Posts by Tornintwo

30

Some thoughts on guilt.

by New day in

had an interesting conversation with my wife recently.

she struggles with physical, emotional and psychological problems which have often caused her to miss meetings.

she mentioned how she is equally tortured by guilt if she misses meetings and ministry, and severe stress if she does them.

I was like your wife, severe problems with guilt and stress. Especially as a mum, as a jw you are supposed to keep the house very clean and be on top of everything there, support your husband in his privileges, hospitality etc, teach your children, work (at least in my case) , attend all meetings, prepare for all meetings, ministry as much as possible and help your kids to do the same. Then I would feel guilty and extremely stressed if I slipped up in any of these areas. Inevitably there would be some item on the assembly about 'doing more' with some demo about a super pioneer disabled mum of triplets and I'd end up in bits afterwards. It's pure mental torture.

Try to help your wife to start enjoying life, ask her is this what God really wants for her to be stressed, guilt ridden, loaded down, or to be happy and healthy and heartfelt in anything she does for God. It's men who put the burdens, rules and demands on us, nothing in the scriptures has it so. The only statistics counted converted new believers, never hours.

14

Didn't go to memorial this year

by silent in

jw
friends

my wife and i had business to attend to out of town today and i had thought if we made it back home in time, we'd go to the memorial.

as it turned out, we didn't get home in time and we missed it, but we had a real good talk with each other on the way home.

we are largely successful faders and at the very least, i like to try and make the memorial.

Tornintwo

Hey silent. You are in the limbo stage of half in half out, I was only there for about 6 months and I felt like I was having a breakdown. Once youve made the decision to walk away and make a clean break, you will start to heal, for your own mental state you have to do that.

in terms of your faith, read In Search of Christian Freeedom by Ray Franz, he negates the need of an organisation and together with Crisis of Conscience, reveals the false practices and doctrines of the org. If you do feel you need a church, find a tolerant, non offensive one. We know now the witnesses have got a great deal wrong in terms of their hierarchy, judgementalism, lack of love, judicial process, shunning, blood, birthdays, worship of the governing body etc...... . So why is it such a big deal to attend somewhere that might have some other doctrines wrong. Let's face it the chances are they're all a bit wrong, if there is God, then he hasn't made it very clear.

28

So who attended the memorial and why?

by atomant in

this should be interesting.

Tornintwo

I didn't attend, first one missed in 25 years. I felt pulled back and forth all week long, in the end my toddler was sick so it helped me make the decision and she did not go either. I still feel weird about it, not sure why. But logically it was right not to go, a) i don't want to appear on their radar and have them start to reach out to me to try to 'help' me back in, b) I dont want me and my kids to be the subject of gossip, c) I don't want people saying 'see she still thinks it's the truth'. I did read some of the relevant scriptures tho which reminded me the JWs have a weird interpretation with the 2 groups etc!

I'm much more looking forward to a big family birthday I have coming up, my non witness parents have major birthdays each within a month of eachother plus an anniversary, we're having a big party and I'm going to be joining in for the first time in 25 years, along with my kids!! Yes I am happy living a 'normal' life with 'normal' celebrations!

15

The Kingdom Message

by truth doubter in

regarding the unique preaching of the kingdom by wt (new creation, heavenly kings, priests and judges, restoration of paradise on earth etc.).

the scriptures seem to back up wts interpretation.

so, although there are a million reasons to become inactive, how can our conscience allow us not to become active in the work described at matt.

Tornintwo

I was 'stuck' on the way out of this religion on Matt 24:14 believing as all JWs do that they are the only ones doing the preaching work. The truth is we were told over and over and over again that they are the only ones doing any preaching work, that's just propaganda and is not accurate. Most of the time they are following in the footsteps of the missionaries of mainstream christianity without whom JWs wouldn't be able to have got any foothold in many non Western lands.

A quick visit to jwfacts will sort this out

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/preach.php

I particularly like the details about The Jesus Film Project, a non denominational film of the Gospel of John which has been shown more than 6 billion times since 1979 throughout the world, is translated into 1300 languages with new languages added every month and has resulted in over 200 million people accepting Christ.

22

Don't Accept the Blame for Being Shunned

by cofty in

our family and friends blame us for the fact that they shun us.

imagine an abusive husband who threatened his wife that if she leaves him he will hunt her down and kill her.

eventually she finds the courage to leave and he carries out his threat.

Tornintwo

I feel terrible now about the way I used to view things with twisted thinking due to mind control. When people said JWs break up families, I argued wrongly that it was the one who left who chose to destroy the family by turning their back on the one true religion. Now I realise how twisted and sick the reasoning is; you change your faith for whatever conscientious reason you may have, we will shun you, then we will blame you for causing the rift in the family. This mental abuse is particularly damaging for young people. I sincerely hope it comes back to haunt them in the ARC, and the charity commission investigation results.

