Posts by Gladring

18

Relationship Rescue (or how Dr. Phil got me out)

by Gladring in

jw
friends

i was going to post this in the thread about what one comment helped you see the light but it became a bit too long and i thought the subject might be interesting in it's own right.

i've been hanging around for a while feeling like i should tell my story and this thread has caught me at a good time.

i was born in to the religion, baptized at 15, reproved at 17, married at 22, ministerial servant at 25. i'd had questions in my late teens and twenties but i convinced myself that i loved jehovah and wanted to stay and so i squashed those feelings.

Gladring

To give some kind of time frame to this it all started over a year ago.

Ok, so at this stage I was going to some Sunday meetings but wasn't out in field service at all. I was still technically an M.S. but eyebrows were being raised and people talking. Some of the elders tried to put me under pressure to make a decision to step down but I told them that I was not going to make a rash decision.

Around this time I was chatting with an old friend of mine on the phone. He had left the org about 7 years ago but he was never baptized so I kept occasional contact with him. We used to be best friends but I'd kept him at a bit of a distance when he left. He had been reading The God Delusion and had some puzzles for me. "Have you read the account of Jephtha's daughter?" he asked me, "Jephtha offered his daughter as a burnt offering to God".

"No. That can't be right." I replied "She went to serve at the temple".

"That's what I thought" he said, "but I checked it out. It says 'he did as he had vowed'"

I told him that I'd check it out for myself. I got quite a surprise. It turns out he was right. The Jews even have an annual festival where they remember the sacrifice that Jephtha's daughter made. Where had I got this idea from? My Book of Bible Stories. The book says that she served in the temple. The best we can say is that we don't actually know what happened to her, but we have faith that God didn't accept human sacrifice. Why make stuff up? Why lie to children? I felt annoyed that the misrepresentation that had been slipped into my brain whilst I was young had left me ill prepared to offer a defense for the bible to someone who was more knowledgable. Imagine if this had happened on the field service.

My friend also related some of the discrepancies between the gospel writers, especially the problem of the dating of the census of Quirinius mentioned in Luke 4. So I looked into these. Unsatisfied with the non-answers given in the society's publications, I researched for myself on the internet. I could start to see that all was not as I had been taught.

At this stage I still had respect for the Bible but was starting to understand that the literal reading of it that the Witnesses adhere to could not be maintained.

Last October I attended a one day assembly. It was becoming harder and harder to listen to the material and not crack up. I took notes of things to look up later. I was listening to the baptism talk, a talk I must have heard hundreds of times in my life as a witness. It was all new to me. What stood out like a sore thumb was the second question asked of the baptism candidates. " Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in association with God’s spirit-directed organization?" Where in the bible did it say that? I always thought that baptism was about you and god and a symbol of dedication to him. Where does the org. fit in to this?

On the way home in the car my wife was driving and we were talking about the assembly. I started talking about the problem I had with the baptism questions. We were talking about all kinds of things. I'd heard the idea that when parents are not getting on that the kids find a way of blaming themselves. I'd been playing with this idea in my mind for a while. My parents were both married before and I was born in to a family of half siblings. There was always tension and fighting but I was too young to understand. All of my half brothers and sisters rejected "the truth" and when I was 9 my parents and I moved to"where the need is greater" leaving family behind. I started to talk as the thought was forming "I wonder if ..." and I crumpled in a heap. I had an emotional reaction that was like being hit by a steam train. Years of repressed memories and feelings came flooding back. As a child I had seen the pain felt by my parents when my siblings rejected the WT. Maybe if I was a witness everything would be ok. The emotional reaction was so strong I know this is how it happened but I had somehow convinced myself that I freely chose to get baptized. This was a key moment for me.

More issues sprang from the assembly, I'll try and post info on that later.

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18

Relationship Rescue (or how Dr. Phil got me out)

by Gladring in

jw
friends

i was going to post this in the thread about what one comment helped you see the light but it became a bit too long and i thought the subject might be interesting in it's own right.

i've been hanging around for a while feeling like i should tell my story and this thread has caught me at a good time.

i was born in to the religion, baptized at 15, reproved at 17, married at 22, ministerial servant at 25. i'd had questions in my late teens and twenties but i convinced myself that i loved jehovah and wanted to stay and so i squashed those feelings.

