Posts by Meeting Junkie No More

78

BIG NEWS!

by deaconbluez in

jw
friends

i have been approved to write the cover story for local newspaper about jehovah's witnesses.

it can't be any more than 2,500 words.

this newspaper has a huge reader-base.

Maybe you could cite some statistics - this was one of the things that struck me when I started my mental exit - when 'in', I was always hearing about the ever-increasing numbers 'flocking' to Jehovah's table (gag), but the reality is far different - JWs are, in fact, a high turn-over religion. Here is an interesting link:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLJ_en___CA173&q=Aris+survey

So, why would anyone want to exit such a 'wonderful organization'? That could be a segue into the actual experience of the exit, such that the organization is a quasi-Mafia type organization where you can join but you can never really leave...(I think it might be good to get into print the all-important change in the BAPTISMAL QUESTIONS - I am almost certain 98% of most Witnesses haven't got a clue what happened there and the repercussions of same)

I would also stress that the projection of a certain image is of paramount importance to the heirarchy of the organization, over and above any concern for individual members and that the cracks in that image are starting to become ever more evident due to (and then name all the issues) etc. etc. etc. Parallels between the heirarchy of the Catholic Church, which the Witness roundly condemn at every opportunity, and their own multi-level 'marketing' (LOL) system might be apropro as well.

Also make mention of this board, undergrounds at the various Bethels (of which I have also heard), AWJRB, and the fact that all of these groups must remain anonymous - that in itself is a very chilling and telling fact.

Just my 2c. Too bad you've only got 2500 words! There is just SO MUCH......

CONGRATULATIONS and I look forward to your article with keen anticipation! Thanks so much for this!

60

Feb. 1 mass calling campaign. Will you call?

by Shawn10538 in

i'm not sure if it was mentiopned.

but i think that we are talking about not just one call from each person, but we are talking about spending a good length of time calling repeatedly.

othrwise it just won't have much of an impact.

Meeting Junkie No More

DT:

I respect your intentions and am quietly applauding your efforts from the sidelines. At this time, I don't think I can join in but I don't doubt that there will be some effect, even if it is not quantifiable immediately. Every little bit helps.

Perhaps I speak for others as well. Thank you for your efforts.

35

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocrypha, Nag Hammadi, Deciding on the Bible Canon

by OnTheWayOut in

i am learning so much about this great collection of ancient "literature.".

the book of job was a poem.

i already knew from jw's that it's authorship and.

Meeting Junkie No More

Another good read on this entire subject that I can recommend is

From Jesus to Christianity - How Four Generations of Visionaries & Storytellers Created the New Testament and Christian Faith - by L. Michael White

ISBN 0-06-081610-4

140

Wow, the year is 2008, and still no Armageddon!

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

every time we enter a new year, i think about how i wasn't supposed to make it this long.

i really believed we wouldn't live past the year 2000, and armageddon would change everything.

it almost strikes me as living on borrowed time, but then i remember that armageddon is a story, not a reality.

Meeting Junkie No More

Well, it finally dawned on me that all those furniture stores that tell you that you don't have to pay for 15 months, etc, "Don't pay till 2009" really do believe those days are coming, else they wouldn't give you your furniture now on the premise that they will collect in 15 months...they're making a killing off all the people that somehow just don't get it that time PASSES, whether you want it to or not.

I remember all the Witnesses joking about the "Freedom 55" life insurance policies...I wonder who is laughing now?

A still-in recently confided that he felt Armageddon was so close, he could 'smell' it?!!!! DELUSIONAL I can 'smell' something too, and it STINKS!

36

If the end does not come in 10 years then...........

by TooBad TooSad in

if the end does not come in 10 years then nothing is going to change.

here is my reasoning.. in our hall we have friends whose grandparents thought the end was coming in 1914 then in 1925.. well they died and still our friends believe the end is near.

our friends had parents who.

Meeting Junkie No More

I figure all the new WBTS recruits will be very recent converts, and computer illiterate. The numbers waking up to the delusion are growing exponentially.

Here's why I believe this: at the last assembly I attended, the speaker asked how many in the audience had become witnesses in the last 15 years and virtually 90% of the hands in the audience went up - that was another EYE OPENER for me. I doubt his little question exercise question had the desired effect, i.e. I think he was trying to prove that there were still lots of honest-hearted sheep in the field to be recruited; but the lightbulb that went off in my head was that, for the most part, the old-timers are LEAVING THE FOLD IN DROVES.

