i did have some good times as a jw. i also think that it helped me and give me a moral compass. i am not a drug addicted, diseased shell of a man. i am no saint either. there are some good jws. there are also hypocrites. all religions can have the same thing said about them. i understand the moral delimma you are facing. you need to meditate upon your beliefs, cross reference them with your bible and form opinions for yourself. a pros and cons list if you will. i hope that you find what you are looking for and make an informed well thought out decision.
barefootmarley
JoinedPosts by barefootmarley
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61
Never, ever posted to a site before-Scarec silly
by PaintedToeNail inhi, i'm scared to death writing this that i will be discovered and have major problems.
i had a good life being raised as a jw child.
many good memories of people, places and times.
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14
It's been 12 years since the release of the 'Daniel' book
by truthseeker init was the summer of 1999. there i was sitting at the assembly when the speaker announces a new publication -daniel's prophecy or something like that.. there were a lot of eager dubs waiting to get their hands on that book.
we might learn the identity of the "king of the north"!
that's what i wanted to read, though in fact all the society had to say about that was "we are wise not to speculate".. looking back, it seems like this was the last book to properly address the end times prophecies - i didn't feel that way with the isaiah books, they simply regurgitated old stuff and made the anointed fit into every prophecy isaiah ever uttered.. it seems like the organization has gone on auto pilot, cutting costs, lowering print output and providing "how to live and function in the organization" books.. .
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barefootmarley
it was annointed pulp fiction. all they did was write themselves into the bible, as they have with many of the publications.
i also wonder if they ever take on any outside commercial printing work, or freelance illustration jobs. i have seen artwork similar in the wtbts/ibsa publications in other places.
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Did you fake underlining the WT?
by shepherd ini read on another topic " i remember when i used to carry microphones years ago in the jw cult- only about 30 % had their wt's pre-studied, the rest just wing it i truly believe" and it reminded me that people will assume you are not familiar with the material if you have not underlined, and that there will always be those who observe the lack of ink and consider you must be unprepared (and so 'weaker' than them).. many times i used to fake prestudy just for that reason.
its easy to do, underline a random sentence or 2 in each paragraph or the sited scripture.
you can wizz through an entire article in 3 minutes....did anyone else do that?.
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barefootmarley
i used to study the wt and all the other syudy aides with enthusiasm. i underlined, made marginal notes, and even found related scriptures that were not mentioned. i thought i was being a "good " jw.
as time wore on, and my faith and intrests wainned in "the truth", i started the quick study. read the question, find the answer.
eventually that stopped also. my wt remained unmarked. a lot of the time unread.
interestingly, i am a fan of nonfiction, and when i find a good passage or point i wish to remember, i mark it. a hold over from my younger days i reckon.
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52
Racial question about the annointed aka 144,000...
by Joliette inas an african american associate of jehovah's witnesses (since the age of 5, actually i remember going to the kingdom hall as young as 3).
i've always wondered why most of the annointed were and are white.
i know there are a lot of white people on here so why is it that there are.
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barefootmarley
i knew an old asian man when i was a kid. dont know if he was chinesse. do know he was of the heavenly class, old and give the kids lifesaver lollipops at the hall. we had two of the annointed in my congregation as a kid. we were privliged. at least that is what my mom said
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There is no social programme in exsistance that recommends shunning as a means of rehabilitation
by jambon1 incan someone tell the wts/jw's how utterly counter productive & cruel shunning is?.
apart from serious crimes where a person might conscientiously have nothing to do with a friend/relative, people who are struggling with any kind of issues generally need love, support & kindness.. shunning is unnecessary, evil & humiliating.. does the punishment really fit the crime?
someone caves into the 'sins of the flesh' so they are cut off from all human contact with everyone they know?.
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barefootmarley
not entirly true. some drug rehab programms/intervention shows suggest shunning the addict if he refuses to get help. also mormons shun ones that leave
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i need to know if jehovahs witnesses are actually told to ....
by looloo incompletly ignore disfellowshipped children and never speak at all to them , also what about the children of the disfellowshipped children that are growing up unaware of the "truth " ?
im thinking of writing to my inlaws who have never bothered with our child for two and a half years to tell them to just walk on by if they see us as it would confuse her if they saw us and acted as though nothing has happened .
then they will be good jws and obediant to the watchtower and not blame us for not letting them see her which is what they lie and tell people !.
