Posts by Half banana

52

Please help

by Dano3456 in

jw
friends

my wife and i are not religious nor do we want to be.

we are very set in our spiritual beliefs.

we have worked with a jw who's family have been like a part of our family for 6 years.

Half banana

Just remember that your good friends, who are decent people and are "like family", are unfortunately in a toxic cult.

Why not learn from the internet why the JW cult is dangerous? perhaps you could show your friends why they are going down the wrong path? As it happens JWs smugly believe that they are the only people on earth who are pleasing God and if you try to dissuade them from their beliefs they will immediately resist and try very hard to convince you that their beliefs are the only true ones because they think they are "Bible based". It's almost a hopeless task to talk sense to JWs but for the sake of your children keep a distance from now on.

Anyone who tangles with the JW cult is going to bring upon themselves enormous problems at some time in the future.

Usually this means having children or parents who will not talk to you if you don't adopt their religion. Many of us on this site are suffering often years down the line because the JW organisation alienates members within families. Shunning members within the family is just one of the heartless tools of cult control -- for your own peace of mind and love for your nearest and dearest, have nothing to do with Jehovah's Witnesses.

25

Coronavirus / Covid-19 - The canary in the coal mine

by JimmyYoung in

is anyone prepping by buying food that has a long shelf life?

i have been messing with it for years.

buying fat free powder milk, bullion cubes, rice, beans dried, and other things that has a shelf life of 25 years.

Half banana

It's interesting to me that the 'prepping' concept is quite alien to Britain as far as information has come to me. Tell me if I'm wrong! I'd never heard the term before looking at ex JW sites. The only time I have actually heard it spoken here was from an American JW with her instructions to get a "go bag".

Perhaps we are not subject to natural calamities to the same degree as in USA?

its not a matter of if but when.

Sounds like JW paranoia from this side of the pond.

18

May 2020 Watchtower They Admit, they don't know

by Listener in

they'll write pages and pages of stuff and yet they don't have any idea.. here's a paragraph from their latest speculations on future events, bolding is mine.. a prophecy recorded by ezekiel gives some insight into what may happen during the last days of the king of the north and the king of the south.

if we view the prophecies of ezekiel 38:10-23; daniel 2:43-45; 11:44–12:1; and revelation 16:13-16, 21 as speaking about the same time period and events, it appears that we can expect the following developments.. that's an awful lot of assumptions to make.

what they've done is picked out various scriptures from different parts of the bible and now state that they may or may not be talking about the same events.

Half banana

Blind guides is what they are. I think that GB will start to wake up soon when they come to realise that all versions and interpretation of Bible prophecy is completely useless. What on earth is the point of learning a prophecy if it has no benefit in warning people to avoid the dangers of events to come?

There is not one recorded event in the 140 year life of the Watchtower religion when prophecy has been of the slightest use to anyone.

No! I'm wrong, I am wrong....... prophesying that 1975 was the likely date for Armageddon brought millions of superstitious new JWs into the fold. They brought not only an upsurge in weekly contributions but they came loaded with family inheritances bequeathed in favour of the organisation and made it very rich.

So in conclusion, prophecy is a very lucrative business for the leaders of religions but utterly useless for their flock. (so don't be a sheep)

52

Please help

by Dano3456 in

jw
friends

my wife and i are not religious nor do we want to be.

we are very set in our spiritual beliefs.

we have worked with a jw who's family have been like a part of our family for 6 years.

Half banana

Thank you for posting Dano3456. It is a fact that Jehovah's Witnesses split families. Most on this site have experienced it, it is not rare, it is normal in JW circles.

They may seem like decent people and probably are but they are under the influence of others, namely the governing body of their religion -- although they will deny it because they don't realise how they are being controlled. The JW religion ticks every box qualifying it as a cult. JWs will put obedience to these men before anything else, imagining that they are doing their duty to God. This total obedience means doing things such as punishing members of their own family by exclusion should they choose not to be a Jehovah's Witness.

If you value your family, clear thinking and education, self expression and personal development, have no more dealings with this other family and most especially don't let your own children get sucked into their way of thinking.

I am not being too alarmist but already your children sound like they are taking their 'friends' ideas on board.

The antidote is to discuss with them the importance of only believing things which can be proved by evidence. The Bible is not evidence by the way. None of the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses past this test.

18

News Reports are "Apostate Lies"

by truth_b_known in

with the most recent investigative news report show entitled "the witnesses" i noticed a number of posters whose family members are pimi refer to such shows as "apostate lies.

" even the governing body (possibly loesch) made such a statement (possibly on jw broadcasting).

i was thinking of how to reply to such a statement.. first, ask "who is the apostate?

Half banana

Tangential to your main point t_b_k -- but what the situation demonstrates is the nature of the "language of indoctrination". Apostate lies means more than lies told by apostates.

As in your example, clearly it covers the critical assessment of non apostates. It covers the meaning of apostate truths as well but Bethel writers cannot give any ground to the possibility that apostates could actually ever talk truth or report facts.

