It all depends on the definition of the word sin. For JWs wishing someone happy birthday or merry christmas could be considered a sin...raising a glass and toasting, watching R rated movies or not going out in service when you could also have been equated to sins...These are not the sins elders are much concerned about. They are much more interested in the "dirty sins" such as fornication or even pornography as highlighted in the latest letters to the BoE. In my case I was raised as a JW from age 4 and religiously followed what I learned at the KHall so I was never involved in illicit sex, drugs or alcohol abuse. Over 50 years later, I still have nothing to confess to unqualified men who have no clue if the sinner is repentent or a good actor. I never felt any guilt ignoring the petty rules that are not backed in the scriptures because I saw them as the rules made by the pharisees to control people. And today I am free of the WT slavery and I don't have the smallest guilt.
Posts by NVR2L8
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7Question to those who are still JW's.....
by XPeterX inhave you done a "sin" that you didn't confess to the elders?.
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12
it just blows me away!
by stillin ina friendly group of young people came in the drive yesterday.
they all got out with smiles and said that they were looking to put canned food into the "food bank," i assumed for people who need to eat.
i wasn't sure what my wife could part with from the pantry but surely we could gather something for somebody who has much less!
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NVR2L8
Funny how leaving the cult changes the way I see charity...Saturday there was a lady at the door of Canadian Tire asking for support for people in wheelchairs...and I gave her $5...then next day a girl walked up my driveway while I was fixing my motorcycle and she was selling chocolate to finance group activities for underpriviledge kids in our town...I gave her $5 too...I mentioned this to my wife and she got all defensive about making gifts to "worldly" organisations...Now I occasionally give small change to homeless and beggars...what is happening to me!!!
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NVR2L8
Never - once I came out I realized that the "brothers" are conditional friends so I haven't lost anything worth going back to. Being free from the man-made rules and the WT's interpretation of the Bible is priceless.
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Identifying marks of the true religion
by ex360shipper insaw this on jwtalk they were putting down apostates and posted this quote:.
watchtower 1982 3/1 p. 8. .
identifying marks of true religion .
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NVR2L8
You wouldn't expect the WT to provide criterias that would identify another religion....?
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39
Are the JWs were you are getting worked up over having a to go bag (Armageddon bag) ready?
by life is to short inok where i live in the pacific northwest in january of this year this elder from the hall called a special meeting and gave everyone some papers that he had gotten from some government place on what to put in an emergency bag to grab in case you have to flee your home in seconds.
i thought it was just my husbands hall being all strange and stupid over this.
one older sister said that the elder told everyone they needed three bottles of water for 14 days that is 42 bottles of water plus whatever other stuff they put in there not sure if she got that right because 42 bottles of water is a lot of weight.
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NVR2L8
Several years back when I lived in Montreal, several members of a church called the Mission of the Holy Spirit were lured into the "truth"...some influent members of the cult said that their "leader" approved their studying with the JWs...and several did and quickly joined our congregation. Anyways, these people had stockpiled huge amounts of unperishable foods and water because they were expecting the end of the world. Some families had their basement full of cans and drums of grain that they started to get rid of when they became JWs...Some of us made fun of them for being so gullible because their stocked goods would be pillaged as soon as starving neighbours would find out they had something to eat!
Following a terrible ice storm in 1998 some households were without power for a full month during the coldest days of winter and following this event, brothers were told that it would be safe to keep candles, water and basic food to sustain them for a few days....
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62
A new member of the thinking class
by Captain Obvious inthis is my first post on this forum, though it feels like i already know some of you here.
i have been lurking for a couple of months now, and i must say, there honestly seems to be more love and respect here than any forum i have ever seen on any forum of any kind.
i am 25 years old, married 3 years to my wonderful wife who is 22. we had a somewhat classic jw upbringing... which i now know has been our biggest problem.
