jehovah's witnesses proclaim the good news of the kingdom under the power of god's holy spirit.
jesus commanded his followers to preach in the most distant parts of the earth and promised them that the spirit of god would guide them in this life-saving work (acts 1:8).. without the spirit of god, one cannot continue preaching about jesus and god's kingdom (matthew 24:14).
one surely will not have god's spirit if one preaches a negative message (against jehovah's servants) from door to door.
Comforter,
FYI -- Correct English grammar does not change for each locality, and it is very bad form to refer to a human as "it". In situations where you want to be gender neutral, you use "he/she" or alternate the use of "he" and "she" throughout, as in most publications about child rearing.
HH
an interesting site i stumbled on which concludes that apostates are unreliable witnesses .... http://www.neuereligion.de/eng/kliever/.
conclusions .
the above analysis clearly shows that while there is a certain incidence of apostasy in new religious movements, the overwhelming majority of people who disengage themselves from these non-conforming religions harbor no lasting ill-will toward their past religious associations and activities.
There is a grain of truth in Kliever's statements. I have done some reading on cults and anti-cult commandos like Ted Patrick, many of whom are fundamentalist Christian. Some of these Christian groups have ascribed some near-supernatural powers to cults like the Moonies or Children of God, claiming that they can "hypnotize" and control their members like zombies. When various members left these cults, some of their own accord and others forceably deprogrammed, many refused to take responsibility for their own choices, accusing the cult of "brainwashing" them. Of course, this is not the type of brainwashing we speak of when referring to J.W.'s, which is more subtle but just as incidious.
I agree entirely with Alan F, but wanted to point out that it pays to research the subject of cults thoroughly so you're not talking "apples and oranges." Some of the anticult groups have made some ridiculous assertions and therefore played into the hands of these social scientists. Still it's a shame they can't acknowledge the harm these cults (J.W's included) do.
HH
last saturday, a former ministerial servant and pioneer committed suicide in the woodinville washington kingdom hall parking lot.
he was disfellowshipped several years ago, and according to the old sister that related the story to me today, he was depressed because no one would talk to him.
i don't know how i kept calm when she explained to me that "we couldn't talk to him...he was disfellowshipped.".
Sabine,
My stomach is in knots just thinking about this. Poor, poor, young man. So sad a support group didn't get to him first. I am so sorry to hear of your daughter as well. My father committed suicide when I was 17, which was horrible enough, but I fear losing a child is much worse.
And the comments made by the young witness boy is sadly typical of how most dubs feel. They probably wouldn't throw us a life preserver if we were drowning.
Dungbeetle,
What is the web address of the site that has the memorial list? I know of someone I'd like to add.
HH
ok, it's been four years for me since i left the jws.
i have been so busy trying to recover from the blow of leaving and losing friends, religion, a social group etc., that i haven't considered (too much) about what's next.
i mean, i've tried to be open minded and listen to other people's beliefs hoping that somewhere/sometime/something would click.
Smoldering,
I certainly relate to your feelings. I have been out of the WT for over 25 years, but looking back, see that I went through a progression of phases in regard to religion.
The first two years, I kidded myself that I might go back to the KH someday and felt like a bad little girl for even discussing religion. Eventually, when I had to admit that I lost faith in WT teachings, I attended a few churches while my children were little for a short time, but they all felt “too organizational” which made me uncomfortable – the bottom line was they all believed, as dubs do, that only THEY had the key to salvation, which turned me off immensely.
My husband (now my ex and also an ex-dub) began studying Buddhism and Hinduism and shared some of their beliefs with me, especially those of Yogananda. For some reason, those discussions began to trigger a lot of questions about the Bible and Christianity – I realized that I had been disturbed for a long time about some beliefs intrinsic to both.
I suppose I am agnostic at this point. I can’t say I disbelieve in God, but for whatever reasons he has chosen, I believe he has estranged himself from humans. There are times when I envy people who can believe! During times of stress and unhappiness, we all prefer to have the easy answers to life that religion provides. But I guess I’m too damn logical to buy into it.
My advice is take a break from religion – don’t force it. Just live your life, help others, and be the best person you can. Somewhere along the way, the answers will come to you. You may not agree with my views in 25 years, but you will arrive at answers that work for you. Good luck on your journey.
what i am talking about a movie that you thought was great, but is mostly forgotten by most people today.. well, my favorite overlooked movie is "a perfect world.
