I have a Google Home. I asked her if i should join Jehovah's witnesses and she told me not to listen to just their side of the story and study just their Bible and literature but research others as well!
Amelia Ashton
JoinedPosts by Amelia Ashton
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13
I bought Alexa and she said not to attend the afternoon of the Assembly Day
by RubaDub ini really like my alexa.
a little creepy at first, but quite interesting.. i asked her if i should attend the assembly day on saturday.. she said "in your case, just go in the morning, walk around, see everyone, then at lunch walk to your car while talking on your cell phone.
then just leave.
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The Reasons for Cart Witnessing
by Simon inwhatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.
the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.
now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.
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Amelia Ashton
I never let on I'm an exjw when I approach the JWs on the cart but I wonder how many suspect that anyone coming up to them to ask a question is actually not a genuine member of the public but an apostate targeting them?
I have yet to see any of those supposedly responsible for sounding the alarm about God's imminent destruction of the world actually stop and warn a single person.
How they can call it "urgent work" when they just stand in front of a shop window idly chatting to each other not even attempting to attract anyone's attention to Armageddon is a joke.
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The Reasons for Cart Witnessing
by Simon inwhatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.
the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.
now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.
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Amelia Ashton
If Jehovahs Witneses manning a cart is all they need to do to be "a witness to Jehovah" these days then surely the "dog collar" worn by vicars means vicars have been "witnessing" since 1884.
In fact any religious garment could do that job so if JWs just wore a baseball cap with the JW logo on it when out that could be classed as "witnessing". Look at the hours they would clock up. They could be witnessing full time then if wearing the identifying cap while at work if such caps were allowed, out shopping or in fact anywhere there were people. A JW sticker would be witnessing.
When going d2d some days there were no people anywhere but then we were "witnessing to the angels" just by being out.
By the ever decreasing standard of effort required to be considered "witnessing to jehovah" wearing a logo will soon be enough no matter what activity you are doing.
What a merchandising opportunity for the GB to replace dwindling donations. Forget magic underwear. Sports gear, baby strollers, jumpers, coats etc etc. All with the JW logo attached. The list of items it could be displayed on is endless no longer limited to just buildings.
Stripes or stars could be added to clothing to denote ms/elder/pioneer status etc.
Oops I forgot. There is no hierarchy in that religion. :p
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The Dinosaurs.
by I Faded Twice inwas anyone else taught that dinosaurs even old t rex was a vegetarian ?
i remember as a kid my parents contradicting what school taught.
they reasoned that meat eating was not allowed before the flood.
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Amelia Ashton
I was told that.
Someone answered at a Watchtower they knew of an experiment with lions fed exclusively on straw and it turned them tame again! The elder neither corrected them or questioned which experiment, by whom or when but moved on as if this could actually have been true not even hinting the statement was outrageously false
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My brother is shunning me (but he's not a Witness)
by john.prestor ini didn't know where to post this but it's been on my mind and i'm looking for support and advice from people who know what it's like being shunned.
i was raised in a fundamentalist baptist church, so what i'm experiencing is a little different than most posters on this site.
i've been out of that church for years, and my brother's been out for a while too.
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Amelia Ashton
My parents have been no contact for 25 years. They can't blame JW doctrine as they never were even though the previous generation on my mothers side of the family were and she had no contact with them but I never knew why. I never even knew my mothers side of the family til i met JWs and joined them and found my maternal grandmother and the rest of my family in my middle 20s.
My point is some families and people are just toxic even without JW influence (my mother is a narcissist but I didn't know that until I was in my mid 50s) and although it hurts having no contact sometimes that is less stressful and hurtful so for the best if you want a peaceful happy life.
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This Is It?
by Nevuela ini can't say much out of fear of getting caught, but i overheard a jw i know on the phone with a friend talking about "how close we are to the end.
" yeah, yeah, i know.
we've been on the brink of armageddon for well over a century, but what struck me about this particular instance was what she said next.
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Amelia Ashton
"So, I googled "has Matthew 24:14 been fulfilled" and it led me to a thread on this board."
I wonder how often JWN threads come up when Watchtower researches type in a subject matter they have been instructed to write about?
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Abuse Survivor's $4M Judgment Against Jehovah's Witness Umbrella Organization Upheld by Court 12/10/18
by Not_Culty inhttps://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2018/12/10/court-upholds-abuse-survivors-4m-judgement-against-jehovahs-witness-umbrella-organization-389-52222/?slreturn=20181111101406.
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Amelia Ashton
“On July 15, 2006, [J.W.] and three other girls were invited to a slumber party at [Simental’s] home. [Simental] had a daughter near the age of [J.W.] and the other invited girls. [¶] During that afternoon, [Simental] joined the girls in a pool in the backyard. While in the pool, [Simental] sexually molested [J.W.] and another girl (Doe 1) in separate incidents. Doe 1’s sister, Doe 2, had previously been molested on two occasions by [Simental].” Doe 1 and Doe 2 told their mother about Simental molesting them. The mother contacted an elder of the congregation, and a judicial committee was convened. Simental admitted he molested Doe 2 on two occasions, and that he molested Doe 1 twice on July 15. The judicial committee reproved Simental. The principal of Doe 1 and Doe 2’s school was notified of the abuse, and s/he reported it to law enforcement. Approximately two months after July 15, J.W.’s parents received a telephone call from the Murrieta Police Department asking if Simental sexually abused J.W. J.W.’s father (Father) spoke to the elders of the Mountain View congregation who advised Father that J.W. did not have to speak with the police. J.W. and her family began attending a different congregation—the French Valley Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Unbeknownst to J.W. and her family, Simental also moved to the French Valley congregation. Approximately one year after July 2006, J.W. informed her parents of the extent of Simental’s sexual touching. J.W.’s parents spoke to the police and then to the elders of the French Valley congregation.
