Posts by AllTimeJeff

80

Tell me about your avatar(not the Gravatars)

by asilentone in

jw
friends

my avatar is a pic of a cool car, obviously.

.

AllTimeJeff

Mine is Stephen Colbert of the US Speedskating team. He is the ultimate exposer of bullshit. I worship him. I sacrifice to his altar daily, I say my Colbert chants, and try to get bridges and satellites named after him whenever I can.

25

Mention of U.N. as the "beast" is diminishing dramatically in WT

by Gayle in

"united nations" and "beast".

"united nations".

this reference is done by paul of jwfacts.com .

AllTimeJeff

Obviously, the WTS is trying to squirm out of their U.N. doctrine gradually. Still may be trying to become a NGO yet?

It must be hard for the GB, being the steaming pile of sh*t that they are, to suddenly try and step out of the great big pile of sh*t they stepped in with the whole UN thingy.

It's hard for terd's to tell when they've stepped into it, even harder to get it off ya.

46

How long before you stopped believing armageddon was on your doorstep?

by bubba flavel in

i was born into "the truth" back in 1964. i made the big mistake of getting baptised when i was about 14 or so, purely to please my father as i saw how proud he was when my brothers were baptised....didn't work.. we moved to a new congregation when i was about 8, he introduced all my brothers to the congregation by name, a short bio of thier endearing qualities and how proud he was of them, when he introduced me it was "and this is our black sheep of the family, steve".. i remember living in fear at the fast approaching 1975....actually, living in terror is probably a more apt desciption.

all of you will full well know how it was instilled into us at every meeting and assembly how we are living in the last days.. as a 15 year old, a brother dobbed me in for kissing a worldly girl at school.

went through the marked process, judicial committy, disfellowshipped and the shunning which continues to this day by what's left of my family.

AllTimeJeff

I know I definitely stopped caring before I stopped believing.

37

OMG! I just realized that ALL cats are ATHEISTS!!!

by Elsewhere in

jw
friends

just think about it.... have you every seen what happens when you try to baptize a cat???

cats don't like it!!!

cats don't like it because they hate gawd!

AllTimeJeff

They must be Sam Harris atheists.

9

Some Reflections (The Counting My Blessings Thread)

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

thanks for reading this if you care.

i really don't have a particular reason to write this other then the mood hit.

it is likely to be rambling, and if it somehow makes some sense, i would consider that a bonus.. my life has distinct seasons.

AllTimeJeff

Hi Gregor. The very rough sketch that I offered was more of major milestones that affected my thinking. There is a lot of texture and color inbetween there. All of the events listed were not related, just milemarkers I passed each day. They were big enough events worth mentioning. For example, 9/11 didn't lead to Gilead for example, it just led to me to a place where at Gilead, I was somewhat ready to be honest with myself.

The movies were just meaningful to me during a particular painful time in my life. I didn't learn to be liberal from them. I recognized how nice it was to be liberal from them though. Felt good!

And I certainly hope I have more epiphanies to come in life. That I think would be a good thing.

69

Jehovah's Witnesses and Calvinistic Predestination

by AllTimeJeff in

this is a complex question, and i just want to get a discussion started on the message of jehovah's witnesses and how it relates to their adventist roots, and esp calvinism.. bear with me, i will try to be concise.. we all know that while jehovah's witnesses like to deny adventist roots, that it is clear that according to them, the man jesus selected to get the whole thing started, c t russell, was heavily influenced by adventist ideas, esp the (adventist) idea that has really never left them; the idea that somehow, a time date or period can be inferred from the bible if you read certain scriptures through an adventist lens.

(thus, the 2520 years, 7 gentile times, etc.).

so while this is relatively well known, there is a concept that jehovah's witnesses teach against, yet practice.

AllTimeJeff

Thanks for your thoughts. I bow to your representation of your religion and beliefs obviously.

Having said that, this has long been my view of Calvinism, likely due to JW indoctrination. But many have this simplified view of Calvinism.

I am no longer in favor of simplified views of anything. I hope my oversimplification didn't cause defense.

I will say from a theological/dogma point of view that predestination and providence to the "untrained" eye seems to be a distinction without a difference on many levels.

Thanks for your thoughts XJW4EVR.

9

Some Reflections (The Counting My Blessings Thread)

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

thanks for reading this if you care.

i really don't have a particular reason to write this other then the mood hit.

it is likely to be rambling, and if it somehow makes some sense, i would consider that a bonus.. my life has distinct seasons.

AllTimeJeff

Thanks again for sharing Jeff. I always enjoy reading your posts too. I looked up Yaounde Cameroon on Google images. I try to imagine you there.

Thanks Paul. Keep up the good work imagining me there. You can do it for me too. lol

9

Watchtower Recruitment Ad That Tells the Truth

by Farkel in

jw
friends

wanted:.

not-so-bright men wanted for positions in religious printing and marketing corporation.. bags of bones and hanks of hair people are also welcome to apply, but must furnish own head covering.. must be willing to multi-task and work at home to stay current on corporate policies and marketing techniques.. no experience needed.

will train.. some travel required, including possible out-of-state trips annually.

AllTimeJeff

I used to be not so bright. I wanted to be a CO then went to Gilead and Africa AFTER I found out it wasn't the truth.

Then someone gave me a light bulb that wasn't powered by a hamster in a daisy wheel. I left.

The light REALLY does get brighter.

