i am embarrass to say when i was a jw and a elder i. thought i could sit down and speak on any subject with.
anyone intelligently.
i felt the schooling of the wt had.
Scully, I was also told I the same thing about being too smart for my own good. I was one of those uppity women folk, thinkin' and gettin' all them idears... Toward the end of my JW-ishness, I started wearing pants to the meetings. THAT was a lot of fun.
I always thought I was smarter than everyone. Great standardized test scores, perfect grades, PLUS I had da troof! College humbled me a lot, thank God. I was an arrogant pain in the ass.
mark 10:45: "for even the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.".
1 timothy 2:5-6: "for there is one god, and one mediator between god and men, the man christ jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.".
the ransom that was taught for the first 1,000 years of christianity.
Thanks Farkel, for taking me down memory lane. I once was stupid/brave enough to ask an Elder about the issues I had with the Ransom (i.e. it didn't make a bloody ounce of sense to me), and was thoroughly chastized. (seriously, they made me cry)
I'll have to send this on to my "apostate" brother, he'll get a kick out of it!
this seems to be a favorite topic to bring up to any witnesses who post on any website where there are any opposers, either here or topix or anywhere.. so, here is the one and only place i will be discussing it.
who can prove that witnesses are specifically told not to post on websites about them?.
It's mere advice? Really? Mere advice that you can ignore whenever it suits your personal needs?
So, can we apply that to EVERYTHING the Watchtower says?
Also, although it's not a sin to post on "anonymous internet forums", I'm pretty sure it's a sin to post on APOSTATE internet forums. Clearly you know this is not just some cute little anonymous internet forum where we trade grocery coupons and fashion tips. How far is your head buried in the sand that you actually believe that you're not doing anything wrong by associating with us?
If you truly believe this is okay by the WTS, please, by all means, tell an Elder what you're doing. Heck, you should ask if you can count this as field service time too while you're at it!
hello, i am new to this site and it is comforting to know that i am not the only one that has problem with wts.
i'm 36 and single parent with 8 year old son.
i work full time from 8am to 5pm in order to support both of us.
Welcome!
My mother was a single mom of 4 kids. She missed a lot of meetings and field service because she was working at least 2 jobs at any given point.
She was told by an Elder (and several "caring" sisters) to just QUIT working and get on welfare so that she could devote her time to more field service and not miss meetings anymore. That's right, the WTS wanted all the taxpayers to pick up the tab for her AND her 4 children, so she can go be an unpaid employee of the WTS.
my mind is screwed.
i am so messed up and there seems to be nothing i can do i can try to be as positive as i want but it always comes right back to this!
right back to me hating myself.
The JW org really mind-f*cked me too. (sorry for the crudeness, I really can't think of a better expression).
If I could, I'd give you a hug. I've definitely been in your shoes.
i did.
still not finished with a degree yet but i'll get there.. how about you?.
I was frowned upon for choosing to go to college, pulled into the back room with the Elders over my "pursuing worldly knowledge" over God's knowledge, and found that people in the congregation were just cold and distant from me, in spite of putting in 40+ hours in field service every month, rarely missing meetings, etc. I definitely felt the disapproval.
But I'm stubborn and went anyway.
One of my reasons that I told the Elders why I needed to attend college was to be able to support myself financially and that I was not going to just rely on some man to do that for me (my parents divorced, and my mother had to work 2 or 3 jobs at a time to support 4 children). I was then told I was disrespecting the headship principle, LOL!
after flipper's thread about the wt child abuse cases, i started to think about how many children i know of personally who have been sexually abused by a jw!.
as someone who is not especially 'in the know', it's amazing that i do know five of them.
one who was a small baby, at the time!.
Me. (by a former elder)
My childhood best friend. (by a circuit overseer)
That makes 2 more. Nothing ever happened in both of our cases, and our parents were, in hindsight, disgustingly complacent about the whole matter. I don't understand it at all, because I have daughters, and I would feel a blinding rage if anybody touched my girls (or my son) like that.
we had a co looking for a certain experience for an assembly part coming up and the elders in my hall at the time sent him to see me, since i usually had good experiences out in field service.. anyway, after speaking with the co, i was sorry to inform him that i did not have an experience that suited the type he needed.
he told me that was o.k.
because he could use me anyway for another part.
My friends have given "experiences" at assemblies and conventions, and I remember sitting there, bewildered. Like, "Why have I never heard that experience from my best friend who I always go out in service with because we're room mates, who I've known since I was 4? Why am I hearing this awesome experience for the first time TODAY?" I never confronted any of my friends about their suspicious "experiences", because honestly I preferred to keep my head in the sand at that point (and was tired of being dragged into the back room with the Elders for asking too many of the wrong types of questions... I swear I was in that back room every other Sunday)
hello to jwn!
this is standfirm.
i mainly post on the topix jehovah's witness forum, but i decided to give it a try over here also.
To me, the problem of the WTS is not so much their core doctrines, they even might be closer to the socalled "truth" than most other religions, the problem with the WTS I see, is that they go totally "pharisee" with the main message of the bible, rules and regulations, control and prominence. (just look at the last WT study article)
The fact alone, that we only can have those discussions in an anonymous internet forum, and not at the kingdom hall, shows of the repressive nature of the org.
Inbetween, I completely agree. I agree with many (but not all) of the non-mainstream stances that the JWs take, but will never attend another meeting or attempt to get reinstated (I disassociated myself 9 years ago) due to the strict controlling bureaucratic nit picky BS (amongst other bad personal experiences).
hello to jwn!
this is standfirm.
i mainly post on the topix jehovah's witness forum, but i decided to give it a try over here also.
Hi Standfirm.
Would you openly tell your fellow brothers and sisters that you were actively participating on a forum that was filled with disfellowshipped and disassociated JWs and apostasy, engaging in spiritual discussions with them? Or is this hobby of yours something you'd prefer the Elders didn't find out about?
