OnTheWayOut

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Posts by OnTheWayOut

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  201

  I am glad to have found the true religion

  by A Believer in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it really is great.

  i remember browsing this forum the day after i had joined it, and their was a knock on the door.

  i thought it was one of my package from ups but instead it was two sisters.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Either you believe in coincidences or you accept that when it comes to pedophiles among the brothers, "Clearly Jehovahs angels sent them" or at least have no interest in protecting those children from them.
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  53

  My Dad wants to study with me

  by BlackWolf in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so my parents continue to pester me about getting baptized.

  the other day my dad told me that i was old enough to make a decision, and was wondering why i wasn't ready (assembly is in a few weeks) so i told him calmly that i have many doubts and if i were to get baptized it has to be 100 percent my idea.

  he was a little annoyed by this, and now wants to study the "is there a creator that cares about you" book (which is complete bs) with me.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Your dad should want to study with you if he is a good minion JW. But I would say it it time to show him quite a bit of your problem with blind obedience. As "Never a JW" says on page 1, always prepare tough questions in advance.

  You know you should not get baptized. There has to be a rough period preceding your eventual cessation of JW stuff. Help him get used to the idea.
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  19

  My Thoughts on the Subject of Faith

  by Saethydd in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i've had several discussion about the basis for faith in an all powerful creator for the universe, and it seems as if the conversation often comes back to, "well, either way, you have to have faith either in a creator or in the process of evolution because you can't observe that either.

  " setting aside the issue of creation and evolution (where i currently sit at undecided), i was also troubled by the tendency to treat faith as a static or absolute concept when in reality it is far more complex.. to begin with, faith isn't just about belief, it combines the concepts of belief and trust.

  for the purposes of this discussion, i will be focusing primarily on the second attribute.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I no longer allow the thoughts on "faith in people" that leads to trust to enter into the debate with me on "religious faith."

  They are just not the same thing. Faith is confidence or trust in someone or something.

  Faith in your spouse or your mother, faith in your best friend- all based on a track record. You don't have faith in your spouse if you know they are a lying cheater. Faith that (from our point of view) the sun will rise tomorrow is based on knowing a bit about how that happens everyday so the odds on it happening again tomorrow are pretty strong.

  Religion has stolen that word, faith, and made it a virtue when applying it their way. Their way is not based on a track record. Religious faith is "pretending to know what you do not know." Or to put it milder, religious faith is believing something in the absence of, or even in contradiction to evidence, while non-religious faith is built upon evidence.

  Most religious faith is a pretending in the existence of a convenient and satisfying version of the universe which suits the faithful one's desire to live forever in one way or another.
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  46

  Mom died, How and When I found out

  by 3rdgen in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hi friends,.

  it's been awhile since i've been talkative.

  thought i'd give you an account of my latest family dysfunction.. a brief backstory is that i am an only child whose parents were born in jw's.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I too want to express my sorrow about your loss. I am sorry it couldn't be healed and I hope you find peace.
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  6

  why haven't the elders talked to him yet???

  by Homer notsimpson in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my brother got himself in hot water, ive been posting alot about this only cuz i care for him so much.the story goes like this, ge and a girl wete sexting very on and off for a year, they haven't sexted in a year due to her finding a bf... they were engaged in less than a year, and it broke off in august ,she tries to commit suicide, and talked to the elders, she told my brother that and that shes gonna tell on him too.. she got df in august ( shes been reproved before) and its now january 2017.. she claims that she did tell, but because the elders didn't know what his hall was they couldn't do anything, is that a possibility?

  why haven't they talked to him?

  could it bw that she didn't tell on him?

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  OnTheWayOut

  ...and since it is old and minor, tell your brother to DENY DENY DENY if anything ever comes up.

  "That girl is nuts. She told you what? No, never happened."
  
  After DENYING, don't provide any kind of information. They would want to know what he did say to her, how often they talked, YADDA YADDA YADDA.
  
