Truth and Justice

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Posts by Truth and Justice

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  2

  about the date of Memorial?

  by Truth and Justice in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs
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  Truth and Justice
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  55

  Longtime lurker - first post

  by applehippie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  been listening for quite a while to the many conversations found here on this forum.

  i'm a good listener as my friends will tell you.. i am a born in jw, inactive for at least 2 years now.

  i originally joined this forum to find out what my husband was "up to".

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  Truth and Justice

  Hi Applehippie,

  Nice to meet you! I certainly have very similar emotions that you feel as well. I still have half the family still in, but my parents and me have been out since the mid 1980's. What help me to get out was seeing how the Bible was being manipulated or changed to suit whatever they wanted for a doctorine, and Jesus not getting the Honor he deserved. Their idea that reading the Bible without the aid of their publications was not approved. I was very disappointed in the way the sheep were being beaten and scattered. Well, I don't have to deal with it any more.

  Since being out, I still consider myself a Christain, that is to the best of my ability. What I feel strengthens me is that I pray regularly because I feel I need direction in these uncertain times and I read my Bible on a regular basis. I read it by itself without any constraints or publications to help interpret it for me. In this way I block all teachings and start fresh with a new understanding and I have felt more invigorated and a stronger endurance. I too, feel that my future will be on the earth to care for the people, to teach, build or to organize projects, whatever the 'Creator" decides for me. In recent years, I have seen clues or hints that the other half of my family that are still in are getting worn out and tired, and are understanding our position now. There is always hope and I never lose it.

  In conclusion, I found this very thought in my personal Bible reading which certainly gives a true meaning to what has happened in the organization and why it continues to fade without Jehovah's Spirit. Here is the quote:

  "Here I am against the prophets of false dreams," is the utterance of Jehovah, "who relate them and cause my people to wander about because of their falsehoods and because of their boasting." "But I myself did not send them or command them. So they will by no means benefit this people," is the utterance of Jehovah.

  Applehippie, hope to hear from you again!

  Happy Trails, Truth and Justice
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  48

  Hello to everyone.... and could I ask a really basic question here please...

  by JamesS in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm james i'm new to this forum as of today and i'm a ex-jw who was "born into the truth" and then left it officially at the age of twenty after "drifting out" of it for some time.

  i'm now 34 and whilst i'm not exactly happy with the world i'm living in, i'm largely happy with my own life.. one question i've got about this forum - i didn't join for a long time because i thought it was for active jw's (based on the web-site url), not ex jw's, but then looking at the threads, it seems it is more for ex-jw's!

  what is the demographic for the membership?

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  Truth and Justice

  Hi James S,

  Welcome!! Nice to have you here along with all your other "Londoner's".

  Do they do the snack thing known as "Tea and Crumpits"? always wondered!

  Take Care! Truth and Justice
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  37

  Disfellowshipping Offense

  by Had To Go in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so i went to my sister's wedding this past sunday, which happened to be smack dab in the middle of a church service.

  my all faithful husband told me it was a dfing offense and that he was obligated to tell the elders that i was going to a church.

  i really could care less about the actual act of being df it is the fact that my husband felt the need to "turn me in".

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  Truth and Justice

  Had to Go,

  I'm sorry you have to go thru such a thing. I have to say that comments made regarding your conscience are correct. It is up to your conscience. If what you are doing requires in any way that you give some act of worship other than God, (Jehovah) then of course you would know already that it would not be right, but we're just talking about a wedding. It is a time of Happiness and Rejoicing.

  I think of Jesus when he sat and ate with Tax collectors, and all your doing is rejoicing over the Marriage of a family member, whether it is in a church or a Hotel.

  When you said the phrase "dedicate yourself to Jehovah", a thought comes to me. Many years ago, the 2 questions they ask about baptism at the assemblies initiates the thought of dedicating yourself to Jehovah, now they use the phrase "dedicate yourself to the spirit anointed organization." I know that in your heart you probably worry about whether you are offending HIM, well look at the whole picture, are you breaking any scriptural laws? I would say "Not in this situation".

  I would not judge your husband, but I can understand that same mentality that I had when I was in the organization. Everything in our life was always marked with the stamp of "Organization Approved" or "Organization does not Approve". It was their Rubber stamp that they would use on whatever you chose to do in life. Thankfully, I worship God without their help. I hope it will all work out for you in some way without the pain.