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NVR2L8
Welcome C-O,
About 2 years ago I figured out that I had spent 50 years of my life in a CULT...and like you I had taken everything the GB said at face value - never questioning even when I did not agree. I went from being a MS giving public talks and conducting a book study to being inactive within a few months. On a Sunday on our way back from the DC I told my wife that I just had attended my last meeting...Of course she started crying and then told me that she did not want to be married to a "pagan". I told her I understood her pain and that I would forgive her for saying that...but this would be the only time. The next time she would have to face life on her own. I attempted to explain why I no longer could continue living a lie and I even showed her the July 2009 Awake that states that no one should have to choose between faith and family nor being forced to worship in a way they find inapropriate...She read it and still couldn't understand it the way I did...Like your wife, my wife does the strict minimum and she can't debate or explain any of the basic WT doctrines...but to her this his the "truth". Two years have passed by and we are coping as best as we can. I don't talk to her about my views and she doesn't talk to me about what goes on in the congregation... All I can do is to love her the best I can in hope that one day she figures it out by herself...but I am not holding my breath because I estimate the odds of that happening to be slim to none.
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25
How to counter a stupid illustration in the Bible Teach Book
by NVR2L8 inthe bible teach book uses the example of a math teacher who is challenged by a student who disagrees on how to resolve a math problem.
the teacher then lets him attempt to prove his point knowing that he can only fail.
the object of the exercise is to show the rest of the students that the teacher is right - that there is only one way to resolve the math problem....this is likened to jehovah letting satan exercise his power over the world so that the entire universe can witness his failure and that only jehovah's ways lead to happiness.... instead of maths, what if the teacher taught chemistry and a student would want to prove that the teacher is wrong when he says that certains chemicals can't be mixed without causing an explosion that would wipeout the school...would any sane, responsible, loving teacher allow such a student to experiment and wipeout the whole class just so the teacher can prove he was right?
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NVR2L8
Nolaw, math is an accurate science where there is only one way to get the right result. The student's challenge may also reveal that the teacher is wrong and any smart teacher would take this opportunity to correct his view. The WT on the other hand is always right even when they are wrong and they never see a challenge as an opportunity to rectify their view. Instead they vilify, visolate and silence any dissident regardless if they are right or wrong. In time the WT may decide that "new light" has provided a clearer understanding of the scriptures with no admission of being wrong before...This reminds me of what happened to Carl Olof Jonsson who attemted to provide a clearer understanding of the Gentile Times and how Jerusalem was never destroyed in 607 BCE...
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How Will the Society React to the Hundred Year Anniversary of 1914?
by slimboyfat init's only a couple of years away now and what a headache it must present to the gb - providing they have given it much thought already.
there probably is no elegant way of presenting the hundred year long failure of the end to come; the fact that the "short period of time" of satan being cast down to the earth has now stretched beyond any credibility.
but they have to deal with it one way or another.
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NVR2L8
They already reacted with their "generation overlap" making the 100 year anniversary irrelevant since there are still many alive from that generation...
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Why the name "Governing Body?"
by skeeter1 inthe krishna also use the term "governing body", and that struck me.. the koreshans, a defunct cult, also used the term "governing body" to describe an all woman council that lead their group.. governing body makes it sound all so official and unquestionable.
or, is it my upbringing that makes it so?.
from wiki .
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NVR2L8
I agree with Cedars. At one point the "business" side of the WT was separated from the "spiritual" side of the organizations...the Governing Body was now only responsible for providing the spiritual food and directing the preaching work while other capable (read business-savy) brothers and lawyers would take care of corporate matters....
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How to counter a stupid illustration in the Bible Teach Book
by NVR2L8 inthe bible teach book uses the example of a math teacher who is challenged by a student who disagrees on how to resolve a math problem.
the teacher then lets him attempt to prove his point knowing that he can only fail.
the object of the exercise is to show the rest of the students that the teacher is right - that there is only one way to resolve the math problem....this is likened to jehovah letting satan exercise his power over the world so that the entire universe can witness his failure and that only jehovah's ways lead to happiness.... instead of maths, what if the teacher taught chemistry and a student would want to prove that the teacher is wrong when he says that certains chemicals can't be mixed without causing an explosion that would wipeout the school...would any sane, responsible, loving teacher allow such a student to experiment and wipeout the whole class just so the teacher can prove he was right?
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NVR2L8
Thanks boc,
My son's personal copy of the book was left on the kitchen table and the page was folded...so I took a look and these 2 illustrations just jumped at me eventhough I was familiar with them I had never given them much thought since I was trained to accept without question everything I read from the WT..