Posts by Giordano

34

Seeking advice

by Mizalisa in

jw
friends

i'm not a jw, nor was i raised jw.

for the past three years i have been involved with a man who was raised jw, who at first told me he no longer believed as they did, but who, it has become clear over time, has not told his family or religious community the truth.

he has strung me along for years, never introduced me to anyone in his life.

Giordano

Hi and Welcome Mizalisa!

Here is a short list of what is wrong about the JW religion.

First off this is a 19th century religion with 19th century beliefs at it's core. There is no official position for women........ only men can be ministers or have a position of authority. Men are also the head of their household.

1.On a fundamental level........ the JW's are a death cult. Yes....... they long for the destruction of billions of non JW believers in the battle of Armageddon which they keep saying is just around the corner. Been saying that for a hundred plus years.

2. They hasten the death of their own believers with their ban on a life saving blood transfusion. Doesn't mater if it is a traumatic injury like a car accident or a fight to survive cancer. Under no conditions are you permitted to accept a blood transfusion. You can accept fractions of blood which is a poor substitute for whole blood. By the way no JW will donate their blood.

If a JW does take blood they will be shunned for the rest of their life. Nothing like a little pressure when it comes to your private medical needs. By the way the brothers who will counsel you about the medical dangers of a blood transfusion will be the same guys cleaning your hospital windows. The JW's do have window cleaning down to a science.

3. Higher education (anything above a high school diploma) is not encouraged. So in the Pew religious survey the JW's have the least higher education among ALL major religions. And they earn the Least income.

Instead of seeking additional education or job skills........your average JW spends about 20 hours a week in preparing for and attending meetings and going out in field service (door knocking) and conducting bible studies if they are lucky enough to have one. Throw in the time spent volunteering to work on building a new Kingdom Hall or cleaning or repairing their own Kingdom Hall. Or attending 2 or 3 Assemblies each year but hey that's what vacations are all about.

4. Pew also says they have the same divorce rate 11% as other religions.

5. The JW's also have the highest rate of people leaving the religion. 67% of born-ins leave.

6. And....... they have a huge pedophile problem. Their ancient 'two Witness' rule which dates back to the Old Testament makes it almost impossible to get rid of pedophiles.

Never trust a JW they will not hesitate to lie to you. A lie in their reality is called theocratic warfare.

20

Reinstatement/dating

by Pinky in

a month ago i was reinstated as a jehovah’s witness.

he was not disfellowshipped.

in my meeting i was told that i could not become involved with the man that i committed a sin with, which is adultery once i’m reinstated.

Giordano

Pinky I went back and reviewed your topics....... each and every one of them was marriage related. Being married, not being married....... dating and committing some manner of sexual sin and being reinstated.

All of this so far has been a big waste of your time.....unless you enjoy being disrespected.

You have been reinstated so it's an excellent time to step away and leave this slimy religion that in actuality does not have the truth and is made up of lies.

According to the Pew Religious survey the JW's have the same divorce rate as just about any other religion. They are also the least educated. And guess what? 67% of born-ins leave the religion according to the Pew Survey.

There are hundreds of ways to meet and date guys even ex JW's........ if that fits your comfort range......until you find the right person.

Start by checking dating sites on line....... just make sure they are not still in this or any other high control religion.

Rethink your life to this point....... is this the best way you can live? Think about finding worthwhile companions male and female who are not in foolish religions.

35

The biggest mistake.

by Half banana in

a long time ago, before television radio and films, before printing, before the invention of writing, people listened only to the spoken word—and the cry of birds, the wind whistling through the trees and the sea crashing on the sea shore.

before written text they knew about the gods because high up there in the night sky was where they lived; gods, goddesses and immortal heroes.

the constellations told of their exploits.

Giordano

The bible is not definitive......it is simply a compilation of edited writings which were selected or changed to favor which ever religion claimed to be the true religion.

"It shows us in our bible that we have the truth!"

Reading the bible is akin to reading an encyclopedia that was written hundreds if not thousands of years ago. It might give you a laugh or two or maybe even a tad of insight in how things were....... then.

We have any number of variations/translations as needed by most specialized religions like the JW's, the Catholic Church, Mormons etc.

The way to legitimize your beliefs is to put them into your version of the bible.

I have always found it interesting that Jesus never wrote anything down. To this day we have not found a scrap of writing even though he was surrounded by people who could write.

74

The impact and consequences of being born into the jehovahs witness cult.

by RayoFlight2014 in

hi from new south wales australia.

fyi , it's tuesday 10th september 2:36am here.. i am categorically not going to blame the cult for every poor choice.

i am conscious of the fact that i was at a genetically determined disadvantage academically; i was never going to be outstanding in my achievements, no matter how hard i tried.

Giordano

Hi Rayo and welcome!

When my wife and I left the JW construct in our young twenties we had one C-minus high school diploma between us. We had little to nothing in our lives when we broke with the so called truth. All the WT reading I had done up to this point counted for nothing. But thank goodness I was a reader and was able to go into a library and pick out anything that I was curious about.

