for many families, they received the golden ticket once a family member became an elder.
the glory and admiration of being an elder seeped right thru to all the elder’s connections.
if you got into some trouble, having an elder friend or relative could give you the stay out of jail card.
I was never an Elder, and certainly never felt special because dad was an Elder, and so were a number of my family.
It was useful once, a guy had done something to my family, to one of my kids, that I could not let go. The Elders supported me 100%, I was right anyway, but I do think my connections added clout to my case.
the watchtower—study edition | september 2021. study article 39. when a loved one leaves jehovah.
2 think how heartbroken jehovah must have been when members of his own angelic family turned their back on him!
(jude 6) and imagine how hurt he was at seeing his beloved people, the israelites, rebel against him time and again.
A question I would love to throw at a JW who accused me of "leaving" or "turning my back" on Jehovah.
The question : "How can I "turn my back" on a fictional character ?"
after listening to the zoom meetings the past two weeks, i started to wonder, what is the real purpose for such short comments.
policy for 5 or more years now.
supposedly, it is so more can comment.
I think it is so that no one introduces any thought provoking ideas. They are so S**t scared of anything that challenges what they say is "the truth".
Strange that, the Truth will stand any scrutiny or challenge. The Lie, not so.
If I was till a JW, I would see no point whatsoever in attending a meeting, I can read the material for myself I do not need some half illiterate jerk reading it again for me.
i realize that some activist exjws really don’t seem to be happy in life.
they finally got away from the organization and yet seem still negatively connected to it.
some exjws are always upset because of what the “truth “ did to their lives, which is understandable.
I have written on here before about how life in the cult had brought me to the lowest point in my life, I was so depressed I was planning to end my life, you cannot get more miserable than that !
So, of course I am now happier, but by a HUGE factor ! My Therapist saved my life, identified it was the Cult that caused my problems , and showed me how to move forward.
Since then I have experienced what True Happiness is, I never did in all my decades in the Cult.
Now I am VERY happy, content in my own skin, and I hope, a joy to be around, I have much to offer others, the Cult would have destroyed all of this.
if you were born in, do you count from the year of your birth, when you gave your first presentation at the door, (i was five),.
when you became an unbaptized publisher, (i was about 12), or when you dedicated your life to god,(org) and took the plunge?
what could you have done with all of this time?
Similar for me to t b known's comment above. I count from when I was born in, the indoctrination starts then. And I count to the night I walked out of the Kingdom Hall, looked back and said to myself " I'm never going there again".
I had been mentally out for a couple of years, and inactive for well over a year at the time.
It is an interesting question to pose, as many may be honest enough to count the time they were still mentally entrapped by at least some of the JW beliefs even after they had physically left. Considering it for myself, when I left I no longer believed in any of the Unique teachings of the J.W.s, just some of the beliefs common to all Christian Sects, of course, they have long gone now too!
I am now a Happy Humanist Atheist.
They are devious liars from the top down. I also found them the worst people to employ when I was an Employer.
Trust them as far as you can throw them.
in genesis 18:27 it says:.
but abraham again responded: “please, here i have presumed to speak to jehovah, whereas i am dust and ashes.. but when referencing the interlinear translation of the old testament, it clearly uses the hebrew word “adonai” instead of “yahweh” in this verse.
was abraham referring to god as “lord” in this verse?.
If you read what Scholars have said about the Trinity Doctrine, in Bible Dictionaries and Commentaries etc, you will see that it is agreed the Doctrine is not to be found at all in either the O.T or the N.T.
Of especial pertinence to this question is the Jewish Encyclopaedia and its entry on this, after all, Genesis is from their "Bible" !
The consensus by Scholars is also that Abraham is a Fictional figure, therefore what he is supposed to have said has no bearing upon beliefs or faith.
on december 7, 2020 usa congressman jamie raskin's (md-08) bipartisan house resolution 512, calling for the global repeal of blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws, passed the house of representatives by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 386-3; see https://raskin.house.gov/2020/12/house-passes-raskin-resolution-calling-global-repeal-blasphemy-heresy-apostasy .
a description of the bill says "the resolution also calls for the immediate release of religious prisoners of conscience worldwide.
as more than 80 countries use blasphemy laws to persecute and imprison religious minorities and dissenters, the house asserted the essential importance of freedom of religion and liberty of conscience globally.".
It is my humble opinion that Article 18 of the I.D.H.R is not well written, it should make it abundantly clear that it is a Human Right to reject all religious thought and practice, to be non-religious and/or an Atheist.
Then two good things would happen, JW Org would have to cease even its devious use of Disfellowshipping, and major trading nations could refuse to trade with those who ignore such a Right.
Note I said " could", usually Greed means they do not do so now, even supplying Armaments and other Technology used in Human Rights abuses, the U.K being a shameful example of this.
But remove the possible "Shunning" from the JW Org's arsenal of weapons and it would help so many to break free.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-site-jehovahs-witness-hq-movie-studios-netflix-b947841.html.
evening standard, july 26, 2021. london.
holy smoke: london site of jehovah’s witness hq to be movie studios.by .
So they simply sold the Office block and a bit of the surrounding Land for 50 Mill ? I presume the rest of the Site was sold to a developer for more ?
me: selling the wt and awake for 10 cents at 5 years old.
i don't mean to brag or anything, but i sold 'em like hotcakes.
i musta been a cutie at 5 yo.
I have a few, but a fond one is when calling on a secluded home in the Countryside, I could see through the Hallway and through the rear door to the garden, a couple were evidently sunbathing out there, after I rang the bell, the lady stood up, completely and gloriously nude, and persuaded her husband/partner to slip on a pair of shorts and answer the door.
I had quite a chat with the guy, a likeable guy, and a thinker, but I did not catch one more glimpse of the lady.
If I had been the sort of JW who actually did "Return Visits" I might have been tempted to try to repeat the experience on another Sunny day.
