Here's the caption, "Efforts by pictured Watchtower representatives to assist in tsunami relief."
Posts by 144001
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56
Who cares if the JWs are right?
by new light inthis is by no means an original idea, but even if the jws have been right all along, i don't care.
if pleasing god means not knowing what to think or feel without checking with headquarters first, then i don't need him.
who would want to be caught up in an eternal nightmare where the entire population was a braindead mass of clean-cut yes men?
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144001
Even if I was 100% certain that the JWs were correct in their beliefs and teachings, I wouldn't abide by them. I'd prefer the lake of fire any day to an eternity on an earth inhabited solely by JWs. Such an existence would truly be "hell on earth."
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37
reinstatement
by sugarbritches inhi does anyone know what the procedure is for reinstatement?
i love this forum- you guys are all great.
sugarbritches
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144001
I am not aJW- my friend is- the one that won't talk to me because the elders consider me bad association.
The obvious conclusion to be drawn from this is that the person you refer to as a "friend," is not a friend at all. This person's like/respect for you is subject to the edicts of the cult that this so-called "friend" follows, as well as the directives of said cult's management.
I had a very similar experience to yours. I got into some minor trouble with the local police when I was still attending the meetings (I was never baptized). I came home one day from shopping with mom to find a gathering of elders in our living room, wanting to speak with me. They threatened to disassociate me unless I terminated all association with a person who was my closest friend, who was the unbaptized son of a family in our congregation. I still remember the words of the jerk elder who led the inquiry, "you're this close to having your name announced from the platform." (spoken while holding thumb and forefinger closely together and put very close to my face) I laughed in their faces, told them I could care less if anyone from the congregation ever spoke to me again, because "they're all a bunch of f*%king idiots." I also told them I wouldn't honor their demands in even the smallest way.
They never disassociated me, mabye because my father was PO and also because they knew it wouldn't have any adverse effect on me. The person they told me to stay away from remains my closest friend, 25 + years after the JWs threatened me to stop associating with him. He stopped attending about the same time I did, and to me, he is the brother I never had. I could not ask for a better friend. I'm so glad I was wise enough at the time to understand the game and not let the Watchtower Corporation Cult ruin another aspect of my life.
The point I'm making is, you need to say "goodbye," to that person who purports to be your friend, but has demonstrated that such "friendship," if you can call it that, is conditional in nature. "Comply with the cult or I'm not your friend!" What kind of friend is that?
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Non JW woman met JW man--confused & have questions
by Jellybean inok. i have some questions, and thought this may be a place to get some answers.. i'm going to be honest here, so please don't bash me too much, as i was never a jw.. in july i was out at a drinking establishment in my home town.
my husband and i have been having marital trouble, and we were trying a trial seperation.
guys were hitting on me left and right--which i had absolutely no interest in.
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144001
Dear Jellybean:
Despite the characterization by others here of Jehovah's Witnesses as a "sect," the reality is, it's a cult. Based on your comments herein, your new "friend," if he is indeed a Jehovah's Witness, has committed acts warranting disfellowshipping (excommunication) under their rules. This leaves several possibilities:
1. Your friend is not a Jehovah's Witness. Good, he's not suffering from this affliction, but you noted that others in his family were Jehovah's Witnesses, at least at one time. There could be "issues" affecting him as a result of his past involvement. Realize that this cult is extremely traumatic upon children; accordingly, one might still have "baggage" as an adult relating to their horrific childhoods in the JW cult.
2. Your friend is a weak Witness. This is probably the worst type of situation. He believes in the message of the JW cult but is unable to conform his conduct to their teachings. The frustration attributable to believing one has the "true" religion but is unable to conform to its teachings will drive him nuts, and you.
3. Your friend is an immoral, partying stud masquerading as a Jehovah's Witness. I'm not sure why anyone would want to do this, but it could have something to do with nailing JW ladies who are desperate due to a lack of suitable and/or desirable men in the congregation.
You need to find out all details of his involvement in this cult. Don't let the damage the cult may have done to him adversely affect you.
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32
How did field service duty affect your zeal for the troof?
by M.J. indid it reinforce your dedication to the cause?
or did it burden and disillusion you?
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144001
Field service was among the most dreaded aspects of being an exploited child of Jehovah. In elementary school, I was lucky; our territories never coincided with the school neighborhood. Finally, in junior high school, I went to a door and met someone I knew from school. He said hello to me but had a strange expression on his face, and whispered, "I didn't know you were a Jehovah?" I felt like dying. I assumed he would tell everyone at school. But in fact, to my knowledge, he told no one. Maybe he had empathy for my horrific plight?
