Posts by mindmelda

7

Just what are JW's eager for?

by Mad Dawg in

i have read over and over that the false prophecies of the wts are really not false prophecies.

they where just folks who were over eager and were keeping oil in their lamps and so forth.

it occured to me today to wonder "eager for what?

My aunt, not a Witness, but a Christian who goes to your basic non denom church, decribed to me a Witness coming to her door the other day all smiling as she handed her an invitation to a talk about Armageddon.

There was the usual picture of smiling Witnesses walking away from the horrible destruction of "the wicked" behind them, as though it would never touch them.

My aunt was aghast! She said, "No thank you, that looks horrible!"

She can't for the life of her figure out why the Witnesses are so happy about Armageddon! I told her it's because they envision themselves as the only survivors and what others would suffer doesn't concern them, they feel those are deserving of their fate.

She still found it horrible. I don't think Witnesses are at all aware of how their doctrine sounds to others. They don't really care either. But, you have to ask who a doomsday message like that would appeal to?

18

My husband got let go from his job today

by mindmelda in

jw
friends

well, i guess the title says it all.

my husband got "let go" from his job today.

that was the exact words they used.

mindmelda

Yeah, we applied for unemployment, but by the time they take child support arrears out of it, we won't have much. My job is not that high paying and part time. We'd basically be on welfare because we still have two minor children. We don't know if we can get unemployment yet, even. The "right to work" thing means they can fire you at whim. But, that doesn't mean you can't get unemployment. It just won't be a lot.

Our best bet seems to be moving in with my mother in law in southern Illinois. She's got a big house and is elderly, taking care of two infirm people and actually seems to need our help. My husband and I can get lower paying work and still make it living with her, and we'd be eligible for food stamps, and maybe medicaid.

She can let the two ladies she has coming in at night to help with her husband go and we can help her with that.

56

Relapse: I'm considering returning to the Kingdom Hall.

by Blue Grass in

i'm a long time lurking of this site(2 years) and a first time poster.

to provide a little background of myself i was not raised as a witness but started studying when i was 19 and got baptized at age 21. a few months after i was baptized i left due to the constant worship of the faithful and discreet slave and the lack of emphasis on christ.

for reasons i'm not sure about yet i decided to attend the district convention last week.

mindmelda

Hey, I don't go to meetings or conventions, not for a long time, and I'm not an atheist. I'm trying to be some sort of Christian, albeit a liberal and sane one.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm just not an atheist. Hey, all you atheists, quit being so touchy, he just meant he's still believes in God and the Bible. No one said anything about your morals or how evil you are. Why do you think he did? See, that's called flinching before you're hit.

Millions of people do believe in God, you might have to deal with that.

I've thought about going back a few times. But, you won't find much changed. Oh, individually, the Witnesses are usually nice people. They live pretty clean lives if they're not being hypocrites.

But, you know it's a religion that emphasizes works, that will never accept Christ as anything but a second rate handmaiden to Jehovah, have some fairly strange and not really very Biblical beliefs and the religion has a lot of self righteous people who will criticize you among it's ranks. If you don't do enough "works" like meetings and field service, you'll either be treated with pity or contempt.

But, I know people who are happy with that. They are happy being told what to believe about God by a bunch of suits in Brooklyn who probably aren't the worst people in the world, but I can't see much evidence of them being annointed by holy spirit to dispense "the Truth"...not anymore than any other Witness, that is.

If you're tired of doing your own thinking and running your own life, the Kingdom Hall is the perfect place to be. I know, thinking for yourself is very tiring.

I'm just getting used to it, and it's a fine line between being terrified by it and exhilarated. I still think Jehovah is going to kill me any second for not believing the WTS doctrine. I don't know how long I'll be looking over my shoulder, but just the fact that I do makes me think that kind of fear in me, well, that can't be good.

18

My husband got let go from his job today

by mindmelda in

jw
friends

well, i guess the title says it all.

my husband got "let go" from his job today.

that was the exact words they used.

mindmelda

Yes, he had the flu over the weekend. And he wasn't able to go to work yesterday, so he made a real effort to be there today.

This really came out of the blue. Just last month, they were telling him what a great job he was doing.

I think the company might be having some problems...don't know, but we've heard rumors. The boss seems to have a drinking problem...I've seen him drunk every time he takes people out for dinner.

18

My husband got let go from his job today

by mindmelda in

jw
friends

well, i guess the title says it all.

my husband got "let go" from his job today.

that was the exact words they used.

mindmelda

Well, I guess the title says it all. My husband got "let go" from his job today. That was the exact words they used. No reason, given, really.

We moved here to Texas 7 months ago to take this job, and now, no job.

My husband's mom, an ex JW herself, offered to let us come stay with her for a while. My husband could get some sort of work in the next town.

She has a fairly big house and is there alone with a very elderly and senile husband who she needs help with, and my BIL, who has a serious health problem too.

Who knows, this might work out for all of us.

Ironically, I just found out this morning that I got a job myself, but it's only part time. We could get unemployment (I applied Immediately and I'll know in a week or so) but it probably wouldn't pay all the bills. We just got a car! Used, but haven't even made one payment on it yet. We have just enough saved we could make the trip up there if we don't pay another month's rent here, but we sure can't afford our current rent here now that he's not working! $1000 a month.

All you praying types, pray for us! okay?

My husband is actually glad to be let go from this job. He hated it, and he hates living in the city. His mom lives in the country. We'd probably be happier there.

3

The Great Tree - 7 Times of Daniel = 1914?

by UnDisfellowshipped in

the 7 times of daniel = jesus returning invisibly in 1914 and being enthroned in heaven?.

daniel 4:23-33 (new world translation):.

