Posts by shopaholic

26

Is Your Adulthood Authentic?

by prophecor in

jw
friends

i've been training with some uniquely gifted folks at my place of employment.

life has done some seemingly impressive things with them.

one who's spent numerous years in the marine corps is an excellent asset to the company as are others who've likewise spent time in the military.

shopaholic

I think a better question is are you your authentic self?

Being raised in the org or being associated with it from a young age you don't get to experience the typical events that would shape your life as an adult. Mentally, most JW are still children for a LOT longer than they should be. This is very different from being a child at heart. Keeping folks in child-like mental state is one reason the org does not advocate education. Most 20-something college graduates are ready to conquer the world...you know...get your own place, start your career, to start developing into who you want to become. This everything that org does not want to happen to its youth. For JWs raised in the org, there's always that struggle between being yourself and submitting to the org. I'm sure we all remember that feeling. We probably all remember moments when we made a conscious decision to forgo some part of our authentic self to follow the directive of the org.

For most people that are recently free of the org, it is likely they are not their authentic self. It takes time to establish or re-establish the foundation of your being. I've written a mission statement for my life as a first step to getting back to my authentic self. I know who Shop is and I know what Shop stands for and I know what Shop wants and I'm no longer apologizing for it.

60

what is supposedly resurrected at resurrection?

by iblowmynoseatyou in

jw
friends

this is an idea that really freaked me out when i was still "in".

i asked it several times in groups of friends, and i would get two reactions: confusion/not understanding, and silence/looking at the ground.

if you die, and your body disinegrates, and the soul doesnt live on; in fact, nothing lives on, then what is resurrected?

shopaholic

In regards to the memory discussion, the current teaching is that upon "resurrection" and for those who live to through Armageddon, they will initially remember everything. However, by the end of the thousand years the memories will have completely faded. Then Satan will be set free and everyone will be retested again. Wow...just as I was typing that I realized that makes no sense at all. Let's say it all true, you fix everything and then let Satan out again to muck it all up. Haven't we been through enough already...especially since the bible says God does not test any one. Oh wait..then the reply is "Its not God but Satan. Jehovah is simply allowing him to do it to see who will remain faithful."

On the resurrection issue, when I was younger the elders didn't want us taking biology or psychology classes in high school because the teenagers were starting to ask too many questions about the resurrection. They gave a talk several times mentioning how in high school you can choose your classes and not to let your child take classes that would cause them to question their faith such as bio and psych. Anyway, I took both classes and it did cause me ask questions about the resurrection and asked why was it called a resurrection when it was really a recreation. I never got an answer. Even as an adult when I studied with folks, most would eventually say that it wasn't really a resurrection and I would agree with them. Then my service partner would jump in...you know the rest. Anyway many of the JW teachings don't make any sense if say them out loud to yourself. A lot of the teachings are like something from a SCI-FI movie.

6

What I'm going to tell my parents

by B_Deserter in

jw
friends

if my fade ever comes to a head, and my parents demand i explain myself, i now know exactly what i'm going to say.

you believe that the watchtower society is the only channel to god.

i know you realize they're imperfect men, but i also know that if they ordered you all to go on a killing rampage of your non-witness family, there would be people that would be willing to go, and maybe even you would kill me.

shopaholic

I know the time is coming soon when I will have to confront my family as well. I never talk about service or anything related to org and then just the other day when I was talking with my sister, out of nowhere she asked "How's your time?" but she had a judgemental tone to her voice. I simply replied "It's fine." and went back to the topic we were discussing. She knew some time ago I was no longer pioneering, its like they're in denial plus they still like to give people the impression that I'm serving where the need is greater even though I explained I simply relocated. Anyway, I have a feeling they know I'm not attending the meetings and I'm sure I only have a little bit longer before I have to confront their suspicions.

43

2008 and still no Armagedon!!! I feel like I made an "Ass of myself"

by Witness 007 in

yes sitting in pizza hut in 1991 a small band of pioneer brothers {me and friend's} debated when armagedon would come.

due to the "generations" doctrine, we calculated 2001 at the latest...then the doctrine was dropped!!!

recently the last world war 1 vetran died in australia.

shopaholic

I recall a brother who died few years back, an elder and a promiment JW at my country, and we were doing some work at the cementry of JW's. And he said I don't think that this system could carry more than 5-6 years. For sure the end will come very soon.
IT WAS 1984....

