Posts by inbetween

41

Cantleave went to the meeting last night

by cantleave in

jw
friends

i have attended just a handful of meetings over the 2 months.

i went yesterday, because i had an assignment and i really wanted to see my mate talk about masturbation from the platform, knowing he would be very uncomfortable about it!!!!.

anyway after the meeting i was approached by the cobe.

inbetween

nice plan, I think they will bug you for a while afterwards, and then they might get used to your situation, that you only come once in a while....

we did the same to an elder, who resigned, and slowly fades, always was perplexed, because he is a real decent guy, pretending to have problems, now I wonder, whether he just fades for the same reason as many on this forum here....

however, I can hardly talk to him, since he is raraley at meetings...

anyway, I think about a similar plan for myself, first I have to talk to my wife, soon.....

43

The WTS's start of the "70 years"

by Doug Mason in

it is my understanding that the scholars of the wts say that the "70 years" began when the land was "completely depopulated", not when jerusalem was destroyed.. .

if that is the case, they should have jumped from their 537 bce date back to the removal of inhabitants during nebuchadnezzar's 23rd year, thus making that 607 (or 606) bce.. .

did russell start the 70 years (and hence his 2520 years) with the destruction of jerusalem or with the depopulation of the land?.

inbetween

scholar

its one thing to debate such a topic, even good to consider the pros and cons, however I never undertstand this strange "celebrated JW scholars" thing ...who are they ? why celebrated ? sounds more like a joke to me ...

18

Cantleave's latest update

by cantleave in

jw
friends

ok, i couldn't let it lie.

i showed my wife some of the scientific inaccuracies made by the wts over the years .

my wife was concerned that i have been reading apostate literature.

inbetween

very interesting, will try a similar thing with my wife soon, fortunately she is not a die-hard witness, however, born in, she really knows nothing else...like me in fact...

oh, cantleave, you have a pm...

46

Roll call - How many here fake being a "good Jehovah's Witness"....like me!

by Witness 007 in

there is no truth...i know that.

to please my mum while she's alive and wife i go to meetings and the 3 day convention coming up.

i would rather go to the dentist.

inbetween

I fake, have to, no way for the next few years to change otherwise would loose family, friends etc...

meanwhile, in order to maintain kind of a good conscience, I try to use my influence to soften things, to make the load lighter, even occasionally question harsh doctrines, but have to do this very carefully...

its not a way I prefer, but atm the only way...

43

Why do I still feel guilty?

by JWinprotest in

yesterday as our family entered the parking lot of our kh, we realized it was not our congregation entering.

soon afterward we remembered that this week was our co visit and we had missed the tuesday night meeting.

i think it's the first time in over 20 years that i missed a meeting with the co. tonight is our bookstudy/co talk, i wonder if anyone will ask where we were (not likely, everyone is so over us).. it's weird though because a large part of me could care less, and we were laughing about it all the way home.

inbetween

I completely undertstand, being still in, meetings are more and more boring, and I see more and more the brainwashing done there , however, I also fear, by fading out (only longterm option for me right now) I will loose my spirtuality.

being used to have a strict program on spiritual things may make it hard to keep up a spiritual program on your own..

and this can also cause feelings of guilt...

37

Lack of education does not = stupid.

by bluecanary in

[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> </w:compatibility> <w:browserlevel>microsoftinternetexplorer4</w:browserlevel> </w:worddocument> </xml><!

[endif] in combatting cult mind control, steve hassan writes:.

in principle, i am against banning cults from college campuses unless they expressly violate rules of conduct that every student organization is expected to follow.

inbetween

theoldhippie: I know exactly how you feel, though I dont have a university education, I always was the type of person to go deep , to understand, to comprehend things, to ask questions where others are happy with a simple answer...

and often I wished to go back to times of ignorance, where everything is just black and white according to WTS, it is just much easier...

plus I met highly intelligent witnesses, who may have asked the same questions (some actually did) but just shelve them to wait for Jehovah, as I did as well, ..

one time I pushed it a bit, was not happy with a general accepted answer to an issue, and got the reply, that we just shouldnt think about it...why ? arent we supposed to keep asking (chapter one bible teach book ?)...

at times I`m very confused, angry, depressed even, wish to never opened my eyes, and also wished to just d/a myself, ....

but as a matter of fact, I´m stuck atm, Ihave to find my way of dealing with all this, and still hold a good conscience and find happiness...