Gladring

Changeling you are right. Relationship Rescue speaks straight to you. No one had ever told me straight out that if I was having problems in my relationship that that was my responsibility. Most WT articles are along the lines that both partners have to be working right for the relationship to work. I'm working on the next bit of this story and should have it posted soon.

18

Relationship Rescue (or how Dr. Phil got me out)

by Gladring in

jw
friends

i was going to post this in the thread about what one comment helped you see the light but it became a bit too long and i thought the subject might be interesting in it's own right.

i've been hanging around for a while feeling like i should tell my story and this thread has caught me at a good time.

i was born in to the religion, baptized at 15, reproved at 17, married at 22, ministerial servant at 25. i'd had questions in my late teens and twenties but i convinced myself that i loved jehovah and wanted to stay and so i squashed those feelings.

Gladring

It's in 2Samuel 12:15 but read the whole thing to get the flavour

18

Relationship Rescue (or how Dr. Phil got me out)

by Gladring in

jw
friends

i was going to post this in the thread about what one comment helped you see the light but it became a bit too long and i thought the subject might be interesting in it's own right.

i've been hanging around for a while feeling like i should tell my story and this thread has caught me at a good time.

i was born in to the religion, baptized at 15, reproved at 17, married at 22, ministerial servant at 25. i'd had questions in my late teens and twenties but i convinced myself that i loved jehovah and wanted to stay and so i squashed those feelings.

Gladring

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/162198/1.ashx

3

Abbreviations on WatchTower letters

by Gladring in

not sure if this belongs here but i have a question.

about 7-8 months ago, i sent a letter to brooklyn about their quotes in the creator books (before i realised that so had just about everyone else).

anyway when they eventually did reply they did so through the branch in this country.

Gladring

Not sure if this belongs here but I have a question.

About 7-8 months ago, I sent a letter to Brooklyn about their quotes in the Creator books (before I realised that so had just about everyone else). Anyway when they eventually did reply they did so through the branch in this country. Under the letter head, next to the date, was the initials "SA:SB". Does anyone know what these initials stand for?

It's not that important, I'm just curious.

18

Relationship Rescue (or how Dr. Phil got me out)

by Gladring in

jw
friends

i was going to post this in the thread about what one comment helped you see the light but it became a bit too long and i thought the subject might be interesting in it's own right.

i've been hanging around for a while feeling like i should tell my story and this thread has caught me at a good time.

i was born in to the religion, baptized at 15, reproved at 17, married at 22, ministerial servant at 25. i'd had questions in my late teens and twenties but i convinced myself that i loved jehovah and wanted to stay and so i squashed those feelings.

Gladring

I was going to post this in the thread about what one comment helped you see the light but it became a bit too long and I thought the subject might be interesting in it's own right.

I've been hanging around for a while feeling like I should tell my story and this thread has caught me at a good time.

I was born in to the religion, baptized at 15, reproved at 17, married at 22, ministerial servant at 25. I'd had questions in my late teens and twenties but I convinced myself that I loved Jehovah and wanted to stay and so I squashed those feelings. I was trying to do the right thing all along and was progressing ok except for one thing.

Over time I had trouble controlling my temper and my marriage was coming under more and more pressure but to the witnesses in the cong. everything looked great. I did all the "right" things to try and fix it. First I tried reading the Family book and appropriate WT articles, praying and meditating. When that didn't work I looked for help from an elder who was a friend and who I trusted. He would come over with printouts from the CDrom and we'd all talk and have a pray. Things would be lovely for about a week and then things would blow up again. I got stuck in a cycle of guilt. To really simplify things, my thoughts went something like "I'm doing the right things. I'm praying for help, I'm getting advice from the elders. It must be me!" My anger just fed on the guilt and things got worse not better.

