Posts by IsaacJS2

19

The ability to let go... Do Jws/ex-JWs have a problem with this?

by restrangled in

jw
friends

this is in no way meant to be an accusation.

it's just a question.

it could also be just human nature in general, or a personality type that was attracted to this religion in the first place.. it seems that several problems on this board just won't die a peaceful death.

IsaacJS2

I think everyone will agree that not all of us have a problem in the area of letting go and not obsessing. But I do think JWs - and by extension, ex-JWs - have a greater tendency to have issues with these things. We were taught to constantly focus on our flaws and to work on them by the WT elite. Or else. Just think back to the literature and you'll see what I mean.

"Are you doing this to make Jehovah happy? I asked you a question, maggot. SO ARE YOU??? Well why not?! ::Sigh:: Why do you suck so much? Maybe you should try not sucking as a human being. Then maybe Jehovah won't cry himself to sleep every night watching over your ungrateful a**! I so can't wait for Armageddon so I won't have to look at you any more. You disgust me. Hey, don't look at me like that! ..."

"Well then, you aren't doing that are you? What the--!!! Do you want to live or do you want Jesus to shoot you in the face at Armageddon, man?!? What is your deal?! Are you, like, weird or something? Do you have a deathwish?? Don't you realize you're playing with fire here! This is Jesus, man! JESUS! He knows everything, man. Everything! He knows if you've been good or bad! Just like Santa Clause! I don't want to be near you when Jesus points that revolver. No sir. Get away from me! I SAID GET AWAY! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

We're also warned to look out for flaws in others. Hey, they could be evil. Ya never know. The magazines say it's contagious. The evil I mean. Better to be safe than sorry. Evil can be harder to wash out than protein and ya know it's out to get ya. Hey! There's some evil over there! AHHHH! It touched my leg! It touched my leg! It buuuuuuurrrrns!

Does this sound healthy to you?

IsaacJ

8

Someone help me understand!!

by sammielee24 in

jw
friends

i always thought that the whole legal reason for putting up no trespassing signs, no soliticians, no religious persons, signs, was that it was my absolute right to privacy?.

i just had someone argue with me that there is no point to putting up these signs because i have no legal rights should any religious person choose to knock at my door.

that means that i have no rights or that my rights are always waved in the rights of any religious person - be they baptist, mormon, scientologist or mormons?

IsaacJS2

For years, "No Trespassing" signs were ruled not to apply to JWs and other door to door preacher types where I live. This was changed in one local town, though. I remember being told it's up to us whether we go to these places any way and risk getting arrested or kicked out by the cops. I have no idea if that law was upheld or not though. I have my doubts, but there's always hope. Several town in the area have tried to outlaw JWs preaching door to door from time to time, but I think this was the only one that went the "No Trespassing" sign route.

IsaacJ

16

how will I know you in paradise?

by tula in

so we have been led to believe that we will all look the same as we do now...except we will have no flaws and a perfected body without deformity or ailment.

hmmm..... how do we know this to be true?

is there any scriptural reference to this aspect of "resurrection"?

IsaacJS2

do you still believe this concept?

Not even a little.

IsaacJ

4

Body of Christ and body of 144.000 after resurrection

by Ancientofdays in

we know that watchtower teachs that "first resurrection" already toke place for the 1st class christian group, the 144.000.. so , each of the 144.000 still alive on the earth is immediately resurrected after he dies.

but .. their body still on the earth .. so , why ?.

i mean why body of christ disappear after his resurrection and bodies of 144.000 not ?

IsaacJS2

I've wondered about this one too. I mean, if people don't have souls ... then what goes to Heaven exactly? Are corpses being raptured out of the ground? No, wait. They can't say that or somebody'll check one day. (Creepy, but true) Will Jehovah suck out their brains and plant them in new, magical bodies? But wait, somebody might check that one day too! Crap.

So, like, what then?

IsaacJ

25

Spanish Congo's--You just aren't chic if have not switched yet!

by oompa in

it seems like all around me goody types are leaving english and going spanish.

whats the deal?...one told me he loved it cause he did not understand anything for 3 years!!!!

!....oompa

IsaacJS2

That reminds me, my Ex and that so called SISTER that was staying in his home for a week or more, went to a Spanish cong. in a neighboring town, because they didn't want the local(JW's) asking questions. *heehee* Is that the going/growing trend now Oompa?
LINDA

That's probably a good trick to add to the fader's tool kit. Transfer to a congregation where they can barely even ask you any questions about your dwindling attendance.

IsaacJ

55

Fade Unsuccessful

by FadingELD in

i am new to this site but have been lurking for a while now.

i have not told my story yet because i am in the middle of a situation i had hoped to avoid.

my wife is still a jw in good standing, my two sons were dfd a year ago.

IsaacJS2

I just popped in and saw these posts. I wanted to wish you well and all that other stuff that everybody else has already said. :-) Personally, whether or not I wanted to stay a Witness, I would probably have to straighten out my wife. She has violated your trust in a huge way and it's simply not right to be spied on in your own home.

I have a Witness wife, though she's not what they would consider very active. She knows my stance on things, and I have basically advised her to decide for herself whether she wants me to be DFed or not by tattling like a kindergardener. I gave up on being intimidated several years ago, and the only reason I didn't request DA was because it would make it harder for her to hand with her friends and family.

I'm sure the WTS would consider me an apostate. I'm an atheist, and I have written articles online that are critical of the Society. She would have probably told on me out of fear when we were first married, but not now.

Anyway, if you need any advice or support, this is surely the right place.