I sure hope so. The internet is having an effect. Information is FLOWING about the past flip-flops, failed prophecies, corporate and legal maneouvering by the Society, etc., etc. Thousands and thousands of pages of information and now lawsuits also...

If the end does not come in 10 years, I predict the END WILL COME FOR THE WBTBS.

73

What is your current status with the Watchtower Society and Congregation?

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

i'm a baptized member considered ''inactive.

'' i don't hand in ''service reports'',attend maybe 3 meetings a month,ain't signed up for the ministry school and will never attend any convention or the ''book study.

'' always make the ''memorial.

Meeting Junkie No More

Currently, in limbo: an intermediate or transitional place or state; a state of uncertainty

25

What is your opinion?

by lavendar in

jw
friends

do you think a witness is more apt to leave the wts because:.

1) ....of indisputable proof of the wts's falsehoods.. or.

2) .....something that personally happened to them that caused a disenchantment w/ the organization.. thanks for you input!.

Meeting Junkie No More

Arrogant 1:

"off-ramp to religious freedom" - absolutely love it - that should be COPYRIGHTED

25

What is your opinion?

by lavendar in

jw
friends

do you think a witness is more apt to leave the wts because:.

1) ....of indisputable proof of the wts's falsehoods.. or.

2) .....something that personally happened to them that caused a disenchantment w/ the organization.. thanks for you input!.

Meeting Junkie No More

Neither 1 nor 2 - hope I can explain this properly

I kind of see it as a switching of mental tracks and it could be ANYTHING that triggers one's mental train (of thought) into moving onto a 'new' mental track that eventually leads OUT OF the WTS.

Just an example: Seeing a new hospital being built in an area where there has been a ton of immigration in the last 30 years and mentally realizing that if everyone thought as the JWs do (that the end is just around the corner and Jehovah will fix everything including sickness and death), there would have been no hospitals built in the last 30 years. Then thinking that THANK GOD there are governments/people who are planning for a FUTURE for all of us IN THIS SYSTEM OF THINGS while the new system keeps DELAYING or we could all be floundering without medical assistance...Hope that makes sense...

Years ago, I heard a brother at an assembly talking about all the 'old worldly people' just literally 'rocking their lives away on the front porch' while 'our elderly ones were BIZZY in Jehovah's service' and my B*lls%&t meter went over the top, knowing this was absolute tripe to be spouting from the platform - it was such a generalized comment that did not fit the REALITY that I knew - that was just one of the things that didn't add up. The total convoluted blood mess didn't help either. So I guess it's just starting to THINK on your own, mentally evaluating what is going on in the organization that I think is starting more and more people on this EXIT. I think we starting to see a veritable flood of newbies because the blinders are starting to come off....

Sorry for how long this is, hope it makes sense...

35

Dead Sea Scrolls, Apocrypha, Nag Hammadi, Deciding on the Bible Canon

by OnTheWayOut in

i am learning so much about this great collection of ancient "literature.".

the book of job was a poem.

i already knew from jw's that it's authorship and.

Meeting Junkie No More

I agree, very nice synopsis...I wouldn't even attempt to do what you've done!

I am currently reading The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English (I believe it only includes Old Testament books) but am seeing just how many variants there are of any given scripture even amongst the scrolls that were found.

The WBTS really needs to do its homework on how out of date any of their comments are vis-a-vis archeological findings since these scrolls were found in 1947 - SIXTY YEARS AGO - especially the All Scripture Is Inspired of God book - WOEFULLY IN NEED OF AN UPDATE. Anyone with half an interest in history and/or literature is well aware of the implications of the new light shed on Biblical studies by the Nag Hammadi scrolls - another reason I think the WBTS likes to keep its adherents 'simple-minded' and discourages reading of any secular material. What probably prevents them from attempting to update the book in light of current research is that very little faith in the Bible as 'THE' Word of God would be left intact...

10

my blog what you think?

by rekless in

jw
friends

http://www.blogger.com/profile/16053034766936269402

Meeting Junkie No More

First off, I don't know much about blogs, so this is one of my first exposures to same...

Not too much time here at work, but I read through the synopsis and it is BRILLIANT! I am looking forward to reading the rest of it when I get a chance, but I noticed you had zero comments so far, so thought I'd be the first...VERY WELL DONE from what I've perused thus far. "Mesmerized by the matrix of dreams and deceit" - mind if I borrow that? You couldn't have described it better. I was not born in, but 'coerced' more or less since a very young age but it truly is a matrix, one that you unfortunately don't see while you're in it...

Will this eventually be a book? I think it would make a damn good one!