Posts by yourmomma

15

I sometimes wish I was still In.

by faundy in

jw
friends

i have read things on here that have made me think.

i know it's the general idea.

but the realisation of some of the issues and their legitimacy has made me wish that i was still a witness.

yourmomma

i have no interest telling most witnesses anything. many wouldnt care if you smacked them in the face with stone cold facts. the only people i am considering tactfully talking to are friends that are like me in that they came into this org searching for truth. i must repeat, extreme tact. even cool people will get their back up if you say this stuff the wrong way. the good thing about it is that now, you dont have to go to apostate sites to get info. its in the news and literature. heck, some of it is off the platform. some of the talks that have gone down recently have old school witnesses who have been in for 50 years shaking their heads.

31

Am I the only one that didnt realize about the GB?

by yourmomma in

jw
friends

here is a question for you.

i'll give a little back ground.

i was raised in the witness organization however in about 1993 i encountered much hypocrisy and left for about 3 years.

yourmomma

Here is a question for you. I'll give a little back ground. I was raised in the witness organization however in about 1993 I encountered much hypocrisy and left for about 3 years. After about 3 years I developed a serious drug and alcohol problem. One day I decided I was on the wrong path and proceeded to research about religion. I would smoke a fatty and go to the local library and read all day about religion. I figured to be fair I would also research the witnesses. (understand at this time there was almost nothing in the library about witnesses, i didnt even know crisis of conscience existed.)

So I proceeded to talk and study with a witness. I was very turned off to organized religion and people who proclaimed authority in the name of God. (Looking back on this is kind of funny) Anyway, I wanted to study the Bible and not any publications. The witness agreed and we would have very good Bible discussions. After doing research on Bible prophecy like the fall of Babylon, to me I felt there was a good chance the Bible was inspired and I always believed in God. I then proceeded to go to meetings. I kid you all not, not once was anything about obedience to the Governing Body mentioned. The GB was explained to me as a group of men doing the best they can to provide learning tools about the Bible. The person who told me this, believed it herself because she is just as surprised as I am about all the facts I have discovered.

anyway, the hypocrisy i realized was separate from God and the Bible, and so i did not hold the relgion responsible for people who did not do the right thing, so I went from 1 meeting a week to baptism, eventually to pioneering. throughout all this, if you would have told me the GB demands obedience, I would have laughed. Maybe it was the congregation I was in. In this hall they had almost all of the old publications, in fact I would read them and have discussions about old predictions, etc. (Again, this was a different time with different people, its not until now that I realize how insane that is) They would simply say they were wrong, but honest hearted, etc. That was enough for me. Now, if I knew that these men demanded obedience and referred to the WT as a letter from Jehovah, I would have not bought this. But since they thought of them as a group of honest hearted men doing the best they can, I was very forgiving. All of the council from the GB was considered that, council, not law, simply suggestions. In fact there were WT articles to back that up. (Obviously I didnt see the ones that proclaimed them the mouth piece of God, lol)

Anyway, time passes and in 2001 I change halls. Now, this is when I started to see a difference in attitude. From 2001-2007 I noticed that the subject of obedience to the GB was being taught over and over again. I thought to myself, wow, whoever is running Bethel has kind of lost their way. No man can demand obedience, only Christ can. No man has authority to demand obedience. I also noticed that the Bible was being used less and less and WT publications were beginning to take the place of the Bible, especially at the School and service meeting. Finally, at one of the conventions a light went off during one of the talks. it was the one where they made the statement "Jehovah and Jesus trust the governing body and so should we". I almost fell off my chair. What the hell is going on here?

so now we are up to the present, I have read Crisis of Conscienc and in search of Christian Freedom and the one thing that was made clear, in the societies own publications is that they always wanted obedience and declared Divine authority.

so my question to you guys is this: Was I the only one? Did you all know that the GB proclaimed Divine authority and wanted obedience from us when you became a witness? Am I crazy? Its crazy that something so obviously unscriptual could be in the literature and I missed it all these years.

3

Armando Montelongo from A&E's "Flip This House" -- Ex-Witness?

by Olin Moyles Ghost in

jw
friends

if any of you have watched the a&e show called "flip this house," you have probably seen armando montelongo.

if you haven't, here's the cliffs notes version of the show: armando and his wife (and last season, his brother and his wife also) buy run-down houses in san antonio texas and "flip" them...hopefully for a profit.

hijinks ensue and the a&e network films it.

yourmomma

i have read that he is a big fraud and a scammer. google him, its comedy. that show is staged.

