Posts by roxanesophia

30

What would you hear if you played a Kingdom Melody backwards?

by watson in

jw
friends

just wondering....

roxanesophia

Satan appears and asks why you have so much time on your hands, you could be out in field service.

44

Damn you Kingdom Melodies! Damn you to hell...

by unshackled in

jw
friends

i haven't been anywhere near a jw meeting or convention in at least 8 or 9 years.

but this afternoon, i'm doing some weed trimming and suddenly realized i had this lyric playing in my head...over and over.... .

"ours is the god of true prophecy,.

I woke up with the most ironic kingdom melody in my head:

"This is the way to life, this is the way..."

No, it really isn't.

That "Forward you witnesses!" song really kills me. Once that gets stuck, it doesn't budge.

26

Parroting in the meetings

by dgp in

in the one meeting i attended, i noticed that some witnesses were creative in the answers they gave to the questions, while others were simply repeating what the magazine said.

i remember that, at the time, i thought the creative ones were also the smart ones, while the others were lazy, and that no doubt the creative ones would rank higher in the watchtower.. well, i think i have changed my mind.

it seems to me that those parroting the questions are, in a way, the smart ones.

roxanesophia

Yes, the parroting drove me insane. It made me actually like hearing when people would stupidly analyze all the illustrations in the WT, because at least it was something from their own brain. I flat out asked someone once "Didn't we just read the freakin' answer in the paragraph?" At least parroting gave the kids a chance to answer up and their responses were only one line, ("Jehovah", "pray.") as opposed to Sister No Life who had a 15 minute answer starting with "I met someone in field service who..."

This makes me laugh... i have had several different study teachers, but one of them was an older pioneer sister. At first I never pre-studied the material and repeated what was in the book when it was time to answer. I felt stupid doing so, and even said to my teacher "It's already written in MY words." I did try my best to turn the wording around a bit though, pfft. So she told me to start pre-studying, and have the answers ready. So I did. I looked up EVERY scripture in the paragraph, and incorporated it all into the answer. NOW, as we know, the scripture rarely makes sense out of context, so i was getting confused and presenting questions my teacher couldn't answer because the rest of the scripture had nothing to do with what we were discussing. My answers became very complex (hey, i was proud of them! And i learned a hell of a lot more) and i knew my teacher found it bizarre.

A week later, an elder comes on our study. Big surprise. I pull out the one page answer for each question. Hahaha.

He looked blown away. I thought i was impressing him, until he tells me not to pre-study and just answer up off the top of my head because "yes, the answer is there, but it's good to repeat it so you can understand it." Well, thanks for assuming i can't understand shit simply by reading it.

Now I know why!

7

For people who are out but still believe in Jesus Christ...

by roxanesophia in

since the bible speaks of being blood guilty if one knowing the truth doesn't tell others, i'm a bit tortured by the fact i've learned the jw doctrine is false and i've found the truth in the bible, but there's no way in hell i can talk to other jw's about it.

i would so love to just plant the seed of doubt, and turn them to the real truth, but i know how futile that can be.

i was never baptized - with good reason.

roxanesophia

Thanks, Loubelle, I'm seeing it differently now. Guess I was still thinking like a J dub.

You then have to consider the tribe in the jungle - who has never heard of Christ and who never will.
That is actually something i used to argue JW's with. All they'd say is "Jehovah will read their heart." though they don't apply that to everyone whose door they knock on.

7

For people who are out but still believe in Jesus Christ...

by roxanesophia in

since the bible speaks of being blood guilty if one knowing the truth doesn't tell others, i'm a bit tortured by the fact i've learned the jw doctrine is false and i've found the truth in the bible, but there's no way in hell i can talk to other jw's about it.

i would so love to just plant the seed of doubt, and turn them to the real truth, but i know how futile that can be.

i was never baptized - with good reason.

roxanesophia

Since the bible speaks of being blood guilty if one knowing the truth doesn't tell others, I'm a bit tortured by the fact I've learned the JW doctrine is false and I've found the truth in the bible, but there's no way in hell I can talk to other JW's about it. I would so love to just plant the seed of doubt, and turn them to the real truth, but I know how futile that can be. I was never baptized - with good reason. I just keep thinking of that "blood guilty" scripture (that JW's use themselves to justify their door knocking work.) and also the scripture about teaching alternate gospel and the scripture in revelation about adding or taking away from scripture as the NWT has done.

