Posts by Searril

40

After leaving the JWs - Has anyone stayed with Christianity?

by rulehayl in

i recently made the decision to stop studying with my study conductor, due to a situation i found myself in that led to a high possibility of my unbaptized publisher "rights" being taken away from me.

i have since told my study conductor i have joined a new church (to which she dropped me like a hot rock, of course).... last time i posted on here, i was progressing nicely towards baptism, and was well into it.anyhoo, i like my new church, very hillsong-esqe.

so just wondering if anyone else has stayed the course of christianity after leaving the jws, and if so - where did you go?

Searril

I was completely away from religion for the better part of two decades, but have been now attending church since 2011.

9

Once bitten, twice shy

by UnshackleTheChains in

ok. having experienced the jdubs over 27 years.

i have come to the conclusion that sincere people have been 'conned' into the troof, into a 'system' of beliefs that immerses them into an organisation that holds them captive ie no honourble way out without being shunned by friends and family.. having gone through this horrible experience, many are afraid to join another christian group.

it's a bit like someone who trusted someone most of their life only to find that person was a devious lying individual.

Searril

As someone who firmly believes in God and Christ, I am now cautious. I love God's word, I love God, I love the Messiah.......but am extra careful who and what I believe.
Is this something you personally feel?

I had no use for the bible or anything relating to God for many years after leaving the Watchtower cult. I've mentioned to others that the Watchtower does an amazing job of creating atheists.

I did consider atheism for a time, but I found it to be too irrational. I'm not interested in arguing about it with anyone, but after a lot of reading and thinking that was the conclusion I came to. I do 100% believe in evolution, fyi.

But back to your question, in time I decided I wanted to look into a couple churches, and although it was a nervous experience at first it did not take long at all to find out that a real Christian church is NOTHING like the Watchtower claims. My closest friends in the entire world are a few people I met at church. Like, the kind of friends I could literally tell them anything and know that they wouldn't condemn me and wouldn't go spreading it. There is seriously no comparison between a good Christian church and the Watchtower Kingdom of Hell garbage.

Interestingly enough, another thing that made the entire experience easier was that I actually started studying the New Testament, both on my own and in various classes at the church. It did not take long at all to start noticing that the Watchtower churches are not even vaguely similar to how the NT churches operated.

I would say I had some lingering issues about whether or not the Watchtower was "the truth" for many years, but once I started to actually read in context and do serious study it became apparent very quickly that the Watchtower was nothing but a purveyor of insidious lies.

But the key really is to be willing to try different churches until you find one that feels right, because there are definitely churches out there that are unwelcoming and stuffy. If by some bit of odd luck you happen to be near north central Ohio you could come visit mine :)

22

Disfellowshipped/disassociated – How did your parents handle it?

by Richard_I in

to those who were disfellowshipped/disassociated – how did your still-in parents handle it?.

i don’t want to fade, so i am thinking about disassociating soon – i don’t care if i’m playing by the org’s rules, i just want out.. however, i am concerned about how my parents will react.

i don’t want them to become super depressed or whatever due to me leaving the org.. i don’t want them to be hurt by my decision to leave the org, but i feel like there is no way of avoiding this..

Searril

I don’t want to fade, so I am thinking about disassociating soon – I don’t care if I’m playing by the org’s rules, I just want out.

I don't understand why you necessarily have to do either. I don't know anything about your parents, but what would happen if you just stopped going and if an elder asks you said "I find myself suffering from extreme depression when I attend meetings or go out in field service"?

I'm not minimizing your issues, so don't think that way. I'm just speaking from personal experience. I just stopped going (although I did end up moving about a half a year later, but not because of elders tracking me down).

8

Idiotic Thread On A Cult Site

by FedUpJW in

so as is my habit when i need a good laugh at stupid chat forum threads i popped in to the jay double u talk site and happened on this hilarious thread.

of course i have not read the whole thing, it was just too mentally painful to read those nitwits "reasoning"about "music".. why jehovah's witnesses do not use drums.... .

Searril

The Babylon Bee is a satire site run by Christians.

