Posts by journey-on

7

Secret Santa

by JWdaughter in

jw
friends

hey, this is a good time for all of those participating in secret santa to give us a little summary in the profile section of who you are and what you are about.

sex, age, anything.

some aren't that regular of participants, some are very vague.

journey-on

Sorry....I'm a newbie. What is Secret Santa?

19

New

by ayhra in

hi i just came across this site can someone tell me is this a forum for ex-jw's or anti jw.. thanks.

journey-on

I'm kind of new, too, but I'd like to welcome you anyway. You'll get a lot out of this group of very intelligent free-thinkers.

31

Let Kids see Dub Grandparents or?

by brunnhilde in

my mom and dad love my son, but i also know because of the depth of their brainwashing, they won't be respectful of my parenting (as i've asked them) and will try to "plant seeds" with him.

he's only 7, loves his grandma and papa very much and is easily confused and distressed when he gets conflicting info.

since we left the dubs, we've had a couple different run-ins with my parents trying subtle and not so subtle means to get at my son, or more accurately, get at me.

journey-on

Reading all these comments has brought back some sad memories for me. It just makes me sick what this cult does to families.

15

Letter back from JW friend.

by Matt_fs in

something weird happened there, it didnt post.

now i have to re write it ha.. .

hey folks.

I would write back. I would tell him that I understand his position. Let him know you actually feel concern for him because one's spiritual health should be of utmost importance, so much so that if you allow man to dictate what your spiritual path must be, then you are going against everything Christ taught. He said "in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

Then I would tell him that your search for truth is in accordance with what the Bible tells youto do. Philllipians tells us to "keep working outyour own salvation with fear and trembling." Corinthians tells us to keep testing our faith and Ephesians says to keep on making sure of what is acceptable to the Lord. So, you are the one abiding by scripture. It is not wrong to question anything!! It's wrong not to.

Tell him your spiritual health is so important to you that you cannot allow anyone, especially imperfect men who have made so many mistakes and false prophecies, to hinder your own prayerful search and that he had better be careful himself by putting an organization of men who claim to be God's sole channel before God and Christ.

Then I would tell him this: "I actually feel concern for you, (his name), because you are not allowed to actually search for Truth. You have to put your faith in an organization of men because they will not allow their members to research and think for themselves lest they actually find out the real truth. You're the one treading on dangerous ground because it's your life that's in the balance. When you're ready to understand, I'm here for you......(Oh, and P.S.: Sorry about your cat.)

MY PET PIEVE IS THAT THEY ALWAYS TRY TO MAKE YOU FEEL SPIRITUALLY WEAK AND INFERIOR. THEY ARE THE ONES THAT NEED TO SEE THAT THEIR SPIRITUAL HEALTH IS IN JEOPARDY BY PLACING IT IN THE HANDS OF A BUNCH OF POWER-GRUBBING, ARROGANT, IMPERFECT, FALSE-PROPHESYING, EDUCATIONALLY MEDIOCRE, FEAR MONGERS.

Just my thoughts for what they're worth.

30

canada

by wormwood in

jw
friends

hello, i'm new here on this forum.

i've been disfellowshiped for 10 years or so.

i can't even remember anymore.

journey-on

I'm new, too. After I left the witnesses, I found it hard to pray. They indoctrinate you to think you can only approach Him and expect Him to hear you if you're a JW.....NOT TRUE. So, pray from your heart and ask for his guidance, then expect it!!!! He's there for everyone. Welcome, BTW.

4

Fear of the truth

by KW13 in

jw
friends

when your a dub, the fear of the unknown (the real world) prevents you from taking a step from outside the organization, even for a second.. as an ex-dub, it seems crazy i ever was a dub or that i ever entertained their ideas for more than a moment.

the lengths the society go to hide things don't go beyond hiding it from those within the organization, this is obvious anyone on the outside can see clearly what it is.

the difficulty is proving things to the blind dubs.. saying this, why are so many jehovah's witnesses (who can normally be very nice) very arrogant when it comes to discussing their beliefs on other terms other than their own, if they aren't comfortable they resort to insults and rudeness, they find it ok to attack other peoples beliefs in literature, when they meet them but if anyone does the same to them they get hurt and run away immediately - specially if its an 'apostate'.. as much as i was once one of them, from the moment i left and apparently went off the narrow road i feel so much better about my life, other things in the world.

journey-on

They are afraid. They're paranoid to the max. They always feel Satan lurking over their shoulder or Jehovah watching their every move ready to put a mark by their name for talking to an apostate, sleeping in late on Sat. a.m. rather than going in the fs, or not studying the WT lesson, or even having a brief "wrong" thought. They are only comfortable around like-minded people and their worse fear is allowing a "seed" of doubt to be planted in their brainwashed mind. Because then it might grow and grow and grow till they become weak spiritually (meaning able to think for oneself).

