Most of the time when I hear "we missed you at the meeting" it usually was said in a way that means more like "Don't think we don't notice when you skip meetings. You really should be there". Less sincere and more judgemental.
Robert7
JoinedPosts by Robert7
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52
My wife says "They miss you at the Hall"
by OnTheWayOut inshe comes home with "sis.
curious says she misses you.".
"tell her i am right here, a phone call away.".
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26
THE TORTURE STAKE
by journey-on inwhy in the world did they choose to call it that!
i remember the horrific way it always sounded to me...the torture stake.
couldn't they have chosen something else?
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Robert7
The Kingdom Interlinear Translation shows the Greek word translating directly to "stake" which then got translated to "torture stake". Other translations say "cross". Anyone know if the original Greek version actually said "cross"?
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Cognitive Dissonance
by Robert7 ini am trying to compile a list of the key areas of cognitive dissonance in the jw faith.
again, this is the case of holding two conflicting/contradicting beliefs as true.
here is what i have so far.. i will be using these as ammo for those who question my decision.... - governing body - although the gb is directed by holy spirit and is god's channel of truth, it contains imperfect men who can provide (and have a history of providing) some false information.
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Robert7
I am trying to compile a list of the key areas of Cognitive Dissonance in the JW faith. Again, this is the case of holding two conflicting/contradicting beliefs as true. Here is what I have so far.. I will be using these as ammo for those who question my decision...
- Governing Body - Although The GB is directed by Holy Spirit and is God's channel of Truth, it contains imperfect men who can provide (and have a history of providing) some false information. This information will get later corrected as "new light"
- Truth - The Watchtower provides Bible Truths. However one must hold to "Current Truths" and ignore the "past Truths" as 'new light' comes. "Past Truths" were never untrue, aren't untrue now, but just have been replaced with the newer "current Truth". So a "Past Truth" was never false.
- Loyalty - A Witness should be 100% loyal to the organization, even though it contains imperfect men who can sometimes provide false information, and be otherwise influenced by imperfect men.
- Research - Witnesses encourage people of other faiths to research and question their faiths, but are strongly discouraged from researching and questioning their own faith.
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Do Most Witnesses know about UN SCANDAL?
by Abandoned init seems to me that most witnesses still don't know about the un scandal.
since it has been such a useful tool in helping people see the truth about the lying duplicity of the watchtower, how can we get this message out to more in the organization?
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Robert7
The WTS got caught with its pants down. If their involvement with the UN was not disgraceful, then they would have continued on as an NGO.
Very good point. If they said "We NEED this to spread the good news", fine. Their withdrawing and silencing it smells of something stinky...
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Do you have to speak out to be DF for apostacy?
by MissingLink ini'm a bit confused.
i've been worried that i'm going to be df for apostacy because i no longer believe core jw teachings.
i don't have an intention on protesting or strirring things up, but i'm worried because i will not lie to elders if they ask me what i think about things (in a shepherding call).
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Robert7
Hello. I am very much in the same situation as you. I have 'apostate thoughts' but I'm not telling them to anyone.
From what I understand, technically, just the thoughts alone are enough to get you DF'd. However, it really seems to be in the discretion of the Elders. Of course if you're spreading your thoughts, you will be DF'd, but if you keep it to yourself, you have a much better chance to not get DF'd.
For one thing, if you're keeing it to yourself, no one really should even know what you think. But this is where it gets tough, because it will get out, like if someone asks you a question, you may have a hard time answering it based on your new views.
There is one poster here (I can't remember her name off the top of my head) who says she was DFd for admitting she doesn't believe in the 1914 date. So really this seems to be in the mercy of your elder body.
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30
My only problem with the JWs
by dawg inbesides the fact that jws are pious, think only they have the truth, won't read anything with an open mind... hell won't read anything at all minus wt magazines... .
after all this, my only real problem is the shunning... almost everyone i love gets on my nerves from time to time, i get on theirs.
the fact that the jws beliefs is annoying isn't the problem, it just that after they are wrong as hell becasue of their ignorance, they won't talk to you.. i'm not trying to get my family to eradicate their beliefs, i'm just trying to get them to stop shunning those of us that don't believe like them.
