Posts by OnTheWayOut

20

How did the bible fables get started?

by Tameria2001 in

today while out running errands, i was flipping through the radio trying to find something to listen to.

i ended up on some christian type of station, and the guy was talking about the ark, and the flood during noah's time.

personally i no longer believe this fable, because the facts just don't line up.

OnTheWayOut

They only had story-telling way back. By the time they learned how to write it down, the stories were some real whoppers. Think Genesis and the book of Enoch, but also all mythologies had huge stories.

I think, just as we know today's movies are fictional, people tended to know stories were fiction back then. But that was somehow forgotten as the telling went on. Imagine some of our modern "based on a true story" or "inspired by actual events" movies becoming the accepted history in the future...or even worse- pure fiction is believed to be true. Think ABRAHAM LINCOLN- VAMPIRE SLAYER.

Let me indulge on another silly idea you WILL hear. There were baby animals and just dinosaur eggs on the ark. Or there were actually 3 arks, but the tale got simplified. One ark landed at Australia and the ark with dinosaus sank in some battle of faith. The third had Noah and the animals of Europe, Asia, Africa....and they walked a land bridge to the Americas. Can you see a great story-telling out of that?

30

It's My Birthday Today

by pale.emperor in

today is my 34th birthday.

or, my 3rd birthday that i've actually acknowledged seeing as i was raised in the cult.. i woke up this morning to my 4yo running into my room and wishing me a "happy birthday daddy!".

i got a card from my ex-jw brother and i bought myself a birthday gift - a new 50mm lens for my nikon camera (photography is a hobby i took up since leaving the cult).. i dont know about you guys, but birthdays is still something i have to make a conscious effort to acknowledge and enjoy.

OnTheWayOut

I missed your thread on your birthday. So here's a late HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

I still love doing birthdays

58

Explain Your Avatar

by new boy in

jw
friends

i know this thread has been done before.

however maybe some of the new comers might like to know.. my avatar is the cover of my first novel "your crazy life.

".

OnTheWayOut

I changed mine quite a bit at one time. I was in a process of change. Even my name doesn't really fit my changes now, as I am far past on-the-way-out.

But there was a long time when we could not change our avatar. I currently had a picture of myself under a bit of a disguise- hat and sunglasses and mustache. I got used to being just myself, so I didn't even consider ever changing it again.

10

Oh the irony!!!

by stuckinarut2 in

jw
friends

just wanted to share this funny thing.. so we have just been invited to a neighborhood xmas party to be held in the house of a lovely couple around the corner from us.. they bought the house a short time back from a jw who built it and lived there!.

so, we get to enjoy one of our first xmas parties as a couple, in the former house of a jw!.

now, that made me giggle.....

OnTheWayOut

Ha.

54

What Do You Think Will Be The Next Big Change In The Watchtower?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i think there will be a change in the 144000 belief.

too many witnesses think they have a heavenly hope.

maybe 1914 will be discarded too.. what is your watchtower prediction?

OnTheWayOut

Take your food trash with you when you leave assemblies, bring your own toilet paper, soap and towels. Hell, how about bringing back the coin-operated doors for washrooms? Maybe an automated credit card gate to leave the parking lot. Maybe empty auditoriums without carpet or chairs where you bring your own folding chairs. Suggested donation amounts for borrowing their folding chairs. The speakers at assemblies have to pay for the privilege of speaking.

Watchtower will start doing everyone's taxes for free, and you will be marked if you don't use them. (.....and we know why they wanna do your taxes.)

And not in my lifetime, but soon after- more than the one overlap to the generation.

40

The End of World War 1 was Exactly 100 Years Ago

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

it is so amazing that the end of wwi was signed exactly 100 years ago!

and in just a few more hours, at 11:00am on 11 november 2018, paris time, the combat actually stopped!

(the war wasn´t officially over until 1919).it is such a historic moment, for the entire world, but also for jw´s, and for exjw´s.for almost the entire length of the war, the witnesses thought that the war was the prelude to armageddon.

OnTheWayOut

Yes, the Bible Students (not JW's yet) were told not that 1914 was the beginning of some long end-time, but rather that it was the end. And barring some last-minute "new light" that it was to be the start of Armageddon or a great tribulation, they expected the world war to develop into the great war of Satan vs. Jehovah.

11

Why is the watchtower tight fisted

by pepperheart in

why when i can get many books and magazines sent through the post from many other cults does the watchtower make a big fuss about a little 16 page magazine.

OnTheWayOut

Watchtower was accustomed to making money from most literature placements, so the thought of free mail-outs is just too much for them.

They are probably right in that mail-outs won't lead to much money.

102

The Biggest Issue Is Not Guns—It Is Mental Health!

by minimus in

jw
friends

crazy people shoot up places and kill people.

take away guns and they will find knives, poison, bombs , etc.. seriously, there are a lot of mentally unhealthy people!

they need professional long term help..

OnTheWayOut

I could go on a tangent about funding mental health issues.
But on the subject at hand, you have been provided some great answers.

Guns are easy to obtain in the USA and easy to go on a rampage with. Multiple victims with a knife-wielding assailant are rare because 1) it's hard to do and 2) the person will probably be stopped before it becomes multiple victims.

I am not against reasonable gun ownership for people who are capable responsible people. Screen them. Tax their license like they tax our gasoline or my kayak use on Illinois waters and use the money to provide them with mandatory training. And set reasonable limits on what people can own. Otherwise, why can't I drive a tank with a cannon and carry a grenade launcher?

13

Keeping Track Of The Brothers During The Great Tribulation

by new boy in

jw
friends

i couldn’t help but watch the “bunker video “again.

i learned that once they are in the bunkers they will need to get the attendance numbers from the different groups that are in hiding during the “great tribulation.” chris and wife risked their lives going to the different groups and getting the numbers and putting them on slip of paper which he then handed to brother brown.

of course these numbers would have to be kept track of so they could make a full report back to the headquarters.

OnTheWayOut

The bunker video is all nonsense as they never expect such a time to actually arrive but to remain "just around the corner."

And if it did arrive, yes- they would be paranoid about the ones not at their meeting last week going over to the dark side. They would forget that Jehovah is supposed to protect them and take it upon themselves to keep their secret handshake and/or bunker location away from "Kevin."

Imagine if they could "count their time" visiting faithful JW's in the nursing home, and could not "count their time" standing in front of a cart. That faithful elderly JW woman would be visited all day every day.

7

Why don't JWs have problems with board games involving dice?

by cognisonance in

so i don't really care about these things anymore, but i was reading this article (and it's a very good one): gamified life.. in the article it mentions (without references):.

dice-based games of chance are thought to have originated with ancient divination practices involving thrown knucklebones.. .

so it's okay to play yahtzee but not okay to go trick-or-treat.

OnTheWayOut

Watchtower "demonized" things that encouraged interaction with outsiders. Birthday cake at school or the office led to normalized relations with worldly people. (Certainly, trick-or-treating did that, and Halloween is clearly an easy target to demonize.)

Board games would most likely bring JW kids and family together. No need to poison the idea.