i have been on this site daily, almost from its beginning, since i left the jws in 2001, but i have been more of a reader than a poster, as you can see from my post count.
i know few here know me, although i know many of you through reading your posts.
maybe it is not right to ask for support, when i generally stay quietly in the background of this forum, but i want only to speak a human misery of the deepest kind.
Truman,
So sorry for your loss. I'm sure James , the piece of sh*t that killed your soon was not fit to live in a decent society. At least he had the decency to kill himself so that we didn't have to drag this through the court system.
Again sorry for you loss.
i read with interest the thread about how people who are mentally out yet still attend (some) meetings manage to do continue to do it and it got me wondering, how do those of us who are completely inactive, no longer practicing members of the faith, manage to pull off our new ex-jw life, yet never invite scrutiny or investigation from former friends, elders, etc.. take me, for example.
i've been out several years now, but have never officially renounced my faith.
i've never out and out called it a crock of shit to anyone who could make real trouble for me.
Interesting how i share the same experiences as many of you. I stopped attending 7 or 8 years ago. First because i was lazy and not motivated, and later after enlightening myself decided to completely quit and never go back.
It has been an amazing decision, all the guilt trips associated with never making the cut and never being able to produce what the society demanded ( hours, etc) are now gone. My immediate family are JW which is the only drawback of the whole situation. My relationship with them is lackluster, but still good enough that anybody gets along.
I'll admit that although i had some cognitive dissonance when i was in, i still believed that the Watchtower Society was somehow enlightened and wise and somehow had insight into the future. The key as i understand now to burst the JW bubble in your mind, is to critically think of the activities and reasonability of the Governing Body and their actions - this is the first road block. As long as one believes they are somehow informed by God, they will likely remain faithful despite other inconsistencies.
Reading an insiders report on the GB by Ray Franz was critical for me, because it made me realize that the GB are just a group of out of touch old men, who simply grasp and claw at things to try to keep the house of cards together. They are not enlightened, they simply make decisions in the same manner that other corporations do.
recently, when saying goodbye to my grandmother, who i only see a few times a year, she started tearing and said something that made me very sad.
she said she had to tell me that the door to jehovah's kingdom is closing at any moment now, and that if i didn't do anything now, it would be to late.
to her, she is facing an eternity without her grandchildren and it makes her very sad.
I go through somewhat the same thing with my mother. She dedicate her entire life to the cult and although i've spoken to her about some of the fallacies within the WT, so is not able to make sense of them. Instead simply reverts back to the "end is coming".
Now i simply nod and tell her i am trying to please God as well. I honestly i think that at this point, she might as well spend the rest of her days thinking that she dedicated herself to something positive, even if that is not true.
ok where i live in the pacific northwest in january of this year this elder from the hall called a special meeting and gave everyone some papers that he had gotten from some government place on what to put in an emergency bag to grab in case you have to flee your home in seconds.
i thought it was just my husbands hall being all strange and stupid over this.
one older sister said that the elder told everyone they needed three bottles of water for 14 days that is 42 bottles of water plus whatever other stuff they put in there not sure if she got that right because 42 bottles of water is a lot of weight.
I am actually in favor or having a bug out bag. It can come in handy if a disaster does happen. However in the JWs case, why do that? I'm sure their JW card will give them instance protection and maintenance from Jehoober. Right?
there may not be any specific plan to end the "preaching work" but that doesn't mean that things can't evolve into such an outcome.
indeed, i now wonder if such a thing is probable!.
first, if (and it's a very big if) various nations develop case law that includes liability for volunteers, this will put the watchtower in a bind.
The preaching work will never stop. There are too many beliefs that are attached to it. If preaching stopped before the end, the WT would be ridiculed for it, and many would be discouraged and leave. Revenue would also fall dramatically, and we all know that is not going to happen. The internet will never replace preaching. I've heard a blurb that it's likely that the WT will tell local congos to print some of the publications locally at the kingdom hall from the internet, especially study editions, so they can be given to publishers if needed. It seems more of a measure to pass along some of the cost of printing literature to local congregations.
after the little skit at the last assembly where one brother was asking another for understanding about the generation teaching i thought, "wow, these people will believe anything the watchtower tells them.
