I have the same issuer with the OP. I have a hard time even believing in gods or a Jehovah. I feel silly and stupid, but for some reason my wife feels the need for it. I refuse to pray to Jehovah when I do pray for the family at meal times.
truth_b_known
JoinedPosts by truth_b_known
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i am finding it hard to pray with my children
by Evidently Apostate ini have been fading for 6 months but my wife is still in and always asks me to pray at dinner and when i put the little ones to bed but i am finding prayer to be more of a pretense than heartfelt.
i have to pray for the sun or the earth but why thank him for the food, hell thank me for going to work everyday .who put us in the house we live in, god?
its really hard for me to pray for anything anymore as i have an anger toward him and dont want anything to do with a future (mythical)paradise under his control, so why ask for it?.
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Did you DF yourself on purpose?
by Evidently Apostate inlately i have been thinking about saying something apostate to my elder father in law.
he is an uber witness and actually believed that god interveined and saved him when he had a heart attack and kept him alive, until he told me that and i asked him why jehovah allowed jws in nazi concentration camps to suffer horribly and die but he loved an alcoholic more than them.. i havent been to a kh in 6 months or in service in years.
i grew a beard and basicallyhe avoids talking to me.
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truth_b_known
If you're DFed, the rank & file members of the congregation will believe you committed a sin that you were unrepentant for. By DAing yourself it will be announce that you are no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses and their will be no guessing. In addition, the more people DA themselves, the louder the message will be to the Popes of Brooklyn.
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Large Congregations or Smaller Congregations
by Pitchess Co-Gen inwhen i was younger ( from 9-13 ) one of the best congregations i attended was a congregation that got dissolved because of low numbers.
tell me your experiences with large congregations or smaller congregations..
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truth_b_known
If you want elders who will be able to manage shepherding the congegation, smaller is better. That was the whole point of the book study arrangement. The last congregation I attended was so large the brothers were oblivious to new members. Your chances of answering at a meeting were slim to none. You might get 1 ministry school assignment a year.
On the flip side, smaller congregations make it easier for everyone to know your personal business.
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Why the house to house preaching work never works
by RULES & REGULATIONS ini dislike when people come knocking on my door ''cold calling'' with their sales pitch.
do you need a new roof?
do you want to donate to a local school so they can pay for a trip?
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truth_b_known
My father is a devout Jehovah's Witness and has been a salesman for as long as I can remember. He always told me that a great salesman has to do little work because the product will sell itself. That is is to say, you market your product to those who are in the market to buy that product.
What we forget is that there are secondary purposes to the door-to-door preaching work. We are told we would be blood-guilty if we didn't do it. It is our moral duty to warn people.
The fact is, you could literally go from door to door telling people, "If you do not become one of Jehovah's Witnesses you will be killed at Armageddon" and technically fulfill your obligation.
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Annoying JW Stories
by What Now? in[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>normal</w:view> <w:zoom>0</w:zoom> <w:trackmoves /> <w:trackformatting /> <w:punctuationkerning /> <w:validateagainstschemas /> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:saveifxmlinvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:ignoremixedcontent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext> <w:donotpromoteqf /> <w:lidthemeother>en-us</w:lidthemeother> <w:lidthemeasian>x-none</w:lidthemeasian> <w:lidthemecomplexscript>x-none</w:lidthemecomplexscript> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables /> <w:snaptogridincell /> <w:wraptextwithpunct /> <w:useasianbreakrules /> <w:dontgrowautofit /> <w:splitpgbreakandparamark /> <w:dontvertaligncellwithsp /> <w:dontbreakconstrainedforcedtables /> <w:dontvertalignintxbx /> <w:word11kerningpairs /> <w:cachedcolbalance /> </w:compatibility> <w:browserlevel>microsoftinternetexplorer4</w:browserlevel> <m:mathpr> <m:mathfont m:val="cambria math" /> <m:brkbin m:val="before" /> <m:brkbinsub m:val="--" /> <m:smallfrac m:val="off" /> <m:dispdef /> <m:lmargin m:val="0" /> <m:rmargin m:val="0" /> <m:defjc m:val="centergroup" /> <m:wrapindent m:val="1440" /> <m:intlim m:val="subsup" /> <m:narylim m:val="undovr" /> </m:mathpr></w:worddocument> </xml><!
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so we had a conversation with my in-laws last night that thoroughly ticked me off and this is the only place that i can vent about it, so here goes!.
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truth_b_known
It isn't stupid. It is serious. Your sanity is at stake.
Your in-laws will attempt to use your child as a tool to keep tabs on you and your husband. Further, you should not put your child in a position where his innocent answers to their inquisition will create a negative situation. It will scar your child for life.
My situation was different. It was my parents. The bottom line in my case is I had to decide if I wanted a happy life with a happy family or is I wanted to be miserable to please my parents.
