AllTimeJeff

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Posts by AllTimeJeff

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  27

  JW Euphemisms

  by gubberningbody in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  shepherding = spying on, interrogating, hassling.

  encourage = hassle, pester.

  evidently = no logical segue, so we just assume it.

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  AllTimeJeff

  "..even Jehovah's people are not immune to problems." = You are more f*cked then you know.....
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  172

  Top 10 reasons why JWs don't have the truth - please contribute

  by oldlightnewshite in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i thought it would be an interesting exercise to ask everybody on here what their 'top 10 reasons why jws don't have the truth' actually were.

  maybe we can see some correlating views/patterns/ideas that may help us de-programme the newbies that come on this site.

  if eventually most people have an outstanding gripe/concern it'll help everybody understand the ex-jw mindset a little better.

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  AllTimeJeff

  "The Truth" is a catchphrase that the leadership of Jehovah's Witnesses use all the time. It distorts the meaning. It is helpful to know what the phrase means to JW's in general.

  "The Truth" represents the entirety of bible teacings and dogma that are currently taught and believed upon by Jehovah's Witnesses.

  There is actually a definition for that in a Watchtower, but I have long ago forgotten which issue its in.

  "The Truth" has nothing to do with what is true and false. That's why arguements on the veracity of "The Truth" are pointless endeavors. JW's are just as guilty of believing in their own traditions, (esp around 1914 and other dates) as any other religion.

  So they call it "The Truth". Doesn't mean a damn thing.

  Are they wrong about a great deal of what they insist is true? Hell yeah! From "Armageddon is just around the corner", to avoiding blood medicine, to their lies about what teachings have changed and why, there is a ton wrong.

  So its up to JW's to be honest with themselves. Do they believe what the evidence points to? Or the latest spin that JW leadership puts on it? The trends suggest that more and more that JW's are slowly figuing it out.
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  12

  Lies and Damn Lies

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the greatest mistake and the greatest harm i ever did to myself as a jehovah's witness is lying to myself.

  about everyone else secondly.. i believe in very few constants in life.

  i think we all are on journey's and it takes a lot to get to where we are going.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Hi there Stephen. I don't feel bad. But its not honest unless I admit why I ultimately went all in in JW land. I had noble motives too. I really wanted to help people, and it prevented me from being an ass on occasion.

  As far as how I am doing, I have been on a 4 year upswing. :)
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  12

  Lies and Damn Lies

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the greatest mistake and the greatest harm i ever did to myself as a jehovah's witness is lying to myself.

  about everyone else secondly.. i believe in very few constants in life.

  i think we all are on journey's and it takes a lot to get to where we are going.

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  AllTimeJeff

  By the way, for any believing Jehovah's Witness who read this, it isn't my place to tell you anything about what you believe. You know where I stand. I would have only one question that you only need to ask and answer yourself.

  Why is the principle work of Jehovah's Witnesses to go around with literature, and persentations designed to get into people of other religions heads so that they question their beliefs, yet baptized Jehovah's Witnesses are expressly prohibited from reading about their own faith from other religions when it could cause precisely the same effect?

  That simply isn't honest, imo. But ultimately, thats a question you, and every believing JW, must answer.
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  12

  Lies and Damn Lies

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the greatest mistake and the greatest harm i ever did to myself as a jehovah's witness is lying to myself.

  about everyone else secondly.. i believe in very few constants in life.

  i think we all are on journey's and it takes a lot to get to where we are going.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Hi there theSheep. You said

  Please know that fighting the temptation is not lying to the person in the mirror.

  No, no it isn't. But the only person who would ever be qualified to tell or know whether the temptation is merely a disingenuous attempt to do something really wrong (such as, rob a convenience store, rape, etc) is you. Other temptations, like cheating on your partner, are more complex. Is it because its over? Is it because you were hurt and you are acting out? Is it tempting because you aren't being honest with yourself or your partner? Would a real honest conversation alleviate the temptation?

  Thats the interesting dynamic when it comes to a conversation about being honest with yourself. Ultimately, you must answer to yourself. It's not anyone else's job or responsibility. If one chooses to accept or do certain things that they are uncertain of, it is the ultimate test.

  So if you feel you are being tempted to do wrong, then I guess you are. The reasons why though are just as important to figure out, imo, as to what is tempting you, and that my friend, is where being honest with yourself really matters.
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  14

  Odd Deconstructive Moment in the Dec 2010 Awake

  by Cadellin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  when i saw the article, "more major earthquakes expected" in page 20, my first thought was wtf?

  haven't they learned their lesson about predicting increases in earthquakes?

  then i read the article, which shies away from any explicit claim that seismic activity is on the increase.

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  AllTimeJeff

  At least your brain hurts. Their brains don't work!
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  27

  JW Euphemisms

  by gubberningbody in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  shepherding = spying on, interrogating, hassling.

  encourage = hassle, pester.

  evidently = no logical segue, so we just assume it.

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  AllTimeJeff

  "Organizational Arrangements" = The JW Hiearchy System

  "Modest clothing" = Anything a sister must wear in the summer to hide the fact that she is a woman and to roast her alive in her own sweat.

