sd-7

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Posts by sd-7

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  39

  First time back to the king dumb hall in a year!

  by BreathoftheIndianNose in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey everyone,.

  so it's been over a year and this saturday i'm going to the hall.

  can you help to prep me for what sort of emotions and feelings might come rushing in?

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  sd-7

  Well, going back to the Kingdom Hall...it can be like visiting the grave of an old friend you were forced to destroy, as it was for me. The feeling of invisible walls pressing in on you again, hearing their zombie-like tone of voice, seeing them appear to be brother and sister...it could be intense, maybe even frightening.

  Bring a Bible with you, but make sure it's a different translation. If you're just there for a talk, just sit there and read it. It'll give your brain something to do in order to filter out the Borg programming. I use it as a way of shutting it out. Writing down your precise thoughts on a notepad is also a good idea.

  The most important thing to remember is that it is merely illusion. These people are under a spell, and you are not. When you leave, you may feel a bit of sadness, but you'll heal. Either way, if someone who claims to be family doesn't tell you about their wedding, that says to me not to bother with them. But then, I guess my approach to family must be different than yours. I don't deal with people who don't want to deal with me, for whatever reason. If they want these people to be their family, fine by me. Just don't expect me to be there when those people aren't.

  But...remember with all that said that these are still people, whatever they believe. They don't understand. Try to stay as detached as possible. If you let yourself feel, in those moments, it could be very bad. As Chris Cornell once sang in 'You Know My Name', "Try to hide your hand, forget how to feel." I used to listen to that song before going to meetings years ago. I recommend giving it a listen before you go in there.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnzgdBAKyJo

  --sd-7
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  68

  Being Agnostic is depressing me....

  by SkyGreen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  for those that dont know my story, basically i "woke up the ttatt" about a year ago, started fading, then went back, now fading again because i just cant stomach it anymore.

  my husband is very supportive, although he's still "in" for now, and trying to be regular with meetings and witnessing, he can see my point of view now, and often notices things in the wt or other publications that are "off".

  the fading thing is hard, sometimes i want to da, but because of the upheaval it would cause my family, im waiting a little while - i guess hoping that my husband will be on the same page at some point, so that we can support eachother.

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  sd-7

  A good thread to put out there. I have struggled (often quite publicly here) on matters of faith and belief in God. I think even if the Bible weren't true, that doesn't preclude the existence of God. I know when I first woke up, I was very much interested in understanding the Bible from a Christian perspective, and at some point I started questioning the Bible, too.

  I would say, there's no need to chuck the Bible out the window on account of what the JWs said or did. I think because it's such a terrible wound, there's a tendency to not want religion at all for awhile. It may be that there'll come a time when your feelings change. Though I don't believe the Bible is an absolute guide for life, I do think it can be a useful part of a larger moral framework. I don't believe God intended for us to suspend our logic or common sense or to allow our consciences to be overridden by anyone, if such a being exists.

  One thing I thought of, sometime ago, is that the Bible is sort of like snapshots of God's personality. Some things are pretty extreme and others are extremely loving. The real God, I would imagine, would be somewhere in between.

  Honestly, faith is just an assertion that you know something. We honestly can't know the ultimate end of man. The way I see it, the search for answers is part of what gives us hope. I was reading Ezekiel 34 not that long ago, and it nearly brought tears to my eyes. Helped me remember that it was the shepherds who did the wrong thing, in the end, and that, how nice it would be if God himself came to look for us and bring us into his arms, you know?

  Maybe it was wishful thinking, but...keep an open mind, is all I can say. If belief in God can help you, then look for the good in this world and even in the Bible itself and find God in those ways. That's how I see it. Just don't force the square peg into the round hole, is all.

  --sd-7
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  57

  Anyone with Happy Memories from being a JW born in, please post here....

  by SkyGreen in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  first up, happy new year .

  hi everyone, ok i guess this is controversial, but im doing it as therapy for me - so im not bitter about the way i was raised.

  plus i want to see if i can be the op of an "epic thread"!!.

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  sd-7

  Well, my parents were pretty good, my dad was never a JW, though. We had plenty of chances as kids to spend time with other kids in the congregation who were our age. We had one boy who was an elder's son who became a good friend of mine--we played a lot of video games and basketball together. I suppose it could be argued those were happy memories. I think the present clouds the past in that regard. There were surely plenty of pleasant and ordinarily enjoyable things that I did as a child. Nothing traumatic happened, really. It wasn't until puberty that the problems came, so...childhood was pretty much blissful, I remember it being happy.

  --sd-7
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  11

  Listen, Obey, and Be Blessed - corrected version

  by finally awake in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  1. if we have listened to herd, we will show it.. his demands oppress, and screw up our day.. it makes us unhappy to hear and to know it,.

  and well be stressed if we know and obey.. (chorus).

  2. this way of life, like a jail, is a sentence.

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  sd-7

  I always went for, "You will be happily manic-depressed, listen, obey and be blessed!"

  When you hear the Kingdom Melodies' recording, it sounds like the people are already heavily medicated or like this tune is designed specifically to lull you to sleep.

  --sd-7
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  259

  The Gentile Times Reconsidered (607 B.C.E.) -Part A1 - Jeremiah 25:10-12 Reviewed

  by FaceTheFacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  during the last three to four months, i have spent a great deal of time sinking my teeth into various critical biblical commentaries and lexicons.

  naturally, after beginning to research "the truth about the truth" one of the most commonplace yet controversial arguments revolve around the "gentile times" doctrine (i.e.

  the application of the seven times of daniel 4 from 607 b.c.e.

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  sd-7

  Is there a specific conclusion you would like to put forth other than 'Carl Jonsson is wrong'?

