Posts by pixiesticks

21

Giving to Charities

by Kristina1972 in

i notice the jw's don't really donate to charities.

when i donated to the earthquake in haiti, my husband didn't really say anything about it.

silence usually means he doesn't agree with something because of his religious beliefs.

I had an arguement with my parents over this recently.
Most JWs view all "worldly" organisations, even charities, with distrust. They think that many of the people running them are dishonest and that it isn't certain that their donated money is getting to the place they donated it to (the irony). They would rather give their money to the World Wide Works box at the Kingdom Hall, because they believe they can trust the Org completely and know where the money is going.

25

Mention of U.N. as the "beast" is diminishing dramatically in WT

by Gayle in

"united nations" and "beast".

"united nations".

this reference is done by paul of jwfacts.com .

pixiesticks

Part of the being an NGO is that even before you become linked with the UN, you have to promote the UN and its works.
I am not sure how quoting UN and WHO (world health organisation which is a part of the un) statistics is promoting the UN, but it does seem funny that the WTS is quoting stats from a group that they have deemed "a front for satan!"

In a few quotes they do appear to be praising the UN and highlighting some of the positive things that they do. They certainly quote stats from them a heck of a lot!

The latest negative thing I can find written about the UN is in Watchtower 1st June 2005:

"When the United Nations was formed, one of the stated purposes was “to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples.” After nearly 60 years, has that noble objective been reached? Far from it! . . . When the United Nations was formed, it had 51 member nations. Today, there are 191."

Although they are quick to add:
"There is no doubt that many of the efforts for peace have been sincere and well-meant. In spite of this, world unity seems unattainable."

The latest mention regarding prophacy with the UN refered to as the "beast" is in the Watchtower 15th Nov 2001:
"Whether our hope is heavenly or earthly, we are no part of the world, and we are not infected by such spiritually deadly plagues as its immorality, materialism, false religion, and worship of “the wild beast” and its “image,” the United Nations."

From the year 1998 to 2008 (as up-to-date as my CD is), there has only been 3 mentions refering to the UN as the "Beast".

25

Mention of U.N. as the "beast" is diminishing dramatically in WT

by Gayle in

"united nations" and "beast".

"united nations".

this reference is done by paul of jwfacts.com .

pixiesticks

And most of the newer references to the United Nations have absolutely nothing to do with bible prophasy either! They are mostly statistic quotes:

"In 2007, a United Nations source reported that 33 countries lack sufficient food to feed their people." (Watchtower 1st Oct. 2008)

"Anna Tibaijuka, executive director for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, expresses what is a growing consensus among researchers. She says: “If we continue as usual, a disastrous future beckons." (Watchtower 1st Aug. 2008)

"According to a United Nations source, about five million children die from the effects of hunger each year. How unjust!" (Watchtower 15th Aug. 2007)

Compares those references with the ones from the 1950's:

"Since they have taken up this cry, the world politicians and statesmen backed up by the religious clergy have set up a symbol of world domination. Before World War II it had the form of the League of Nations, but now it has the form of the United Nations." (Watchtower 15th Dec. 1950)

"Under the banner of the United Nations the powers of this old world are engaged in a strenuous propaganda and military struggle in an effort to strengthen its entrenched position." (Watchtower 1st Oct. 1950)

"And how significant that this great Theocratic convention of new world supporters should convene near the very capital of the doomed old world’s United Nations!" (Watchtower 1st Oct. 1950)

35

Does anybody else feel relieved that they won't be tortured during the great tribulation?

by doublelife in

jw
friends

i grew up hearing about different ways people have been tortured in the past and was always scared of going through that during the gt.

it was always an unhealthy obsession of mine.

i always thought that i was more worried about it than other jws and that i would end up renouncing my faith to get out of it.

pixiesticks

I actually kept a box of heavy wool jumpers and a first aid kit in a box under my bed incase the Tribulation started and my family and I had to hide in the woods or something. I used to look out the back of my house and plan in my head the way we'd take out across the fields.

