The org wants everyone to question the origins of customs and beliefs of others, but never questions its own dubious origins!
Well said Stuck
upon researching the historical activity of the wts.
it becomes clear that the head editorial writers of this religious publishing house propagated many formative lies or unproven speculations framed within its own bible theological interpretations.. .
going right back to its earliest inception the head writers of the wts proclaimed that christ has returned and that mankind was going occur a dramatic change through this returning establishment of christ, as prophetically told though bible scripture.. the first year devised by the wts of this return was 1874 and through means of using an obscure measurement of the great pyramid of giza 1914 was to be the year of armageddon.. the 6000 years of mankind's existence was used at that time as well ( early 1900's) to support this supposed code cracking, which was used once again in the late 1960's to create 1975 as another year of significance.
The org wants everyone to question the origins of customs and beliefs of others, but never questions its own dubious origins!
Well said Stuck
upon researching the historical activity of the wts.
it becomes clear that the head editorial writers of this religious publishing house propagated many formative lies or unproven speculations framed within its own bible theological interpretations.. .
going right back to its earliest inception the head writers of the wts proclaimed that christ has returned and that mankind was going occur a dramatic change through this returning establishment of christ, as prophetically told though bible scripture.. the first year devised by the wts of this return was 1874 and through means of using an obscure measurement of the great pyramid of giza 1914 was to be the year of armageddon.. the 6000 years of mankind's existence was used at that time as well ( early 1900's) to support this supposed code cracking, which was used once again in the late 1960's to create 1975 as another year of significance.
Great OP Finkelstein
This is the core of the issue, there is no way the 'truth' sprang up from the ashes of lies.
90% of The R&F know nothing of the history of the Borg. Trust me I was clueless, my family is still clueless. If you bring any of this up with the R&F they will view you as someone who has been reading apostate information or has turned apostate and will walk away from you like your Satan himself.
The new one's lurking need to consider this as proof, there is no way this is Gods organization. Russel said it best "Religion is a snare and a racket!"
MC
he is back home and making god progress.. he has issued an audio statement here....
I wish the man well and a quick recovery.
MC
so when you first found out specific facts about the organisation, how did you feel??.
the un membership.
the way 1914 was calculated from pyramid measurements.
Pile Welcome
One thing that I always come back too when I'm doubting "TTATT'.
So when you look at the foundation of the organization. What it was founded on was all wrong, example 1914 was based on calculation derived from the Pyramid of Gaza, the obsession with pyramidology was the foundation on which they built the 'truth' from, from there they came up with false prophecy's and end dates that have been adjusted, no not because of nulite but error.
If this is the foundation of the ORG why would Jesus choose this faith and appoint the slave class from this group? Why not just correct the Catholic church for example or Islam? They were already established they could of easily made correction, already had 40 million members? Why choose and unknown entity with demonic influences? That's what Rutherford call the pyramid influence that Russell was so obsessed with. I'm not advocating for the RCC or Islam just asking?
Was it because they were so far gone with false belief? Was it any worse then pyramidology involvement? How about the pagan symbols they had all over there ligature at the time? How about the false end dates they printed and said Jehovah has spoken these thing and not by man. Doesn't add up.
MC
so when you first found out specific facts about the organisation, how did you feel??.
the un membership.
the way 1914 was calculated from pyramid measurements.
When I first found out the truth about the truth, well, I sat in my chair stunned, my head was spinning. I wanted to vomit and cry at the same time.
My whole entire life ran through my head. Every part of my life orchestrated around this religion, my view on 'death' that was huge, I hadn't really thought much about dying because I had faith in a after life or paradise if you will. I believed god would answer all our problems and fix every undesirable thing. My marriage was a choice allocated to me by availability and proximity of JW girls. Is my wife a great person?, yes!. She is honest and loyal. I cant regret our relationship its just that it all seams manipulated by a organization by men, that I don't even really know anymore.. My kids raise in the religion of my youth, indoctrinated in the same end time paranoia that I was subjected too. I'm working on breaking the bonds they have on them but its a uphill battle with fanatical family and nosy dubs. My employment, If i could go back in time, I would follow my heart and pursue a degree in engineering. I'm in construction and deal heavily with engineers on a daily basis and am fascinated by it all. I'm to old now and have to much responsibility to go to school now, I feel I was robbed of so many possibility's.
It really has added so many burdens and unnecessary hardships on my life and family. I always wonder what kind of person I would of been, if it wasn't for this cult.
MC
i think the time to be agnostic is when you have evidence on both sides of a claim.
for example, i'm agnostic about the existence of a historical jesus.
i think a reasonable case can be made that jesus was a man who was turned into a legend over a period of a couple of decades.
I think I'm somewhat frightened to admit for sure, 'there is no god'! Even though my post suggest that I don't believe.
I kind of agree with David Jay on this point, We
have not moved past the view that we need to be right and that we need to have
the truth once again. We EX-JWs, are the last people who should be declaring we have
the right answers after coming out of a mind controlling Cult.
