Half banana

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Posts by Half banana

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  52

  What Made You Decide To Finally Leave The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was there one certain event or was it more a cumulative thing?.

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  Half banana

  As a JW I was a natural sceptic but I overlooked many of the inconsistencies (how generous of me!) and put them down to limited information and human error. For goodness sake that was a mistake-- if it comes from God it should be perfect hey?

  It took me four years from realizing all was not well with the JW religion to my final and sweet departure walking out of the middle of a meeting knowing I was at least mentally a free man. It cost me my marriage and the reason I am still here on this site is mainly because two of my three kids remain under the JW spell.

  Like many of you, it was not one thing but an accumulation of teachings and methods which did not chime with reason. I didn't feel that I was getting anywhere in my life, just routine meetings and WT talks for the brain-dead. I never believed in 1975, I didn't believe in 1914 as being marked by God and I didn't believe in a literal Devil. After reading a bit of philosophy and psychology I awoke to the realization that there was no God either.

  From that moment on the organisation appeared to me as an increasingly controlling, life-stealing cult and if there was a final straw it was to escape the saccharine mind-numbing language which the Watchtower uses to keep its victims in subservience. I wanted to shout them down from my seat but that would only make matters worse. I saw the uninformed brothers spouting the party line to get salvation at a never to arrive paradise and I felt sorry for them. The wretched talk of "Fine brothers and sisters who give up material gain to pioneer". Meaning how Big J will reward those who promote the WTBT Society! Fine spiritual rewards for those who love Big J", meaning you must have unthinking loyalty to the GB. Yuck! it was intolerable.

  Escaping was freedom at a price-- but it was worth it.
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  315

  Flat earth vs round earth

  by Jrjw in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my brother has been talking about the earth being flat and some big conspiracy going on to make people beieve otherwise.

  what are people's thoughts on this?.

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  Half banana

  Your bro should try and get an education........
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  22

  Do you have a place to get away from it all?

  by compound complex in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  is your retreat .

  an actual location, or simply a quiet place in your mind?.

  i attended a concert on sunday, a featured piece having been commissioned by a composer who lives in the city but retreats to an island in the puget sound (usa) to write his music.

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  Half banana

  JP, I wonder if your mammoth was actually a mastodon as the distribution of the former was mainly further north?

  The mammoth had a distinct high crown bump on the top of the head whereas the mastodon had a flat head.
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  21

  2005 Big Announcement (Disappointment)

  by Fred Franztone in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember around 2005, there was an announcement made from the platform that in a few weeks time we would have to remain at the end of the sunday meeting for a big announcement, directly from the society.. i remember all the murmuring, people thought maybe this was going to be related to armageddon.

  everyone was excited, people were speculating.

  only the po in each congregation had any idea what was going on, and they were frequently pestered for information, but sworn to secrecy, which only hyped things up even more.. then the meeting came, anticipation was in the air, the announcement started, you could hear a pin drop.

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  Half banana

  Put all these disappointments in the context of all of their promises; every last prediction of the Watchtower and JW organisation has led only to disappointment. Never have they come up with the goods--they never deliver--they are completely USELESS!

  Why on earth do people remain in this religion?
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  15

  JW Statistics up to 2017 in graphical form and analysis

  by ILoveTTATT2 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  Half banana

  Thanks ILTTATT2 much appreciated. The really telling figures will be those given for each country. I wonder how the org will show them? Africa and Brazil heavily bias the overall figures. One million memorial attendance in the Dem. Rep. of Congo, a land of 84 million. Atheism is not an option in central Africa.
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  11

  Israel (Is Real?)

  by TerryWalstrom in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  every nation is a kind of weird intellectual construct.

  when we say: china--all of us get some kind of fictional mental snapshot in our head.

  sure, there is a country called "china".we just don't really know a soul living there.

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  Half banana

  Israel is a secular state and needs no help from the US fundamentalist right wing. It has done very well with its own self serving myths.
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  25

  Work Colleague Went To a JW Funeral - His Experience

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so the guy in my office on the desk next to me has just got back from the funeral of his wifes sister.

  this was his first time in a kh and full on exposure to jwdom.. bit of background: the deceased jw was not a born in, she was a convert when she was in her teens.

  she died last week at the age of 82. the poor old dear was still zealously knocking on doors while in ill health.

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  Half banana

  The only ones who are valued at a JW funeral is the Governing Body.

  Forget the sucker who died, (but check first to make sure we have their family inheritance bequeathed to us) it's loyalty to the GB which must be highlighted. Yes visitors and JWs alike, remember: it's LOYALTY to the GB. GB loyalty is the slogan to go home with. Heck if there was no "loyalty to the GB" the whole cult would crumble to dust and the GB wouldn't get their ticket to a cushy life.

  What a disgusting and ignorant cult! At least they don't always hide their stupidity-- it will be their downfall.
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  29

  What if the crucifixion never took place..

  by Jayk in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i googled it and pretty much my understanding is the same as what i imagine.

  no one really knows, your guess is as good as the next.

  interesting thought to consider imo..

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  Half banana

  What if the crucifixion never took place

  Not a scrap of difference because it was only a belief.

  It was a crumb of comfort for people without hope-- as was the story that the Saviour Dionysus, who was also called the Lamb of God and the Great Shepherd. He was crucified centuries before Jesus was and for the same reason to redeem mankind and with the same outcome: nothing at all.
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  35

  Do You Feels That Your Life Was Ruined Because of Ypur JW Experience?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i know that some are upset because of the time lost because of ever having been a witness.

  have you moved on as an ex jw or are you stil devastated because of your past jw lige?.

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  Half banana

  Not ruined Minimus, but greatly delayed in development and with a vast amount of time and effort wasted for no good purpose. Also slightly scarred but not where it shows... I hope.

  In minor compensation there has been the pleasure of waking up and enjoying the freedom from feeling beholden to an undeserving cult. To be a JW is like being forced to carry a burdensome weight with you wherever you go. Afterwards, as long as you understand why the weight has been cast off, you can experience the lightness of living a normal life without the heavy baggage.

  To be POMI must be a complete drain on a person, still carrying the Fear and Obligation but an even larger dose of Guilt for not doing anything about it.
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  56

  Is this life all there is?

  by Fisherman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what do you sincerely think?

  do you nurture any hope?.

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  Half banana

  Beliefs without facts are meaningless. The facts are that this wonderful experience of life has been shared by about 105 billion people before us; our grandparents and ancestors. If this experience has another dimension why has no one supplied concrete evidence for it? Not one person has returned from the dead. Enough people have lived and died, you would have thought one of them might show some proof?

  It's making this life, the only one we know, a good one -- savour what you have.