" the 'more mature brother' practically said verbatim everything the watchtower said as his explanation.
evidently, this is one of the sources of the increased 'murmuring' that the talked warned against.. so, has anyone brought this up to their witness friends and/or family?
Jehovah Witness don't know or care about such details. I too have brought this up to my mother, and not surprisingly, she didn't know about it or what it meant. Then, again not surprisingly, once i explained it to her and noted that it was a ridiculous belief, she said it wasn't important.
Their minds are so focused on the TEST-REWARD concept that everything else seems expendable. In their minds, if they can stay "IN" the Org, they will get a place in paradise, and that is the goal. I feel sorry for my mother as i do for all the others, who are captives of such a delusional concept, but i've come to grips with the fact that in order to see the whole picture about the Org, you need to have an assertive mind and have good thinking skills, and the fact is that many Jdubbs, especially the older and less educated ones, simply don't have that.
think about all the people you have ever loved and spent time with.
think about the hard work you and your friends and family have put forth to create a life for yourselves.
think about your grandchildren, your fathers, your mothers and your siblings.
I have thought of this. Ancient civilizations have a long history of atributing natural occurences to God or the spiritual realm.
Back then, all things had a spiritual connection, from thunder, eclipse, rainbows, etc. Simply put, everything was a sign that God was either happy (or not) with man !
It is not unreasonable to think that ancient Jews, were as supersticious as the Mayans, Egyptians, and all the other ancient civilizations.
i will be partaking and placing some "literature.
" i was going to go in ohio, but my partner in crime can't make it.
i also plan to strike up a conversation about the epic fail of a memorial invite that a local congregation put in my door.
If you are really going to partake, i would go with you, if i lived close. I'd love to see the horror faces on everybody as you munch on the crackers and sip on the vintage.
after briefing reading the original post on this thread http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/224030/1/do-i-have-this-right i asked myself the following question:.
the watch tower bible & tract society publishes in its writings, as of late, that the governing body/faithful & discreet slave must be obeyed to gain jehovah's salvation and favor.
the gb/fds are comprised of imperfect, spirit guided men whose teachings are to be accepted as truth.
What separates christian denominations are the peripheral beliefs which are left to interpretation. It is these that the governing body monopolizes and that the rank the file can't seem to weed through. Altering the core beliefs of christianity would probably be unsustainable even for the indoctrinated minds of JWs. If the GB came out tomorrow and said that Jesus was not the son of GOD but merely a man and that all attention is now devoted to Jehovah alone instead, the structure would crumble.
more important than the reduction in the size of the new magazine is that the watchtower will be actively promoting its website and encouraging people use it to download magazines.
my concern is that this has the potential to lead to an increase in growth for the watchtower.. the door-to-door preaching work has been one of the most inefficient means imaginable to gain converts, and done little more than tie up the time of active jws.
now, by directing people to the internet, witnesses can spread their message at an alarming rate for little cost.. do you feel that this has the potential to lead to a surge in growth of jehovah's witnesses?
IMO as someone already said, this is not about making more converts, since this will offer nothing more than the current Watchtower website already offers.
This is obviously a cost saving move. They will encourage rank and file JWs to print their own literature which will save them in printing costs for the study edition of the Watchtower etc. I'm sure there will be a follow up letter advising publishers that they should still contributing the same way, since there are technology costs with doing things in this manner when in reality the costs go down dramatically.
On the other hand, they will not lose revenue on the placement of literature, since obviously Dubbs will continue picking up the public edition of the literature and donating for this, so that it can be placed during preaching.
Overall, it's a great marketing move - all the marking of typical corporate thinking.
