Posts by Blithe Freshman

66

The 144,000 and the Great Crowd of Revelation

by Leolaia in

8-11; ch.

as in ch.

like the "great crowd", they are "of every race, language, people, and nation (cf.

Blithe Freshman

marking

33

The Apostle John thought the end was near...

by pirata in

i used to always justify that the apostles (and paul) thought the end was near because the "mini-end" (jerusalem's destruction in 70ce) had not yet happened.. then it dawned on me that 1st/2nd/3rd john were written in 98ce (at least according to the back of my nwt), after jerusalem's destruction.. 1 john 2:18 (new international version)warnings against denying the son 18 dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.

this is how we know it is the last hour.. not only was it the last day, it was the last hour..

Blithe Freshman

marking

76

This is scary we are to put the GB in the same place as Jesus according to the Dec 15 WT

by life is to short in

i do not know how to scan the wt if someone can it would be great but i wrote it out verbatim .

i think what the wt says speaks for its self.

am i missing something and or reading something into what they are saying.

Blithe Freshman

marking

44

The Watchtower and the Occult

by brotherdan in

came across this interesting expose' on some of the occultic influences that took place during the watchtowers creation.

the implications are very interesting.. .

i had never heard about their use of phrenology...but apparently they believed it to be true.

Blithe Freshman

Brotherdan you have a pm

31

If you have kids who are being exposed to JW beliefs

by Libelle in

it's becoming clearer and clearer that i need to muster some sort of strategy for countering the mr's indoctrination of the kids.

now some of these kids are stepkids, so that makes it a bit hairier.

but for our youngest, i will need to think about how to teach her other things too.

Blithe Freshman

Hi,

Many of the materials listed, I was using before examining the ‘Truth”, I had rejected the “org”, the materials & things I did, made me think , but didn’t raise alarms with my husband for being in our home. Some were chosen because I was looking for alternatives to the Bible Stories Book to read to my children. I was disfellowshipped, but still under it’s influence for many of my beliefs. I had doubts, and these books were not so uber “Christian”, I felt OK with them.Hope these help. Being enlightened you can probably get further faster with them than I did . I have an adult son & his family still in the cult. I don’t wait for opportunities to make comments, that I hope will get him to think, I create them.

A Case of Red Herrings, Mind Benders,with Sudoku & crossword, used these on car rides , waiting rooms, tried to make thinking fun.
DK , The Children’s Illustrated Bible, from the cover…, principal events & characters of the Bible, but also explains the stories in their historical, geographical and cultural context. Background information, maps, pictures of artifacts…. School age children. . We were already used to DK history & science encyclopedic books around the house, this didn’t raise an eyebrow.
Josephus for Young people, 5 th graders on up on their own or read to them earlier. I was able to use this in place of reading bible story book. More Bible stories without WT theology woven into them.
Josephus & Wars of the Jews, I read this while kids were doing the younger version, if you also studied amillenial, preterist, interpretation of Revelation & dating of the book, you will be able to make comments have questions on Wt end times doctrine
Books , ‘The Fallacy Detective” ( 4 th grade?) & ‘The Thinking Tool Box” , started these a few years after the Mind Benders & Red Herring Books
John Stossel, offers free Dvd’s through the mail, download video online & discussion questions pdf , critical thinking for high school age kids

I use crazy e-mails & collect them, teach my kids to snope

We do a lot of reading together & discussion , teach them to express their thoughts, think about what they read . Always did this with books we would enjoy, but when we read, Watership Down, very cool responses from the kids, they were grades 4 & 6 at the time.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, we would read through this each morning , hopping around topics. Things to think about, give opinions on, used in place of “The Daily Text”. It opened discussion about fairy tales & myths, Christmas stories. Later on I told the story of St. Nick giving dowries to young girls. The 3 rd year, I brought up the story of St. Nicholas of Myra & his conduct unbecoming a Bishop at the Council of Nicaea. They thought his bitch slapping Arius was funny, and then we learned together who Arius was & what he taught.

Letters to the editor, every day an opportunity to point out poor argumentation. You don’t need to agree or disagree with the posts, just question out loud why do people write & argue like blah blah.

I started a woman’s book group, as I read the books, I commented out loud & started conversations with my husband. You’ll get out once a month and an excuse for reading something controversial. I chose several of the books for the group, my husband didn’t know I picked them. Find a group, start your own, or fake one & spend the evening /afternoon doing something else you’d like.

Been very busy this week, I’ll work on a book list and comments I made that sparked some good discussions. I’ll post or pm them soon as I can.

31

If you have kids who are being exposed to JW beliefs

by Libelle in

it's becoming clearer and clearer that i need to muster some sort of strategy for countering the mr's indoctrination of the kids.

now some of these kids are stepkids, so that makes it a bit hairier.

but for our youngest, i will need to think about how to teach her other things too.

Blithe Freshman

Libelle, I've sent a pm , forgot to ask, what ages are the children?

