Posts by freeme

82

Do you find yourself kinda thinking conspiricy theorist are maybe correct?

by IreallydidwalkoutofaKH in

i don't know if it is me or if it is becauce i was taught so much false teachings growing up, or maybe that the watch tower publications are about a 10th grade level and when i read a thoughtful article i want to believe it.

but boy, television media seems to present the public with truths the same way the watchtower presents its truth.

with 10 minute sound bites, never getting to deep and really not explaining very well the history of some of the subjects.just a thought!

freeme

one thing ive learned from being a jehovahs witness is that you cant trust no info source. not the government, not the newspapers, not the conspiracy theorists, not the "one true channel from jehovah god" (and definately not the TV).
if you want "truth" on a topic hear as many opinions as possible, try to find as much evidence as possible, think hard about it and decide for yourself. and be open for changing your decision if you find more evidence.

its just when it smells like lie, looks like a lie and trustworthy others say its a lie the odds are good it is a lie. but nothing is 100% on this world. but its enough to be sure for oneself.

24

Could you explain 1914?

by digderidoo in

1914 doctrine was a major thing to me at the time i was a witness, i loved explaining it and saying we had the truth.

but there were so many witnesses that couldn't explain it at the time and only had a basic concept as to how they came up with the date.

i wonder how many here could explain and understand this when they were a dub?

freeme

i wasnt able to do it when i was a full dub. but i was when i waked up. before i woke up it was truth. so i didnt need to reexamine it.

but i think there are two parts of explaining 1914:

First: Daniel 4:10-16: seven times / Revelation 12:6, 14: 3 1/2 times = 1260 Days => 7 times equals 2520 Days / Hesekiel 4:6: a day for a year = 2520 years / 607 b.c. Jerusalem destroyed / no zero year / 607 b.c + 2520 years = 1914 BING, BING, BING, BING!

Most ppl would be happy with this explanation. Some are not, because there is no evidence that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 b.c.
This construct to "prove" all other bible scholars and even history wrong is a bit more crazy and i dont know from my head how this works...

Its basically taking a date from worldly historicians, applying an unsharp bible verse (or two) to it and come up with 607 b.c. even though the same historicians say else. of course the first date could be false too. and of course the bible verse could be meant otherwise too.

when reexamined this doctrine the first time without wt blinders (aka "the slave is guided by the holy ghost and cant be wrong on this important topic") the more i read about it the odds that this is correct became like gambling in lottery and win the jackpot on first try... but... with the money cashed out invisibly and unprovable...

every single variable in this doctrine is guessed all around the bible and most of them are very unlikely. and only one guess needs to be false to make everything false - indeed the whole religion, especially jesus approval of the religion and the remnant. everything seems to be build up on this premise.

when i finished examining it it was the first time for me to think loudly in my head "and what if... if... its really wrong and all i thought is truth is... a lie?!!!". it scared me a lot.

18

Blood Card

by treadnh2o in

i'm just wondering how many who are still "in" have stopped carrying an" advanced medical directive"( blood card)

freeme

stopped carrying it like two years ago. still in. it still exists though.

the blood doctrine is one of the silliest and easiest to deprove doctrines existing. it would be laughable if it werent so incredibly sad.

the WT will drop it though. i dont think that it will be here in 20 years from now (i hope). but even if it takes longer they'll drop it. they just have to be very sensitive. theyve to drop it bit by bit until its gone. it will take a couple of new lights until full drop. jws need the chance to forget about the full blood ban first.
when they dropped it it will be a matter conscience and then never mentioned much again.

im pretty sure about that.

31

What percentage of Bethelites view porn?

by inkling in

let's be honest here... single young celibate men, with evenings to kill,.

in a room with high speed internet.. any guesses?

[inkling].

freeme

omg! they actually have INTERNET in private rooms in bethel?! i cant believe it! isnt this like inviting satan?

if they really have and its not monitored or keyword banned i bet its at least 50% who view porn.and every single one of them are undead zombies because of the guilty consciousness they endure.

free internet @bethel explains all the new information which is here first too.

14

Witness in-laws destroyed my marriage

by James_Slash in

i shall give you a little of information about myself.. i am 28 and from the uk.

i was baptised as a jw (big mistake) in 1996. i married a 'sister' in 2004 and had a child with her in may 2006.. however, things have turned really sour.. last year, my now ex-wife walked out of our home with support from the police, social workers and domestic violence workers.

by chance i returned from work one day to discover her family (her grandmother in particular) perched outside the local police station.

freeme

I am 28 and from the UK. I was baptised as a JW (big mistake) in 1996. I married a 'sister' in 2004 and had a child with her in May 2006.

youre a clone of me! except for the child. i was smart enough to avoid this. still married of course.

58

What is your strangest "supernatural" JW story?

by donny in

i had just became a witness and a guy i worked with, who was also a jw, told me a story that actually made me laugh and i think it upset him a bit.

the storys were almost always in the third person.

it went as follows.. this brothers wife and him were sitting at the kingdom hall on the end seats of the row next to the back of the room.

freeme

ive heard so many demon stories in my jw life. its enough for two lifes.

im from europe and the smurf stories were not as big as in america here. a lot of jw parents wont allow their kids to watch the smurfs though. i was one of the lucky kids who were allowed to watch the smurfs! i also had some smurftoys :-) since we didnt know that smurfs are demonic possessed entities we never saw anything supernatural, let alone a smurf getting alive.

i remember my mum telling me with big eyes the story of a sister in a neighbour congregation who has some demon possessed stuff which resulted in *all* doors being open (cupboard doors as well as room doors) in her flat whenever everyone left. even when the elders visited her. as soon she trew away the possessed stuff (i dont remember what it was, a book or something) it all ceased to happen.

one sister had serious doubts that satan exists and prayed to god that he may help her to believe. as soon as the prayer ended the door rang, she opened the door and satan himself stood in front of it. the story missed the detail how she knew it was satan and what happened next (whether he talked or just disappeared).

an jw friend of mine knew another jw friend who was working in a madhouse (in exchange for not going to the army). one day a patient walked next to him while he was cleaning the floor and told him: "youre one of gods true servants!"

i feared demons a lot. threw away expensive video games and music. someday i stopped being superstitious and i never had any demon encounter.
i often believed demons wouldnt show to me because it would strengthen my faith.

