Thanks, Greybeard and yes, we are all severely mentally abused. People who come to their senses and realize JWs are wrong become outcasts within a group of outcasts. I'm amazed at the evolution of government and religion. When a loophole exists, religion moves in and exploits it to the maximum. If WBTS weren't a church/religion, it would be criminally liable for so many things. Tearing up families is one that's all-too familiar for many of us but is too abstract to ever be dealt with legally. Amazing. It adapted to fill a niche in the environment and now it's optimally suited to be a dominant force.
DarioKehl
JoinedPosts by DarioKehl
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82
Are YOU a Believer, Atheist, Agnostic, Active JW or WHAT?
by Greybeard insorry if this has been asked before but i would love to know the current ratio on this forum.. i'm a believer/christian former jw for 45 years... born in .
what are you now and what were you?.
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Ponzi scheme - 75% of investors were Dubs....
by RagingBull inhttp://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/sep/25/alleged-ponzi-scheme-leaves-lives-shattered/?prefetch=1.
funny how many of the dubs didn't want their names mentioned in the article.
lol.
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DarioKehl
OMG....
That poor missionary brother who lost $200K+ may still be screwed in claw-back legislation! I'm sure the first and foremost thought on everyone's mind, though, is this: "We can't bring reproach on Jehovah's name!!!"
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82
Are YOU a Believer, Atheist, Agnostic, Active JW or WHAT?
by Greybeard insorry if this has been asked before but i would love to know the current ratio on this forum.. i'm a believer/christian former jw for 45 years... born in .
what are you now and what were you?.
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DarioKehl
I'm an inactive born-in skeptic since my teens. At age 8, I remember still believing in jah because I had no exposure to anything else. Everything else was "demonized." But I remember that summer, I actually started hating him. We were going through the OT in the TMS and my mom dutifully enforced studying for Thursday nite meetings during the summer months. I also had a talk #2 bible reading and vividly remember my disgust in god and his childlike behavior when dealing with humans on earth. That summer, I also learned that I'd be held back a year in school while my younger brother was inducted into the accelerated program. One Wednesday in July while helping my mom do grocery shopping, all the anger and disgust flooded over me. I felt like crying, cold sweat...I wanted to break something. I believed god was very real, but he was also a colossal asshole--no denying it anymore. He didn't give a shit about me or my parents or the JWs or anyone else! Obviously! He treated the Israelites like shit and I had to read about it aloud to a room full of people in the B school! In the parking lot of that grocery store, I said the first of many "I hate you" prayers addressed to Jehovah by name. I knew as I started the prayer that I was taking a bold step--a point of no return. I knew what "sinning against the spirit" was and meant. I knew, as I began that prayer, that I would join adam, eve and judas in the infinite dirt nap--i knew it! I felt like eve as the rind of that magical fruit snapped under her teeth for the very first time. But after that prayer was over, I felt amazing. It felt great. Sure he could kill me and keep me dead forever, but he could never take away what I said. God could never undo the fact that his example in his own written record made an 8-year old decide not to worship him, not love him and never respect his sovereignty. I said what I felt I had to say and dammit, nothing jah can do will erase it from the eternal timeline. I said a prayer and told him what was up. I died that day, but I also knew his "issue" of "universal sovereignty" will never be legit. After that, it was a form of therapy for me lol! Hate prayers! A sweet, mild, aryan looking, son-of-an-elder/pioneer saying HATE prayers LOL! I mean, I would literally tell him off for 5-10 minutes at a time and I did that for several months.
After reaching JR high, hormones and girls distracted me enough that I abandoned the hate and anger. (By 7th grade, I also started noticing other guys in my class and knew that I had to keep this secret bottled up for fear of displeasing JWs and my intolerant "worldly" friends. Whole-NUTHER thread lol...) Once in high school, I must have "turned smart" some how because I was in all the AP/Honors classes and learned critical thinking skills for the first time. As a result, tremendous cognitive dissonance caused a serious bout of panic attacks and anxiety as I approached graduation. I knew I didn't have to hate or blame an asshole god anymore. I knew that what I and all my friends were forced to believe in could easily be explained away. Another scary thing was coming to terms with our own mortality--finally having to stare that fact in the face really tore my nerves up. I also knew that if I ever made any of my secrets known, I'd lose all friends and my family. So, I acted. I delayed college to pioneer. I became and MS (even though I told them I didn't want the assignment and they gave it to me anyway).
