JonathanH

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Posts by JonathanH

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  42

  Did you miss out on "higher education" when a JW but go to college later?

  by Mad Sweeney in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i did.

  still not finished with a degree yet but i'll get there.. how about you?.

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  JonathanH

  I am working on it. I should be starting this fall if everything goes accordingly. I will start with an AS in Mechanical Engineering, and get my BS later, hopefully also in engineering.
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  67

  You'll lose your life and that of your children if you don't come back

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it was a beautiful, sunny day.

  i was in the supermarket doing an early morning shop when i see an old friend of the family, a jw sister.. she asked me if i'd gone to the memorial and i told her no.

  she said that the end is so close what with all the earthquakes and brother truthseeker, you need to come back to jehovah otherwise you will die and so will your children.

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  JonathanH

  emotional blackmail at it's finest.
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  15

  Finally getting my life in order.

  by JonathanH in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i've been out for a few years now, officially ousted and shunned for probably a year and a half, maybe even closing in on two years, the exact date eludes me.

  and given that i was still married to a witness, and one that i cared deeply about, i wasn't overly concerned with what i wanted, so much as how to make things better for her.

  in the intervening time i think i have done that, and quite well.

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  JonathanH

  I've been out for a few years now, officially ousted and shunned for probably a year and a half, maybe even closing in on two years, the exact date eludes me. For a good while, I had no idea what I wanted, or expected from a life that was entirely my own. And given that I was still married to a witness, and one that I cared deeply about, I wasn't overly concerned with what I wanted, so much as how to make things better for her. In the intervening time I think I have done that, and quite well. My wife and I have since bought a nice house (3 bedroom, 2 bath, nice big backyard, hardwood floors, in a nice neighborhood where children feel safe playing in the streets, great home), we have a french bulldog named Niko (she always wanted a dog, but we couldn't have one in our apartment), she has a nice job that she enjoys with worldly friends that she seems to like way more than her witness ones (but that's a different topic for a different time). I've worked hard trying to provide her with a life that is ideal outside of me being a wicked atheist. And she knows it and appreciates it, and doesn't resent me in the least anymore.

  After we bought the house, I thought "good, now I can focus a little bit on me". But I had no idea what that meant or what I wanted. Having been in slavery my whole life I didn't really know what I wanted, or what I could expect to even get. Really I had largely been happy just to not have to go to spend hours listening to lies, and guilt, or go to people's doors and annoy people that don't want me there. Even though I left "the truth", I've still been working for the same witness family that owns a large cleaning company (they are elders and ex-missionaries and greedy and corrupt as any oil tycoon) simply because that's all I knew how to do, and even though it was miserable and frequently infuriating, it was a comfortable sort of misery. One where I knew what to expect. One where I was not in the least bit surprised every time my Elder boss would demand that I go to his house (a grandiloquent three story log cabin), to do his landscaping, or do construction work on the new apartment he is building for his 14 and 16 year old daughters so they don't have to ever move away or work for a living. I was completely used to being the man servant of a family that got rich taking advantage of and abusing their authority in the congregation, and the endless supply of janitors at their disposal. It was miserable, but comfortable.

  I love science and math and knowledge and envied those academics, scientists and engineers whose exploits I read about online, and in books thinking that as great as those were, it was the kind of life that I would never live. I was a window washer with a fifth grade education. But I'm changing that now. Small steps, but I know where I want to go and I think I can get there if I work hard for it.

  I just got a job for worldly people (which I haven't had in probably more than eight years), I'll be doing asset protection for an electonics store. Not glamorous work, but the managers said that hard workers get to move to the departments that they want to work in, and I plan into getting an entry level job in their IT department working on computer repair, set up, and troubleshooting. It's a ladder to climb, something I never had working for witnesses. But even better, they offer tuition assistance, which leads to the main part of my plan. I'm going to be enrolling in a state community college for mechanical engineering, and I'll work on getting my associates of science degree while I hold down a job. After that I'll work on getting my bachelors, and then to grad school for a masters, but one step at a time.

