I am a lifelong JW, a born-in true believer for most of my life. My wife is much the same. Eventually I had the awakening and have been pulling away from the religion, even though we still attend meetings. I am willing to keep up appearances if it means saving my relationship with my wife and our close family. No kids of our own.
In the last couple months I was surprised by how "apostate" my wife has been with other family members. Outright condemnation of the Governing Body as just men who can't possibly have a direct channel with God based on their track record. Even more stunning is her candid admission that she can't relate to Jehovah when she sees God's wavering justice with David and other untouchables in the Bible. She has little or no respect for God and the organization. Enough said, we should be writing our DA letters right? No. We sat down and had a heart-to-heart. It's been over a month of missed meetings. But the hook is still in her. She can't throw away the hope of living forever. All reason and opinion against God and or the organization evaporates to leave a staunch faith in what (?), I don't know. Strangely she is completely uninterested in doctrine. When confronted with 607 vs 587, early Russell crazyisms, UN, whatever there is no traction. She's never been a book worm, but I have no success trying to reason with the printed word. Ironically she says that since the FDS changes all the time, doctrine doesn't matter much to her. Is this literally the last straw for her? I feel like I should be delicate, after all this is trampling on her natural desire for life. This is her world view, but can a such raw wish survive? How would it affect her to have that stripped away while she is still clutching at it? Does she need a catalyst, a line in the sand to snap her into reality? And is that something that I should orchestrate, or let time cause to happen? Lastly, she's had bad personal experiences with "apostates." Unfortunately her experience has been with a couple classic disgruntled self-destructing former witnesses. So when the Watchtower says that's what all apostates are, she believes it. That means I tread lightly on the topic. She is understands that I don't believe JW teachings anymore, but cannot abide any sort of activism (which she calls "ranting") from ex-members. I am asking your help, especially if you are a woman or understand this phase of JW jettison.
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JoinedPosts by passwordprotected
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Posted on behalf - ladies, please share your thoughts and comments
by passwordprotected ini am a lifelong jw, a born-in true believer for most of my life.
eventually i had the awakening and have been pulling away from the religion, even though we still attend meetings.
i am willing to keep up appearances if it means saving my relationship with my wife and our close family.
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Protesting and Demonstrating at District Convention
by jabberwock inhas anyone who has attended a district convention this year seen any protestors or demonstrators?.
have you ever protested or demonstrated or maybe even handed out literature at a convention or assembly?
what happened?
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You know what would work much better than standing shouting on a concours? Bill posters.
Last year at the Convention, we stayed - as usual at the Express by Holiday Inn, Perth (hi to anyone reading this who knows us from there. I was the gumpy looking bald one who always wore a t-shirt and jeans to breakfast and never wore a name badge). Right across the road from the front door of the hotel was a very big bill poster (one of the bigger roadside posters) that had a picture of a door, complete with knocker and letterbox. I caught a glimpse of it as we drove into the carpark of the hotel. I immediately thought it was put up there by apostates and it would be something about the JW door knocking ministry.
However, when we'd parked the car and unloaded the luggage, I had a proper look at it. Yes, it was a picture of a door, but the legend read "Jesus is knocking at the door. He just wants to you to answer". It had a big impact on me as I had spent the month or so previous to this researching the WTS teachings, coupled with reading the New Testament. Gail and I had realise that it was all about Jesus afterall.
I pointed it out to Gail, who immediately well-up with tears. It was as if the poster had been put there just for us.
I think similar posters near convention sites, perhaps not just with a Christian theme, would have a greater impact than just standing shouting at them.
Earlier this year we tracked down who it was that placed the bill poster. It's a Christian out-reach ministry in Perth and they were delighted to hear from me.
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Apostasy ????
by KAYTEE inapostasy, definition,.........to leave ones religion.. if apostasy is regarded as serious in the eyes of the borg.
and it is.. why was my wife, who, before coming a witness some 35 years ago, who was a roman catholic, was not treated then, as she would be treated now, if she (heaven forbid) were to rejoin the clan after having left for app.6years.. back then they did not put her at the back of the hall for a good year, before accepting her, even though she was in principal, apostate.. why the two standards.
kt.
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Jehovah's Witnesses are told in the Reasoning book that, among other things, apostate means to oppose Jehovah and to refuse to acknowledge his earthly organisation.
Try finding that in a dictionary.
Does the Governing Body intend making the Witnesses look foolish by fitting them out with publications that have sectarian definitions of ordinary English words contained within them? Can you imagine whipping the Reasoning book out at a quiz night if one of the questions was "What is apostasy?"?
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The Governing Body's REAL critical date
by Doug Mason inrussell taught that 1914 ce would bring in an unprecedented era of peace.
in 1930, rutherford moved russells date of the parousia from 1874 to 1914. .
thus until 1930 not one follower had recognised the currently ascribed significance in heaven to the time that corresponds to 1914 on our earth.
