MrDarkKnight

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Posts by MrDarkKnight

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  26

  Any workout junkies in here?

  by NomadSoul in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i need to get back into my routine.

  just trying to find some good motivation to keep on track.

  starting today i'm going to work out 30 mins on weights one day, and the next day 1 hour running or walking.

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  MrDarkKnight

  My routine is 30 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weight training four times a week.
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  70

  Could you eat breakfast after watching this at Bethel?

  by Dogpatch in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is a partial video of the morning breakfast table in brooklyn bethel in the late 80s, with lyman swingle hosting... the governing body member who at first tried to shelter ray franz from disfellowshipping, but then within a year or two his spirit was broken and he was a bitter man.. randy (i was there and it was death-dealing, like the death eaters from harry potter!).

  address of windows media file if you don't see anything:.

  http://www.randytv.com/swinglebreakfast.wmv.

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  MrDarkKnight

  This brought back really bad memories...it's hard to believe I sat through over 3,000 of these snoozefests...
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  160

  I'm new here..... Studying with the Witnesses

  by PenelopePaige in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi- i just wanted to say that i have been checking the website out for a few weeks and have read some horror stories and some sad ones.

  but i have been studying with witnessess for about six months and can't help but feel that they're completely sincere and maybe even, the true religion.

  i love the watchtower and awake and to me, none of that seems crazy.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Concerned JW - As a former elder I have to ask, why are you here? If you really believe everything you say, you would not feel a need to be here defending it. You would just obey the direction of the GB and leave matters in Jehovah's hands and go preaching from door to door. In fact, your position in the congregation is made tenuous by every post you make. Have you not been taught to avoid these types of sites? Why are you here? Why?

  Do you REALLY believe or are you conflicted? Do your feel the guilt of being here already? It will eat you alive until you deal with the questions that aroused your curiosity enough to make you take a peek at what is going on here.

  I really do hope you find the "truth."
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  82

  Watching the Leadership Crumble

  by Damn The Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i watch the watchtower leaders crumble, slowly crumble.

  one nonsensical move after the other.

  you have no idea how this makes me feel.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Mad Sweeney - If the women stopped preaching the whole thing would shut down. The men, especially the elders, avoid the actual preaching work as much as possible by shepherding, doing KH maintenance, doing KH construction or just being present but not really participating.
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  16

  AN OPEN LETTER TO JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

  by hubert in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  every year i like to bring up this letter for the "newbies" on this forum.. i found it very true, and right to the point.. thanks again, gaila noble.. hubert.

  an open letter to jehovah's witnesses.

  you may not remember, but i know you very well.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Wow. That is all can say about this. Wow.
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  82

  Watching the Leadership Crumble

  by Damn The Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i watch the watchtower leaders crumble, slowly crumble.

  one nonsensical move after the other.

  you have no idea how this makes me feel.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Damn The Watchtower - I feel your pain. It is difficult to watch an organization you have spent your whole life supporting slowly disintegrate before your eyes. For me it started when I went to Bethel over 25 years ago. It was there in the 124 Library that my confidence in the WTS began to slowely unravel. I read books and magazines from the past that most JWs will never see. What I read floored me. The "truth" is nothing like what was taught in the beginning, as I was led to believe. The "truth" has changed many, many, many times over the years based on the personality of the ones in charge. The "truth" turned out be subjective and open to interpretation. The "truth" is not THE "truth" at all.

  The WTS leadership problem today is a result of there are no dominant personalities on the current GB or on the current GB committees or in the Writing and Teaching departments. There is no depth to the literature and no creativity or original thought. It comes through in the literature. It is milk, not meat. And if they simpify it anymore it won't even be milk.

  The end of world was closer during World War II than it is now. It was closer during Cold War than it is now. The Kingdom Halls were packed on 9/11/2001 because everyone was sure all hell was about to break loose. Ten years later, Bin Laden is dead and there is really no discernable military threat to the USA. The urgency is gone. You would be hard pressed today to convince someone that the end of the world was near, that millions now living will never die.

