Posts by SacrificialLoon

28

I ONLY HAD ONE CHOICE - a "poem" by GG/BG (work in progress...???)

by Good Girl or Bad Girl? in

jw
friends

so i wrote this poem, if that is what you can call it.

not saying it's good or anything, but it's how i feel.

it's about my experience as a jehovah's witness.. .

SacrificialLoon

I enjoyed reading that, it was very good. Thank you for sharing.

19

So long, and thanks for all the kids...

by Paralipomenon in

jw
friends

i recently remembered this jw rumor that went circulating around when i was younger.

two sisters call on a door in service and is confronted by an obviously demon possessed individual.

(the details always changed, floating lamps, speaking in tongues, the usual folklore) sensing a disturbance in the force the younger sister leaves but the older pioneer sister stays determined to give her witness.

SacrificialLoon

It was monologuing! Like the super villains in that movie "The Incredibles".

28

Who still fears the big 'A'?

by lfcviking in

jw
friends

i have been left for about 18 months now and am trying to get 'unindoctrinated' or 'unbrainwashed' or whatever is the correct term is.

but there still exists in me a considerable fear of 'armaggeddon'.

whether the jw teaching of 'armaggeddon' is true or not i am not sure, but such was their very powerful strong mental indoctrination of this event it has left me with what i think will be a permenant fear for the rest of my days.

SacrificialLoon

For the longest time after I 'faded away' I still had some reservations about armageddon. The closest analogy I can think of is when they have elephants trained that they can't break free of the leash. When the elephant is young they leashed with a very strong rope or chain, and the young elephant learns that it cannot break free if something is tied to its leg. As the elephant becomes more docile, and struggles less the trainer can replace the heavy rope with a dog leash and the elephant will stay put. It has been conditioned to think that if something is tied around its leg it cannot break free.

Fear of armageddon was one thing that kept me from completely breaking free, but I realized how silly it was . There are still a few more "leashes" I think that I need to recognize and break, but the specter armageddon is not longer one of them.

34

Comments You Will Not Hear at the 1-21-07 WT Study (Day Near)

by blondie in

will try again, getting error message.

says posted 6 hours 3 minutes ago which is not true, less than ten minutes ago.

SacrificialLoon

Why does Zephaniah's scripture sound so much like Yoda from Star Wars? Perhaps Yoda is the Greater Zephaniah. Except Yoda would probably say, "Near the great day of Jehovah is, hurrying of it very much there will be."

LOL! That makes for a funny mental picture. You could have Yoda giving the study, and JarJar reading the Watchtower.

Seriously though, that was an interesting read. I see some things haven't changed at all over the years. The end is always just around the corner, too bad they're running in a circle. ;)

51

Should God be Held Responsible for the Evil that Men Do?

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

<!-- .style1 { font-size: 20px; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; } .style2 { font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight:430;

} .style3 { font-size: 18px; font-family: georgia, "times new roman", times, serif; } .style4 {color: #ff0000} .style5 { color: #009900; font-weight: bold; } --> should god be held responsible for the evil that men do?if you still believe in god do you hold him responsible or accountable by a misleading .

organization claiming to be gods channel of communication?

SacrificialLoon

I hold the easter bunny and Santa Claus responsible since it'll do about as much good. *shakes fist at easter bunny*

27

You Are Going to Die at Armageddon

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

you are going to die at armageddonduring public talks, assemblies and written throughout the watchtower literature .

was the threat that anyone who was not doing gods will, would suffer the loss of their life.

during the great day of god almighty.. what affect did that have on you?the fear brought on by this doomsday message probably kept me in the organ-.

SacrificialLoon

I'll admit it was a motivating factor in keeping me in, and it was a also bit empowering. I knew what was going on when not many others did, I... we were special. People in the world may have laughed at the fact that they were doomed, but we would have the last laugh. I was way too young to remember 1975, but the end was just around the corner when communism fell, and it was just around the corner when the first gulf war started, anytime a major event happened in the world the speculation about the end would pick up. A lot of people spent their entire lives living in fear in the hopes that their slavish devotion would be rewarded.

Made me think of a famous epitaph of a group of soldiers. I'll mutilate it a bit to fit..

"Go tell the world, stranger passing by,
that here, loyal to the Watchtower's laws, we lie."

Unlike the respect I feel for that group Spartans, all I feel is a sense of pity, and relief that this will not be my epitaph.

