after years of looking down on me for not being "in the truth", being told (more or less) that my daughter died because i did not have the "truth" and therefore god's approval.
my sister has, after forty years of marriage and fifty years of being in the truth....left her husband and her dis-fellowshipped son and gone to live with our other sister (who by the way is disassociated).
i am amazed at this turn of events, as i have always been led to believe that they were a fine example of how complete and spiritually protected they were as a family for being in the jw religion.
I believe that there are countless marriages inside the organization which are being held together by the glue of duty.
Forced to live unhappy lives because Jehoober can't live with the fact that people maybe actually realize that the person they once chose to be with, is now making them unhappy.
my heart is heavy as i write this letter.
i have been trying to live my life as best that i can since leaving jehovah's witnesses.
my dad was not a witness and was my rock when i left the religion.
Lie because it's well justified.
I had a discussion with my entire family recently where they found out i was an apostate, and even though i don't believe in God at this point, i lied and said that i did believe in Jehoober.
I lied because i knew that telling my family that i didn't believe in God would shut the door on reasoning with them. So i explained that i did not leave Jehoober by leaving the organization - that in fact i actually loved him and simply saw absolutely no evidence that i needed the Org to worship him. This somewhat resonated with them and it seems they were puzzled at that concept - they actually could consider something like that.
Meanwhile, i don't even believe in God, but sometimes you need to take a step in another person's direction in order to have them take two steps in your direction.
yesterday, i had a chance meeting with an acquaintance from the kh we used to attend.. after being away from the meetings for so long, and really starting to feel like i've almost entirely shed their false teachings, i have somehow lost sight of the fact that there are actually still people who really believe it.
i read the magazines now, and find it virtually impossible to comprehend how anyone can actually swallow those ideas.
it seems so warped and twisted to me now.. i guess the best way i can describe this encounter, was being "cornered" in public.
Most of us ex-JWs fail to realize that most active JWs are not able to evaluate things objectively like we can at this point. For example if you go buy a car, you consider price, features, safety, then objectively make a decision if it's for you or not. Seems easy, because you have nothing invested in it.
This is not the case with JWs and the organization. It's almost like trying to convince a woman that the man she is dating is a piece of $hit. Everybody can see it, but her. Why? Because her invested emotions don't allow her to logically and objectively consider things.
yesterday, i had a chance meeting with an acquaintance from the kh we used to attend.. after being away from the meetings for so long, and really starting to feel like i've almost entirely shed their false teachings, i have somehow lost sight of the fact that there are actually still people who really believe it.
i read the magazines now, and find it virtually impossible to comprehend how anyone can actually swallow those ideas.
it seems so warped and twisted to me now.. i guess the best way i can describe this encounter, was being "cornered" in public.
Apparently an apostate is someone who has known Jehovah but has left and is now PUBLISHING information, trying to make the JW's look bad.
How would a JW know unless they ready it. Slapping an "apostate" label on anything that doesn't praise the organization goes against all logic. What i usually reply when someone tells me that, is to ask for an example of one or two lies which are said by these apostates, if indeed they are lies"
Most of the times they "funfur" around trying to come up with something, but can't. Even if they can, it gives me a chance to debate on specific issues which gives you an advantage.
this morning (sunday) i was cooking breakfast, while.
the wife was sleeping (i'm a good husband).
two elders , didn't have time to talk my bacon was burning.. a question for those of you that is still active.
It's simply poor records keeping, or sometimes poor delegation.
For example in my congregation a few of us would write down on the territories small notes on relevant things "bad dog" or "angry", but only a few of us did. Many JWs are too lazy to do it.
Another way that could lead to this situation is when a car load of JWs works a street at the same time in order to stay together, so they stop on any given street, then the group leader who holds the territories spreads the group by saying something like "you 2 can go from number 100 to 150" and "you guys can do from number 150 to 200". So he keeps the actually territory paper with him which has all the notes, while the rest go and ring the door bells with no information. Each pair writes down notes on a piece of paper and brings it back to him and he edits the territory with them.
ok, sometimes i go to jw.org just to laugh a bit about the 'food at the proper time', and i would like to know what people think of this hillarious article 'am i attracted to the same sex.
does that mean i am gay?'.
this has to be one of the most remarkable pieces of logic (last paragraph of the article).. the bibles stand is not unreasonable.
