RayPublisher

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Posts by RayPublisher

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  19

  New article and video on TTATT

  by RayPublisher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  well i spent a few weeks putting this one together it took sooooo much longer than i thought it would, but as you know, a few of us many of us on jwnet spend way too much time fighting the "watchtower power" hehe.

  here's a couple paragraphs:.

  so i had been thinking about how hard it can be to tell the difference between a high quality product, the "genuine article", and a knockoff or an inferior product recently.

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  RayPublisher

  So glad you got it!

  I still have some left although am likely going to have to order more again in the near future.
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  46

  The huge impact the JWs have out in their door knocking --- May 15, 2013

  by RayPublisher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the may 15, 2013 washtowel has a cute little piece of artwork about what an impact they make out in serve-us.

  i thought some captions might help make it clearer!.

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  RayPublisher

  @Steve 2 -

  " The Watchtower's continued appeal to one's religious pride - i.e., just by being out on the streets, you give a witness to worldly people - is simply the religious equivalent of people who ostentatiously pray in public, or who crawl devotedly up steep steps as an act of religious devotion or who wear readily identifiable religious garb that is so loved of religious people from all kinds of faiths."

  Priceless!

  There are many here in my part of the USA that dress up quite a lot in field serve-us and they bring their huge Tahoes and Escalades out so 7-8 can ride around and visit while a couple get out at a time and slowly trudge to an RV.

  They walk soooooo sloooooowly when doing territory too, and are in animated conversation with each other as they go down the street, showing that they mainly want to talk about their own stuff with their friends as opposed to really reaching anyone with the "good news". In my area they are all over at 10 am on a Saturday morning it's easy to watch their behavior. I walked right past a group of them one Saturday morning recently and not one of them stopped to give me a tract or even say hello- they were too absorbed in their own conversations to bother.

  This is what an average person observes, so the people wonder why they are going so slow, what they are selling, they are suspicious of their motives, etc. That's the "huge impact" the JWs have when they enter and exit a neighborhood for the most part.

  Are some folks encouraged? Yes. Are some JWs different than this? Yes, a few. But not many IMO...
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  22

  I ran into an inactive JW at the store we talked for 20 minutes

  by RayPublisher in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i ran into an inactive jw at a department store last night and we talked for 20 minutes easily, it was actually pretty fruitful.

  so here's what happened:.

  i see him and recognized him but he didn't know who i was at first as he hasn't seen me in at least a year and i've lost weight, have a goatee and dress way more awesome than i ever did as a dubb schlubb.. so i said hi to him by name and he says, who are you i'm not sure?

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  RayPublisher

  @ BlindersOff1 - Good for you! I'm wearing mine too!
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  18

  Has anyone ever used this to refute a JW's thinking?

  by nolongerconfused in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is not "apostate" literature per say...this is straight from one of their books...bible teach book.

  baptism and your relationship with god.

  paragraph 24.

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  RayPublisher

  Yeah my ex-wife did the same thing- would bring up Bible / Org questions like that and say, "I want to know what you think". She wouldn't give it a rest and later she used it as emotional ammunition to kick me out, that's my take on it.

  Thank her for asking you questions and commend her for wanting to help you...then DON'T GO THERE.

  BTW NoLongerConfused you have a PM.
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  14

  Truth be told, documentary on March 27th

  by yalbmert99 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  new documentary aims to lift veil on jehovah's witnesses.

  http://gothamist.com/2013/02/19/new_documentary_aims_to_lift_vail_o.php.

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  RayPublisher

  Can't wait for more feedback and impressions on this film. How can we see it? It doesn't officially air until next month according to the website.
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  22

  I ran into an inactive JW at the store we talked for 20 minutes

  by RayPublisher in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i ran into an inactive jw at a department store last night and we talked for 20 minutes easily, it was actually pretty fruitful.

  so here's what happened:.

  i see him and recognized him but he didn't know who i was at first as he hasn't seen me in at least a year and i've lost weight, have a goatee and dress way more awesome than i ever did as a dubb schlubb.. so i said hi to him by name and he says, who are you i'm not sure?

