Posts by Tornintwo

34

Do you ever feel strangely drawn towards Conspiracy Theories?

by JW_Rogue in

after mentally awakening to the idea that jws don't have the truth i strangely found myself delving into all encompassing conspiracy theories.

not that i believed them but something about them seemed quite fascinating.

i was especially drawn to the idea of a new world order/one world government.

Tornintwo

Sometimes you read conspiracy theories and think, there could be some truth in that, but most are probably greatly exaggerated...

one thing I'm convinced of is that we don't know a fraction of what really goes on between politics and big business, and how they are controlling a lot of events, world conflicts and regime change, financial markets etc..I have a conspiracy loving jw friend who's convinced they're controlling the weather with chemtrails too...not sure I believed that but then I found out it is a credible science so who knows? God help us!

51

Getting it out of my system, a VERY long introduction/outpouring..

by adimmedlight in

warning, novel ahead:.

after a few months of lurking on this site, i've decided to take the plunge...i don't really care so much about introducing myself, but somehow there is some relief in the thought of getting my little story out there, just getting it out of my system.

i am the oldest of 5 kids.

Tornintwo

Welcome a dimmed light, thanks for writing your story. It was moving.

a lot of the comments about being a youth in the organization resonate with me, I'm raising kids now, one has left and the others still in but there is so much PRESSURE. To do more, be a good example, resist natural friendships with people you meet in school and force friendships with people who are waiting to judge you the moment you put a foot wrong. It's not loving...it messes kids up. I see so much stress in my daughter amd I'm heartbroken that I cause it by raising her in this crazy religion.

it was the treatment of my son when he left that started me to question things, reading jwfacts and crisis of conscience everything starts to unravel (you have to read them!) and then the oppressive guilt we carry as JWs starts to lift. What a relief!

After a couple of months of research and listening to my doubts, I'm still half in for family but I've decided we can't know 'the truth' about everything, the GB have tied themselves in knots trying to explain everything and look foolish, there's good and bad in most religions, there's wheat and weeds in all (I've certainly met good kind Christians outside the org and few nasty people within it) and all we need is Jesus teachings, not a long list of rules, hour requirements, guilt and pressure!

Enjoy life and worship the way you want to, God gave us an inner conscience for a reason, no one should be master of your faith except Christ, if God is up there he won't forget all the good you've tried to do for him and he surely appreciates that despite all of your troubles and heartache, you haven't forgotten him.

45

Fun at The WT This Morning

by OneFingerSalute in

so ofs was at the wt this morning, and on par.

14 the question was, "what trust can a faithful christian whose relative is disfellowshipped have?".

after awhile when no one else raised their hands ofs did, and was called on.. ofs commented, "one of jw can have the trust that god will lovingly give them the ability to uphold the disfellowshipping arrangement by totally shunning family members.".

Tornintwo

Nice one! They act like shunning is a dirty word but that is actually what they do!

47

Songs celebrating leaving the faith? Not being a puppet, mind controlled, living life, etc etc

by aley63 in

i am looking for some songs that are in ref to celebrating leaving, seeing the light, realizing what you were told wasnt right, being happy w your life, etc etc.

all those emotions about being controlled and repressed, being told what you can feel or think or how to live, blindly following the "brotherhood ".

Tornintwo

Awww love a bit of supertramp! Got to listen to those now.

for the young and trendy my kids are listening to 'could've been me' by The Struts, it's great for putting yourself in a good and powerful mood, here's the chorus:

I wanna taste love and pain
I wanna feel pride and shame
I don't wanna take my time
I don't wanna waste one line
I wanna live better days
Never look back and say
It could have been me
It could have been me

37

W 15 july - members of others religions not destroyed???

by paradisebeauty in

please tell me what do you understand from this quote that is taken from w july 2015, the article your deliverance is close paragraph 5.. i understand that not all members of other religions will be destroyed at armageddon.

i talked to a jw.

he says he understands differently: they will not be destroyed when the babylon the great will be destroyed but they will be destroyed in armageddon.

Tornintwo

I think anyone who has genuine faith should be very careful about putting themselves in a position of judgement on others. Matt 7:1

I like dubstepped remarks ; my view is that we are so far removed from the time of Christ, from any miracle, from any tangible prophet, the world is so secular and there is so much confusion surrounding God, that it would be unfair of God not to make things clearer before the end. So that the choice is clearer if he's going to use people's decisions now as a basis for judgement.

It's crazy to think that someone refusing a magazine on a Saturday morning because they're busy would be a basis for judging them adversely.

Its either got to become much clearer what people are saying no to, all over the world, or God will read people's hearts and make the decision. Either way I can't believe that only 1 in 1000 will live, the current ratio of jws, not 1% but 0.1%.

32

If you were put in charge of the Governing Body tomorrow...

by FusionTheism in

if you were somehow magically put in-charge of the governing body tomorrow, by jesus, with the rules being, you could not teach anything that would be considered outright apostasy and you could not teach anything that would be considered to cause doubt about god's existence... (so as not to arouse suspicion).

what "new light" or "clarified understandings" would you introduce first?.

and which later on?.

Tornintwo

I'd say we've made a lot of mistakes!

We no longer want to be masters over your faith, if your conscience allows you to take blood, celebrate birthdays etc etc the it's between you and Jehovah, there'll be no sanctions. Reconsider the stance on blood and prove that Jesus emphasized the value of life above all else.

id change the disfellowshipping, reinstatement arrangement, no more shunning. Presumably if people want to come to the hall they want to try to do things right, that's enough. Restrictions could be no preaching and teaching but not being ignored by people.

