Posts by Darklighter

18

How many kids never buy into the JW B/S???

by navytownroger in

at the conventions, there always seem to be parents gushing about how their kids are 'in the truth', pioneering, etc.

i'm wondering how many jw kids just flat-out reject all the jw b/s right from the start.

surely there are some kids who just say 'no way!

Darklighter

Looking back I'd say that at least 2/3rds of my childhood friends are out. Good for them. I had such "righteous indignation" towards them for leaving... I plan on looking them up now once I'm out! Haha ... I hope they can forgive me for for being so 'holier-than-thou'. I'm not really looking to re-establish friendships, just to apologize for being such a d!ck. But I digress...

It could just be my bias, but I think the org. is in for hard times, and that their "growth" will eventually become a decrease. Information is just to easy too come by these days. And information is the org's worst enemy.

25

What were the key articles that helped you leave (or articles you love)?

by jwfacts in

i am looking for "best-of" articles about jws and the watchtower society.

what were the best articles that you remember reading.

any topic will do.

Darklighter

Wikipedia... I used that site so much I feel like I owe them some money. Just make sure that what you're reading on there is based on good sources (which is fairly easy to do). That said, it's a great starting point in researching a particular topic, and give you a good idea of where to go next.

As far as actual articles... I would have to say the Society's own Sept. 2007 KM 'Question Box' was a big factor in my decision to exit. It just reeked of authoritarian mind-control.

JWF, although your site came much later for me, I would like to thank you because you cleared up most of my lingering questions about JW doctrine. Read the whole thing. Excelent work.

42

Great news!!!!!!!

by superman in

jw
friends

im so happy ive got to tell someone!

at the beginning of the year i made the final mental decision to leave the truth and fade.

i havent been out in service or to a meeting in a long time.

Darklighter

Kick Ass!!!

What a great story! Congratulations! That made my day...

8

1935 "Loyalty" booklet--PDF!

by Atlantis in

1935 "loyalty" booklet-pdf!

a researcher on the board needed this booklet a few days ago and we were able to locate him one.

others might want it for their records also.

Darklighter

Sweet! When?

19

question for experts

by cameo-d in

genesis 4:7. when god says to cain "sin is crouching at your door".. how did cain know what a door is?

i thought they lived in caves or lean-to's.. have archeologists found bc hinges?.

.

Darklighter

Darklighter, your answer is intriguing. I am curious to know, did you find these answers on your own after leaving the cult, or are some of these details part of the JW bible studies?

Gopher is right. I had to research it for myself. The JWs gloss-over (if not completely ignore) scrpitural problems by using the ol' "God said it so I believe it" excuse.

In this case they reason: "We don't care when the evil archaeologists say the Iron Age started. The Bible says Tubalcain worked with iron, and thats all the proof we need." To be fair, they're not unique in this perspective.

The WT trots out an occasional artice that gives the false impression that archaeology 100% supports scripture, but these are usually light on facts, and more along the lines of, "Ooooh lookie lookie! The bible mentions this city and it actually exists! Praise Jehoover!" Call it spiritual porn: Pretty pictures, no scholarly discussion, no dpeth. It's analogous to the difference between a nudie mag and a science textbook on human anatomy.

If you want to know what the evidence really says, just do a little research on the history of the Levant and "Biblical" archaeology. A few hours of research on the internet can put you lightyears ahead of the average JW in terms of knoweledge of ANE history. But there are some very well written and easy to grasp books out there too, if you want to go deeper. Anything by Finkelstein, Dover, or Campbell (plenty of others too).

The WT ignores (the proverbial) 99.9% of good scholarship out there because it doesn't support their position. Sad.

28

The lengths a closed mind will go to.

by dietequiladie in

jw
friends

check this out.

this is what we're up against.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/1kiruj6v7sb8n/ref=cm_syt_dtpa_f_1_rdsssl0?pf_rd_p=253457301&pf_rd_s=sylt-center&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0941813053&pf_rd_m=atvpdkikx0der&pf_rd_r=0r7kvqvgpv0ddbnzn1hb.

Darklighter

Finally-free said, "Another graduate from Awake University." LOL

That was good...

19

question for experts

by cameo-d in

genesis 4:7. when god says to cain "sin is crouching at your door".. how did cain know what a door is?

i thought they lived in caves or lean-to's.. have archeologists found bc hinges?.

.

Darklighter

"Door" can easily be rationalized away, and is therefore not a good example of an anachronism.

A bigger problem would be Cains son Tu'bal-cain who is described as a maker of tools of "copper and iron". The problem is, this was (by the Bible's chronology) thousands of years before the Iron age arrived in the ANE (c. 1300 BC), which is even too late for the time of Moses and the exodus.

Just further evidence that Genesis could not have been written in it's current form by Moses, and is instead from a much later time.

8

1935 "Loyalty" booklet--PDF!

by Atlantis in

1935 "loyalty" booklet-pdf!

a researcher on the board needed this booklet a few days ago and we were able to locate him one.

others might want it for their records also.

Darklighter

What juicy bits of Ruthefords drunken-stupor-induced idiocy does this one contain?

13

'Paradise Earth' makes absolutely no sense!

by navytownroger in

the jw idea of 'paradise earth' seems to be full of holes.

will babies of baptized jws also be in the new system?

if not, how could the child's parents consider it 'paradise' without their children?

Darklighter

I believe it was Mark Twain who, referring to sex, said some thing along the lines of, 'It's a strange thing that man leaves his most sought after pleasure out of his most sought after paradise.'

And on the paradise earth bit, yeah, that makes no sense to me either. The "Ressurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous" is what threw me, considering that an estimated 20 billion people have lived on earth so far. The "Society" claims that all who havn't had a reasonable chance to become ~~indoctrinated~~ worshipers of Jehovah will be resurrected. Even today when the preaching work is at it's (supposed) pinnacle, the vast majority of people alive don't know who Jahovah's Witnesses are, and if they do they don't know what they teach. So, if they're all resurrected, where will we put them all? The word "dystopia" comes to mind.

Conservatively, if only 10 billion of those people are "deserving" of a second chance, then over the course of Christ's thousand year reign there would be 27,397 persons resurrected per day. And then they're supposed to be educated too?

Imagine trying to "educate" a resurrected archaeologist or historian who happens to be an expert on ancient Mesopotamian writings, and trying to explain to him that Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 not 586 b.c.e. He's doomed to everlasting destruction.

Yeah, Paradise Earth = bull$h*t... Biblically and logically.

29

Your TOP TEN reasons why

by wobble in

could i have your top ten reasons why "da troof" is not the truth ?.

i know it may be difficult to limit yourself to ten,or you may only have one,one is enough if it is big, after all,but i would love to have your thoughts.. peace and love to all,.

wobble.

Darklighter

1. Science vs. The Bible vs. JW Creationism (Guess who won...)

2. Jehovah is cruel, immoral, and mysogynistic.

3. No evidence for anything supernatural. Ever.

4. "Jehovah's Happy People" arn't very happy.

5. JWs as individuals are just like everyone else - yet, everyone else must die. (This is the one thing would make them happy.)

6. False prophecies and their denial of them.

7. No evidence of the Org. being led by God's spirit.

8. Cultic mind control methods: 5 repetitous meetings per week, hundreds of pages of reading each month, no consulting "outside" information.

9. Needless deaths of members because of bad Org. policy.

10. The crushing of individuality, independant thinking, reason, compassion, and other positive personality traits.

There's more... but that's the first 10 that came to mind.