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Robert7
I agree. The shunning is a lot more of the Witness lifestyle than most people, including Witnesses, realize. The shunning includes not only DF'd or DA'd ones, but anyone not in the faith. You cannot speak to friends or family who are DF or DA. You cannot have a beer with a workmate. You cannot go to a work party or function. You cannot have 'worldly' friends or go to a 'worldly' party.
In addition, this shunning leads to the view that Witnesses are better than everyone else, and that any non-Witness is dead in Jehovah's eyes. Because they are shunned, and Witnesses are no part of it, it is easy to exaggerate reality. They can think that all worldly people are so bad, swear, smoke, do drugs, etc, because they cannot compare.
Shunning does affect a lot of the Witnesses.
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Do Most Witnesses know about UN SCANDAL?
by Abandoned init seems to me that most witnesses still don't know about the un scandal.
since it has been such a useful tool in helping people see the truth about the lying duplicity of the watchtower, how can we get this message out to more in the organization?
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Robert7
Is it possible this was not a scandal at all? What if the Society did this to be able to spread their faith in lands that they would otherwise not be able to? Of course, they didn't say that, they only used the 'library card' excuse. I think if the Society had a better excuse (if there really was one) this could have been a much lesser of an issue.
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Newbies - Tell Us What You Dealing with - Getting out of the Witnesses
by flipper inhello newbies and all others !
with all of the newbies the last few months joining the board i wanted to provide a thread for them to express what stresses they are going through in exiting the jehovah's witness cult .
so please all newbies- we are happy you are here , tell us what you are going through , and some of us will help if we are able to.
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Robert7
I would say the top things I am dealing with my fade are:
- Trying my damndest to effictively fade, and not get DF'd. Due to family & friends, I guess I want (for now) the best of both worlds. Fade away but keep my contacts. This can be hard, because people will ask to go out in service. They ask about meeting attendance. I have to wiggle my way out of all that loosely without being negative (no apostate comments). Although I want to fade, I have no desire to discuss my views with others, because if they're happy, then let it be, and also that will bring me down for apostacy so fast.
- Keep family life. My wife is an active JW, and she knows I want to fade, and overall she is being good about it. I have to be sure to do my best to do what I want without hurting our relationship. This is also difficult.
- Stop from getting sucked back in. It is SO easy to just believe the JW story and get back in. When you hear the well-made stories from the 'mature ones' of how this is the truth, Jehovah's organization, etc, since this is what I know best, it is easy to fall for it and get back in. Then things would be 'normal' again. Fact is I don't want that. This is the biggest reason I visit JWD, so I can keep the reality check in place.
- I also can't stop thinking about it. At some point I want to just move on, but for now, I think about this all the time every day. I am doing research all the time, because I want to be 100% sure of what I am doing. I think I am 100% sure, but still, this is taking up a lot of my time. I have a feeling that as long as I want to fade, and still associate with the Witnesses, this will always be an issue. I just want to get to the point where I just visit meetings on occasion, and it otherwise is not a part of my life.
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How do JW's react when learning that Jehovah is not part of Christianity?
by oompa injehovah this, jehovah that......6 times per page in the old testament.
but oh how few jw's know that the name jehovah does not even appear in the christian greek scriptures....or new testatment as i prefer.
i used to be so proud of our real bible, the nwt for restoring the divine name thousands of times in the ot.
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Robert7
Wow, I wouldn't have truly believed it without actually looking in the Interlinear translation myself!
Most JW's have the knowledge available to them that the New Testament didn't have
"Jehovah" in it, but they swallow the story of 1st century apostasy. Mostly, life goes on in
denial.The Society does state the above, and 'assumes' that it should, and that it is accurately using the name Jehovah.
So the question is, if there was enough apostacy for someone to ONLY take out the name Jehovah and replace it with God/Lord, how can the Society assume that nothing else was changed? Could this possibly invalidate the scriptures entirely?
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Are Witnesses really persecuted?
by Robert7 inyou know we hear it all the time.
witnesses are persecuted by satan, and this is one of the signs of the 'true religion'.
they love to quote wwii and the concentration camps, but really only 5,000 died versus 6 millions jews.
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Robert7
Thanks for your comments... This seems to me another example of false or exaggerated information that is repeated over and over again to the point everyone believes it. My guess is by believing this, they feel they are 'special' and 'stand out' as a target of Satan since they are the true faith.