MrDarkKnight

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Posts by MrDarkKnight

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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

  Current policy is call on the inactive every February and the disfellowshipped every September. Most bodies of elders do not do this consistently. No one has made any effort to call on me the since I left and I was officaly inactive in February 2011.
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  96

  Jesus was just a man?

  by Joey Jo-Jo in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  according to this video, jesus was just a man, but were can i find these books that speak of this.

  .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m23vv6moyf0&feature=related.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Godrulz - I know you have been getting a lot of grief of late. I welcome your viewpont. I have tried to respectfully engage you on occasion because you and I are not that much different. You are passionate about what you believe and when I was an active JW so was I.

  Your comment "JWs are rationalists" made me chuckle. My parents converted to JWs when I was eight years old. I became a member at age 15 and was a zealot for almost 30 years. I loved to debate my beliefs. I had many people in my "return visit" book like you, intelligent, well educated and feisty. I spent a lot of time with them with no expectation of converting them, but the thrill of the debate and the test of my knowledge always made me go back to their homes. Being forced to defend my beliefs convinced me at the that I was right and they were wrong.

  Therefore I can tell you that after six months of RATIONAL thought that JWs are not rationalists in general. The fact is that all religion requires us to suspend rational thought on some level and simply BELIEVE. There are religious teaching that are simply NOT DEMONSTRABLE not matter how much we BELIEVE. Our belief is based on FAITH not REALITY. The reality of this hit me hard recently. I have spent my life debating and defending beliefs that I really can't PROVE with DEMONSTRABLE EVIDENCE. I am really asking people to just BELIEVE.

  Believing something with passion does not make it REALITY. I really, really, really, believe I am rich, but my bank account says I am not.

  I will not practice an organized religion until I have DEMONSTRABLE evidence that God exists, that he has made efforts to communicate with mankind and this chosen form of communication can be validated as his word. Calling me dumb, stupid, immature, uneducated, rationalist, atheist, agnostic or wicked are just labels that avoid the issue. Condemnig me to death at the hand of God without proof just supports my position.

  And if I ever choose to practice organized religion again, I will never turn my conscious mind over to them again. I will always look for DEMONSTRABLE evidence that what they believe and practice is rooted in REALITY and can be proved by REASON.

  I seek proof, not rhetoric.
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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

  The only thing worse than ignorance if the refusal to know.
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  10

  District Crapvention - Immense Image in Daniel

  by outsmartthesystem in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  since my exodus is yet incomplete.....i was there.

  and it was indeed awful.

  according to the talk.....the iron and clay feet of the immense image is the anglo-american world power.

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  MrDarkKnight

  This is not "new light". It is a return to what was believed from1978 - 1985. The flip flopping continues.
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  22

  What is Your Experience with Non-Christian Religions and Philosophy ONLY?

  by MrDarkKnight in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been slow to start a thread because i wanted to see what topics were already being discussed.

  having left wt i have a disdain for organized christian religion at the moment.

  i am interested in your experience, research or observations about non-christian religions and philosophy only.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Shamus100 - Thanks. I will PM you. I have gotten some really good info off the board. I look forward to talking with you.

  Jay88 - It brings me great pleasure to help my Dad out and he is the only family member that will talk to me. I have a sister who I just visited a few days ago and she surprised me with a meal. We talked for two hours. She doesn't agree but she "gets it" and said she will always be my sister.

  Sinis - I have made a list of things I want to do and started on it. I love organized sports and was recently certified to coach football and basketball. I am really looking forward to that. Going to pursue the martial arts once I choose which one. I already drink (I was at Bethel after all). Thanks for the suggestion. Starting this thread has been a breakthrough event. Lot's of good advice and suggestions!

  I want to do all I can lead a happy and productive life....
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  22

  What is Your Experience with Non-Christian Religions and Philosophy ONLY?

  by MrDarkKnight in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have been slow to start a thread because i wanted to see what topics were already being discussed.

  having left wt i have a disdain for organized christian religion at the moment.

  i am interested in your experience, research or observations about non-christian religions and philosophy only.

