Posts by Nickolas

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Please help me on my JW father who WILL NOT leave me ALONE

by skeeter1 in

my father will not leave me alone.

i need your suggestions on what to do.. my father is elderly and his health isn't good.

still, he pioneers.

Nickolas

Some excellent advice above. Both my father and father-in-law suffered severe dementia and had to be institutionalized before they died. Both went a little bonkers before their brains started to really rot. Hope that's not it in your case, but you might want to address the possibility in your mind. If you have satisfied your dad's not going crazy and if, as Aguest suggests, he is operating in guilt mode he may just be ready for some extra measure of determination on your part to get him the hell out of there.

15

the guilt borne by former Jehovah's Witnesses

by Nickolas in

i have been noticing in various threads that many former jehovah's witnesses in here feel a burden of guilt about having been a jehovah's witness.

mostly talk about how terrible they feel for having imposed wtbts beliefs and strictures on people, especially on people they love.

i am beginning to believe that this is a key trigger for people when they finally get up to the point where they feel they must leave the society.

Nickolas

I have been noticing in various threads that many former Jehovah's Witnesses in here feel a burden of guilt about having been a Jehovah's Witness. Mostly talk about how terrible they feel for having imposed WTBTS beliefs and strictures on people, especially on people they love. I am beginning to believe that this is a key trigger for people when they finally get up to the point where they feel they must leave the Society. But I am also wondering if this isn't a chicken and egg situation. Is it the guilt of making people they love unhappy that prompts people to leave or does a dawning realisation what the WTBTS really is have to happen first?

On the guilt bit, though, you folks should relax. We're just all happy you're out. That's all that matters.

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Please help me on my JW father who WILL NOT leave me ALONE

by skeeter1 in

my father will not leave me alone.

i need your suggestions on what to do.. my father is elderly and his health isn't good.

still, he pioneers.

Nickolas

I am really thinking of asking him to stop. If he does not respect my wishes (which he will not), then I will call his elders so they can counsel him.

Seems from your submission that you have already asked him to stop, many times. It could be you have already identified a strategy yourself. The question might be, however, would the elders actually counsel your father to stop prosthelytizing you? Perhaps not. Your father would likely agree to set up a meeting with you and the elders. If at that meeting you were to confront them in a controlled and confident manner with all the stuff you know about the WTBTS and how much you want to be left alone, would they not be more likely to instruct your father accordingly?

53

I think I figured out why Jesus ended up being such an important figure in history!

by sabastious in

mary had to make up a story for why she was pregnent after cheating on joseph and it ended up seriously getting out of hand.. -sab.

Nickolas

The Tamils are almost all Hindu, in a country that is dominated by Buddhists. I don't think that is a coincidence. Hitler was a spriritualist who in his writings claimed to be Catholic and even in the last years of the second world war was identified by his closest lieutenants as Catholic. He was also a pathological liar, but not an atheist in the strictest sense. The fascist movement, which evolved into Hitler's National Socialism, found its roots in the Catholic countries of Spain and Italy and was in historical fact sanctioned and even promoted by the Vatican. Stalin was a nutcase of a totally higher order and was undoubtedly the greatest atheist villain in history. He was a seminary dropout, but it is not known if his exposure to the rigours and deprivations of religious life contributed to his psychosis but one thing is abundantly clear is that he usurped the role of demigod and was worshipped as such even after his death. Perhaps we need a broader definition for religion.

53

I think I figured out why Jesus ended up being such an important figure in history!

by sabastious in

mary had to make up a story for why she was pregnent after cheating on joseph and it ended up seriously getting out of hand.. -sab.

Nickolas

many thanks, PSacramento. It seems your references agree with my earlier understanding. I am looking forward to reading them through before continuing my conversation with my wife.

On your comment about slaughters instigated on religious grounds vs numbers killed during the wars in the last century, one might associate the genocide of the Jews as religion-inspired, but the rest are the consequence of pathological leadership and ambition meeting 20th century technology (which by today's standards is crude). What is concerning is our modern world has a single nuclear superpower whose citizenry constitute some of the most fundamentally religious on the planet and which has an historical tendency to assert itself in world matters, including involvement in the middle east in apparent support of biblical prophesy re: Israel. There is also a number of Isalamic fundamentalist countries in possession of atomic weaponry and which espouse religious doctrines and bald ambitions of world domination. A good example of the potential of the annexation of modern technology by people with bronze age beliefs might be the immolation and human sacrifice wrought in NYC nine years ago.

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I think I figured out why Jesus ended up being such an important figure in history!

by sabastious in

mary had to make up a story for why she was pregnent after cheating on joseph and it ended up seriously getting out of hand.. -sab.

Nickolas

Another problem with Hitchens is his arrogance, but he still puts forward an intellectually stimulating argument.

A little off topic, but not too much - with respect to the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. I have read the bible a few times but I am no biblical scholar so depend upon the research of others for my information (on which, like Hitchens, I form opinions). I was under the impression from others that the gospel of Mark was the first to be written, that his reference to the destruction of the temple in Jersusalem effectively dates his work post 70 AD. Not so, claims my Witness wife. She says the gospel of (can't recall, either Matthew or Luke) was written around 44 AD. Does anyone have chronological references?

38

JW's are not nice people

by Nickolas in

i cut and pasted the subject line from a comment made by one of this board's longtime members.

it got me wondering if this is the prevalent thinking in here.

for a very long time i believed that jw's and all fundamentalist christian folk are a cut above the norm.

Nickolas

Enlightening conversation. I think I'm pretty good at reading people (anyone in here into poker?) and can confirm that I have over the past 35 years of association with Jehovah's Witnesses met some genuine assholes, but they have been in the minority. I am beginning to understand, however, that any outsider like me will not be exposed to the true face of an insider group. That is, by the way, why this forum is so valuable to people like me. Thank you all for sharing.

Nick

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