Posts by ABibleStudent

44

I went to one of my previous halls remodel today and they did not recognize me...

by confusedandalone in

i definitely look like a worldly person by jw standards... however i went to my old hall because they are remodelling and they are in the final p[hase.

it was not on purpose.

i had bnusiness on the street and happened to drive past.

ABibleStudent

You are very 'mpotant, confusedandalone!! You can make JWs jump higher and run faster than the GB.

I hope that your father was resting comfortably in his car.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

15

Who is the mediator for the R&F now?

by nonjwspouse in

jw
friends

has this been changed?

i thought this might need a new thread.. the memorials i have heard about multiple ones noted the prayer ending with something like "jesus our mediator".. sams on another thread :.

nonjwspouse: sahs, so has it now been stated that jesus is only the mediator for the fds, not all the anointed as was previously?.

Hi nonjwspouse, I would guess that most JWs do not realize that according to the Watchtower's latest publications Jesus Christ is the mediator for annointed Christians and therefore would not be the mediator for most R&F, who are not annointed. Because of the WTBTS's flip flopping, this can be confusing for JWs and not-JWs.

I do know that when two JWs confronted me while I was picking up Memorial invitations after they left them jammed in doors and under door mats in my posted non-soliciting townhome community, they did not realize that Jesus Christ was not their mediator according to the WTBTS. I even advised them to read the Watchtower more carefully to learn that the GB was their mediator and not Jesus Christ.

Asking a JW who is their mediator with God, could cause them to do usually mental/emotional gymnastics.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

13

My mother is losing her old personality

by Faithful Witness in

i have been trying to engage and talk to my mother and her "natural" personality as much as possible.

she has obvious concerns about the jw's, and we do discuss issues almost every time she visits.

we didn't see her for long stretches (months at at time, and suddenly a year had gone by...) we have now both committed to a minimum of a monthly visit, and we will work toward more.

ABibleStudent

Hi Faithful Witness, Be patient and compassionate with your mother. Wait for moments when your mother's cult persona is weakest and her authentica persona is strongest to help you mother critically think for herself. If it helps you to control your emotions, remember that your mother is being "unduly influenced" by the WTBTS's BITE control. Sickness, working too much, not eating right, and getting too little sleep will reduce your mother's critcal thinking.

The cult persona will be strongest after WTBTS conventions/assemblies, Memorial, and meetings. The authentic persona will be strongest after sharing fun times with your mother. Help your mother remember how witty she was before she become involved with the WTBTS by talking about how much you admired some poignant story of her wit.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

34

I am DF'd now... Decisions, decisions...

by Comatose in

so i was df'd a couple weeks ago.

i live in a place where i didn't really have new friends at the kh, so my day to day life isn't changing.

i'm just me living life like i was 2 weeks ago and 2 years ago.

ABibleStudent

Hi Comatose, I'm sorry that your parents' cult personas are behaving so unloving and that your parents' authentic personas are not strong enough to critically think for themselves.

You have more power than you may feel that you have right now. Either your parents accept you for who you are, for what you believe, and include you in all activities with your daughter, or they can follow the WTBTS's unloving shunning practises towatds you and your daughter. Under no circumstances allow your daughter to be left alone with JWs unless they can critically think for themselves, are not "unduly influenced" by the WTBTS, and follow your rules about not indoctrinating your daugther with the WTBTS's BITE control techniques. Child abuse can be mental and emotional as well as physical.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

55

THE GRAND APOSTATE "WALKOUT" - January 1, 2015

by RagingBull in

jw
friends

after knowing ttatt for many years now...i had made up my mind long ago that after 2014, i would no-longer subject myself to the boredom, pain, and frustration of following this cult...the wt...the borg.. so...i made up my mind that since the wtbts/gb makes such a big deal as to the "significance" of the year 1914 and this year 2014, there can be no greater time for me to leave it all behind.

i daydreamed of how awesome and telling it would be if everyone that could ( because i do know that some have personal circumstances of their own, as i did too) would just .... walkout...never to attend/step foot in a kingdom hall from that moment on.. independence day of sorts?

there is too much evidence, too many videos, blogs, books, news reports and lawsuits for me to keep lying to myself.

ABibleStudent

Congratulations at being at peace with your decision, RagingBull!

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

26

No wonder they hate apostates!!

by ILoveTTATT in

jw
friends

besides a cult, everyone knows the watchtower is a business disguised as a religion.

from a business viewpoint, i would certainly hate or lobby against those who dislike my product and warn other people of my product.. i made a calculation based on information from jwfacts, and the results are just astounding!.

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.