23 and because the king beheld a watcher, even a holy one, coming down from the heavens, who was also saying: chop the tree down, and ruin it.

mindmelda

I'm glad you can explain that hopping around, I never could. But, there's really nothing in this prophecy that indicates its application to anything but Nebuchadnezzar himself.

VS 33 actually makes that pretty clear.

I never could figure out how it "jumped" to apply to Christ's kingdom reign beginning invisibly in 11914, although you recount the steps they use (misuse?) quite well.

Combined with the fact that nothing much happened historically in 607 BCE...well...with that and 5 bucks you can get coffee at Starbucks.

7

Is Jehovah truthful?

by asilentone in

jw
friends

.

mindmelda

"Never may it be! Let God be found true, though every man a liar prove to be". Romans 3:3, 4

Don't know about "Jehovah" though. I think he's an invention of the WTS. And you know what big liars they are. *G*

231

Name Things JWs Believe That Are Not Actually Biblically Provable

by minimus in

jw
friends

here's one example: being a congregation publisher.

nowhere in the bible does it say you should be a "publisher" and turn in your time if you preach.

they try to twist the scriptures by saying that numbers are constantly being recorded in the bible so then conforming to the rules of being a publisher is from the scriptures.. yeah, right..

mindmelda

That Christ has been invisibly present since 1914 or 1918 or whatever, a date they pulled out of their hind ends!

What really gets me is their claim that Jehovah accepted the Bible Students as his cleansed organization in 1919, but they still believed all sorts of things then that Witnesses declare to be unscriptural now, including observing holidays, the cross, the Trinity, things they say are the beliefs of "false religion". They weren't even known by the designation of Jehovah's Witnesses then.

How does that work? Well, it doesn't.

10

If Jesus Paid The Ransom Sacrifice 2000 Years Ago

by The-Borg in

jw
friends

what are we waiting for now?.

why is god prolonging the suffering?.

.

mindmelda

Cameo-d, the Mayan priests did the same thing. LOL

Priestcraft has been going on since humans were 2 hairs from a baboon. Sure, anyone can take advantage of the gullible. Ponzi schemes and Bernie Madoff prove that even supposedly smart rich people get scammed too!

That's why I believe that essentially, faith works best individually. How else can it work but on the individual as that is how it's spoken of as operating? No organization or ministry can access or mediate God for you.

Churches at their best merely facilitate your personal connection to God through fellowship...at their worst, they exploit it.

Religions that advocate works for salvation get lots of free labor, which is exploitive. Quite a bit like the medieval commoners mentioned in your posts.

The sad thing was, if you keep people ignorant, they believe that a life of servitude to the higher class is all they deserve. I'm sure that sounds oh so familiar to Jehovah's Witness R&F.

Democracy changed a lot of things, including the nature of religion in the world. The classism that kept the clergy in the learned or "gentry" class is pretty much gone, as education is what gives access to that now. People no longer look at religion as a blessing they receive from the learned, who explain it to them, they go out and discover God for themselves with education and freedom. At least, they do outside of Jehovah's Witnesses. As has been brought out here before, Witnesses are most successful converting among the poor and under or un-educated.

The worse thing about a recession like we're having now is that it risks creating economic classism again. There are more poor than there have been in a hundred years in America because of our economic policies. The poor have less access to education, and will remain oppressed, ignorant and susceptible to anyone who wishes to exploit them, including religion.

10

If Jesus Paid The Ransom Sacrifice 2000 Years Ago

by The-Borg in

jw
friends

what are we waiting for now?.

why is god prolonging the suffering?.

.

mindmelda

That's a question I've asked myself a lot. I get pretty mad at God sometimes for letting people suffer. I think that's allowed, no lightening bolts from heaven, not yet.

It's interesting that the Bible doesn't really ever promise us freedom from suffering or a carefree life, just the strength from God to endure it all. God never promises anyone total freedom from misery, pain or death, not in this world. In fact, it's quite frank that suffering IS part of this earthly existence.

I can only extrapolate that means that human existence is what it is at this point in time. Many philosophers a lot smarter than I am have put forth the thought that a world without suffering and pain is a world without challenge or meaning.

What seems to be important is how we all deal with suffering and pain of all sorts. I'm not blaming God for it, but it's definitely part of human existence. We cause a lot of it ourselves, don't we? Even when it comes from natural disaster, we make it worse by not helping our fellow man in his time of need.

What if God did wave a magic wand and remove all human suffering? It's kind of hard to imagine, but when I imagine that, I see a bunch of humans sitting around doing nothing much. We'd not need police, doctors, lawyers, politicians, news reporters, nurses, counselors, psychologists, consumer advocates, clergy...on and on. Lots of people would suddenly find themselves without much to do!

Have you ever been on a long vacation and finally run out of challenging things to do? People on cruise ships where there's the option of doing nothing but eating and sleepign often end up doing nothing but gorging at the banquet table and taking naps in the sun all week.

Aside from gainng 5 lbs they do nothing and end up extremely bored after a week of that. That's fine for a week, but living that way would be pointless,boring and a total waste!

I would like to see less suffering, of course, but I also ask myself, maybe it's not up to God to make that happen. Maybe it's up to us. Maybe he's waiting for us to knock it off and quit hurting each other, rather than taking the perogative of learning to change away from us and allowing us to learn to quit doing harm to ourselves and other people.

What would be better for human beings? To just have a better world given to us, or for us to work to attain it ourselves? You don't have to believe in God to understand that it'd probably be better for human beings to learn to QUIT HURTING EACH OTHER without it being imposed upon us supernaturally.

We won't survive as a species until we learn that anyway. We won't be worthy of survival or saving.