" in it kevin costner is an escaped felon who escapes from prison with another felon.
they then break into a house and kidnap a boy who is a (gasp!
The Hudsucker Proxy (great Coen brother's flick)
Blood Simple (another Great Coen brothers's flick)
Love sci fi, so have to throw these in:
Zardoz (anybody remember that one?)
Logan's Run
my dad is in his early fifties.
he has always been a lover of music.
last year he gave me his guitar, the one i remember him always playing when he was home, except of course during dinner hehe.
Thanks for a great story, PLH. There must be hope for your dad if he's a Pink Floyd fan. : )
I wonder how many of us, being denied all the normal teenager experiences, felt that music was our only friend.
I can't count all the times I turned up the radio volume full blast driving home from kingdom ministry school to alleviate boredom, frustration, or just plain disgust from all hipocrasy and pretend love. Those were the days of Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, and Janis Joplin. Funny how so many old songs are intertwined with memories of assemblies and dub events.
Then in the early seventies they started leaning hard on rock and roll and took away the only thing that many of us had left -- and so much of our identity with it! The bastards!
come on admit it, if you were brought up a witness you were dead scared that you were going to end up like the men you saw prowling the assembles and congregations looking for wives.. there would always be men and women in there 30's and 40 who had never had a boy or girl friend.. i used to know quite a few.. the horror of their lives shocks me.. now i not dissing anyone who has chosen not to marry that is their choice.but these people i know want to meet someone and get married.. but the bad news is that the older they get the harder it is to find a wife .what makes it worse is that the choice is so limited.. many of these grown men are even affraid of women .
why?.
because they are taught that even to look at a woman is to commit imorality let alone talk to one.. i knew a brother who had never had a girl friend , he was about 26 at the time.now a sister asks to go out with him so he accepts.quite soon she wants to hold his hand.. this brother now tells her off, for in the family book it says holding hands is only for people who are going to get married.. he doesn't go out with such a spiritually weak sister again.. what has the socity done to these peoples lives.. many people who were once happy teenagers hoping to meet the wife or husband of their dreams are now approaching 40 or even older and have never even had a girlfriend.theri only hope is the new system and i don't want to breack the news to them but its not coming.
Ah yes, dub mating rituals! When I was 15, a 25-year old pioneer brother started asking me to go out in service with him in the evenings -- you know, the old backcall routine. On the second of these outings, he asked if I would be interested in marrying him after I turned 18, then in the next breath, said he was leaving for Bethel for 4 years. He wanted me to wait for him until he came back! Can you imagine? I look back on that now and realize how WRONG that was. There were plenty of single sisters near his age around, but, no, he wanted a child to molest. Disgusting!
to me, one of the most pathetic and lamest of all watchtower teachings is the fantasy that satan and the demons rule the world.
the witnesses are terrified of these demons getting into their minds through everything from wearing old clothes bought at the thrift store to smoking cigarettes (remember all drugs give demons easy access to your mind.).
they would have you believe that each country on earth is controlled by really big mean and tough demons (hey demons cant be nice you know) and they are actively controlling the minds of the political leaders in a global chess game because they have nothing better to do.. i was wondering then if anyone can show me a single itsy bitsy tiny amount of evidence to show any credible physical evidence or logical/metaphysical reasoning to back the jw ideological boogey men.
You Know,
David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Are you aware that schizophrenics hear voices because the addled chemicals in their brains send them on mind trips similar to LSD trips? But if you want to believe it's demons, go right ahead.
HH
i am too young to know what actually happened before and during 1975, but you know said this to me, and i would like some more information.. quote.
are you completely ignorant of why many of jehovah's witnesses looked to the year 1975?
do you think it was just something someone made up?
Skimmer,
Alright! Couldn't have said it any better, buddy!
HH
it was truly a joy to see br.
and sister "--------".
last night, after 5 years of not attending meetings.. it was the loving sheparding our elder body provided .
NYtele,
I love the way dubs pick and choose worldly publications as back-up for their ideas. You believe what a college newsletter has to say about fitness, but if this very same group published some research that refuted your beliefs on the blood issue, you'd say they have no credibility. Nice!
And go ahead and continue to pick on people with weight problems! Any lurkers who are on the fence are being won over to our cause because of you.
HH
