Posts by almostbitten

17

Jehovah's Witnesses Cult Tactics

by justified in

i created a video on youtube that some may like to watch and forward to others.

link is below:.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlitipy0khq.

almostbitten

Now THAT is the TRUTH!!!!

10

The Place For Demons To Rejoice...

by justhuman in

it was many years ago, it was around 1990, and we had a visit of the c.o.

and a young one asks the co if he can attend to wedding ceremony of a relative that is no witness.. the co said with a kind of superior look to us:" what does a christian doing in a christendom's church(and in our case was the orthodox) were demons are dancing and rejoice during the ceremony.

it is not a place for a christian.

almostbitten

Gopher, I have an issue of the WatchTower from a few months ago. I don't have it in front of me, but I remember in a Q&A section in the back someone wanted to know about whether or not they should attend the wedding of a non-Witness. From what I read, the writers did say it was a choice one would have to make and think about, but in same paragraph, I could not help but notice how the writer used a guilt trip. In other words, "If you want to go, fine, BUT do you really want to disappoint Jehovah and have Him cut you off for associating with practitioners of false religion? Do you really want to bear the responsibility of possibly causing others in the flock to stray from the Truth and face Jehovah's wrath by setting a bad example for others ? Other than that, do what you want." What a crock!!!!!

57

Juts for fun: Stupid reasons why you WON'T leave the JWs

by outofthebox in

jw
friends

here is mine: .

i have to much money invested in ties and suits, i can't leave!!

!

almostbitten

Where else can I go as an invited guest of the Memorial, watch no one eat or drink it, and say to myself, "WTF?!?" Then wonder, "What happens to the wine and bread if no one is eating and drinking it? The elders? Hmmmmmmmm."

57

Juts for fun: Stupid reasons why you WON'T leave the JWs

by outofthebox in

jw
friends

here is mine: .

i have to much money invested in ties and suits, i can't leave!!

!

almostbitten

ROTFL You people are CRAZY!!!!!!

27

They won't leave me alone!!!! What can I do?

by almostbitten in

jw
friends

i'm new to this site.

i'm not a jw but have studied with them largely because i wanted to know for myself what jws believed and wanted to hear it from them, not from others (i.e.

catholics, baptists, methodists, etc.).

almostbitten

Hey Quandry, I was becoming well acquainted with all that you stated, especially the higher education stance they have. Unbeknown to my teacher, I always did personal research on the very group I was studying with. Sorry, but I don't believe everthing that's fed to me unless I do some digging for myself. Which reminds me--whenever I would mention that I came across some of her Brothers and Sisters online, she would freak out, stating that the Elders try to discourage members from being on the internet. With that comment tucked in the back of my mind, I always found it amusing to see active Witnesses engage others in online discussions, thinking, "Won't you get in trouble for this?"

BTW, has anyone heard of a company called Stoops? I think that's it. They cater to the publishing needs of JWs as they are Witnesses themselves. Anyway, their name came up during a study when I expressed admiration for my teacher's NWT Bible which was also bound with the "What does the Bible really Teach" and the "Reasoning from the Scriptures" books. She mentioned their name and she was so sure they were just a regular business that happened to cater to JWs for the money. So I went online to find them because I wanted to see about having a Bible I owned re-covered. Well lo and behold!! They not only cater to Witnesses but are Witnesses themselves. Thinking nothing of it, I mentioned this to her and she went into a mild tirade at the table, stating that Jehovah's people are not supposed to profit off of one another. To be honest, I was halfway expecting her to try to hunt these people down and turn them over to their elders or something. What's up with that?????

In regards to the Revelation Book, what in the world?!?!?!? I went to one book study, read a page or two and promptly put it down, never to pick it up again. You know what's funny? The lady I studied with originally gave me an old edition with xeroxed copies of changes that the Society made to certain passages. No biggie, right? When I got to the book study, another lady saw that I had an old book and she snatched it from my hands and ran and got an updated book to give me. Was there something she didn't want me to see in the old edition? I've always heard the terms "Old Light" and "New Light." Would that have anything to do with it?

Last thing--what's up with Witness literature not really citing their sources? In high school and college, we had to cite sources if we did papers and whatnot. If nothing else, this made me wonder about the Organization. When I first started reading the literature, I would look in the back of an issue for some sort of formal bibliography, never to find one. What if I wanted to read up on this stuff for myself? Ooooooohhhh? I'm sorry. That's the whole point!!! Stupid me.

27

They won't leave me alone!!!! What can I do?

by almostbitten in

jw
friends

i'm new to this site.

i'm not a jw but have studied with them largely because i wanted to know for myself what jws believed and wanted to hear it from them, not from others (i.e.

catholics, baptists, methodists, etc.).

almostbitten

Thanks for all of this valuable information. I must say that I don't feel like getting into a great debate with her, but I guess I will just be firm and tell her that I am not interested in their Bible Study anymore without owing her some sort of explanation. Again, thanks. I'm so sorry that many of you had to suffer through what the WTS put you through, and I hope that many of you will not let these horrible incidents hamper your relationship with God and His Son Jesus. God is not to blame for human foolishness. P.S. I'm enjoying reading various things on this site. I am floored that many of my suspicious about JWs during my studies with them have been validated here. I knew I wasn't crazy. Take care and keep up the advice. Someone can sure use it!

26

Can you get disfellowshipped for anything?

by Solace1998 in

cant the elders make it so that any deviation or any thought could be considered "loose conduct" and therefore a disfellowshipping offense?

almostbitten

I'm not a JW, but according to the lady I studied with, it's hard to be disfellowshipped. This is what SHE said, but from I've been hearing and reading in here, you could be DFed for cracking a fart. Getting in trouble for associating with DFed members is what gets me. i think the thing that will probably get you in real hot water is showing signs of brain function and being open about it. If you're sitting in KH and a light bulb goes off in your head, better hurry up and unscrew it lest you be seen.

