The Farmer in this childish illustration, was trying to make the wolf puppy something that Jehovah (if he exists) didn't intend for him to be. Jehovah (if he exists) also didn't create sheep to be kept in a pen. Like all the other animals, they were originally free. It was sinful imperfect Man's idea to heard sheep because sheep once they realized how easy to capture and control they were. Once they had them under their control, they could fleece them and slaughter them much more efficiently.
exwhyzee
JoinedPosts by exwhyzee
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48
Need Help - Looks like some one in my family got to know that we are fading...
by MissConfused inletter from a close family member... need help responding.... what a powerful illustration of the affect that our choice of friends can have on us, especially if we leave jehovah after being 'raised' by him from infancy!.
pack of wolvesthere was a farmer who raised sheep and had trouble with wolves stealing his sheep.
he loved his sheep and didn't want to lose even one of them.
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Please help. I am losing the plot.
by wordyword inafter being a witness for 40 years, i now find myself disfellowshipped.. i have had a number of doubts for a few years now, but still feel as if i'm living my life in the "t minus " to armageddon spector.. my parents are in their 80's and my dear mother is in very bad health.
i was allowed to pop through - about once a month to make sure my parents were ok and for them to see their grandchildren.
this all ended after the july watchtower article and especially since the district convention - with all the "counsel" on associating with disfellowshipped family members.. around 6 weeks ago, my dad asked me point blank why i wasn't trying to get reinstated.
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exwhyzee
WordyWord. This is nothing but black mail. I'm sure Jehovah (if he exists) doesn't want anyone to be blackmailed into serving him. Do you have any Non JW relatives or maybe you know their neighbors well enough to ask them to check in on your parents? If you explain the situation to someone your parents know who are a non-JW's, it might embarrass them a little to have an "outsider" know what they are doing to you. Especially if the "outsider" made arrangements to visit your parents and brought you along as a surprise guest. Most JW's don't like to do their shunning in front of anyone but other JW's...it makes them realize how primative and mean it is when an outsider sees them engaging in this practice, especially to their own children.
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classification of Jehovahs Witness members by when they joined up
by besty injust got to thinking how long can the watchtower peddle the 'soon' story with any credibility?.
i would say there are the oldtimer or born ins in the 70+ age group - they possibly remember the 2nd world war, and maybe joined for 1975 or made life affecting decisions meaning they are so commited with 'nowhere else to go' that they have surrendered to the resurrection hope.. then you have the '1986 international year of peace, the 1914+70 year' generation crowd.
people in their 40s and 50s now.
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exwhyzee
The twenty and thirty somethings we see now, were raised by parents who were taken in by the whole 1975 falshood. They've heard the tales their parents and grandparents have to tell and wonder how they could have been so naive. They may be going through the motions of being JW's but they seem to be covering their bases as far as future plans and there is a noticable bit of skepticism about them. The "normal ones" aren't as strict about shunning, following directions such as "NO FACEBOOK", going to concerts, R movies or having non JW activities or friends. I don't think they feel the fear or have deep guilt about not going in service or missing meetings. I don't think they will be as deeply affected or dissapointed when they hit 40 or 50 and realize things just don't ad up.
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10 Questions for Elders when they start annoying you
by Terry in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <o:officedocumentsettings> <o:allowpng /> </o:officedocumentsettings> </xml><![endif].
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exwhyzee
These are pretty standard questions....and these are the answers you'd likely get.
What hospital kicks the sick ones out the door and keeps the healthy ones?
Hospitals seperate the highly contageous away from the general population on a regular basis and no one questions the logic behind it.
Well, then, how do you explain Fred Franz being made PRESIDENT after the 1975 fiasco?
No need to fire the coach when game isn' t even over....were only in the third quarter.
who is going to be the most clueless jackass in the room in the years to come?
Jehovah isn't impressed by human wisdom and head knowledge. It's mans self directed knowledge and short sightedness that has led this planet to the brink of ruin.
if it is still too dark to see clearly—do you light a new candle and blow out the old one?
You set the old one next to the new one and they work in concert to shed an even greater light.
5. Humility consists of open willingness to admit mistakes and explain your failures with a promise NEVER to do it again.
We have never failed to do Jehovahs will and will continue on this course till the end.
