Posts by Joepublisher1

43

I grew up not fearing old age

by Sour Grapes in

as a teenage jw, i grew up believing that i was not going to finish high school nor would i get old and have to die like my grandparents did.

well, i did finish high school, as did my children and my grandchildren and old age has not been kind to me.

i don't like to look at pictures from 40 years ago, from a time when i was healthy and i had the goal of "stay alive till 75.

Another thing to keep in mind is how EVEN in recent months, the WTS prints expressions like this: Armegeddon, the new system, paradise, etc. is coming "very soon now". Look it up in their Watchtower CD if you don't believe me. How irresponsible is that? If they don't know the day or the hour, how can they use that phrase to indicate when the new system is coming?

Yes, I know, the faithful JW will dance around this question, but it still doesn't change the fact that most people understand "very soon now" to mean what it says - VERY SOON NOW! If a JW is going to insist that this represents how Jehovah views time the WTS should put a disclaimer on that statement, such as, "The new system is coming *very soon now. *This is time as represented in God's view not humans so don't take this expression literally or from a human's understanding of time." Is you head spinning? Of course it is. As someone once said, being a JW requires your brain to do a lot of mental gymnastics in order to sanitize all the non-sense found in the WTS religion. That's why it can take years [or even decades] for a JW to untangle their mind and see that they have been brain-washed!

Please JWs, use your head and your brain without the WTS filters!

43

I grew up not fearing old age

by Sour Grapes in

as a teenage jw, i grew up believing that i was not going to finish high school nor would i get old and have to die like my grandparents did.

well, i did finish high school, as did my children and my grandchildren and old age has not been kind to me.

i don't like to look at pictures from 40 years ago, from a time when i was healthy and i had the goal of "stay alive till 75.

Joepublisher1

If you're new to what this discussion is all about concerning "the generation" changes by the WTS over the decades, you will find this well-researched topic to be an eye-opener in this link:

http://www.jwfacts.com/watchtower/generation.php#1995

43

I grew up not fearing old age

by Sour Grapes in

as a teenage jw, i grew up believing that i was not going to finish high school nor would i get old and have to die like my grandparents did.

well, i did finish high school, as did my children and my grandchildren and old age has not been kind to me.

i don't like to look at pictures from 40 years ago, from a time when i was healthy and i had the goal of "stay alive till 75.

Joepublisher1

This is an excerpt from that 1995 Watchtower, November 1 p. 20 (thankz to the JWFACTS web-site for making it so easy to find these quotes):

"Does our more precise viewpoint on "this generation" mean that Armageddon is further away than we had thought? Not at all! Though we at no time have known the "day and hour," Jehovah God has always known it, and he does not change. (Malachi 3:6) Obviously, the world is sinking further and further toward terminal ruination. The need to keep awake is more critical than it has ever been. Jehovah has revealed to us "the things that must shortly take place," and we should respond with an absorbing sense of urgency."

I remember commenting on this paragraph, emphazing the point that this change - which I just learned in this Watchtower study article - 'does not mean we are further away from Armageddon then we thought.' Boy, I was so brain-washed. For some reason, I was standing up for the WTS, even though this change deeply effected me. However, it was a little like a delayed re-action for me. In short-time, I realized that I could NOT trust this organization anymore! (See my above comments.)

What's interesting - as everyone knows - is that the WTS would change their understanding again AND [yet] again! I feel sorry for people who became a JW after 1995, because they have NO IDEA just how much we believed that the generation of 1914 would NOT DIE OFF THE EARTHLY scene before the end comes - the Live Forever book said it was "a certainty". I used to think that any responsible organization would NEVER print things using such absolute terms IF it wasn't correct. Well, they weren't correct and this proved to me that the WTS leaders are wreckless and careless with so many people's lives and futures! Shame on them, each and every one of them!

Thankfully, the internet provides the vehicle for every JW to learn TTATT! And, so many people around the world have contributed to exposing this religion - that claims to be the only true religion - as the hoax that it is! Nothing has shot the WTS more in the foot then all of their printed literature. Their printed literature proves to be the "smoking gun" for most of us exJWs because we can see the plethora of printed statements from the WTS leaders that PROVE TTATT! (The WTS leaders would love for its followers to believe that exJWs are making this stuff up, but their own literature hangs them everytime.)