33

Do you believe that the majority of JW's will be saved?

by JH in

if there is a god, do you think that the majority of jw's will be saved at armageddon?.

i'm not asking if they have the only true religion, i'm asking if you think they would be saved along with others who do god's will sufficiently to satisfy him.....

yourmomma

all the people that proclaim no for this or that reason are the same as the witnesses that judge people you are going to die in the big a. i refuse to judge anyone. its up to God. one thing that i will say that i have realized, i dislike people who judge others. i am very remorseful for having a judgmental attitude in the past. that will never happen again. the Bible clearly indicates that we should not judge anyone, and that its not our right. so F**K judging and F**K judgmental people. have a nice day.

25

For The Noah Enthusiasts. (Not really.) A brief, humorous read.

by Open mind in

i've seen plenty of global-flood bashing websites, but somehow i missed this one:.

http://www.fsteiger.com/flood-report.html.

what i like about it is it's light-hearted,easy reading but still deadly to the idea of: .

yourmomma

if you want to take it from an absolute literal approach, i can see why, but based on the evidence, the flood was in one location and likely wiped out the "world" at the time, which was a part of the earth, not the whole earth. its not possible that those Scriptures are talking about the part of the earth that people are in? i mean, i understand why people would disagree, but i dont understand those who say that its impossible for those Scriptures to be referring to the part of the earth with people in it. thats not a reasonable position?

25

For The Noah Enthusiasts. (Not really.) A brief, humorous read.

by Open mind in

i've seen plenty of global-flood bashing websites, but somehow i missed this one:.

http://www.fsteiger.com/flood-report.html.

what i like about it is it's light-hearted,easy reading but still deadly to the idea of: .

yourmomma

i always wondered why people think its a worldwide flood. The evidence shows there was a flood of an area, which happened to contain those early civilizations. so for those ones, that was their world, and so their world was flooded.

24

What if regular meeting attendance wasn't a requirement?

by R.F. in

we all know how regular meeting attendance is the ultimate way of measuring the "faith" of those among the religion, other than field service reports.

what do you think would happen with the attendance numbers if you were only encouraged to go as a sort of option, if you weren't hounded for not attending regularly?

yourmomma

Joshua was diligent in reading the Bible, correct? So, this article is saying that the Bible is God's organization? What Scriptures prove Joshua knew anything about an organization? What Scriptures prove that Joshua appreciated God's organization?

80

Even active witnesses think this is way over the top.....

by yourmomma in

jw
friends

there were gasps after watching this.

i heard the anti college talks at the dc this year, and while many people i know didnt agree with them, this following video stunned many of them.

there are many people on this forum, many have gotten to where they are many different ways.

yourmomma

there were gasps after watching this. i heard the anti college talks at the DC this year, and while many people i know didnt agree with them, this following video stunned many of them. there are many people on this forum, many have gotten to where they are many different ways. the people i know didnt get their by reading books, or looking on the internet, they simply got there by listining to the talks at the DC's and assmeblies. Ever since 2001 or so the tone of the assemblies and dc's have been different, hardcore life long witnesses are getting disturbed by talks like this. i dont ever remember anything this bad coming from a person so high up. people who have been in for 40-50 years are asking "what the heck is going on up there?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R4f9ygxDbk

23

she's just a friend

by daytona27 in

i was married a long time, divorced and alone for the last couple of years.

i consider myself content.

i've come to terms with being alone and the prospect that i may not be with someone for a good while.

yourmomma

if she is spending that much time with you, she has feelings for you. she can tell herself otherwise all she wants, and same for you. people who dont want relationships do not hang out all weekend together. you can tell yourself you dont want a relationship, but you deep down know what you want. its what we all want, to meet the right person and be happy. here is an idea, your moving anyway right? why not just put it out there and SEE what happens. you can even be honest with her and have a real conversation about both your pasts, etc. The best thing in my opinion is to have an open conversation and if she feels the same way you do, simply suggest a no pressure, no obligation "testing" period to see how it goes. (obviously word it slicker than me, lol) dont let these kind of opportunities pass you buy where you may kick yourself in the future. so you have to move? thats cool, it doesnt mean that you cant do this. if both of you have strong feelings and the right motives you can work it out. this just reminds me so much of my situation with my current wife before we were dating. good luck.

25

Blood Issue - Could that mean bloodshed???

by cognac in

if you look up the greek word for blood, it could mean actual "blood" or it could mean "bloodshed".

the scriptures in acts are not quoted anywhere so nobody could really say for certain which meaning it actually has... .

also, just before it in acts, it states to abstain "from things strangled".

yourmomma

they no longer DF if you are repentant. there was a change in 2000 or 99. i forget which. the elders were instructed to be more "loving" if a person accepted blood in a moment of weakness.