It's odd that by definition, abandoning prior religious convictions is equated with abandoning one's principles. Refusing to abandon our principles is what got a lot of us here.
mostlydead
JoinedPosts by mostlydead
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35
why do we call ourselves apostates?
by recovering ini think that the very act of questioning the teachings of the watchtower society does not make us apostates!!!
does not the bible teach us to examine what it teaches?
that is what the apostle paul says in the bible.
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27
Has anyone seen this Watchtower article before?
by T.F. inhi, my first post here.
i stumbled across something in the watchtower 1981 magazine (in my wbts library cd) showing the faithful and discreet slave is "a composite individual".
i have never seen this anywhere before, but the wbts set-up of the fds as "a composite individual" looks somewhat similar to the trinity of three divine persons in one true god.
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mostlydead
Welcome Quebec! I've been married to a diligent anti-trinity scholar for 30 years. He has files and files of word studies and WT articles (of course) and some secular writings as well. Not being wildly interested in the subject myself, I never thought to question his research. It's a subject that he and I have been able to discuss calmly, and I appreciate you sharing the benefits of your studies here. I hope some day he'll see that doctrinal things are not as iron clad as he thinks they are now.
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lascivious governing body
by possible-san init is said that jehovah's witnesses will learn about "oral sex" again in the next watchtower study although i do not know well.. i think that the governing body is really foolish.. why do 3 years old children need to study such an obscene word with adults?.
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http://godpresencewithin.web.fc2.com/.
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mostlydead
Unfortunately, they point to the nation of Israel receiving the Law, men, women and little ones all gathered together and look at the things discussed there. That's their scriptural reason for doing the same now.
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Greatest Lesson You Have Learned from Your WT Experience?
by cameo-d in.
what will prevent you from being deceived again and making the same mistake?.
what is your criteria now for weighing truth vs "enlightened-sounding" fiction?.
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mostlydead
I always had questions and doubts that were unsettled growing up and functioning in the organization for 40 years. I didn't give them any credence at the time, figured I was the one in the wrong, or didn't understand fully, or didn't have all the facts, etc. Not trusting my own eyes, ears and gut is what kept me in for so long. I won't ever let anyone ever tell me again that I don't see what I see or know what I know. And I won't be involved with groups of people who have a priesthood with exclusive knowledge and authority.
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145
How Old are You ?
by flipper ini know- you aren't used to seeing me ask a simple question like this.
so- i'll start .
i am 49 years old, will be 50 in october .
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mostlydead
kissing my 40's goodbye in a few weeks...
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42
1914 coverup has begun
by hamsterbait ini spoke to an elderly sister, 94, who is deteriorating rapidly.
she honestly believed she would never die.. obviously she is desperate to deny to herself that the cult she allowed to steal her one and only life a second at a time is still true.. "the generation change is just like 1975 - we were sifted.
we were being tested as to who was serving jehovah for a date and those with unbreakable trust in the organisation he has appointed.".
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mostlydead
Everything they say flies in the face of reason...they can't ever be held accountable for anything, because even if they're wrong, they're right. Fundamentally it doesn't matter if they're wrong or right, because loyalty is the only thing that matters. God doesn't seem think that loyalty need depend on reason. In fact, blind loyalty seems to be most highly prized by him. Witnesses are taught to continually pick apart everything the world does to remind themselves constantly of how in error it is, but they are to suspend any judgement when it comes to the organization. Even if they see things that seem to be wrong, they're warned against drawing any conclusions about what they see, in fact they're conditioned to ignore their own sense of reason and just trust that it's all too great and wonderful for them to understand. It's a mind trap that some people either can't or don't want to get out of.
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As a JW were You Told to Not Report or Be Silent about Child Abuse ?
by flipper inas most of you know in 2002 barbara anderson and bill bowen were on the dateline program which revealed that child abuse victims had been theatened with disfellowshipping from the jehovah's witnesses for reporting child abuse to the police and authorities .
and this actually happened to many victims and their families for standing up in behalf of the safety of abused children !.
most here are aware of the out of court child abuse settlements the wt society made with 16 witness child abuse victims in 2007. a gag order was placed on victims so they would not speak of their experiences with the media.
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mostlydead
My sisters were told by the elders that if they talked about their abuse by our father they'd be disrupting the peace of the congregation and guilty of slander. Wait on Jehovah. Which we did for 12 years. In the meantime, another child in the family was molested by him. The elders didn't think the cases were in any way related (????????) and nothing was done this time either, because there was just the one witness, you see. That was when I knew I had some serious reconsidering to do about God and this organization.
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As a JW were You Told to Not Report or Be Silent about Child Abuse ?
by flipper inas most of you know in 2002 barbara anderson and bill bowen were on the dateline program which revealed that child abuse victims had been theatened with disfellowshipping from the jehovah's witnesses for reporting child abuse to the police and authorities .
and this actually happened to many victims and their families for standing up in behalf of the safety of abused children !.
most here are aware of the out of court child abuse settlements the wt society made with 16 witness child abuse victims in 2007. a gag order was placed on victims so they would not speak of their experiences with the media.
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mostlydead
chellechelle...I'm so sorry. This happened to my sister too. She was date raped, but because she was with a worldly man in an unsafe environment the elders dubbed it fornication and thusly reproved her, took away her privileges etc, etc. Even though she tried to fight the guy off. It took her 10 years to finally realize she'd been raped.
These men have a ridiculous amount of power in the minds of their flock. They add insult to injury with their ignorance and their directives from headquarters. I'm very sorry this happened to you, but it does sound as if you've sorted through what all happened and you know the issues you're dealing with. That's a good start. I hope that you'll be able to find whatever help you need to move toward healing. It's a long process, but as you say, dealing with it can effect your future peace and happiness. It's never too late to start.
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Has your " Self Esteem " Improved After Leaving Jehovah's Witnesses ?
by flipper init seems to be an issue that some have after leaving the witness cult because none of us were ever made to feel we were " good " enough or "valued " enough for what we were trying to accomplish in the cult.
growing up i had pounded into my head by my jw elder father what jesus said, " after doing all things remember you are good for nothing slaves , what we have done is what we ought to have done.
" then i thought to myself - " where's the joy in that ?
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mostlydead
Self esteem not perfect, but much improved! Not without effort though. It's interesting how many of us have gone back to school when possible after leaving. Besides the opportunity to better one's financial situation, I think the really important thing about school is that it's stimulating and gets you interested in life again. When you're in the organization, your thought processes get so extremely narrow and confined. Why even bother being interested in your own life or what you're capable of or maybe even good at because all that should wait til the new system. That seems now to me like such an incredibly wasteful and ungrateful way to live, as if the day we're in at present is somehow worthless. Realizing that each day is precious and giving yourself permission to enjoy life right now is a very freeing experience.
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Were you Raised by an " Elder " Father in the Witnesses ?
by flipper inas i mentioned on another thread , it was very uncommon to ever get any commendation or recognition for any " good" accomplishments i ever did.
you know the jesus expression, " we are good for nothing slaves- what we have done is what we ought to have done.
" ridiculous.
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mostlydead
Yes I was, by an emotionally ill, sexually abusive elder. He used God, the Bible and the Society's teachings to build a little fortress around the minds of my sisters and me. I managed to break the mind control of my father before I broke it with the WTS, but sometimes it's really hard to know which one did the most damage, because they're rather inextricably intertwined.