Posts by not a captive

27

This cult is driving me crazy!

by teel in

jw
friends

two elders were just here an hour ago.

i'm afraid i lost my temper with them, and even my neighbours heard me .

let me just take it from the top.

not a captive

Teel,

You didn't do as bad as all that-, IMO---this IS a rotten time.

Calm yourself with the memory that you did make a core statement of faith to these men whether or not you shouted or lost your temper.

You said that you did not break your promise to Jehovah. You are working hard to keep it.

They are NOT (supposed to be)MASTERS OF YOUR FAITH--but they certainly are not fellow workers for your joy.

Even if we struggle and fall God is able to make us stand .

They may rob your peace for a little while , but not forever. They don't have a clue how faith works--All they have is the mechanics of a messed up religion.

They can't give faith and they can't take it away.

When things are this painful we act crazy sometimes. But don't lose heart over it.

I'll pray for you to find your peace. We all need that.

42

GB's response to rising Memorial partakers

by 5thGeneration in

br.

pierce addressed the rising number of memorial partakers at the convention on sunday.. he said that many are asking why the number of partakers is going up year after year.. his response (paraphrasing): "it's none of our business.

it's jehovah's business".. in other words, shut up and keep your place.. 5th.

not a captive

Waaaaaiit a minute here.

Since when did something being Jehovah's business keep the GB from messing in it?

How about the time of the end whose day and hour no one knows not even Jesus?

Does the GB keep its nose out of that?

NO

And, as for giving power to the "other sheep"--They have never given it to their "anointed" --they take it away.

Only the GB has the right to "follow the Lamb wherever he goes", while they tell the anointed and other sheep to stick their nose up the GB's bung and follow wherever IT goes.------------And that is according to page 23 of the 9/15/10 WT. (see a thread on that topic)!

This is not loving or Godly or honest or Scriptural.

This is foul play. This is insane.

If any want to be faithful to Jesus and his Father, they had better leave this organization fast--

What can separate us from the love of the Christ, really?

Christians receive the power from on high as Jesus said--Unless we throw it down infront of the GB of Jehovah's Witnesses.

17

Another GEM from the 9/15/10 WT

by civicsi00 in

this is taken word for word from the study article entitled: "unity identifies true worship", page 13, paragraph 8:.

"similarly today, a governing body composed of spirit-anointed christians contributes to the unity of the worldwide congregation.

the governing body publishes spiritually encouraging literature in many languages.

not a captive

Yes, this emphasis on the Governing Body and there elite position began to creep me out even before I had my last year of meetings with elders, etc.

In my very last meeting and latter correspondence I mentioned that the GB broke faith with Jesus by requiring complete submission to their direction--from everyone. civicsi00 quoted page 23 of this Watchtower:

"The anointed and their other sheep companions recognize that by following the lead of the modern-day Governing Body, they are in fact following their Leader, Christ."

This violate not only common sense but it violates what the Bible says.

Using their own "theology" The defining aspect of anointed ones is that "they follow the LAMB wherever he goes" according to Rev.14:4. But the GB nullifies their relationship with Jesus.

They rob everyone in their organization of "knowing the true God" by cramming people's heads with their fake, warped so-called "accurate knowledge".

This is a very sick bunch of people.

12

From the Halls of Montezuma

by snowbird in

to the shores of tripoli .... did you ever sing or hum this while a jw?.

i did; i love that song.. tee hee hee.. syl.

not a captive

We used to sing this, Syl---- and my dad was in the Army! I was a cool song.

14

Anyone Else Ever Experience This?

by thraxer68 in

so as you da'd, were df'd, faded, or just mentally let go of everything you believed for so long, did you experience this weird transition phase of an "identitylessness"?

i think this might only apply to people who were "strong" in the faith.

as a strong witness, im sure those of us who were really took to heart and mind the things that we learned and counsel that the society produced.

not a captive

thraxer68,

Just as Syl, before the Witnesses introduced me to the management of the FDS I had strong faith in the reality of a loving God and the ministry of Jesus.