43

I grew up not fearing old age

by Sour Grapes in

as a teenage jw, i grew up believing that i was not going to finish high school nor would i get old and have to die like my grandparents did.

well, i did finish high school, as did my children and my grandchildren and old age has not been kind to me.

i don't like to look at pictures from 40 years ago, from a time when i was healthy and i had the goal of "stay alive till 75.

Joepublisher1

LongHairGal:

I, too, have read so many comments on internet boards about exJW’s true feelings about the 1995 “generation” change. I started to realize that many other JWs were bothered by that sudden/shocking change and as you said, “They [the WTS leaders] lost ALL credibility as far as I was concerned.” Boy, I can relate to your assessment completely - I felt exactly as you!

When I started to research 1975, I found out that I was virtually lied to regarding what really happened back then! That didn’t go over well with me either, even though it predates my involvement starting in 1980. Further research revealed another end-date 1925 – and it continued to get worse the more I researched the WTS’s white-washed history!!! (NO WONDER THEY ALWAYS TOLD US NOT TO READ OR LISTEN TO EX-JWs!) Indeed, there is such a thing as “The-Truth-About-The-Truth” [TTATT] and many JWs are totally unaware of it because they are forbidden to learn about it!

Then you said something that sounds EXACTLY how I sound – I mean EXACTLY!!! I’ll quote what you said, but these could have been my words [exactly as they appear in your quote]:

“I am sorry for all the gullible people there. My experience has turned me totally OFF [to] religion forever and I am sick of evangelicals and anybody rattling off scriptures. I am not impressed. Be spiritual in a quiet way: help your neighbor. What a learning experience.”

These days - regarding religion or any other influential/controlling man-made organization - I live by the credo: “Fool me once, shame on YOU, fool me twice, shame on ME!”

43

I grew up not fearing old age

by Sour Grapes in

as a teenage jw, i grew up believing that i was not going to finish high school nor would i get old and have to die like my grandparents did.

well, i did finish high school, as did my children and my grandchildren and old age has not been kind to me.

i don't like to look at pictures from 40 years ago, from a time when i was healthy and i had the goal of "stay alive till 75.

Joepublisher1

I would just like to add that in 1995, not to long after the generation "change", I stepped down as a ministerial servant. (btw: I was asked/begged many times to become an elder previous to this.) The elders tried hard to convince me NOT to step down. But, I was persistent. I couldn't continue to give talks because I felt the WTS mis-lead me and I didn't feel the same zeal as a leader, nor would I feel right about mis-leading people if I didn't believe the so-called Truth as I once did. (I hate phonies and I would never be a phony!)

Although I continued to be a JW - going to most meetings, my F/S went down the toilet. I mean, I used to stressed to householders - who would listen - that the promises of the paradise would come in OUR LIFETIME, within a generation of 1914. How do you think I felt about the 1995 change? I felt humiliated. I also felt that I could NO LONGER trust the leadership of the WTS. It would take several years before I finally stopped going, but I feel so sorry for family who is still in and wasting their time, energy, funds, and their future!

What bothers me today is this. If I - as a ministerial servant - could figure out The-Truth-About-The-Truth, why couldn't the leaders of the WTS? I've determined that they KNOW TTATT, but won't give up their power and everything that comes with that - free board, free food, free utilities, free automobiles, free retirement care, free medical, etc. Esp. in today's world, that's compelling reasons on their own to continue to perpetuate the hoax! What's wrong about this whole scenario is that it is plain wrong to live off of others contributions under the false pretense that they alone are approved by God and picked by him to lead all so-called "true worshippers". That's a bunch of baloney and I really think- in their hearts - that they know this! How they maintain a clean conscience about this is very telling of their true character. And, it's not a flattering picture, no matter how nice they appear to the rank and file.