I think they are afraid that the "door is going to be closed soon" and if they are not careful, they will be on the outside banging on the door to let them in. I remember as a kid, we were always told about Noah going into the Ark and Jehovah closed the door just before it started to rain. They were safe and sound inside God's place of protection, and then the rain began. People stormed the door of the ark trying to get in but IT WAS TOO LATE!!!........We were told: "What if tonight at the meeting, Jehovah closes the door and seals his people in and Armageddon begins outside. If you're not at the meeting, well, you won't be protected!!!" What a horrible thing to tell a kid. Everytime I missed a meeting for being sick or anything, I would think about that. FEAR MONGERS!

38

MORE DRIVEL FROM APRIL 15TH WT STUDY.....

by Mary in

i'm not sure if this has been posted yet, but on pages 28-29 of the april 15, 2007 watchtower study on let the congregation be built up, they seem to be trying to justify the notion that a person cannot be 'saved' if they leave the organization, even if they have just cause:.

paragraph 15 reads" in modern times, some have ceased associating with the local congregation, feeling that they will serve god on their own.

they may say that it is because their feelings were hurt, they think a wrong is not being corrected, or they cannot accept some teaching.

journey-on

I really think the WTBTS is running scared right now that they are about to experience a division. There's another forum I briefly visited recently and it sounded like active JW's discussing the possible "apostasy" of the org itself....a division between the "real" Jehovah's Witnesses and those in the corp who are now running it. They talked about meeting together in small groups to discuss some of the current changes being put forth. I didn't stay on it long because they are still dyed in the wool JWs who still believe they have The Truth and espouse their doctrines, but they are concerned about the recent "crap" coming out of New York. Also, the article WhereamI posted in a thread about when the calling of the heavenly hope will cease, the last two paragraphs sounded strange to me.

Am I reading too much into this?????????

How should a person be viewed who has determined in his heart that he is now anointed and begins to partake of the emblems at the Memorial? He should not be judged. The matter is between him and Jehovah. (Romans 14:12) However, genuine anointed Christian do notdemand special attention. They do not believe that their being of the anointed gives them special "insights" beyond what even someexperienced members of the great crowd may have. They do not believe that they necessarily have more holy spirit than their companions of the other sheep have; nor do they expect special treatment or claim that their partaking of the emblems places them above the appointed elders in the congregation. They humbly remember that some anointed men in the first century did not qualify to serve as elders or ministerial servants. (1 timothy 3:1-10, 12, 13; Titus 1:5-9; James 3:1) Some anointed Christians were even spiritually weak. (1Thessalonians 5:14) And sisters, although anointed, did not teach in the congregation.
Hence, anointed Christians along with their other sheep companions strive to stay spiritually strong, cultivating the fruitage of the spirit and working for the peace of the congregation. All Christians, whether anointed or of the other sheep, work hard at preaching the good news and making disciples, under the direction of the Governing Body. Anointed Christians are content to do this for as long as it is God's will that they remain on earth as Jehovah's servants.

10

When does the calling of Christians to a heavenly hope cease?

by whereami in

well here it is folks!!!

the wts new "light" on the subject.

read it & weep.

journey-on

I'm kind of new too WhereamI, but let me also welcome you. Actually, you posted more info from the WT article than the current thread running and I saw something else that intuitively told me the GB may be worried that those partaking of the emblems may actually start causing some "trouble" within the congs. Maybe the "upper management (GB)" is afraid some of these new partakers might begin insinuating that they are "receiving" spiritual guidance from above. After all, many witnesses have wondered why the annointed who are supposed to be a channel of God's directing spirit, are not consulted more often. It has always seemed odd that only a handful of men in New York are considered as the dispensers of spiritual food in due season.