  Go back to "That girl is nuts. She told you what? No, never happened." Add, "That's all I got to say."
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  4

  Festivus December 23, 2016

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  who celebrated even in their heart?

  what were your grievances?.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/festivus.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I acknowledged the holiday, but settled for good thoughts and Festivus wishes to some friends.
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  24

  Elder/MS requirement for marriage talk? (Wedding not in KH)

  by respectful_observer in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  okay team,.

  some family friends who are engaged are getting some flack around the particulars of their wedding ceremony (surprise!

  "strain out the gnat, gulp down the camel", and all that).

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  OnTheWayOut

  All JW's are considered "ministers" and could easily become recognized by the state or jurisdiction in question. Probably a quick internet search or visit to the place that issues the marriage licence would clear that up.
  
  The problem occurs that the elders will come down on the speaker, on the bride and groom- if this takes place. If they don't ever care about being ministerial servants, they might go for it. But then the elders will likely come down on JW's attending to stay away.
  
  It doesn't have to be a rule. They go by their cult training and gut feelings that if it's not done the JW way, then something is wrong. I would do it anyway, as the majority of people who care would attend anyway. As an elder, I went to "secular" weddings of "weak" JW's that were officiated by non-JW's with the legal authority to perform the vows. I never got any heat for doing so.
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  28

  Greetings and would like some advice about a potentially fun idea

  by towerwatcher in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello fellow apostates!

  my first post and a long time lurker here.

  i would like to thank all of you for the existence of this board as this has been instrumental for me in leaving the place i once knew as "the truth".

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  OnTheWayOut

  Maybe the fake stuff would sell better, but change the logo a bit, maybe misspell WATCHTOWER

  
  
  
  
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  12

  The movie moment that woke me up.

  by NikL in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i can still remember the day.

  sitting in a theater watching the new star trek flick.. they were searching for god and found him...or did they?.

  when this part played before my eyes i literally felt my heart fall.. still powerful after all these years.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnxvkjav5ik.

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  OnTheWayOut

  What does God need with a starship?
  

  I ran into a free-thinker in "field service" who said something to the effect: "Do you think God would really send a bunch of nicely-dressed weirdos with printed stuff that nobody wants to read? Wouldn't he get our attention with something grand?"

  It's fairly similar.
  
  Go further with it. What does God need with a temple, church, synagogue, or shrine? What does he need with a bunch of groveling worshippers praying and chanting and flattering him to stroke his ego. And what does God need with a son? ....a human sacrifice to set things right? All that born-of-a-virgin stuff and being brutally killed to be resurrected again- that would only be the things of a bored God or a megalomaniac.
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  18

  Prince wanted Obama to ban birthdays and Christmas, according to his buddy Van Jones

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i saw this news scrolling at the bottom of the television screen this morning.

  i looked it up.

  not much of a story, but it certainly has the ring of truth to it.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I saw this news scrolling at the bottom of the television screen this morning. I looked it up. Not much of a story, but it certainly has the ring of truth to it.
  
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2016/12/08/prince-wanted-obama-to-ban-birthdays-and-christmas-according-to-his-buddy-van-jones/?utm_term=.35312b574ee3

  Prince the Grinch? Not quite.

  The 57-year-old music icon once mused to his friend, political activist Van Jones, that President Obama should ban birthdays and Christmas.

  “Why doesn’t Obama just outlaw birthdays?” Jones, who once worked in the Obama administration, recalled Prince asking. “He said, ‘I was hoping that Obama, as soon as he was elected, would get up and announce there’d be no more Christmas presents and no more birthdays — we’ve got too much to do.’”

  Prince, who performed a private concert for the Obamas at the White House last summer, became a Jehovah’s Witness in 2001 and, according to the religion’s official website, members don’t celebrate birthdays “because we believe that such celebrations displease God.”

  Jones, a longtime friend of Prince’s who advised the artist on advocacy, said that he laughed off the suggestion that the administration wouldn’t officially censor personal celebrations.

  “Yeah,” said Jones at the time, “I don’t know if that would go over too well.”