Did you ever have a row on a meeting night and feel like you just didn't want to go and put on a happy face? Every time I squashed that feeling and went anyway, feeling like a hypocrite every time. Well one Tuesday, my wife and I had a row and this time it was different. I didn't want to go and, for the first time, I didn't. A couple of days ago I had ordered Dr. Phil's "Relationship Rescue" but hadn't opened it yet. I sat down (my wife was still angry, and had gone to the meeting anyway) and started to read. It was like a "Saul on the road to Damascus" moment. The scales fell from my eyes and I got it. I actually got it! Within minutes of starting to read the book I understood why I was doing what I was doing and started to work to fix it. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.

This all made me start to question what I'd been taught all my life. I needed time to get my head around everything. Was it the instruction and advice I had been given that had failed me or had I failed to apply it? I couldn't prove it but my gut was screaming that it was the WT teachings that had screwed me and my marriage. It was tough at this time as my wife still believed everything and kept asking "Can't you do Dr. Phil and still come to the meetings?" Of course she was delighted that my personality was improving, but she didn't want that to be at the cost of me coming to the meetings. This was so hard because I couldn't prove a damn thing but for once in my life I listened to the voice inside. My wife was understanding of my need to take time out to focus on our marriage, but as time went on she got more and more eager for me to return.

I came back to the odd Sunday meeting to dip my toe in the water again. Maybe it was me at fault after all. The first meeting I went to again was at a neighbouring congregation. The study article was about God's mercy. An example was given of how merciful it was of God to let David and Bathseeba live after their adulterous union. I was a bit bored so I thought I'd read the entire chapter of Samuel from which the account was taken. I got to the bit where it said that "God struck a blow to" David's child so that it died after seven days and my blood started to boil. How could a loving God kill an innocent child? I could find no satisfying answer from any source and all the old feelings and questions that I had buried in my early twenties came back and this time I would not be fobbed off with half baked replies.

There's more to all this but this post is already too long. I'll try and add more to the story when I get the time. I guess the gist of it is that reading Dr. Phil opened my eyes and I could see that the WT teachings do not work.

7

More Harm Than Good?

by Gladring in

i tried posting this a few weeks ago but it didn't work.

the jul 08 awake has this to say in the "watching the world" section.

more harm than good?

Gladring

What does bug me about this one is how subtle it is. It's just a Watching the World, not a main article, so many people will just pass it by. It will however reinforce any believers' ideas that they are right not to take blood and that up to date reports support that. Sneaky.

75

new revised New World Translation

by isaacaustin in

what may i ask is this?

?.

Gladring

Got my hands on a copy. Have some scans but they are on computer at work, i'll try and have them soon - unless someone beats me to it. The square brackets have gone from colossians. On page 4 (between the map and the foreword) alongside all the copyright info and stuff it says: "Some mechanical adjustments have been made on this printing" They are calling it the 2006 printing, not 2006 edition. "Mechanical adjustments"????? did they send this to a chiropractor or what???

7

More Harm Than Good?

by Gladring in

i tried posting this a few weeks ago but it didn't work.

the jul 08 awake has this to say in the "watching the world" section.

more harm than good?

Gladring

Certainly, not a surprise at all. I do find it interesting that, even though it's been pointed out to them many times, they continue with the same practices.

7

More Harm Than Good?

by Gladring in

i tried posting this a few weeks ago but it didn't work.

the jul 08 awake has this to say in the "watching the world" section.

more harm than good?

Gladring

I tried posting this a few weeks ago but it didn't work. The Jul 08 Awake has this to say in the "Watching the World" section. “More Harm Than Good”? “Blood transfusions with banked human blood may do more harm than good for a majority of patients,” says a report from Duke University Medical Center, in Durham, North Carolina, U.S.A. Studies have found that transfused patients have “higher incidences of heart attack, heart failure, stroke and even death” than those who were not transfused. Why? “Nitric oxide in red blood cells begins breaking down almost immediately after red blood cells leave the body.” Nitric oxide is crucial to keeping blood vessels open and thus allowing red cells to ferry oxygen to the body’s tissues. “Millions of patients are apparently receiving transfusions with blood that is impaired in its ability to deliver oxygen,” says the report. p.30 Awake! July 2008 The article they are quoting from is to be found here - http://www.dukehealth.org/HealthLibrary/News/10149 Some selected quotes from this article: "Banked blood is truly a national treasure that needs to be protected," "However, transfusions are still critically important"