Posts by Awen

32

Living With Regret - what do YOU regret about being in the org?

by babygirl30 in

jw
friends

1. getting baptized at 14 and not knowing what the heck i was 'signing' up for.

2. dating worthless, lazy, no work ethic, selfish 'brothers' who were supposedly approved all because they were baptized - but in the end - were a waste of my time and younger years in dating.. 3. subjecting my bf (back in the day) who was a non-jw to the whole jw experience!

i demanded that he study, i demanded that he change his religion in order to be with me, i made him sit with my parents and listened to them berate him (and myself) while they fed him all their haughty beliefs and requirements in order to date their jw daughter.

Awen

I regret nothing anymore. I chalk it up to a learning experience.

I would have never come to Christ without the JW's.

I would have never learned what the "Truth" really is, without a falshood to compare it to.

I wouldn't know how to speak to active JW's and poke holes in their doctrines.

I wouldn't have been able to stand up to Elders and Annointed Ones alike and tell them they are wrong to put their faith in a human organization. That if the WT is indeed teaching the Truth, then why does YHWH see the need to establish a heavenly govt? Why not just work thru the WTS after Armageddon. Simple, the Org needs to be cleansed and the GB are not the New Apostles.

183

How many of you knew about the"Jesus is not your Mediator" teaching when you were JWs??

by Lady Liberty in

hi everyone.... just curious how many of you knew when you were active, about the societys official teaching regarding jesus the mediator.

i was floored to find in my research, that they teach jesus is the mediator for the 144,000 only.

and it is only by our association with them that we might have salvation.. i don't know about you guys but i was blown away when i learned they taught this.

Awen

I had read that article and others like it and understood what it said, but I also accepted the WT's explanation of how the Other Sheep would benefit from being associated with the 144k. In Revelation where it shows Jesus on Zion with the 144k and the Great Crowd before the throne, showed how this was possible.

Still it bugged me. But later, I felt it didn't matter whether He is my mediator or not. I still prayed to Jesus (not YHWH), because that is what YHWH said we should do and ask for things in Jesus' name.

44

Are you getting your H1N1 shot?

by AwSnap in

jw
friends

i'm not, and i thought this was interesting:.

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcadkv_8_5q&feature=player_embedded.

Awen

No. Here's why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3JEVIblok0

33

Does the Watchtower KNOW they are using mind control techniques?

by finding my way in

jw
friends

i've read a few other threads about cult mind control as well as steven hassans book comabatting cult mind control.

i also read a thread questioning the watchtowers motives.

are they in it for the money or what?

Awen

IMO "the ends justify the means". So they think that they will use whatever methods are available to them to keep the organization "Pure" and anyone who questions their motives are questioning God, because they are God's Annointed Ones. Right? Interestingly enough, a recent WT article brought to my attention that the GB considers all the Annointed Ones not of the GB to be mistaken and that sincere JW's shouldn't listen to anything they might say if it's in opposition to what the GB says.

52

ethical consequences of faking reinstatement...

by drew sagan in

jw
friends

i know that there are enough of you out there who can add good points to this discussion, and i await your opinions.

however, please be aware that i wish for you to take great care in your posts.

i am not interested in haphazard responses.. so as to not give away too many details, i'll simply say that recent events have caused my in-laws to strongly desire my wife to fake a reinstatement.

Awen

I tried a few times to return and came to the conclusion that when everyone sees Jerusalem (The GB) surrounded by enemies, the smart ones would flee into the mountains, whereas the stubborn ones would stay, awaiting rescue. I couldn't save anyone but myself. I could however offer comfort and support to those who decided to flee before the city is destroyed.

The decision to leave is an individual one, just as Jesus stated about those wishing to survive the destruction of Jerusalem should flee into the mountains and never return. Even though Jerusalem wasn't destroyed until 3 years later, it still occurred and those that made the personal decision to leave, escaped with their lives because they put their faith in Jesus' words and not those of the Priestly class (i.e. GB).