  --sd-7
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  28

  Do they still follow the same backwards policy on AIDS?

  by Chaserious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i was browsing through some of the boe letters (made available here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/243938/1/all-letters-to-elders-from-the-branch-1981-2012-boe) and came across the 3/15/96 letter about persons with communicable diseases.

  it specifically mentions aids several times in the letter and seems to be primarily targeted at that population.

  among other gems:.

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  sd-7

  So much for "I was sick and you came to me". Jesus was willing to touch a freakin' leper, so how do they figure such rules make any kind of sense, especially with our having a clear understanding of how diseases are communicated thanks to the Bible God Awake! magazine science.

  --sd-7
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  45

  Some funny/curious quotes from the 2013 Yearbook (part 1)

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i just thought i'd amuse myself by seeing what madness awaits in the new 2013 yearbook.. you might like to read some of the gems i've uncovered.... .

  "true christians are soon to cross into the promised new world, so they need to be courageous and strong.

  how soon are we talking about?

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  sd-7

  I'm wondering what the relatives of the 153 people who died in the plane crash would make of the JW-version of this tragedy. Do they feel they have seen "Jehovah's hand?"

  Yes, in the form of either a backhand (ie. 'pimp slap') or a middle finger shoved way up an orifice divinely chosen for that purpose.

  --sd-7
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  154

  Is unhappiness a reason for divorce ?

  by caliber in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  here are some sample expressions i found on-line.

  my spouse is not abusive, mean, a bad person, an adulterer or any of those other labels.

  my spouse refuses to grow up.

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  sd-7

  It really depends on exactly what is causing the unhappiness. Because it may not necessarily be the spouse. (Not that I'm defending crap spouses out there.) But it reminds me of something Clive Owen's character in 'Closer' said about his wife, that she wanted to be unhappy, because if she were happy, then she'd have to go places and do things that happy people do. And some people may very well want to be unhappy, and if that's so, divorce won't help them.

  If it's a case of physical or emotional abuse or cheating or substance abuse, that's unhappiness coming from the spouse, so...you should probably transform and roll out. If it's just you don't like the way they fold their socks, I can't help you on that one. I can't really help you anyway, unless you need someplace to wipe your shoes. So it works out.

  --sd-7
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  259

  The Gentile Times Reconsidered (607 B.C.E.) -Part A1 - Jeremiah 25:10-12 Reviewed

  by FaceTheFacts in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  during the last three to four months, i have spent a great deal of time sinking my teeth into various critical biblical commentaries and lexicons.

  naturally, after beginning to research "the truth about the truth" one of the most commonplace yet controversial arguments revolve around the "gentile times" doctrine (i.e.

  the application of the seven times of daniel 4 from 607 b.c.e.

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  sd-7

  If one passage alone shows the interpretation Carl Jonnson makes to be incorrect there is no need to even look at all the archaelogical evidence.

  Having read just about all of 'The Gentile Times Reconsidered', I think you're mistaken in portraying C.O. Jonsson as trying to put forth 609-539 B.C. as an absolute chronology for the 70 years. If I recall correctly, he puts it forth as one possibility. The fact is, there's a lot of uncertainty in trying to piece all of this stuff together precisely in terms of the dates. If anything, one of the first points he brings out is that anything written in the Bible is a relative chronology, that needs secular history to be able to relate any date to our calendar.

  I can't honestly speak of any proof of vassalage starting in 609 B.C.; seems more like that sort of thing started more around 605 B.C., with Nebuchadnezzar's first year. But I'm no expert on the history. My understanding was that 609 was when Babylon defeated Assyria with finality, so as the big power in the area, everybody was now vulnerable to Babylon as a result.

  I think considering Jeremiah 25 without considering other verses to put the pieces together (which, by the way, you brought in other verses in your argument, thus doing the very thing you didn't want others to do in rebuttal) is only going to result in an incomplete argument with an insufficient conclusion. Let's suppose you have proven there was no vassalage of any nation in 609 B.C. What now? I don't know what that would prove or disprove beyond itself. Is there a specific conclusion you would like to put forth other than 'Carl Jonsson is wrong'?

  --sd-7
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  50

  New Here! So many questions! :)

  by TeenageInsider in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hey everyone!

  i'm so happy that i finnally joined i just turned 17 and i have so many questions about the org.. i've been lurking around the site for months, and love reading experiences about bethel, and all the hypocricy that the wtbts spews out.. so i finally joined in and hope to make some great friends.. a little about me:.

  im male, 17, and i am a born-in, so this is all i know... i was baptised at age 13 i beleive.... my gramma, and grampa and mom , and sisters and brothers, are all jw's.

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  sd-7

  Welcome! And what a great age to be having these thoughts! If I'd opened that door just 10 years ago, while I was still in college, man, would my life be 100% different right now, in a good way.

  I'll pass on the advice I was given by a wise man who calls himself 'kurtbethel' on here, when I first joined this site: Stay away from those melodramatic women and those whose lives are a train wreck. They will only bring you way down.

  Apart from that, keep reading, ask the basic questions that are probably already floating around in your head right now. Start on the Internet, but if you can, get to a library, too. (I'm only 30 and I already feel old-fashioned for saying that.) You'd be amazed at the academic dishonesty going on in Watchtower literature, when they quote from outside sources, I mean. (It's not every single quote, but there are some real whoppers in there.) I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't done the research myself and seen it in the library in black-and-white.

  But from the way you're talking, I have a feeling you'll be just fine. Thus, I feel no great need to give you further advice at this point, apart from kurtbethel's wise words above. Believe me, ignore them at your own deadly peril. Otherwise, try to have safe, teenage-friendly fun! See a movie. Read a comic book. Play a massive multiplayer online role-playing game. Then repeat.

  

  --sd-7