Posts by Half banana

28

What do I do ?

by jdash in

hey guys, this is my first time posting on here but lets get started.. so i'm a 17 year old boy who currently attends meetings at a congregation in indianapolis.

i live with my grandparents, on my father's side, because my mother died in 2010. i been attending meetings since i was 10. my mother got into the religion but then got disfellowshiped.

my dad is on and off, he currently just got reinstated.

Half banana

Welcome to the site Jdash!

I echo Pale Emperor's thoughts that it's great that you have woken up at a young age. Well done!

The practical things about leaving the cult are a bit more problematical but will only last for a short while. Can you simply lie low and do the absolute minimum before you leave home and avoid preaching. Really--how can anyone be forced to preach something they don't believe in?

Are your grandparents reasoning people or just dyed in the wool JWs? Could you perhaps agree to just go to one meeting a week for their sake? But don't get involved in doctrine or say anything against the JW org; it will only get you disfellowshipped. Whatever you do prepare for college and try and get a part time job to support yourself. College education, especially in the humanities, is the antidote to JW fantasies and eventually whatever you study, it will prove be a sound investment to pay you your living expenses in the future!

Friends are very important, make friends with sensible non JWs whose company will further your college interests.

And do keep in touch with us.

22

The real reason the Watchtower Magazine is studied

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

the watchtower study is not real bible study.

it is a study to introduce wtbts beliefs,doctrines, and practices.

just think for a moment!

Half banana

The efforts of the JW org governing body is for one purpose only namely to keep their religion as a viable business with themselves at the helm.

It has never been observed that Watchtower literature ever did an objective examination of anything. It would surely fail as a business if JW org stepped outside of its indoctrination patter and began a disinterested scholarly investigation of Christianity and the origin of Bible texts.

So the Watchtower study is pure coercive indoctrination to foster brand loyalty and to keep the flock shut firmly in the JW compound. This is the bread and butter of cult activity.

10

Natural disasters cause the most grief and misery today

by nowwhat? in

its not wars caused by satan and man.

its hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes!

so the logical question is jesus showed he can control the weather when on earth.

Half banana

Venus, by mentioning "past regression" we are discussing a personal mental experience of yours not a familiar event for most people. The private course of one's imagination is no evidence for determining anything concrete to others.

22

It’s My Anniversary!

by jp1692 in

today is the four year anniversary of the last time i set foot in a kingdom hall.

it was the day of the kool-aid issue of the wt!

“at that time, the life-saving direction that we receive from jehovah’s organization may not appear practical from a human standpoint.

Half banana

Kairos, I exited two decades before I saw the quotation but it still made my heart sick nevertheless.

It encapsulates the fatalism which is the mark of a doomsday cult.The governing body were defiantly reserving their right to demand life threatening obedience from their flock. This is truly frightening for people used to wholeheartedly trusting their religious leaders.

For a believer with a less than robust mind it creates the unnerving idea that some dangerous instruction will come which they must obey without question.

It is the very potency of this announcement which will instill fear and loyalty. Thinkers on the other hand like JP and bigdummy will leave.

Many happy returns of the day JP!

5

Healing

by AllTimeJeff in

jw
friends

among the many ways that jehovahs witnesses leadership strangle a person is primarily through the taking of your identity.

for cults and high control groups, of course this is how it's done.

but once you leave, finding out who you really are, and living a life of authenticity is usually quite challenging.. i have learned since my exit in 2006 that it is healthy to learn about who you are.

Half banana

Well said Jeff, knowing who you are is a significant matter for those leaving the all too embracing tentacles of the cult.

GB rhetoric stresses being humble and subordinate because, for goodness sake, they only want unthinking drones in their cult. People who question the rightness of seven overfed and undereducated clowns to rule over them are not likely to receive any JW favours. It's docile, brainless sheep who are the most useful to the org, those who enjoy being told what to do.

So it's a big step for the escapee to find themselves, to learn for the first time perhaps, who they really are and what their real potential is. I suggest reading Jung if you have the inclination for psychology/psychiatry and learn what he means by "individuation". Look the definition up anyway. Jung says that happiness and freedom only arrives when people have determined their self identity and begun to live it. I'm inclined to agree, by contrast look at all those beholden to others willingly or otherwise who are unable to simply be themselves like JWs.

My thoughts are, whatever you do as an ex-JW, take stock of what it is which you think is the essence of yourself, learn what your best qualities are, and find what you can do well. . . develop a vision of yourself as a free individual and go for it!

10

Natural disasters cause the most grief and misery today

by nowwhat? in

its not wars caused by satan and man.

its hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes!

so the logical question is jesus showed he can control the weather when on earth.

Half banana

A bunch of uncritically informed assumptions here Venus.

"With the measure you use, you will be measured". You cannot quote Biblical sayings as if they are actual truth!

