Posts by Giordano

13

Education vs JW?

by galaxia_moon in

i am 15 years old and recently just doubting this whole religion that was introduced to me when i was very small from a very good family friend.

doubt obviously comes with shame and guilt and i hate those feelings because it feels like i'm betraying this whole organization that i grew up in.... anyways, i've been doing research and found that jehovah's witnesses dislike/shun kids who attend colleges & universities that are more than 4 years long?

have you heard of this?

Giordano

Welcome to our forum. I think I can say that virtually no one on this forum would discourage you from getting higher learning........ especially in a field that you are interested in.

I'd start early to plant the seeds of your interest in getting some serious education with your parents. The society at times has a desperate need for college level JW's............ so that's a good fall back point. In fact Bethel itself looks for skilled believers as well as those who have useful educations.

I don't know if your baptized........ hopefully not. Hopefully never. Resist that option. Jesus wasn't baptized until he was 30 years old.....some how the Society slides past that fact.

There will be a number of options open to you in the years to come. In the mean time when you turn 16 an after school job working for a vet, or helping out at some health care facility.

When you work along side professionals it is amazing how much you can learn.

A lot of JWs teens these days are living at home while they attend 1 year or a two year community college.

In the meantime be kind and loving to your family members, keep up with house hold chores. And stay focused on who you are and what you want to be.

37

Weekly Meeting Importance Being Reduced - Your Thoughts?

by JWTom in

jw
friends

i am pimo, but now have 40+ years of being a jw as i was raised in a 3rd generation family of witnesses and continue to fake my way through things - fading as i can.. for the vast majority of my time as a jw, the meetings were the central focus for all jws to get teaching, association, information and so on.

nothing was more important than being at the meetings!

over the last 20 years starting with the elimination of the weekly book study in homes and continuing down to today - my opinion is that the value/purpose of the weekly meetings continues to be diluted or minimized.

Giordano

JWTom I know there is probably family issues so leaving could be difficult. However one could cite the JW pedophile issue as a major stumbling block to further attendance.

"Until Jehovah cleans up this issue there is no reason to attend meetings or go out in service until every single pedophile is cast out."

Lets put it this way....... Jesus in Luke 18:16-17 "Do not hinder the little children from coming to me. Truly I tell you, anyone who does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”…

So what are your family and friends going to say to you other then ' wait on Jah'.

Sorry my friend there is no waiting when a child is being raped.

Step away JWTOM....... it's a sick religion with many dangerous beliefs.

15

Jehovah? Oh dear.

by Giordano in

some recent new friends on this forum like friend kosonen are fixated with god's name being jehovah...unfortunately they are wrong:.

a quick bit of history:.

"about the 13th century the term “jehovah” appeared when christian scholars took the consonants of “yahweh” and pronounced it with the vowels of “adonai.” this resulted in the sound “yahowah,” which has a latinized spelling of “jehovah.” the first recorded use of this spelling was made by a spanish dominican monk, raymundus martini, in 1270.. interestingly, this fact is admitted in much jehovah’s witness literature, such as their aid to bible understanding (p. 885).

Giordano

Some recent new friends on this forum like friend Kosonen are fixated with God's name being Jehovah...unfortunately they are wrong:

A quick bit of history:

"About the 13th century the term “Jehovah” appeared when Christian scholars took the consonants of “Yahweh” and pronounced it with the vowels of “Adonai.” This resulted in the sound “Yahowah,” which has a Latinized spelling of “Jehovah.” The first recorded use of this spelling was made by a Spanish Dominican monk, Raymundus Martini, in 1270.

Interestingly, this fact is admitted in much Jehovah’s Witness literature, such as their Aid to Bible Understanding (p. 885). This is surprising because Jehovah’s Witnesses loathe the Catholic Church and have done everything in their power to strip their church of traces of Catholicism. Despite this, their group’s very name contains a Catholic “invention,” the name “Jehovah.

Jehovah’s Witnesses blast orthodox Christendom for “hiding the name of God” by replacing “Jehovah” with “the Lord” whenever “Jehovah” appears in Scripture.

They charge this is a Jewish “superstition” that dishonors God (which it does not). Yet their own organization has a name that was invented as a result of the same thinking that produced the use of “the Lord.”

https://www.catholic.com/qa/is-gods-name-yahweh-or-jehovah

By the way this was a cool move by the Catholic CHurch as there was no J in the Hebrew alphabet until some 400 years ago.

So how did the JW's become the JW's.

Rutherford dreamed it up. Probably with Freddie Franz whispering in his ear.

There was ONE scripture in the bible that told Isaiah to become a witness for good...... old YHWH. You remember him ......the god no one could call by name. It was the only mention ever made of god's name. Sort of like J.R. from the old T.V. show....... Dallas.

On the other hand being a witness for Jesus.......sorry Yeshiva....was mentioned some 22 times in the New testament.