To me, this is one of the most despicable charateristics of the WT corporation cult. Coercing parents to require and/or force their children to engage in uncompensated marketing work on their behalf is an act that is at least morally worthy of criminal sanctions. The coercement was accomplished, for the most part, through peer pressure on the parents. It was also encouraged by WT publications and material presented at the meetings.
Zeal for the "Truth?" Sure, I had lots of zeal for the real truth, which was that the only zeal I possessed in relation to Jehovahs Witnesses was zeal for the end of meetings, end of field service, end of assemblies, and end of my parent's physical ability to compel my involvement and/or association with that cult. That's the "Truth" of it.
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90
Name Things That You Can Be Counseled For
by minimus ini'll start.......a woman wearing a skirt higher than her knee and a child crying during a meeting
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144001
In the winter of 1979, I flew to New York to visit "worldly" family members, and my parents thought it would be a great idea for me to visit Bethel as well. At the time, my hair covered my ears, but just barely. I was told by the "brothers" at the factory that I "looked like a girl," because of my "long hair." At the time, I remember thinking that it would be preferable to look like a girl than be dressed in the plaid "flood pants" so prevalent at Bethel and other places where nerds/dorks gather.
So much for making visitors feel welcome!
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Name Things That You Can Be Counseled For
by minimus ini'll start.......a woman wearing a skirt higher than her knee and a child crying during a meeting
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144001
Thinking.
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22
I think I wanna go to the kingdom hall this sunday...
by Sweetp0985 inyes you read that correctly, but first let me say that i'm not going to learn anything (as if that would happen anyway), but i'm going to gloat.. the last couple of times i went there a few months ago was because i was being forcedstrongly encouraged (http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/9/74780/1202255/post.ashx#1202255) and i felt intimidated when i went.
now that i have become a regular reader of various discussions here, i know i can walk in there with my head held high and look at them with just as much disgust in my eyes as they have in theirs because i haven't been begging to come back to such a unloving and hateful organization.. i also want to take a good look at my step-mother.
i know for a fact that things on the homefront have been much less than a "loving theocratic atmosphere" between her and my father.
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144001
Sweetp,
Your very presence there will be a victory for them; it will be them who will be gloating about your perceived weakness and need for their conditional love and association. The only reason I would enter a kingdom hall would be to use the toilet if it was an emergency and no other toilets were available. I wouldn't flush . . .
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144001
Lisa hit the nail on the head . . .
Children of Jehovah's Witnesses are never allowed to develop their own identity. All of their time and association is controlled by the Watchtower Society, under the guise of parents concerned about their children's spiritual well-being. If the child is raised in accordance with the edicts of the Watchtower corporate cult, the child will reach puberty and young adulthood without any real friends or association, and will be accustomed to relying on the conditional love so pervasive in God's loving organization. This is indeed the objective of this despicable corporate cult, as the ability to cut off all of a person's associations is a powerful threat, one this cult has wielded since its inception and one that is critical to its continued existence as a money-generating cult. You want to think for yourself? Whammo, no friends, no associations, even your family despises you.
The end result? Many if not most of the JW "brothers" I grew up with ended up in prison at one time or another. Success stories are few and far between. There is an abundance of anger amongst children of the Jehovah's Witnesses, as they realize that the most precious times of their lives, their childhoods, were stolen by the corporation cult that is the Watchtower.
May the governing body and all others responsible pay for the childhoods that were stolen, the families that were destroyed, and the misery caused by the Watchtower corporation cult. Down down to hell, and say I sent thee thither!
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36
If God did have a new system..would you want to be there?
by happehanna ini was a witness for over forty years and for most of that time the "new world" "paradise" was not a place i ever wanted to live in.. there are many aspects of life in the 21st century that are great and i wouldn't want to give up.
tv, internet, blues/jazz clubs etc etc.. i may be shallow.
but there were other better reasons millions of people would have gone, wiped out by god: this never sat easy with me.. i told my elder father that i wouldn't want to live five minutes in god's new system, knowing that people i loved, had been killed by god because they didn't love him in the way he wanted.. just telling my father that has made me really wake up to how i really feel about my ex religion.. does a paradise earth as jw's depict appeal to you?
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144001
The last time JWs came to my door, I advised them that they had nothing to offer me, as the "system" they are praying and working for, one in which the human population on earth is limited to Jehovah's Witnesses, in my opinion, would be nothing but "hell on earth." Can you imagine a society consisting of Jehovah's Witnesses only? They'd make the Taliban seem like human rights activists! No thanks.