Id take away the hierarchy, labels and counting hours. For statistics you can count conversions not hours (3000 souls were added, scriptural example)

I'd emphasis love and acceptance, mercy etc. say "we're trying to follow gods word and Jesus example the best we can and we hope we have his approval" , but not "we're right and everyone else is completely wrong". Stop calling other people worldly and say we hope Jehovah is merciful to as many as possible in the time of the end. As for preaching it would be more about basic Christianity.

I'd gradually reexamine every teaching without the prejudice of past teachings and tradition of men, or the desire to control others .

Oh, and I'd organise loads of social events especially for the young ones.

vote for me!

37

W 15 july - members of others religions not destroyed???

by paradisebeauty in

please tell me what do you understand from this quote that is taken from w july 2015, the article your deliverance is close paragraph 5.. i understand that not all members of other religions will be destroyed at armageddon.

i talked to a jw.

he says he understands differently: they will not be destroyed when the babylon the great will be destroyed but they will be destroyed in armageddon.

Tornintwo

I read this too with interest but it's not as exciting as I first hoped.

what it says is that the destruction of religion will not mean the destruction of all members, that some will leave the religions. Then it says:

“Similarly, we cannot expect that the future interruption in the great tribulation will result in an influx of new believers. Rather, it will be an opportunity for all true believers to prove their love for Jehovah and give their support to Christ’s brothers.

“No doubt God’s people will proclaim a hard-hitting judgment message. This may well involve a declaration announcing that Satan’s wicked world is about to come to its complete”

So basically they are saying, religion would be destroyed, some members will survive and renounce those religions, then the Jw message would get harder, but we shouldn't expect mass conversion, the key to survival is not being a good person, believing in Christ and being a sincere Christian but as usual is 'supporting Christs 'brothers''

remember though this only matters if they're actually right about any of these predictions and an honest look at the last 120 years would say they're probably not!

16

Preach, preach, preach....feel guilty...preach some more

by Tornintwo in

since starting to wake up, i can't help notice how so many talks emphasise preaching, increasing your hours, pioneering etc...with a hefty load of guilt on the side.. i always noticed the guilt, but now i'm noticing how talks that seem to start out on another issue always seem to come back to hours!

visit talk seemed to start out about persecution, trusting in jehovah etc...but the main thrust in the end was, 'do more hours, pioneer, don't get an education or pursue a career, don't get distracted, hooray for the pioneers!

if you dont do more hours you will be 'the sort that shrink back to destruction'.

Tornintwo

Oppostate, so so true. We have so many chronic fatigue, m.e., fibromyalgia and mental illness sufferers, I think this could be a way to subconsciously excuse yourself from the overwork without the judgement of others and guilt. Scary.

John Aquila, I find it hard to believe it's all about money, just because there's no one sitting in a mansion on a Caribbean island, I might well be wrong, it's got to be a consideration. I suppose there is a good chance that at least some of those converts will give 10, 20$ per week....

16

Preach, preach, preach....feel guilty...preach some more

by Tornintwo in

since starting to wake up, i can't help notice how so many talks emphasise preaching, increasing your hours, pioneering etc...with a hefty load of guilt on the side.. i always noticed the guilt, but now i'm noticing how talks that seem to start out on another issue always seem to come back to hours!

visit talk seemed to start out about persecution, trusting in jehovah etc...but the main thrust in the end was, 'do more hours, pioneer, don't get an education or pursue a career, don't get distracted, hooray for the pioneers!

if you dont do more hours you will be 'the sort that shrink back to destruction'.

Tornintwo

Thanks For the responses, thanks LisaRose, I'm reading combatting cult mind control at the moment, but struggling to get past the really extreme examples to see how it applies to JWs.

It's true if I was as busy as I 'should' be I would never have time to research ttatt.

I have to say I never felt euphoric after the ministry, but yeah relieved it's over!

16

Preach, preach, preach....feel guilty...preach some more

by Tornintwo in

since starting to wake up, i can't help notice how so many talks emphasise preaching, increasing your hours, pioneering etc...with a hefty load of guilt on the side.. i always noticed the guilt, but now i'm noticing how talks that seem to start out on another issue always seem to come back to hours!

visit talk seemed to start out about persecution, trusting in jehovah etc...but the main thrust in the end was, 'do more hours, pioneer, don't get an education or pursue a career, don't get distracted, hooray for the pioneers!

if you dont do more hours you will be 'the sort that shrink back to destruction'.

Tornintwo

Since starting to wake up, I can't help notice how so many talks emphasise preaching, increasing your hours, pioneering etc...with a hefty load of guilt on the side.

I always noticed the guilt, but now I'm noticing how talks that seem to start out on another issue always seem to come back to hours! Last c.o. Visit talk seemed to start out about persecution, trusting in Jehovah etc...but the main thrust in the end was, 'do more hours, pioneer, don't get an education or pursue a career, don't get distracted, hooray for the pioneers! If you dont do more hours you will be 'the sort that shrink back to destruction'.' Along with a really weird experience about a little girl who's main concern in life was getting back to her return visits. Couldn't help thinking how in quite a cliquey, gossipy congregation some counsel about showing love and Christian qualities would have been nice!

So an 'all in Jw' would say "preaching is the most important work on earth, we have to save as many as we can before the time of the end......" But when you've considered the amazing inefficiency & waste of time that most preaching seems to be, the complete lack of urgency & the fact that it takes 7000 hours to get one baptism (plus all the hours at Bethel) this can't be the real reason they want us to be pounding the pavements so much.

so you watchtower cynics/realists out there, what is the real reason?