Posts by easyreader1970

47

Jehovahs Witnesses - Mainstreaming, Like It Or Not

by metatron in

jw
friends

it used to be that pioneers supported themselves with free literature and magazines and put in 100+ hours a month.

then 90, then 70.. a publisher had to put in at least an hour a month to be counted.

now 15 minutes.. they used to hand out a written review and collect it and grade it!

easyreader1970

Another issue causing the decay is the lack of a "date". In order for a cult to work, there has to be a date where everything will culminate. Even after 1975 came and went, there was a specific time period even though there was no specific year. The system surely would not last another twenty years, no youths in the organization would reach adulthood before the end came, definitely things would have changed before the turn of the century.The turn of the century happened, people who were in their teens, twenties, and thirties are now older, some working in terrible fields or are unable to change their professions because they were herded into window washing or sand blasting.

With no date, you've got no cult. People aren't storming out of the kingdom hall doors in disgust; they're just slowly slipping away. The money problem just makes it worse.

9

New Age Gamer disassociates himself from JWs

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

at the kh before the meeting with the elders.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8enb0nzybt8.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duxbf1-xumw.

may the force be with him.

easyreader1970

At the KH before the meeting with the elders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Enb0NZyBt8

And after

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Duxbf1-xUmw

May the force be with him. I have been watching his videos for some time, even when he was a strong supporter/apologist for the Witnesses. He has finally been forced to see the light and then had the bravery to leave his family.

11

No motivation/depression/for those people still in.

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

this message is not necessarily intended for those people who are no longer in the organization or who were never in it.

it's primarily directed towards people who are still in but who don't want to be (likely for family reasons).. i won't go into details (read my profile if you need more info), but the bottom line is that i'm still associated with the wbts because i enjoy waking up to my children every morning.

by extension, i guess i am happy waking up to the wife, too, but deep down i know she loves the wbts far more than she loves me ...so since i prefer to see them every day as opposed to every other weekend and not being demonized, this is why i am still here.. to the point.. i really want to know how some of you cope who are still inside, on a long term basis.

easyreader1970

No, I never bothered with that because they'd have no point of reference. They'd say get out immediately.

11

No motivation/depression/for those people still in.

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

this message is not necessarily intended for those people who are no longer in the organization or who were never in it.

it's primarily directed towards people who are still in but who don't want to be (likely for family reasons).. i won't go into details (read my profile if you need more info), but the bottom line is that i'm still associated with the wbts because i enjoy waking up to my children every morning.

by extension, i guess i am happy waking up to the wife, too, but deep down i know she loves the wbts far more than she loves me ...so since i prefer to see them every day as opposed to every other weekend and not being demonized, this is why i am still here.. to the point.. i really want to know how some of you cope who are still inside, on a long term basis.

easyreader1970

This message is not necessarily intended for those people who are no longer in the Organization or who were never in it. It's primarily directed towards people who are still in but who don't want to be (likely for family reasons).

I won't go into details (read my profile if you need more info), but the bottom line is that I'm still associated with the WBTS because I enjoy waking up to my children every morning. By extension, I guess I am happy waking up to the wife, too, but deep down I know she loves the WBTS far more than she loves me ...So since I prefer to see them every day as opposed to every other weekend and not being demonized, this is why I am still here.

To the point.

I really want to know how some of you cope who are still inside, on a long term basis. I feel as though they have sucked the life out of me, both physically and figuratively. I don't have the motivation to do anything, whether it's related to the Society or not. The house needs painting, don't feel like doing it. The back yard needs alot of work--can't get motivated to do it. Mostly I just work and pay bills and spend an inordinate amout of time on the computer late at night because it's the only time I have to myself. Sometimes I play games, sometimes I watch movies, sometimes I visit forums, watch youtube, etc.I don't think I am enjoying it. It's just something to do. It feels sord of like "yard time" in prison, except there's nobody trying to shank me.

What have any of you done to somehow put the Society in the back of your mind and do other things? I don't mean hobbies or anything. I don't have time for anything like a hobby anyway.

er

40

My Resignation Letter

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

i never did post this here.

i am posting it now for posterity's sake.

its been a few years, but, its good food for thought.

easyreader1970

Awesome letter. I wish I was courageous enough to write one like that. Honestly, I don't even think they read those. They get as far as the resigning/disassociation part and probably stop there. They don't read them, I don't think, because your individual contribution to the "program" is meaningless to them. They'll get along just fine without you. Who gives a ****.

If I ever did get the courage to bail, I think my letter would be less than five sentences. They wouldn't be worth any more of my time or printer ink. It would feel good to write it all out, but I think it'd be a waste of time.

32

The one thing keeping me from total atheism/theism

by easyreader1970 in

jw
friends

i hate riding the fence.

if someone asked me right now if i believed in a creator (or creators), i would still say i don't know, in spite of everything i know about current science.. what's my hangup?

believe it or not, it's one thing.

easyreader1970

I hate riding the fence. If someone asked me right now if I believed in a creator (or creators), I would still say I don't know, in spite of everything I know about current science.

What's my hangup? Believe it or not, it's one thing. The beginning. My stupid, human mind is far too primitive to conceive of either of the two possibilities:

1. Everything came from nothing.

2. Something always existed.

I'll break it down.

