i have a brother in law who is by all means a loser.
has three children, all of which are neglected on levels that would shock most people.
they live in tents, are fed from food shelters and each one has been held back at least two years.
While I agree that education is wonderful and should be accessible to all, I must say, from my own experience, that there are good, sensible, uneducated people whose advice I would take over that of some "educated" people. Some simple people have great honesty and integrity (I recommend the movie Sergeant York as an example), while some "educated" people are unethical, uncaring low lifes.
As one of my philosophy professors once said, An education doesn't "take" on everybody.
billions of human beings right now are muslims, hindus, buddhists, etc, etc.
they do not know a jot about 'jehovah' or the 'watchtower bible & tract society of new york" etc etc.
what is going to happen to these billions of persons at armageddon?.
I disagree. The brainwashing is too well done. In general, JW's can turn off feelings as well as logic better than anyone else.
Once I asked a Baptist minister a similar question. His response was that he could not be concerned about all the souls who are "lost."
thank you to the many people who have posted their experiences and advice on this site!
i have browsed a few topics but the threads that i seem to gravitate to the most deal with family.
there is certainly a lot that i can relate to in many of the anecdotes i have read.
Many parents only "teach" (and I use that term loosely) their children to obey. The kids do not learn right from wrong, or anything about building character or ethical living. I was a JW parent, which I now regret. However, my daughter associated the Kingdom Hall with being imprisoned, so she never wanted to go, and would feign illness to get out of it.
My own parents were not JW's, but my dad was narcissistic, and my mom was histrionic. We were "taught" to obey and not to do anything irritating or annoying to Mom and Dad. I think I was in my 40's before I understood that I needed to know right from wrong, not just obey those with authority over me.
that's right, and it's great!
i don't know exactly why because he hasn't turned apostate and still seems to believe jw things.
i don't feel comfortable in asking him why he doesn't go to meetings anymore for some reason, or find out what he believes and if the things i've told him bout ttatt influenced his decision.
Congratulations, Julia! I don't know about others, but I believe it takes about two years to clear all of the brainwashing and accept reality.
It sounds as though you're doing the right things the right way.
do you think that jwn is giviing some kind of meaning to your life on a daily basisthrough your various contributions?.
Having been out since 1979, it is heartwarming to see so many waking up. There are some great thinkers and very kind hearts here who keep me in line. I try to contribute what insight I am able to the ones leaving. It's great knowing I'm no the only one whose life was almost wrecked by falling for a bunch of hoo hoo.
what do you think a witness would say when shown this quote, then the proof of the 1914, 1925 predictions?.
"true, there have been those in times past who predicted an "end to the world," even announcing a specific date.
yet nothing happened.
What is really hilarious, BU2B, is that the quotation you cite is from a 1968 publication, right after the 1975 expectation (or whatever it was) was presented. The first time 1975 was mentioned, to the best of my memory, knowledge, information and belief, was in 1967 in the book entitled something like Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God. In 1968, we were very excited about 1975.
only apostates can warn you!
today i added a new article to my blog disclosing watchtowers new doctrinal position that puts apostates in a unique position to warn jehovahs witnesses of watchtowers 8-member governing body.
i doubt watchtower realized the can of worms it was opening with its new slave teaching, and how it elevates apostates from debasement to unique protectors of the victimized.
Yet another reason I love being an "apostate!"
i usually shop for most things at wal mart but i have learned some things at publix and kroger are cheaper than wal mart.
if you are conscious shopper, tell me what things do you buy at each store to save some money!
i am thinking about being a member of bj, if you know of any good deals at bj, let me know too.
Smith's is the name of the Kroger franchise here in Nevada. It is the nearest grocery store to home, so I do a lot of shopping there. I loathe Wal-Mart and refuse to shop there, although I understand that in some places there is little or no other choice.
To me, it is more important to find things on sale than to choose a retailer. I buy lots of clothing at thrift stores - designer clothing and handbags for a song! I also like to buy children't clothes at thrift stores.
after leaving christianity it's common especially among the young to experiment with witchcraft.
some get drawn into it by getting involved with earth movements and back to nature groups.. .
witchcraft is an evil thing.
I dabble in whatever presents itself. I have friends from many different belief traditions, and they dabble, too. I am a sort of dilettante, and enjoy knowing something about as many concepts, ideas, philosophies, phenomena, etc. that I can. The only thing I judge is behavior. If people want to dance naked in the moonlight with menstrual blood on their faces, where's the harm? If people beat small children with sticks, belts, shoes, or other objects, that does harm.
Don't worry about what anyone else believes unless they try to force it on others or do harm with it, although the belief doesn't do the harm; the practice / behavior does.
It is not sound to choose beliefs and practices based on what someone thinks of it. It is sound to consider whether it does harm or not.
this article made my day.
it looks like paris jackson and her brother prince michael have told katherine they simply aren't interested in peddling jw stuff from door-to-door any more.
i'm glad they are becoming their own people and emerging from their grandmother's control.. http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2013/05/paris-jackson-prince-michael-jackson-jehovas-witness/.
If you had zillions of dollars to donate to the Watchtower in lieu of going out in service, wouldn't you do it? I always believed the stuff celebrity JW's could do that the rest of us couldn't had to be because of what they had to offer in cash and free publicity for the WT. However, I never heard of anyone being converted to JW because of any of those celebs. Who knows?
Good for Paris and Prince. It's a little scary, though, to think of people their age having so much power. At that age, kids usually need to be reined in a lot.