  This is the great conflict of being a Witness. I tried to live in two worlds. I preached the word, but I went to college as an adult in order to better provide for my family. I served as an elder with everything I had, but I bought the biggest home I could afford, bought a luxury car and went on expensive vacations wit my family. I taught the congregation to sacrifice for the future, but I planned a nest egg to live out my days in comfort. Eventually the hypocrisy almost killed me. Two hospitalizations, a suicide attempt and eight years of psychotherapy and powerful depression medication led me to one conclusion: This way of life is going to kill me if I do not let it go. I prefer to live and enjoy life and let the future take care of itself.

  Everyone has to cope with what the knowledge that not everything they believed is true in a way that suits their nature. I would not presume to tell anyone in any forum to make the choices I have made. I have left that mentality behind. At the end of the day we all have live life in a way that suits our individual nature and we must make decisions and set goals that help us to achieve our values, whatever they may be.

  Only by living a life based on values and doing all we can to achieve them can we truly be happy and help others to do the same.
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  83

  I'm scared sometimes that the WTBTS might be right about everything.

  by Chemical Emotions in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i wake up thinking: what if my boyfriend and i die a terrifying death during armageddon?

  with no hope of any life afterwards?.

  do any of you ever feel that way?.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Godrulz - In my 38 years of door to door work I have spent thousands of hours talking to Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Pentecostals, Mormons, Presbyterians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other organized religions. If I distill their messages down they are saying basically the same thing:

  1. We are right.

  2. You are not.

  3. This life is temporary.

  4. The death of self or others is the gateway to eternal happiness.

  5. We can't prove any of this because it is beyond our mental capacity to understand, so just believe it and you will live forever on earth, in heaven, in nirvana, with 70 virgins, etc and so on.

  I simply cannot accept organized religion anymore without demonstrable evidence. If the God of the Bible or Koran or any other so-called holy book exists, and he is love, then there must be evidence that the rational mind kind accept, not faith based on emotion or feelings.
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  83

  I'm scared sometimes that the WTBTS might be right about everything.

  by Chemical Emotions in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i wake up thinking: what if my boyfriend and i die a terrifying death during armageddon?

  with no hope of any life afterwards?.

  do any of you ever feel that way?.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Chemical Emotions - This is my son's number one concern, that I will die at Armageddon. How is that fear different from being sent to hell? If God would not torture a person in hell, why would he make them suffer a horrible death at Armageddon? It is not logical to me, thus it is irrational.

  All religion is obsessed with death. To them our present existence is only a bridge to heaven, paradise on earth, nirvana, another planet and so on. My realization of this fact was sobering. I have spent so much of my life worried about dying that I have never really enjoyed life. No more. We are all going to die. The question is, are we going to live?
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  42

  Long Call With Elder: Doesn't Know About "Generations/Overlapping"

  by daringhart13 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i had a call with a good buddy......still an elder the other night.. when i mentioned generations/overlapping.......he had no clue what i was talking about.

  such a good man.......... but it doesn't matter.....they don't even realize what is being said to them; what is being done to them.

  a high stature elder in their organization....and he had no clue there was another change..... how the hell does this happen?.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Cantleave - I empathize with the elder you speak of - I was like him for a longtime. But my bullshit meter pegged out last year and I finally left earlier this year.

  I conducted the the WT for eight years. The generation study is memorable because whenever I asked a question all I heard was crickets. I had to explain the change because no one understood it. I understood it but was shaken to the core because my worst fears were coming to realization - I need to get a real job and provide for my familty BECAUSE WE HAVE NO IDEA WHEN THE END IS COMING. I was on my way out at that point but did not know it.

  The change to an overlapping generations, along with the "not everyone who claims to be an anointed person is anointed" comment sealed the deal for me. Time to bounce!!!!
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  21

  Has there been a change on how JW's view those that have drifted away?

  by lonestar63 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wonder if an article in the wt came out telling them to reach out to those that have drifted away.

  i suspect the defection has been great in the last few years, and they're trying to bring some back.

  i've told my story here, how i was able to succesfully fade away along with my family, without being df'd.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Alfred - LOL!!! You know the deal. I was the master of passing the CO visit. In my seven years as PO never dinged once!!!