So why did Rutherford pass up calling their newly minted religion Jesus's Witnesses or Jesus's Christian Witnesses......... which would have been a self explanatory name when knocking on doors?

Rutherford probably had his reasons which centered around his importance. He was also drunk on a daily basis. But like everything he touched........ he screwed up.

Calling themselves the JW's created a false religion that to this day....... one has to explain the name of their God.

Using the name on this site weakens any argument you can make.

17

What Did You Choose Jehovah Over?

by minimus in

jw
friends

some jws believe they have the truth.

they alone understand god, jehovah.

they are very happy being jehovah’s witnesses.👍👌..... many others realize what they have given up for jehovah, to belong to the jehovah’s witness religion.

Giordano

My wife and I gave up being a JW in our young 20's. We never really 'got' the Society and the reckless way they treated their followers. Fear mongering about Armageddon, discouraging higher learning, the Ban on Blood. The boredom of meetings and the publications.

It took me a couple of years to work through the religion. My wife as it turned out was way ahead of me........ as in........ she never believed.

We gave up all religion.

So for the rest of our live's it been all about us, our son, our grand kids, close friends and being volunteers in our community.

Jehovah and the bible is not part of our lives.

4

Article: Kazakhstan: Court Gives Victory to Former Jehovah’s Witnesses

by AndersonsInfo in

jw
friends

https://watchtowerdocuments.org/kazakhstan-court-gives-a-victory-to-former-jehovahs-witneeses/.

the events described in the following report began over a year ago.

however, we did not receive correspondence with details regarding the court victory until late april 2020. you are about to read a disturbing account of exactly how representatives and elders of jehovah’s witnesses tried to intimidate and frighten a child in order to regain control over the adult members of a local kingdom hall.

Giordano

Wow the WT picked the wrong couple to mess with.

It's worth a read........ the couple is preparing their third Court case having won the first two.

Here's an excerpt:

"On March 6, 2019, in a letter, I informed the body of elders of my congregation that my family and I were no longer Jehovah’s Witnesses, and emphasized, “You are kindly requested not to disturb our family with questions and visits.”

But after some time the elders called my son, who has not come of age yet and said: “Rafael, your parents have become apostates. Do you also want to leave Jehovah?”

The tearful child ran up to me and started asking questions. In fact, we had not told our son anything; we wanted to prepare him for the changes in our life gradually as we were afraid it would traumatize him."

38

My latest letter to WT demanding correction from their side

by Kosonen in

jw
friends

brothers and sisters associated with the watchtower society may 9, 2020. i have tried to inform you of the necessary adjustments you ought to take in order to truly be in the truth.

but my efforts have remained fruitless.

you well know the biblical procedure.

Giordano

I gave you a thumbs up because of the effort you made in compiling your point of view.

You went pretty deep into the material you gathered. Unfortunately the Society is deaf and dumb towards any material they didn't invent. So deaf and dumb that they have systematically painted themselves into a corner.

This site,

if you haven't looked into it, may offer a better opportunity for your interests.

https://beroeans.study/who-are-we/

https://beroeans.study/articles/

A quick review reads like your point of view. It was founded by ex JW's who began to see that the Society was making mistakes.

18

New in the neighborhood..

by Italiancalipso in

jw
friends

i'm not totally new here, as i'm reading since some time...then i tried to sign up but had some technical issue with the email,eventually recovered..... i'm from north italy, for your info from the region where the covid is worse.

i'm male, generation millennial(...unfortunately not the overlapped generation :))) ) ..sorry to don't go in so much details, but i'm pimo ;).

hope i can contribute to this community and help as much i got from you guys.... have nice weekend!.

Giordano

Remember IC that cognitive dissonance is a powerful reaction to what you might be saying or trying to say to family and friends...... even with the best of intentions.

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, or participates in an action that goes against one of these three, and experiences psychological stress because of that.

A believing JW will fight hard to hold on to the perceived 'rightness of their beliefs'. The yelling, and borderline hate, the unkind remarks are signs of cognitive dissonance which include:

Making family and friends:

Feel uncomfortable.
The need to avoid Conflict.
Rationalization.
Shame.
Guilt.
Ignoring the facts.

Its very difficult to have a thoughtful conversation when family and or... friends are locked into a belief.

Show them how true love is shown......don't tell them unless they ask.

Accept that their belief may be more tenacious then your disbelief . Be gentle and be kind.

Maybe they will experience the Truth about the Truth..

20

What a wonderful time---for faders to fade away!

by eyeuse2badub in

i’ve been thinking about it for a few weeks and i’m sort of surprised that no one else has introduced this topic!.

what better time than now for a fader to fade?

no meetings, no field service, no elder visits, no assemblies, no convention, and no other bullshit busy work going on.

Giordano

The pattern of the local congregation has shifted. It is no longer the center of one's life.

Basically the strongest element of the life of a JW was socializing, belonging and friendships.

