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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
JoinedPosts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite
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12
It's all coming back...
by SoJo16 ini joined the board this month and holy cow, are there ever some interesting points of view here.. a bit about my background: my dad was an unbaptised born-in who nevertheless went to vietnam and college where he met my mom.
mom was lutheran, but dad told her the only religion he was interested in belonging to was the jdubs.
they married in the early 70s and were both baptized.
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My Memes
by ozbrad ini've been using my photoshop skills for good rather than evil.. and it also helps relieve the shunning frustration.. .
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Great Stuff! Thanks for the laughs!
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70
Feeling sad over a wasted life in watchtower
by wannaexit init's been 12 years since i first read ray franz's books and the scales came off my eyes.
by that time i was in my forties.. since 2002 i went back to school and have worked with 3 very professional organizations.
but my biological clock is ticking away and while my peers are looking forward to retirement, i am only beginning.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
I was in my 40s when I finally started waking up. Now I have a degree and a good job that I find interesting.
It is very depressing when I compare myself to where I could be in life, or when I compare myself to other classmates that have racked up the money and family and other measures of success.
But you know what? We survived the WT experience and have lived to tell about it. I've had 6 JW friends and acquaintences that committed suicide. But I didn't. Although my life isn't what it could have been, at least I've still got it! Although it might have been wonderful to get out of WT sooner, at least I'm out now and don't have to sit through hours of "blah, blah, blah, do what we say, blah, blah, tight pants, blah, blah, blah." And I may not be rich and famous, but I can go out for a very nice brunch rather than endure a Pub-bleck Talk and Botchtower Study in a windowless KH. (Hey Tony da Turd, ya know what gays call "brunch"? It's called "Gay Church". Now you can bash both brunch and tight pants in your next talk. Wearing tight pants to brunch makes Jehovah sad.)
So lets all look on the bright side: I got my weekly paycheck today! None of it is going to WT, inc.
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10
Great Apple Pie!
by Atlantis inforget the apple pie and just grab this booklet!.
2008 child custody booklet.. .. click the link by that little blue arrow.. .. https://www.sendspace.com/file/xvdh8l.
.. this booklet should be shared with every attorney you can find.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Nobody lights a lamp and sets it under a basket... except the Watchtower Legal Department.
Thanks for letting this light shine Atlantis!
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40
Revelation, its Grand Climax.... remember when?
by wallsofjericho ini remember being at the assembly in 1988?
when this was released.
everyone was so excited that we finally had a simple explanation of revelation with pictures.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
The first time we studied it, I thought it was interesting. By the last time we studied it, I thought it was foolishness. Either I had to conduct the mess to disinterested dubs or try to read the mess through all the insertions of "new light".
"Revelation--It's Grand Climax at Hand!"
Even the name screams "false prophecy"! Since when does "at Hand" imply 30 years later?
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42
Ongoing frustration with wife
by Flipping El ini've tried taking the slow, patient approach with my wife.
i believe i first posted here about 13 months ago about my wife.. we've always had good communication and could talk endlessly about philosophy, neuroscience, sociology and then when i learned the ttatt, i clammed up a bit about spiritual things.
i'd always been fairly liberal, suggesting other alternative ideas, but then i told my wife about the un/ngo scandal (i ran across the guardian story doing a talk as an ms, lol!
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Not sure if you've read this thread:
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Exerps, Conversation/Debate with a close old friend still in the Borg. Comments please!
by dark angle inpart 1. .
she was suspecting me that i'm no longer interested in the borg, and she was trying to get a confession.
this is how our conversation went out.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Q: "how are you doing spiritually, my brother?"
A: "I'm doing better spiritually than I ever have."
She: XXXX, you know the organization has never claimed to be INSPIRED by God. Only the Bible writers were inspired, or literally, God-breathed. But you can't blind yourself to the fact that this is the only organization that has overwhelming proof of the BACKING of Jehovah's spirit.
Me: Indeed, I've felt a great deal of frustration and sorrow in my life because I listen and believed that when the organization explained that it was irresponsible to marry and have children back in the 1980s, they had been given knowledge directly by God. I don't need you to explain to me in 2014 that they didn't know what they were talking about back in 1989. And I fully understand that if I were to now treat anything the organization says is something that is spoken from God, I would be a fool!
THEN...
And as far as the organization having overwhelming proof of Jehovah's backing, that is the same claim the Pharisees used in Jesus' day. And the nation of Israel throughout the OT had all kinds of proof of Jehovah's backing... but how did that work out with the whole captivity in Babylon, subjugation by Greece, and destruction by Rome work out? Following an organization of men is doomed. Jesus said "follow me".
OR...
Every other member of a religion believes that their organization has overwhelming proof of God's backing. You've heard of the Muslems, right? Why is it that JWs haven't made a dent in the growth and zeal of Islam?
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12
Outrageous, but yet funny line by zone visit!
by Beth Sarim inso, i watched this recorded broadcast by one of the bigs,i heard this rediculous but yet humourous statement.
something like ''spritually sluggish is the same as wickedness or evel.
lol, get a load of that lol.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Doesn't turning off a person's brain while sitting and listening to the JW popes = "spiritually sluggish"?
On the hundredth anniversary of "Jesus invisible presence" when the most memorable thing that they could comment on is the tightness of pants, JWs must be both spiritually sluggish and mentally constipated.
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443
Zone Visit: An Announcement That Will "Test Your Faith"
by breakfast of champions inthis is the scuttlebutt in one of the "bethel congregations" by us.. no details as to exactly what this "faith-testing" announcement might be.. anyone else hear any of this pre-zone visit hype?.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Nearly a billion dollars worth of Brooklyn real estate sold, along with hundreds of millions of dollars from the sale of branches all around the world, and now they're pocketing the funds from individual congregations, and they have no time to give an accounting for where all that money has gone?
Over a billion dollars has disappeared in very recent history and they're asking for more money during this "event"? ... And all they have to tell the branch territory is that Jehovah is unhappy because of tight pants? ... And try to "razzle dazzle" the sheeples with the wonderousness of the GB?
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443
Zone Visit: An Announcement That Will "Test Your Faith"
by breakfast of champions inthis is the scuttlebutt in one of the "bethel congregations" by us.. no details as to exactly what this "faith-testing" announcement might be.. anyone else hear any of this pre-zone visit hype?.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
No mention of "higher education"?