27

They won't leave me alone!!!! What can I do?

by almostbitten in

jw
friends

i'm new to this site.

i'm not a jw but have studied with them largely because i wanted to know for myself what jws believed and wanted to hear it from them, not from others (i.e.

catholics, baptists, methodists, etc.).

almostbitten

I DID bring up the issue of the 1914 prophecy, which doesn't add up with what historians have said about the actual date of the fall of Jerusalem. I"VE BEEN TRYING TO BE NICE is the problem. I know how much her faith means to HER and I have no desire to tread on that, but at her pressing about why I didn't believe in that prophecy, I just ended up telling her. That was not pretty. You could hear the panic in her voice as she tried to refute what I told her, stating that she would have to do more research. The problem with that is she will constantly go back to sources deemed creditable by the WTS!!! So she will never get anywhere with that. I guess I'm going to have to launch a full intellectual attack, hurt feeling or not.

58

What is your strangest "supernatural" JW story?

by donny in

i had just became a witness and a guy i worked with, who was also a jw, told me a story that actually made me laugh and i think it upset him a bit.

the storys were almost always in the third person.

it went as follows.. this brothers wife and him were sitting at the kingdom hall on the end seats of the row next to the back of the room.

almostbitten

I was never a JW, but while I was studying with them, I noticed right off the bat how superstitious they were. The most common stories I heard were of objects that wouldn't burn or if they did burn, the flames were strange colors. And don't let it be a religious object!! Oh noooooooo!!!!! One story I heard from the lady I studied with dealt with a home she visited. According to her, the occupants all had matted hair, rotten teeth and seemed a little mental. The house was in horrible disarray with a bad odor. She didn't go inside, but told me at our study that should she go back, she would insist that they come outside and that she would bring her own chair to sit in. Now, on the surface and to someone else, one would think this is because the house and their furniture is not clean. I can go along with that as I've been to people's homes that would make the Board of Health breakdown and cry. BUT, after noticing how superstitious many JWs are, I knew the real deal. She wanted to be outdoors because she believed them to be possessed by demons and that sitting on any of their furniture, demons would be passed on to her. I once told her that I found an old piece of lingerie that I was ashamed of having owned, so I burned it. Intrigued, she wanted to know if it was difficult to burn. To her surprise, I told her no, that it burned without problems. She chalked it off to my being dedicated to eradicating sin from my life, whereas others had difficulty burning things because they clung to them. I didn't have the heart to tell her that the reason the lingerie burned so easily was because it was 100% polyester.

27

They won't leave me alone!!!! What can I do?

by almostbitten in

jw
friends

i'm new to this site.

i'm not a jw but have studied with them largely because i wanted to know for myself what jws believed and wanted to hear it from them, not from others (i.e.

catholics, baptists, methodists, etc.).

almostbitten

Hi! I'm new to this site.

I'm not a JW but have studied with them largely because I wanted to know for myself what JWs believed and wanted to hear it from them, not from others (i.e. Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, etc.)
Although I did it to educate myself, the lady I studied with saw me as a potential convert. We were already acquainted with one another before I knew she was a JW. Anyway, we had great Bible studies and I admit that I learned some good things from JWs, but there were doctrines they hold that I don't accept-- the 1914 Doctrine for one, and that Revelation Book!!!! As time went by, the people I studied with struck me as superstitious (especially concerning demons), anti-intellectual, and a bit inhumane and merciless concerning disfellowshipped persons. What's more, they always seemed surprised that I read the Bible on my own and that I was quite aware of many scriptures.

After a few months of study, however, I began to experience internal conflicts, like "what if they are right?" Other times, I lamented on "What did I get myself tangled up with?" I was becoming ill and getting headaches. Finally, on a day I was due for a study session, I called my friend to temporarily put studying on hold until further notice. Now I see my error as I just should have told her I wasn't interested anymore. She used high pressure tactics over the phone to try to guilt trip me into continuing the studies and coming to the KH. She questioned my beliefs concerning trinitarianism (I'm not one, but they seem to think everyone else in Christendom is), why I didn't accept the 1914 prophecy, issues of dating (apparently she believes I just want to go out and get my freak on despite the fact that I was a celibate long BEFORE I began studying with her), and so on. She even asked me whether or not the friends at the Hall were friendly enough. What does that have to do with anything, as I don't really care about that?!?
When I told her that I just wanted to stick with reading my Word and relying solely on God's guidance, she politely suggested that I read Proverbs 18:1!!!

She finally relented and respected my request, but not for long. Just today, she showed up at my door with a WT, an Awake and a reminder that she was not giving up on me. She also said the friends at the KH really missed me and that she looked forward to the day when I would resume study (she's confident I will).

I'm sorry, but I cannot be a part of an hierarchal structure that encourages the dumbing-down of oneself. I can understand humility, but not stupidity. I also cannot treat people like dirt the way many of them do when a person is disfellowshipped. The lady I studied with actually brags about how she cruelly ignores a DFed person should they smile at her or something. What's more, an organization is not the author of my salvation, but they seem to think so. The closed-mindedness and their being out of touch with reality really takes my breath sometimes.

I just wanted to vent a little, but is there anyone here who has ever studied with JWs who came dangerously close to becoming one? What about feeling confused after being exposed to their teachings? Do any of the ex-JWs have any advice about ridding myself of them once and for all. I'd hate to be mean, but...

Take care you guys!