122

CRISIS OF CONSCIENCE

by Newly Enlightened in

https://youtu.be/dpq7j8lkc98.

Searril

As someone who had never even heard of CoC or ISoCF until a few years ago, I am one of the ones who read an improper pdf version that I found on the internet. I'm not bragging about it as I know it wasn't a great thing to do, but I had given up on being able to find a legitimate copy for a reasonable price. The third hand reseller prices were exorbitant. I'm not making excuses for myself, just admitting what I did and explaining why.

All that said, however, I am very happy to hear that a new edition is being published and I absolutely intend on purchasing a legitimate copy.

56

PORTUGAL: Petition to terminate the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness gets national news coverage

by EdenOne in

the petition is now going on 537 signatures.. today the newspaper "diário de notícias", the leading non-tabloid newspaper in the country, gave the story front page coverage and a full page to the article inside.. here are the links to the pictures of the pages:.

front page:.

page 6 and article: .

Searril

Thank you for the explanation. I'm not completely sure of my opinion on this yet. I'll need to think on it. I will be interested in finding out if this goes anywhere though.

56

PORTUGAL: Petition to terminate the legal entity of the Jehovah's Witness gets national news coverage

by EdenOne in

the petition is now going on 537 signatures.. today the newspaper "diário de notícias", the leading non-tabloid newspaper in the country, gave the story front page coverage and a full page to the article inside.. here are the links to the pictures of the pages:.

front page:.

page 6 and article: .

Searril

I clicked a couple links but none were translated. Can someone give me a brief synopsis of the justification being presented?

It's not my country so I don't really have a say, but even with my personal loathing of the Watchtower this kind of stuff bothers me. I'm a big free speech guy and it would be hard for me to personally support something that goes against that.

Again, I know it's not my country and I have no voice there, but I just think education and spreading awareness are the ways you really stamp out evil hate-cults like the Watchtower.

Maybe I just don't understand the nature of the petition so someone please correct me if so.

27

Have you ever "partaken" at the memorial

by NikL in

jw
friends

it's that time of year again.. trying to decide if i should or shouldn't.

:-).

Searril

The problem I have ...among a ton of others, is that I can't find any scripture that says ONLY 144,000 are supposed to partake.
If it's NOT in the bible and people pass on the emblems, are they symbolicly rejecting Jesus sacrifice?

Yes

105

Another School Shooting: The Gun Violence/Mental Illness Debate Continues

by jp1692 in

in the aftermath of the valentine's day school shooting in florida, i have read quite a number of articles, blogs and posts about the event.

it is disturbing--and i think inexcusable--that many people take the opportunity to use horrible tragedies such as this to push their own particular agenda.. in particularly insensitive and tone-deaf tweet, conservative political commentator tomi lahren wrote: "can the left let the families grieve for even 24 hours before they push their anti-gun and anti-gunowner agenda?

my goodness.

Searril

From a human psychological perspective guns can evoke thoughts of violent retribution.

Sounds like projection to me. I can not think of a time I've ever held a gun and had any thoughts about violent retribution.

In all seriousness, if you actually feel this way then I agree it is a good thing if you don't own any weapons of any kind.

74

The book burning has started

by pale.emperor in

don't know if this is a global thing but i've just been told by a pimo member of my old congregation that a min servant has been given the task of destroying all old books/literature in the kh library prior to 1992.. could be the elders (or even one of them) on a mission to stamp out dissent as my ex-wife used the same reasoning to her elder dad that i used in my jc: rutherfords books containing failed predictions.. anyone else heared anything?.

the ms who's been given the task is a company man.

no hope of him keeping them or selling them on ebay.. they have some russell books in that library too.

Searril

Bobby2446 2 days ago
If WT didn’t each any of of this, this would be no problem for you all to accept.

You never noticed that nobody ever tried to concoct this distorted definition of "generation" before the Watchtower invented it? That's the reason why there was never any "overlapping generation" controversy prior to this -- because nobody else ever attempted to rewrite what the word "generation" means.

Also, I'm 43. My daughter is 4. Our lives overlap. We're not the same generation.