Posts by OnTheWayOut

62

Ten reasons Jehovah’s Witnesses have the true religion (plus a bonus one)

by slimboyfat in

thinking back when i was a true believer these are probably the top ten reasons why i believed jws are the true religion.

1. they show love among themselves by not going to war.

not killing your fellow believers in any circumstances, including war, would seem to be a very basic requirement for true christianity.

OnTheWayOut

1. They show love among themselves by not going to war. Not killing your fellow believers in any circumstances, including war, would seem to be a very basic requirement for true Christianity.

But then what about the Mennonites, the Amish, and Quakers? What about so many Buddhists? JW's do not corner the market on pacifist believers in a god.

2. They honour Jehovah’s name by using it and giving it prominence. Again this would seem to be a very basic requirement for Christians who are said to be called out of the nations as “a people for his name”.

So many arguments here. Let's just go with disagreements on God's name. You would think God would clear that up.

3. They reject the post biblical teaching of the Trinity which uses language that is not found in the Bible and distances people from God by making him appear incomprehensible.
4. They teach the truth about who Jesus is as God’s firstborn and his loyal servant.

I guess if you insist on the Bible being from God, so many teachings are from Man. Again, you would think God would clear that up.

5. They point to God’s kingdom as the only hope for mankind as Jesus and the early Christian’s did and don’t get involved in politics or social or protest movements.

That seems a bit overreaching for a religion to declare that is what God taught. It takes a whole lot of explaining to convince JW students that the Bible says that.

6. They preach and publish in more languages than any other group in history, fulfilling the Bible prophecy about preaching to all the earth in the last days.

I dunno about "preach" so the comment adds "publish." Catholicism is taught worldwide. Christianity has spread throughout the world through mostly Catholic missionary work. I know about "rice Christians" but facts are facts and spin is spin.

7. Their founder Russell rediscovered basic Bible truths at a time when technology was in place to facilitate the preaching work worldwide.

Total nonsequitur to this discussion. But I will say, if someone took advantage of the internet properly 20 years ago, they could make such a claim.

8. Jehovah’s Witnesses have increased from a tiny number in one country to be a great crowd of worshippers from all nations of the world.

And what of their decrease now? Can't have one fact and ignore the other.

9. Each of the JW leaders has been just what was needed at the time for Jehovah to accomplish his purpose.

No. What about the ones removed?

10. Witness teaching about humans looking forward to endless life on earth makes better sense as our biblical destiny rather than viewing this life a waiting room before we go to heaven.

Neither. My opinion. This life is what we have, so do good with NOW. Stop living for a fantasy of a future. Love family, don't shun them. Be good to each other.

11. Witness teaching that God’s sovereignty has been challenged and will be vindicated makes sense of human history, gives an explanation for suffering, and offers the hope that it will end permanently in the future under God’s kingdom.

It only gives a heavily opinionated explanation. But similarly to the last answer I gave, it's a fantasy of a future. Work on helping the suffering now.

73

JWN, 23 years posting Blondie

by blondie in

jw
friends

can i call you friends, i think so after 23 years posting here.

i am dismayed how jwn is being "dominated" or taken over by a few posters, peppering the comments.

in the past, the admin did not approve of this and did remove some posters from jwn.

OnTheWayOut

I certainly don't have 23 years here. I was active here for many years, but many years ago.
I don't mind the crazy differences in paths that we all take, but I wish people would not bully the ones who take very different paths. JWN became too political when I left. I don't mean it has it's own politics. It does, but one can avoid threads or comments that are more scriptural or less scriptural, more opinion than fact. But JWN became a bullying place for actual politics, particularly American politics.

I see that it's mostly back to JW stuff now, so that's good. If a poster wants to post a bunch of scholarly Bible stuff, I can skip past it or make a comment about it. I feel that actively walking up to JW's or zinging JW's at your door is done more for your benefit than for that of the JW on the receiving end. So JWN can be more for our own benefit that that of the readers when we post our strong scriptures, feelings, political leanings. Hey, some of you all really need to post your stuff because nobody in your life away from the keyboard would listen, so go for it.

But, yeah- it's hard on newbies to navigate this place full of such differences. I do like Blondie's thought that "We are here partly to help people trying to leave the WTS, clarify or more correctly 'confirm' their observations with personal experiences and questions of the intent behind the WTS ever-changing doctrines and policies."

It would be great if we could mainly do that. Again, it does seem that it has returned some (IMO).

39

THE PROBLEM WITH THESE 2 NEW GB MEMBERS APPOINTMENTS

by raymond frantz in

https://youtu.be/rjr0ugtu6zu?si=d3zsz20ee33gytxi.

these new appointments are troubling, to say the least, especially considering the factors surrounding their selection.

these appointments raise key concerns about leadership, experience, and what is happening behind the scenes at the organization's headquarters.

OnTheWayOut

WT is going into their Scientology phase. They are property rich and low on membership drives. They are anticipating the loss of the older JW's and nobody replacing them, so they just don't care about the members and will now focus on how they can cash in on their property holdings. Jody Jedele is going to take them places they want to go.

What does anyone say about Jacob Rumph? It looks like he is a Gilead graduate who was slid in there to distract from Jody....or he's expected to do all the travel work of speaking.

35

Serious sinner?

by Gorb in

jw
friends

with the statement in the study watchtower this sunday, that stop serving jehovah is a serious sin, the following:.

- can i conclude now, that we, (i, wife and 2 children), since 2008 pomo and no longer active in any religious activity, are serious sinners for jehovahs witnesses?.

writing this in a watchtower, a statement like that, could have big implications.. it makes me so sad.

OnTheWayOut

Sin is a made-up concept by religion. The general understanding is that sin is going against something that a good God has determined or is "His Will." Religion gave this term to people so that they could make them feel guilty and then they could appease their guilt by donating money to the religion (or time or the best of your flock).

Forget about what any religion, especially Watchtower, says about sin.

There are laws and morals that can guide us.

164

How did JWs arrive at a clearer understanding of what the Bible teaches than other Christian denominations?

by slimboyfat in

for jws who believe that jehovah had a hand in reviving the truth in the nineteenth century this is enough explanation for how jws managed to achieve a closer approximation to early christian beliefs and practices than other groups.

but is there an explanation for this phenomenon that doesn’t rely on supernatural intervention?

new testament scholar james dunn explains the difficulty of interpreting the biblical texts in this way:.

OnTheWayOut

Faulty premise in your OP question. The Watchtower is a satanic cess-pool of lies that robs people of the destiny that was bought for them on the cross.

I concur with the very first response on this thread.
They did not "arrive at a clearer understanding" of anything.

31

What made you look behind the jw curtain?

by Touchofgrey in

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.

.

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.

30

Experiences After Leaving

by Freeatlast2024 in

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.

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.

25

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

by nowwhat? in

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!.

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."

135

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

by slimboyfat in

say it ain’t so!

.

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?

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.

263

Where is Tony?

by Athanasius in

jw
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.

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.