Why would GOD allow people to be gay and then judge them for it? Also, I have heard this line of reasoning before. It's the WTBTS's new politically correct stance on homosexuals.
Quite remarkable indeed. You would never hear this from the Watchtower society a few decades ago. They are indeed saying that it's ok to be gay as long as you don't act on it. For all intents and purposes they are agreeing with the idea that being gay is not a choice or preference. They are softening their stance on it, to be more mainstream.
It's quite idiotic to draw a parallel with heterosexual sex the way they do. They equate homosexuality with fornication, but where does this leave gay people who are married?
Also, if it's ok to be gay as long as you don't act on it, what is Jehoober going to do with these people in paradise? Is Jehoober going to "cure" these, or is he going to make them be miserable forever by making them repress their natural feelings?
this brother was sitting near me today at the hall and when the public speaker started talking about the signs of the last days this guy started whispering something to his wife and kind of mocking the speaker in a quiet voice.
his wife looked really pissed off.. i've suspected this guy before by some of the stuff he's said and done and some of the #3 talks hes given he's gone off the assigned topic quite a bit.. during the wt study i was doing mics and i happened to walk by him several times.
his wt was on the floor and his bible was opened to topic for conversation at the end of the bible at the last days part.. a little while later his wife gave him the look and said something to him and he picked up his unprepared wt and followed along.. hoser.
Yeah, it's hard to tell. It could be anything. Maybe his wife is just pissed at something.
Although i will say that the last few meetings and memorials i attended, my wife was annoyed because of my constant eye-rolling and lil comments under my breath. I think a few times i even shook my head in disgust, so maybe it's possible that he is at that stage.
it seems pretty impotent to me if it is.. let's assume, for the sake of argument, that they are merely 'spirit-directed', as opposed to 'inspired'.
and let's assume that there is even a difference(other than semantics) to begin with.
neither claim is validated by the end result.
The usual explanation, if you press them on this issue, is that they are guided by reading the inspired scriptures.
Of course this means that they are as guided as anybody else who reads the scriptures as well, and this is why they hate breaking down this issue too much. They much rather have this wrapped in a thin veil of mistery and fuzzy logic, and to be fair, they have done a very good job at it. Most JWs still think they are inspired or something very close to it, despite the fact that they admit they are not.
When i was an active witness, i had this idea that when the GB met, it was a mystical event where angels or some other spiritual force would join the meeting and tell them what to do. This admiration of something they don't quite understand or know, is essential to keeping active JWs hooked. In a recent discussing with my older sister, she admitted that the reason why she believes the GB, is because they are inspired. Imagine that! The very reason why she is willing to obey them is invalid and openly admitted by them. Misinformation is only helpful for the Watchtower.
i live in a new house and it was a matter of time before the witnesses came through our neighborhood.
saturday around 1:30 p.m. my door rang.
i opened the door and my two dogs peeked around my legs at the new arrivals.
Maybe no one had let her go so far in her presentation?
I've seen this a few times, and i always find it interesting. Typically after the initial introduction of " Hi isn't the world bad? We have a message that gives us hope", most home owners will say "no thank you".
When someone actually let's them continue, they are usually shocked and become nervous and unsure. I've also seen instances where even though you seem willing to let them continue, they actually stop the conversation and just offer to leave you a magazine for you to read.
our insightful posters on this site were able to predict the new "spirit directed" generation teachings and fds teaching even years in advance.
what bomb do you thing will be dropped this year?
i know it will be big.
I do think the 144,000 being literal will be dropped.
I used to think they would be forced to do this, but with the last development where they disregarded the rest of the annointed, i don't think it's necessary any longer. For all intents and purposes they've said " Hey the GB are the annointed, and all the others who make that claim might be - or not" . So i think that belief has some shelf life left.
