Listener

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Posts by Listener

• 
  102

  Ran into a witnessing table at the park today

  by confusedandalone in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i just got in from my daughters homecoming(she is a cheerleader and these guys make a huge deal out of this stuff).

  they play 3 football games of various age groups.

  it starts at 8 in the morning and just ended at 1:30. i just got in the house literally 5 minutes ago and i had to share.

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  Listener

  It's weird to see them dressed in suits at a game.
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  336

  The New Diary of Winston Smith

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.

  fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.

  i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.

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  Listener

  I would apologize if I offended you for my previous comments but I doubt that was the case, discussing matters really just help to clarify things.

  My mother (who was not a JW) would suggest that I just return to the meetings so that my father could once again talk to me. To her it was a solution but I couldn't bring myself to living a lie regardless of the benefits. Not only would it be wrong on a religious basis because I would not be serving God in truth but I would be fooling my father. To make a pretence of my own beliefs, to me, would be a great sin. As this is a public discussion I do understand why others choose to go this route and I do not judge them for their personal decisions. After your post I appreciate more so why you chose yourself to go down the course you have taken.

  Although I lost the close relationship with my father for over 30 years I always felt that it was not by my doing and he chose to shun because he honestly believed what he was doing was right and I had no control over that.

  The GB do not have scriptural backing for their laws on disfellowshipping and shunning and the scriptures have been twisted for their own purposes so that they can maintain this Orwellian world. If they honestly tried to apply scriptures in regards to sinners or apostates then they would not allow a disfellowshipped person to even attend the Kingdom Hall because even though they are allowed to do so now in silence they are still part of the congregation by their simple attendance. They are still associating with the brothers and sisters and they are still part of that group worship. They participate in the religious activities by singing and praying with them and by the elders being able to deliver their sermons to these individuals. Their is more biblical basis to say that they should be expelled completely from any group gatherings (if they are not repentant and continue to sin). However, the organization will not do this because of the legal reprecussions and their status as a religion for all.

  I am very happy for you that you still have a very good relationship with your mother. What makes me even more happy is that your mother is so open to discussing what is in the bible and really shows a deep desire to do what is right according to that. Unfortunately she is still wrapped in the JW religious chain.

  I admire you for the stand that you have taken and taken seriously. That 'elder' mentality still shines through in that you are sincerely setting yourself as an example to others.
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  443

  The 1914 generation is still going strong 100 years later - 2014 study article.

  by THE GLADIATOR in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  january 2014 watchtower study article.

  let your kingdom comebut when?.

  this generation will not pass away.

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  Listener

  Although they have stopped predicting a specific year they continue to set the time period for the end, this makes them a false religion.
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  164

  Did Cedars manipulate Lee into having a thread closed?

  by cedars in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  i will happily answer this question if there can be some guarantees this thread won't be deleted..

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  Listener

  This is Simon's forum and Cedar's laid down the gauntlet. It would be an extremely mild man who did not respond.

  To bring something up after 6 months, as Cedars has done, because of some comments from the odd poster rather than dealing with the post at the time and letting it fester is not a good way of handling things.

  I do wonder if Slimboyfat's mention of his name on this thread negatively has influenced his decision to leave.
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  336

  The New Diary of Winston Smith

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.

  fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.

  i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.

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  Listener

  I do wonder if your decision to DA has had a lot to do with your mother. That decision is directly affecting her and she has to make a decision but you know her so well and I believe that you can guide her through this and it is lkely what you want. You know the influence that you have in her life and you may have taken this stand so that she has to take a stand herself without simply pushing things under the carpet which is what would have happened had you simply slowly faded.
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  336

  The New Diary of Winston Smith

  by WinstonSmith in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.

  fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.

  i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.

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  Listener

  Sadly JWs look to earthly men to set rules for them. The Shepherds of the flock are supposed to tend the their sheep, not to lord over them. The term Governing in Governing Body should be apparent enough that they have taken on a role that was not assigned to them.

  This is a real test for your mother and she doesn't want to disassociate from you. I imagine she may need to talk to other JWs about her feelings, maybe even the elders, if she decides to cut off contact then she will be forced to go against what her own conscience and heart is telling her. This is very wrong for the GB to impose this on her in order for her to remain a JW. I understand why many need a church/congregation in order to feel they are serving God and doing it as part of a group fills a need, it is natural for many but the GB enforce their own rules and there is no option for many. Unfortunately, what these individuals are doing is obeying men's rules rather than those rules set down by God, but they don't know it and it is wrong.

  I so hope that she allows you to discuss issues with her in far greater depth so that she sees the manipulation and control that the GB through their organization are seeking. The recent WT issue on the FDS is great, the January article on the generation teaching is ideal as it's just so easy to discuss the falicy of it.

  Thanks for keeping us updated.
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  406

  Goodbye JWD/JWN (my last post)

  by slimboyfat in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  after some considerable thought i have decided that i will no longer post on this forum because i want to return to jehovah.

  thank you for all the kindness and many interesting discussions over the years.

  i wish you all well in the future and the decisions you make.

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  Listener

  At least you're going back in with full knowledge of TATT which is much more than we can say for most JWs.

  I've enjoyed your posts and all the best.

  I'd say good luck but that would only be disrespectful.
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  18

  "Jehovah's visible organization can use you, but can get along without you" Quote Watchtower

  by Watchtower-Free in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  can't you just feel the love of the org.. .

  *** watchtower 50 1/15 p. 26 par.

  22 who will share in the final witness?

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  Listener

  Exactly the same situation as an abusive relationship - Í don't need you but you need me
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  11

  Jehovahs Witnesses live in a " RELIGIOUS TOTALITARIAN " regime

  by smiddy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  no wonder they have a very high turnover of dis-satisfied members , a high number of suicides compared to mainstream religions , a high number of phsychological disorders among members .. totalitarianism is something we normally associate with political regimes , communism , fascism ,etc.etc.. it should also apply to reigions that have "high control "strategys , that keep the members cocooned in their beleif system.. discouraging members from getting information outside their control.

  as though information is wrong .

  you should be able ,using your god given brain to decide whether information you receive is beneficial or not .

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  Listener

  I was just watching a public talk given by Judge Rutherford (1938 Face the Facts). He was going on about the World Governments becoming Totalatarian and how Britain and America would follow suit. He mentioned the idea so many times throughout his talk that I checked Wikipedia to get a better idea of what this meant.

  When i looked it up I was surprised to see how the description actually describes the WT religion. As the name suggests it is the idea of taking total control over the persons life, including social and private aspects, including the way they think.

  They have been so clever in warning it's followers of the dangers of such rulership and in the meantime do that very thing themselves.
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  28

  Old Rutherford vinyl records...

  by Sam87 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mother found some old jw records a couple of months ago, they apparently were what the dubs used to use when they were witnessing, theyd go out with a record player and play these records to people to preach to them.. just wondering if anyone else has any of these?

  im guessing theres probly not that many of them around, i think i have about 6 or so of them and they are quite old, (im at work at the moment so i cant really tell you any more about them) i was thinking that i mite sell them on ebay, maybe ill get a bit of cash for them.. .

  sam87..

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  Listener

  My father had some and I tried to listen to them when I was younger. I think you need a 33RPM player and record players even in the 60s had this speed.

  The records had been so well used that it was very difficult to understand what was being said but Rutherford's voice just gave me the creeps.

  It would be great if you could record and share them