The actual beliefs...... ever changing....... was/is the weakest element.

This break from the 'norm' is going to call for some major changes in how the faithful feel or don't really feel about going back to the KH.

I expect that only those older ones will go back to how it used to be.

Churches are dying all over the country.

Today it's hard to adjust one's ability to reason with the current beliefs of most every religion. Which is why more and more people have become non affiliating persons who have lost any reason to be a member of any particular religion.

This hunkering down will be the first time people really have to face the facts of their beliefs and how they are living their lives.

18

New in the neighborhood..

by Italiancalipso in

jw
friends

i'm not totally new here, as i'm reading since some time...then i tried to sign up but had some technical issue with the email,eventually recovered..... i'm from north italy, for your info from the region where the covid is worse.

i'm male, generation millennial(...unfortunately not the overlapped generation :))) ) ..sorry to don't go in so much details, but i'm pimo ;).

hope i can contribute to this community and help as much i got from you guys.... have nice weekend!.

Giordano

A big welcome Italiancalipso!

I am a second generation Italian raised in Queens New York. A neighborhood that was a mix of Italians, Irish and Jews. Everyone got along just fine.

Mom who grew up with the Spanish flu, diseases like cancer, heart conditions...... wanted a religion that could offer life......... she selected the JW's. "Many now living may never die!"

I obeyed the rules of being a practicing JW and took a pass on college and instead choose to pioneer where the need was great.

I am not going to complain..... as i met my future wife there. After we married my feelings about the legitimacy of the JW construct came into serious doubt. My bride had no doubts as she told me one night,,,,,,,the JW religion was pure bull shit.

We planned our escape and left the congregation. We moved and moved again. Friendships I grew up with were lost and close family who couldn't see the evil the Society represented ......stopped speaking to us ....which was actually just fine. It's nice to know that free thinking is not a sin

We left in the mid 1960's, never looked back and it turned out to be the best thing we ever did.

This under educated & obedience prone religion is reckless with the health and welfare of it's members (the blood ban for one)....has needlessly killed thousands including my sister and my wife's mother. They get to cause the death of thousands of people because they use fear to get their way. If close friends and close family members understand the rules they know they will be shunned in return if they actively speak to those who no longer believed in the JW word and world view.

In my opinion the end of the JW's is at hand.

The Law suits re their pedophile problem is draining their funds.

67% of born-ins Pew Survey) leave the religion mostly because it is a 19th century construct. It's no longer cutting edge....now it's mostly whining..... where are the new ones?

Their followers are aging and dying........... waiting in vain for an Armageddon that was mentioned just once in the bible.

A 'paradise earth' is not mentioned anywhere in the bible.

A witness for Jesus was mentioned over twenty times in the New Testament. A witness of Jehovah was mentioned just once in the old Testament.

You are on a journey we have all made The only thing that makes your journey different is the terrain you will cross and what you will be open to learning.

We are not dependent on any leader or person. You get to make the decisions for your future.

62

The Myth About Jehovah as a "GOD of LOVE".

by smiddy3 in

i`ll list a few things and welcome any input, comments you may have .. 1.when adam & eve "sinned" disobeyed him, surely god could have handled it better than to condemn all future generations to disease and death ?.

2.his handling of satan who supposedly seduced eve to disobey god could also have been done a lot differently with a finality to it.. 3.i find little if anything in his dealings with the patriarchs that suggests a loving god protecting them.?.

4.taking on the nation of israel and leading them as his chosen people does not inspire confidence or trust as a god of love.. 5.throughout the hebrew scriptures / old testament his chosen people were constantly at war with other nations which of course would have meant many deaths of the israelite`s during these battles .and the grief that comes with family members in those times.

Giordano

The important thing to understand about God is that he was not capable of building a safe world and managing mankind. When he met a bump in the road he decided to drown everyone on the planet except those few humans on the Ark.

Instead of learning from his mistakes. God sounds like a politician... "it's not my fault and I'LL start over with a few animals and a drunk Noah and his bickering family".....after I've killed every man, women, child and the unborn."

The Sin is on this cheesy god.

Of course this is all a fantasy as there is no scientific proof of a one off flood that could drown an entire planet.

On the other side of this discussion is the 'natural' death from the beginning of most every living animal and whatever human might have been around......... by meteorite strikes, earth quacks, floods in various places, severe storms, starvation, illness etc. etc' Lets not ignore pandemic outbreaks of diseases that could and did kill millions regardless of their religious beliefs.

If we can agree on one thing it's that God was a shitty world builder. He /she/ IT went out of their way to allow life to be totally unbearable even in those few best of times.

But none of this is real...the reality is There is No God, No Jesus, No Satan, No Demons, no Angels. No phony doctrines....no religion that say's it is the True religion.

The Proof of the pudding is in the taste. (Told to me by a rather interesting Pastor at the conclusion of our very pleasant religious combat ).