Going on my third year now fully awake, I know this for sure that the watchtower is a false enterprise, there is no God chosen organization and there is no Armageddon coming. Trying to unravel all the mysteries of the universe is above my pay scale and doesn't really change my outcome in life. My allegiance to a deity doesn't affect the outcome of a dispute about universal sovereignty. We are insignificant ant's living in a ant farm, observed," don't know."
I do like reading the debates, they can be interesting. I just don't want to lead anyone in my direction in case I'm wrong again. Lesson learned.... Peace
MC
isn't it amazing just how easily distracted the average witness is?.
with the flood of stuff being produced and uploaded on the website, from embarrassing corny videos and songs, to music for kids, to cartoons etc, the average witness has no time to actually stop and think about the actual doctrines or facts about the organisation.
nor the past, nor the scandals being exposed by real news outlets and media.
This post reminded me of the 'Truman show' it was all a constructed reality. The society has created a cognitive paradigm of duplicity, when we show up here is because were suspicious of our perceived reality and need answers.
Thanks Simon for a place to vent.
so witnesses reject many practices or holidays due to their "unscriptural or pagan" origins.. for example, birthday celebrations, mothers or father's day, christmas etc..... most people in the world will say "but the origin doesn't matter anymore, we follow this custom now because it's a joyful occasion that creates happy times and brings the family together".
it is still firmly rejected.. so, if the wrong origin is so important, and should result in rejecting something, why isn't the same principle applied to the actual jehovah's witness faith itself!?.
after all, the very foundation of the organisation was based on wrong understandings of the bible, far fetched teachings and doctrines, links to false religious backgrounds, pyramidology, false predictions, inaccurate beliefs etc...... using their reasoning, it doesn't matter how good something is now, if the origin was faulty to begin with?
So what exactly is a 'Baby shower' the sisters in my hall go ape shit with baby showers. Isn't it technically really just a birthday party for the unborn child. I mean it just acknowledging someone day of birth. As was mentioned the angels celebrated Jesus birth so the bible accepts it, as proper thing to do.
Pagan origins, that was a big one for me, all religions are pagan.
The first time I every heard of the WT connection to Pyramidology I was floored. The couple I was studying with gave me an ear full and I had to look it up. Once I realized the origins of our organization, I used the information from the society I dispensed to deconstruct other faiths and turned it on my own faith. It failed by the WT standards as false to the core.
One point that I could never get over was that they (WT) say's Christ came to earth to inspect all of Christianity and found the WT (Jehovah Witness) to be the one's doing Gods will, the closest to the truth as possible. When you look into the facts (pyramidology) about the organization past and by there own standards Christ would of rejected the WT. Why would Christ accept False prophets? speaking in Jehovah name, remember 1914 was supposed to have been the end of this system of thing (Armageddon), it's documented in there own literature. They just pulled an overlapping generation scam and because it worked so well they recycled it again.
MC
i got baptized later in life.
i was around 21, i had left and went out into the world should of listen to my gut back then, but instead i disowned myself and came back into the fold.
before i could get baptized, the elder who studied with me said i needed to get rid of everything that was contaminated by this world: music, books & clothing,everything.
My m-i-l went through all of her home products and threw away everything that had the Proctor and Gamble symbol on it.
Oh yes, I remember the P&G craziness, My mom and sister cleaned out the house of any demonic P&G products. Some thing about they made a pact with Satan and became successful and powerful the symbol was the proof of the pact. I always wondered who came up with this stuff, I mean who had time to sit around and think of this stuff. Freddy Franz maybe? He was crazy enough to insinuate this and it caught on. Who thought, "I'm going to play this record backward to see if I hear Satan voice or some demon"? Anybody ever play with the Ouija board? Did it once with a kid from the Hall, when I was a kid. I was sure he manipulated the whole thing. Did any of you think it was real?happy friday to all!.
i haven't been to a meeting for maybe 10 years.
i only know what's happening nowadays from the experiences i read here or the internet in general.. anyway, on to the topic: i started attending meetings at the age of 7. as a kid, the only thing i looked forward to at the assemblies (circuit/district) was walking around veteran's stadium (philadelphia district convention) during intermission, hanging with friends, looking at girls (as i got a little older) and trying to have enough tickets to get pizza!.
Still have to go, due to family. But some day not far into the future I will say, "no mas and adios baby". I said to my wife why don't they shorten it to maybe 4 hours max why drag it out and just repeat the same old crap there going to change anyways (nu lite)?
I can make 4 hrs disappear quickly. 1st hr. walk around and talk to old friends, 2nd hr. read on my I pad (Game of Thrones).....What lunch time (sweet mother of Jesus) long lunch out with the family, time it so I only have maybe 1.5 left. (repeat morning session activities until fat lady sings)
Still such a waste of time and money, cant wait till the day, its all in the past. Oh and contributions..... goose eggs