Am I going to be considered blood guilty if I don't at least TRY to talk to the JW's i'm in contact with? They say it themselves, telling people about God isn't easy work, but what happens when you have the truth and keep it from them under the impression no one is going to listen?

And just a side note, if i wasn't already convinced enough that it wasn't "the truth" this thread would have done it: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/105335/1/The-Days-After-Armageddon-Future-Fantasy-written-by-JWs

Seriously, most far-fetched, asinine thing I've ever read. The fact that God is going to strike everyone down and the witnesses are left amongst the destruction and dead bodies laughing and celebrating is an idea I can't believe I bought into for even a second. I'm sure delighting in people's death and looting their houses is what Jesus would do.

But anyway, back to my question...

25

The Bible - is it really the GOOD Book - if so why?

by cantleave in

afterall , it condones murder, genocide, infanticide and a plethora of other nasty things.

it is contradictory and unscientific.. hell; lets be honest it's hard to read and harder to understand.. so why is it called the good book?.

discuss!.

roxanesophia

Billy the Ex-Bethelite: The Bible is actually pretty good at discrediting Jehovah's Witness beliefs and teachings.

Exactly. In the back of the NWT is all those beliefs and the scriptures that are supposed to back them up, but it's amazing how they can be turned around to work against the WT just as easily and you realize how a man made doctrine came about out of nothing particularly solid, scripturally.

A GOOD book indeed!

36

Everything is "Satan" ... Now what?

by roxanesophia in

firstly, i'm a study who initially believed every word of the jw's.

figured "no other religion takes the time and effort to help people understand the bible by publishing the watchtower and the other literature" not realizing that all it does is pick and choose scriptures to suit whatever sentence they'd just written, which can be done using any book, not just the bible.

i felt foolish, after that.. .

roxanesophia

Flipper, you're spot on about the mind controlled drones. I even find myself acting like one when i'm amongst them. MORE reason to get OUT.

still thinking: The fact that you are here obviously means that your time spent studying has effected you deeply. Just as it did me.

For sure! It's affected me deeply because I could have spent all that time doing one of 1,000,000 better things. I'm pissed off as hell. Plus I feel less bad about ending my study since learning that my private business which my conductor & I have discussed in my home has become that of half the congregation. But it's fine... I want reasons to run the hell away from this cult, not incentive to stay in it when I know it's "the lie."

Some days I feel quite overwhelmed by this and I have to keep reminding myself that it is God that I love

I understand how you feel. And it is the simple truth that the Jehovah's Witnasties have kept me from. JESUS is the way. Not an organization. I don't even believe "Jehovah" is God's name after researching how it came about (it isn't valid proof, in my opinion. I was also disgusted to learn that Yahweh translating to Jehovah is a big fat lie also) and my study had the audacity to say "If you don't say Jehovah, he doesn't hear your prayer." Well I've prayed to "my father" in Jesus' name and had prayers answered. Infact before I went to the meeting tonight, I prayed for more evidence that this is not a religion he requires anyone to be a part of, and the bullshit coming from the platform was nauseating and THAT was my answer. And as usual, no focus on Jesus. It was all about "HOW MANY HOURS ARE YOU SPENDING IN THE FIELD SERVICE." I laughed out loud.

Given the recent discovery that my study conductor is an irritating gossip, I'm not going to abruptly end my study, i'm going to make her run screaming by asking the most annoying apostate-style questions she's not equipped/been brainwashed to answer. She has again tried to pull the Satan card on me when I know it's Jesus who is stopping me from advancing. I know who I'm praying to and how specific i am in those prayers. So for fun, what are the BEST questions to give a devout witness a brutal headache?

