Posts by Velour

40

Question for the Athiests/Agnostics

by jwfacts in

some people feel they need a religion, and need to attend a church.

if such a person starts questioning the watchtower and they asked you "where else to go?

", what would you recommend?.

Velour

...there is no way they will give up belief in God and the Bible

I'd encourage them to question everything. If they're questioning the authority of the GB, why stop there? Go further and question the bible that these old guys say their authority comes from. Question the god they say exists. And if a person isn't willing to question that far I'd have to ask,"why not? What fears are they holding on to?" Truth will always be truth- such is the nature of truth. The GB didn't pass the truth test after we flipped them over and saw the other side and we left them. So, I think ANYTHING, even the bible and god, should be left if they don't pass the truth test. So test them out, see and understand what's on the other side

social aspects of the church

As everyone else has already mentioned, there are plenty of social and volunteer groups to be a part of without religion. In this day and age it's not hard to find a cause you care about that you can join in supporting, or a hobby group where you can meet like minded people. These things can satisfy social needs. If someone just HAS to go to church specifically, I'm sure I'd be the last person they would talk to about which one to attend. I would try hard not to facepalm if someone tried to say they go to church only for social reasons, especially if they've never tried to join a cause or a hobby group. I'm sure someone who HAS to go to church specifically is looking for more than just friends.

22

So, as it turns out, I was quite the Zombie.

by stray in

i'm a young man.

happily drifting.

the lie was my life.

Velour

Wow, that's great news Talesin! What part of the world did this happen? D*mn I want my family to leave soooo bad.

22

So, as it turns out, I was quite the Zombie.

by stray in

i'm a young man.

happily drifting.

the lie was my life.

Velour

Hi and welcome you handsome devil you! Look forward to reading your posts in the future.

27

Things are heating up again!

by TimothyT in

this evening my dad came into my room and told me that this week he is going to disassociate himself.

he is totaly fed up with the organisation.. recently a brother in our hall snitched on my brother and i for supposed wrongdoings (myself for being gay), and the elders have been badgering our family for a few weeks now.

we are all tired of it.

Velour

Wow, hug that dad of yours ... and then hug him again for all of us.

100

Need Opinions -- Engaged to a JW!!

by junebug_11 in

ok, quick run down of my situation.. .

1. i am not religious.

my now-fiance was raised jw but left the religion about 10 years ago.. 2. we started dating last march, i got pregnant within two weeks.

Velour

@Vamp - yeah, I've not a clue what's up with this person. That person left a friggin' 3 post novel on one of my posts- it had not a d*mn thing to do with the original post and was equally incoherent.

@Junebug- Glad you made it back! Please remember that no one person here speaks for all of us. Most of us are more than willing to offer advice and our personal experiences for you to consider for the reality you are dealing with now. The only thing that unites us here on this forum is having once been misled into following a book publishing cult. Other than that, we vary greatly in the decisions we make, the opinions we voice, and the roles we choose to fill after leaving. With that kind of diversity will come some opinions and people that won't be what you need when you need them.

Please continue to post and ask questions. This forum is here, in part, for that purpose. Most of us are ready to be of any positive help to you in dealing with the real situation you are in right now. A few people feel the need to tell you what you "shoulda dun", but of what use is that?!

8

FSM: Austrian authorities accept colander as religious headgear

by J. Hofer in

jw
friends

http://translate.google.at/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=utf-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3a%2f%2fderstandard.at%2f1308681039222%2foesterreichs-behoerden-nudelsieb-als-religioese-kopfbedeckung-in-fuehrerschein-genehmigt.

this is google-translated from german.... a "pastafarian" insisted in having his license picture shot with a colander on his head.

it's allowed (for muslims for example) to have ones head covered for legal documents if it is a religious practise.

Velour

RAmen (-_-)

54

Trying to Salvage a Friendship

by Quendi in

my friends,.

i need your counsel on a personal matter, and i hope you will give it in love.

as some of you know, i was disfellowshipped six years ago, but it wasn't until june 2010 that i made up my mind never to return to the wts.

Velour

Hi Quendi

So sorry you're in such a tough spot. I would say because your friend hasn't responded to your previous attempts, do not push too much. I certainly think it's ok to continue to send emails and letters and even a phone chat, we certainly want to make it clear that we want them in our lives and are always open to that, but to arrange meet ups and push association may not sit so well with someone who's still in and dangling as far as his emotional and thinking well-being goes. Especially with the recent convention labeling even "inactive" people as "bad association"- with your status you could scare him off. And the WT article labeling us as "mentally diseased"- and we're contagious!- I fear that if you push right now for more contact he could run the other way with all this fresh WT propaganda on his mind.

I would recommend that you keep it gentle right now. You'll probably have better results if you give him a steady calm stream of communication instead of putting him in a 'choose bad association or Jehovah' situation.

Whatever you choose to do, I hope all goes well and smoothly for you ^_^

44

What was something that you loved but were denied as a JW?

by Chemical Emotions in

i could go on and on about all the things i loved, but i'll keep it brief and just mention one, rather trivial thing: music.

i love grunge and punk, and occasionally heavy metal, and can't listen to a lot of it as a witness..

Velour

Yup, DS and ND, the ability to be myself and express myself without restriction. After leaving I found my art and creative outlet, POLE DANCING! It's f*ckn amazing ^_^

I always got hassled for listening to hours and hours and hours of actually good (none of that top 40 BS) music. Though most of it wasn't "bad", I spent "too much time" listening and searching.

For all you metal lovers, may not be rough enough for you but they're worth a listen. I personally find these bands refreshing ^_^ Good wake up, smell the day, and sip some coffee kinda metal

Liturgy- Mysterium

Krallice- Energy Chasms

61

What made you leave "The Truth"?

by Chemical Emotions in

for me it was many things.

most concerned certain teachings that invloved genders, children, sex, sexuality and sexual orientations, disfellowshipping, apostates, blood, rape, and few other things, as well as the jw's unloving attitude toward so many people..

Velour

Yup, a list

How could any appointments be taking place by holy spirit when I knew people doing some sinful stuff and being appointed? Even had a friend say he was going to play the game and be a kiss-ass and suck-up and get appointed just to prove what a crock of sh*t appointments were. He did it. I was a pioneer for 5 years though I barely studied, prayed, and never made my time. But I smiled at all the meetings and was really good at making up on-the-spot answers for the meetings.

The dreaded thought of marrying one of those surface-thinking idiots! The better a JW they were, the weirder they were. UGH!

The idea of paradise they paint sounds hella boring. In one of the recent videos they show a brief urban scene, a crowded sidewalk, tall buildings, and then the scene goes grey and blurry and the narrator says something like, "..and man has created cities that distract them and block their view from God's beautiful creation." WTF? No cities! I love cities!

Trivial things but enough that I couldn't see a happy future for myself being a JW. Even I was going to die the next day in Armaggedon, I wanted that day to be all mine! ^_^ For a little over a year, everyday since has indeed been my own.

39

May I enter?

by Eclectic in

it is a pleasure to read some of the topics posted in this forum.

finally i decided to register.

i have now the certainty that when i am sitting down at the kh listening to teachings i do not accept i am not alone in this world, maybe thousands feel the same way.

Velour

Hi and welcome Eclectic

You'll find a lot of support here for whatever point in your life you're at =)