i'm a current bible student of jw's looking to chat with someone about biblical doctrine.
i'm not interested in talking with an apostate or a fader, i'm just a person looking for answers and wondered if there are any neutral voices in this forum who have good insights into the bible.
i currently talk with a couple of jw's on a personal level from my congregation and they are knowledgeable to a certain extent, but i dare not ask them certain questions because, as you know, the congregation has a culture of fear that impacts trust and openness, especially concerning biblical doctrine or the societies teachings.
Hi Mel,
I'm an active JW, Have been all my life. I still believe in a number of core JW beliefs but there are a number of them that I struggle with today. I have a circle of JW friends in my area with the same issue. We can talk openly with each other but not with the congregation. Private Message me if you'd like. If I don't know the answer to one of your questions I can ask one of these friends of mine about it.
shalom,.
my mom's family is mostly jws.
during her second marriage, i attended the weekly meeting and sunday meetings (by my own choice) with a family in the very small town we lived, since my mom didn’t attend.
You make a good point about the sabbath day being important still. A number of years ago I went along on an RV of this lady. Her house holder was a guy who happened to be an SDA. He argued that all 9 of the 10 commandments are still observed by Christians, why not the sabbath. I said that was a good point when the sister allowed me to interject. I was actually getting on his side to support his belief. I actually turned the topic upside down on the technicalities of the sabbath day.
The sabbath was God's rest day and the USA promotes a 2 day rest period for it's populous. I told him if we don't get a mental rest day between the weeks our brains turn to mush. He never thought God needed to rest when Genesis mentioned him resting on the seventh creative day. The point I was driving to him was that the sabbath was still in practice because it was a rest day for mind and body. Jesus said you could break it as long as you had extenuating circumstances. An employer that makes you work seven days in a crunch was one of them.
The other 9 commandments were straight forward but Jesus said the sabbath one could be more flexible.
this post is for the lurking dub.
the pimc (physically in, mentally confused) lurker dub.
the guy who reads the watchtower stuff and scratches his head, sure something is amiss but not sure of what’s really happening.. it may also be of some interest to those curious of the nuts and bolts of watchtower’s methods of scripture twisting.. in tonight’s “digging for spiritual gems: (8 min.
If they are not part of the congregation they are against us!"
"If you're not with me, you're against me!" - Anakin Skywalker says to Obi-Wan Kenobi
"Only a Sith deals in absolutes." - Obi Wan replies
Not long after this interchange of words Anakin becomes Darth Vader.
is the term "waking up" the best way to describe when a jdub starts to have doubts?
to me, it is rather that a jdub realizes that what they have believed for years was a pack of lies and then they have to make a conscious decision if they want to continue to believe in lies or stop being a jdub or just go along for the ride.. it just amazes me how many die-hard jdubs there are despite every failed prophecy about the end coming, the borg being a part of the dreaded wild best united nations, the put down of women in the borg, the massive cover-up of the child abuse in the borg, the willingness to let a child die because they need blood, and the eagerness to shun a child who at the age of 10 got dunked to make mommy and daddy happy only to not want to be a jdub later and have the parents treat them like they are dead because 8 overweight, balding, goofy looking, incoherent men in upper state new york say that are the rules for being a christain.. jehovah's witnesses are a very sad cult that attracts people with emotional, psychological, or medical issues, have very large egos, can't make simple decisions, and believe in the tooth fairy..
I Second the Matrix reference.
When we are asleep we power the machine world that controls our lives. We are just Duracell batteries to them. They consume us until they burn us out. If you wake up before being burned out it can be real scary in the real world.
Watch the first Matrix film in the franchise and you'll see what I mean.
after the conviction of arch bishop phillip wilson for concealing sex abuse in the church and cardinal pell"s trial getting underway.. this leaves it wide open for the victims to seek redress.. if you are taken to court expect the wts to through you under a bus and wipe their hands of any blame.. if you think putting your assets in a trust or transfering them into your wife,childrens name...to late any lawyer will argue you only did that to stop any victim seeking redress.. i think the victims will all ready be contemplating their course of action and don't be surprised if court action is not far away.. karter..
"Wilson, then a junior priest in the Maitland region, had dismissed young victims in a bid to protect the Church's reputation, Magistrate Stone ruled."
"Magistrate Robert Stone said the senior clergyman had shown "no remorse or contrition". He will be eligible for parole after six months."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-44692396
Get ready for the next person to be sentenced due to protecting the image of one's church over a child's safety.
my wife was diagnosed with ms about two years ago.
we have been living in ohio for the last 5 years but were recently assigned to a new congregation because of the dissolving and sale of our congregation/kh.
my wife's symptoms spiked after being relocated to our new hall back in january.
One of my sister's JW friends was diagnosed with ms a number of years ago. They were attending the same hall. My sister said her friend with ms no longer comes to the meetings. The husband stopped going too. I always wondered why they stopped going. After reading this thread I now understand why she can't come to the meetings anymore. The JW life is too stressful and we're always told we're not doing enough. I'll share this info with my sister.
Thanks for sharing your story.
i pretty much fell apart for about two years while i was looking at the religion through new eyes.
i prayed my heart out for two years, begging jehovah to clear a certain thing up that the elders and the organization had perpetuated.
this was supposed to be his spirit-led organization so getting things right in answer to possibly just one person's heartfelt prayers should be an easy task for the sovereign of the universe.
I looked for answers many years ago and was ready to leave if no new substance came my way. I found something interesting along the way. This new fascination has kept me captive. I was driven to look beyond WT literature and view apostate sites and so here I am. My belief in the future world has changed somewhat from the JW system. I'm going to continue to stay low and ride out the wave.
I'm not an Uber JW and never will be. I will cherish my independent thinking to the day I die.
i watched about 2 hours of the regional assembly and these are my thoughts.
the video's and songs did stir my good memories of when i was a jdub elder and very happy in the religion.
i can see how these two things would make it difficult to leave the borg because of the emotional buy-in.. now getting into the talks, the cults true colors show and i wonder how in the hell was i a part of that for over 40 years.
I got upset when one of the speakers said, "Jehovah asked for your assistance in writing letters to the Russian government to not ban the religion there." I thought to myself, "it wasn't God who asked for all the friends to write to Russia, it was the GB." The writing campaign had no success on the hearts of the Russian court so it wasn't a decree by God. The GB have to be careful if they say their order is from God when in fact it is not. I don't know if the speaker created that part of his own originality or it was in the manuscript. It was from the Symposium on Saturday: Imitate, not the cowards, but the courageous - Not the inhabitants of Meroz, but Jael.
well guys, after a spiritually encouraging convention, i’ve decided to return my heart back to jehovah.
i realize i was just being too negative and i need to adjust my attitude.
just kidding suckers.
The helper to the governing body did mention 1914 in my convention. I was gob smacked,
i feel like the world needs to wake up and realize that bethel, the home of the governing body in warwick, new york is the "vatican" of the jehovah's witness world.
their doctrines, edicts, and policies affect every jehovah's witness man, woman, and child around the world.
i don't feel like the politicians in foreign countries understand this.
If this issue somehow rattles Trump's world I bet he would rein down fire and sulfur on Warwick.
