a couple years ago i was watching my son progress to the point of baptism.
it was then that my subconsious began making me see that people in the org will put the doctrine above anything especially if it allows them to remain mentally and physically lazy or saves them some money.
the thought of my son in a robot like mentality truly awakened me and i couold see much of his motivation was from outside sources and not of his own initiative which caused me to put a stop to the process as he only had a last set of questions to go over before the plunge.. this caused quite a stir with the family including my wife who was opposed to anything that would stop her son from getting baptized, i told the elder conducting the questions that my son was not ready and he accepted that without asking questions.
Hi Evidently Apostate. I am glad that you awakened in time to save your children. You are not an apostate. JWs are the apostates for blindly following the WTBTS. I found this video on youtube that shows Raymond Franz speaking. It may give you some more peace.
http://youtube.com/v/6c6I0fjiYNU&feature=related
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
it essentially makes me feel like i am an evil, immoral, selfish imdividual who god hates (even though "evil" is really a religious term, and i am not religious, even though i don't do terrible things, even though i care about others so much that i am remaining a jw mainly for other people).
i hate not being able to express my feelings, not just about supposed gender roles, but about many aspects of life.
i think i am fair and accepting about both sexes, and all sexual orientations, and about many other things, such as a person's religion or the lack thereof.. and yet in this religion it is veiwed as a bad thing, a sin, to accept or even tolerate these things without prejudice.
Ephesians 5:22-33 (NIV 2008) 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing [b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” [c] 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Hi Chemical Emotions. I disagree with you about the WTBTS being a religion. The WTBTS is a thought-controlling, publishing and distribution organization - it is not a religion. Why would anyone want to blindly follow the WTBTS' interpretations of the scriptures, instead of reading the Bible and praying for guidance? Unfortunately, their are a lot of very good people who have been deceived by the WTBTS' though-controlling techniques. How many JW husbands would be willing to die to show their wives how much they loved them like Jesus Christ was willing to do according to Eph 5:25-26 for the Jews? The WTBTS cherry-picks scriptures to justify their own perspective and not to gain understanding of how to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
this has probably been addressed, but i'm in a rush and wanted to get this out asap while it's fresh and before i have to run off again.
and i don't have the km with me to note the exact instructions and passages discussed, anyway.... last week in the service meeting, there was an unusual part that i wish i would have been prepared for.
the only material was to read a couple passages from luke and discuss how they affect our attitude toward our ministry.
I like your interpretation, analysis, and conclusions Billy the Ex-Bethelite. What was the WTBTS trying to prove? Was it just another example of the GB trying to rewrite the scriptures? I wonder how someone could question the WTBTS' conclusions without sounding like an apostate? If you had discussed your analysis with the JWs, what would have been their reaction? Crucify him!
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
it is a pleasure to read some of the topics posted in this forum.
finally i decided to register.
i have now the certainty that when i am sitting down at the kh listening to teachings i do not accept i am not alone in this world, maybe thousands feel the same way.
Welcome Eclectic! I hope that you post regularly and express your opinions openly on this forum. If you continue to be an active JW, I hope and pray that you do not suffer for associating with members of this forum.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
i find the board is getting very unfriendly of late.
used to be great to be aboard.
but the snipping that so many.
Enjoy your vacation from JWN Grace, and come back soon when you are ready!
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
hey all.. .
thought i'd introduce myself.. .
first, a disclaimer: i'm an athiest.. .
Welcome Tuber and I am sorry that your step-mother and half-sisters are being deluded. Unfortunately, it sounds like you do not live close enough to your step-mother and half-sisters, so you are in a very difficult situation. What does your father think of his wife becoming a JW? I would recommend that you read Steve Hassan's books (e.g., "Combatting Cult Mind Control") to better understand how to overcome thought control. About the best that you can do is send Christmas and Birthday presents to your half-sisters and send emails and cards with pictures of you having fun to your step-mother and half-sisters. I know that your step-mother will probably send your presents back to you, but hopefully your half-sisters will wonder why.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
http://www.43things.com.
mine is pretty much summed up as follows: justice, recognition, travel, fashion, and arts..
Live in a foreign country for a year or two to learn to speak fluently, learn to fly a helocopter, join the Peace Corp or other charity organization for a year or two.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
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pubtruth - ... I need all the help I can get with getting her out. It's like she realizes, but knows of no place to go.
Hi pubtruth. I am sorry that you have to go through all this drama and frustration with the elders. If you want to help free the mind of your mother, I would suggest reading Steve Hassan's books (i.e., "Combatting Cult Mind Control"), showing your mother unconditional love, talk to your mother and find out what she likes to do, help your mother make new non-JW friends. and learn to ask your mother questions to help her to discover the false teachings of the WTBTS. Good-luck!!!
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
the wts.
has been coming up with different sayings to imply that armageddon is just around the corner.. so i thought it would be fun to make up are own sayings and see what we come up with.. i'll start off...... the train is just about to pull into the station.. that egg is just about to hatch .
the weather forecast for today is death and destruction .
The Big Mac Truck (i.e., Truth) is bearing down on JWs (i.e., ostrich) with their heads in the ground.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
i have just thought of a way to leave jehovah's witnesses using information from the new shepherd the flock of god book.
it's quite simply: rebaptism.
here are the steps:.
Daniel Metz - I am happy with my religion.
I have several ideas for improvements to it and wrote a letter to the Canadian Branch (my former branch) so that these can be considered, and some or all of them referred to the Governing Body. . . .
I am encouraged how our faith has advanced over the years as the Governing Body listens to suggestions from the publishers, in letters received by the Writing Correspondence Desk. . . .
I examined the history of Jehovah's Witnesses before I got baptized. My grandmother Metz in France got baptized in 1922, and, as far as I can tell, was faithful to Jehovah all her life and is now in heaven next to her Lord and mine, and before her God and mine. My grandparents Ehm also became Witnesses in Austria and Germany (before their marriage in 1925) in the 1920s. For that reason, my dad had in our home library several of Brother Russell's and many of Brother Rutherford's books, where I learned all about the previous chronology (1799, 1874,1878,1881). I lived through the 1975 crisis, and both of my parents told me beforehand that it was not definite that Armageddon would be coming that year, even though one of our elders, Brother Widawski, was certain of it and taught so from the platform.
It took a period of three years of doubt regarding the truth of the religion that I was brought up in to conclude that Jehovah personally helped me to see how logical, and intellectually and emotionally satisfying it was, and, at least for me, still is . . .
Hi Daniel Metz. I have a several questions that I would like you to consider. You wrote that you were trained as an engineer. I am also an engineer. As an engineer, I was taught critical thinking to read different investigators’ works, because humans are fallible and personal biases may taint experimental results and the resulting conclusions. You wrote that you are happy with your religion and that for three years you had doubts about your religion. Have you read Steve Hassan's books (i.e., "Combatting Cult Mind Control") and Raymond Franz's books (i.e., "Crisis of Conscience")? When you investigated your religion, did you read books that were not approved by the WTBTS? Did you read any of Russell’s writings that were in your Dad’s library? Does the WTBTS recommend that JWs read Russell’s writings or does the GB only write about following the latest WTBTS’s doctrines? What improvements would you like the WTBTS to approve? Is not shunning ex-JWs, who no longer believe in the WTBTS’s doctrines, one of your improvements? Do you know of any improvements that the WTBTS has approved that were not superficial like changing the name of "presiding overseer" to "coordinator of the body of elders"?
Thank you Daniel for reading my post.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
ABibleStudent