Through high school, my parents and I had an improved relationship once they saw my excel in school (finally lol). Having gone through the panic/anxiety, I bonded closely with my mom because she suffered with it for years. Once I was a late teen, formed these bonds and earned respect my parents, I was able to slide little bits of info into bible studies or everyday chat and they never flipped out. For instance, I told my parents numerous times that "If I had grown up worldly, I wouldn't have a religion at all." And when we do get together, my mom is very supportive and understanding when I bring up doubts--in fact, both of my parents know that doubt was the source of my anxiety as a teen. Of course, mom would always revert to the old "Well, even if it's not true... it's still the only thing we have! I wouldn't live any other way!" It wasn't until recently in my early 30's that I started researching things online. I avoided "apostate" web sites like the plague (BTW: THANK YOU, MR. FEARON, FOR MAKING ME FEEL ICKY AND DIRTY AND CAUSING ME TO RUN BACK INTO THE ARMS OF WBTS FOR COMFORT...a nice 2 year diversion that could have been avoided had I come across this forum first). And even after graduating college, I had not yet learned critical thinking skills. I knew how to ananlyze and interpret data and annotate essays, but I'd never used those tools on my own religion. I discovered all the logical fallacies in my brief 2-year "reverse fade." Before, my natural instinct was to NEVER EVER question the WBTS. I always "took their word for it" even when things made no sense. I reasoned that "Well, they've got teams of well-read, educated people who cross-check everything they write...apostates LIE...if God's real, I guess this spirit would be here so it'll all work out..." After fade #1, all these fallacies and warning signs were popping off the pages at me. I noticed the "pure language" (cult vocabulary) spilling out of people's mouths more than ever before--even in normal everyday conversation. I just noticed how controlled everything was. Once "overlap" was published as NOO LITE and the laughable "science" brochures were released last year at the DC, I fled and fade #2 is now a permanent reality. Once I realized that critical thinking debunks ALL religion, I was able to dump a lot of guilt because it's an all-inclusive abandonment. It's easier for me to say "I am an agnostic/atheist" than "I am an ex-JW." On Dawkin's scale, I'm a 6 which means that right now, I'm certain there is no god as described by any current theology, but I'd change my mind of observable, repeatable evidence to the contrary ever emerges. Now, I just have to muster up the courage to tell my family. It will kill them. I'm soooo sick of being the one family member who has all the issues. I feel like I've discovered some great, amazing new treasure and I can't use it to its full potential yet! I would love to share it with people too, but then I'd officially be a "brazen, mentally diseased apostate." I'm free mentally, but still in emotional and social bondage; stuck in a constant stage act, having to "get into character" around my family and JW friends while enjoying my free mindset on my own in total secrecy. I haven't been to a meeting in 2 yrs, but I'll make my rounds at conventions and assemblies because I do have many dear friends I still love and admire. And I do it to make my parents think I'm still active. Living this lie is killing me inside. I just want to impossible things: 1) to be able to tell my family everything, openly and honestly and 2) to keep their love and respect which would surpass any shunning requirement.
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Do I just have a dirty, filthy, perverted apostate mind...
by serenitynow! in...or does the picture on page 30 of the december 2011 awake look like the beginning of a certain act?
i mean that sword is at waist level, the shaft is long (:-d) and there is a little round dealy on the end.
the male in the submissive position has got his mouth open, the dominant male is looking like "oh yeah, get ready.
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DarioKehl
New Chapter!!! You're amazing! Thanks for doing that---hilarious! FWDing the link now to all my apostaposse.
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Crazy Brain Stuff
by breakfast of champions inbetween the latest news from cern and this, its's a big day for science.
check it out, it's pretty wild!.
scientists map images from human brain for first time.
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DarioKehl
That's tight.
