Posts by Awakened07

13

Awakening

by feenx in

jw
friends

in a recent welcome thread someone mentioned they have seen a tremendous amount of people awakening recently.

i have seen this too, and not just related to jwd but in general.

it seems there is quite a shift in people taking place.

As for 'global awakening', it's more a 'western world awakening'. This kind of awakening comes in waves, which are usually stifled by strict orthodox religion when it "gets out of hand". The Arab world was once a hub in scientific and philosophical thought. Look how that went. Regular human rights for people of various sex and color seem to come as a result of the weakening of religious influence in society, and not the other way around. But then - when science and free thought gets to be "too free" - the fundamentalists get angry, and wage a 'war'. And we start a decline again. Perhaps.

Guess I shouldn't blame religion exclusively here, but. Heck, why not.

Perhaps it is a stabilizing 'force', keeping society from going completely bananas (but instead swinging the pendulum waaay too much in the other direction). Can't believe I just said that. But perhaps this 'meme' has some survival value after all.

I do hope we as a species will actually 'grow up' soon though, so we can do it on our own without "training wheels".

42

Rutherford......the Pimp?

by Gill in

jw
friends

is it true, as i was reading yesterday, that rutherford provided a brothel for the male members of the bethel?.

i will provide a link later when i get back!.

Awakened07

Wait.

There's talk of a rumor in a 1978 book, by a credible witness, now dead. And someone else who knew the witness, says she was a good person.

This reminds of something else....

Hmm....

That's it! - - I'll choose to take this on faith. Tadaa! Any JWs saying I'm wrong, I'll just tell them they don't have faith like I do. Who needs evidence.

Solved.

19

why are you an apostate for asking a question?

by paybacktime19 in

Awakened07

Oh, you are free to ask questions.

Just as long as you seek out the answer in Watchtower literature or with the elders, and immediately accept the reply as a full-stop answer to your question (or accept to "wait on Jehovah" to answer the question if no answer currently exists, but really, really should).

Doubts are fine too, as long as you agree to keep studying so those doubts disappear within a week or so (by accepting everything the FDS says).

's all good. No problems here. No, sirree.

Banging your head against the wall a couple of times a week should help take care of the 'affliction of thinking'.

13

How Did You Feel During Memorial?

by almostbitten in

jw
friends

i'm sure this topic has been mulled over already, but indulge me and other newbies to this site.

how did you feel when memorial took place and you didn't/couldn't really partake in it?

and what happended to the wine and bread afterwards if no one ate or drank?

Awakened07

I was always disappointed. This was the only thing we had that could be a spiritual experience of sorts, a "sacred rite" or whatever (my English fails me here), and it was always 'destroyed' by glaring fluorescent lights, lots of noise before it started (people blabbering away as at any other meeting) and after the memorial, in addition to stupid, nonsensical explanations of what kind of wine and bread had to be used (what the heck!?) and shameless plugging of meetings people should hereafter attend, the same noisy blabbering ensued.

No showing of humility, sincerity, reverence, contemplation, something holy and sacred. I tried to "impose" that sentiment on it for myself, but then the speaker would suddenly blurt out his story of how he had made the wine in his basement from these-and-these grapes and herbs (pretty much!) or other such nonsense.

Bleh.

As for not partaking, it didn't bother me, but of course it was 'a little strange' that we had this 'most important meeting of the year', and no one present would actually partake and therefore be involved! Might as well just have gathered the 8000 or so remnant and had a 'wine and crackers party'. No cheese though. But I didn't really reflect on it like I can now.

2

'To Verdener' DVD on sale?

by Gayle in

jw
friends

i am following the 'to verdener' film to buy.

is it available at this site (in danish i think)?

does anyone know danish here?

Awakened07

It doesn't say if it's got English subtitles or not. The DVD release date is 26th. of August this year, so I guess there'll be more info then.

42

Rutherford......the Pimp?

by Gill in

jw
friends

is it true, as i was reading yesterday, that rutherford provided a brothel for the male members of the bethel?.

i will provide a link later when i get back!.

Awakened07

These kinds of things should be investigated privately (PMs, e-mails, etc.) before they're mentioned 'publicly', and not mentioned at all without facts to back them up, IMO.

