OnTheWayOut

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Posts by OnTheWayOut

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  31

  What made you look behind the jw curtain?

  by Touchofgrey in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was listening to a lunchtime call in radio show about jws and the personal experiences of being disfellowshiped, and a former elder called in saying he was disfellowshiped for asking about jws and their involvement in the un in the 1990s ,and he just said look it up.. thinking that it was a made up lie ,so i looked it up and it was true even a letter confirming it from the un itself and that led me here and to jwfacts and further research into the history and teachings of jw and walked out the door about 5 years ago.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I was "all the way in." While I attended meetings as a child with my mother, I left before I was a teen and returned in my early 20's due to allowing my life path to take some terrible bumpy roads.
  
  I was a brand new elder in 1995 when the GB announced that the meaning of THIS GENERATION changed. This was not the overlapping generation but a change prior to that. They left the generation as vague and undefined.
  
  I had trouble with GENERATION and had already been bothered by what they said about 1975, so I researched these for years using only WT material. I was not satisfied, and then they added in some rulings on how an elder could be forgiven for admitting to viewing pornography, while I knew the average publisher would have to face a committee and some form of discipline. The cherry on top of my Sundae was when they used Hurricane Katrina as a way to make money by asking for just money donations, and not to earmark them for the disaster. I had worked with two other hurricane relief efforts where good people did good things for each other and now Watchtower had to butt in there and control it, telling people not to donate cars, clothes, goods.
  
  I turned to the internet, knowing I was strong enough to face whatever Satan threw at me. My decision that I was in a dangerous cult took place almost immediately upon learning so much about Ray Franz, the United Nations, flip-flopping.
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  30

  Experiences After Leaving

  by Freeatlast2024 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i am writing to ask if anyone cares to share their experience and/or offer advice for people leaving.

  i was raised in the religion, and both my parents died when i was very young.

  i recently stopped associating because my conscience no longer allows me to preach or support the organization.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Two things

  1. Find other ex-JW's to connect with, as they understand without explanation.
  
  2. Work to develop friendships either through your occupation or hobbies or through racquetball at the gym or whatever you want to do. Don't feel it is necessary to have them understand what you went through.
  
  
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  25

  "Brother Jodie jenelle began his bethel service in in 1990....."

  by nowwhat? in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  but what they don't say he left started and ran a real estate company and a global real estate consulting firm and apparently after making a fortune come back to bethel a few years ago.

  how in the hell could a non lifer now be anointed and appointed to be a gb member.

  sure can't be for his spiritual qualifications!.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I have really been away from my day-to-day checking on JW things. But I still have a wife and mother in the cult, so I still keep occasional tabs on it. I love the way JW THOUGHTS presents his information, not so over-the-top, so it is one place I go. This video intrigued me:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xza_PCyHYPk
  
  Listen to the first 6 minutes and if it gets your attention, then listen to the rest. While I won't go as far as the presenter's conclusions, I do see that they are actually more interested in what Jodie was doing away from Bethel than they are interested in what he has done "spiritually."
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  135

  Rumour 144,000 literal number teaching to be abandoned at Annual Meeting

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  say it ain’t so!

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  in one sense it’s a no brainer because the figures just don’t add up any more.. in another (negative) sense it’s a no brainer because it’s been fundamental to jws since year dot and might undermine the whole thing?

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  OnTheWayOut

  Money and the calendar cause them to change doctrine.
  
  I think this one comes into the calendar issue. But I heard that rumor this year about an overall plan to totally change things up in some number of years and they seem to be ramping it up to just a couple years.
  
  With "overlapping generation" and so many other changes, it makes sense to get ahead of this soon. We are 110 years out from 1914.
  
  When they change things so much and very few members leave, they must get a real kick out of that.
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  263

  Where is Tony?

  by Athanasius in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on february 22, 2023, anthony morris iii was officially removed from the governing body of jehovah's witnesses.

  a few months later it was revealed that the watchtower bought him a house in lumberton, north carolina.. however, and correct me if i am wrong, since leaving the gb nobody has reported seeing tony attending jw meetings or participating in field service.

  in fact nobody has reported seeing him anywhere, not even at a local liquor store.

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  OnTheWayOut

  (Hey OTWO! Haven't seen ya hear in a while. Hope life is treating you good!)

  
  I would say I was here, but in disguise. But really, I haven't been here. I will always return as I have some JW family left, but really- I have drifted away from drifting away. Been there, done that.
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  4

  DISFELLOWSHIPPING UPDATES JWFACTS.COM

  by blondie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have followed an ex-jw website that has many articles on the past history of the wts and current articles using wt publications to tell the real truth not just the edited wt version.

  considering recent changes this link to df'ing was updated in august 2024. it is worth a serious read, puts things in categories and has timely comments from a long-time ex-jw from australia, ex-bethelite and father is a circuit overseer.

  i have used this many times so i don't "reinvent the wheel" when discussing certain topics on jwn.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Page 27 of the August 2024 Watchtower stated that the word disfellowshipped will no longer be used, and instead be referred to as “being removed from the congregation.”

  Thanks for linking this.
  
  The chariot is rolling along at a fast pace. But I would guess that this is to use legal technicalities to say they are not disfellowshipping people for many certain offenses.
  
  
  
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  263

  Where is Tony?

  by Athanasius in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  on february 22, 2023, anthony morris iii was officially removed from the governing body of jehovah's witnesses.

  a few months later it was revealed that the watchtower bought him a house in lumberton, north carolina.. however, and correct me if i am wrong, since leaving the gb nobody has reported seeing tony attending jw meetings or participating in field service.

  in fact nobody has reported seeing him anywhere, not even at a local liquor store.

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  OnTheWayOut

  He wears a disguise when liquor shopping.
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  189

  What evidence is there for a biblical jesus?

  by Touchofgrey in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  is there any independently verified evidence that a miracle worker called jesus existed and did the things that the bible said he did?.

  the four gospels were written by unknown authors many decades after the so called events, so can't be considered as eyewitness accounts.

  i think that there may have been a apocalyptic preacher who was executed by the romans and the story evolved from their.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Is there any independently verified evidence that a miracle worker called jesus existed and did the things that the bible said he did?

  
  No.
  How could there be?
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  7

  Materialistic and Soon

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i was reading a bart ehrman book, .

  armageddon: what the bible really says about the end.

  no, i won't bore you with complicated various theories i was reading.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I was reading a Bart Ehrman book,

  Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End

  NO, I won't bore you with complicated various theories I was reading. But two things I picked up on were that many groups' theology, including JW's, has a materialistic future in mind. JW's imagine paradise, living in nice mansions left empty when Deniers were destroyed.

  The other thing I noticed was how the idea of the end being "soon" has always had to morph as time marched on.

  The apostles supposedly expected all these things in their lifetime. Augustine converted because the end was soon. Coincidentally, Napoleon attacked the Vatican when it was imminently soon expected, similar to World War breaking out when CTRussell expected the end soon...after other disappointments.

  Heck, I became a JW because Jehovah called me when it was extremely soon in 1988, as the Generation was very old.

  I think that's wearing out soon.
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  23

  Armageddon Car

  by OnTheWayOut in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how many of you bought a nice sedan, suv, or even a minivan back in the days that you described as your "armageddon car" that you would care for and it would last until the end arrived?.

  i was driving a 1974 plymouth volare wagon in 1992 when i managed to get an 8-year old buick century.

  it was low mileage and had a very luxurious interior.

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  OnTheWayOut

  Good responses here. Many Armageddon cars. Thanks all.