  I've been isolated so long, I'm honestly looking forward to just interacting with normal people. I've worked for witnesses ever since I left, I have no friends or family outside of my wife and dog. Now the place I will be working at is filled with men and women that are around my age and demographic that all seem so friendly and nice. The atmosphere there is friendly and laid back, but still professional. I really hope I do well there. And then I'll get to go to school with students, other people that are trying to educate themselves, people that understand at least some kind of math and science. Another thing I never had working with witnesses. Things are looking up, I'm getting my life in order. I'm not just going to mope around and be a victim of a cult my whole life. I'm going to take my life back, and make my own future. Wish me luck.
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  42

  BIG-JW Sues over Blood demand

  by Refriedtruth in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  jehovah's witness battles in kansas court for bloodless transplant .... kansas city star - brad cooper-1 hour ago.

  but she also would have to compromise her jehovah's witness principles, because she would receive a blood transfusion, something she believes violates god's ...transplant case pits religion, medicaid rules -kansas.com.

  get in and comment expose deadly watchtower dogma shows how unpractical bloodless elective surgeries can be wants $250.000 k for operation.

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  JonathanH

  lol, looking at the comments on the care2 blog. Vomiting truth is still vomiting, and no one wants to see that. Some of us in the "vast apostate" army really need to learn how to effectively communicate. It's news story on blood transfusions but there will just be a random rant about how jehovah's witnesses are a pedophile paradise, and how they are a love bombing cult, or evidence that god never chose them to be his people. Most of the posts are about the story, and mostly by people who are and never were affiliated with the witnesses. The few that seem to be ex or current witnesses both come off kind of crazy. There is a time and a place but just tossing out random things against this witnesses completely out of context or without reason doesn't make the detractors seem any more reasonable than the people politely feeding out Watchtower PR. There should really be some kind of training course when you leave "the truth" on how to do effective counter PR.
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  7

  JW's don't have a lock on loony prophecies.

  by JeffT in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/2011/04/27/save-the-date-signs-advertise-return-of-jesus-on-may-21/?gta=commentform#commentform.

  seattle's big blogcovering seattle news, weather, arts and conversation, along with a grab bag of stuff that's just plain interesting dont pet the armadillo unless youre immune to leprosy (science news) | main |.

  save the date?

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  JonathanH

  I got one of those things in the mail. I really wonder what will happen on the 22nd.
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  2

  How do one respond 'If everyone in the world were of the same Religion"?

  by jam in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  if everyone in the world were of the same religion, which one.

  would show love to it,s members, not kill it,s members, trust.

  it,s god to rule them, practice the golden rule and keep the.

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  JonathanH

  Probably none of them. They would without fail put some guy or guys in charge that clearly aren't god, but insist that they speak for him, and it would be all down hill from there.

  But really it would be interchangeable. The source of most problems is conflict between people of different ideals and backgrounds. If you give everyone the same ideals, and a similar cultural upbringing the world would be more peaceful regardless of how ridiculous or ill advised those ideals may be...until of course somebody disagreed with them.
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  18

  What constitutes a wicked person?

  by SuperSpook in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  do you agree with the bible's definition of wickedness?.

  do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit gods kingdom?

  do not be misled.

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  JonathanH

  No. Wickedness is a very strong term. An alcoholic I would consider to have an addiction, but I would not consider him "wicked". I do not see gays or lesbians as being wicked as they have done no harm and are in consenting adult relationships. The same goes for fornication, two consenting adults have commited no crime for using their bodies for pleasure, or engaging in a psychological bond expressed physically outside of a legal union. Greed while I would consider it a vice, I would not consider it wicked. The acts committed that are fueled by greed could make some one so corrupt as to be deemed "wicked", however greed in and of itself is not horrible enough to be termed "wickedness". Idolatry is just silly, not wicked. The only things in that list I could possibly list as wicked would be Adultery (and even that would be conditional, and not absolute) and possibly extortion (while also not a good act, it can only in certain circumstances reach the status of "wicked".)

  Going around killing off alcholics and gays however, I would consider to be extremely wicked. It would take a truly punitive and cruel mind to justify that.
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  29

  What's the Watchtower's current stance on...

  by FifthOfNovember in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the big bang?

  -do they leave room for it as a possibility for jehovah to have created the universe?

  (i heard an elder say once that the society doesn't necessarily rule out the big bang as a possiblity).

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  JonathanH

  I still can't tell if jdh is a joke account or not. I ALMOST start to reply then I think to myself "I'm beig punked aren't I?" and then stop.
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  51

  Who Or What Influenced You The Most To Leave The Organization?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  any person or situation ?.

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  JonathanH

  Logic, reason, a love of knowledge and learning, and a necessity to follow truth even if that truth was going to be hard.
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  19

  This is why atheists cannot take the creationists seriously...

  by Elsewhere in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if anyone reads the item below and still does not get my point... i'm sorry, there isn't much i can do for you.. .

  http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/216596_10150230192374276_595279275_8545086_2474506_n.jpg.

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  JonathanH

  I can only hope this is poe's law in action.