45

Witness fear of demons why?

by donny in

during my ten year sojourn through the watchtower, i was always amazed at the witnesses fear and fascination with demons.

occasionally at gatherings, they would exchange "demon" stories, which were just a jw way of telling ghost stories, and you would usually hear a few "uhhs" and "oh my's" as the story was told.

although i had heard folks of other denominations mention demons, it was never with the "shock and awe" the witnesses put into it.

freeme

Sheesh! Everyone knows you can't just toss demonized stuff out, it will just come back in. You have to burn it.

but it wont burn then! paranoiaaaaa!

25

Letter of Disassociation

by Maryjane in

jw
friends

i walked away from the jw religion nearly 9 years ago after "waking up" to the lies & mind games.

since then i've learned the full extent of the manipulation (thanks to websites such as this & the coc book)and have successfully overcome the emotional & spiritual crisis that i experienced the first few years after my departure.

i can say that i am at a place in my life now where i am happy, spiritually fulfilled and religion-free!

freeme

i say dont do it.

it wont do anything about the lies about you. maybe it would just get worse when you pure more oil into the fire with your letter. any reason why someone left the organisation is automatically categorized by jws in these categories:

a) didnt study enough which made him/her spiritually weak and removed the ability to see the truth with the help of the holy ghost
b) was deluded by satan on the internet (lies and false information)
c) is just stupid

so most jws would just think "oh wow, how weired she got over the last years since she went away from jehovah" and "how desperate is she that she has to write this 'hate letter' after so many years". (yes every letter which is critical to the gb or doctrine is a "hate letter" to many). to most jws such a letter would be useless. they wouldnt get the essence of it.

i think its useless to write such a letter.

41

How can I know for sure that the WTS isn't God's organization?

by nbernat in

i go back and forth everyday.

one day i'm like, "suppress your gay feelings and what you think is wrong about this organization and keep going forward because you want eternal life and all of your friends are here and it's as close to the truth as it can possibly get so just deal with it.

" others i'm like, "live your life.

freeme

Here are some additional ways a person can know absolutely that the WT Society is not God's organization:
Did Jesus ever teach that we must belong to an organization or did he say we must walk according to his commandments?
Did Jesus say the WT Society is the way, the truth and the life, or did he point to himself instead?
Does the Bible ever say a governing body is the head of Christ's church, or does it identify Christ himself as the Head of the church and of each Christian?
Where is the hint in the Bible that the "faithful and discreet slave" is a class of Christians instead of each and every Christian who has the responsibility to remain obedient and alert as Christ's follower?
How could Christ have appointed JWs in 1919 as his slave class when the organization was teaching so many things then that have since been repudiated and abandoned by the Society? Russell and Rutherford would be disfellowshiped today if they were still alive and believed many of the things they taught as leaders of the Society.
If JWs are teaching the truth about Christ's return, why do they say he returned invisibly whereas the Bible says every eye will see him ?
Why does the Society teach that "food in due season" is provided by "the anointed remnant" when most of the Society's writers are of "the other sheep class"? Instead of consulting "anointed ones" around the earth, the Society leans heavily upon the views of those men at headquarters in the Writing and Service Departments, both of which are manned mainly by " non-anointed " JWs.
Why does the Society teach that only certain Christians must be "born again" whereas the Bible says no one can see the Kingdom unless he is born again ?
How can the Society teach that Jesus is the Mediator only for the 144,000 "anointed ones" when the Bible says he is " the " Mediator between God and all men?
Why does the Society tell the "other sheep" not to partake of the Memorial emblems when Jesus made no such distinction? Very different from the Society, Jesus said, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. He that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I shall resurrect him at the last day; for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. He that feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in union with me, and I in union with him." (John 6:53-56)
Frank

THANKS! if it was with more bibletexts it would be even more great. nice summary! ill add my bible texts to it and even add the watchtowers excuses whereever possible. the excuses are always very constructed in these cases. and i enjoy using the argument of jws when it comes to the blood issue: "why dont you just believe whats plainly written and dont try to work around it?" ("abstain from blood" new testament). so when you just need to believe whats clearly written, so why do you make a difference when jesus says "no one can see the Kingdom unless he is born again"? why is correct to argue about it here but not in the blood issue, when its so clear that this verse about blood was in a context that gives him another meaning instead of dieing for refuting a blood transfusion?

20

A phone call from the elders.

by strawberry cake in

my husband and i left the org about 6 months ago and in voicing our views we were shunned.

the elders who were 'friends' treated us with cold efficiency to the letter of their law.

one older elder played 'good cop' and invited us over for a heart-to-heart.

freeme

strawberry cake, i want you to know how fortune you are that you have your spouse with you. my wife probably will never leave the org and that basically means ill die childless, because i wont leave her but cant have kids with her when this horrible religion is between us. i go crazy imagining elders giving her advice to stay strong even though shes unfortunately with me. or elders who try to lure my kids in this cult.