Welcome!
So, you prayed for a sign to show you whether to stay with WT? ... Why settle for one sign, here's two that are answers to that prayer:
Billy the Ex-Bethelite
JoinedPosts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite
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205
Hi Everyone. Answer to prayer countdown...
by Stumpy ini've been lurking for about 3 months now and thought i'd better finally sign up.
you have all been an immense help to me as i have come to realize that this isn't the truth so i want to say a great big thank you!
what a crazy, emotional ride it is to finally face the truth about the doubts that i have carried for many years.
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Governing Body Sheep Fleecing - Official!
by The Searcher infellow witnesses - do you think the kingdom hall belongs to you, just because you all paid for it and personally finance its maintenance?
think again, sheep!
the "shepherds" have announced the fleecing in black & white for you, in case you decide to question them!.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Therefore, it cannot rightly be said to belong to any individual or congregation
Then whoever it belongs to should pay the utilities, take care of the maintenance, cleaning, supplies, etc. If I claim that a house belongs to me, I would be paying the mortgage, utilities, and responsible for all those things. If someone came to visit me at my house as an invited guest, I wouldn't make them take care of all my responsibilities as a homeowner.
Could you imagine a wealthy friend inviting you to his house for dinner, and then as you're eating he reads an "accounts report" that there is a budget deficit and are informed that you need to pay his light and cable bill?
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Recycled WTS beliefs
by Simon inwe all know the wts abandons and invents beliefs faster than apple can churn out new shiny stuff.
but have they ever abandoned a belief and later picked it up again?.
i remember many years ago we had one of those post-district-assembly review parts (part of the service meeting) where they were discussing some "new light".. there was some confusion about which was the "new" and which was the "old" and a semi-discussion ensued with people commenting.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
They've gone back and forth about whether the anointed would all go to heaven before armageddon or whether some would still be on earth afterward. I think that was most often flip-flopped with studies of the Revelation--It's Bland Climax Still Ain't Happening book.
Back in the 80s, I think there were other debates about the sequence of events that would lead up to the panda-petting paradise. Since the 80s were Reagan, pope JP, and the Soviet Union, there was lots of excitement about how all those nutty prophecies would be fulfilled with the cry of peace and security, the king of the north, the destruction of babylon the great, etc.
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"jehovah loves all sorts of people"
by stuckinarut2 inok, so if you haven't as yet watched the new cartoon clip on the website, be prepared to throw up!.
it is called "jehovah loves all sorts of people", and features an awful song about how "jehovah loves everyone" even "different colors", etc....yep...they actually say that!.
huh??????.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
It's barely a minute long. I guess that sums up about how much love there is. -
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Last chance to make an impact! Help me please....
by Anon_SA1 inso tomorrow is going to be my last encounter with a jw friend of mine for various reasons on her side.
(long story).
i have spent a lot of time discussing various concerns about the jw teachings, but havent been able to make any progress in helping her to question or doubt the teachings.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
It's hard to know what, if anything, will get through to any one JW. Since you've already unsuccessfully tried to reason on JW history, doctrine, and false prophecies, those probably won't be any more successful in your next conversation.
I've never knowingly gone into a "last chance" conversation like you've described. But theoretically, the closest I've been, I would try to make the conversation as positive, true, personal as possible... and rather distanced from anything JW. If, for example, it were my cousin:
"We've certainly been through a lot together. We spent a lot of time together as kids. Remember when you asked me to explain to you what 'f**k' means? [other reminiscing goes here] Later we went in different directions. You moved away. I moved away to bethel. But whenever we got together, it was like we picked up where we left off. We're family, the ties that bind... and gag. LOL.
"One of my regrets is that I wasn't good about keeping in touch with you or most of the important people from my younger days while I was in bethel. When I finally left bethel, I tried to make the best of what my life had become. But I wasn't happy. And the harder I tried to be happy, the unhappier I became. I've told you enough of the reasons I wasn't happy and why my life had taken the direction that it has. Unfortunately, I now understand that those reasons that I mentioned to you, have made you unhappy and uncomfortable with me. I want you to be happy. So if that means that you will be happier by not talking to me and not seeing me, so be it. It doesn't make me happy to not be a part of your life, but I can't go back to living in the miserable shroud of unhappiness that I used to live in"
I'd have much more to say, of course, but I'm thinking I'd go for the non-cult persona if it's still alive in there somewhere to get them to laugh and cry. If they want to talk about beliefs, okay, I might go there, but not far. I already know what JWs believe and that they're programmed to question and attack what I would present as my beliefs. So I'd be more concerned about just trying to keep things open for future contact.
Not sure if that's any help, Anon. But good luck!
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Why do we get TTATT and others don't?
by quest81 ini have thought about how ttatt came full circle for me.
how the connecting the dots was simple and just made sense,.
how silos of information are literally at our fingertips today.. why is it that the ones we love cannot get ttatt?.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Well, at least I kept my pants up! -
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"jehovah loves all sorts of people"
by stuckinarut2 inok, so if you haven't as yet watched the new cartoon clip on the website, be prepared to throw up!.
it is called "jehovah loves all sorts of people", and features an awful song about how "jehovah loves everyone" even "different colors", etc....yep...they actually say that!.
huh??????.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
After over a decade in bethel, it's clear to me that Hojovah loves the sorts of people who are blindly obedient and conform to the JW mold... so that's really only one "sort" of people. -
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Why do we get TTATT and others don't?
by quest81 ini have thought about how ttatt came full circle for me.
how the connecting the dots was simple and just made sense,.
how silos of information are literally at our fingertips today.. why is it that the ones we love cannot get ttatt?.
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Here's a picture of me from about 12 years ago...
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1 Meeting for each of your fingers ? ? ?
by william draper inanybody remember how this became a doctrine , years ago , we were at the meetings so that out fingers would be learning something .
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
You can take one finger off or miss one meeting and still keep a hold on the bible.
And why exactly would I want to hold onto a bible?
LOL
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1 Meeting for each of your fingers ? ? ?
by william draper inanybody remember how this became a doctrine , years ago , we were at the meetings so that out fingers would be learning something .
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Billy the Ex-Bethelite
There's still a PT, WT, "Bible study", School, and Serve-us meeting... They're just a lot shorter, and shoved into a two-finger glove.
