Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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Posts by Billy the Ex-Bethelite

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  30

  Faith in the Flood,-- a Dud.

  by prologos in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  for the next two weeks, wt will attempt to lay the basis for their imitation "faith" by discussing the "imitate their faith" book, chapter on the flood.

  a golden opportunity to share faith strengthening details with your believing friends.

  do not miss it!.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Here's something from an earlier thread of mine.
  

  In conversation, a friend was telling me how he knows he's supposed to preach to his workmates, but he's not comfortable doing it. Rather than twisting his arm to preach, I gave him the perfect reason not to preach. I explained, "Well, I learned that you have to be really careful, because you have to work with them every day. And you don't want to be in front of a group of coworkers when one of them asks the 'kangaroo question.'"

  Which, of course, led him to ask, "Kangaroo question? What's that?"

  Me, playing coy, "Oh, I think I shouldn't have mentioned that." Of course, that statement just made him even more curious. So then I explained how it was not uncommon for JWs to get asked questions about the flood that we couldn't answer. 'Kangaroo question' was how kangaroos got from Australia to Noah's ark, then from Turkey back to Australia after the flood. Then he was really confounded trying to solve this riddle. I had to tell him that there was no solution to that, nor to a lot of other questions that I hope he never gets asked. Since I was the ex-bethelite, he wanted to know what to do with such a question. I explained, "Since there is nothing helpful published, if you get asked a question like that at the door, you have to say that you'll go and research the question... but you never go back to their door. If you get asked by a workmate where you can't run away, you have to say that Noah's flood is a parable and not literal."

  Here's another thread about a terrible 1969 flood article failure:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/183719/from-noahs-ark-australia-awake-jan-8-1969-pp-5-8
  
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  22

  November WT God's View Of War

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  did anybody else read this article and just think wth?.

  sometimes god approves of war.. sometimes god doesn't approve of war.. when the israelites fought battles and won it was because god blessed them.. when they lost it was because god had not blessed them.. sometimes god fights for oppressed ones.. sometimes they must wait and have faith.. it is so clear that the bible contradicts itself on this issue and that the nation of israel had a totally different view of god than the early christians.

  it is also clear that the nation of israel was highly superstitious and would attribute every battle's outcome to the whims of a higher power.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Maybe that's why armageddon hasn't come. Gog of Magog got his hands on some iron war chariots... and a musket.

  Bronze Age desert gods don't have access to iron or gunpowder.
  
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  80

  ANNOUNCEMENT CLIP ...2015 Annual meeting Sam Herd confirming what we knew a month ago about slow down and halt of worldwide construction

  by Watchtower-Free in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_h68ktwpim&feature=youtu.be.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It's not like armageddon is ever coming to rescue WT Corp from their own stupidity.

  After the big cash grab from the congregation accounts earlier, donations probably dropped off really quickly. Congregations were supposed to keep sending in perpetual payments to keep paying a mortgage on the local Hall forever. I've been in enough congregations where "donation fatigue" takes hold. The "friends" make big pledges and pay them for a couple of months, but then the reality of their overstretched budget has them reducing to less than their pledge, and it keeps shrinking.

  Probably after Lett went on the broadcast to plead for cash, they got plenty of blowback for looking like money-grabbing TV evangelists. It would make the GB and WT Corporation look bad to constantly be begging for cash. So now Herd is trotted out to announce the cuts and say that it's not because of a lack of financial support.

  What can publishers think of this? "Oh good, WT isn't short on cash, and they're cutting expenses on the organization level. Now I don't have to feel obligated to keep donating as much as I have been. Why should I keep paying the same money now that I'm getting less magazines and all this cost-cutting? My family needs a vacation! That's where I'll earmark my money instead."

  I think when Herd spoke of the growth and expansion in the organization, he was referring to the ever-increasing number of anointed partakers.
  
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  12

  Annual Meeting 2015 Rant

  by freemindfade in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  well i didn't watch all of it, but i did watch a good deal.

  it reminded me of the times i actually physically attended in the past.

  lets start with am3.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  It was very telling to hear him say how much he loved the name "digging for spiritual gems" or whatever the hell its called.

  "Digging for WT spiritual gems" translation:

  
  
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  27

  This takes the cake

  by Sour Grapes in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  today during the public talk the speaker said that satan was behind the new modern phones, which are like mini computers, so that the world would have easy access to pornography..

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  That speaker hasn't been keeping up with WT nulite. Current troof is that Jehovah is behind the new modern phones, computers, and Internet so that people can access the WT website and watch videos of the chubby, balding GB members beg for money.
  
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  23

  Hello everyone!

  by Planetsmashers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ive been lurking for a while and finally got around to registering.

  about me: i was essentially born in & indoctrinated from youth.

  i was always a borderline "bad association" type because i always did the minimum and always disagreed with much of what was taught; even when i was a child.. luckily for me my father was never a jw so i never had to endure the male head pressure.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Hello and welcome!

  I essentially left to save my life from suicide and end my years of misery and depression.

  Pete: Funny how it is that after you stop attending weekly funeral services (ie meetings), suddenly life seems a whole lot brighter.

  I remember that feeling.
  
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  18

  October 14, 2015 BOE

  by wifibandit in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  october 14, 2015 .

  re: signs announcing meeting times .

  https://infotomb.com//38v6n.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Where my wife attends, they have the mid-week meeting on Friday. Maybe they should just call it 'not-Sunday' meeting.

  I've been in a congregation that had their Sunday meeting on Saturday. So they would have 2 "not-Sunday" meetings.

  I'd suggest that they call them "This Meeting" and "That Meeting".
  
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  35

  You need to marry a ministerial Servant!

  by John Aquila in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a single sister in her 40s and her two single daughters were visiting my mom.

  i would say her daughters are in their early 20s.

  my mom got sleepy and we put her to bed but the three sisters stayed to finish their drinks..

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Wow, if they'd have a discussion like this in front of a stranger, I wonder what the conversations were like in front of the father.
  
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  38

  Hilarious Whatsapp message received - FIRST day after Big D

  by cognitivedizzy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a hilarious stupid wa message is being circulated amongst jws in my area / country.. i had a hearty laugh at the ignorance and stupidity and brainwashed mentality, different people may express different emotions so you have been warned.

  day one after armageddon it seems ages since we last heard the gunshots and screams, today has been really quiet.

  the last few weeks have been sheer terror.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  Two brothers had dragged the piano out of the hall and everyone was singing with such fervor, it brought tears to our eyes.

  It brought tears to eyes because the group was surrounded by angels threatening, "SING JOYOUSLY TO JEHOVAH OR DIE!"
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  39

  Hubby has been doing research on the internet!!!!

  by atacrossroads in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my husband was recently subjected to an intervention by his parents.

  i am apparently a danger to his spirituality.

  after i stopped attending meetings and went apostate hubby decided to resign as a ms to spend more time with me.

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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  He said he was tired of the do more mentality of the witnesses. I was shocked when that came out of his mouth. He said nothing he did was ever enough and his father considers him a complete failure. He said that since he resigned as a MS it has allowed him to pursue other interests and he has enjoyed the freedom.

  I was good at acting happy as a JW. But I never really knew anything close to happiness until I moved away and stopped attending and wasting my life on Watchtower.

  I wish you both the best of luck on your escape from the cult and in coping with your extended families.