What scared me the most was the idea that I'd be tortured to renounce my faith, like in the concentration camps in WW2. I knew I wouldn't be strong enough and would sign the paper under threat of pain. So I worried that Jehovah wouldn't forgive me before Armegeddeon and I'd die.

I imagined that our neighbours would turn on us and either try to burn our house down with us in it, or worse.

44

1914 can be proved wrong now, using the same logic and reasoning, they missed a KEY POINT!

by EndofMysteries in

i'm not saying i even agree with the current reasoning behind the 1914 date, but you can't argue that with jw's, but in my latest research and personal study, i ran into the kryptonite for the 1914 date.

right out of "bible topics for discussion" is "chronology" in which it states 1914 ce ends gentile times.

line of kingom rulers interuppted 607 bce ac 17:24, 25 7:48.

pixiesticks

But doing good has very little to do with it. God is going to destroy all those that don't believe in him/accept Jesus' sacrifice. So you could be the most saintly of people, yet you could still be on God's checklist for eternal destruction (and even torment).

He commands that we obey, believe in and even love him whole-heartedly, yet he leaves no actual hard evidence for his existance. The 'prophecies' that he has supposedly left are so incredibly difficult to calculate that you would have to be a mathematician and historian (having copious knowledge of many different areas of history) to even begin to attempt to understand them. Even then, many of the calculations done by highly educated people are argued over. No one can agree on a meaning or even the method that the meaning can worked out by.

And if you believe what you just said - that God doesn't want us all to understand so that he can test our true characters' - then why did God even bother to inspire Revelation? What purpose does Revelation and the prophecies contained in it serve? To simply confuse us? Is God playing games?

4

The Flat Earth Society, why did it last so long ?

by wobble in

the flat earth society still exists actually as several sites on the net,some run by loonies, some a bit tongue in cheek.. the actual society was started in the early fifties by a strange guy who lived in dover,kent in the u.k. wiki has his story if you want more.. what surprised me was that it survived for years despite the obvious evidence for how wrong its ideas were.

the final tipping point came with the publication of photographs from space,showing a very sphere-like earth.

of course members of the society contended that the photos were faked , or "misinterpreted" .

pixiesticks

How about solid proof of life on other planets? Like a fossil or something. I'm sure a lot of Witnesses will hold to the idea that it's fake, but that'd start a lot of less fanatical ones questioning for sure.

Other than that, I don't know. The WTS has pretty much all bases covered. Unless the Society implodes itself I'm not sure if there's any evidence anyone could show them to make them change their minds. They can always fall back on the idea that everything in the world is Satan influenced and Satan is setting up hoaxes to get Witnesses to lose their faith, etc.
I mean, it's already been proved that the bible is historically inaccurate, that's pretty massive.

27

Did you suffer from panic attacks in the borg?

by highdose in

jw
friends

i can certainly say that i did and that i knew alot of others that did too.

i can also say that i don't any more, i left my panic attacks in the km!.

what about you?.

pixiesticks

Yes. I did.
I would get feelings of panic, being trapped and unbearable pent-up tension during every assembly and some meetings. Actual full on panic attacks with racing heart, shortness of breath, dizziness and faintness, I've only had a few, but all of them were related to the Witnesses. One particularly bad one, where I felt like I was going to pass out was after I'd had a massive arguement with my parents one the subject of Armageddeon. Another was after a book study where the elder made a horrific, graphic descriptions of people dying at Armageddeon with their eye-rotting out while they were still alive. Then he made a joke about it and everyone in the room laughed. I thought I was going to be sick and had a massive panic in the bathroom when I got home.
In my last few years as a Witness, I suffered with a lot of anxiety. I'd get so anxious, that some days I couldn't even bring myself to leave my own bedroom. Everything outside it just seemed to daunting. I had to call in sick to work many time just because I couldn't get out my own front door.