12

Anyone Into Astronomy?

by lovelylil in

jw
friends

my kids are really interested in astronomy lately and it has never been my area of expertise.

they don't do much in school on it, just a few basics.

so i thought we could do more at home.

SacrificialLoon

Sky & Telescope Has a nice starchart.
Space.com Is a nice general site about umm... space. :) I have no idea why it is prefixing my links with www.jehovahs-witness.com, so just remove that when you click on them.

41

I suppose I should stop lurking,

by SacrificialLoon in

jw
friends

and introduce myself.

i was raised in "the truth", and for the longest time it was all i knew.

i spent my childhood going through all the things that other witness children went through; not celebrating holidays, not standing up and reciting the pledge of allegiance, not going to school events, or associating with "worldly" children much.

SacrificialLoon

great avatar btw.

Thanks, I've been a Rush fan for some time (the band not the blowhard), and I thought starman from "2112" was a good avatar. 2112 lyrics

"Sacrificial Loon" is a wonderful screen name! Welcome. I don't know if you think it's funny, but I did laugh out loud at your sn! Congrats on getting on board here!

I did mean for it to be funny, I sat there for a while to think of one, and then inspiration struck. It might be a little blasphemous, but that's ok. :)

If you're still in Texas that's a great state to be in where there seems to be regular Apostafests

Apostafest? lol, I like that name. I'll have to look for that.

Come chat with us at one of two places, f you're not to afraid to chat with apostates. ;-) http://gabbly.com/www.jehovahs-witness.com www.thomschat.com

Maybe I'll have to check those out. Is there any particular time that they're usually active?

Thanks for all the comments, and welcomes.

41

I suppose I should stop lurking,

by SacrificialLoon in

jw
friends

and introduce myself.

i was raised in "the truth", and for the longest time it was all i knew.

i spent my childhood going through all the things that other witness children went through; not celebrating holidays, not standing up and reciting the pledge of allegiance, not going to school events, or associating with "worldly" children much.

SacrificialLoon

Maybe I got the terms mixed up as it has been a while, but the process of determining who was in the 144,000 seemed suspect to me at the time, and that's what planted the seed of doubt which led to more questions, and so on.

"No longer doubting doubter" yes that makes perfect sense strangely enough. I do enjoy reading, so I look at that since I'm almost done with the current book I'm reading.

Thanks for the welcomes. Edit reason: noob and firefox

41

I suppose I should stop lurking,

by SacrificialLoon in

jw
friends

and introduce myself.

i was raised in "the truth", and for the longest time it was all i knew.

i spent my childhood going through all the things that other witness children went through; not celebrating holidays, not standing up and reciting the pledge of allegiance, not going to school events, or associating with "worldly" children much.

SacrificialLoon

and introduce myself. I was raised in "the truth", and for the longest time it was all I knew. I spent my childhood going through all the things that other witness children went through; not celebrating holidays, not standing up and reciting the pledge of allegiance, not going to school events, or associating with "worldly" children much. So yeah... I had the standard screwed up childhood. Certain in my faith I was baptized at about 18, I went door to door, I gave the little 5 minute bible readings at the Thursday meetings, and I was sure the end was near.

One day a little doubt entered my mind; it occurred when a brother was appointed one of the anointed 144,000. I asked how they knew to declare him such, and I got the standard answer that the governing body guided by the holy spirit determined it to be so. Normally that might have been a good enough answer, but for some reason my doubt was not assuaged. That question led to more questions, and soon the whole house of cards came tumbling down. I became disillusioned and lost my zeal so to speak. I stopped going out in service, and then the meetings, but I continued to be in limbo; doubting the "truth", but still believing it to be so. I'm not sure if that previous sentence makes sense, but I think some of you will know what I mean.

Then a ticket out presented itself. During my disillusionment I pursued a bit of a career in IT. The company was moving the data center I worked at to Texas so I went in part to escape the surroundings, and family that kept me imprisoned, I lacked the courage to completely break away and lose touch with those I love, so I used my work moving as an excuse to get away. Mostly free, but I still had that what if feeling, "what if they're right after all?" I'd sometimes ask myself. During one of those what if moments I started searching the web and it led me to various site that talked about things like Beth-Sarim, all the false prophecies, and all the other things that have probably been recounted hundreds of times here.

So here I am years later still trying to right things in my head, but the imprint of the society is still felt all this time later.

Man that's a depressing introduction, but cathartic.

So anyway, Hi. :)

Edit: ouch my paragraphs disappeared