i remember the old timers saying that the red babylon book was the hardest to understand.. in my memory, i'd have to say the isaiah books and daniel book were the most involved and boring.. the revelation book had gorgeous pictures in it (the writing was horribly boring), so i just looked at them, and i was 22 at the first study of it!.
ewww...def. the Isaiah books, and the Daniel book as the runner up.
I forget which book had the multicolored statue that has some prophetic stuff about the rulers of the world. I was sitting there thinking, 'where in the world do they come up with this crap?'
after my last post where i asked for advice on how to handle whether i should tell an elder that we've been going to church, i decided to tell a local elder who's related to me through marriage.
this was to save my dad having to 'report' me (i'd told my dad we go to church).
anyway, i had an interesting chat with him and he said some very personally revealing things re.
Hi and congrats on your new found freedom. I'm happy that your meeting with the elders went the way it did. Many of the people we've known and loved throughout the years are still in and simply blinded. Hopefully, you were able to plant seeds of doubt through your testimony or at least 'fertilize' the ones that may already be there.
Much success to you and your family on your newfound freedom in Christ. Take care.
do the beliefs common to jw's cause them to have a happier worldview and a better outlook on life?
Ignorance is bliss. JW tend to believe that they will survive the great A, which is always imminent, and that they have the solution to most of life's problems. A person who believes they have that solution without carefully examining the teachings may be truly unaware that this is all built on falsehood.
On the other hand, the burden placed on them by the WTS is too great a stressor and many times it robs them of life's simple joys, such as gathering with family without restrictions or associating with neighbors and people at work. Add to that the treadmill of activity, and the constant pressure to do more, then you have one very tired, unhappy, socially inept person who fools himself into believing that JW's are the happiest people on earth. Smile
i went out to dinner with my aunt.
got to blow out a candle and everything!!!
she gave me a card and a beautiful necklace!!!
Awesome, congrats on both!
my dad was not raised a witness and neither was his brother.
his brother has always been "wordly".
dad has been in "the truth" for decades now.
People see what the only want to see is so true - especially for Witnesses. You're raised to believe all wordly people are bad and selfish, even though there are those right in the congregation that behave this way. I'm so glad to be relieved of the them vs. us mentality. It keeps you closed off from so many good people.
the past 15 years or so have seen incredible "advances" in the new light agenda of the wts.. there have been changes in the generation (twice!
), sheep and goats, celestial phenomena, opening up the way to heaven (closed since 1935), the "composite sign", "blood fractions", along with major organizational changes, such as paperbacks, once monthly awake!
's, cult edition of the wt, along with the reduction of the meeting nights and change to the po nomenclature becoming the coboe (ssdd).... some of these changes have been foreseen by posters here on jwd, or were suggested by information in apostates recomended reading lists (i.e.
Broaden "service hours" to include a choice of alternatives to preaching, including acts of mercy and other good deeds. What if the entire congregation met at the Kingdom Hall on specific Saturdays and volunteered for whatever aspect of service they felt like doing? Some would go evangelizing, others could be given a list of publishers in need of some support, such as chores, meals, companion care, and so forth, and friends could go and tend to those needs. Still others would care for maintenance needs at the Hall, such as cleaning or landscaping. Other options could be determined as well. The operating philosophy would be, everyone has different gifts. That way, everyone in the congregation would be involved in some form of "service" and it would serve to unite. Everyone would get equal credit for these hours on their monthly reports, or the reports could be done away with.
This actually sounds agreeable; I know some hope that changes will come to make them a more mainstream religion. This would help out a lot of folks.
i realize that i was stuck believing in jw almost all my life.
and that each person has to see the light for themselves.. but it was partly the hypocrisy, partly the internet, partly my brother, ex-jw, and partly thinking on my own that did it.. there are smart enough people on the board, is there anything we can do to bring the whole jw thing down?.
there must me some way, some thing, we can do.
I must agree with OTWO on this one..."like herding cats". One of the first things that weirded me out about this site was the lack of cohesiveness where I expected to find some; It seemed like everyone was going in there own direction and some even clashing and arguing about things - which in a way contributed to the end of this site, not the WT org.
i did not, but i did fs when i had seriuos doubts and i thougt some householders had pretty good arguments some times, but i could not admit it of course.. and i did fs for a long time after i realized the magazines was very very poor.
i still remember my very last hour from door to door.
geee that was torture, i hatet myself and hoped no one was at home.. do you remember your last fs hour?
I barely went out when I was in - despised it; And I think the last time I was out actually ringing doorbells was 6 months or so before I joined JWD. The hardest part is not getting roped back into it by family and well-meaning hounders - I mean elders....
i just read the nov 15, wt - what a laugh.. so they admit some leave over their teachings and then they say there's no where else to go.
what a joke - they are liars.. .
was it a problem with a teaching?.
Puh-leeze, I've gotten more 'refreshment' and more RELIEF being here on JWD than all of my time as a dub. I agree, more control and trying to convince the masses of dubs that they'd be miserable and lost on their own if they ever become inactive. This is definitely directed to the faders.
This is interesting because at this past summer's DC, the elder that gave the closing talk made it a point of trying to convince everyone that people leave because of conduct, not doctrine.
If people are refusing to eat their wonderful food, they may wish to reevaluate what they're serving!
I love this analogy, Ms. Fiorini!
"membership since .
hello guys!
today i noticed that i've been in jwd for a whole year.
I'm so happy for you and your successful exit from the org...hope to be where you are when I make a year.
Take Care