I was born a Catholic and then became a conscious Christian when the JW door-to-door work caught me. I was attracted to the love that would not kill other humans. But the rigid idea that God only "talks" to us through the FDS became more and more ridiculous in the light of the Scriptures themselves.

I believe the Scriptures are a tool that God uses even though their value is greatly diminished if we insist that they are to be granted unerring accuracy. The difference in the God we infer from the OT and the NT speaks alot to this idea.

This web site has been helpful to me in clearing out the dead wood of indoctrination. But the cynical view of faith might prevent a seeker from being open to a wandering forth to meet God even devoid of the religious pressure of the FDS.

I am just going on with my life and I completely trust that God wants me to relate to him--I remember the simple precepts for relating to God and man through Jesus' sermon on the mount. And by remembering that most of Jesus' followers through the centuries likely have been illiterates,I try not to impose needlessly complicated theological overlays on my own understanding.

I figure that if God is there and I am really listening, I will be just fine.

Maeve

14

I wonder if JW's ever study what the heretics said.

by dgp in

i was just wondering if jehovah's witnesses have heard about the dead sea scrolls, or whether they could ever get to read, say, the gnostic gospels.

some catholics would read those, to be sure, while some others wouldn't.

i wonder if jehovah's witnesses ever get to study what the heretics held as true, like, for example, marcion's belief that the god of the old testament couldn't possibly be the god of the new testament..

not a captive

Chalam, !

63

Planted a seed today... Update on de-program of my 16 year old son

by Aussie Oz in

well, some of you know that i have a 16 year old son who lives with his jw mother.

she has already mastered the art of guilt control on him.

i am most anxious that he not get baptized at all or at least unless he has really understood the whole truth, not just the watchtower truth.

not a captive

She opened it up, placed it on display against the wall and said nothing.

As they say--Behavior IS communication, Oz. She is opening the matter up between you both so she is not hidding it . She is just sorting out her brain , like you said. Sounds very good.

Thanks for the update.

14

I wonder if JW's ever study what the heretics said.

by dgp in

i was just wondering if jehovah's witnesses have heard about the dead sea scrolls, or whether they could ever get to read, say, the gnostic gospels.

some catholics would read those, to be sure, while some others wouldn't.

i wonder if jehovah's witnesses ever get to study what the heretics held as true, like, for example, marcion's belief that the god of the old testament couldn't possibly be the god of the new testament..

not a captive

They mentioned only writings that tended to concur or reinforce doctrines they taught --even if they were somewhat different. But never did I see writings that would have been debatable or controversial in the publications.

Am I remembering this right?

13

The likes of Ehrman and Friedman

by dgp in

jw
friends

after reading about his book on this forum, i got the book who wrote the bible, by richard elliott friedman.

i had also bought several other books by bart ehrman, and then one by bruce metzger, the canon of the bible.

i haven't read them all yet, but what i have read is enough for me to ask yet another question here.

not a captive

Religion is not faith.

Religion is all about message control.

And to control a text like the Bible you have to freeze it.

No new discoveries--got that, all you members of religious groups?

Now faith is not the same as religion. Jesus spoke of faith but faithless religionists killed him. Paul said that when he persecuted Christians he acted as a person without faith.

Being a member of a religion does not require faith. You just recite the right answers, get baptised and do as you're told. You are considered exemplary.

So nothing new shows up in religions--any of them. The writing department of Jehovah's Witnesses? they do not use original scholarship--they just look at back issues of the Society's literature and a few old reference volumes from the churches of "Christendom".

Religion tries to stand on my feet.

I want them to let me stand on my own.

"For it is by your[own] faith that you stand"

18

wife awakening

by diamondiiz in

jw
friends

my wife was reading a few bits of coc and she read most of gentile times reconsidered and she says she's not buying the dates anymore and i can tell she knows it's not the truth.

she is starting to feel depressed about it and is feeling "hollow" on the inside.

she said that you can't argue all the evidence that points to 586/7bc for jerusalem's destruction and you can't separate dates from wts dogma - she finally is getting it :) historians are making stuff up to cover up 607bc.

not a captive

She'll come out on the other side!

Great--How'd you get her to read it?