exwhyzee
JoinedPosts by exwhyzee
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2015 Regional Convention Theme - unofficial-
by WatchTower87 innews about 2015 regional convention theme?.
list of my preview:.
- the end is at hand.
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Why I like Jehovah's Witnesses
by undercover witness ini keep reading that jehovah's witnesses are in effect monsters.
i keep reading that they kinda leave chaos and distrust in their wake.
so i simply wondered if anyone had anything nice to say about them?.
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exwhyzee
Not everything they say or do, nor everything they believe, stands up to examination from the heart, but the vast majority of what they say about the Bible is correct and can be demonstrated by them from every version of the Bible. And they mean you well. Without hatred in their hearts nor money on their minds.
So I simply wondered if anyone had anything nice to say about them?There's woman who just started doing temporary receptionist work in our office. She's working with a government program that helps older minority women get back into the workforce. After the holidays I was standing nearby and heard her mention to someone that she's a JW and doesn't celebrate Christmas. Today I told her I had overheard her say that and wondered if I had heard correctly. She replied very respectfully and solemnly "Yes Sir...I've been a Jehovah's Witness for over 30 years now". It felt strange to have a older black woman address me, (a white male) as "Sir" that way because I am not her supervisor or her superior in any way and I had talked to her one on one many times before without that kind of reacition. I realized she might have just been saying that because she was in full JW mode and wanted to make a good JW impression.
Anyway, I told her that up until a few years ago I had been a JW myself and was even a Bethelite at one point but had stopped going to meetings for various reasons. She gasped and was very impressed about me having been a Bethelite. She asked me if I'd ever thought of going back. I told her that it had crossed my mind but that too many things had happened for me to ever feel the same.
She asked me what happened and I told her that I didn't want to go into too much detail here at work but one thig was that my father died a horrible death from not taking a blood transfusion after a surgery and then about 2 years later the Governing Body decided that taking blood fractions was OK. I told her that those fractions would have most likely saved his life.
She looked puzzled and said she never heard anything about blood fractions and wasn't sure what I was even talking about. I told her that a few years ago the Governing Body decided that if whole blood was separated out into its various components or fractions, certain fractions could be used for medical purposes and still be considered "abstaining" from blood. Anyway we simply stopped going to meeting after this and a few other similar things happened one after another. My wife and I are pretty much friendless now because no one but a few family members will associate or talk to us, even though we've done nothing other than stop going to meetings.
Her phone rang just then but before she answered it she said "Well, I've never heard anything about blood fractions but I wouldn't have stop talking to you".
I'll have to wait and see if she want's to hear more the next time I see her.
Anyway, to answer your opening question, I'd have to say that JW's as individuals are typically lovely people and I can think of lots of nice things to say about them. They have their faults like anyone else but I find that so many of them are unclear or unaware of many important details about their own beliefs and how they have evolved over the years and the price so many have paid from altering their lives around those now changed beliefs. JW's are prepared to die or let their children die, upholding beliefs they aren't really clear about. As an organization, because of their beliefs and the enforcement of them, JW's are directly responsible for prematurely ending lives or permanently altering whole family lineages. On the surface it all looks well and good. But it's only when you have a crisis or conflict yourself or when you become aware of the experiences of (likely) millions of individuals who's experience as a JW has been less than ideal, do you get a true picture of the impact of this organization and why it's beliefs and members are sometimes viewed as peculiar .
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deliberate deception by org
by Magnum inthere is ample evidence of the jw organizations being deceptive (for example, misusing quotes in publications such as the trinity brochure and the creation book), but a few years ago i noticed one glaring example of deception that is worth noting..
part #4 for the theocratic ministry school for the week of july 21, 2008 was how can false prophets be identified?
the material was the reasoning book beginning on page 132 (there was a similar service meeting part the week of 8-26-13)..
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exwhyzee
If this isn't a case of outright deception, it does at the very least demonstrate that these folks are not worthy of our trust when it comes to furnishing reliable unbiased information.
In terms of Watchtower teachings, the expression "Trust...but verify " comes to mind. JW's trust the organization without question and most rarely verify the information that is furnished. The ones who do, wind up in the same situation as most of us here.
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i know this has been talked about. but isn't wearing JW.org stuff idol worship
by goingthruthemotions inso i am getting really frustrated...i see jdub's wearing jw.org items and .
isn't this idol worship.
respond if you like...i just want some .
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exwhyzee
Idol worship....really?? This may be taking the fault finding of JW's a little too far. JW's believe that people can learn life saving"Truth" when they go to JW-dot-Org .Their goal in wearing the button is to make people curious enough to go to the website or make the website known so that more people discover their organization and what they call "The Truth". It's basic advertizing. They still say they worship Jehovah and believe that making his name known is part of their worship of him and they believe these buttons and banners advertizing their website will help others to do the same. -
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Seen smoking a cigarette
by Godsendconspirator ini won't say i got "caught" because that would imply i was keeping my habit hidden.
i'm tired of constantly doing that with these guys.
yesterday, my friend and i were waiting for some people and decided to smoke a cigarette to pass the time.