43

I grew up not fearing old age

by Sour Grapes in

as a teenage jw, i grew up believing that i was not going to finish high school nor would i get old and have to die like my grandparents did.

well, i did finish high school, as did my children and my grandchildren and old age has not been kind to me.

i don't like to look at pictures from 40 years ago, from a time when i was healthy and i had the goal of "stay alive till 75.

Joepublisher1

Thank you for validating the point I was trying to make - you did it beautifully! All "faithful" Jehovah's Witnesses who learn The-Truth-About-The-Truth are in for an eye-opening experience. Due to years/decades of indoctrination, it can take awhile to realize all the different ways that the leaders controlled your thinking and lives! It can also take a while - physchologically speaking - to understand why you were so brain-washed. (Basically, we allowed other people [men] to take advantage of our good hearts.) This can be disturbing and unsettling. I've found that reading this board has helped, because you see that it wasn't just you who believed in these lies. Only an ex-JW can really understand what another ex-JW has gone through once they learn TTATT. Peace to all who are in the beginning - or middle - of that process!

43

I grew up not fearing old age

by Sour Grapes in

as a teenage jw, i grew up believing that i was not going to finish high school nor would i get old and have to die like my grandparents did.

well, i did finish high school, as did my children and my grandchildren and old age has not been kind to me.

i don't like to look at pictures from 40 years ago, from a time when i was healthy and i had the goal of "stay alive till 75.

Joepublisher1

For those non-JWs who read this board and see former JWs saying that they never believed in the paradise, keep in mind that MOST JWs did and still do! Their lifes are CONSUMED with this belief! So, I would consider it an anomoly when previous JWs indicate on this board that they never bought into the paradise.

I draw attention to this because if you were [or are] a [truly] "faithful" JW, all the normal decisions you make in life [retirement, well-being, marriage, having children, owning a home, etc.] are put on hold by MANY JWs! Why? Because they earnestly believe what they have been taught! There have been so man publications and assemblies/public talks/conventions where the phrase "a certainty" was used to indicate that the generation of 1914 would NOT die off the earthly seen before the end comes - how many times has the rank and file been told that marriage and having children should be postponed if you REALLY believe the end is so close!

I have a LOT of compassion for so many JWs who believed and supported this religion with their whole heart, mind and strength [not to mention monetarily] ONLY to realize later in life that it was all for not. So many of these people are truly GOOD people. They wanted to help people and do the right thing in life. Unfortunately, they were mis-lead by leaders that wrecklessly deluded people with rhetoric and misleading reasoning. All contrived, to support their many mistakes - which they don't even call mistakes. New Light is what they call it. They can NEVER be wrong with this type of circular reasoning. What a sham... what a hoax. Don't the leaders have a conscience? You would have thought that the Ray Franz debacle would have awakened the leaders to their senses and to do the responsible thing, admitting that they have been wrong for all these decades!

My heart bleeds for the mislead - it really does.

104

Whitney Heichel - first hand account from congregation member on Facebook

by sir82 in

jw
friends

why, he even has gone to some meetings at their kingdom hall!

someone calls with a large wedding tent that they would like to donate and set up in the kingdom hall parking lot for the public memorial on friday.

i was amazed how people who came that didnt even know whitney, but simply felt a need to be here and comfort the family.

Joepublisher1

Is anyone else suspicious that certain members in the congregation went to the extent they did – virtually breaking the law – to obtain financial information about Whitney? Here’s what I think. Before the police [by law] could get involved, there was significant time for the elders and close friends to ask around and all congregations are alike, there are a core number of JWs that always seem to know what is going on in the congregation. I think the elders and close friends discovered reason to believe that one of their own was involved in this. And, I think the congregation was trying to get ahead of the police to see if they could quell things before the police or media got involved. Perhaps they thought the perpetrator was simply holding Whitney against her will and that they could talk him to his senses. However, once they discovered evidence that pointed to something more sinister, it would all look like they were simply attempting to help find Whitney, as any religious group would do in a similar circumstance. I hate being so cynical, but with all the bad publicity that JWs and the WTS has been going through, I don’t doubt that zealous JWs – including elders and whatnot – were VERY concerned about MORE bad publicity and were hoping for a different outcome – preferably one that wouldn’t involved the press!

