Apostate..... apostate literature... apostate website.... apostate ideas... etc.
(not so much me, I was always intrigued but I've seen it in family & friends).
i read steve hassan's book and he mentioned about buzz words or triggers that call out the cult personality of a victim of mind controlling cult.
when you were in, what triggered you?.
Apostate..... apostate literature... apostate website.... apostate ideas... etc.
(not so much me, I was always intrigued but I've seen it in family & friends).
does anyone know of any witnesses, in good standing, brother or sisters, that used to conceal carry to meetings or field service?.
It's illegal to carry a knife or a gun in the UK. You can get up to 5 years in jail if you do and you're caught with one.
can a publisher "drop out" and still be in good standing?.
I asked a few months ago to come off... after 45 years of giving talks. It was just accepted with no questions asked and no one has said anything ever since. I'm still considered in good standing. If only they knew LOL
i feel it strange that many here is here because of the wt organizations lies, contradictions etc (?!).
a deep and personal belief in god should not stand or fall because of a wicked organization that manipulate people.
i have a feeling that other christians in other organizations are more stable in their belief.
At the moment I've just started reading a book by Philip Yancy called Disappointment with God. Like JWs he was raised in a fundamentalist religion and for a time completely lost his faith in God becoming an atheist for 15 years. I think coming from a controlling religion it's so easy to lose faith in God too. When you start asking questions, they don't stop, one just leads to another. It's as if you have to find your own way all over again from the start.
my family moved from the city to the country.. part of the reason for the relocation was to move 'to where the need was greater'.
i loved our new home - i was free to roam the woods and fields, enjoy the wildlife, work in our garden and feed the chickens.
i had new friends in our new congregation.
Sounds rather like my childhhod/teenage years. Happy times. Many of my childhood friends are still around, some are more like family than my extended family are. It's what makes it so hard for me to leave... :(
do we really need an organization and need to be in subjection to it as god always chose leaders (abhraham, moses, jesus, apostles)?
what are your thoughts?
how can you reason this out?.
One JWs know well... "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
whenever i post on this site i feel really guilty and stupid.
i think after i post that's it i'm never posting again (probably be a good idea) .
does anyone else feel like this?
“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”
Dalai Lama
do we really need an organization and need to be in subjection to it as god always chose leaders (abhraham, moses, jesus, apostles)?
what are your thoughts?
how can you reason this out?.
I would agree with DD about the bible commentaries. You can find some on biblehub.com. Some interesting understandings on the greek words used for obedience and submission.
I always think of the example of Aaron. Used in a recent WT study as an example of a man put in a position of leadership by God himself. Of course it was used as an example that we must 'obey' and 'follow' our leaders as if we were following God.
However, what did Aaron do for the people while Moses was away? He created a Golden Calf for them to worship. What did God think of that? Was he pleased with the Israelites for what Aaron had done for them?
Then I think to the WT. What have they done while their master Christ is away? They have had to create something visible for them to follow... a new Golden Calf.
Paul himself said in his letters that the disciples were NOT to follow him, Cephas or Apollos or anyone else... only Christ. These sherpherds were there merely to look after and protect. Not to become Lords and Masters.
If they do exactly as Christ commanded and care for his sheep in the proper manner, looking after them and caring for them, then they receive our respect.
the jws stopped by my house a couple weeks ago on a saturday morning.
i knew that with others most likely waiting for them out in the car they probably did not then have much time to engage in any serious conversation.
so i let them talk while i feigned interest in what they had to say.
No! It's not ok Cofty, however he has apologised for that and tried to explain why he used it. I'm sure he would take it back if he could, unfortunately on this forum there is only a 30 min window to rectify something you regret writing.
I just feel it's a shame that atheists and theists have to fight with each other over words when there's so much more valuable things to said and appreciated on both sides.
the jws stopped by my house a couple weeks ago on a saturday morning.
i knew that with others most likely waiting for them out in the car they probably did not then have much time to engage in any serious conversation.
so i let them talk while i feigned interest in what they had to say.
This thread had an awesome start. How to get JWs thinking outside the box. Isn't that what we all want to do?
How many of us, believers and non believers have beloved family members trapped inside a mind controlling religion? Don't we want to use methods like Christian Guy used to get them thinking?
If it then gets derailed into an 'atheist v theist' slanging match then what good will that accomplish for any of us?
We need posters like Christian Guy, who obviously knows his bible really well and knows how to use it with great effect. Those JWs will have gone away and his words will remain in their minds for a long time and one day they may wake up and realise that what he said to them planted seeds in their mind. It happened to me. As a pioneer, I called on people who planted seeds in my mind and even now can vividly recall the conversations because they struck a cord with me.
Give Christian Guy a break guys.