ABibleStudent

ILoveTTATT - yay!! very few took interest in my post until it got derailed into another atheist/believer debate... geez... -.-

Hi ILoveTTATT, The WTBTS's BITE control leaves an indelible mark on some JWs/exJWs (e.g., low compasion, not listening to others, and telling people what/how to think). Healing takes time for some people.

You can choose to view this "derail" as an opportunity to turn around this thread (if you choose) by learning how to improve or practise your listening and interpersonal skills to help build trust in others on JWN.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

21

Do you believe there will be "Mass Suicides" within the BAC/JW community?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

as a "therapist trainee"(still have to take my license test) i worry about all of the religious people out there who might commit suicide if the rapture/armaggeddon does not materialize.

what if the bible is proven to be "a big fairy tale" will born again christians(bac) and jws kill themself?

i worry about some of my older jw relatives that have waited for armaggeddon for 50 years and are still waiting.

ABibleStudent

perfect1 - When religious people mass suicide, they do it so they dont have to accept that their belief system is false. Jonestown and Heavens Gate all died as true believers.

H'mmm, Jonestown seems like an exaggerated generalization to me that is not substantiate by facts. How many people at Jonestown were coerced/deceived to drink the arsenic laced Kool-aid? How could a baby forced to drink the Kool-aid be expected to make an informed decision?

Sure it is possible that some deluded people will make spur-of-the-moment decisions under "undue influence" , but that will probably be less than 20% of current JWs unless the GB is able to increase their "undue influence" over all JWs.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

5

JWs love apostates!

by Batman89 in

jw
friends

definition of apostate (n)bing dictionaryapostate[ ?

pos tayt ]somebody who renounces belief: somebody who renounces a belief or allegiancesynonyms: renouncer defector deserter renegadeaccording to the actual definition of apostasy(not the wt exaggerated twisted definition).

jws promote apostasy everytime we(im fading) knock on doors out in field service to try to get someone, who might have differnt religous views, to consider our literature and beliefs!!!.

ABibleStudent

Do "JWs love apostates" or "are JWs apostates?" IMHO the GB has used BITE control techniques to transform JWs into apostates of Jesus Christ.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

13

First Encounter With a Person From My Congregation Since We D-A'd

by Iown Mylife in

an older sister saw me in the store and called out to me.

she's a widow; her husband was an elder.

i have not seen her for at least five years.

ABibleStudent

Congratulations to you, Iown Mylife! I wish you the best!

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

26

No wonder they hate apostates!!

by ILoveTTATT in

jw
friends

besides a cult, everyone knows the watchtower is a business disguised as a religion.

from a business viewpoint, i would certainly hate or lobby against those who dislike my product and warn other people of my product.. i made a calculation based on information from jwfacts, and the results are just astounding!.

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/statistics.php.

ABibleStudent

In 20011, I believe, I wrote the thread "WTBTS, is Your House Burning Down?!!" in the BibleStudent blog on JWSF that showed a chart that I created comparing JWs to former JWs. Unfortunately JWSF shutdown in 2012, I believe. I enjoyed writing the BibleStudent blog on JWSF.

As of 2010 I estimated 2 million + Df'ed/Inactive JWs Worldwide using a rolling 40 year method to account for births/deaths. The chart and description are below.

It is sad to me that there are 2 million + former JWs, when I think how many of those individuals left the WTBTS years ago, yet are still adversely affected by the WTBTS's BITE control. If someone can think of a way to help a DF'ed/DA'ed/faded JW overcome the WTBTS's BITE control, I encourage you to try.

If someone would like to reveiw my analysis and assumptions and/or update the information, please PM me and I will send you the workbook.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

Robert

The third chart shows how the numbers of JW publishers and former JWs have increased since 1960 to 2010. The numbers of former JWs were estimated from the annual reports by calculating the difference of average publishers from the previous year to the following year, subtracting that number from the number of baptized publishers to determine how many publishers were no longer actively publishing. Publishers probably no longer publish because they died, were df’d, or faded away. I tried to calculate the number of publishers who died by multiplying .008 (obtained from CIA facts for the USA death rate) from the total number of average number of publishers. The number of df’d publishers was calculated by multiplying the average number of publishers by 1%. WTFacts stated that the WTBTS stated that the annual attrition rate of JWs is more about 1.25% and that 1/3 of JWs are reinstated in 1 year, so 1% seemed like a good number as long as it is not greater than the total estimated publishers who leave the WTBTS. After calculating the number of publishers who annually leave the WTBTS, the number of former JWs who were alive for the following 40 years was estimated by summing the number of former JWs for 40 years and multiplying by .992 to estimate the number of former JWs who did not die.