Everything came from nothing. This is, in short, the big bang theory. First, there was nothing and then there was a speck, which exploded. I'm not saying it's not possible, it's just something that I cannot conceive. I know there are other easily proven things that I can't conceive. I can't conceive 500 trillion dollars. I can't conceive 800 quadrillion miles.

Something always existed. Even allowing for the idea that maybe some powerful being evolved over a ridiculously long period of time, maybe some super alien with creative powers who makes worlds on some planet factory, where did it come from? Religious texts tell us that it always existed. Once again, my brain collapses on itself when I try to imagine that something had no beginning.

Now I know most people just say, why worry about that? Just live life. But for some reason I feel like I need to define what I believe as something other than "I don't know" when so many other people are sure. You've got astrophysicists like Neil Degrasse Tyson. No question in his mind. Big bang. Doesn't matter where the speck came from. Then you've got the deeply religious. God did it. Doesn't matter that they can't answer where he came from or how he could always exist.

Why can't I just settle on a position and hold to it? I don't feel like I can be deeply entrenched and/or passionate about my beliefs when they are so shaky.

79

Take the Beliefnet test... and post your results!

by Awakened at Gilead in

an atheist friend (never a jw) sent me a link to this fun test:.

http://www.beliefnet.com/entertainment/quizzes/beliefomatic.aspx.

turns out i am 100% secular humanist, but unfortunately i am still 5% jw!.

easyreader1970

1.	Theravada Buddhism (100%)
2.	Secular Humanism (95%)
3.	Unitarian Universalism (92%)
4.	Liberal Quakers (86%)
5.	Neo-Pagan (78%)
6.	Nontheist (77%)
7.	Orthodox Quaker (74%)
8.	Mahayana Buddhism (73%)
9.	Jainism (72%)
10.	Taoism (70%)
11.	Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (68%)
12.	Sikhism (68%)
13.	New Age (65%)
14.	Reform Judaism (65%)
15.	Hinduism (60%)
16.	Baha'i Faith (53%)
17.	Seventh Day Adventist (50%)
18.	Orthodox Judaism (48%)
19.	Scientology (47%)
20.	Islam (45%)
21.	Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (45%)
22.	Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (44%)
23.	New Thought (44%)
24.	Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (43%)
25.	Eastern Orthodox (33%)
26.	Roman Catholic (33%)
27.	Jehovah's Witness (29%)

39

What did you find upset elders the most ?

by KAYTEE in

what i found that upset elders more than most things was, when you made them verify their statement with scriptural backing.. when you showed their complete lack of common sense coupled with lack of christian knowledge.. on one occasion when having a heated discussion, i constantly made them refer to the org.

book for the answer, they ridiculed me, saying "are you getting your little green book out again".. all i was trying to point out was the answer (according to the society) on the subject at hand, most organisation will have some sort of code of conduct, the little green book was theirs.. they wanted to be right in all things even if it meant going against the org.. kt.

.

easyreader1970

I agree. Directly challenging their imagined authority is the number one cause for their irritation. They are irritated, not because you challenged them, but because they don't have a valid response. If you fornicated, okay, they can scriptually support why that's wrong. If you stabbed your next door neighbor in the neck, they can show you in the Bible why that was not a wise decision. But if the elders have an "understanding" that jackets should match pants or that soul patches are not allowed and you decide to buck their authority, they are enraged beyond belief.

31

Do you believe in predestination?

by jetery in

jw
friends

jw teach that your life is not predestined.

predestination means the path of your life(death) is suppose to be determined at birth right?

its kind of a confusing subject.

easyreader1970

If I was predestined for this horrible craphole of a life I have right now, I am pretty pissed at whoever is in charge of the whole predestination process.

33

Did You Expect Perfection From Jehovah's Witnesses?

by minimus in

jw
friends

....either from others or yourself?.

were you regularly disappointed when the elders, brothers or sisters didn't measure up to what they were preaching?.

did you actually believe "the truth" was 100% true?.

easyreader1970

For a long time, I thought that WBTS = rank-and-file.

I used to hold the people in the congregation to a higher standard than, say, the average "worldly" person and definitely people like elders or pioneers, the stars of the congregation.

Later I realized that elders, pioneers, ministerial servants, all these people were just people. Normal people. They were really no more hypocritical than anybody else in the world. They were just doing a job. I'd expect them to be better, but I shouldn't. It's sort of the same way I used to expect that people who were police officers were somehow morally better than everyone else. But they're not. They're people collecting a paycheck just like the cashiers at Walmart or the truck drivers for Southeastern. Their job just requires a bit more than the average citizen is willing to give.

When I was able to separate the WBTS from everyone else, it became clear to me what the problem was. And it wasn't the people. The people were who I could see and touch and blame for problems which were not caused by them but by the Watchtower. The Watchtower made these people who they are. The Watchtower makes these people hypocritical. It's almost impossible to live up to the standards that they demand.

If you're a "worldly" person and your daughter is caught giving oral sex to a boy in the parking lot, you talk to her about it and go on with life. If you are a JW, your life and your daughter's life can be potentially destroyed by this one act. So, yeah, I might be tempted to lie about it or to collude with my daughter to cover things up. Who wants their life burned to the ground?