Blithe

175

Were you Stalked or Chased After Once you Exited the JW's by Elders ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i tried to fade off the map by moving 30 miles initially in 2004 after i exited in late 2003 .

the first several years they didn't bother me.

i ran into a elder from my former congregation in late 2005 in an antique store - he tried telling me i was wrong for stopping attending meetings.

Blithe Freshman

Wow ! Did this thread experience re-birth or what ? LOL ! Thanks for the replies. This topic must touch a lot of your lives !

The thread was posted on Freeminds! I rarely come here any more.

BLITHE FRESHMAN- Wow. Did you ever go through some stalking for sure ! It even had to go to an elders meeting to get the guy to stop ? I'm glad your husband saw the light and supported you through all the crap happening. Did the elders end up DFing you for smoking after all ? I hope not, if you had family still in. It's horrible how the elders become Nazi policemen and ruin people's lives ! I hope things are calmer for you now ! Peace out, Mr. Flipper

Yes , I had to meet with an elder to stop it. It went on for years , I knew who it was but couldn't prove it. KWIM? Only when he spread the rumor to accuse someone else, I have no idea why, did I have anything I could prove. There were several witnesses to his accusations & it had become gossip. It was all covered up, but the drive-by & phone calls ended. It was one of many eye openers for me talking to the elder , seeing how they treated the situation.

The harassment was mostly phone calls. I would get dozens a day sometimes , as often as every 5 minutes for an hour or more at a time. We had a business run from our home , and teens out & about , so I needed to answer when it rang. During this time I had an infant & toddler that often found their mommy time interrupted. Through keeping a log of the calls I was able to see a pattern of when to expect them & know when they would stop. It became obvious then who was making them.

To the elder I spoke with , I stressed my chief concern was for the spiritual state of the brother calling and my frustration of not feeling I actually had proof enough to speak with him and possibly correct his way of handling his feelings in a mature way. I tried several times bringing up my concerns for the falsely accused young brother and the gossip resulting from it. I did let him know that no one living in our home had ever spoken about the calls & my family was not aware yet of my beliefs who was doing the calling. The conversation was like talking to a rock. No expressions were ever made to me of sadness of what it was putting me through.No interest was expressed for the young teen on the fringe or his reputation. I was patronized at every turn till I mentioned I had contacted both the phone company & was prepared to call the police to make a formal complaint at the first I could name someone. That got the elders attention! My calls ended that day. No apology or contact was ever made to me by the brother in question or elder. I received a message through my husband, the matter had been looked into, the brother was surely not the one calling & I should not speak about it.

The malicious pranks and other problems were handled the same way by elders I spoke with. The exception was conversations I had with the presiding overseer, his counseling sessions exposed a line of thinking and mind I can only describe as psychopathic, his comments & reasoning were so twisted , it was scary.

Yes , I was dfed for smoking, I did not understand all the workings at that time. I did know to be guarded in what I said & not ruffle their feathers.I was most afraid of being called apostate if it was found out what I thought. My family stood behind me, not too close behind , but they didn't shun me. My husband was at my hearing & it helped to open his eyes a little.The RBC problems, my dfing, & the veiled hints for him to divorce me all worked on him.

Thanks for asking,Flipper, yes things are much better now. I appreciate the chance to vent. I will be giving my testimony next month at the Witness4Jesus convention, these stories are being left out. My husband & 5 of 6 children are out. Always nice talking with you.

Blithe

175

Were you Stalked or Chased After Once you Exited the JW's by Elders ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i tried to fade off the map by moving 30 miles initially in 2004 after i exited in late 2003 .

the first several years they didn't bother me.

i ran into a elder from my former congregation in late 2005 in an antique store - he tried telling me i was wrong for stopping attending meetings.

Blithe Freshman

I was stalked with drive-by visits at late night hours,mutiple harrassing phone calls a day, and malicious pranks. I was frustrated & often irrated with the calls, I just wanted them to stop & have the person get some help for what ever ailed them.I didn't know who it was till the person accused & spread a rumor it was being done by someone else.The only way he would have known I was being harassed was if he had been doing it himself.Now that really pissed me off! After a visit to the elders, he was talked to, denied everything, I was assured I was mistaken.The calls & other things ended that day.

Later , in another place,I thought I was being watched by 2 guys in a carI kept seeing over & over. I pulled up a chair, lit a cig & watched back.I expected to be called in, but wasn't for a very long time. I didn't understand that till much later. I had a little protection myself for a while, through husband working for RBC. When they ticked him off & he wouldn't do something unethical for them, I was in a hearing for smoking soon after.At the time I was very confused,didn't want to be disfellowshipped & have that strain on our family, but also knew to keep my mouth shut & prefer that to , questions that could have me labeled apostate.

It was many years later till I googled & learned how things worked and put it all together.

71

I would like to hear your experiences with being SHUNNED

by jwfacts in

i am going to put together a page of short experiences of how shunning has affected exjws.

you do not have to be disfellowshipped, even if you were shunned after being marked or after fading.

all comments are welcome, such as who shunned you, how long since family have spoken to you, what your situation is, why you are being shunned and how it has made you feel.