36

Everything is "Satan" ... Now what?

by roxanesophia in

firstly, i'm a study who initially believed every word of the jw's.

figured "no other religion takes the time and effort to help people understand the bible by publishing the watchtower and the other literature" not realizing that all it does is pick and choose scriptures to suit whatever sentence they'd just written, which can be done using any book, not just the bible.

i felt foolish, after that.. .

roxanesophia

life is to short: I suffered depression the whole time I was active because I never fit in. There were meetings I would go to when my husband was the only elder in the hall and to busy to be with me and we would be there for hours before and after the meetings, no one would even say hi to me.

Sorry that happened to you, but i can relate. I'm no elders wife, but I've seen how elders hypocritically get on the platform and say "Widen out, and make new ones feel welcome." and it falls on deaf ears. I was amongst 900 or so JW's the other day. I walked around the entire place, aimlessly, and not one of them asked if I was lost, or had anyone to eat lunch with. I passed the same areas multiple times and got gawked at, that's about it. I was almost in tears and thinking this is the new family the elders have told me I'll be blessed with? Then I went back inside the hall, and sat on my own for 20 minutes until the program started again. My study conductor had a bizarre excuse for this:

"You can't expect people to know you're a study. They probably think you're a witness."

Oh, so they don't feel the need to speak to their own? Clearly that proves studies get special treatment because they don't want to lose us, but once you're in, and you still haven't got good friends, tough.

psychiatric: Me too... it's the "wow" moments that have kept me in for so long, but wow moments happen anywhere, at any time. I've had wow moments watching movies, satanic worldly ones! *eyeroll* Since learning the truth about the truth (i love saying that because "the truth" just makes me sick.) my eyes are opened to the fact it's all an illusion. Every time my study conductor babbles on about how encouraging and awesome the speakers on the platform are, I'm thinking "Anyone can write these talks. It doesn't take divine inspiration." A lot of the analogies they use that JW's salivate over as if they're the only people getting this teaching, have been used in movies, books, tv shows, etc. Then again JWs are so ridiculously sheltered, they wouldn't know the source of anything. Except "the faithful and discreet slave."

thetrueone: I agree, religions are all BS, business, control, fear. I was told by a JW "We aren't a religion, we are bible students." Explain where the doctrine, that has little to no scriptural basis, came from then!

skeeter1: Can you explain what jewel in her social tiara means, do people really look more highly upon someone with studies? But i guess it's true that when someone praises me for my efforts, I automatically praise my study conductor.

tec: I liked what you wrote above, about it being her truth, but not yours. She may wish you to elaborate on that.

You're right, and I'm 110% certain she'll point me to the ears being tickled scripture, too like she has in the past. I've researched the watchtower OUTSIDE the Watchtower. The fact that the Watchtower is so firm about reading outside literature only shows they have something to hide, which is why i looked into it. Her only source of knowledge is the JW literature and given the history of lies in the religion that is no longer acceptable to me.

Also, the weekend was the first time I'd heard that the apostles are the governing body. LOL! And "One day we might be separated from the governing body." Seems they're already setting them up to expect to fall with the rest of false religion. My study condutor was like "WOW, I never even thought about that." Sad sad sad.

36

Everything is "Satan" ... Now what?

by roxanesophia in

firstly, i'm a study who initially believed every word of the jw's.

figured "no other religion takes the time and effort to help people understand the bible by publishing the watchtower and the other literature" not realizing that all it does is pick and choose scriptures to suit whatever sentence they'd just written, which can be done using any book, not just the bible.

i felt foolish, after that.. .

roxanesophia

^Whoa that just makes me so glad I can skip out without ever really being in.

Thanks for the kind words and welcomes, if it weren't for this forum, I'd still have the 'truth' in my heart and being dangerously close to baptism.

Retrovirus: So why would rank matter in an organisation full of love? You've been there, and probably know better than I.