30

Did any of you ever feel so sad a depressed in field service

by life is to short in

i used to go out in service and i always felt not wanted.

i would meet for service and if they could they would send me home, no one wanted me with them in their car groups.

and yes i did shower before going.

Awen

I suffered from depression for many years while a JW and even attempted suicide a few times. Just couldn't seem to get it right. LOL

I recall I worked for some JW's as a driver for an Electrical Business they had and even outed my worldly boss for stealing from the company ( I had the receipts to prove it), also that he was a closet homosexual who had men over to the trailer we shared when we worked out of town and coerced me into driving his "friends" home on my day off. These revelations shocked my JW employers and I was allowed to transfer back home and given oversight over a warehouse and ran errands for the boss. Unfortunately I was terminated 3 months later because my depression was so bad, I often walked around looking sad. Rather than help me, I was let go and told it was because "they couldn't stand to see me looking so down all the time". Eventually the PO told me to seek medical help thru a local hospital that dealt with depression (even though this went against WT doctrine). Others told me to go out in FS, that by doing that, I would be helping others and I would "forget" about what was ailing me.

There were those in the congregation who would sometimes check on me, but for the most part I felt unloved. I noticed that when I first started studying I was "love-bombed" by the Friends and was always being asked out to dinner or to play basketball, etc. But after my Baptism, everyone was suddenly busy doing something else. I spoke with a fellow JW who was also recently baptized and he said 2 things that struck me as very odd:

1) that they were counting their time with me as FS time and since I was now Baptized, they could no longer do it.

2) that perhaps we werte both being tested by the congregation as to fitness.

My response was that the first one was kinda mean and that the second reason was outright stupid. If either of us weren't fit to be JW's, YHWH would have seen to it that we were never baptized. So if we had God's approval, why would we then need the congregations?

That for me has been a personal rule for my life since then. If I have God's approval, what do men's approval mean?

20

I DONT KNOW WHAT TO THINK...!

by iknowall558 in

jw
friends

i need some help /advice.......think i'm finally starting to go crazy..... .

within a year...we've come out of org and lost all our friends...... we get shunned by all along with family members .... we have moved house....... and my youngest son ,7yrs, had to be taken out of his school because he couldn't cope with the shunning of me and his dad....... and recently i lost my husband, and my kids have lost their dad....he walked out on us 6weeks ago.. .

my friends....fellow apostates, have been invaluable to me and have been there from the word go.....i love them all so much... but lately, after doing so well and coping admirably considering.........he texted me tonight to say that ....some of my friends "have more than one face and would have me believe they only have my best interests at heart all of the time.

Awen

Him getting angry because you won't give in to the children walking to his house at night shows me 2 things:

1) He sees himself as somehow being entitled to your obedience. Many men in the KH seem to think that way (I'm male btw and always hated that crap), just because he is a man and you are a woman.

2) Getting angry about something that is reasonable shows he has no respect for you whatsoever. I wouldn't put it past him to undermine your relationship with the children when they visit him or when he's at your house and you're avoiding him.

File for divorce and seek full custody. That way if he wants to visit he has to do it on your terms (which he will dislike immensely) at your convenience, etc. Do not avoid him when he visits the children. Put on a happy face for the children and no matter what mean things he says to you , reply with Love (or at least the appearance of Love). Your children will eventually see thru his facade and will make up their own minds in due time whether to have anymore to do with him or not. He is afterall their father and the decision must be theirs to make, unless you feel that them having contact with him is somehow dangerous (i.e. he may try to run off with them).

If he is still going to the KH, then be really quick about the divorce proceedings. I have seen and heard of too many times when the husband left his wife because of his own shortcomings, but the Elders supported him and were called as character witnesses and the innocent wife had her children taken from her. Get yourself a female lawyer, because she will sympathize with you, whereas a male may not and may not work as hard to help you. Also get in touch with Randy Watters on Freeminds.org about finding a Cult expert in your area who can testify in court about the dangers of JW's and the techniques they often use to control/manipulate those who attempt to leave.

