Posts by artemis.design

29

Do I have to have been baptised to be apostate? New to forum.

by artemis.design in

i am new on here as a member, although i have been on here quite a few times as a guest.

please call me arte, or artemis after the female renaissance artist and roman godess and a bit of a hero of mine.

i have abit of a problem with my spelling so sorry about that.

artemis.design

Thanks every one for the help. I am going to do some swatting up on their literature so I am prepared. I have already done some research and am beginning to understand why 607bc and 1914 are so important, and yet so completly wrong.

I am still interested to know why they think humans have only been around for 6000 years. I have found some great links on here from old posts.

Thanks as well for the advise and warning. If I hadn't have had your opinions I would have really put my foot in it. I would hate to loose my family completly. I have spoken to my brother who is a witness (but a rather chilled out one), and he says if I have any questions he would be happy to get someone to discuss them with me, just as a normal "worldly" person. He assures me any discussion would remain private. He thinks I should not try and challenge the family directly as I am already considered bad association and it would be unwise to give my parents amunition to drive a wedge between me and my brothers and sister. This is defeating the point a bit as the issue was really with the family but I understand where he is coming from.

Not sure I know how I feel about having a "discussion". They may consider this an opportunity for conversion, and will probably even put in time for it. I will let you know the out come if and when this happens. Arte

33

easier to leave...born ins or joined later???...i know the answer........

by oompa in

jw
friends

well at least i know it from my own friends and geographic region........... but i will wait to hear your response....i am fourth gen btw...and unfortunately birthed.... and did a good job at raising a fifth dammit....oompa.

artemis.design

I was born in but left before getting baptised. I thank my luck stars I didn't as I had is much easier than many friends who were Df. Never ever believed a word of it but went along to keep parents happy. They are still trying to get me back .Arte

34

HAVE YOU EVER READ A WT BOOK COVER TO COVER?

by badboy in

jw
friends

any takers?.

artemis.design

I am currently reading a blue book JS siblings gave me. Creation or Evolution. Simultainiously readin Dawkins "the God Delusion". Giving them both a fair chance. Think they are both neck to neck at the mo. Arte

29

Do I have to have been baptised to be apostate? New to forum.

by artemis.design in

i am new on here as a member, although i have been on here quite a few times as a guest.

please call me arte, or artemis after the female renaissance artist and roman godess and a bit of a hero of mine.

i have abit of a problem with my spelling so sorry about that.

artemis.design

Chris: A word of warning. Whatever subject you tackle them on, make sure that you know what their answer is likely to be before you ask your question.

So maybe I should stick to my original question which was a genuine one. How do they explain that humans have only been around for 6000 years?

This is going off at a tangent now. I did try going through previous posts to there was lots of gobbily gook about dates and stuff, but I could not see anything that would explained their arguement for this in simple terms.

29

Do I have to have been baptised to be apostate? New to forum.

by artemis.design in

i am new on here as a member, although i have been on here quite a few times as a guest.

please call me arte, or artemis after the female renaissance artist and roman godess and a bit of a hero of mine.

i have abit of a problem with my spelling so sorry about that.

artemis.design

Hi Chris

Thanks for that link. I have just read all of that other post. You give some very good advise. If I asked that question though, they would know that it was not a question that I came up with. I know that nebuchadeser or whatever his name is was a Babalonian king, and that 607 bc was an important date, but that is as far as I get on that topic. I need to start with something much, much simpler, otherwise, as you say, it will backfire.

29

Do I have to have been baptised to be apostate? New to forum.

by artemis.design in

i am new on here as a member, although i have been on here quite a few times as a guest.

please call me arte, or artemis after the female renaissance artist and roman godess and a bit of a hero of mine.

i have abit of a problem with my spelling so sorry about that.

artemis.design

Hi there

Everone has made some really valid points, so thanks for that. I can tell I will be speaking to a lot more people on here, it is quite comforting. I did not realise there were so many ex witnesses!!

Basically the guidance seems to be to use their own literature and the bible and let that do the talking. And not go in too hard. Trouble is, I left over 10 years ago as a teenager. It all seems to have changed so I don't even know what they believe in anymore. I remember "those that have seen the beginning will also see the end" being drilled into me, but apparently that is not "current thinking".

So now I have the problem that I don't really know what they believe in, and secondly, and am not that familiar with the bible.

I was going to try and stick to something that I do know about, such the history of human migration, cavemen, evidence that modern humans are many tens of thousand years and have very primative origins (not going into evolution at all as I am not sure where I stand on that myself). But I am stuck before I start because I know they will not watch the tv programmes and all the evidence will be ignored. I don't know enough about how they worked out that we have only been around for 6000 years, or even if that is still current thinking. My knowledge on the scriptures is very limited.

It is not my intention to make a personal attack. If they wanted to believe in the spagetti monster or a teacup orbiting the earth, all good to them. But they don't just leave me to my life, I am living in sin as I am not married, I am going to die in the end of the world, and they are not interested in anthing I have to say about anything that interests me. When I go to visit, its like, what can we talk about today, the weather? Not only that, when I do go to visit, they still carry on with with their theocratic activities and discussions as if I am not in the room. So to be fair, it is not me who is doing the attacking. I have just decided that next time they either try to convert or condem me, I am not going to just sit quiet and take it. If it is them that take the initiative, I don't see how they can justify "shunning" me. Still reason is not reason with people who can not reason.