How should a person be viewed who has determined in his heart that he is now anointed and begins to partake of the emblems at the Memorial? He should not be judged. The matter is between him and Jehovah. (Romans 14:12) However, genuine anointed Christian do notdemand special attention. They do not believe that their being of the anointed gives them special "insights" beyond what even someexperienced members of the great crowd may have. They do not believe that they necessarily have more holy spirit than their companions of the other sheep have; nor do they expect special treatment or claim that their partaking of the emblems places them above the appointed elders in the congregation. They humbly remember that some anointed men in the first century did not qualify to serve as elders or ministerial servants. (1 timothy 3:1-10, 12, 13; Titus 1:5-9; James 3:1) Some anointed Christians were even spiritually weak. (1Thessalonians 5:14) And sisters, although anointed, did not teach in the congregation.--1 Timothy 2:11,12

Hence, anointed Christians along with their other sheep companions strive to stay spiritually strong, cultivating the fruitage of the spirit and working for the peace of the congregation. All Christians, whether anointed or of the other sheep, work hard at preaching the good news and making disciples, under the direction of the Governing Body. Anointed Christians are content to do this for as long as it is God's will that they remain on earth as Jehovah's servants.

288

Did the heavenly calling cease in 1935? Not anymore!

by AnnOMaly in

watch out for the questions from readers in the may 1st 2007 watchtower.

"when does the calling of christians to a heavenly hope cease?

" it's a good'un.. included are the statements:.

journey-on

It's their typical CYA policy under the guise of "the light getting brighter and brighter." This is second only to the "carrot in front of the horse" tactic.

71

The original sin

by onacruse in

this is a question i've had for a long time.. according to the biblical account, adam and eve's sin was to eat fruit from the forbidden tree.. now, ordinarily, when we get caught doing something "wrong," we try to hide the "offending" member (the child tries to hide his hand that has the 'stolen' cookie; we hurriedly try to pull our pants back on when mom walks in unexpectedly while we're masturbating, etc.)..

so, if the "sin" of adam and eve was eating a forbidden fruit, then why wasn't their first impulse to hide their hands?

or to wipe off their mouths?

journey-on

Everything is about interpretation and faith. The question is: Do you have faith in your religion's interpretation of the Scriptures? For that matter, do you have faith in the Scriptures, faith that the Bible is the only Word of God?

We take everything on faith. Did you see Almighty God Himself appear physically in the Heavens and say, "The King James Version of the Bible, or the New World Translation of the Bible, or the NIV Bible, is my only Word? I have nothing to speak of outside those words written down centures ago."

In actuality, things are much deeper and more complicated than that. There are approx. 6.5 billion people on this planet and they all have faith in something that they embrace as truth. Even atheists have faith that their philosophy is the Truth. And when you look at real religion, every single one of them has fiath that theirs is Truth. There are so many religions in the world teaching their own brand of Truth and every one of them believes as deeply as you do that theirs is The Truth.

And amidst all of this confusion, still our Creator does not miraculously appear before all of us and announce which one, if any, is The Truth. But still the religions go forth and evangelize and preach and persecute and condemn and spout off their version of The Truth. They all believe that God is speaking through their leaders, whether it's the pope in the case of Catholics, the governing body in the case of the JW's, or anyone else.

My point is this: If asked why you believe you have "the truth", you cannot argue reasonable it's because of your faith in it. If your faith is strong, then you must believe your brand of religion. Faith is important. But, when one loses faith in one's religion, it doesn't mean he has lost The Truth. It simply means one has lost faith in that particular brand of religion. It can be likened to a new wonder drug. At first it may appear to be a cure-all for every ailment you can think of. But then, when put to the test, it's discovered that it's not everything it was cracked up to be. It doesn't quite work for you like it does for someone else. Your faith in that drug's ability to cure your ailments diminishes. You lose confidence in it. It didn't measure up to all its promises when examined closely. It may even have had some detrimental side effects. But it may still be good enough for this problem or that problem and it still may work satisfactorily for someone else. It just failed to work for you. Now, it's up to you whether you want to continue using it or not. It doesn't mean it's a bad drug or that no one should take it. It simply means it's not working for you and you must search for something else that does work. THAT'S WHY I HATE IT WHEN A JW SAYS: "He/she fell out of the truth."

I don't have the answers, but I seek them like hidden treasure. I look upon His grand creation and marvel at his love and mercy and praise Him in Life itself. I marvel and wonder at light and color, energy and matter, space and time, human intelligence and creativity, and a billion other phenomenal things he has shown us for real. The only faith I can attest to 100% is my faith in the Almighty Creator. All I have to do is use my God-given gifts of Sight to Look upon the awsome universe, Hear the Sounds of Life, Taste the goodness of our Earth's bounty, Feel and Touch everything, and Smell the aromas released upon the air molecules. All I have to do is breathe in God's gifts and know for a certainty that He is my creator.

How do I choose to worship Him? That is the question I ask myself daily. Do I confine my worship to a set of rigid doctrines based on what a group of men has decided is The Truth? I think not. It's all about the journey...the search.

Please forgive my rambling.