104

Whitney Heichel - first hand account from congregation member on Facebook

by sir82 in

jw
friends

why, he even has gone to some meetings at their kingdom hall!

someone calls with a large wedding tent that they would like to donate and set up in the kingdom hall parking lot for the public memorial on friday.

i was amazed how people who came that didnt even know whitney, but simply felt a need to be here and comfort the family.

Joepublisher1

So much has been said that I would quickly say "ditto" to! But, if you are one of JWs or thinking of becoming a JW, take a close look at these posts by one-time JW members. You really do have to be a part of this religion to understand how they "think". The leaders of this religion over the years and decades, use end-less/repetitive meetings, literature, assemblies, etc. to wire the brains of the rank-and-file to think is a certain way. (btw: JWs often paint a very bad picture of Satan and all those individuals in the world who are part of it. They rarely [if ever] alert their own members to tragedies committed by their own members!!! They paint their members as the only people you can really trust in this world, albeit imperfect!)

Years and decades of indoctrination is how JWs are able to make glaringly stupid and non-sensical statements, like "Jehovah must have caused it NOT to rain [when looking for clues]", without thinking or realizing that people are going to read that statement and wonder, "Well, if Jehovah God can stop the rain, WHY couldn't he stop the crime???"

I, too, am outraged at how JWs [in that hall and surrounding JW communities] are using this incredibly sad event - and one caused by a FELLOW congregant - as a publicity opportunity for their religion! Don't they realize how bad this looks on so many counts - the foremost being that the perpetrator of this horrendous/awful crime was known because of attending the Kingdom Hall - a place repeatedly called a "spiritual paradise" [by the WTS leaders and parroted often by all JWs!]. (btw: One WTS public speaker recently told the audience at the Kingdom Hall, "Look around friends, these are the people that can be really trusted in this world". Unfortunately, young kids hear that message too and are NOT sufficiently warned against the pedophiles that have been discovered right in their midst!)

I feel VERY sorry for Whitney's husband whose marriage was cut so short by a "trusted" congregant - one that they went out of their way to show kindness towards! And, of course, my heart goes out to the parents and family members and close friends. As far as fellow members, I would say:

"Goodness... it's time for JWs to wake up from their brain-conditioning because they are really making fools of themselves and to themselves."

Please educate yourself... so many of us have learned volumes from the internet and web-sites like JWFACTS. (Never listen to any person or organization that tries to control WHAT you read and how to think! God gave all of us a brain to think and to reason with.) If someone [or some organization is telling you NOT to read something, the FIRST thing you should do is to read it - you'll no doubt find out the reason why they didn't want you to read it!

Peace to all (and esp. those who are suffering the effects of Superstorm Sandy). Please consider contributing - even if it's only $1 to the Red Cross and other fine organizations. Remember, 2 million people contributing $1.00 amounts to 2 million dollars! I'm not in an area that needs relief funds, but I'm sure I speak for those who are suffering from it, THANK YOU for your contributions and help.

70

JW Longo Story on ABC TV July 11th "Final Witness"

by AndersonsInfo in

http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20120611abc02/.

final witness*.

air date: wednesday, july 11, 2012. time slot: 10:00 pm-11:00 pm est on abc.

Joepublisher1

I think the most serious matter that any JW should come to realize [if they even watched this], is that the religion that they belong to has some of the most dangerous people in it AND because JWs are constantly fed a daily diet of how "special" their religion is - the only true religion displaying 'the fruits of the spirit' - they can drop their guard against members like this who are pathological liars! Liars like Christian Longo are what they call "convincing" liars and are VERY, VERY good at it. They will use smooth words and cunning to deceive just about anyone, but esp. those who are gullible! It pays to have a healthy dose of skeptism about everyone and anyone today - even those in your religious group! btw: Does anyone have firsthand knowledge of Christian Longo's immediate family? The reason I ask is because - as we found out - Casey Anthony [a pathological liar herself] comes from a family of liars and Casey learned the art of lieing from a very young age!