29

Do I have to have been baptised to be apostate? New to forum.

by artemis.design in

i am new on here as a member, although i have been on here quite a few times as a guest.

please call me arte, or artemis after the female renaissance artist and roman godess and a bit of a hero of mine.

i have abit of a problem with my spelling so sorry about that.

artemis.design

A goat? hhhhaaaahha

Oh ok i get it like in the story of separating the sheep from the goats. haha

My family are nice, and intelligent people. But I have never heard them complaining or questioning anything. They accept every thing without question. Having said that they are not as strict as a lot.

The only thing I have ever questioned them about before was the issue of blood, and that was more on moral ground. They were just like, you are not a witness, so you don't have to worry about it. That was the end of that exciting topic.

29

Do I have to have been baptised to be apostate? New to forum.

by artemis.design in

i am new on here as a member, although i have been on here quite a few times as a guest.

please call me arte, or artemis after the female renaissance artist and roman godess and a bit of a hero of mine.

i have abit of a problem with my spelling so sorry about that.

artemis.design

Hi there.

So I suppose you are saying its all in the wording, for example instead of saying:

The authors of the book you gave me are clearly nutters as they say humans are only 6000 years old and yet stone henge is nearlly 5000 years old so how do you figure that out?

I should say

Its a bit confusing. Stone Henge is believed to be over 5000 years old, so how can humans only be 6000 years old?

And leave it up to them to try and prove to me that humans have only been around for 6000 years.

Have to be careful though. The last thing I want to do is make them think they can convert me (although perhaps I would enjoy the attention for a while!).

On another point - that blue evolution/ creation book looks that same as the one I read as a kid, but it sure doesn't sound the same. Have they changed parts of it or am I just imaginig things?

Arte

29

Do I have to have been baptised to be apostate? New to forum.

by artemis.design in

i am new on here as a member, although i have been on here quite a few times as a guest.

please call me arte, or artemis after the female renaissance artist and roman godess and a bit of a hero of mine.

i have abit of a problem with my spelling so sorry about that.

artemis.design

Hi there. I am new on here as a member, although I have been on here quite a few times as a guest. Please call me Arte, or Artemis after the female renaissance artist and Roman godess and a bit of a hero of mine. I have abit of a problem with my spelling so sorry about that. IAm also female in my early 30's and from central England.

I was raised as a witness until I was 18. I had a luck escape as I was never baptised. That was 10 years ago. For the past 10 years I was plescently tollerated by my family just as any other "worldy" person. I think the reason for this was because I never tried to fight my corner. As, with a sigh, they tell me it's not too late, and before I leave for another 6 months, give me that look like they will never see me again. My usual response is that it is my life and if God decides my time is up, I am prepared to accept whatever punishment befalls me. They are usually happy with this in the hope that there may be yet chance for me to come back.

I have often thought of saying what a load of balls,I am am very happy, and I intend to live a long and prosperous life. It has only recently happened that I have decided now is the time to stand up for what I believe in. There are several reasons for this. Firstly because my youngest brother has now left school, so I consider all my family adults now. Also they have recently given me a copy of the creation/evolution book, which to my bemusement makes out that mankind is only a few thousand years old. And a few other factors.

While, as I said, I want to start standing up for myself (or just not being condemed to death like an evil criminal would suffice), I don't want to appear completly hostile. Could someone please help with the following questions:

1) Does one have to have been baptised to be "apostate?" I was never in, not even as a kid. I just went along with it to make my family happy and they all know that. So if I do start "debating" with them I won't have to be "shuned, like so many people on here. (I feel so bad for you guys. My family treat me like a virtual strangers, but at least they are "nice" to me.)

2) Apostate literature is only that produced by ex JW's. I assume everything else is free game including works by athiests. I say that as in their literature they quote even Dawkins, the most famous athiest blaspherer ever. How odd!

Thank you for clarifying this for me.

Oh, also what is GB short for. I have figured most of the others out.

Arte

49

Those raised as JWs-Do you recall the path of doubts that led you to leave?

by ithinkisee in

jw
friends

i posted a similar topic a year and a half ago.

i thought with all the new people it would be interesting to ask it again.

so i began to research ... and here i am.

artemis.design

Hi there, I am new to this forum. Please call me Artemis or Arte as there is another Artemis on this forum (after the Renaissance female artist and Roman Goddess).

I was bought up as a witness. Strangely, I loved school, and I loved reading and history. I was not alowed to attend RE classes which I was a bit upset about because I wanted to learn about other religions.I started to wonder what they were hiding. I read the creation/evolution book. I was like, are you telling me that we have only been around for 6000 years? Stone henge is older than that! All of my family were witnesses, but I never bought into the armageddon crap. I went along with it until I was 18 to keep my parents happy but I never got baptised.

The witnesses I know are intelligent even dilligent people. Yet they can not see what I figured out by the time I was 12. Evidence shows that the bible is not, and probably never was ment to be, a literal interpretation of the history of the world. But they can always argue that black is white and I never seem to win a debate even when all the evidence is firmly on my side.

Arte