Btw, great article. Hope this hits freeminds.

9

Some Reflections (The Counting My Blessings Thread)

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

thanks for reading this if you care.

i really don't have a particular reason to write this other then the mood hit.

it is likely to be rambling, and if it somehow makes some sense, i would consider that a bonus.. my life has distinct seasons.

AllTimeJeff

Hi all. Thanks for reading this if you care. I really don't have a particular reason to write this other then the mood hit. It is likely to be rambling, and if it somehow makes some sense, I would consider that a bonus.

My life has distinct seasons. Until my brother died, I was a JW through and through, thought I was right, you were wrong, I was ambitious, wanted to be a CO, etc.

Then Jon died. Stopped me in my tracks. I started to question things.

Flash forward to 9/11/2001, and I watched over and over again people die. This of course was a real mini drama of what JW's like to call "Armageddon". As we can all see now, their faith is so strong that NYC won't be attacked again that all of their properties have been up for sale for some time. See ya in the hills WTBTS.

Then I got to Gilead, where I finally in 2005, admitted to myself for the first time that JW's were not the truth, that I was being lied to. My gray matter got really wrinkly after class 119 ended.

Then I went to Cameroon, from Oct 2 2005-Feb 28 2006. I was almost killed, my wife I learned was also related to Job's wife (curse god and die), and to sum up, I got pretty f*cked in the head.

It was going to Cameroon, after already deciding this WASN'T the true religion (not my brightest moment) that really changed my life. I found the Rubicon for me, and it was in Yaounde Cameroon.

While in Cameroon, I actually, esp after the attacks, got to sit a lot. The branch encouraged me to rest. I think they knew I wasn't long for being a missionary. Good call.

What got me through? Thats the rambling part?

French cable TV! It's called CANAL I think. I got to see some really cool French movies, in subtitles even.

Oh, and I became a soccer fan. I will always root for Cameroon. I get it now. And Sam Eto, you are a god. Barcelona should never have let you go.

Did you know that JW missionaries from the West all over the world buy seasons of TV shows and go home to pretend that these are on TV to keep a sense of normalcy? For me, I got to watch someone else's Friends episodes. Before that, I could have taken or left the show, now, I watch every episode, and thank whomever that in all the pain, I got to laugh.

I watched Hitch and War of the Worlds in Cameroon. (Hitch was better) But the movies I saw for the first time ever, (VERY ironically as it turns out) was all 3 Matrix movies.

A JW refresher: If you are in a country without a rating system, you can watch R rated movies and still be a missionary or on the branch. May we all suck and choke on this rather large hypocritical void.

Having said that, if it weren't for that rather large hypocritical void, I wouldn't have had the instant association with the scene in the first Matrix where the red and blue pill were first offered, and literally gasped that I understood, I took the red pill. And then I saw Cypher want to take it back. I got that too. But mostly, I got to see a really good movie that will always mean so much to me.

When I got back, I took about 6 months off. Recuperated, researched, plotted my escape. And just before I left, I got to see something that once again hearkened me back to Cameroon!

American movie previews are HUGE all over the world. American movies mean so much. And there were two movies that looked intriguing as I was convalescing in Cameroon after my attacks.

One of them was called Rumor Has It with Jennifer Aniston. May I say, this movie was marginally ok, and Costner really needs to do what he does best, baseball movies.

But the other one will forever mean so much to me. The Family Stone. I heartily recommend it. I didn't get to see it in Cameroon, but before I left the cult, a JW family rented it and I watched it. It is the story of a VERY liberal family celebrating Christmas, and it is great. They have gay children, no one is judged, its a great cast, and an even better story. And it was a Christmas movie.

Christmas.

I left and celebrated my first Christmas in 2006. It was cold, it was snowing, frankly, I wasn't in great shape having recently left everything, but I still felt joy. That movie always makes me happy. A family that accepts each other no matter what, doesn't let anything come between them, loves each other through good and bad.

That will be my story. And Christmas will always be my favorite holiday. It is freedom, and even if I have to leech off the joy of others for a while during the holiday season, at least its real joy. And by the way, I have real joy now. And I watch two movies every Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, and a Family Stone.

I don't know why, but I just typed that and teared up. I guess I have more blessings then I thought I do. I hope that made sense.

Well, I though I would share that. Hope everyone is doing well tonight. :)

31

LIFE after JW: Why is it so difficult to keep a romantic relationship?

by cyberjesus in

AllTimeJeff

This thread could just as easily been truncated to "LIFE after JW"

It is my opinion (thats all, although on this I don't think I am wrong) that our JW indoctrination, to the extent we allowed ourselves to wade in deeper, does indeed cause attitudes that linger, or are even prominent, once we leave.

Thats all. It could be so many things, and it isn't my place to judge. I just know that if anyone had good or nice tendencies before they become dubs, that stays, it just gets altered. Ditto if you have some less then appealing personality traits that feeds into the Alpo machine the GB has set up. It doesn't help you too much.

Then you leave. And you are so busy leaving JW's that its hard to look in the mirror to assess who you are, and seperate that from the dub crap that stuck.

In the case of romance, lets face it, hell yeah it affects you. You either don't want sex, want it so much you would consider sleeping with people you really have no business cavorting with, oh, and lets not forget the world class communication skills that being a JW gives you.

It's a lot to sort out. I wouldn't freak out, but I wouldn't underestimate it either.