Had a similar experience. It was in 1990 during the CO's visit. During his talk that Sunday he mentioned that the some of the youth didn't believe in the urgency of living for Jehovah. Then he said in a very powerful voice and I quote "We have less than 5 years left in this system." Then he pulled out a string to demonstrate time and where we were in the stream of time. Then he ended his talk by saying and I quote "Where will you be in 5 years? Dead or alive?" Of course the audience applauded like crazy. Wow..that was almost 18 years ago!!!

Then several years later with the 1995 generation change...well that just blew his 5-year theory out the water.

6

Going to Church

by Undecided in

jw
friends

i will be going in a few minutes.

i don't believe the crap i hear from the pulpit, but i do like the people, and they put up with me quite well.

i guess they think i will come around someday, who knows, it could happen but i doubt it.

shopaholic

Good for you, its nice to hear a positive message every now and then. It sounds like you can come and go as you please and not worry about making a commitment that could possibly result in being ostracized later. I received several postcards in the mail from churches that are going to have special holiday musical services, I'm thinking about going just to listen to the music and see all the pretty decorations. I also thought about finding a someplace with a predominately black congregation that will have musical holiday services just so I could listen to their choir. Okay...truth be told...I've always liked gospel music. Now I'm getting off topic and rambling...

Undecided, hope you and wife have lovely sunday!

17

Would You Be Putting 2+2 together if You Were Still a Witness?

by journey-on in

it occurred to me that if i were still a believing jehovahs witness, i would be thinking that maybe.just maybe.the watch tower bible & tract society, inc. has gone apostate and is guiding its flock off a cliff.. first..all the corporations that were formed separating everything in the eary 2000s.

what is the real reason for doing that?.

second..their association with the united nations.. third.their changes on major doctrines.. fourth.the pedophile issue and subsequent cover-up.

shopaholic

I put 2+2 together back in 1995 and wondered why no one made a big deal of it but me. Then I got hit with the "are you only worshipping Jehovah for what he can give you" and "now that it maybe longer than expected you have doubts, did you ever really love Jehovah". I had just graduated from college two years earlier and folks started to tell me that "worldly thinking" was starting to influence me. What did I do? I immediately started pioneering to build up my faith...I should have went to grad school instead.

I think many JWs have put 2+2 together but due to the guilt-trip the org lays on you or not wanting to start over just kind of drift along with the org.

36

Did being a JW make you overly judgemental?

by Frequent_Fader_Miles in

looking back, being a jw meant constantly analyzing and categorizing others.

on field service, persons were either "sheeplike" or "goatlike".

in the congregation it went even further.

shopaholic

Interesting comment about commenting. I was at one congregation that judged people by how often they commented or raised their hands. If you were single and participated very little in the meetings you were suspected of having a problem with masturbation. I'm not kidding. It was even mentioned in a local needs part. I felt bad for the really shy folks in the hall.

61

E-mail from friend alerting me to emergency instruction from GB

by Wasanelder Once in

here's a paragraph from a friend who is active.

they say it's important that we fill out this form about emergencies... poor fools.

"hi, i have been meaning to tell you that the society is telling us to fill out an emergency form that the book study conductors have and return it to them in case of an emergency.they will then give us a brochure to have that will tell us where to meet and what to have in our bags so we can grab them and leave in a hurry.

shopaholic

They started this a couple of years ago, although at first it was pretty informal with a BS conductor passing around a sheet of paper for everyone to put their information on. Anyway, I wasn't impressed. And I didn't like the false sense of urgency it gave the us at the time as it did not appear they were focusing on natural disasters.

34

What are you going to teach your children about relgion?

by reneeisorym in

) take them to your church and encourage them to learn about other faiths too..

) don't teach them anything about religion..

) encourage atheism..

shopaholic

If I ever have children, first and foremost I will teach them kindness, the preciousness of a moment and the wonders of exploring. They'll learn of religion as to know of its existence but not as something to which one must belong.

36

Did being a JW make you overly judgemental?

by Frequent_Fader_Miles in

looking back, being a jw meant constantly analyzing and categorizing others.

on field service, persons were either "sheeplike" or "goatlike".

in the congregation it went even further.

shopaholic

No, I wasn't judgemental. In fact I was often judged for not being judgemental...LOL...I've always had the opinion that people should do whatever they want as long as it does interfere with the well-being of others.

Believe it or not, in my congregation you were talked about if you only picked up a few magazines a month or if you didn't have a rubbermaid tub of mags in your trunk, after all that is the sign of true spirituality.