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barefootmarley
i have no relationship with my jw family. i call my mom every now and then to see if she is ok. more frequently since she is now suffering with cancer. i allow her to see my daughter, for my daughters sake. i even let her go to the kh once in a while with my mom, despite the fact it angers my wife. my mother visits my home, but only when i am not there. my wife has never been affiliated with jws in any form, except for what little involvment with my jw family she has had. my mother hasnt said she loves me in 15 years. not even when i tell her. i get a vacant stare and a half assed smile.
i had a cousin who died of an unfortunate drug overdose, and noone would speak at his funeral. not even our jw uncle. i took it upon myself to do so, much to the chagrin of the jws in attendance. my aunt, also a jw, passed away. being a eunic for jehovah she had no family of her own. my other aunt non jw) took over the arrangements of her funeral and asked me to be a pallbearer. when the elders heard that news they told my aunt that i could not be a pallbearer under any circumstance, even threatening to not give there canned funeral eulogy that is delivered at all jw funerals. my aunt was furious and gave them an earful, even telling them that when they chip in on the price they will be more than welcome to have a say in the arrangements. but out of respect for my grieving family i bowed out. they had no problem with any of her other nephews--the gay one, the soldier, the drug dealer or the others--only me. (i am not dissing my cousins here, just stating facts)
i have not spoken with my brother for 15 years. i wouldnt even know how to begin to get ahold of him if i needed to. i sent him an email when my daughter was born, but i never got a reply. i do not even know if it was the right address. i havnt tried again.
i had friends who were df'd a few years after me. we rekindled our relationships and got along swimmingly. we had many good times as jws and as xjws. they started going back to meetings, and eventualy started shunning me to. forgetting how it made them feel in the past.
when i see the people i uesed to attened the kh with, they avoid me like the plauge. even going so far as to cross to the other side of the street. they make no eye contact, only stare at me out of the corner of there eye, like i am some sort of medical oddity or disgusting thing. it used to bother me. then i started to find the humor in it. now i dont care either way. it only shows me that they had no geniuine love respect or connection with me as a human being. they only had the manufactured love for me at the kh, or when they needed somthing from me. i am better off with out these "friends" and thier "society".
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Thanks for your support JWN!!! Dad dies monday, JW family goes to convention on thursday
by Coffee House Girl incoffee shop guy directed me to his thread...thank you so much everyone for your thoughts of support, it means a lot to have people who understand and show genuine sympathy.
here's my experience so far.... my father dies monday night & my brother (nonjw) calls me to come home, when i arrive my father is still sitting on the couch- all the jw family is sitting in a semi-circle around him, my non jw brother is standing in the next room.
no one is crying, no one is talking.
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barefootmarley
no room for george
i have felt the manufactured love. experienced it. seen it. you can truly feel its plastic coating.
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Racial question about the annointed aka 144,000...
by Joliette inas an african american associate of jehovah's witnesses (since the age of 5, actually i remember going to the kingdom hall as young as 3).
i've always wondered why most of the annointed were and are white.
i know there are a lot of white people on here so why is it that there are.
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barefootmarley
i personaly knew two of the 144000....
one a black female, the other an asian man.
i used to sit and ponder their heavnly hope as a child during the meetings.
it was especially exciting during the memorial. i wonder if they felt all the eyes in the joint upon them?
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Elders who conduct judicial comittees are creepy & perverted
by jambon1 inwhy can't people in jw congregations see just how utterly creepy this whole arrangement is?.
a girl about 20 years old commits an indescretion of a sexual nature.
three middle aged/old men 'interview' her in a room.
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barefootmarley
i was df'd. it wasnt for sexual misconduct, but for free thinking. my questions and points were never discussed and i was told i had succumb to apostate thinking. i was talked to on monday and df'd on thursday without so much as one answer or even shown the errors in my thinking.
i think my problem was that i got babtized at 16, before i even got my drivers license. i had no clue how the world worked, my only experience was my sophmore year in high school. faith is easier when your a kid. i accepted word as law, seeing as how the gb is jehovahs mouthpiece and all...
only when i got older and a lil more wiser and mature in my thinking did the chinks in the spiritual armor start to manifest, and did i actualy start to meditate upon the theology and dogma, wich they say to do, but really hopeyou dont.
by the way i work a menial job, and i am literate. your career has nothing to do with your intelligence. i have associated with many diffrent strata of society, as it is put above. i have picked up on much social and emotional intelligence.
the reason i work a menial job isnt that i am stupid. it was that i was stupid, and believed that college was a waste of time because armageddon was going to be here tomorrow. i was not affored the chance. i feared reproff from an angry god, angry elders and an even angrier mother.
i was told i wouldnt make it out of school. it has been sixteen years since i graduated. my own child has started school.
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10/15/11 WT Has The Crackdown On Football Started?
by yourmomma ini've always felt that its only a matter of time before the watchtower cracks down on football (american, although soccer seems like its also referenced).
its been one of the few things jw's can do, which means it has slipped under the radar since as we know, there are very few things that are not frowned upon or banned in watchtower world.
we know that almost 99% of movies are wrong according to the standards of the watchower, and this is again mentioned in this article, but it seems like also football is in the cross hairs.
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barefootmarley
i used to go to hockey games with an elder all the time. he cheered the fights on. first tysonn boxing match i watched was with a ministeral servent and his dope smoking hippe sister and brother in law
ps now i dont frown on the sis and bro-n-laws lifestyle. i have embraced it