Two books made the critical difference for me back in the early 1960's (No internet in those days). The first was The True Believer by Eric Hoffer, a longshoreman who became a blue collar Social Philosopher who analyzed Mass Movements that turned out True Believers. Oddly enough he never mentioned the JW's or the WTBTS though he described them to a tee. Here is a quote I referenced recently:

All active mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. ...by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it. ...To rely on the evidence of senses and of reason is heresy and treason. It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible. What we know as blind faith is sustained by innumerable unbelief's.

I also read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich........ After finishing that book there was no doubt in my mind that the Corporate structure of the WT never had any special connection to a god. It was all made up BS. A 100 million people died in WW2 and no god interfered on any level. In fact God's original chosen ones were exterminated as were the JW's.

It didn't take me long to cancel my positions in the congregation and with my wonderful wife, who was my pioneer partner, pack up and leave.

Since this was in the mid 1960's......Vietnam was becoming a death zone for American Soldiers, and I was now eligible to be drafted. Then a few years later The Society launched 1975. My thought at that point was 'Damn my timing really sucked".

We also missed Woodstock as we had a new baby son. He did keep me out of Vietnam and in return we kept him out of the JW world.

1975 came and went and it was in March of 76 before I remembered.

When you totally don't set your calendar on any meeting night, or Assembly or the Memorial you know your out.

37

Do You Think People Have Forgotten About 9/11?

by minimus in

jw
friends

after all these years, it seems to me that people do not properly take note of what happened on this date in 2001. for some, it’s like nothing major happened.

for me it is a day of reflection..

Giordano

People have forgotten the year the Civil war ended or the end or WW1 and the beginning of WW2 ........ Pearl Harbor.

As a generation passes away the event does not have the same effect on the children whose parents and grand parents lived through it.

We honor that generation but it's hard to feel the emotions...... it's in the past........ but 911 is still in our minds...... we are still effected by the attack....We are still part of the generation that can ask and answer the question.........Where were you when 911 happened? As long as we can ask and answer that question.........we will remember.

14

Finding our true identity after spiritual abuse in the Watchtower

by Faith after Deception in

i personally find that when you’ve been around toxic people long enough, either in a family environment or as part of a cult or a highly controlling church, (or worse, both!

), you tend to get a very twisted view of your own identity and also human nature in general.. in a religious context, you may end up feeling that you are a “lowly worm” and that in general, people can’t be trusted.

since all you’ve known of relationships has been painful, complex and tiresome, it can give you the impression that this is the norm and that’s all you can expect .

Giordano

Emily you and Van believe in a god that is not provable. A point of view dependent on some Christian teachings but has little or no real impact or meaning.

There is no god other then the one who was in charge of acting out...... like a child.......... declaring that everyone was too wicked to live...... so the Flood. This was god's creation and he had no control over it. Now, He, She, It, needs to drown every one in the world. Start over with a clean slate.

This god drowns a world because it's standards weren't met......... though I don't recall what those standards were.

This was the time to send his son down to earth to explain his rules but he never did.

The little children and the unborn are drowned with their mothers so this god can start over again. A New world populated by Noah's family of idiots. How long did that last.

Instead we get a world worse then the first one.

Didn't god understand what would happen? Your god would have known...... which makes his believers as guilty as their god....... as guilty as sin to support It's actions.

The truth is this god, doesn't exist other then in dumb Hebrew writings that described a god that never existed. And strange New testament scripture that twisted this god and his son into a game that never ends and can never be won.

A loving god? Look at the suffering, the needless deaths and wars, the diseases that could be cured if we just knew what to do. If your god gave a crap.........

Most of your beliefs are spent defending a god that has no real interest in any of us.

We live and we die, we suffer our loses and we feel pain. Being human can be a hardship but believing in a god that doesn't give a crap about us just adds to the pain.

A god who doesn't use anything but silence to communicate........ is it any wonder that we have thousands of interpretations of that silence. And yours is just one of them.

I for one believe in humanity and I for one want to make a difference. Good people of all manner are the only ones making a positive difference in our world and in our time.

19

Personal story of bethel, sexual abuse and child baptism

by GetMeOutofHere in

born into a strong jw family in the early 80s.

my father died when i was 4 and that left a huge emotional scar on my tender mind.

with my mother, i went to live with family members and was sexually abused between 4 and 10. he was an ms but when elders later found out, all that happened was he got his privileges removed.

Giordano

GetMeOutOfHere you have come to the right place We have ex Elders, And overseers, ex Bethelites and plain old publishers all are now considered Leavers.

The Society used to provide a number each year that listed the amount of 'leaver's' from 1960-61 to 2011--12 some leavers have died of course, but the total number came to over 4 million people who left this so called truth.

According to the Pew Religious Landscape Survey 67% of born-ins leave the religion and consider themselves non's those people who no longer claim a religion.

Fifty seven years ago I married my pioneer partner........ 3 years after we both walked away from the religion. I came to find out not only was she happy to leave but admitted to me that she was a non believer. What it took me a year and a half to understand she knew as a 12 year old.

