erbie

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Posts by erbie

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  27

  Another bash at education - wt13 9/15

  by Splash in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  page 20:.

  the unwary may adopt the same view of theocratic arrangements.

  they may be unwilling to go along with congregation procedures and may even complain about anything not to their liking.

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  erbie

  Is there any 'Bible based' counsel on higher education?
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  7

  Visit to Bethel, Convention Jitters and Kingdom Hall Attendance Dropping of a Cliff!

  by AuntConnie in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i feel like jehovah has cursed me some days and others i feel he is using me to direct others out the front and back door of our kingdom hall.

  here's my update on our perfect congregation, we are losing publishers monthly with meeting attendance down below one hundred during the weekday meeting.

  should i feel guilty for mistreating the miserable mentally ill and chronically ill publishers who are milking the public welfare system, nto because they do not deserve anything better but because they bring only their appetite to our spiritual banquet while we elderettes study the watchtower and wow the publishers with our thirty second polished comments to bring praise to jehovah.

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  erbie

  In a way I kinda envy you for still believing it all and trying to enjoy it.

  I wish you luck.

  I had a head-on collision course with common sense and reason a long time ago so its too late for me.

  It must be a struggle now so I wish you the very best and joy if it is to be had.
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  43

  New Rumor - Watchtower and Awake in one magazine only?

  by TJ Curioso in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  hi folks!.

  someone told me that there is a rumor that soon the watchtower and awake's magazines will be only one (fusion).. anybody knows something concrete about that, or is only rumor instead?.

  tj curioso.

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  erbie

  Shador, are you really the magazine serpent....and you are on here? I'm constantly amazed at how many very active Witnesses are here.

  I also was the magazine serpent a few years ago. What a privilege, dispensing all that spiritual food at the proper time.

  How blessed was I.

  In the end I just dispensed with all of it.

  Anyway, the new magazine; The Awatchtaker perhaps?

  Hmm...
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  27

  A Positive Comment About The Witnesses

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my mom is 87, in a few weeks.

  she's been ill for many years.

  she's been in the hospital in the last week and is now in rehab.

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  erbie

  That's it, I'm going back! Thanks guys
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  134

  Who left or got stumbled over the 1995 generation thing?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  or the 2000's generation thing?.

  how did you feel?

  how did it help you wake up?

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  erbie

  He certainly is quite cock sure of himself but I'll wade through the bad stuff and try to enjoy the good
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  62

  Enemies Of Reason -Richard Dawkins

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcs751gcp10.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52j5stxkbkq.

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  erbie

  That does not mean that I approve of what the Morons teach.

  No intelligent person could ever believe in such ridiculous nonsense (I'm being polite).

  You are just following power hungry individuals who crave your unquestioning loyalty to fill their coffers and, more importantly, feed their ego.

  You insist on evidence from science but you refuse to provide any evidence to supplement your own beliefs/ideas, obviously because none exists.

  To even preach to any intelligent person about Moronism is a gross insult to their capacity to reason...

  and their sense of smell for that matter - yes, in other words their teaching is nothing more than a waste product from a warped and twisted mind attracting ever more flies.

  Yes, that is insulting. Get over it and grow up.

  Out-grow the false teachings of those to whom you have enslaved yourself.

  The world can never move on while persons such as you stubbornly cling to such primitive, superstitious falsehoods for which there is no evidence or logic.

  Even as we speak, science is striving to find a cure for cancer, heart desease, dementia and so on, the list is endless. And all the while I hear from religious persons who are obsessed with saving their own arse while undermining the credibility of scientific findings and theories which only serve to increase our capacity to understand and progress.

  I find it pitiful!
• 
  62

  Enemies Of Reason -Richard Dawkins

  by frankiespeakin in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcs751gcp10.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52j5stxkbkq.

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  erbie

  Cold Steel is priviledged indeed as God has not hidden himself from him.

  I'm very happy for him, really I am.

  Genuinely no sarcasm intended.
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  136

  After the cult how many reject faith in anything?

  by Seraphim23 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

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  erbie

  I desperately wanted to believe in some form of religion for years but I'm afraid it would seem that it is all just superstition and snake oil.

  Reality is well worth the initial pain though and to dispense with the burden of superstition can be very liberating and refreshing.

  I now believe that to be truly humane and apathetic you must first dispense with any kind of religion, particularly Christianity and Islam.
• 
  134

  Who left or got stumbled over the 1995 generation thing?

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  or the 2000's generation thing?.

  how did you feel?

  how did it help you wake up?

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• 

  erbie

  I clearly remember that fateful District Convention in 1995 during which I was (proudly) acting as an attendant at Cardiff. I just remember standing there and feeling my heart sink whilst realizing that the WT was obviously making all this trash up as they go along. That is pretty much what did it for me and it set in motion a course of events that would be life changing for me and my family.

  At the end of the day, I just experienced a collision course between intelligence and outright lies and nonsense. Pretty nasty but unavoidable.

  Currently I am reading 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins and wish it had been available to me back then.

  Better late than never
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  84

  How do I as a future "Therapist" help ex-jws that won't move on from the WT?

  by booker-t in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i am halfway through my master's program in psychology/sociology and plan on being a therapist/sounselor.

  i left jw's in 1988 and i have never looked back.

  i enjoy my life so much after getting my aa degree, then my ba degree, and now i will soon get my ma degree.

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  erbie

  Thank you for all of your comments, I've found it very enlightening on a very personal level.

  I think Roberta makes a truly excellent point with respect to therapists who see their primary role as 'helping' other JW's leave their religion or in helping others who are struggling to 'move on'. In their case I too would question whether they themselves really have moved on. Probably they have not.

  I am ashamed to say that I am also one of those poor unfortunates who has found it impossible to 'move on'. I left the WT first and my wife and kids followed shortly after. She instantly made a new circle of friends, went back to University (which I also have done) and she just moved on straight away. Or so it seems.

  I, however, have found it very difficult to really move myself forward in a spiritual sense as I have been led to believe that all other religion is Satanic or of the Devil.

  I did go to a therapist but she always said that she was not allowed to give me her opinion as it was just that-her opinion and as such was of no real value to me. She would not even answer my questions as she said that her answer would only reflect her opinion and that I should not care what other people think.

  ???

  I quickly realized that I was wasting my time talking to a person who, for whatever reasons, is not able to express their own personal opinion based on life-experience, education, wisdom, etc. You really are better off talking through your struggles with a friend/aquaintance who is able to talk to you on a level.

  Anyway, after quite some time it has become obvious to me why I have not been able to move on and I am taking steps to change that. For quite some time a friend kept asking me to join their choral society. I repeatedly declined because I did not want to become involved with something I had always been led to believe was unclean despite the fact that I have always fancied doing it. Now I have a change of heart and believe it will do me a lot of good.

  Ultimately, for me to truly 'move on' will probably require moving away but in the meantime there are other things I can do to help myself.

  Good luck to all of you-I know its a struggle.