Butterfly, wow!
Thank you so much for posting all this. I can't begin to check all this out now because it's really late here, but I'll start to go through it all tomorrow.It's exactly what I need right now!
Chariklo
JoinedPosts by Chariklo
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22
Encouragement letter, insight on the truth behind Jehovah's Witnesses
by Butterflyleia85 in(this is a letter i wrote to my cousin after she left from visiting me after 3 years!!
she flew 5 hours to see me last weekend!!).
hi ****!i'm so happy you came to ***** and visited me!!
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i have finally decided to "give up " on jw family !
by looloo inmy inlaws have now not visited my child of 7 for more than 2 years since we moved a half hour drive away as i didnt want to live in the same town as my other childs abuser (an ex min servant ) after he was released from prison !
they only visited once and i made it clear that they were welcome anytime as they left , since then they havnt bothered but have told people that i dont allow them to see my child , which is not true .
my mother in law tried to give some money to my child recently through her disfellowshipped son but he asked "why ?
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Chariklo
Looloo, thanks so much for sharing this here.
I'm struggling to deal with all the apparent "concern" and "kindness" that have been showered on me this evening as they wake up to the fact that I, who so nearly became a JW, have woken up and am withdrawing like mad. They nearly got to me tonight, but reading what you're going through has put it so well into persepctive.
This is a very bad religion. It makes people do terrible things and still tell themselves they are doing it because they are faithful and taking a "courageous stand". Ugh. Horrid.
Take care, and thanks again.
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132
Hello
by Chariklo ini am new to this site, just finding my way around.. i've been studying with jw's for about 15 months.
i'm an unbaptised publisher, and until recently never missed a meeting, have been out "on the service" quite a lot.
i've been having difficulties with one of the jw's studying with me and something happened which was just unacceptable.
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Chariklo
"missing me at meetings"....
Wahoo! What'd I tell ya?
Oh yes, you did, jgnat, and by now they, elders etc, have all woken up to the fact that I am absent from meetings and "service" outings and the phone calls are coming thick and fast. Can you believe this, I even find myself struggling to put my point of view across, and then afterwards feel myself getting sucked back though I absolutely don't want to. And, as always, the trouble is that the individuals talking to me go out of their way to be kind and understanding and allow me time to think while still emphasising the importance of the meetings to which I resolutely will not go.
There is also the underlying and articulate threat of displeasing the Almighty by not acknowledging that the WT is right.
Ok, I KNOW this is nonsense, but it is all mixed up with genuinely well-understood Biblical interpretation and it is that mix that gets to me every time. I've finished this evening with a nightmare vision of me being forever on the end of a line with these people slowly reeling me in...NOOOO! (Get that nightmare feeling?)
And I have to say it all makes me feel less and less like returning to my own church or any other branch of organised religiion because, let's face it, if you look at all the world's major religions dispassionately, in their true form and of course not instantly going into anti-Moslem mode, it's clear that there are elements of good in all that I can think of anyway. Elements of bad too.
Makes you think.
So, jgnat, and anyone else experienced in dealing with JW's and nearly/almost-JW's, is there any way I can set myself free without being downright rude to apparently very kind people? Or am I just going to bite the bullet and be really brutal?
All help appreciated.
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Hello
by Chariklo ini am new to this site, just finding my way around.. i've been studying with jw's for about 15 months.
i'm an unbaptised publisher, and until recently never missed a meeting, have been out "on the service" quite a lot.
i've been having difficulties with one of the jw's studying with me and something happened which was just unacceptable.
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Chariklo
The way JW's use "true" and "truth" and even "Christian" is totally manipulative. As though they have the prerogative on "truth"...and yet their version of truth isn't true at all.
Truth is an absolute. It is something that is not in any way false. It's pure.
Christian is someone who follows Jesus Christ, believes in him, and tries very hard to do what he said.
No-one has the monopoly on truth, and only God can know truth in its ultimate pure essence, because he is Truth.
Likewise, I'm not too keen on people saying such and such a group are Christians, or aren't Christians, and certainly not JW's saying "true Christians, which is a phrase repeated in WT writings over and over. Part of the not-so-subtle brainwashing process. It's a phrase that goes with its brother "false religion", another manipulative brainwashing phrase. Don't let me get started....
How did I ever get caught up in this? And yet I don't think it's a week since I began to wake up. A chilling thought. I am currently being love-bombed by people who are "missing me at meetings"....
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Life after death
by truthseeker ineveryone has different views about life after death and whether or not it is a possibility.. as jehovah's witnesses, we were always taught that there is no life after death, that this is the only life we have now and that the wages of sin is death.. .
what are your views on life after death?.