  "may stumble other weak ones" = In fact, this is bullsh*t that means 'the GB is offended by it, and we will hide behind new ones so we don't have to deal with it.'
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  84

  DF'd and struggling....LONG POST........my story.

  by confuzzled777 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  how do i make a long story short?

  i am fully aware that if anyone in my area were to read this that they will know who i am.

  i was disfellowshipped on january 28th 2010 after an "interview" about an evening of bowling with friends and family back in november 2009. i was among 4 who were disfellowshipped and 6 who were publicly reproved.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Sometimes, we learn the truth about evil groups when they mistreat us first.

  That isn't to say that the people you know are evil. Far from it. I know of very few JW's who are evil. (pedophiles and some leaders are who I group into that). Most are duped.

  You have been mistreated because the leadership demands strict control, and teaches the elders who disfellowshipped you to do their controlling for them. As a former elder, I can say that most elders, even if they were on their high horse, felt bad for what they did to you.

  Is that a reason to go back? May I encourage you to learn and ask questions about your faith. I did. As a Gilead grad who himself went through some pretty serious crap, I can only say that to have the freedom to research Jehovah's Witnesses on your own the way we as Jehovah's Witnesses encourage people of other religions to do the same is enlightening and freeing.

  Wishing you the best. Know that you don't have to go back, or do anything. Only be honest with yourself first, and what you find out about JW's.
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  12

  Lies and Damn Lies

  by AllTimeJeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the greatest mistake and the greatest harm i ever did to myself as a jehovah's witness is lying to myself.

  about everyone else secondly.. i believe in very few constants in life.

  i think we all are on journey's and it takes a lot to get to where we are going.

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  AllTimeJeff

  The greatest mistake and the greatest harm I ever did to myself as a Jehovah's Witness is lying to myself. About myself first. About everyone else secondly.

  I believe in very few constants in life. I think we all are on journey's and it takes a lot to get to where we are going. But one thing life, esp life as a JW taught me, is that by and large, we, you and I, are very willing to lie to ourselves when it feels good to do so.

  That isn't meant to be accusatory or to denigrate anyone. I can only speak of my own experience and see how it jives with with others to know this is true.

  Truthfully, I never wanted a paradise earth where I could frolic in the fields with Lions and Elephants. For one thing, I was planning on moving to New Jersey after Armageddon. (joke their folks, laugh) What appealed to me about being a JW wasn't the future paradise. It was what I got out of being a JW now.

  While allowing for the fact that JW teachings do point many broken people with problems to a time when their problems will end, the carrot on the stick that the Governing Body uses is what they term the present "spiritual paradise". This bullshit paradise is supposedly complete with brothers and sisters who care, elders to shepherd, while everyone rejoices that "we alone have the truth."

  Of course, the dark side of this is that JW's teach, and I taught, that everyone else was going to be destroyed by that ultra loving god Jehovah.

  Why? Why did I do it? I truthfully never did deep down believe it. What I got out of it was being a teenage ministerial servant and pioneer who wanted to be an over achiever, and happened to be a born in JW, finding myself in a religious cult that encouraged me to use my intelligence, talents, and energies for them.

  And I was young, and my vanities were over fed. An easy recipe for lying to myself began. I could become an elder, be a leader, and having learned this from the pros, hide my own agenda behind Watchtower catch phrases of "having spiritual goals" and "reaching out for further privileges of service."

  From my teens I saw the rot and hypocrisy. But I was too caught up in lying to myself. It caused me to pursue a goal I genuinely had no interest in, being a missionary, and to marry someone whom I had no business marrying, though I loved her with all my heart. All because I simply wanted to achieve, to do something with my life. With no guidance, JW's used that until I finally said "enough!"

  These days, I have no problem with admitting where I am at. If I want something bad for me, maybe I will do it, eat it, and maybe I won't, but I won't sit there and try to justify it. While I don't say everything that comes into my mind, with my friends, I am pretty much a "what you see is what you get" person.

  I strongly believe that while you don't have to tip your hand to everyone you meet, (esp at work) you can't afford not to be honest with yourself. It's miserable.

  There is nothing wrong with wanting to achieve in your life. There is nothing wrong with changing. Unhappy relationships and marriages can either be saved or ended by honesty. Unfortunately, most relationships with that level of intimacy rarely gets the honesty it needs to fertilize the relationship.

  It is, in my opinion, the ultimate challenge of exiting JW's to be honest with the person in the mirror. To really know, then admit, who they are. To know, not just your weak points, but your strong ones. To know who you really are, and then to strike out from that place is the ultimate peace that in the end, we all seek.

  But until we stop pretending to be who we are not, until we stop justifying our weaknesses and bad points, until we come to a place where we can accept ourselves for who we are and being a work in progress, our development as people, post JW, will be slower then it needs to be.

  There are many lessons to be learned. Many mistakes have been made, and will be made. But one mistake that can stop is to no longer lie to the person staring back at us in the mirror.
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  131

  Can we trust this website? (About the subject in which Jehovah's Witnesses were a NGO)

  by possible-san in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  can we trust this website?.

  watchtower as a united nations ngo - critical look at the conspiracy theory.

  http://www.jehovahsjudgment.co.uk/watchtower-un-ngo/.

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  AllTimeJeff

  Well hell, it was in the newspaper, letters came from the UN confirming it, so this guy is really swimming in the River Denial.