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  RayPublisher

  I ran into an inactive JW at a department store last night and we talked for 20 minutes easily, it was actually pretty fruitful. So here's what happened:

  -----------

  I see him and recognized him but he didn't know who I was at first as he hasn't seen me in at least a year and I've lost weight, have a goatee and dress way more awesome than I ever did as a Dubb Schlubb.

  So I said hi to him by name and he says, who are you I'm not sure? And when I tell him he smiles really big and says what's been going on with you? You look great you've lost weight what's your secret? Well I used a joke and said, "Oh the divorce diet works wonders!" He frowns says he's sorry, and then in a sincere way says, "What happened? Why would you guys break up you've been together for so long?"

  Now this fellow is really laid back, non-judgemental, not a hypocritical-type of JW at all. He's been an occasional meeting attender for several years but his wife and mother and father are regulars. I told him the truth, that I had doubts and questions about what I saw all the years I'd been an elder and knew that something wasn't right. I related to him that when I told my wife what I had learned she started calling me the "A" word and then she secretly got a lawyer and kicked me out and started legal proceedings against me and accused me falsely of being violent so the law would be on her side.

  He was shocked of course, and the conversation went on and he tried to encourage me and I let him talk for quite a while about how Jee-hovah wants me to come back to him, etc. I could tell he meant well. But he did bring up how when he was a boy his parents told him he would never get out of school before Armageddon came and how even in 1914 they thought they were all going to heaven. Just then his wife shows up. She looks really uncomfortable (she knows at least some of the rumor stories about me at my former KH and that I'm no longer a JW), and says to him, "I've gotta go to another aisle I'll be back." He says, "No, no, stay and talk with Eric he's right here, say hello."

  So she mumbles a hi stands next to him mostly looking down as he continues to talk to me. After several more minutes of speaking positively to him about how I pray every day and read the Bible and such she chimes in and says that's good that I still do that. Then the conversation ends with us shaking hands and smiling and saying see you later.

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  To me it supports my theory that more and more of the Gen-X Witnesses that are hitting middle age now are seeing that the extreme shunning is not necessary, and is a really bigoted way to live. On the plus side for me, I was calm and didn't even feel a twinge of fear/guilt/etc. like in the early days of me getting out of the cult.

  Anyway, thanks for listening, just thought I would share this!
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  12

  My visit yesterday to the congregation

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  because my brother-in-law did the sunday talk in the congregation, we were invited to come to the congregation.. it was 3 months ago we showed our faces there.. when we entered the hall some witnesses said hello.

  most of them did a far away look away.. i walked to the counter for taking the 2013 calender, the daily text book and much magazines the local clown elder (he was dressed in purple), talked to me with a loud voice "welcome!

  nice to see you again.

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  RayPublisher

  Gorb - Everytime you go through this kind of trial you gert stronger and their power diminshes. That I've seen in my own experiences in facing these jokers down, talking to them, etc. Each time gets easier.
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  20

  Finnish CO centenced for molesting 5 to 11 year-old girls

  by Aaac in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  finnish co was sentenced for three years for molesting little girls in estonia and his finnish congregation years 2003 to 2005. man had been a co in estonia.

  the mother was not believed at first, but laughed at.

  she is a jw herself.

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  RayPublisher

  BTTT
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  12

  My visit yesterday to the congregation

  by Gorbatchov in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  because my brother-in-law did the sunday talk in the congregation, we were invited to come to the congregation.. it was 3 months ago we showed our faces there.. when we entered the hall some witnesses said hello.

  most of them did a far away look away.. i walked to the counter for taking the 2013 calender, the daily text book and much magazines the local clown elder (he was dressed in purple), talked to me with a loud voice "welcome!

  nice to see you again.

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  RayPublisher

  Such love-bombing baloney! You played it well.
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  85

  Will you attend the Memorial this year? Why? Why not?

  by Open mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  RayPublisher

  Going to Memorial if you are trying to fade is NOT a good idea.

  If you do it as OTWO said to placate or keep famliy ties together then that's a legitimate reason fro sure IMO.