They represent the precepts and injunctions of leaders of the christ cults from the time of writing and this one is clearly false. Kind and generous people are just as likely to be struck by lightning or a bus as any criminal is.

You talk of heaven as if we all come from there, you might for all I know! except my experience tells me that there is not one ounce of evidence that anyone ever had any pre-existence nor any after life, as much as these popular rumours have for millennia pervaded religious minds. Evidence is required.

Flowers, flower scent and coloured fruits function as attractants to insects, birds and animals for the sake of perpetuation of their own life forms. The species which fail to attract or reproduce simply die out. It could hardly be said they were created for humans because flowering plants evolved during the time of the dinosaurs and all plant families had appeared before hominins did in the Late Pleistocene (i.e. geologically recently). The Rose family for example including herbaceous plants, apples, pears, plums etc developed in the Eocene Period (following the dinosaur extinction) which began 56 million years ago ending 33.9 million years ago.

It is anthropocentric to imagine they were created for our pleasure.

30

Couple of real gems in the WT study for this upcoming weekend

by sir82 in

since blondie seems to still be on sabbatical, i'll take the liberty of highlighting a couple of "gems" from this week's upcoming study, from the article "reject worldly thinking".. from paragraph 12:.

is it true that succeeding in a secular career that offers power and prestige leads to lasting happiness?

remember that the craving to control others and the longing to be admired are the desires that enticed satan, but he is angry, not happy.. .

Half banana

The level of thinking in the JW org is abysmal! There is nothing nuanced or insightful, it is sheer sausage machine indoctrination using the same old stale taunts. Then there are the childish characterisations; "secular work is for power and prestige". Ridiculous! and I'm sure most of the bros will see through this rubbish. The big bogey man Satan will get you if you don't obey. Infantile!

The JW org is so very 19th century!

And I do agree with Londo, it's as if there is an undercurrent of 'awakened' writers who deliberately include ambiguous comments to signal to others that there is something wrong in HQ.

22

The Governing Body's credibility

by UnshackleTheChains in

given the proliferation of websites, youtube channels, books and other forms of media attention focusing on the extreme policies, teachings and scandals of the watchtower bible and tract society; where does this now leave the governing body's credibility?.

Half banana

To some of us engaged in exposing JWs, You Tube will keep supplying videos to meet our particular interest. The same sort of information to customer tailoring goes for those who live in the black hole of JW indoctrination.

I think that JW org are still a credible authority but only to those dyed in the wool believers with a life-time emotional investment in it. (And even many of these are waking up!)

However, as the recent annual statistics indicated, unless you live in a war zone or in poverty without the internet, there is little appeal any more to join the Watchtower cult.

3

Letter to Tony Morris and the management team at the Unicorn Ranch

by Half banana in

dear tony morris and all the management at the unicorn ranch,.

since i know you are avid readers of our delightful posts here on jw discussion, i thought i would take the opportunity to ask you a few key questions but first a little background info about me.. when i joined your outfit many years ago i was a schoolboy and believed what your organisation told me to believe (i was not very bright) and i expected the end of the “old world system of things” to come in my youth as you had said.

of course it didn’t, it still hasn’t and i’m sure this fact must hang heavily on your conscience.. my father told me that jehovah’s witnesses break up families and defending the watchtower up to the hilt, i told him, ”rubbish!” how disrespectful of me.. i declined the offer of college education as you had suggested and later gave up my job to become a window cleaner, my father threw me out of his house for giving up a career and joining such a family- breaking cult but i wouldn’t listen to him, i just got on with it and pioneered like a good obedient jw zombie.. later still i got married and had three children, alas, i only have one of my children who speaks to me freely as one warm rational human to another, the other two remain jehovah’s witnesses.. ok governing body and other managers, i admit we mock you here, it may not all be justified but once you also wake up and leave the org, then you too will get to be as angry as we are, then you too, will understand us.

Half banana

I think you're right Steve, words like "rational" might be a bit of a stumper and then there are others quite alien to the JW vocabulary such as "delightful" and "innocent".

13

The anonymity of Jehovah's Witness material

by stuckinarut2 in

is it vital for credibility to have the name of the writer of an article referenced?.

does this allow for honesty and accountability?

does this assist in ensuring that whatever is presented is as factual as possible, or not biased in some way toward the religion's ideas?.

Half banana

Ruby I disagree with you saying that HQ research is "pretty thorough".

It is one thing to mine scholarly texts and find ideas which will support cult doctrine and it is another matter altogether to understand the political, religious and mythological context of the original documents.

The lack of attribution of sources and absence of an individual writer's name is symptomatic of propaganda as is the cloying and patronising language. The essence of Watchtower literature reveals wilful ignorance and cherry picking.

There is nothing academic or scholarly about the JW cult, it is all about controlling its members' minds.