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I have allegedly been charged with apostasy
by Igot2bme ini recieved a letter today and it reads:.
sister jennifer b****,.
we request your presence for a judical hearing.
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truth_b_known
You need to do what you feel is best. If you have been just going through the motions, but no longer buy into the Watch Tower way of life, you might as well pull the pin and begin living. If you just cannot live without the family and friend who are Witnesses you need to prepare yourself and go along with the program.
If you have said or done something (usually it is said something) that would cause a body of elders to go forward with a judicial committee please listen to the prior posters. A judicial committee's purpose is not to judge whether or not you committed a sin. They have already convicted you of that. The purpose is to determine, based on their opinion, whether or not you are "worth keeping" (actual words used at my JC). They will judge you to see if your are "repentant".
The first big mark against you is what the allegation is - apostasy.
The second biggest is the fact that you didn't voluntarily come forward and figuratively fall on your sword. Someone else went and tattled on you to the elders.
The elders will most likely not reveal who your accusers are and, even if they did, you will not be allowed to face your accusers and cross-examine them at your judicial committee. Elders have to protect their snitch system in order to keep it going. There would be very few judicial committees if accusers had to face the people they have alleged wrongdoing to the elders.
If you do not want to be disfellowshipped you must:
1) Admit everything
2) Deny nothing
3) Bring a laundry list of things you have done to show repentance
You are on this website for a reason. If any Witness is here, actively participating or just lurking, the best advice I have is stop cold. You're on this site because you no longer buy into the Watch Tower Society's doctrine. When it comes to Jehovah's Witnesses, you are either all the way in or all the way out. Anything else will bring you misery.
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Congress Investigating AARP's Tax Exempt Status. Why not the WTBTS?
by ABibleStudent inwhile researching tax exempt status of organizations in the usa for my next legislative letter writing campaign against the wtbts, i found this letter from charles w. boustany, jr, oversight subcommittee - chairman to douglas h. shulman, commissioner - internal revenue service, which was dated october 6, 2011. it just made me wonder if aarp's tax exempt status could be in jeopardy because of its business practises, why can't the wtbts' business practise of extracting donations from jws through building and selling khs be questioned?.
i'm trying to discover if now is a good time to raise eliminating tax exemptions for organizations that are dangerous cults, and to think of several different ideas in which to ask congressman and senators to investigate the wtbts in specific and cults in general.. what do you think?.
peace be with you and everyone, who you love,.
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truth_b_known
The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Brooklyn, NY and the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses are two different identies. One is supposed to be a publisher of books, magazines, brochures, and tracts. The other is a religion.
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Does anyone here believe in ET's? That we are not alone on this vast Universe?
by IamPresence2012 inbeing brought up a jw until age 25. i never made an attempte to search anywhere else for information until i moved out (thank god).
thanks to the internet,, my curiosity led me to different websites, books, documentaries and video presentations.
one of the topic at large was ufo's i remember there was an awake (inthe 80 or 90's) but was too young to comprehend or figure out what it was.
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truth_b_known
I believe that it is quite possible. It appears that there are planets in our own galaxy that could support life as we know it. Bacteria is believed to be living in the vacuum of space on astroids/meteors.
As far as intellegent life visiting our planet from other worlds, I think it is possible, as well. There are some things we have a hard time explaining.
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truth_b_known
I am a firm believer that the Sphynx and Great Pyramids predate the Egyptians. The evidence of civilizations predating the Biblical account of both Noah and Adam are a large part of why I no longer believe in the Biblical accounts of the Great Flood or creation. The fact that the the Great Flood could not physically take place as told in the Biblical account is the other large part of what loosed me from the chains of religion.
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What was the first thing you did...
by OneDayillBeFree inwhen you left the man-made organization currently known as the wtbts??.
and for those still "in" but mentally "out" what have you started doing thats against the silly, stupid and non-scriptural watchtower policy/law/rule??.
i know the question has been made before on another thread but i couldn't find it and also there's been quite some growth in new ones here to jwn, so just wanted to see if we could all share some lovely/funny/random experiences.
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truth_b_known
I did a slow fade over about a 3 year period. After I became completely inactive, the first thing I did was fulfill my dream of becoming a police officer. Even though that isn't exactly forbidden, I put that up as the first thing.
Shortly after that I began to buy Christmas and birthday gifts for the kids. This was the first year my kids went trick-or-treating on Halloween. The past 2 Christmasses we even decorated the house.
I registered to vote and I vote. I am very politcally active. I am a member of a local Republican club. I am currently helping 3 candidates with their election campaigns.
I have no issue with saluting the flag when in uniform or saying the pledge of allegiance. If I were single and had no kids I would enlist as an Army reservist. My kids want to enlist and I am supporting their decision to do so.
I feel that I am a better person now than I ever was because I am supporting my community and making real positive changes. That is infinitely greater than just telling people that God will make it all better one day.