  Happy Trails!! Truth and Justice
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  26

  Disassociation Letter

  by dontplaceliterature in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have any of you who formally diassociated yourself from jehovah's witness by letter sent anything in writing to the entire congregation?

  would it be considered bad form to send a letter to friends in the congregation regarding your decision and the reasons for it, before/after/simultaneously you send a letter to the boe?.

  i think i would feel compelled to, out of acknowledgement that most of them would not speak to me after "the big announcement.

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  Truth and Justice

  dontplaceliterature,

  An interesting topic! I have to say that when I decided it was enough, I walked out. I did not write a letter because I didn't feel it was necessary. I did not join a club or a membership, so no letter was needed. I do know that when your at a meeting and they announce before everyone that you have been disfellowshipped or DA, then the wheels of peoples minds start turning, imagination starts going wild, and they think that the BOE are there to protect the flock.

  So you have some that want to send a letter, if thats what you want to do, then go ahead, but first think every thing out to the detail before you send it.

  If it were me, I would send the letter to my friends first explaining in no more than a 1 page letter your reason for leaving or an explanation of how you love Jehovah and Christ but can not go along with some of the teachings that they are scripturally wrong on. When writing the letter make sure that at the top of your letter, you write the words- " THIS LETTER HAS BEEN SENT TO THE BODY OF ELDERS." This way when they see that, it will cushion their thinking that "Well the BOE is getting the letter, so it's OK if I read it". If you don't make that clear right away, they'll just throw it away.

  Now, when you send a letter to the BOE, you tell them that you have sent the same copy of letter to everyone in the congregation. This way they can't fidge, twist, or manipulate the letter. It would sure be hard to figure out what talk they will give on the next Thursday night considering your situation, because everybody knows, but they'll come up with something.

  I'm just glad that its over for me, I just faded. I still have some who talk to me because they know what kind of person I really am. These people are so tired and beaten, that you can see it in there persona. I am starting to see it alittle bit in the other half of my family who are still in. I see hints and clues indicated to me, at least my parents and me are hopeful.

  Dontplaceliterature, I wish you luck whatever you do! Be hopeful!

  Happy Trails, Truth and Justice
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  15

  Those Dubbies and their surprise visits...

  by undercover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't know which is worse.... dubs that drop by unanounced and want to confront you on your inactivity and your apparent lack of zeal for truth and love of jehovah, thus setting up a potential argument that could get ugly real fast.

  dubs that drop by unanounced and feign friendship, chatting away like old times, yet they've got a bible in their hand and they insist putting wt/awake mags in my hand before they leave (like i can't download it for free from the internet) and since they've been friendly enough it would be bad form to jump their shit and antagonize the situation.

  knowing they're indoctrinated, i'm sure that they're actually trying to be sincere in their efforts.

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  Truth and Justice

  Undercover,

  I too have half my family still in. It aggravates me every day that its always on my mind, I have suffered with with this for over 25 years with my parents, and its painful. I truly do understand what you have to deal with. Never let hope die, the reason why I say that is I have seen clues and hints that the other half of my family are wearing down by comments they have made. It takes so much time and I am not very patient.

  A point that I would like to make in regards to what you wrote is this: When I was in, as MS, not that it meant anything to me, me and another Brother would visit another person who hadn't been to a meeting in a while. Our objective was that we were not going to bring a Bible in hand, our ties were coming off, and our conversation was going to be on anything. All this individual needed was encouragement, somebody to talk to, somebody to truly love him, and NO, I didn't count time. The true meaning of christain is long gone, but a person that has love, has compassion, and is not critical of every thing you do, well, that is true potential.

  Happy Trails, T-T
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  Assembly Germs

  by EmptyInside in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i may jinx myself with this post.

  but, i haven't been really sick for over a year.

  and i think it's because i haven't been to the hall that much,and i stopped going to circuit assemblies,which have always been huge germ fests.. after the circuit assembly this year, i heard of a lot of families,especially with small children,all having the stomach flu.

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  Truth and Justice

  Interesting Topic!

  I have to be very honest, I think the answer is yes!

  I remember a time that on Sunday Mornings, I would get a very sick stomach which made me feel like staying home, which I did. For the other meetings it wasn't much better, because I felt sort of jittery in my nerves, tired, feverish or at times lonely. But the reason why I was not feeling my best is obvious: No Jehovah's Spirit, feeding us lies, same old-same old information.

  When I left the meetings, my stomach was normal and I felt good physically and mentally.

  It is interesting though that I have read many times that Jehovah's witnesses have seen Doctors based on their mental aspect and that the number was high among JW's. Seems to reason, Doesn't it?