8

drama dc 2009

by inbetween in

jw
friends

the drama was really ridicolous, man, but i noticed, in some of the jw objected to it as well,.

first of all my wife, she said it doesnt feel right, and she strongly disliked the music (she has no idea of my being at this forum btw).

then some friends, who also complained about it, but just to us, because they know, we do not judge them for their questions and almost doubts on some things.... i m sure there were more, but they just dont think out loud, and keep it to themselves.... anybody similar experiences ?.

inbetween

the drama was really ridicolous, man, but I noticed, in some of the JW objected to it as well,

first of all my wife, she said it doesnt feel right, and she strongly disliked the music (she has no idea of my being at this forum btw)

then some friends, who also complained about it, but just to us, because they know, we do not judge them for their questions and almost doubts on some things...

I´m sure there were more, but they just dont think out loud, and keep it to themselves...

anybody similar experiences ?

66

If there's some good in the Watchtower, why leave it?

by AlmostAtheist in

jw
friends

the post about crisis of conscience in which the poster said he knows there's some bad in the watchtower (as brought out in coc), but there's some good in it too got me to wondering about people that stay for the good in it.. the united states makes some decisions as a country that i don't agree with, perhaps even object strongly to.

but i don't disavow my citizenship.

it's mostly a good place to live, so i stay.. if you want to live in a way that utterly conflicts with the watchtower -- homosexual, multiple sex partners, smoking, whatever -- then you have reason to leave.

inbetween

been pondering over this question for couple of weeks now...

in just a short time, I came to realize, the WTS is not Jehovahs channel, doubts I had many years ago already, but always considered it as something I may not understand fully or hoped, the "light gets brighter".....

but I came to see, that those doubts was not my failure, it is a deficit of some doctrines...

for now I found a solution: staying in for family/social reasons, while using whatever influence I have to prevent damage from harmful teachings, planting seeds whenever reasonable and possible, softening the load of the brothers, and avoiding to become "bloodguilty" .

In the end we have to render an account to our creator one way or the other...

Some compared it to Nazi, which is certainly exxagerated, however, even there we find people realizing the insanity of Hitler, and still pretending to cooperate, while trying to use their limited power to help others escape or survive (e.g. Schindler etc)

If they had oppenly opposed Hitler, they would not have been able to do good at all.

thas just my current approach, dont know what the future will bring in this regard...

58

The Social Structure in the Congregation

by Mary in

jw
friends

ever notice how the "happiest people on earth" are also the most class-oriented?

to say that jesus said his followers should all be on equal footing, it's incredible how much the r&f witness is not on equal footing.

the social structure in the congregation is more complex than the blueprints of a nuclear warhead, but just so that you "remember your place", see if you can find where your niche was/is:

inbetween

well, according to this list I would be 2,

but I guess things are not so bad in our congr., elders really view themselves as servants mostly, its really quite cool...

no its def. not our congr. that makes me come here, its the fallible doctrine of WTS that sucks...

57

Question

by inbetween in

just have a question,.

when you found out about things regarding the wts, maybe on the internet, on this side or another, or you had serious doubts by yourself, did you talk to somebody ?

maybe an elder or a good friend ?.

inbetween

thanks for the answers, very interesting viewpoints...

yes,regarding my friend, I just wanted to plant a seed, he is very open, not dogmatic at all, we`ve been friends half our lifes. He is really a "cool" elder, but of course, questioning the org is something that is to be done very carefully. I know of myself, you just think the org and Jehovah are the same almost, thats what you hear everytime at the meeting...

however, its not done in a merely "planting the seed" way, I still have some hope to find convincing answers, even though this hope is getting darker and darker.....