are not giving MORE MORE MORE. They deep down know that Mother took the money, Mother doesn't really need 25 bucks a head at the convention (or whatever).
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  17

  My Current Views About God, Relgion, JWs and Life In General

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  this past year has been the most life changing year anyone could ever go through.

  waking up, leaving the cult, separating from my wife, research, research, research, reading, pondering etc.

  and i've found myself having to re-learn and re-evaluate everything i thought i knew.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Therefore, if God does exist, it's not worthy of my attention.

  That's really enough to know. I am way past "IF God does exist" but any negative cannot be absolutely proven, so your thought is sufficient.

  Jesus could have been invented out of thin air or exaggerated from a real person. It matters not.
  
  I believe Paul's Christianity would have been similar to Buddhism- accept what you want, reject any of the myths if you must, accept that the overall goal is goodness. But something happened along the way, perhaps at the First Council of Nicea. Christianity became a "state" religion and became a force for no good. When people want to argue anything about Jesus or Christianity, we can always fall back on "Therefore, if God does exist, it's not worthy of my attention."

  I like your thoughts on being responsible for ourselves and our morals being above that of the gods.

  "Sin" is an invention of religion. Sin is addressed by appeasing the religion by some kind of sacrifice (typically- money) There are things that are right and wrong, moral and immoral- but you need religion to turn it into sin.
  
  
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  10

  WT about elder positions

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  yesterday, visited the hall for family reasons.. wt was about elder positions, educate younger brothers, delegate your work etc.

  the usual story about the body of elders, give younger people a change and don't get atached to your position.

  what was evident: 90 percent of the answers came from the sisters.. the elders looked like the house cat just eaten tweety.. never heared so much theory and knowing it will be fully ignored.. why make it a 45 minute issue for every tom, dick and harry?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I won't read the article to better understand, but it sounds like a warning to elders and malcontents to go along with changes, and then also a way to address radical changes to the rank and file. Expect new people to come along and old people to be removed.

  They probably expect many problems because they may wind up closing many Kingdom Halls and congregations.
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  56

  "There is evidence of a Creator if you just look for it"

  by unsure in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  (for the record, i’m agnostic who is earnestly seeking an objective, honest and concrete hope for something greater).

  “there is evidence of a creator if you just look for it”.

  many of us have heard similar sentences from believers regarding proof of creator, proof that their religion is the correct one, proof that their particular sect is the right one, proof that their individual sects interpretation of a certain religious text is the right one, proof that their own personal interpretation of a certain religious text is the right one; the list goes on.. in one of my previous posts, i shared the following thought of mine:.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Indonesian tsunamis and Haitian earthquakes that kill children violently and painfully, even the mudslides this week in Columbia that took over 200 lives, dozens of them children. That's enough for me to know that the benevolent "God" does not exist.

  That is an emotional view that does not eliminate the thought of a creator.
  
  Your thought on a "manual" is a logical thought that shows the Bible is not from a "God of order" despite what JW's taught us.

  The search for God shouldn't have to be an attempt to hit a bullseye or else it's a miss. There is no evidence that any god desires our worship nor deserves it. And if a god wanted us to live a certain way, it should be more obvious.
  
  
  
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  6

  Why is the memorial Sometimes not on the Night of the passover?

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do the jaydubs follow a different calendar?.

  sometimes it is not in line with the jewish celebration and it should be no?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I love the detailed explanation from David _Jay above. I don't even care who's more "right" in this- the JW's or the Jews. But I do know that JW's like to feel that they are so RIGHT. They put quite a bit into calculating this date and explaining the calculation so that the JW's can smugly feel vindicated on whatever date they choose.
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  315

  Atheism = self defeating.

  by towerwatchman in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  atheism = self defeating.

  first may we define our terms.

  the word atheism comes literally from the greek, alpha the negative and theos [for god], therefore “negative god” or there is no god.

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  OnTheWayOut

  To make an absolute statement in the negative is similar to saying that nowhere in the universe does there exist a flying spaghetti monster.

  Give me a break. I am willing to make that absolute statement even though I don't have "unlimited knowledge of this universe."

  First may we define our terms. The term "flying spaghetti monster" comes literally from a satirical open letter written by Bobby Henderson in 2005 and started a social movement that promotes a light-hearted view of religion and opposes the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools. It is not any lifeform that seems to sort of look like spaghetti, but rather it is the silly "god" made of spaghetti that created the universe.
  
  I am confident there is no god, but for most atheists, confidence that all the specifically defined gods do not exist is sufficient.
  
  If you think it is self defeating to say there is absolutely no flying spaghetti monster, then you might expect it to show up one day. I am positive that it won't, and equally positive that "God" won't either. I would love to be eating my words and "he" shows me up for taking such a self defeating stand.

  I am equally confident that no matter how many monkeys with typewriters you employ for any amount of time, even up to an infinite number of monkeys for an infinite amount of time, you will never have one of them type out Shakespeare's HAMLET.
  
  We know for sure that technically, the probability of that happening is not totally ZERO, but we all know it would never happen.
  
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  4

  So by their own literature they have condemned themselves

  by charity7 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just looking at some literature my husband has when he goes out in the ministry.. "good new from god!

  " booklet 2012 - .

  ch 13 what is the good news about religion?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Devil's Advocate: "No, Jehovah's Witnesses abhor child abuse. There may be a handful of individuals who are not true servants of God residing within the congregations and attempting to hide their sins, but it is not the same as the Catholic Church actually protecting pedophiles among their priestly ranks."
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  4

  TTATT 

  by CitizenofEarth in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hello folks.

  you might have seen me here once before - im as new as it most likely gets to this place and the thoughts accompanied with it.

  ive seen the expression ttatt several times, and i now know it means "the truth about the truth".

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  OnTheWayOut

  This link below from jwfacts may be the absolute closest you will get to a "document" that does what you are asking. But any step-by-step guide can be objected to. Broad steps lead to jumping to improper conclusions with faulty logic. That's how I became a JW- broad step-by-step conclusions based on faulty logic.

  https://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/15-minute-guide-to-truth.php
  
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  4

  kingdom hall construction scheme revealed!

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  here in notheast ohio a kingdom hall closed and proceeds of the sale will go directly to nearby hall for total remodeling.

  so it's obvious any new hall or remodeling will be paid for from funds from sale of any sold kingdom hall.

  so basically it's a self funding project fund.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Are laws broken here?

  It would seem like it, but everyone sends their money voluntarily. And as far as previous funds saved up and taken away- No congregation is going to hire a lawyer and sue Watchtower for taking their money.

  If an actual law is being broken, someone has to bring it to the attention of the government and show that they have been damaged by the breaking of said law.