It wouldnt and my study conductor had the nerve to say it makes them better than a Catholic church because a priest dresses in a way to look superior to everyone else. No, in the JW hall, EVERYONE looks superior. HAHAH. I've always wondered what expensive suits had to do with serving God. Maybe if they went to the doors looking like casual, every day people they'd get a better response. That was another weird thing for me to notice: leaving a meeting one afternoon and going to a restaurant in town. I was in good witness attire which makes me feel 20 times my age, and a moron, and other females witnesses show up in jeans and tshirts. They'd changed. What? don't wanna be recognized as God's people now? i use that argument because i've heard many times on the platform that JW's are identified by their dress.

Farkel: "Your story is just too pat. Almost as if it is from a script"

I dunno what to say, I AM a writer. Something I'd probably have to abandon if i became a JW. But it's a real story... if only it wasn't.

Terra Incognita: We were approaching people getting into or out of their cars in the parking lot

Holy hell just that sentence alone reinforces how ridiculous this religion is and why Satan would be having a good laugh.

Curtains:

the satan card is being overplayed accross the board - yesterday's watchtower for example - I sat there thinking satan is the main character here and everything else is built arond him. The pic of satan manipulating the world made me sick to think young children were imbibing this rubbish

LOL someone beside me said "I can just imagine a brother trying to pull the strings off Satan" as if to say only a JW would be in the position of fighting Satan. *sigh* the idiocy is too much to bear sometimes.

Meanwhile when i bring up questions/theories they can't defend about Satan, i hear "It's better not to even talk about Satan, he loves the attention whether it's good or bad." Yet entire talks on the platform can be devoted to him.

Curtains: I want to assure you - you have not been wasting her time.

I figured there's some benefit in having studies, etc and you just confirmed there is, especially when you said she gets kudos from the congregation regarding me. I constantly hear "You're doing so well, everyone's noticed."

Thank her profusely for sharing her faith but emphasize that this is her faith not yours and agree to part company.

I think i'm going to go with something along the lines of that actually. "I respect that this is your truth, but it's not mine." I love the fact that "THE truth" is not mentioned in that sentence.

re: preying on people with social anxiety/mental disorders, my brother is disabled but he doesn't appear to be that way. Brothers who were callling on him soon stopped doing so once they were aware he is disabled and can't be easily converted.

Steve2: I laughed when you said she had told you how much research she's done for youI laughed when she said "Using the Watchtower CD." Oh that's comforting, right after I've learned the Watchtower is full of shit.

jean-luc picard: It has already been said: jws are not the only ones who believe that.

Believe in Satan? Yeah, but they sure act like they're the sole religion not ignorant of his machinations.

Lunatic Faith: Very helpful, thank you. Makes sense that going to someone's home, where you get a coffee and having them read out bible scriptures etc is better than being the one speaking them yourself at the doors.

LOL AussieOz. They actually have, it's no joke. EVERYTHING is Satan! I want to get a tshirt "BLAME SATAN" made up to wear to kingdom hall.

The one thing I've heard ad nauseam is "YOU JUST KNOW IT'S THE TRUTH! THINGS START HAPPENING THAT PROVE IT. EVEN BEING OUT IN THE FIELD SERVICE CAN ONLY BE WITH JEHOVAH'S BACKING!"

Where does this thinking come from??? It's what convinced me that God really is backing them. What explanation could you offer that goes against this wishful thinking on their behalf, that God is helping them spread the lies of men? *sigh*

36

Everything is "Satan" ... Now what?

by roxanesophia in

firstly, i'm a study who initially believed every word of the jw's.

figured "no other religion takes the time and effort to help people understand the bible by publishing the watchtower and the other literature" not realizing that all it does is pick and choose scriptures to suit whatever sentence they'd just written, which can be done using any book, not just the bible.

i felt foolish, after that.. .

roxanesophia

Retrovirus: I'd bear in mind that the apparent affection and kindness they show, and the time they've given you is all recorded as "service" for which they get credit; it's hardly a personal favour of any kind. Your study conductor is zealous because of her beliefs and position in the cong, rather than because of any bond between you.

This is what i considered and feared. It's not about personally liking someone. Can you elaborate on what these benefits are because I've been told there is none.