That is all I can think of at the moment.

26

Does the WTS think they have immunity from Duet 18;20-22?

by jookbeard in

as far as i can remember i have never seen any counter argument from the wts in refuting this scripture in any of it's publications.

they call themselves the elijah class, the jonnadab class, the greater david, the faithful &wise servant, the governing body, the faithful and discreet slave(lol) etc, and even by their own admission's they have been wrong when their light got brighter in making bible prophesies, the failed prophesies of 1874,1914,1919,1935,1975 and the recent lies and failed prophesies concerning the generation and the cut off date for anointed christians of 1935, show this.

so the passage from deut is clearly very serious if those who have spoken in gods name things that have failed to come true, the bottom line is death to that prophet , pure and simple.

Awen

Here's the rub of all their "Old Light" vs "New Light"

Where in the Bible did YHWH ever mislead anyone with wrong information? Show me where he gave out misleading information, because his worshippers simply couldn't handle it. Quite the contrary, he many times gave prophecies or Laws that the Israelites wouldn't understand for many thousands of years, or restrictions in the Mosaic Law that protected their health, even though His people had no knowledge of germs and how diseases are passed along, or why eating the flesh of a certain animal was considered unclean. Only, today, with scientific advances do we understand those statements and how important they were.

Yet the WTS always blames God for any misinformation, saying "The Light has gotten brighter". So if that is true, explain how the WTS can reverse themselves on certain subjects if God were revealing his eternal, unchangeable truth to the Governing Body and the Writing Staff all along? To me this smacks of Adam's attempt to blame Eve for his own shortcomings, when he said "The woman who YOU gave me told me to eat and so I ate". God didn't blame Eve, he blamed Adam and punished him accordingly. Eve was deceived (like so many rank and file JW's today), but the Bible no where says Adam was deceived. He knew what he did was wrong (just like the leadership of the JW's know) and that's why Paul said, "thru one man sin entered into the world and death thru sin."

The WTS will get theirs in the end, but unfortunately the rank and file will probably share in it because they knew better. After all we are told expresslly " do not put your faith in nobles, nor in the son of earthly men, in who no salvation belong."

The GB is no different than the Pharisee of Jesus' day, who could lift many burdens from their brothers with a finger (or the stroke of a pen), but refrain from doing so for fear of losing their positions.

Isaiah aptly prophesised about the GB when he said " those people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from me".

58

Where were you????? Name the closest city to your KH!!!

by restrangled in

jw
friends

chicago for me..

Awen

Myrtle Beach, SC

I still live in the area and know quite a few XJ-W's. We keep in contact and encourage one another.

52

ethical consequences of faking reinstatement...

by drew sagan in

jw
friends

i know that there are enough of you out there who can add good points to this discussion, and i await your opinions.

however, please be aware that i wish for you to take great care in your posts.

i am not interested in haphazard responses.. so as to not give away too many details, i'll simply say that recent events have caused my in-laws to strongly desire my wife to fake a reinstatement.

Awen

I would point out also what result this plan of action would have with you spiritual relationship with Jesus. Being new here and this being my first post, I know nothing of you and yours, so I will say this:

Jesus said that he came to earth not to bring peace, but to bring a sword, that his Truth would divide families and friends. Now that you know JW's do not have the Truth as revealed thru Jesus, then you must make a choice. Jesus or your family? No matter what their reasons may be for wanting your wife to return, it comes down to simple Truth. Jesus said that anyone who was not willing to leave their family and come to him , were not worthy of Him.

This line is often used by JW's to pull people away from their families and to set them up for "persecution from family members", to which they then point as being evidence that JW's do indeed have the Truth.

Now, the situation is reversed. Do you leave JW's to come to Jesus, or do you stay to please your family? Considering Jesus' words, is it possible to then have a relationship with Him with your attention divided?