i am considering getting couples counseling for the jw boyfriend and i. he's open to it.
he got help himself for an issue recently, but it was in the short term, and it went well for him.
i want to know if we started going regularly, and his mentor got wind of it, what are the jw views on mental health help?
Talk to Elders, meetings, service, study, prayer is the catch-all prescription, but it is acknowledged that mental health issues may require going to a doctor/counselor, etc.
I know at least one JW who went to counseling but held back on information so that they didn't give God's organization a bad name. I suspect that this pretty much puts a damper on the effectiveness of the whole counseling session.
on freeminds.org, randy w wrote this about himself:.
even as a strict jehovahs witness for eight years, i never once shunned or failed to speak to a disfellowshipped person.
it is simply cruel.
Read this thread.
do jws women use birth control?.
i always wanted to know what their views were on birth control.
ciao,.
Taking the pill (or I should say the Mini pill) does not mean that an egg cannot be fertilized. It's is possible and some birth control pills are designed to make the uterus lining inhospitable for egg implantation. But from the little bit of research I've just done about 1/3 to 1/2 of fertilized eggs don't implant at all.
Good point. But so far this has been officially ignored (or overlooked?) by the WTS.
do jws women use birth control?.
i always wanted to know what their views were on birth control.
ciao,.
Birth Control that involves non-reversible (or possibly non-reversible) "damaging" of the reproductive system is not allowed (ie. vasectomy). But if you got it done before the article came out that said it was wrong then you are grandfathered in.
Birth Control that works after fertilization has taken place is not allowed.
Birth Control that prevents fertilization is a conscience matter ie. Condoms, birth control pills.
Having children is both unwise since we are so deep in the time of the end and a blessing from Jehovah.
i vaguely remember looking at this board a few years ago, before i ever considered leaving the borg, and being appalled at the evil and hateful attitudes i saw here and scared to death of reading any further.. now i go back through years and years of posts and there is no evil or hate there at all.
it's one of the most kind and welcoming boards i've encountered since the invention of the internet.. that is how well borg indoctrination works.
it is eerily like 1984. black is white.
Yes.
Got curious on Wikipedia one day. Saw all this history I never heard of. Verified a lot of it in the proclaimers book. Looked at Blood Transfusions topic, saw ajwrb, suprised at alternate take on the scriptures and blood. This hit home since I personally knew a witness who died waiting for the EPO to work. Noticed reference to Franz, googled CoC, found a few chapters. Read them.
Shelved everything to the back of my mind; Needed time to absorb all the new information.
Later, KM article came out telling us not too do independent research. Made me wonder why 2 or 3 getting together to study does not have the Lord's spirit (as the scriptures say they would). Decided that if it's the truth, then it can stand up to argument. Started Googling teachings that we have that just didn't feel quite right. Found JW facts. Faced the facts. Found freeminds. Read every single life story. Found this board. Learned more about the organization and JW teachings than I had ever known before.
Still in, learning, absoring, exploring and learning to think "outside the [JW] box".
i'm back from the spring assembly, theme "the time left is reduced", 1 corinthians 7:29. the presentations were smug in the face of a torrent of world wide tough news stories.
these should be the glory days for the assemblies.
however, attendance is down, significantly.
The time left was reduced when this thread was started. How much more so must the time be reduced now!
critical thinking, ie.
"independent thinking", is still a relatively new concept for me.
for the majority of my life i avoided having opinions, scoring poorly in school on reports were we were supposed to give our opinion on political, social, or controversial issues.
Critical thinking, ie. "Independent thinking", is still a relatively new concept for me. For the majority of my life I avoided having opinions, scoring poorly in school on reports were we were supposed to give our opinion on political, social, or controversial issues. My mistaken impression of critical thinking was that it was "Thinking with a view solely to criticize". One of the warnings against University has been that critical thinking / philosophy courses have caused some to lose faith in the Bible or in the Truth.
Now I know that Critical Thinking is simply determining the meaning or significance behind an argument to determine if it is true. However, the fallacies, specific concepts of logic and reason, etc, are still very fuzzy to me.
Can anyone recommend any good books/references that can help to develop critical thinking skills?
anyone?.
Within the context of the Bible, I figured it was because God told humans to fill the earth, but they had not yet done that. They should have been spreading out around the earth instead of concentrating themselves in one place.
Now that we have overpopulated the earth, there's nowhere to go but up!
since the term "this generation" evidently means "two generations" i think we should have our discussion of things that are evidently true.
no need to limit it to the bible, but i'll start off with one.. 1 tim.
3 "2now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife" evidently means everybody else can have as many wives as they want.
1) Evidently, the evidence showw we were wrong, which brings us to a new understanding.
2) Evidently, this lends support to our argument, so we'll assume this is what it means.
3) Evidently, there are external pressures to change, so we'll make it a conscience matter.
for the majority of my years in the truth, the "new light" did not bother me at all.. i reasoned this way: "the faithful slave is imperfect, right?
logically they're going to make mistakes.
the main thing is that they're trying to do god's will they best they can and stick as close to the bible as they understand it.
In the past we said this:
It is not claimed that the explanations in this publication are infallible. (Revelation Climax--p. 9)
Those who make up the one true Christian organization today do not have angelic revelations or divine inspiration. (Kingdom Proclaimers--p.708)
Although the slave class is defined as "faithful and discreet," Jesus did not say that it would be infallible. This group of faithful anointed brothers still consists of imperfect Christians. Even with the best of intentions, they can be mistaken, as such men sometimes were in the first century. (WT December 1, 2002--p. 17)
Looking at the recent paragraph some more I think OnTheWayOut is right. They stop short of saying they are directed by the Holy Spirit, but rather that the Holy Spirit "helps" them. Still, though, this gives the impression that all new understandings are a result of the help of the Holy Spirit.