Now I'm not a Witness I don't get any of that any more. I still get feelings of claustrophobia when I'm at the meetings, but now I know what they're teaching is all BS, I don't panic. :)

25

Jehovah's Witnesses and the "Great Disappointment" on UK Television

by slimboyfat in

jw
friends

it's a shame those of you outside the uk probably can't view the following link:.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qm86v/qi_xl_series_7_greats/.

jehovah's witness get a prominent mention at the start of a popular comedy quiz show here in the uk, hosted by stephen fry, called qi.

pixiesticks

Ha! Funny stuff! Stephen Fry = legend! I hope someone with rip this off the site and put it up on YouTube, so non UK peeps can see it.

44

1914 can be proved wrong now, using the same logic and reasoning, they missed a KEY POINT!

by EndofMysteries in

i'm not saying i even agree with the current reasoning behind the 1914 date, but you can't argue that with jw's, but in my latest research and personal study, i ran into the kryptonite for the 1914 date.

right out of "bible topics for discussion" is "chronology" in which it states 1914 ce ends gentile times.

line of kingom rulers interuppted 607 bce ac 17:24, 25 7:48.

pixiesticks

And why the frick would any loving, compassionate God make this most important of prophecies SO complicated to calculate and so hard to understand with so many human lives at stake!? It's ridiculous!

9

To dubs and lurkers. The real truth about "apostates."

by parakeet in

jw
friends

we "apostates" here often wax eloquent about what baaaaadddddd people we are, mostly, i think, to shock the dubs that naively come here expecting to hear whitewashed dubspeak.

i admit, it's fun to bait dubbies from time to time with (mostly fictional) tales about debauchery and mayhem.. but maybe it's time for a reality check to let lurkers and dubs see what we have actually accomplished with our lives since leaving the wts and dubdom.

it would be good for them to see that we don't automatically turn into crackhead satan-worshippers who shoot dogs and spit on the pavement.. it's time to shine, fellow apostates!

pixiesticks

I feel I am a better, more stable, more confident, more caring person now I'm not a Jehovah's Witness.

When I was a Witness, I had a very selfish attitude. I worried only about myself and my family and, although I would help out other Witnesses when I could, I never even thought about actively helping anyone outside the "truth". What would be the point? They were all going to die at Armageddeon anyway, I reasoned.
It was only when I left that I realised what a selfish, self-absorbed life I had been living! I had an overwhelming urge to start making a positive difference. I started looking for volunteer work and getting actively involved in raising money for charity. Where, as a Witness, I'd only ever donated money to the Society, who used the money to either print more literature, or build more Kingdom Halls abroad, now I was donating to charities that were really helping people right now! I know many Witnesses view this kind of work as putting a plaster (or bandaid) on a dying world, but I see now that that way of thinking is just so negative and unhelpful. People are suffering now and they need help, not a tract, leaflet or book!

I'm not depressed or anxious anymore. In my last few years as a Witness I would get so anxious that some days I couldn't even bring myself to leave my bedroom and I'd get panicy and have to lock myself in the toilets for the whole day at assemblies. It got to a point were I was even considering medication, something I really didn't want to have to do. Thankfully I found a cure that didn't involve pills - I finally got the courage to visit those so-called 'apostate' websites, one of which was Jehovah's Witness Recovery and discover through research that I'd been living an illusion.

I'm planning to go to college and I'm planning lots of exciting holiday destinations!

I haven't started smoking, using drugs, having lots of premiscuous sex, stealing or cheating! My "worldly" friends are more loyal and devoted to me than any of my Witness friends ever were. I know I can tell my "worldly" friends anything and they won't judge me. They accept me for who I am (and I don't have to worry that they'll tell the elders on me if they think I did or said something wrong!).

If there are any active Witnesses reading this, I really hope they can see that the Society lies about what it's like outside the Org. They paint this picture of an awful, evil, completely immoral place wrapped up in an attractive looking package. I can tell you, from someone now on that outside, that simply not true. It certainly isn't all wonderful and rosy (nothing is!), but you don't have to be scared of it. There are so many great things out here and so many genuinely good, kind, loving people too, despite what the Witnesses will tell you.