IsaacJ

21

Were We Members of a Religion or Free Labor for a Publishing Company?

by journey-on in

all the talk of legal ramifications got me thinking about this one.

your thoughts?.

IsaacJS2

Here's how I see it, but I want to point out something in case anyone uses points like these in a discussion with JWs. The intentions of the GB have nothing to do with these points. In other words, they are still true whether you believe the GB is God's representative on Earth or just leaders of a cult. So they can argue about the GB's intentions all they want, but the results are still the same.

1. The literature is mass produced very cheaply by volunteers who make little money. So they only cost a small fraction of what it would for most publishing companies even though people are encouraged to treat the literature as if it's top quality, grade A expensive stuff when donating.

2. The literature is offered "free" because of tax laws, but Witnesses are still encouraged to get a donation. Note that if you mark the literature as $2, you'll only get $2 for it from those who are interested. (Actually, JWs are usually the only ones interested enough in the literature to pay, but I digress) If you ask them to simply support the work with their donations, you'll often get a lot more if people can afford it. JWs certainly give a lot more than that.

3. JWs are easily the greatest users of the literature. They are the ones paying for it. The Society creates a need for the literature with their 5 weekly meetings. A good JW always has their book or mag ready for the next meeting and is embarrassed to go without. The Society is sure to have them study any new book that comes out, so you'd better get it at the convention when it's first introduced. Get your copy today! This is often the highlight of conventions for many and there's usually some buzz about it. In a way, conventions are like big Tupper Ware parties where the new books and mags can be shown off and distributed. Everything else is just a rehash of the same old crap. Don't forget to donate for your copies! And remember, not everyone can afford to donate, so if you think it's worth $20, give us $50 to cover someone else's. This, combined with the fact that the literature is produced so cheaply by volunteers *slave COUGH labor* means more money, more money, more money...

4. JWs are some of the most highly trained sales people on Earth. They have 5 weekly meetings devoted, in part, to the cause of getting people to accept their magazines and donate for them. The other part is studying the literature, which the Society produces and they have to have for the meetings. They are expected to report in on how much time they spend on this task each month (which is often seen as a measure of one's spirituality, or how "good" they are) just like a freelance door to door salesman would. But they don't get paid jack. Still, if they don't get a donation for each copy they sell to others, they are encouraged to donate for them of the householder's behalf. The Society, therefore, loses nothing but looks very generous all the same.

5. And so the circle of dependancy, supply, and demand continues. The money and labor flows from the Witnesses and into the organization over and over again.

IsaacJ

21

JWs Have a NEW TACTIC (at least to me)

by Gretchen956 in

i have a new job now and take mass transit, the max train into town and then a short bus trip to work.

in between i have about 3 to 6 blocks to traverse, depending on what time it is and which bus i'm catching.

today i'm walking the last bit to my stop and watching the street for signs of the bus, and two women come walking up, at a good clip, and i can tell they are handing something out.

IsaacJS2

I used to frequent a lot of atheist message boards and when they found out I was a Witness, the other atheists would ask me questions. One tactic that came up repeatedly was Witnesses stopping people in parking lots at the grocery store and preaching at them when they had an arm load of groceries to put away and melting ice cream dripping over their forearms!

I haven't seen much of the personally, but around here they've been shoving magazines in peoples doors, knocking and then running away without even talking to any one. I was really surprised by that. It seems like "speed witnessing" is in. I guess they figure if you have the mags, maybe you'll read them.

I wonder if the Witnesses are donating for all of those they leave? If so, it's only making money for the Society even faster than before. It is a closed money trail most of the time, after all. The Witnesses need the lit for the meetings, and the Society generously supplies them but asks for more than the actual cost to help out with other expenses. Kinda brilliant money making scheme. :-(

IsaacJ

10

The Vegetarian Birds Will Feast On Us?

by serotonin_wraith in

so, once armageddon is over and the bodies are everywhere, the birds are supposed to feed on us.. yet, shouldn't they be vegetarian in the 1000 year reign?.

a quick snack before god sets it in stone?

if so, the surviving jws may be able to have a bbq with any meat they find laying around from the destroyed supermarkets and butchers before they get told to give it up and eat fruit instead.. (but knowing me, i've probably missed something!

IsaacJS2

I prefer to believe that the resurrected will come back as zombies - as in, "Live Forever in paradise Earth ... as a zombie! Bwuh-ha ha!" Then I just assumed that the shambling, dripping hordes will devour all us dead people so the Witnesses won't have to go stumbling all over us.

But then, I have been called weird a time or two.

Consider this: the smell of 5 billion bodies rotting in the sun! There's your ick factor right there. I should think the smell alone would make the survivors too ill to run from the oozing hordes I described. And since the actual number of people who have ever lived is more like 100 billion people (not 14 or 20 or whatever like the Society claims) where are all these resurrected people gonna go? Maybe Jehovah isn't going to resurrect them in shifts so much as let them live in shifts? I dunno.

I wrote an article about that last part at http://atheism.about.com/od/jehovahswitnesses/a/Resurrection.htm if you want to see. It's at Austin Cline's atheist web site.

Or you could just shrug and go with my "oozing hordes" theory. It's easier and more fun. Maybe I should add that to my own site. Hmmm...

IsaacJ

4

Advice Article-What to do when JWs say you should never trust the critics

by IsaacJS2 in

jw
friends

i've noticed that this is something witnesses in my area tend to do.

i consider it an excuse not to think about the issues raised by critics.

in any case, when they bug us about about returning to the society we often tend to do the "who you gonna believe?

IsaacJS2

Thanks for the compliments everyone. I waited until I was sure the article read okay before I posted it last night.

IsaacJ