The phase "apostate lies" coming from HQ is loaded language and it speaks only to JW true believers.

Firstly it suppresses thinking or analysis. It comes with a layered meaning, it demands by flagging up a warning: have nothing to do with this information because the whole of it is contaminated, don't investigate, don't listen, don't believe it. This feeds into the naive division that there are only two possibilities of choice in life namely Satan's world or Jehovah's. (In each case these two camps are part of the loaded language as well).

The JW is groomed to respond unthinkingly to the specific language of HQ and part of the compact he or she makes (unwittingly) with the governing body when joining the sect is to relinquish private thoughts and submissively conform to their instructions.

So very sad for the believer and abusive on the part of the governing body of Jehovah's Witnesses.

30

May WT study edition: full of king of North and South / Rusia

by Gorbatchov in

jw
friends

jw.org is on collision course with russia.

the may wt study edition is full of prophesy related to the time of the end and what we have read so much in isaiah and jeremia bookstudy publications.. they found their enemy again.

jw.org needs enemy's to exist.

Half banana

A cult needs a good enemy to rail against -- it gives the impression something is happening. As for prophecy when did that ever make the slightest difference?

55

Circuit Overseer to Answer My Questions + Concerns...or Not

by Research in

hello all, i'm 'researching', a jw who is in the first steps of taking a look at their beliefs.. i've semi-recently (about a couple weeks ago) heard about the sexual abuse cases (pennsylvania attorney general’s investigation request) and then the arc in 2015. this lead to a deep investigation, which lead to many questions arising.

a jw friend of mine suggested i be careful (due to apostates) and ask the brothers.

so i typed up my questions + concerns and emailed an elder my mother has known for a long time.

Half banana

Welcome to the site Research and well done on your research so far. You have probably made the first important steps to being free to live a normal life!

As you are aware the faintest whiff of heresy gets the elders alarm bell ringing and they will want start an inquisition, so take it easy and act cool -- you are asking honest questions and deserve an honest answer. However JW 'information' is never without bias.

As regards your mother, bear in mind that as with the elders, any suggestion that the religion is wrong is likely to be met with genuine horror. The reason is that the emotional anchor on which they completely rely is being attacked and potentially dislodged by your doubts, which is very unsettling for them.

As Cofty has pointed out you will be asked whether you believe that the organisation is under God's direction or words to that effect. If you fail this litmus test you will be excommunicated, so prepare you defence or avoidance tactics unless you are certain of the direction you want to go. Generally it's best to take things more slowly and fade out of the KH but we don't know your thoughts!

Do keep us updated.

18

News Reports are "Apostate Lies"

by truth_b_known in

with the most recent investigative news report show entitled "the witnesses" i noticed a number of posters whose family members are pimi refer to such shows as "apostate lies.

" even the governing body (possibly loesch) made such a statement (possibly on jw broadcasting).

i was thinking of how to reply to such a statement.. first, ask "who is the apostate?

Half banana

Valid points t_b_k, but if the GB zombie masters say to their drones "it's apostate lies" then there's no argument, "apostate lies" it is!

6

Looking for host family

by Catlover in

jw
friends

my parents are jw and i'm study.. i'm about to find a host family in europe and experience to live with there as an aupair.

if i have a chance to find a jw host family it's will be great and helped me to grow more knowledge and be a jw soon.. if you've know someone a sister/brother need a helper or a nanny or a caregiver.

just help me to stay and live with you as a family.. i wish i have a chance to find a opportunity here..

Half banana

Hello Catlover, I think JWs are not the sort of people who have an au pair but try your luck anyway!

This is a site where people have awoken to the cultic nature of the JW religion, so you might try another group of JWs who are still asleep.

Wishing you well.

21

When many of the GB are dead in 10 years

by HiddenPimo in

what will be their new plan?.

Half banana

@ stan: I knew them both. I have asked the same questions and the answer is puzzling.

As a JW, to avoid too much mental conflict I took a lot of the Bible and JW teachings with a pinch of salt and I imagined that others did so as well, especially those in control.

As I was fading (already atheist and evolutionist) I went to a KH dedication led by Bevan Vigo, he was articulate and well dressed in an expensive and stylish tweed suit. A host of local councillors attended poor things! To have to listen to JWs ranting for an hour must have been torture for them but what interested me was Vigo's uncompromising denunciation of evolution. The subject was quite irrelevant to the dedication but it was his sense of being implacably faithful to a literal reading of the Bible which counted for him, even if he knew in his heart it was dodgy reasoning. The heavyweight JWs have to be seen and heard being utterly devout to the cause. Logic and evidence don't even make a showing.

It made me realise the possibility that there is a psychological charade taking place and a need to constantly top it up with JW rhetoric to keep the illusion going. My respect for Bevan Vigo plummeted.

Not long afterwards he suffered a breakdown and I did wonder if his submerged cognitive dissonance had asserted itself.