The WTBTS never had the truth what they had was a product. They started as a publishing house with ideas that were attractive like "Many living today may never die".

While they sold this belief all over the world it caught on because who wants to die or see their loved ones die?

Resurrection here on this good old earth was also a sensible idea because no one was really familiar about Heaven.

How many JW's hang in there in hopes of meeting up with family members?

The JW belief is made up crap with no real foundation....... it is similar to the Mormons and Christian Sciendists made up crap.

I'll finish with this quote from Eric Hoffers...... The True Believer:

" All active mass movements strive, therefore, to interpose a fact-proof screen between the faithful and the realities of the world. ...by claiming that the ultimate and absolute truth is already embodied in their doctrine and that there is no truth nor certitude outside it. ...To rely on the evidence of senses and of reason is heresy and treason. It is startling to realize how much unbelief is necessary to make belief possible. What we know as blind faith is sustained by innumerable unbelief's."

65

Trump Derangement Syndrome Is Alive and Well

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was on facebook and a person i have known for a long time posted how trump is mentally ill and is truly a psychopath.

a couple of her friends chimed in when i suggested that perhaps the fb friend was really the psychopath.

a couple of her friends began to defend her but i was surprised by how many people defended the president!

Giordano

If Trump does not have a mental and moral problem he is at the best a con man by choice...... who is running out of gas.

The latest is his claim that Alabama will be hit by this current Hurricane. Nothing like using a Sharpie to draw a fake line running through Florida and landing in Alabama...........and his dumb Alabama supporters who were packing up they cars for an exit. At least their governor called it bullshit.

There is nothing left in the Trump tent then more foolishness and evil. The minute this guy leaves office he will spend the rest of his life trying to stay out of jail. So will his son-in-law and probably his 2 adult son's.

Republicans are resigning in mass because they let him get out of control and his actions are impacting the lives of their voters.

Farmers are railing against him.

Every President makes mistakes it's the nature of the beast.

But you don't go out of your of your way to turn your back on our European Allies and present yourself as Putin and Kim's personal butt boy........ he's a joke on the world stage.

12

I'm Watching The Exorcist Right Now...

by pale.emperor in

as an ex-jw recovering for cult indoctrination and paranoia there are a few things that make us realise how far we've come.. eating black pudding.

smoking a joint.

sleeping with someone on a first date.

Giordano

Hi Pale....the Exorcist.... my wife and I were out for ten or so years when that movie was released. We got out when my son was born, No blood or a Paradise earth for him just reality.

So when my wife and I saw the movie we jumped at the extreme parts and definitely were affected by the story and special effects. Very powerful for that time.The Demon thing was just a vehicle to present a story that was atmospheric and very tense.

My son who was ten years old at that time really wanted to see this movie. We said no.

In child rearing I used a form of 'Convince me' instead of an out right yes or no. I wanted our son to make an argument why he should see the Exorcist.

My argument was ...... your too young.

His argument was 'can I see it when I'm thirteen'?

We compromised by agreeing that he could see the movie when he turned 13........ he was disappointed but understood he could see this movie in a few years. This is well before movies on tape or DVD's. So I wasn't worrying that he would see it at thirteen.

We lived in West Palm Beach FL and there was a theater that ran older movies. Sure enough the Exorcist was playing. My son was now thirteen and an agreement was an agreement.

I had some trepidation as we entered the theater.

We got seated and the movie started. The suspense grew........ the horror was rolled out in small doses building up to a particular scene. Where the demon controlled girl used a crucifix to masturbate.,,,,violently .......Bug eyed, drooling and using that crucifix to hammer herself over and over again.

I thought......oh my god why did I agree to this.

Then my son turned to me and said "Dad I've seen enough let's go!"

I don't know what the moral of this story is. I kept my end of a bargain though I never thought I'd have to be a part of that.....he demonstrated a maturity........ that I was proud of.

The sun and fresh air was a welcome relief when we exited the theater. He's 52 now and still laughs at his and my reaction to that scene.

7

Very happy young drum player

by Sour Grapes in

when i saw this young boy play the drums i was really impressed by his talent and the joy that he has.

for some strange reason, i thought of how his life would change if his parents studied with the jdubs and became witnesses.

i could see how the boy's life would change.

Giordano

This kid is a natural! He's playing more like a talented sixteen year old!

I started playing the drums at 12. In and around becoming a JW which had become something of a big deal in my Mom's life. I guess It was a different time back in the late 1950's. JW's didn't get in your face about music.

I was fixated on Jazz wanted to play like Buddy Rich had to settle for Gene Krupa.

When I was 17 I would visit my cousin, who was in the Brooklyn Bethel, we'd hit a few Jazz clubs in the evening. Saw all the great Jazz players.

Never had a problem with the congregation then nor later as a pioneer.

I left the religion with my wife when we were in our young twenties. Couldn't take their made up BS. Great music is honest........... never saw a religion that was as honest.

Realized that I was not going to become a professional Drummer.

You can learn to play music but not necessarily make music.

This kid can do that.