If you're serious about being reinstated, you need to be aware that how they treated you initially is a good indicator of how it will be for you for an indefinite period of time, no matter how humble you are. Basically they have no choice as to what you can do to show these 'works' that befit repentance, it's dictated to them from headquarters. So even a person with a social or anxiety disorder MUST comply with those 'works' to the same degree as someone without those challenges (you won't DIE from it???? Nice.) There is no mercy or common sense in that ruling. They've already called you a liar and a slacker. This is by no stretch of the imagination the response from the prodigal son's father…his jealous brother maybe. My advice, if you must do this, is do not try to reason with them on any subject. They'll view it as a challenge to their authority and a sign that you have still a long, long walk ahead of you. It's a horrible feeling to be trying your best under very difficult circumstances to have them do little but disparage your efforts.
mostlydead
JoinedPosts by mostlydead
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Question about Prodigal Son parable
by tsar_robles inwell, after much thought put into it i decided to send a letter requesting reinstatement.
i met with the jc and tried to reason with them on the prodigal son parable... how the father in this parable did not put his son through a waiting or probationary period, etc but rather embraced him on the spot... their answer was that the 'walk' to his father's home represents meeting attendance... in other words, the 'works' that befit repentance... any ideas???.
i reminded them that in the last 3 years i've attempted to attend the meetings and yet the anxiety that developed brought me tangible unknown illnesses and symptoms that were unbearable and thus had to stop attending... i was told that i had to find a way to make meetings though; that i'd not die because of that.... i was asked how long did i attend meetings in my last attempt and i said about 4 months... "well, that's about 48 meetings... so say you went to 30 meetings..." i said: "no, i hardly missed any meetings and when i did i made sure the p.0.
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The Governing Body Channels ...
by compound complex insomeone asked a question recently about how the gb acquires new light.
i cannot recall the title of the thread but did find this information in my file that a fellow poster put up a while back:.
just for reference, this is from the jan 1st 2007 watchtower - "the first resurrection now under way ?".
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mostlydead
I can see how this could lend itself in the future to there being no need to have the anointed on earth to dispense "food at the proper time." Everything will be coming down from heaven via the faithful and discrete slave who are now also the 24 elders. That could go on forever and very likely will.
This is a pretty weird statement since Jesus said he'd send the holy spirit to 'teach you these things.' Of course, this was 2 years ago…wonder if there's been new light since then.
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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
I was quite young, maybe 9 or so when the persecution in Malawi broke out. The accounts of that along with the talks and slide-show presentations about Nazi concentration camps was more than I had the mental and emotional resources to cope with. They haunted me with fear and dread for a very long time. I agree with Scarred for Life, no matter how important a subject may be, exposing children to these horror stories is reprehensible.
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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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mostlydead
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.
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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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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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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.