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  MrDarkKnight

  Sinis - Let me give ypu some insight as to why this thread is important to me at this moment.

  I have been feeling somewhat lost since I left WT in January 2011 but was not sure why until I read some to the links I was sent privately.
  
  For years I was so sure I had the "truth" because I spent a lot of time researching it before I committed. I am a 100% guy. If I am not going to do something 100% I won't do it at all. That's just the way I am. Once I committed to the WTS I was one of their leading zealots which is why I got so much responsibility at a relatively young age.
  
  Even so, I stuggled internally with the altruistic approach to life. I just didn't buy sacrificing everything and leaving it to outside forces to take care of me. My father is 65 years old. He is an elder and is pioneering with his second wife. He is one of the unhappiest people in the world. He is poor, can barely afford his rent or food but refuses to get a job because he really believes that Jehovah will care for him. It drives me crazy to see him wasting away. I did want to turn out like him and that is one reason I left.
  
  What I soon discovered though is without the Witness teachings as my foundation I did not know who I was, or even what I really believed. I no longer had any basis for making decisions, plans or goals. I have been struggling because I have been trying to start over, but subconsciously still clinging to my old values and principles which invariably make me feel guilty. I feel alone in a society that I have spent my whole life avoiding and cut off from one that had been my support system.
  
  I am not necessarily looking for a religion as much as a way of life, a path, a basis for which to make decisions, set goals, dream dreams and work to accomplish them. I don't do random. While I do not want to be told what do any longer, I do need a center and that is why I have started this thread. I don't know if this makes sense or not.

  BTW, I have received some really good information and I believe a path has manifested itself.

  The journey continues...with a little more direction..
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  81

  Samuel Herd a Murderer?

  by Damn The Watchtower in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello folks,.

  i feel like a fish who has been struggling for oxygen so long he's almost dead.

  time to grow some legs and get the hell out of hell.

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  MrDarkKnight

  DTW - Welcome! It sounds like you have observed a lot over the years and just could not take it anymore. Your experience will add much to this board. I look forward to your observations about the WT. If folks like you are seeing the light the WTSBS in SERIOUS trouble.

  I agree with you regarding the current GB. I was at Bethel when the Old Skool GB was around. While I don't agree with everything the Old GB did they were visionary and they did LEAD. There was clear LEADERSHIP, even if you did not like it. There is NO LEADERSHIP today at the top or in the congregations. Most elders are too afraid to act lest they do something wrong and get reprimanded.

  The publications have been dumbed down to the point that it became painful to even read them. When was the last time anyone attempted to write a verse by verse book explaing bible prophecy? Its been at least 10 years or more. If they print a NWT in Simplified English that will say it all.

  Again welcome! I will be looking for your threads!
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  193

  Songs that touch ...

  by talesin in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  can be mushy ... .

  or can be craaazyyy ... .

  okay, i'll start :).

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  MrDarkKnight

  I am smiling a lot more since I started thinking for myself....

  http://youtu.be/Z8SPwT3nQZ8
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  90

  Best way to step down from being a servant

  by RayPublisher in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hey i'm wondering if anyone can give some good advice on how to step down in the safest way.. i have served as an ms for a number of years, but can't do it anymore.

  i know too much i want to fade in the future when i get some family things straightened out.

  i can't move right now so that's out unfortunately.. what should i tell the body?

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  MrDarkKnight

  Raypublisher - You will be all right. Just do YOUR thing baby.
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  61

  What made you leave "The Truth"?

  by Chemical Emotions in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  for me it was many things.

  most concerned certain teachings that invloved genders, children, sex, sexuality and sexual orientations, disfellowshipping, apostates, blood, rape, and few other things, as well as the jw's unloving attitude toward so many people..

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  MrDarkKnight

  Chemical Emotions - As an Elder I got "see behind the curtain". Very disturbing.