No miracles needed, here, huh? Since god's taking so damn long to bring the Noo Sisstumb, we'll let science solve our problems.
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Do I just have a dirty, filthy, perverted apostate mind...
by serenitynow! in...or does the picture on page 30 of the december 2011 awake look like the beginning of a certain act?
i mean that sword is at waist level, the shaft is long (:-d) and there is a little round dealy on the end.
the male in the submissive position has got his mouth open, the dominant male is looking like "oh yeah, get ready.
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DarioKehl
Is anyone on here smart enough to make an animated GIF that alternates the 2 pics above? It would look hilarious.
damn...maybe I do just have a dirty, filthy, perverted apostate mind
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39
Do I just have a dirty, filthy, perverted apostate mind...
by serenitynow! in...or does the picture on page 30 of the december 2011 awake look like the beginning of a certain act?
i mean that sword is at waist level, the shaft is long (:-d) and there is a little round dealy on the end.
the male in the submissive position has got his mouth open, the dominant male is looking like "oh yeah, get ready.
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DarioKehl
pictures, dontplace! plural! look at the way the figures position things with their hands.
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Do I just have a dirty, filthy, perverted apostate mind...
by serenitynow! in...or does the picture on page 30 of the december 2011 awake look like the beginning of a certain act?
i mean that sword is at waist level, the shaft is long (:-d) and there is a little round dealy on the end.
the male in the submissive position has got his mouth open, the dominant male is looking like "oh yeah, get ready.
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DarioKehl
omg are you kidding??? Are you sure you're looking at the right book? I'm gonna have to scan and upload. They're all just as suggestive and obvious as the one on this thread. And the Daniel book is FULL of stuff like this. There is a prankster in the art department. And I'd bet $100 it's a male.
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Do I just have a dirty, filthy, perverted apostate mind...
by serenitynow! in...or does the picture on page 30 of the december 2011 awake look like the beginning of a certain act?
i mean that sword is at waist level, the shaft is long (:-d) and there is a little round dealy on the end.
the male in the submissive position has got his mouth open, the dominant male is looking like "oh yeah, get ready.
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DarioKehl
THIS IS THE STUFF I'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT!!! (see my other threads)
This illustration is, in fact, taken from one of the prophet books, either Daniel or one of the Isaiahs. Except in the book illustration, it's a full-color realistic painting. I'm surprised they REUSED this tacky picture! I remember showing it to friends in the early 2000's and getting a resounding, "O-M-G..."
Go on and open up the hard cover TMS guidebook--the new one. I'll say it till I'm blue in the face! LOOK. AT. THE. PICTURES. ON. THE. INSIDE. OF. THE. FRONT. AND. BACK. COVER. They're in the same league as the one above! Prove me wrong, please!!! I've been trolling for feedback on this subject and I stand by my affirmation: I am NOT a dirty, filthy minded apostate...the WBTS is making these pics, not me!
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Sad and hilarious at the same time.
by Shador inlol.
so my parents are studying how to convince one of their bible studies that jws are not a cult.
they just checked two different dictionaries, realized that the definitions given could, indeed, apply to jws.
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DarioKehl
*** rs p. 202 Jehovah’s Witnesses ***
Are Jehovah’s Witnesses a sect or a cult?
Some define sect to mean a group that has broken away from an established religion. Others apply the term to a group that follows a particular human leader or teacher. The term is usually used in a derogatory way. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not an offshoot of some church (What??? Ever heard of the Millerites? The "Great Disappointment?" Barbour and Russell's offshooting from Seventh Day Adventism??? Heck--JWs even share "common ancestry" to the Branch Davidians!) but include persons from all walks of life and from many religious backgrounds (OK, does anyone else see the bait and switch here? While totally IGNORING the history of its origins, they make one claim about not being an offshoot and then defend it with a statement that has NOTHING to do with the original claim!!!).
Does this formula make sense? Let's try it:
"Star Trek The Next Generation wasn't a spinoff from the original Star Trek series, rather, it has a mutli-cultural fan base and is enjoyed by millions around the globe."
...uhhhh.... what?