hi friends,.
after some years i returned here out of curiosity, excuse my writing since my native language is spanish.
we (as a family) left the jw many over the un scandal... my children never got baptized.
Hi ! and thanks for your uplifting story !
" There is a better life outside the cult ", agreed, but I would put it this way :
"The only Real Life is outside of the cult, and Real Life is the only one where you can find lasting happiness and fulfillment."
All the best to you and your lovely family in the future !
the following is from the latest study watchtower july 2025, study article 28, paragraph 17:.
each christian must make up his or her own mind about whether to accept or to reject these fractions.
we may find it a challenge to understand this matter fully, but making decisions like this is part of the load that each of us must carry.
" this newfound freedom only emerged after years of intense external pressure. There’s no theological revelation behind this softening. There’s just a growing pile of lawsuits and a desperate need to look less like a high-control cult and more like a mainstream faith."
Good observations there ! always moves are motivated by the desire to keep the $$$ flowing in, which is what is behind all the other latest moves, to look less like a high control cult, to the public and the Courts. Whereas nothing much has changed as to how free your mind and actions are as a J.W.
The insidious thing is that J.W's will exert pressure on others in their Congregation by shunning to some degree someone who has exercised their own conscience, made their own decision, and accepted something which is with weasel words still actually forbidden by the Org.
This goes against the words of Jesus where he plainly taught "The Law is for Man, not Man for the Law", in other words as long as a Christian does not go against the plain commands not to murder or commit adultery etc. then it is up to them and their conscience alone as to how they apply "the Law" in their own lives. Nobody else has the right to impose their conscience and ideas upon you.
But that is not what happens now , the Org. is still as much a High Control Group as it ever was.
the july 2025 watchtower has a paragraph that claims that it was the superior power and wisdom of jehovah that guided the gb into allowing jws to grow beards.. the study article is ‘can you still learn from basic bible teachings?’ under the subheading ‘jehovah is the creator’ paragraph 7 states-.
“ 7. what did rahela do to accept a change in direction?.
your answer.
from the O.P :
" It’s almost as if Jehovah is now the puppet and the GB is pulling his strings." LOL , yes what a surprise ! But that does explain why they are never proactive, never ahead on ANYTHING, but always reactive, and usually WAY too late, as in this case.
I know of a number of suitable guys who would have made good Elders, but were rejected for wearing a beard, despite having been given "counsel", so what was that "counsel" based upon ? Scripture, no, only by twisting what is said.
In 1975 a sister I knew well wrote to H.Q in N.Y. and asked about the wearing of a beard by her husband, would it preclude his being an Elder ? The reply from Bethel was that they COULD NOT MAKE RULES about dress and grooming, because different standards were found in different parts of the World. But they never made that known via the literature did they ?
The brother in question decided way back then that as in the U.K many professional men and other men well respected in society, wore beards, it was fine to do so. LOL
He was an excellent M.S, but, strangely ,never made it to Elder.
there were literally hundreds of 'sayings' attributed to jesus outside the 4 gospel tradition.
many of these sayings had narrow sectarian acceptance while one 'saying' especially had near universal appeal.. "be ye skillful moneychangers.".
this is the most commonly quoted of all traditional sayings.
A fit metaphor from the time, a skilled money changer would have to weed out the many fake coins that passed across his table, and reject them.
It is interesting though that at this early stage the Church Fathers, and others, were very aware that the body of Scripture they used was not a collection of Works inspired by God, but men's writings from which the truth must be sorted from untruth, like a skilled money-changer.
The insistence that the "agreed" Canon of Scripture was inspired, and totally error free, must be very late ?
Thanks for Posting more fascinating info. P.P.
how encouraging one finds the experience of a liar.
https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/watchtower-study-july-2025/the-battle-belongs-to-jehovah/.
philip brumley is a legal counsel associated with the jehovah's witnesses organization, having worked for about 40 years at their world headquarters' legal department.
" people not entitled to the truth " , J.W's in the literature always, IIRC, explained that as meaning following the "do not caste your pearls before swine " principle, which would apply when offering the J.W "good news" to the public.
It surely cannot be used to justify not telling the truth to a Court where you have sworn an Oath to do so !
Every legal move the org. makes, including their representatives perjuring themselves, is designed to minimise Compensation paid for by the org. itself.
They have done this, as we see from the case above, and many others, to deny rightful Compensation to the victims of Child Abuse in their midst.
They utterly disgust me.
i like to take a peek at the kids over on reddit every week or so.. this thread caught my eye:" curious….
do any ex jw or pimo, still believe the world is ending.
i see people who have never been witnesses think that the world will end soon and they say things like “jesus is coming soon”….
The idea of an "End Times", if based on Scripture, results from a lazy and scant reading. Every Biblical Writer that predicted such a time, insisted his predictions would be fulfilled shortly after the time he wrote them, within a few years from the time of writing, not thousands of years later.
No actual* prediction by a Bible Writer ever came true in the terms he laid down, they all failed, as did all End Times prophecies, rather spectacularly.
To look for a "Later fulfillment" of already failed predictions is silly.
* Note the word "actual" many seeming "predictions" were written after the event.
the july 2025 watchtower has a paragraph that claims that it was the superior power and wisdom of jehovah that guided the gb into allowing jws to grow beards.. the study article is ‘can you still learn from basic bible teachings?’ under the subheading ‘jehovah is the creator’ paragraph 7 states-.
“ 7. what did rahela do to accept a change in direction?.
your answer.
And the shaving of Pubes ?
‘jehovah’s witnesses told me i would die at 15 – so i didn’t save for a pension’.
fame & fortune: award-winning author on religion, divorce and her dream car.
70. gift this article free.
I feel so sorry for Kit, and others where as she said, "the indoctrination bit deep", with me, born-in in 1950, it did not bite that deep, in 1975, when was all supposed to be over by October, I started my Pension in August, oh, how unfaithful I was !
My thinking was that if Armageddon came at some time, my Pension would be irrelevant, but if it did not, then vital, as it has proved to be !
I was still indoctrinated enough to stay in for some decades after though, my life would have been SO much better had I woken up earlier !
May all who leave find happiness, fulfillment, and expunge any thoughts and feelings implanted by the Evil J.W org !
the july 2025 watchtower has a paragraph that claims that it was the superior power and wisdom of jehovah that guided the gb into allowing jws to grow beards.. the study article is ‘can you still learn from basic bible teachings?’ under the subheading ‘jehovah is the creator’ paragraph 7 states-.
“ 7. what did rahela do to accept a change in direction?.
your answer.
" It’s almost as if Jehovah is now the puppet and the GB is pulling his strings.".
Good observation, they make up some shit, and it's "Guidance form Jehovah". That, if Jehovah exists, is Blasphemy ! LOL.
how exactly did jehovah come down to earth in 1919....look around at all the religions....and choose the bible students?
.
" with no background or explanation at all, and it's just supposed to be accepted as fact "
They did that for a number of years with the thoroughly debunked 1914 nonsense, just presented it as fact. with no explanation.
Then they published a some convoluted and logically nonsensical articles to "explain" the insane "overlapping generations" crap, and gave an "explanation" of 1914 that was no such thing. Looking back, that method, presenting as fact with zero evidence, goes all the way back to C.T. Russell, he did that lot !
Most of today's J.W's have only experienced this milieu, and so cannot explain 1914 or 1919. or anything else much, they simply refer you to the J.W Web Site, which contains only bullshit "explanations ".
