Posts by jean-luc picard

35

untitled

by Dawn2011 in

i've been visiting this forum for quite awhile now, reading as much as i can about others in situations similar to mine.

i've learned alot but i think i am ready to share and will really appreciate whatever advice/thoughts anyone has to offer.. i'm a "wordly" gal (non-demoninational christian) and have been dating a jw for a year.

he has been a witness for about 34 yrs but has been inactive the past two due to the way he and his ex were treated when she was df'd for cheating/alcoholism.

jean-luc picard

Make it so.

35

untitled

by Dawn2011 in

i've been visiting this forum for quite awhile now, reading as much as i can about others in situations similar to mine.

i've learned alot but i think i am ready to share and will really appreciate whatever advice/thoughts anyone has to offer.. i'm a "wordly" gal (non-demoninational christian) and have been dating a jw for a year.

he has been a witness for about 34 yrs but has been inactive the past two due to the way he and his ex were treated when she was df'd for cheating/alcoholism.

jean-luc picard

Welcome Dawn.

I get the impression that your friend may be less attached to the jws than to his children and grandchildren.

That is what really makes things difficult, because the borg makes its members chose between leading their own

life and keeping contact with their family. It is a wicked coersion, but very effective.

Your friend may well be very much in love with you, but faces a very difficult decision. Good luck. I hope you find

happiness.

24

How The WT's 144,000 Theology Hijacks Their Annual Memorial Meeting

by Room 215 in

at last year's local memorial service, purported to honor jesus' sacrificial death and its signficance to the eternal prospects of humanity, the visiting speaker from bethel quite remarkably managed to talk for almost an hour without one recourse to the word "resurrection".. a remarkable achievement, given its centrality in the belief system of nominal christianity.

nor were the stirring moments of high drama in the bible's depicting of jesus last hours on earth-- his last supper and his prayer for the well-being of his disciples, the betrayal of judas, the agony of the garden; his disciples' succumbing to sleep; his betrayal and arrest in the garden of gethesemane; the scattering of his fear-gripped disciples; peter's denial, and the climactic soul-stirring awareness of the signficance of the empty tomb and its guardian's chilling pronouncement to mary magdalene and the women "why are you searching for the living among the dead?"...

and so on, to his post-resurrection appearance at emmaus, etc.. all of this was swept aside in favor of convincing those in attendance that they had no business in partaking of the emblematic bread and wine.

jean-luc picard

I always did think that it was strange that the 144000 was not complete before the 20 century.

From memory ( though I am starting to forget some of the details) in the first century 5000 were baptised in one day, and 3000 on another occasion.

At that rate, in one month the 144000 would have been complete.

I wonder if the GB accounts are as accurate as their other number crunching?

13

Jehovahs Witness comments on university ten years ago - how they apply now

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

the comments were made by a militant jw pioneer/elder/ms training school, kind of ass hole.. at the time i was on the ministry with him.

as we walked by a swathe of students heading into university for the day he turned to me & said "look at them all!

each one on the road of futility".

jean-luc picard

Her's an irony:

A friend who was a good dub, pioneer from school no further education, etc wanted to go to bethel.

He was refused.

They only "needed" computor experts and the like at the time, to work on their new programs.

So here they were saying, people who have gone to university, studied and got their diplomas were the only ones who would be accepted to bethel.

My good and faithful dub friend didnt fit because he had obeyed and left school early.

114

Anyone here have any experience with the "super-natural"?

by Knowsnothing in

and if so, would that prove an existence of evil-spirits (demons)?.

i have heard of a couple of stories of possession, or of jw's talking to spiritists and the spiritists having seen 2 men following the jw, either dressed all in black, or all in white, and very strong looking.

yet, i have never experienced any of it.. another experience that i heard is about a brother whose mom had super-natural strength, and tossed something really heavy.

jean-luc picard

I dont know, today if I believe in demons or not.

I did find that jws talked about them alot. I think they use it as another gimmick to scare people into joining them.