  Happy Trails T-T
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  20

  Being responsible for your behaviour

  by Luo bou to in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i make excuses for my ex and witness relatives telling myself that they're not responsible because they are under mind controll.

  but is that good enough.

  can treating someone as if they don't exist be excused ?

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  Truth and Justice

  Hi lou bou to, Good Topic!

  This would be my take on the question. "Yes", we should be responsible for our actions when it especially involves people. Let me paint this picture for you. Imagine!!

  You are disfellowshipped for sinning against God, and you are sitting in the back row as you have been for months. And after many months, Jesus walks in the Hall (which he wouldn't) and says to you "Brother! Good to see you, what a pleasure to see you." The Brother says: "Oh Lord, I am not worthy to speak with you." Jesus then says "Why are you not worthy? Brother says: Well, I am disfellowshipped for sinning even though I was truly repentant, I have to sit in the back and prove myself. I have been sitting in the back for months. Jesus says: By whose authority did they remove you? Brother says: Those men up front, they say the spirit directed organization has rules to protect the flock from people like me.

  I would do anything to see what happens next.

  Jesus at one time made a whip of ropes and drove the cattle and sheep out of the Temple, turned over the money changers, the money brokers in their seats, and overturned their tables. In the case that I just presented , it would certainly be interesting to see how HE would handle such merciless men. To hold back a repentant individual from the fold would only cause discouragement and sadness.

  As my Father once told me, he said that when he sat in on a JC, and the person in front of them was repentant and/or in tears, He felt that he had no choice but to believe and take that persons word. How could I not? In 99% of all cases, it was a sin. You can still love God and still sin. 1% of people are those that absolutely defy God and Christ altogether. Naturally, You would want to protect the Flock. As a witness, I always gave a smily or happy grin to say "Its OK! Hang in there!" when he or she was DF'ed. As a MS, it didn't bother me then, there were times when I would park my Truck 3 or 4 blocks away from the individual and walk thru peoples back yard and climb fences to visit a DF person. Well, the short story is half my family has been out for over 2 decades and I pray every day the other half will soon get free. I do see slight glimmers of hope.

  Happy Trails, Truth and Justice
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  63

  Disfellowshiped ARE REQUIRED to sit in the library!

  by brotherdan in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother-in-law is making leaps and bounds in her progress to get out of the watchtower.

  for those of you that don't know, she is df'd but has been working on "coming back".

  recently i've been able to exchange emails about the dangers of the organization and share jesus with her.

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  Truth and Justice

  Brother Dan, I like your topic!

  I like this qoute in Luke 15:7 - "I tell you that thus there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who have no need of repentance."

  It sounds to me that your MIL is certainly seeing how true love is not being shown. As I would say, you will know them by their fruits. If Christ Jesus came down all of a sudden in to the Hall, (which he wouldn't) and He saw what was going on, I would hate to stand to close to that elder after Christ dismantles him in His words. Christ was a compasionate and giving person towards all people who were desperately looking for Mercy and a sincere Love.

  Villabolo - You took my thunder away, you and I were thinking the same thought, its one of my favorite scriptures.

  Awen - That is what I call "True Compassion", you demonstrated in a way that it should have been. The heartless lack of love that they demonstrate should be enough for many to say that this is not for them.

  Happy Trails! Truth and Justice
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  35

  Attended The Watchtower Study Today (GAG ALERT)

  by im stuck in in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  went to the meeting today.

  what a ra ra to be zealous in preaching sales meeting.

  i was totally disgusted at the outright deception that they are spewing out.. .

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  Truth and Justice

  Hi Im Stuck,

  I truly understand where your coming from. It is enough to make you gag. For many years people have been suffering for real spiritual food but offers nothing. I felt that way for a long time, and then left. I never felt good in the organization because Jehovah never approved of the way His people were being handled. After my own research of scripture, it help me to understand something: Amos 8:10,11 - "Look! There are days coming,' is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, 'and I will send a famine into the land, a famine not for bread, and a thirst, not for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. 12th vs - And they will certainly stagger from sea all the way to sea, and from north even to the sunrise. They will keep roving about while searching for the word of Jehovah, but they will not find it."

  That pretty much sums up what the real feeling has become for many, but I pray they will somehow have the courage and strength to get out

  Good thread - Im Stuck in

  Fact Finder - Don't give up my friend, I know its tough. I have been out since the mid-80's, and it hurts me deeply after all these years that my parents and I miss the other half of our family, but there are clues and hints that show they are getting tired. I pray for them every day. I have alot of tough days, but I still maintain hope, you have to. Hang in there!!

  Happy Trails! Truth and Justice