this is my first time joining a forum like this.
i grew up in the jw religion.
i was baptized when i was 13 and started to fade out at 16 at least mentally.
Stella3,
In response to your above post. I have said the following to witnesses and it moved the needle a bit.
"When your religion leads you to believe that you would be better off dead, then I think we can safely say that your religion has failed you."
Many Many Many Jehovah's Witnesses have come to that conclusion (better off dead). Some have even acted on it.
this is my first time joining a forum like this.
i grew up in the jw religion.
i was baptized when i was 13 and started to fade out at 16 at least mentally.
My two cents...
I am an awake elder that started learning ttatt 3 or 4 years ago. I still serve because my stepping down at this point would send alarm bells to a few people I said too much to (like my wife). Plus it buys me protection from the other elders for now.
Anyway, to answer your question, I have recently as of yesterday had a conversation about the "truth" with a long time friend. I didn't say too much hopefully, but got close to the line with him. He is full in but not a servant.
My conclusion after that conversation and observing his reactions to things that came up, is that the attachment to the religion and the ideology is emotional. That point has been made already in the previous posts. I would add two things.
1) The reason you can't predict what will awaken someone is that you can't know what emotions specifically that person has for the religion. Emotion is nuts. It is unpredictable. For instance, if you found out your friend's spouse was cheating and then you told him or her, they might refuse to believe it and blame you for trying to wreck their marriage! Same with someone's religion. They are "married" to the organization. You are telling them the org has cheated on them. It can and often does get nasty.....
2) Since we are dealing with emotion, I think the best bet to move emotion is for a person to come to find out things about the org that are emotional for them to find out.
For instance the procedure for dealing with an 8 year old boy that gets molested in the congregation by his father. If the father denies it and there are no witnesses, the org does nothing to protect that poor little boy. No cops are called. No social services are called. No judicial hearing. Just a note in a file. 8 year old boy goes back home with a molester. Siblings aren't protected. Children in congregation aren't protected. Children in community aren't protected. All the while, the child thinks Jehovah is going to help him now since he prayed and went to the elders instead of his "worldly" teacher at school.
Anyhow, sorry to get long winded. Good luck with your family. I am working on a scheme myself to get info to my wife in some way that does not link back to me. Haven't figured it out yet, though. I tried the direct approach a few times and got backlash like I am the Devil himself. Freaky stuff actually.
you brothers who gave talks do you thinks about the crap you spoke from the platform.. thirty years old, no knowledge what so ever of the world we live in, barely making the grade.
to graduate from high school, a year and half in jc college and now with schooling of jw higher.
education i thought i was a hell of a speaker.
Yeah I would really speak with conviction from the platform. I would wonder though, as I noticed some of the reaction in the audience, why weren't more people moved by what I was saying? I was talking about our love for God and how lives were involved yada yada. Now I know...
Now I think back and feel sympathy for the "awake" people in the audience or the exhausted people that had to deal with all my idealistic preachiness.
I hate those young know-it-all idiots now.
for the many years i was mentally " in " the congregation, i equated the organisation as interchangeable with the persona of jehovah, in effect whatever the organisation said or thought, that was what jehovah thought and that was what jehovah said.... it was that simple.
so when i found out the ttatt and the cynical moves of the organisation over the years,including 1975 , the donation arrangements, the united nations, etc i was devastated and thought " where's jehovah in all of this?".
the god who i'd poured my heart out to on many occasions and who i thought was silently listening and hearing my pleas ..... was not there , .
I saw someone on this forum mention Jehovah as the invisible cult leader and it has stuck with me. As a cult leader he becomes whatever you want him to be.
(of course you can't get to Jehovah except through them - they invented him!)
It reminds me of a bad con job you might see in Hollywood. A guy walks up to a girl and says he knows Brad Pitt and if she is lucky he will put in a good word for her.
in an effort to reduce the number of posts, this year i will try to add links to this post.
now, on with the leaks & releases!
first up.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nzvwhflss4.
"Almost out of nachos" - love it
You know it's getting rough when the brother taking the lead has to loosen his tie. 😮
Ditto on thanking the source wifi....
i remember many years back a fellow ministerial servant saying this to me.
he felt that even if jehovah’s witnesses were not the only true religion, the regimented routine of meetings and field service and the strict rules and enforcement provided a beneficial structure for his life.
at the time i thought if this wasn’t “the truth”, i’d have no need for all that “structure”.
Amen Grreatteacher...
If you need structure that bad, here's an idea: Grow as a person and develop a stronger more disciplined personality to the point you no longer "need" that king of nanny-level structure. In the meantime get some coaching or counseling, get a personal trainer, commit to volunteering a couple times a month. Join a club or professional organization - even make yourself available to be a leader or organizer in that group.
There are many things a person can do to seek structure and self-improvement. That is, if they aren't giving all their time away to a cult-y religious movement
in an effort to reduce the number of posts, this year i will try to add links to this post.
now, on with the leaks & releases!
first up.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nzvwhflss4.
On the one hand they are encouraging financial martyrdom (as long as the borg benefits from it of course).
The unintended consequence of videos like this (which you can already see happening in the religion) is that members will be more likely to hide their financial prosperity.
I have known JW millionaires that lived in an old mobile home to appear "Spiritual" or to claim they "Simplified".
The closer you look at "The Truth" the more lies you see....
in an effort to reduce the number of posts, this year i will try to add links to this post.
now, on with the leaks & releases!
first up.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nzvwhflss4.
Another message in this video:
"Just Pioneering Isn't Enough"
One Explanation: There are many witnesses in the U.S that have figured out a way to game the system a bit. They have one spouse "pioneer" while the other spouse makes some good money - usually in their own business. Once the business gets built up and can be run more from a management level, or better yet, sold for a nice cash-out, then both spouses can "pioneer". They get a nice comfortable lifestyle while maintaining the pioneer status. (The reason I am putting pioneer in "quotes" is that a large percentage of pioneers do not make their time. Many more fudge the numbers.)
The organization is cracking the whip here and saying if you have a big house or fat nest egg, then you aren't sacrificing enough (even if you are a pioneer). You should sell off 75% of your possessions, give half of it to the WT and then spend the rest of your money supporting your volunteer work serving "kingdom interests".
They have assessed the net worth of some of the "friends" and want a bigger piece of the pie.
GREED. Plain and simple.
in an effort to reduce the number of posts, this year i will try to add links to this post.
now, on with the leaks & releases!
first up.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nzvwhflss4.
Love the $500,000 house that pioneers could afford.(sarcasm)
They live in a fantasy world. It's getting worse it seems.
This is nothing but propaganda to entice people to sell their assets and invest in the Watchtower corporations. Time, money, skills, labor..... they will take whatever you have to give.
The phrase "Feed the Pig" comes to mind...
in an effort to reduce the number of posts, this year i will try to add links to this post.
now, on with the leaks & releases!
first up.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nzvwhflss4.
Un-Freaking-believable ......
More with the basement BS? .... They are becoming straight up "Preppers" at this point.
Are they going to start selling Great Trib supplies on JW.borg?
