That the 'unity' you see is not unity - it's forced uniformness. Speak out of line and "You're outa there!". So just remember that there are MANY JW's who are not there in spirit, but are simply going through the motions so they don't lose their entire social surroundings (friends and family). And MANY who do not see things 'eye-to-eye' with the GB/Elders but just keep their mouths shut for the above reasons.
NameWithheld
JoinedPosts by NameWithheld
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What if there was not DFing of apostates?
by YoYoMama ini was wondering today.
what if the witnesses did not have a policy of disfellowshipping those that are apostates.
what would the congregations be like?
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Is there Religion after the Watchtower
by clash_city_rockers infor those wha have left jehovahs witnesses is there religion after you leave the watch tower?
this is just a survey i would like to hear people share pesonal experiences on the matter.. 1. do you still believe in a god.
2. have you joined another religion.
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NameWithheld
1. Do you still believe in a God
Not so much - at least not one who is behind the 'bible' and other such 'holy' books. That stuff is purely man-made drivel.
2. Have you joined another religion
Hell no!
3. Do you still believe in a bible or a Holy book?
Ditto! ^
4. Are burned out on religion?
You'd better beleive it (or my god will kill you!)
5. Do you trust others who talk about God, Jesus and religious stuff?
Not really. Although I'm sure that many of them do truely beleive what they are saying.
6. For you who still believe in a God is your worship corprate or private?
N/A
Reguarding other Teansindental Matters:
7. Do you believe in truth?Define 'truth'.
8. Is truth absolute?
Define 'absolute'.
9. Are ethics and morals absolute or relitive and arbratrary?
I'd have to lean towards "relitive and arbratrary" - they are basically set by society at large. Some things that are considered 'ethical' in this society are not so (or were not so) 'ethical' in others.
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Daily Text - Eccl. 3:13
by YoYoMama ineccl.
3:13 "every man should eat and indeed drink and see good for all his hard work.
it is the gift of god.".
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NameWithheld
"Yes it sounds bad, but is it? Jehovah has given ample time for humans to do what is right."
It sounds bad because it is bad. And he isn't 'allowing' time for humans to do right - he's allowing exponetially more humans to be born thus providing ample MORE time for MORE bad/wicked/evil humans to suffer then die at his hands. If you buy that crock of ***t.
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Depression is a way of life for JW's
by butalbee inthe more i studied, the more i got sucked into being a witness, the more depressed i've become.
i don't want to do anything anymore, i mean what is the sense: the end of days is upon us!
the more i became involved with witnesses, the more i felt that i was loosing a part of myself.
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NameWithheld
butalbee: The end all cure? Get out as fast as you can. Do some searches through this site, we have talked many times in the past about the large # of people in the JW religion that suffer severe depressive problems (and also about things like Chronic Fatigue/Fibromyalgia, etc which in my reseach are probably related in some ways to depresive problems). It is a oft-repeated, common observation among MANY JWs/x-JWs that the JWs seem to suffer from a much higher than normal instances of these.
Some things I think factor into this problem are a) the constant pressure to do more, more, more (preaching/meetings/study/please elders), b) the constant pressure one puts on themselves to be 'perfect' lest they sin and die at the big "A", c) the guilt trips laid upon you at every meeting and by freinds/family that you're not good enough, not doing enough, etc, and finally d) the downright weird freindship system in JWs whereby you run constant risk of losing freinds if you make a mistake or become viewed as a 'weak' one.
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Daily Text - Eccl. 3:13
by YoYoMama ineccl.
3:13 "every man should eat and indeed drink and see good for all his hard work.
it is the gift of god.".
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NameWithheld
"No more will people die from old age, sickness, or accidents. Mourning, outcry, and pain will be gone."
Yep - just as soon as he zaps several billion people. No more problems after that! Or is there - there's that pesky Satan who at the end of the 1000 years is going to get most of mankind zapped yet again - forgot about that. Maybe god just likes to zap most of mankind avery few thousand years ...
But at least he wants us to eat and drink while we're waiting to be zapped. I guess he's better than Hitler - Hitler didn't have refreshments for the Jews when they were waiting in line for the gas chamber.