12

No shortage of prophecy

by jean-luc picard in

jw
friends

it is easy to understand why some could have nagging doubts when seeing world events.. "maybe it is the truth after all?".

i came accross this site http://www.prophecynewswatch.com and realise ( well i knew already) that there is no shortage of prophecy, or prophets.. in 1970, i was just a boy, i remember hearing on the radio.

"by 1978 there will be no water left that is fit enough to drink, but we shouldnt worry because by 1977 the air will no longer support human life".

jean-luc picard

Interesting comments alanv and the illuminator.

One problem is that the GB discourage reading other material, other than their own.

I wonder why.

12

No shortage of prophecy

by jean-luc picard in

jw
friends

it is easy to understand why some could have nagging doubts when seeing world events.. "maybe it is the truth after all?".

i came accross this site http://www.prophecynewswatch.com and realise ( well i knew already) that there is no shortage of prophecy, or prophets.. in 1970, i was just a boy, i remember hearing on the radio.

"by 1978 there will be no water left that is fit enough to drink, but we shouldnt worry because by 1977 the air will no longer support human life".

jean-luc picard

It is easy to understand why some could have nagging doubts when seeing world events.

"maybe it is the truth after all?"

I came accross this site http://www.prophecynewswatch.com and realise ( well I knew already) that there is no shortage of prophecy, or prophets.

In 1970, I was just a boy, I remember hearing on the radio

"by 1978 there will be no water left that is fit enough to drink, but we shouldnt worry because by 1977 the air will no longer support human life". I was excited. After all Armagedon was coming in 1975 to save us all.

What rubbish. We're still here.

And what about no petrol by 1990? I could go on.

How do you deal with nagging doubts, and prophecies that seem to touch on reality?

39

How do JW's know that the GB is getting closer to the truth?

by Mad Dawg in

their claim, to cover up changed teachings, is that they are always getting closer to the truth.

how do we know that the gb is closer now than they were 50 or a hundred years ago?

how do we know that the gb hasn't been drifting away for the last 50 years?.

jean-luc picard

I'm sorry kjw53 but:

i would never go to judgement with disunified religions that shove the teachings of Jesus aside and kill one another

Many of us here feel that jws "kill" each other emotionally speaking, by the thousands, maybe millions.

Just read the posts and see how

many family lines cut off as well

there are.

Oh but yes of course, thats all our fault.

jlp

31

my story....

by losecontrol in

well i am new to this, and i must admit that at first i was very opposed to this site.

i grew up being a witness and was warned about looking into apostate things, which is exactly what this site would be that they are referring to.

i always tried to live my life the best that i could under the societys control, and never really got to have any life experiance at all.

jean-luc picard

Hi Losecontrol.

I'm a little late posting on your thread, but I hope you come back and read it from time to time.

I have a practical suggestion.

Why not take your wife and kids out for a meal, or the cinema? Make it at a meeting time. Show your family that time spent together is more important to you than going to meetings.

Good luck. I hope things work out well for you all.

jlp

1

I dont like Moondays

by jean-luc picard in

they insist that the devil works strongest through those closest to you to destroy your faith.

this naturally offsets the concern of parents and friends, most of whom want you to leave.

you are told that their motivation is love, but because love in the world is fallen, they cannot understand that their motivation is evil.

jean-luc picard

They insist that the devil works strongest through those closest to you to destroy your faith. This naturally offsets the concern of parents and friends, most of whom want you to leave. You are told that their motivation is love, but because love in the world is fallen, they cannot understand that their motivation is evil. If someone talks to you from outside the family, no doubt they are trying to take your mind away. You begin to fear the world and those in it. Thus you become dependent on the group for love and positive reinforcement.

( http://dmc.members.sonic.net/sentinel/1earth4.html )

The above quote is talking about the Unification Church or Moonies.

I have long thought, how like JWs.

You are discouraged to have non JW friends, or to associate with anyone “outside” the faith.

Then, if you want to leave, you find yourself TOTALLY alone. Even your family JWs dont want you any more.

A situation too hard to deal with for many people.

So you stay “ in”, unhappy, and against your will.

If that is true in your case, please believe, there IS life on the “ outside”. It just takes some time.... and courage.

Jlp.