Posts by dgp

5

What is spiritual abuse?

by hoser in

a wesite i found about spiritual abuse systems.. http://www.christian-depression.org/cdp/articles/spiritual-abuse.php.

what is spiritual abuse?spiritual abuse is a term not in common usage, unlike physical or emotional abuse.

when you are publicly shamed or made to feel spiritually second class, something is not right.. spiritual abuse is the mistreatment of a person who is in need of help, support or greater spiritual empowerment, with the result of weakening, undermining or decreasing that person's spiritual empowerment.. "the subtle power of spiritual abuse" by david johnson and jeff vanvonderen.

dgp

I wonder why they don't include "taking advantage of people at a time of weakness".

8

New girl not at hall no more

by TheLoveDoctor in

we had a beutifull young woman about 22 comming to the hall with her young daughter wont mention names to protect the innocent.

anyhow she was studing with a very kind young sister about the same age.

she was comming to the hall regularly and her very cute daughter.

dgp

In my case, I was fortunate to know that something just wasn't the way they told me. Many years before I had watched this show about "Christians", and the presenter was very convincing -or so I thought- about why Jehovah's witnesses were not Christians. He said, "they don't believe Jesus is God, which is the very definition of Christian". Now, maybe he was wrong and so am I, but that is not the point; the point is, in my mind, I knew something wasn't like they were telling me.

And then I knew about some abuse the witness I met was enduring, so I researched the internet. I thought there could be a way to sort of co-exist; as Gary sort of says, I thought I had to be open minded. Then I realized the other side wouldn't be open minded about me at all. And there were the lies and the inconsistencies...

Someone could say that I was actually pushed out because I was rejected by the witness woman. But I feel that, at the time, the question was whether co-existence was possible, and that fact showed me that it just wasn't. "Convert, or else".

77

Association: Am i being lied to?

by roxanesophia in

i don't hesitate to bring up with the girl i study with, my criticisms of the religion, and one of those is the association.

i keep reading on here that jw's don't make friends outside the cult, and this is what i used as an excuse for stepping further away from being baptized.

she tells me it's not true, and they can have what ever friends they want.

dgp

I'm a worldly and one of the good things the witness I met did about me was that she told me, up front, that I couldn't even qualify to be her friend. She said this after a long time and after I tried to marry her; but she said that. So, yes, you're being lied to. Most witnesses won't befriend you, but, what's more, they will ask you to forget about your worldly friends once you get baptized.

Sometimes the occasional witness will befriend you, or will very much look like that, but, knowing what I know now, I wonder how often it is that they really consider you a friend. It's something they learn NOT to do.

This should be reason enough for you not to get baptized. If you're being lied to before you even get started, what else will happen once you're in?

30

Do you know if these publications are available?

by dgp in

does anyone know if these publications are available?

i don't mean "my local kingdom hall", sorry.. - the nations shall know that i am jehovah .

- jehovah's witnesses in the divine purpose .

dgp

Sorry.

21

I gotta take an extended break

by sabastious in

jw
friends

ok, i gotta get out of here.

i have too much at stake right now in my life to spend as much time here as i do.

i love you all!

dgp

All the best.

30

Do you know if these publications are available?

by dgp in

does anyone know if these publications are available?

i don't mean "my local kingdom hall", sorry.. - the nations shall know that i am jehovah .

- jehovah's witnesses in the divine purpose .

dgp

There is a lot I don't know, so I just didn't think the year of publication was important. Sorry.

30

Do you know if these publications are available?

by dgp in

does anyone know if these publications are available?

i don't mean "my local kingdom hall", sorry.. - the nations shall know that i am jehovah .

- jehovah's witnesses in the divine purpose .

dgp

Thanks again to all.

18

Worldy opposition is interpreted as confirmation of the truth

by MrMonroe in

interesting comment on the talk page of the wikipedia article on the governing body here:.

one dopey jw (wandering-teacher) who complained that the article was "biased" against the jws was supported in a comment by another assumed jw (galik) who whined that the article was "peppered with quotes from known opposers of jehovah's witnesses in order to use this article as a propaganda vehicle".. wandering-teacher replied: "thanks for the support, galik.

the difficulty of having a neutral point of view in the ... article strengthens my faith that i have made the correct religious choice for me.".

dgp

I have seen this in action because I am a worldly, but the more frequent reply to objections is something like "Well, we have warned you".

There was one lady who even got kind of angry when I told her "Yes, madam, you have warned me".

I can say, however, that sometimes you can make objections that don't seem objections, and that gets witnesses thinking. For example, I once told one of them that I had left religion because I had found that my only reason for believing was that I was so, so afraid of the idea of dying. That hit a nerve somewhere, and this witness couldn't reply.

It would also work to make them give opinions about subjects or issues they cannot give opinions about. For example, "Do you read the Bible?" "Yeah, and I even got myself this book by a notable Bible scholar, Bart Ehrman. Wait, I'll show you..." Since you seem to be genuinely interested in the conversation, but the witness cannot give an opinion on this, it is they that leave, and it is they that are left thinking.

30

Do you know if these publications are available?

by dgp in

does anyone know if these publications are available?

i don't mean "my local kingdom hall", sorry.. - the nations shall know that i am jehovah .

- jehovah's witnesses in the divine purpose .

dgp

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU very much to all. I now have all three publications as PDFs in my hard disk, and, like I said, I will put them to good use. "Good use" here doesn't mean believing what they say.

The fact that the PDF for "School and Jehovah's witnesses" has spots and the like is actually much better for my purposes. This proves the item was actually scanned from an original.

Broken Promises (a friend) is right. There is a lot I don't know, so please be indulgent with me.

YKnot, that link was priceless. I will make sure you know why.

Thank you!

30

Do you know if these publications are available?

by dgp in

does anyone know if these publications are available?

i don't mean "my local kingdom hall", sorry.. - the nations shall know that i am jehovah .

- jehovah's witnesses in the divine purpose .

dgp

Many thanks to all for responding. And many more thanks to AnnOMaly, because the link worked wonders and I already have "Jehovah's Witness in the Divine Purpose".

I don't have the old CD's because I am a worldly that came in real contact with witnesses until two years ago. It's only now that I give value to keeping these publications, but as an archive of things that an organization would not like me to have. I have the CD's for 2009 and 2010.

I will put this file to very good use. I will check with Atlantis because I'd rather have PDF's.

Again, many thanks.