6. A Faithful Servant does not tell guests what they should eat. A Wise Servant would not dare cry, “Dinner is being served” while the guests just sit
and wait and wait--unless he needed to have his crazy ass fired!
The wise and faithful servant has consistently kept the masters belongings nourished until the master delivers the banquet himself and they will continue to do so as directed.
Peter denied Christ 3 separate times out of self-regard in the face of danger. Afterward, Jesus gave him the keys to the Kingdom Tell me again how any disfellowshipped person is WORSE?
There is no record of Peter having been previously diciplined for this same offence. The occasions where he denied Christ happened in a short span of time. He was remorseful over what he had done and evidently never did so again.
8.Willingness to die for a belief seems to be the delight of terrorists and every other radical fanatic. Why do Christians find it heroic too?
The Bible is our guide and it is full of examples of those who gave up their lives to uphold God's laws and prove their loyalty to him.
Okay, you're telling me what "this generation" REALLY MEANS now.....so....um...what the hell was all that other crap YOU SAID IT MEANT?
It's not for us to know when the end of this system is for sure, we can only use the signs we've seen thus far in world history to estimate how close we are to the times fortold in the Bible and if we are among those who will see those days occur. One thing is certain, the end will come for each individual no matter what generation he belongs to. The main thing is to be found doing the Lords work on that day.
My mother suffered the pangs of birth so I could have life. She fed, me, changed my diapers, held me, dried my tears, taught me right from wrong
and was always there for me. What kind of low-life ingrate will it make me IF I turn my back on her now because she won't quit smoking….and
you just DISFELLOWSHIPPED HER!!
For the good of the greater number, Jehovah's dicipline at times has to be harsh. As humans, we are often too small visioned to fully recognize his dicipline as a protection and warning to the association of his people and ultimately as an expression of his love for us until much time has passed and we have gained wisdom.
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Getting Rid of Left-Over JW Superstitions
by GloomySunday ini've been only out for about a year now, but still have some left-over superstitions, that i was hoping someone could help me get rid of.
firstly, i'd like to say that i don't think these are rational, but they keep bothering me, and i have some anxiety/paranoia problems that most likely are the cause.. i'm embarrassed by these silly things, and am young and have not been out long, so i'd assume this is to be an expected symptom.. what i usually keep doing is looking for patterns in everything, like if jws come to the door, i start interpreting it to mean that god sent them, or some such silliness.. or when watchtower or awake!
magazines come out, i keep applying the topics to what i've been thinking about, or what has happened recently.
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exwhyzee
Folks who read the Horoscope (or even fortune cookies) can convince themselves that what they've just read, fits their lives perfectly. It's what keeps the writers of this stuff in business. When you add O.C.D to the mix, you've got a lifelong customer. JW literature works in much the same calculated way. They write books and magazine articles that feed into basic human fear of the unknown. They remind the reader (with unprovable evidence and graphic photos) of his own fears, they create anxiety in him and then offer soothing but unprovable solutions that quell the anxiety they have induced. Then they convince or guilt the reader into to repeating the addicting process on a weekly or daily basis. Boom..you're hooked and they've got another lifelong (unhappy, afraid) customer. They're all customers too and they were lured in, the same way.
You're not being "silly" at all. If you'd have been rasied a Mormon or Catholic, you'd likely be having Mormon or Catholic related superstitions rather than JW related ones. The only difference is, Catholics and Mormons have trained professionals on board to assist their members who deal with O.C.D and other non religious challenges. JW' s have unlettered and ordinary men who have no business advising or diciplining people who may be suffering from a complex medical issue rather than some spiritual, moral or character flaw as is always their first guess. Most mean well but often the only thing they have to offer is "read the Bible, go in service, attend more meetings" " Don't want to do that?? We love you but Get Lost ! "
It seems like the only way around this is to develop a strategy that counteracts the obsessive religious thoughts and identifies the unproductive coping mechanisims you may be employing to soothe the resulting anxiety the obsessive religous thoughts are causing. Perhaps this site will offer some assistance.
The way I look at it is, since these fears and superstitions are God related, if he really exists, he knows all too well what you are going through and is on your side. If he doen't exist, your God based or Bible based fears don't have to exist either.