I'd like to be able to look any JW straight in the face and say "No, they are not 'apostate' lies; here are the facts and evidence.", but if they then can point to examples of slander with no proof, then I (and other 'apostates') suddenly don't look so good, and all the proof I can show for will be for naught (in their eyes); forgeries and lies.

So please - although these things can be interesting and there even might be some truth to them; think of people lurking and people we need to explain things to. It's devastating for me anytime an 'apostate' can be said to have lied about these things or fabricated stories/evidence. Fortunately it doesn't happen often, or at all as I have seen.

Investigate it privately and make it public if anything comes out of it, IMO.

Additionally; there's enough to dig into as it is, no need to exaggerate or make up stories.

By all means - if this turns out to be true, it's real dynamite if there is solid evidence for it, otherwise it's just too 'out there' to be of any use other than for us 'apostates' ourselves.

7

when did the truth bcome the truth

by logic in

i was sitting here thinking, which seems to be an indangered thing to do nowadays.

it was about the last several discussions i have had with jws that i am related to and friends with.

the things that i noticed is that you can hold the discussion for about 10 minutes while they try to answer your questions then they get agitated and then angry, they refuse to talk anymore and tell you that they know it is the truth no matter what so called proof you have, and that is all just apostate talk.

Awakened07

'when did the truth became the truth'

The startling fact is that they say they have "the Truth", but at any given point in time, they can only claim to have something called "current 'truth'".

And if something is "true" one day and false the next, was it then true in the first place?

So in fact, they (of course we know this) never had the truth. How can they claim they did/do?

-Do they have the truth now? Ask a JW. "Oh, yes - we do have the Truth", they'll say.

OK, but did you have the truth in 1994? Did you have the truth in late 1995? Or do you have the truth in 2008?

What was true about "the generation" is no longer true, therefore false. It was false. False, false, false. But it used to be True, didn't it? So much so, that openly believing anything else (like what they are now currently teaching...) would have been a 'disfellowshipable' offense back then.

How can they say they have the Truth, when the truth can be changed at the drop of a hat? And not as a result of a gradually increasing, cumulative amount of knowledge that 'makes the path brighter' either - - no, the entire 'path' is bulldozed over, replaced with a brand new 'path', on certain teachings!

So - do they have the truth now? Or will they have the truth in two years? Or did they have it fifteen years ago?

25

Help me give a reply to those who are taunting me.

by moomanchu in

jw
friends

any good comebacks to this e-mail would be appreciated and used.. powerful thought-provoking point!!!?.

christendom thinks that jehovah won't mind if they remove his name out of the bible more than 7000 times.

so then they shouldn't mind if he removes their name from the book of life.. .

Awakened07

Christendom thinks that Jehovah won't mind if they remove His name out of the Bible more than 7000 times. So then they shouldn't mind if He removes their name from the Book of Life.

1) Removing JHWH from the Bible (or rather, replacing it with a title) does not equal taking God's life, which is what happens to them (allegedly) when God removes their names from his book of life.

2) Jehovah 'didn't mind'. If he had, his name would still be there from the get go. What, he couldn't control it? Annoys me how weak people's God always is. Just sits there, apathetic. What's the point in being God if you can't be God?

Sorry about the formatting, but even the little 'eraser' icon didn't work this time.

23

How To Get People Out

by OneFootIn in

jw
friends

has anyone had any success in getting anyone else out?

how do you even go about doing this without getting df'd for apostasy?

is there any way of using the principles we learned about preaching in reverse to get people out?

Awakened07

It's so frustrating that there are all these JW books and sequences of "logic" to make converts and very little help anywhere in trying to get people to open their minds and leave it.

I guess it's easier to close an open mind, than it is to open a closed mind. There are books on combating cult mind control (which are not written about JWs, but fits), and there are books like Crisis of Conscience, but when their minds are already closed, they won't touch those books in the first place.

25

WTBTS Hints At Incest/Pedophilia?

by sacolton in

from their publication on breaking free of self-abusewhy?

[watchtower 1973 sept 15 pp.564-5].

many things are suggested.

Awakened07

I agree with hillbilly. Let's not blow this way out of proportion; we're not doing ourselves any favors as 'apostates' that way. I understand there is some humor here, but still. People are lurking or are new to the site; it would be better to be as factual and correct about this as we can. So, while this advice makes little real-world sense, I don't see any endorsement of incest or anything like that in it.