That's a simple one to answer - nobody; and it has been that way for a long time, too! (And long may it bloody continue that way).
Bill.
PS: I am intrigued as to why you are making it sound like a given - i.e. that our minds are always going to be controlled by somebody? All I can say to that idea is "when Hell freezes over first!"
during the second half of the twentieth century, retirees generally found that they could afford a reasonable standard of living.
all except mugs like me who had an implicit belief in the biblical promises highlighted in the watchtower.
i'm not complaining about my lot, i take personal responsibility for my decisions to believe the rubbish in the bible, and by keeping on working during what would normally be retirement years i live ok. but it's no thanks at all to the yahweh/jesus combo god who filled my head with a pack of lies.. so what about witnesses these days?
I notice that my JW daughters are both very much planning for retirement " in This System of Things". I am , of course, very happy that some common sense has rubbed off on them:
- they must have drawn a lesson from what is happening now to their Dad, who once actually believed the bull$h*t in that 1969 Awake about "never growing old in This System", and as a consequence donated his retirement savings to the WTS.
At least they are not going to make that mistake!
Bill.
did you really believe in things as ;- the earth is only 6000 years old- the 144.000- 1914, based upon the destructiono of jerusalem- harmagheddon or the end of the world coming soon???
?i married a jw when i was an interested person and studying with the jw's ( not the way they wanted) but i told my wife before marrying her that " most probably " i would never have been a jw.she accepted me as i was and married me.
after that i had interrupted the study for one year, i started all over again with an elder of my wife's cong.
I regret to have to report that yes, there was a time when I believed all those things you just mentioned. Later on, it became a case of :
(i) wanting to still believe it was all true,
(ii) then desperately wanting to still believe that this was the truth.
(iii) and finally the realisation that I was just trying harder and harder to defend something that was indefensible!
Bill.
PS: Not in any way proud of all this. Like Cofty, though, I could never have remained with the JWs (or any religious group, for that matter) if I didn't believe their teachings.
i was thinking about this last night.
what would happen if.
someone new check out this site, what would they think?.
Many JWs are........lacking in intelligence.
I have known some JWs who had an IQ level so high that it was shared by only a few per cent of the population in general. One even had an IQ level clean off the end of the scale (which is 200).
However, they all shared one characteristic in common with just about everybody else in that religion:
- it was as if they were all equipped with a Bypass Switch to their brain, and whenever the matter of religion came up, this switch was immediately turned over to the "Bypass" position!
It has still got me puzzled how otherwise highly intelligent people can allow themselves to continue to be misled by such a lot of nonsense.
Bill
the "preaching work" they're so eager to brag about is just laughable.
they say their number is an indication of god's blessing.
oh, please, give me a break!
stand in the subway station like a statue holding up the magazines.
Yes, it is hardly disaster response, is it?
Of course, if this world is not really in imminent danger of destruction after all, then it hardly matters!
Bill.
hey guys,.
so, since my leaving i have been doing so much research on so many topics that it's been extremely enlightening.
not only have i learned a lot about the organization and what motivates it, but i have also learned a lot about the bible, god and most importantly, myself.. currently, i'm not quite sure where i stand, but i'm having some real issues with the bible and god.
The term "religioned out " best describes my position since leaving that lot 20 years ago.
Bill
so do you feel bad throwing away your old literature?.
what about your old song book or bible from your early days in the org?.
if so, is it because of sentimentality, monetary cost or because it might be 'sacred' ?.
Quite the contrary - it game me a feeling of great satisfaction to deal with the lot by using a box of matches and several litres of kerosene!
Bill
check this out.
got this bound volume from my dad.. .
I remember that one very well:
-it is the main reason that I am just now (a week after my 60th birthday) completing studies towards an Advanced Diploma.
&$%# the lot of them and their damnfool ideas!
Bill
what have you done so far as to convince them they are misled?
what has worked for you.. it is inconceivable to me, that if my mother or father showed me proof of why the wt org is false, that i wouldn't take them seriously, after all they are older and should know better, but it seems there are some of you who have the opposite outcome, where your children think you are misled and senile, and grandparents are surely labeled as senile.
one would reason then, if this were truly the case, that you are 'senile' or demented, then wouldn't that be taken into consideration when having loving contact with your parents?
I suspect that my two daughters still regard me as misled - but not quite as misled as they once thought I was. The elder one never did adhere to the WTS's more extreme demands about shunning, while in more recent times, the younger of my two daughters has also shown herself to no longer be bound by such extremism. Both my wife and I still entertain hopes that the penny will finally drop!
Bill.
this topic has been on my mind lately.
i have been looking around at jws and wondering how many truly believe the end is as near as they are told.
from my personal experience, i know that my parents fully believe the end is imminent and may come any time now.
There are those, perhaps the majority, who hang on to "The Truth" more as an insurance policy than anything else:
- just in case that Group of 7 Madmen in New York have got it right after all.
Otherwise, they plan for the long haul "In This System".
Certainly, my daughter and son in law (both in their mid-thirties) are talking retirement and pensions - whereas myself at the same age would have still subscribed to the idea "waste of time, that (elusive!) New System is going to be here before then."
Bill