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exwhyzee
"Abstain from smoke!" Any "scripture" that really and actually forbids smoking? Didn't think so!
Isn't there a scripture that says something like..."Again I tell you, it is easier for a pack of camel filters to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a smoker to enter the kingdom of God."
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Proud JW.ORG Photos everyone needs to see! The Watchtower Sanctified the Internet for Preaching!
by Trailer Park Pioneer ini am proud to be a jehovah's witness in the last days, what religion has done this much to proclaim the message about the organization?
other religions are preaching about jesus, some wear the crucifixion, other's wear shirts with fishes but we wear shirts with jw.org!
no other religion has our courage!.
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exwhyzee
The photo of the bus looks to looks like one of those (motor home sized) rental car shuttle busses they use at the airport and it appears to be heading to a construction site. I'd say this is a society owned vehicle and it is transporting workers to an Assembly Hall build or something similar.
To me these buttons are similar to wearing the assembly lapel badges to restaurants etc during the assembly. They give the wearer the feeling that they are making a difference somehow but usually no one notices.
Either way, I've really noticed lately that individual JW's are always on the look out for proof that they are a legit religion. They don't seem to be all that sure and think if they say it enough times, it will be so.
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exwhyzee
Attend the funerals of people I know who died trying to live up to their New Years fitness resolutions. -
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Did you ever hear yourself as a JW say something and think, did that just come out of my mouth?
by Wasanelder Once ini was driving with a long time non-witness friend when a song by supertramp came on the radio and i changed it.
she asked "why did you do that?
i like that song.
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exwhyzee
I used to feel that way every time I was asked to pray out loud for a group, especially if asked to pray out loud before eating. Everything one says is pure rote and simply mimicking what everyone else has said a thousand times before. It felt so fake and unnatural. I never understood where the idea of praying before every meal came from. To thank Jehovah for providing our food is to say he is also responsible for the starving people not having any. Toward the end of my JW career, I began turning down requests to pray out loud. I remember sitting at a table full of people when it came time to say the obligatory prayer. I had my head bowed hoping they wouldn't ask me. Of course someone said "exwhyzee, would you like to say the blessing?" I simply said "no thank you" and kept my head bowed. It was awkward but it worked. -
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Tragedy and God's Will
by cultBgone init's utterly amazing to me how religious belief in an omnipotent deity shapes some people's thinking.. one woman whose family missed the air asia flight which crashed stated that it was god's will to give her father hepatitis so that she canceled her family's vacation trip on that flight.
she says she believes god saved her family and protected them.
however, she later mourns the fact that she lost friends on the flight...so does she believe god deliberately planned for them to die?
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exwhyzee
A few years ago, my Mother in Law got a large $ettlement from a class action suit against the government because her husband died of cancer at 48 after a work related exposure to radiation. She didn't even know she was part of the suit until some awful worldly people investigated his death, tracked her down, alerted her to her eligibility and helped her every step of the way.
She viewed the settlement as a direct blessing from Jehovah and an indication that he wanted her to continue regular Pioneering. (30+ years). I very gently (in so many words) reminded her that yes, the settlement was a good thing, but to say it was from Jehovah was almost like saying Jehovah wanted all those people (including her husband) to die from radiation exposure so that she would have enough money to continue pioneering. The cognitive dissonance immediately kicked in and she found a way to make it work out in her own mind.
Although very healthy otherwise, she is now losing her memory and the family is dependent on that money for her long term care, however we recently found a large brochure that the WT Society sent her, outlining all the different ways she can give them the money Jehovah blessed her with. (I wonder how they knew?).
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Do you have someone you trust?
by myjourney inhi, i'm a newbie around here.
i've been reading the posts, but reluctant to step out of my safe zone.
i definitely see how coming to a safe place to ask questions, vent, etc.
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exwhyzee
It's difficult to tell your JW story to someone who's never been a JW before. They really don't quite get what the big deal is and what took you so long to figure things out. That's one of the main reasons why this site is so helpful. You have an opportunity to safely tell your tale of woe to people who really get what you're saying.
The first 2 actual people I talked to about it with were good friends who I grew up with and had left the organization a long time ago themselves. It was good to reconnect with them and hear their take on leaving the JW's. So that method worked out well.
The third person I talked to about it was a non JW. It was while I was part of organizing a civic volunteer group through my job. There was a Church Pastor in my group and in the course of our working together he brought up the topic of religion. I told him my leaving JW story (which involved my father dying because of the blood issue and our Son being wrongfully disfellowshipped.) Long story short, he was appalled at the way the JW's had intervened in our "salvation and personal relationship with God." He said as a Pastor it was his job to teach and assist his congregation how to live by God's word. To advise people but not be an enforcer of interpreted rules or someone who doles out punishments.
Anyway, I hope you are careful what you say to other JW's and instead find this site a helpful outlet in the process of sorting out your JW related conundrum .