A sense of worthlessness always plagued me in the org. It was never enough. They always want more, they want to suck you dry. You aren't free to be yourself, you must become part of the collective.
Knowsnothing
JoinedPosts by Knowsnothing
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7
Being alive
by Nika Bee inhello, i am (almost) new here, and in the beginning i didn't really think that i would ever post something here.
but then.... yesterday i had a little experience, nothing important , people who haven't been in the organisation have probably a hard time to understand why it's even worth talking (writing) about.
but i though if there are people who can relate to it, they are here, and if not this post will just disappear in the internet and no harm was done.. i was walking my friends' dogs in the evening sun, not thinking about anything.
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25
Newbie - Not ex-JW
by cog_survivor ini've been lurking on the forum for over a year now.
i'm not an ex jw but have some weird connections to the group none the less.. i was raised in the worldwide church of god.
a lot in common with jws.
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Knowsnothing
Cog, care to share an experience? Did you guys also have to go preaching? I am so curious as to your upbringing.
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54
The reason I just can't believe in god
by jambon1 infor the first time in ages though, i actually re-evaluated my position on god/wt.. i had attended a few funerals in the spring and had also reignited some friendships with people from the hall.
but actually, i just keep going round in circles in my mind.
i cannot back an organisation with such a flawed past and one that endorses such policies as shunning & blood.
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Knowsnothing
It's strange to think that you accumulate all this experience and maybe a little wisdom and it just goes away.
I feel that way too, but I also realize the sun is going to die, and there is nothing I can do about it. Do what you can while you can.
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54
The reason I just can't believe in god
by jambon1 infor the first time in ages though, i actually re-evaluated my position on god/wt.. i had attended a few funerals in the spring and had also reignited some friendships with people from the hall.
but actually, i just keep going round in circles in my mind.
i cannot back an organisation with such a flawed past and one that endorses such policies as shunning & blood.
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Knowsnothing
So you might want to consider more data and see if your position is tenable.
Cofty, not everyone cares to investigate. The point is, it is the person you are, not what you believe, that matters. For me, it comes down to that.
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54
The reason I just can't believe in god
by jambon1 infor the first time in ages though, i actually re-evaluated my position on god/wt.. i had attended a few funerals in the spring and had also reignited some friendships with people from the hall.
but actually, i just keep going round in circles in my mind.
i cannot back an organisation with such a flawed past and one that endorses such policies as shunning & blood.
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Knowsnothing
If you believe in god, so what? If you don't believe in god, so what?
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173
Atheists: Lowest Retention Rate Next to JWs
by breakfast of champions inarticle found here.. .
those who grow up in an atheist household are least likely to maintain their beliefs about religion as adults, according to a study by georgetown university's center for applied research in the apostolate (cara).only about 30 percent of those who grow up in an atheist household remain atheists as adults.
this "retention rate" was the lowest among the 20 separate categories in the study.. there were 1,387 atheists (weighted) in the survey.
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Knowsnothing
We need more data first.
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44
Is the Governing Body overdue to make new appointments?
by cedars ini'm doing some research for a new blog article on the governing body.
it's in a question-and-answer or "faq" format, and attempts to give simple but well-founded answers to most questions that people could conceivably ask about the governing body.. one thing i noticed when looking at the history of the governing body is that we seem to be in the middle of a lengthy "dry spell" when it comes to making new appointments.. gerrit losch is currently the longest-serving member having been appointed in 1994. however, his appointment came at the end of a 17 year period in which no appointments were made.
this contrasts notably with the remarkable six-year period between 1971 and 1977 when 15 members were added.. since losch's appointment, 4 members were added in 1999 (herd, lett, pierce and splane) and 2 more recently in 2005 (morris and jackson).. the seven year spell since the last appointments were made has seen the deaths of barber, barr, jaracz, shroeder and sydlik - cutting the number of governing body members almost in half.
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Knowsnothing
I think a more important question is, are they the one solely in charge of making important decisions, be they doctrinal or organizational? Let's be realistic, they have to have some sort of influence. Or can they really be running the whole show? I've heard it suggested here that they are merely puppets, and that there is someone else running the show. In that case, new appointments wouldn't matter much, would they?
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81
How Did You Become An Atheist?
by NewChapter insince there seem to be a number of threads in this spirit, i'd like to ask how others became atheists.
for myself, i learned some things that made me understand the bible wasn't true.
i looked deeper, and it became even more unlikely.
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Knowsnothing
Prayer does not change the equation in any way.
I disagree. Prayer, I believe, certainly doesn't get answered by god, but it might motivate a person to act a certain way. It depends. Prayer might help a person meditate, and thus change the equation. It's just not by injecting the supernatural or the divine.
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81
How Did You Become An Atheist?
by NewChapter insince there seem to be a number of threads in this spirit, i'd like to ask how others became atheists.
for myself, i learned some things that made me understand the bible wasn't true.
i looked deeper, and it became even more unlikely.
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Knowsnothing
I'm not religious. I believe there may be a god. Functionally, I am atheist. How did I get here? Religions don't seem to hold the answers I seek. Objectivity is a big thing for me. However, I still feel like I would like there to be a god that cares, something more to this life. That doesn't mean I have any proof, and at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter. I don't push my "possibility" on others, it just comforts me.
I like discussing god concepts as I stated on another thread, as a conceptual reality. It helps me organize my thoughts on life and the universe better, I find. Kind of like when Peter Griffin, Bill Gates, and Ted Turner were in a football field staring at the night sky and wondered something about god.
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38
"Evidently" the New Watchtower Propoganda Buzzword is "Clearly"
by LostGeneration inwe have seen hundreds of examples of where the watchtower uses the word "evidently" to make their doctrinal point.
(page 9, para 6).
(page 19 para 5).
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Knowsnothing
glenster... my mind has turned to mush after that. Klee-ur-lay.