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Chariklo
I am sure there is life after death. Quite apart from Jesus' clear promises on this and all Biblical evidence, it's interesting that from mankind's earliest years (and I'm not talking about WT dating) almost all socieities believed in some form of life after death. Not a logical belief by any means, but universally prevalent.
There is no reason to have extra/contrabiblical speculation when we have the Word of God. Scripture is not contradictory, but our understanding can be deficient.
That's good solid WT teaching, isn't it? I don't believe it.
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Any JW, please help- I need just one thing!
by moshe in--the name of a real live (not dead) member of the faithful and discreet slave class- someone who has admitted in public they are one of the f&ds and who can verify they have been providing the "meat in due season" for the governing body.
obviously the gb can't be the f&ds, because they are neither discreet nor do they have a position of servitude- no, they have made it plain they are the bosses over jws and jws have to obey their words, as if jehovah and jesus were speaking them, or else they will get the disfellowshiped.
just one verifiable name will do and how you obtained it.. the governing body claims that the f&ds are directing them and the worldwide work of jws, but they have never proven that they have a f&ds class they communicate with- just have one of the annointed call bethel and ask to speak to one of the gb and see what the switchboard operator does with their call.
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Chariklo
The anointed sister I studied with told me that all the anointed are given the same message at the same time by holy spirit. They then write to the GB to inform them. When the GB receives many letters all stating the same thing at the same time they know it's the holy spirit so it becomes doctrine.
But let me get this straight. The anointed just "know" they are anointed, right? The holy spirit tells them? Like an inner voice? (Though the WT constantly reminds us that miracles and miraculous events do not happen nowadays?
When I first heard this I had an awful feeling of being the only one who could spot the nature of the Emperor's new clothes. Am I still the only one?
At least the Vatican supposedly examines the evidence from all sides before declaring someone to be a saint...
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New Believers, Studying.
by cupcakekourtney88 inhey y'all!
my name is kourtney and i am new to this form and jehovah witnesses.
right now i am studying the book "what does the bible really teach".
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Chariklo
Cupcake, you wrote
I thought to do a bible studying and learn more about the bible...
Then read the Bible. I have been studying for 14 months, mostly in your "What does the Bible REALLY teach?" book. It won't tell you what the Bible really teaches. It will tell you what the Watchtowere Organisationj says it teaches.
And there's the difference.
SweetBabyCheezits, you are absolutely right when you said most people who get themselves into this thing are idealistic and naive. I'll put my hands up tpo both.
Cupcake, I was being pressured to be baptised in July. Fortunately, I suddenly realised what was happening due to certain incidents, and I resolved to get out, but even for me, not baptised but an unbaptised publisher, it is strangely difficult and painful. Because I've been brainwashed, and because JW's are a cult, no two ways about it. I tried to prove to my non JW family that they weren't, but they are.
Read the Bible, yes. Read the JW Bible teach book, absolutely no.
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Chariklo
Along with the stick on which Adam had recorded every year that passed since the day God created him so that the Bible could say accurately that he was created in 4026 BCE? For everything to be accurate Noah would have had to have inherited that, or did Adam REALLY remember it all so that Moses himself, personally, could write it all down accurately? With all the traumatic things happening to him, Adam must have had a prodigious memory and self-discipline...odd that with a brain like that he fell for Eve's misguided trust of that old serpent.
But seriously, thinking about Noah having a pet dinosaur, maybe it fell over the side of the Ark, and thus the whole dinosaur species were lost to us eternity.
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After Exiting the Witnesses - Are you O.K. Not Knowing about the Future ?
by flipper init seems that religion has always been considered the opium of the people.
or at least many tend to gravitate towards religion to have or solidify some sort of future with a supreme being overlooking them hoping to have a reward either in heaven or in the jehovah's witnesses case - living forever in a " paradise earth ".
it seems that people can't just live day to day and let each day come to them with whatever happens.
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Chariklo
The future is tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes.
What matters is now, enjoying the good things it brings, being nice to who you're going to meet by chance in the next 5 minutes, and trusting in God as you see him or the universe if you don't.
Wasn't there something someone said about the lilies in the field?
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132
Hello
by Chariklo ini am new to this site, just finding my way around.. i've been studying with jw's for about 15 months.
i'm an unbaptised publisher, and until recently never missed a meeting, have been out "on the service" quite a lot.
i've been having difficulties with one of the jw's studying with me and something happened which was just unacceptable.
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Chariklo
I meant to say, thanks to everyone else too, especially wheelwithinwheel for that link on elders and molesters. Nasty stuff indeed.
And, Interested One, I might go to church this weekend, but then again, I might just not. I agree, skipping the god stuff, at least in the form we have it all over the place, could be a bit liberating. Hmmmm