You hold the hearts of many of my family members in your grasp, your downfall is their downfall and I do not wish ill upon them.
This says it all for me. Thanks Sab.
witnesses, for some reason, feel they deserve massive credibility in bible predictions and interpretations.
enough that they feel they have to right o be considered an universal authority.. their claim to fame comes from, mainly, their stance on blood, the trinity, immortality of the soul and hellfire.
maybe this is actually what the bible teaches... but to me, it is a moot stance in regards to the position they claim to have a right to.. the witnesses have been heralding the coming of christ for well over a century.
You hold the hearts of many of my family members in your grasp, your downfall is their downfall and I do not wish ill upon them.
This says it all for me. Thanks Sab.
i got baptised about 25 years ago and was told the new system would be here by now.. along with a lot of other false promises.. so the answer for me would be no!!
!.
I was baptised as at the age of 15 along with my parents and at the time I thought I was doing it for all the right reasons but a few years later when I was more mature I realised I just loved the wonderful feeling of approval by my parents and the love and acceptance of my congregation that had been 'love bombing' me and my family since we became involved with them. My parents were both adults when they were baptised but at 15 I was still an immature, dependent child. Feeling safe and secure is extremely important to a child, and how was I to distinguish between these feelings and a true devotion to the religion we had joined?
I think the WTBTS are fully aware of the way they trap children in this manner otherwise they wouldn't keep on telling them not to get married before they are mature enough to know exactly what they are doing!!
So the answer is no, I don't think my baptism is still valid because as a minor I should never have been baptised in the first place.
the whole video is good, but notice the point started at about 6:55- wts says other translations fail as victims of traditionalism then later admits that wts uses traditional "familiarity" in their decision to use the name "jehovah.".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r5rkvzfwha.
Excellent video. Thanks for that.
here's a video that shows how they just go through the motions.
one jw is totally not the type to do the door-to-door work, yet he stutters through it and the partner knows it ain't her turn so she offers no help.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c93fpl84gvs.
At least he was talking quite fast and you could understand him. I was asked to work with a sister once whose stutter was so severe that we literally stood in silence for minutes at a time while she just kept repeating the first letter of the word she was trying to get out of her mouth. It was excruciating. She didn't go on the preaching work much for this reason but wanted to take part on this particular day so the elders asked me to work with her. If I had butted in and taken over she would have been absolutely mortified so I just had to stand there casting sympathetic glances towards the bewildered householders. She was a lovely lady, but I'm glad I wasn't asked to work with her again, I don't think my nerves could have stood it!
about a year ago i went through a mild meltdown.
it hit me fast i had panic attacks and became angry with all the control in my life.
(being a jw) i had just found out i was being screwed on a real estate development project by another self righteous jw i have known for a long time but this was a big loss (about 4 months pay plus expenses).
A big welcome from me too Evidently Apostate. LOVE the username! Like Witness My Fury, I haven't got round to sharing my tale in full yet, and as I've been out for 20 odd years I haven't got much of an excuse not to so I really must get round to doing so soon .
Anyway, all best wishes to you and I look forward to hearing your views on the board!!
i've been faded, inactive, for 6 years or more and the witnesses i know are astounded that i'm not in trouble.
they don't say it but its on their minds.
i do the things thier "brothers and sisters" don't do towards them.
A sister once told me that she found it puzzling how I could be such a loving, caring person towards members of the congregation yet not be that bothered about spiritual matters. I was actually looking after that sister who was really ill while people closer to her were out banging on doors! Yet to her, I should have been out banging doors as well, so who was supposed to look after her?!!
Isn't it great when we can prove the WTS wrong when it predicts anyone leaving 'Jehovah's Organisation' are doomed to lead miserable, empty lives unless they 'open their hearts to Jehovah' and return to the safety of the flock once again. The fact that years later we are seen to still be the same happy caring people we always were as dubs just isn't supposed to happen, is it.
Hopefully just seeing us living happy fulfilled lives away from the Borg will help more concious ones to pluck up the courage and start fading (or as ex-witness says growing), themselves. Let's hope so
it seems that i have quite a dilemma: i just found out that my mother is in the hospital.
she does not speak to me or my sister.
she is told by the people who publishes the books and magazines that she sells (jehovahs witnesses) that she cannot speak to us or eat a meal with us.
Oh, what an awful dilemma. I feel so much for you . I would suggest trying to contact an elder from the congregation who knows your mother well enough to talk to her on your behalf and maybe reassure her that it is OK to have contact with you in these circumstances. After all, accepting a visit from you while she is ill in hospital is different from seeing you socially. There is so much fear attached to that religion that maybe she just needs to be reassured that Jehovah is not going to punish her for accepting a visit from you while she is in the hospital. If she still refuses there is not much you can do, but at least you have tried your best. Take care xxx
i think judith hayes says it well:.
http://www.thehappyheretic.com/02-10.htm.
In the end, the fact of the matter is a person isn’t faced with the necessity of only being either an atheist or an agnostic. Quite the contrary, not only can a person be both, but it is in fact common for people to be both agnostics and atheists. An agnostic atheist won’t claim to know for sure that nothing warranting the label “god” exists or that such cannot exist, but they also don’t actively believe that such an entity does indeed exist.
This makes perfect sense to me. My gut instinct tells me there is no God in the same way I don't believe in pixies, goblins, unicorns or the Loch Ness Monster but if someone asked me to prove 100% that none of them exist I couldn't do it. Neither would I be willing to stake my life on the non-existence of any of them. Therefore I must be an agnostic athiest.
i just thought that i would share an observation regarding par 3 of this weeks wt study.
the paragraph says in part " jehovah's witnesses find genuine refreshment through up building christian fellowship".. .
i am wondering if any readers / posters on this forum that still do or used to attend meetings have any thoughts on this.
I quite agree gutted. I have not been to a meeting in over 20 years but STILL get that wonderful feeling of freedom every Sunday when I wake up knowing I can spend the day exactly how I want to. No more having to get up at some unearthly hour for a Sunday to go banging on doors then dress up in WT regulation meeting clothes to go and sit in a stuffy Hall for 2 hours. What bliss, it is so REFRESHING
i just thought that i would share an observation regarding par 3 of this weeks wt study.
the paragraph says in part " jehovah's witnesses find genuine refreshment through up building christian fellowship".. .
i am wondering if any readers / posters on this forum that still do or used to attend meetings have any thoughts on this.
The paragraph says in part " Jehovah's Witnesses find genuine refreshment through up building Christian fellowship".
The reason the WT keeps repeating this 'required' reaction throughout its literature is to ensure the rank and file continue training their minds to react accordingly, like good little puppies. Thus, at the end of every meeting you will hear a chorus of dubs exclaiming "Oooooh wasn't that a LOVELY meeting! I feel sooooo refreshed!!!" or words to that effect.
Try asking most of them what the best part of the meeting was for them and I guarantee you will be met with a sea of blank expressions. If only there were visible thought bubbles above dubs' heads during meetings I would be willing to bet most of them would include images of work, recreation, concerns about family members, what to cook for tea, what's on the TV that night etc. etc. and a LOT of X rated stuff!! The rest of the dubs would have butterflies and bunnies flitting around in their cloud filled heads as their brains automatically switched to standby mode 2 minutes after the introduction. Of course there will always be the exceptions to the rule who sit there taking notes throughout as examples to all, with their halos shining brightly. The backbone of the Cult bless them!!
In my opinion the only thing that has been 'refreshed' for the majority of the dubs is their collective cognitive dissonance.