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I'm confused.
Apostates have done much to discredit our sacred chronology but their so-called 'scholarly 'efforts has failed miserably.
"Sacred chronology"? What on earth...? Did I miss a class?
And this confuses me even further. Scholar claims the date is 607, and then uses this to back his claim up;
I commend to you the research by the world's most foremost chronologist Edwin W Thiele a SDA scholar now deceased who published Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings which endorses 586 rather than 587 BCE
So, it's 586 and not 607?
Also, what sort of god do you worship, Scholar, that would deliberately hide dates and allow that big baddie satan to completely mask, destroy and obfuscate such matters of importance to mankind's universal salvation?
Here's me going to church on Sunday and believing passages such as Romans 3:21-24 (where I'm led to believe the revelation that the righteousness from God comes through putting faith in Jesus and is available to all because we're all sinners) and feeling good about myself when in actual fact I've completely missed the point of the Bible! The Bible is actually a secret code book that can only be understood under the tutelage of the Governing Body!
So, help me out. Should I abandon reading the Bible with the aid of the Spirit of Truth and taking comfort from such truths as justification, and instead spend my time searching for obscure references to back up the Governing Body's unique eschatological teachings?
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What are the Major Issues with Jehovah's Witnesses?
by AllTimeJeff init's safe to say that in most instances, it appears that the catalyst for the final move away from jw's, the real start of a road toward a jw exit, is something that affected you personally, whether that was you or a loved one/family member.
we hit our personal bs level, can't take it anymore,.
then we start to examine the flaws of jw dogma.. i would suggest that most do not start a jw exit because they examine the dogma on a personal study project and find out that something isn't right.
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I used to think that people who left the WTS (i.e. apostates) all suffered from sour grapes. I pigeon holed them as ex-Witnesses who didn't get appointed at the last CO visit and were in a fizz about it.
However, my own experience, closely coupled with my wife's, was that through honest research using nothing but the Bible and Watch Tower publications we were unable to prove to ourselves that 1914 was true.
That then led onto us realising that the Governing Body constituted, Biblically, as false prophets. Deut 18 kicked in. So did Luke 21:8 (I still remember where I was standing when my wife showed me that verse).
We left.
We had no sour grapes. We were a well-liked family, I had nice privileges, our kids were well behaved. I enjoyed being an elder. I genuinely wanted to serve and look after the congregation.
Simply, the teachings of the Organisation did not stack up against the Bible.
Does that make us bad people?
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When Does It End?
by Little Girl Lost indoes anyone know frome experience ... when does it end?.
the shunning.. after you have been reinstated and you think you are back to square 1 ... then it all goes south.. it's like you were still df'd.
don't post "what did i expect" sort of thing.
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Welcome to the forum!
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Jesus Found Him
by passwordprotected inthis will be posted on freeminds in due course for the benefit of jws who are reading the articles there;.
there are two accounts in the bible centered around jesus that were a great help to me as i was leaving the control of the watch tower society.. to me, the watch tower society, with it's governing body and local representatives, the elders, were my religious leaders.
i was, in all truth, a religious person.
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For those interested, the article is on the front page of Freeminds;
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Jesus Found Him
by passwordprotected inthis will be posted on freeminds in due course for the benefit of jws who are reading the articles there;.
there are two accounts in the bible centered around jesus that were a great help to me as i was leaving the control of the watch tower society.. to me, the watch tower society, with it's governing body and local representatives, the elders, were my religious leaders.
i was, in all truth, a religious person.
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@ awildflower - I wrote the article based on a prayer I offered up last night to the Lord as to what I should be writing for Freeminds...!
@ wobble thanks.
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Jesus Found Him
by passwordprotected inthis will be posted on freeminds in due course for the benefit of jws who are reading the articles there;.
there are two accounts in the bible centered around jesus that were a great help to me as i was leaving the control of the watch tower society.. to me, the watch tower society, with it's governing body and local representatives, the elders, were my religious leaders.
i was, in all truth, a religious person.
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Reniaa, where is the mention of an organisation, a "faithful slave class" and a Governing Body?
Jesus ALONE is the way, the truth and the life. If you accept him, you accept the Father.
This is the last I have to say on the matter.
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Jesus Found Him
by passwordprotected inthis will be posted on freeminds in due course for the benefit of jws who are reading the articles there;.
there are two accounts in the bible centered around jesus that were a great help to me as i was leaving the control of the watch tower society.. to me, the watch tower society, with it's governing body and local representatives, the elders, were my religious leaders.
i was, in all truth, a religious person.
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1 John 2: Everyone that denies the Son does not have the Father either. He that confesses the Son has the Father also.
Notice there's no mention of an organisation, a "faithful slave class", or a Governing Body. You accept Jesus, you get the Father also.