in john cedar's (jwsurvey.org) latest excellent article on his blog about a us teacher that got reprimanded for trying to force a jw boy to salute the american flag, he relates a similar childhood experience where he was terribly humiliated at school in view of his classmates.. this reminded me of a similar humiliating experience i suffered at school, when i was 11 years old.
during our school's end of year 'prom night' (not actually called that in the country i live) which was in the style of a disco night, my unbalanced jw mother came to pick me up early and stormed right into the hall and grabbed my arm and pulled me out in front of all my friends right in the middle of the dancing.
on the way out she gave the teachers a lecture about the music being far too loud and how unwholesome the whole thing was for children of my age.
my father started cutting my hair because he believed we should stand out as different being witnesses.
i remember the kids clambering on to the railings of the school playground pointing and laughing at me on my way to school when i was barely visible to the naked eye because he'd cut my hair.
you also had to thank him and tell him how much you liked it.
dramatic growth is being reported on facebook.
groups of xjws.. .
ex-jehovah's witness recovery group 3 admin.
it seems such a small number to me. 8 million. if everyone who was a witness moved to the UK there would stll be 55 million people who are not witnesses in the UK.
plus the rest of the world who are not witnesses.
and my father became one.
i ask this respectfully, and do so after watching a favorite show of mine's season opener which had a new years storyline.
hollywood tends to make movies and television show episodes centered around holiday themes appear warm and blissful.
while i'm thankful to have never participated in such holidays, i can't deny my curiosity about ex-jws that do celebrate.
I'm not the festive sort
whatever our convictions are, we all have one thing in common; we have learned them from other sources.. we have knowledge by proxy... we didn't find things out all by ourselves.
we let trusted sources talk for us.. belief is not something that you choose.
but if there is no elephant, i do not "choose" to believe it isn't there either.
i don't know that all evidence is empirical.
the jws stopped by my house a couple weeks ago on a saturday morning.
i knew that with others most likely waiting for them out in the car they probably did not then have much time to engage in any serious conversation.
so i let them talk while i feigned interest in what they had to say.
Ezekiel was specific according to the book as to when Jerusalem was destroyed. Jehovah was a 'Numberer of Years' I think he layed on his side for 390 days representing years. Which the book makes I think says was exact to 607.
Ezekiel was authenticated by what he said coming true.
The book I believe makes this clear.
On page 216 it says
"Shortly, within our twentieth century, the "battle in the day of Jehovah" will begin against the modern antitype of Jerusalem, Christendom."
If i understand it correctly this did not take place and so they were not authenicated as a modern day Ezekiel and not commissioned in 1919 and so in my mind it calls into question the preaching that they do as I think the two are linked and i think this is different from the first century. The preaching was centered on Christ and his death and resurrection and the apostles status did not hang on whether the end Armageddon came within a certain time frame.
Of course I could be wrong.
the jws stopped by my house a couple weeks ago on a saturday morning.
i knew that with others most likely waiting for them out in the car they probably did not then have much time to engage in any serious conversation.
so i let them talk while i feigned interest in what they had to say.
On page 62 at the side of the subheading The Modern Day Ezekiel my wife made the note (Remnant since 1918) I think she did this because on page 67 it tells us that
'Jehovah has found and commissioned his modern day "Ezekiel." It is a composite Ezekiel. It is composed of those dedicqted, baptized proclaimers of God's kingdom, who have been anointed with His spirit for their work.'
and a couple of pages earlier after my wife had made the notation by the side of the subheading on page 62 and half way down paragraph 17 it says.
'They were very active in preaching the good news of God's kingdom because their Leader Jesus Christ had set this preaching before them as their work in his prophecy at Matthew 24:14'
We studied this publication on a Tuesday night not long before I dedicated my life in water baptism andI think that this identification of the anointed as the modern day Ezekiel ties them to the good news that they preach.
the jws stopped by my house a couple weeks ago on a saturday morning.
i knew that with others most likely waiting for them out in the car they probably did not then have much time to engage in any serious conversation.
so i let them talk while i feigned interest in what they had to say.
on page 67 of the book "the nations shall know that i am Jehovah- how?" (Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society 1971) talking of 1919
'The facts from then on down to this date prove that they recieved their ordination and appointment and commission for their work in this "time of the end" from Jehovah himself through his heavenly chariotlike organization.'
so do they?
in the chapter that page 67 is in 'Commissioned to Speak in the Divine Name' it tells us that the chariot of Jehovah 'wheeled down from the north and halted before' Ezekiel.
and on page 66 it tells you that 'the celestial chariot seen in Ezekiel's vision, rolled up and stopped, not before Christendom's advocates of the League of Nations, but before the annointed proclaimers of the heavenly kingdom of God in the hands of Jesus Christ.'
I think this ties it to the preaching of Jehovah's Witnesses.
...and granted me strength, friends, a job, whatever...was all either through my own effort alone or sheer luck.. i wanted a government job so i prayed for one and went out looking for one every day for ages and made a heap of applications...and got one.
my own effort.. i wanted a friend and prayed for one, crying myself to sleep with loneliness.....and after 6 months in the new congregation someone reached out to me.
chance.. i prayed to be able to stand up to my family when they put pressure on me about christmas etc...my own cult conditioning so strong.. i prayed to find a nice husband...luck when i moved congregations and one of those sisters who just has to match make introduced us.
i got more faith
i work in the medical field and every 2 years i need 24 hours if continuing education to stay licensed.
my deadline is coming up and i am taking the classes this week and next week.
heres the thing, i scheduled them both on sundays and ive procrastinated over this two year renewal period.
maybe she knows how you feel.
this just popped into my head.
what did you pray for as a kid?
hopefully your comments will help me remember mine.. thanks.
I remember praying one time that Armageddon would come before the school holidays ended and I prayed that the ghost I'd seen in the hallway didn't show up at the side of my bed. Left the light on just in case.
