Posts by snare&racket

38

How do I handle this?

by Phoebe in

jw
friends

a little advice please.. it's now 7 months since i stopped going to meetings.

we still get regular calls by elders - at least every 2 weeks.

i can handle them.

snare&racket

I would assume the intent was good and send her a letter back expressing why you no longer feel it’s the truth. Tell her you care about her too.

You may save a young girl from a horrific life.

55

Very Lost

by Jrjw in

hi i've been a jw for 12 years and got married 2 years ago.

i'm now separated.

my husband hid from me that he suffered from depression, extreme anxiety issues and a personality disorder.

snare&racket

7 months! ...... that’s crazy.

This happened over and over and over in the JW’s. I remember very few happy marriages.

Now is your opportunity to take a grasp of this situation, it’s as easy as leaving and going to a local solicitor and filing for divorce.

Life is too short to be unhappy.

It is also your opportunity to assess the validity of the JW beliefs. Maybe start with how much good/bad it has done to your life. This will only work if you are honest with yourself.

22

Good Works by "worldly people".

by Lost in the fog in

i have friends who are called "worldly people" by jws.

these people are actively involved in feeding the homeless over christmas.

managing thrift shops so they can send financial aid overseas to poorer children.

snare&racket

I’m ashamed that I used to refer to the decades of ministry and RBC work as “charity” ..... it never was and never will be!

I am disgusted that any human, never mind a ‘christian’ , would be so dismissive of those in need, especially when it was all throughout the Bible that one would be judged by how they treat people in dire straits,

The witnesses are inhumane on many issues, be it shunning their loved ones, denying blood to children or not caring for those in need via charitable means!

Shame on them!

if you take a moment you can find lots of ways to help. This Christmas we have sent toys to local homeless kids and we have sent boxes of toys (you get given an age and sex) to kids abroad who have little.

Since leaving the JW’s I have given to charities for blankets for Syrian refugees, taken food to the homeless bus and helped cook on it.

I feel ashamed that I have done so little, I really, really do and my gf and I really want to set up something to help the homeless more.

My JW past has me feeling guilty over two issues, any bible study I was involved in and secondly, the lack of charity work and WORSE... the dismissive, flippant, arrogant view of charity I once held.

55

Very Lost

by Jrjw in

hi i've been a jw for 12 years and got married 2 years ago.

i'm now separated.

my husband hid from me that he suffered from depression, extreme anxiety issues and a personality disorder.

snare&racket

Also, you are an adult. You can walk out that door this very minute and have any life you want, you really can.

55

Very Lost

by Jrjw in

hi i've been a jw for 12 years and got married 2 years ago.

i'm now separated.

my husband hid from me that he suffered from depression, extreme anxiety issues and a personality disorder.

snare&racket

Firstly.... you must have married him in a short period of time to not know who he was to,this degree, This isn’t totally your fault, that’s not what I am saying, the JW’s push marriage on all the single people to promote more numbers in the org, however in order to own the issue and NEVER make the same mistake again, own this decision and own the error that it was to marry someone you didn’t know.

Secondly, you are 34......... you have barely begun and can easily meet someone else! I didn’t meet my gf until I was 35.

We can’t learn from our mistakes if we don’t own them. Once you own it you can get on with your life. Accept that the JW’s haven’t got it right, that the marriage wasn’t for the best and that there is life after Watchtower and divorce.

Incidentally, depression and mental health issues can befall anyone at any time and fluctuate in severity. It’s an illness and the JW’s perspective on mental health is shameful. Most people suffer depression and mental torment during their life.

12

UK: Significant donations to World Wide Work 2015-2017

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

i'm analyzing the 221 congregations in the uk that had additional account info.. correct me if i'm wrong, but was it 2015 when the letter was read out instructing congregations to donate excess funds to the world wide work?.

the amounts donated to the world wide work are significant.

i still have much work to do.. truthseeker.

snare&racket

I’ve been watching UK JW accounts for years, this isn’t new.

The yearly bethel finances are worse, all that money from all over the UK that is left over costs, gets donated to an American charity.... a ‘mother’ charity.

This of course being the WT Soc.

28

The end of an era ......

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

i have written some time ago, about how the religion i grew up in no longer exists.

i was an 80’s jw kid who became a pioneer then a bethelite.

they have new meetings, new elder roles, new acronyms, new core teachings, new songs and even a new bible.

snare&racket

I’m very aware the cult exists in 2017.

The religion I grew up in has LONG GONE.

Thats the point

28

The end of an era ......

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

i have written some time ago, about how the religion i grew up in no longer exists.

i was an 80’s jw kid who became a pioneer then a bethelite.

they have new meetings, new elder roles, new acronyms, new core teachings, new songs and even a new bible.

snare&racket

I have written some time ago, about how the religion I grew up in no longer exists. I was an 80’s JW kid who became a pioneer then a bethelite.

They have new meetings, new elder roles, new acronyms, new core teachings, new songs and even a new bible. The religion today is unrecognizable to me, a JW of 25 years that left 12yrs ago.

Ths scene of the Watchtower sign being taken down made me feel incredibly happy. I’m very aware that the cult still exists as many people I love are still in it. But this scene... was not supposed to happen in the religion I grew up in.

We were never meant to reach 2017, the organization was never meant to be famous for paedophilia and lawsuits, the society was never going to have to downsize and sell because of money issues, it was never meant to go online to Satan’s web, in order to survive as a publishing company.

We were never going to see the Watchtower sign taken down.....

Truly that religion I grew up in has long gone.... bye bye 👋

102

If mathematics teacher made a mistake, would it mean mathematics itself is wrong!

by venus in

many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of god by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

in either camp, god is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents god, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without god).

it is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake.

snare&racket

Venus, you are lost. Reach out to your intelligence and reason with logic. Instinct and emotional assumption is far too vulnerable to error. You are talking to exJW’s..... we have already learned this lesson.

Preach elsewhere.

Use better analogies.

Bring us evidence or.........bring us beer 🍺

102

If mathematics teacher made a mistake, would it mean mathematics itself is wrong!

by venus in

many people point to the irrationality in the depiction of god by the religions and their scriptures, hence jump into the bottomless pit of atheism.

in either camp, god is not a factor because religion is only a means that misrepresents god, hence religionists themselves are atheists (literally, those who live without god).

it is like saying there exists no earth because you found out your friend who taught earth is flat is wrong; or it is like saying mathematics itself is wrong because you found out your mathematics teacher made a mistake.

snare&racket

Terrible analogy in OP.

That being said, you have to prove math exists before you can even discuss the merits of a teacher discussing it.

Math has been proven to exist, god has not.

We can identify that a math teacher is flawed as the math result can’t be questioned. The answer to a math question will never change. Not only have you not got evidence of a god, you certainly don’t have all the parameters of a god set to a level of confidence comparable to a math answer, so you don’t have the means to judge a religions views on god.

The analogy is flawed and doesn’t fit. It is also unnecessary, the topic can be discussed without an analogy. You state that religions are misrepresenting god. That’s a huge claim. First prove a god exists, then do tell us how you know the blueprint for representing god and how you came to know it, so as to be a able to judge others as misrepresenting him.

it may be no surprise to you to hear that we are atheists because..... like us you too don’t have the means to do either. Stop pretending you KNOW something you can’t prove. Be humble and honest and admit we don’t know but you choose to believe. As atheists/agnostics we stick to what is evidential alone, just a you do with the god Thor or Zeus! We just include Yaweh