35

Memorial mixed emotions...

by Tornintwo in

jw
friends

does anyone else feel 'pulled back in' at this time of year?.

i still consider myself to a believer, believe in god and jesus christ, on the whole i think he taught tolerance, love, acceptance and i think we can benefit from following his example.

i love ray franzs book in search of christian freedom.

Tornintwo

Thanks for all of your helpful responses.

Hey Alive, it's all good, found your post very interesting, actually.

I like that we all have different views and can share them respectfully, finding our own 'truth'.

I agree if God wanted us to believe and worship in a certain very specific way then he should have made it much, much clearer, as it is as clear as mud right now! The witnesses love to boast about they have the right interpretation, having researched honestly and logically scriptures in the bible to interpret other scriptures, then you just have to examine their generation teaching, or see them clinging to 1914-607 despite all evidence to the contrary, or the ridiculous Revelation book interpretations....(this trumpet blast corresponded to a convention in Ohio etc....) to see they haven't a clue and there are ulterior motives to promote their leadership.

I think I agree with those that have posted that to acknowledge the time of year from home, perhaps read the relevant scriptures, meditate, say thank you, should be enough. I think I was thinking attending might give me 'closure' but alternatively it might open up a can of worms.

35

Memorial mixed emotions...

by Tornintwo in

jw
friends

does anyone else feel 'pulled back in' at this time of year?.

i still consider myself to a believer, believe in god and jesus christ, on the whole i think he taught tolerance, love, acceptance and i think we can benefit from following his example.

i love ray franzs book in search of christian freedom.

Tornintwo

Sabin, that's what I needed to hear thank you.

Smiddy, yes, I am one of those people who like to believe JC and the NT, the nice bits of the Bible and ignore the inconvenient parts of the OT. I accept entirely it may well be illogical and easy to criticise, but I can't shake belief in something/someone, a higher being that at least started the process of creation/evolution, a great scientist if you like. I also think it is entirely feasible that some of the scriptures are the product of man's desire to control but that there is some elements of truth in them also, and the fact that the entire Western calendar is based on Jesus birth tells me there was something special about him. Maybe one day I'll be strong enough to examine with logic my entire belief system, and perhaps it will come crashing down, for now I'm not ready for that and my faith brings me some comfort.

35

Memorial mixed emotions...

by Tornintwo in

jw
friends

does anyone else feel 'pulled back in' at this time of year?.

i still consider myself to a believer, believe in god and jesus christ, on the whole i think he taught tolerance, love, acceptance and i think we can benefit from following his example.

i love ray franzs book in search of christian freedom.

Tornintwo

Does anyone else feel 'pulled back in' at this time of year?

i still consider myself to a believer, believe in God and Jesus Christ, on the whole I think he taught tolerance, love, acceptance and I think we can benefit from following his example. I love Ray Franzs book In search of Christian freedom. So I sort of have to respect Jws for trying to bring peoples attention to his sacrifice at this time of year and I am toying with the idea of attending. For a few reasons, mainly because I want to acknowledge his sacrifice and don't know how or where else to do it and I want to test how I feel about things after 6 months since my last meeting.

BUT, I've no intention of going back, I disagree strongly with so much now, their superiority complex, believing everyone else will die and planning shamelessly to move into the slaughtered ones homes, the blood issue, cover up of child abuse, the entire judicial process, the hierarchy, GB worship, stupid stance on birthdays, judgementalism, cliques......

so why am I feeling this way? Is it just an emotional response to 25 years of indoctrination? Am I crazy to even consider opening myself up to their judgement or worse, their efforts to make me return!?! Anyone else feeling like this..?

35

Judgment handed down by Court of Appeal in legal challenge to Charity Commission inquiry opened in 2014

by OrphanCrow in

this is good news.

the wt have lost in their attempt to stop the uk charity commission's inquiry into their affairs.

however, the wt is still digging in their heels about turning documents over to the charity commission.https://www.gov.uk/government/news/court-of-appeal-gives-judgment-in-court-case-by-jehovahs-witness-charityjudgment handed down by court of appeal in legal challenge to charity commission inquiry opened in 2014.today, the court of appeal handed down its judgment regarding the commission’s statutory inquiry, opened in 2014, into the watch tower bible and tract society of britain (the leading jehovah’s witness charity in the uk).

Tornintwo

So much effort and legal costs (I doubt they are relying on amateurs for this) to avoid producing files from Bethel, hmm now what have they got to hide? I reckon the UK branch records are more damning than the australia 1006 unreported peodophiles, they'll fight as long as they can to stop them being revealed.

It must be so frustrating for the authorities who are just trying to improve safeguarding of children

92

Only a few days ago I was entirely lost and without hope the rug was pulled out from under me

by elderess in

jw
friends

only a few days ago i was walking around the house in a mindless wander thinking if i needed to seek professional help.

then i got the courage to seek the comfort of complete strangers on the internet and found a world of support here on this website.

thank you simon and whoever else has made this website possible.

Tornintwo

What fantastic news, how wonderful to be able to vent to your husband now as well as just on here! Here's to the rest of your lives!! X