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One of the greatest problems for the mankind...
by Erich inone of the greatest problems for the future of our economy is only known by few "insiders".
even wts do not know this matter.
since i'm a patent-expert, it's perhaps my own business to talk about it.
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NameWithheld
Ah HA! So armageddon is'a comin' because we've run out of things to INVENT! Makes so much sense, have you written your buds the GB to inform them that you, a regular Joe, have disovered valuable bible truths about armageddon? Maybe their phone call with god got cut off before they could get that flash of 'new barf', I mean, 'new light'
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When Revelation Turns Obsolete
by metatron inone of the reasons i thought armageddon was close at hand was.
the impending obsolescence of the bible as a source of revelation.. the bible was written within the context of a large number of.
conditions that eventually would be changed by technology, i reasoned,.
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NameWithheld
So to sum up - god inspires Paul to write (parts of) the bible as a guide to humanity - yet Paul speaks in such a way that totally confuses the majority of mankind for thousands of years. Makes sense.
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Watchtower Propaganda
by JosephAlward inmany have argued that articles in awake!
in recent years show that watchtower was letting itself be told what do by the purple beast, namely, promote the united nations in its writings.
i can understand how many might quickly find support for this claim, for there are, indeed, many articles in awake!
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NameWithheld
The Awake articles are quite ingenious actually. To a JW they push all the right "god's kingdom is the only true answer" buttons. However, to a non-JW (I.E., the UN) the articles appear very freindly to the UNs work, even if the message is that god will do a better job. I doubt the UN had a problem with the articles explaining god's kingdom as the final solutions, in fact I bet many at the UN are religious people and may even agree w/ ythe Awake's conclusions.
The big 'BUT' that coming is this though ... the WTBTS message throughout the many years has been completely ANTI-UN, so dead set on slamming the UN. Then all of the sudden these articles come along with the tone, "The UN's doing the best it can, of course god's kingdom will do better". No slathering denouciations in them though. It's OBVIOUS when you realize they were submitting these articles to the UN the intent of them.
And as for your thought that the WTBTS was 'using' the UN to 'discredit' them, that's not very well thought out. They've been doing that for years without being an associated DPI. They had much bigger goals in mind than using the UN libaray to 'discredit' the UN. Think $$$$$$$$. Think having ammo with countries like France, etc. Think having access to the UN's resources world-wide. Think having a big 'buddy' to run crying to when your 'rights' have been violated somewhere.
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Hi my names josephus, and i am an apostate.
by josephus inwell this is the day.. i mentioned to my mum that i read a good book recently about dates, and cronology.. she blew up and told me i was just trying to read anything that attempts to disprove jws.. apparently i am like those apostates, and people didnt want to talk to my because of it.. "this is the truth", she said.. well i am now an apostate.
it doesnt feel as bad as i thought it would.. josephus
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NameWithheld
You need to do some real investigations about what other religions believe. You are parroting the standard JW 'none of those religions teach the basic bible truths' line we've ALL heard WAY too many times. JWs teach their interpretation of the bible, which as we can see a) has been wrong many times in the past, b) changes constantly, and c) is some man's/men's idea about the bible. Why should I think that their current interpretation is any more valid than the one they had 100 years ago? 50 years ago? Or the one they'll have in 25 years?
BTW, ALL the current beleifs the JW holds have been or are taught by other religions. The truely is 'nothing new under the sun' to borrow a bible phrase.
You going to still cling to those old codgers in Brooklyn when they rip 1914 out from under you? Because I can garauntee you that they will change that in the future. They've already 'backed off' from using that date so much. They know it's wrong, and just can't get out of it.
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Hi my names josephus, and i am an apostate.
by josephus inwell this is the day.. i mentioned to my mum that i read a good book recently about dates, and cronology.. she blew up and told me i was just trying to read anything that attempts to disprove jws.. apparently i am like those apostates, and people didnt want to talk to my because of it.. "this is the truth", she said.. well i am now an apostate.
it doesnt feel as bad as i thought it would.. josephus
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NameWithheld
So, YoYo, pull out your bible and prove to me why I should follow, WITHOUT QUESTION, a group of imperfect (now scenile) old men from Brooklyn, just cause they say I should. I'm waiting ...
Prove to me from the bible why I should follow a group of men who declared that the end was coming in 1914/1925/1940/1975/2000? And were wrong everytime?