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Nightmares when active JW
by MissConfused ini remember when i was active, i would constantly get nightmares regarding armageddon.. used to wake up so many times at night watch my window, pray hard and try to go to sleep.
now i wonder that this organization was really succcessful in making people scared to death about 'current system of things', but why would anyone do that?
why would anyone want to bring division in families, make hate speeches, scare people to death, etc?
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exwhyzee
In the lead up to 1975, as we were "prepared" for tribulation, I had nightmares about my young children, fleeing from some imaginery enemy and having to carry the younger ones in our arms ... of being caught and seeing our kids bayonetted to death because we refused to reveal some important organisational secret ... starving and thirsty etc etc. It really was a terrible fear, nothing quite grabs your guts like danger to your children *** ...
So true FTS....I spent many night as a little boy tossing and turning wondering how I was going to resist giving up my faith to save my little sisters from being killed. After all, didn't they throw the 3 Hebrew boys into the firey furnace for not bowing down to Baal? I just knew "they" (whoever "they" was) were going to torture and kill my sisters or me if I didn't renounce Jehovah or the organization. My Dad was not a JW and from the platform I learned how he was not only going to be killed by Jehovah but before that, under Satans influence, he may even turn on his own family and deliver us up to the "authorities". My own wonderful father....how could that be ???
I wonder what it would have been like to have a childhood free of such fanatical brainwashing ? It's just sickening. I want my own "pound of flesh" taken out of the hides of the leaders of this orgaization.
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Nightmares when active JW
by MissConfused ini remember when i was active, i would constantly get nightmares regarding armageddon.. used to wake up so many times at night watch my window, pray hard and try to go to sleep.
now i wonder that this organization was really succcessful in making people scared to death about 'current system of things', but why would anyone do that?
why would anyone want to bring division in families, make hate speeches, scare people to death, etc?
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exwhyzee
It's like they say "garbage in....garbage out"
It's only natural for your dreams to be affected by what you dwell on during the day. Attending Apocalypse Hunting Seminars 3 times a week since childhood was enough to leave me with severe unexplained anxiety for decades. It dissapeared within weeks of leaving the Organization.
Not A Coincidence !
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What is the WT's definition of an Apostate...
by Bells ini don't mean the 'unruly men who cook up wicked reasoning and season their brew with poisonous lies that deceive minds' definition.... i mean - who are they actually referring to when they are doing these awful talks at the conventions about the mentally diseased apostates etc.. specifically - is an 'apostate' someone who was actually baptised (baptized for you american's ) ?
or can someone who was simply raised in "the truth" but left and was never baptised be classified as this lying, deceiving, mentally diseased apostate also?
or am i considered to be an apostate - even though i wasn't raised in the cult, never went to a meeting etc.
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exwhyzee
If you leave your Church or religion because you see hypocracy, wrongdoing or doctrinal errors, you are considered to be "honest hearted and a "seeker of truth" .
If you leave the Watchtower Society for the very same reasons, you are an Apostate and are the worst kind of unbeliever.
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Has anyone else ever wondered this ?
by scary21 ini know the jw's are wrong but if they were right, this is my question...... when the big a comes, there has to be the best person who dies.
the one who lost out on life by a fraction.
the very best one who still did not make it.
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exwhyzee
Adolph Hitler killed 6million Jews.....eternal destruction.
A JW who doesn't go out in Service enough during the last days....eternal destruction.
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Ideas to increase cognitive dissonance
by ILoveTTATT inok so from the help of various people, i now have thought of various ways to increase cognitive dissonance without showing "apostate reasoning"... usually it works by highlighting other beliefs (sorry people if someone here is of any of the faiths i will mention... i do not mean to insult, just to save my family and friends from the wt...) and portraying them as "bad" when we have had exactly the same beliefs at one point!!
(i will try the nathan-david approach... you are the man!!!).
vaccinations: "i find it soooo stupid that some religions reject vaccinations!!
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exwhyzee
You could say " Don't you hate how everytime something good happens, Fundamentalist Christians claim it's due to the Lord having blessed them, even when there's no way to prove it is so? "
JW's roll their eyes and snicker to themselves when people from other religions talk about how much God has blessed them or their efforts to serve him. After all, everybody knows they are the only one's God blesses...even though there is no proof of this.