The elders came to J.W.’s home and “interrogated JW, who was approximately ten years of age, about the abuse in explicit detail. JW, and her parents, were very upset by the explicit nature of the questions asked, and the depth to which the Elders probed for information.” Father told the elders that he was thinking of requesting a restraining order against Simental. The elders told Father that he did not need to speak to the police, “and that to do so would bring reproach on the congregation.” In two criminal cases, Simental was found guilty of molesting Doe 1, Doe 2, and J.W.2 J.W.’s first cause of action was for negligence. J.W. asserted Watchtower had a duty to protect J.W., who was entrusted to Watchtower’s care by J.W.’s parents. J.W. asserted Watchtower had a duty to control Simental and prevent him from sexually molesting children. J.W. alleged that Watchtower was “aware, prior to the sexual abuse of [J.W.] herein, of [Simental’s] dangerous and exploitive propensities. [Watchtower was] also aware that [it] had the ability to place restrictions on [Simental’s] access to children, service and preaching activities, give warnings to the congregation, and otherwise control Simental’s conduct.”
Watchtower's defense is that the slumber party was not a watchtower sponsored event and I stopped reading after that.
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This Is It?
by Nevuela ini can't say much out of fear of getting caught, but i overheard a jw i know on the phone with a friend talking about "how close we are to the end.
" yeah, yeah, i know.
we've been on the brink of armageddon for well over a century, but what struck me about this particular instance was what she said next.
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Amelia Ashton
I have started to view the Watchtower's vision of paradise not just delusionary but not a place I want to be.
I love the internet. I love my phone. I love my coffee maker. I love watching almost any film I want on demand. I am sure my taste in music would be banned and I know living in a peaceful world and in good health would be marvellous but not at the expense of no more trains, planes and cars (unless we all get the gift of wings, that would be cool) but I am more content and appreciative of my life now than I ever was as a JW. Have I just become selfish in my old age?
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Hello Everyone, Another JW Has Left!
by SuperGirl injust want to introduce myself and let you know that this site is working and is a big help to lots of jws with doubts.
i've been lurking for about a year, the first couple of times i was frightened and literally shaking visiting an apostate site but it's the only place i can come to for sanity.
the religion has become a nut house.
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Amelia Ashton
Welcome
I remember coming here and being terrified of apostates but they had the information I was looking for. Meeting one through an exjw site who lived locally was one of the scariest things I'd ever done but I knew I had to find out for myself if others felt like me.
Crisis of Conscience by Ray Franz eliminated any last shreds of doubt, fear and guilt I had so definitely read it if you get a chance. Another book that really helped my recovery was Captive of a Concept by Don Cameron which debunked 1914 but I hear that date doesn't carry the significance it once did. Quelle surprise! The internet they originally condemned but then embraced must surely be waking up far more than it is recruiting.
Glad you found us and hopefully many more will follow you.
Amelia
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Conformity
by barry inhttps://youtu.be/rkens1c7fsg many sda church members unions and conferences are having issues with their general conference which has set up five compliance committees to regulate church entities.
some of the areas the general conference are concerned about are the ordination of women and the general wants to stop more women from being ordained also their are issues with church doctrine homosexuality.
this video is in response to a fight back by a large majority of members 40% wanted womens ordination.
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Amelia Ashton
Stuff like this:
For another 16 years the policy remained in effect, until the May 1, 1996 Watchtower abruptly decreed that acceptance of alternative service was now a matter of conscience. During those 16 years, thousands of Witnesses, mainly young men, spent time in prison for refusing to accept assignments to perform various forms of community service as an alternative to military service. As late as 1988, a report by Amnesty International stated that in France, “More than 500 conscientious objectors to military service, the vast majority of them Jehovah’s Witnesses, were imprisoned during the year.” For the same year, in Italy, “Approximately 1,000 conscientious objectors, mostly Jehovah’s Witnesses, were reported to be imprisoned in 10 military prisons for refusing to perform military service or the alternative civilian service.”15 That is just a partial picture. If that one Governing Body member had not changed his vote in 1978, virtually none of these men would have gone to prison—for the branch office committees’ reports give clear evidence that it was not the personal, individual consciences of these young men that produced the imprisonment. It was the compulsion to adhere to an organizationally imposed policy. The policy change is unquestionably welcome. Nonetheless, the fact that it took some 50 years for the organization’s to finally remove itself from this area of personal conscience surely has significance. One cannot but think of all the thousands of years collectively lost during half a century by Witness men as to their freedom to associate with family and friends, or to contribute to their own economy and the economy of those related to them, or pursue other worthwhile activities in ways not possible within prison walls. It represents an incredible waste of valuable years for the simple reason that it was unnecessary, being the result of an unscriptural position, imposed by organizational authority.