Posts by tornapart

12

Buddhists and Jehovah's Witnesses

by tornapart in

recently i have just started looking into what buddhism is all about.

i rather like the idea of a personal spirituality.

of trying to be a better person and an acceptance of the reality of life and trying to find an inner peace and contentment.. anyway, i came across this today.

tornapart

Recently I have just started looking into what Buddhism is all about. I rather like the idea of a personal spirituality. Of trying to be a better person and an acceptance of the reality of life and trying to find an inner peace and contentment.

Anyway, I came across this today. A buddhist who met his girlfriend's mother who happened to be a JW. It wasn't so much his account that interested me as the comments afterwards.

Also, I wonder has anyone else dabbled with the idea of buddhism? Not as a replacement theology but as wanting to be a more contented person.

anyway, here's the link....

http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/13260/an-evening-with-a-jehovahs-witness

71

Doing the Right Thing, Making a Choice (shunning)

by Simon in

jw
friends

continuing a topic that is dear to my heart because of my experience as both a shunner and a shunnee .... some people seem to get very agitated when i talk about the responsibility people have to make the right choices and that despite all the wrongs within the wts, people themselves have a role to play and some personal responsibility for the experience.. notice i said "some" responsibility, not "complete" - this doesn't absolve the wts for the things they do wrong in any way shape or form.

so please don't get argumentative about possible meanings and absolutes - of course the wts has a significant role to play but we need to decide what we're trying to achieve here and why the personal choice is so important.. i'm also not talking about actual crimes that the wts should answer for.

if they cover up child abuse for instance, they absolutely should be reported immediately.

tornapart

Nicolau:- It's no defence to say God and/or his representatives must be obeyed, obedience is a choice

The thing is they believe that if they don't obey God they will die at Armageddon and lose out on everlasting life.... the big stick and the big carrot. In their eyes it's not much of a choice. We can see straight through it but they have been brainwashed.

71

Doing the Right Thing, Making a Choice (shunning)

by Simon in

jw
friends

continuing a topic that is dear to my heart because of my experience as both a shunner and a shunnee .... some people seem to get very agitated when i talk about the responsibility people have to make the right choices and that despite all the wrongs within the wts, people themselves have a role to play and some personal responsibility for the experience.. notice i said "some" responsibility, not "complete" - this doesn't absolve the wts for the things they do wrong in any way shape or form.

so please don't get argumentative about possible meanings and absolutes - of course the wts has a significant role to play but we need to decide what we're trying to achieve here and why the personal choice is so important.. i'm also not talking about actual crimes that the wts should answer for.

if they cover up child abuse for instance, they absolutely should be reported immediately.

tornapart

I think it depends on how much the individual believes that the shunning rule comes from God or not. How they perceive the GB and elders... do they speak from God and therefore should be obeyed. Or are they just imperfect men and we should follow what we believe ourselves to be right or not.

I've seen it in my own family, those that question what the elders say and do and are quite critical of them and their processes don't shun their df'ed family members. The ones that believe God is working through the elders, then they must be obeyed, as disobeying them is tantamount to disobeying God.

43

So sick of the abuse...

by iwasblind in

i am still serving as an elder but just hanging in there.

i think their quandry is that they don't see me out in the field, but when they need encouragement and decent prayer they come to me.. i just got off the phone to this poor sister who i have only met twice.

she is not even in my congregation (her sister is).

tornapart

What a shame there are not many elders like you iwasblind, that's why they come to you for empathy and kindness and understanding they get nowhere else. But you have to think about what is important for you, it's hard to maintain a front, you can end up losing your own identity.

I hope you can find a way forward, and maybe make those who come to you feel the love you are showing them so that when you are gone they will wonder why and be able to make their own way out.

Really hope it all works out well for you!!

112

Did an EX-JW wake you up to TTATT or did you put the effort to wake up yourself?

by John Aquila in

how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.

how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.

how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.

tornapart

Raymond Franz woke me up. Although it was my own choice to read it.

I'd always had 'questions'. Although I believed in 'Armageddon', I never believed the prophecies of when it would come. I never believed in 1975 and thought (as a young teen) that people selling their houses were stupid. I married a man who had been to university, never pioneered and had a good job (even though now he's an elder). We happily got a mortgage and had kids. I always derided the 'Revelation Climax' interpretations.. ie the Cedar Point Ohio stuff being the 7 trumpets. 1918, 1919 dates, the 2 witnesses being the governing body in prison etc. I always had a few doubts even about 1914. Come 2010 and the 'overlapping generation' and my doubts were making my head spin. I'd read the bible and tried to see it in a different light.... I found it interesting. Then quite by chance I read about Raymond Franz on Wikipedia.... I found his book online and read it in 3 days.(CoC) The rest as they say is history. One cannot read that book and not wake up to TTATT.

362

No 'Tight Pants' policy is now official - classed as 'disturbing'

by wizzstick in

in short:- tight pants is no longer just a am3 hang up (or is that a hang up on the well hung?

)- brothers who have effeminate body language are flagged up- as are sisters with 'masculine' hair styles or dress- such dress is 'disturbing to the congregation'- the above must heed the (repeated) counsel from the elders...or they get stripped of the right to share on the ministry- however...this will not be revealed (announced) to the congregation.

wow.

tornapart

Dress code has been around a long time. From as far as I can remember as a child in the 60's, long hair and beards on men, short skirts on women. Tight clothing, low cut tops etc.... making sure our clothing was modest and clean and tidy. Made sense.

This however has gone ones step further. It is now discriminating against anyone who shows any kind of behaviour, traits, speech or mannerisms that makes them appear gay. It smacks of total control, and yes, it is very disturbing.

101

My mom passed away yesterday....

by minimus in

jw
friends

thank you all for your sincere encouragement during these last few weeks.

finally, she is at peace.

i was with her , holding her hand when she died.

tornapart

So very very sorry Min... it's terrible losing your mother, especially when you've been close. There's no words at the moment that can take away the pain and the loss you're feeling right now but just to say you'll be in my thoughts. I know the loss and emptiness and heartache that comes, it's as though your whole world has turned on it's axis. It's hard coming to terms with and some days will be better than others. Don't be afraid to go along with any emotions you feel.. anger, depression, guilt (sometimes when you feel like laughing and feel you shouldn't). We all deal with the death of our loved ones differently, no way is wrong or right. Sending you a big big hug

27

This is for all JW's out there...

by Divergent in

jw
friends

.

sorry to be so blunt, but you only have yourself to blame if you realize something is wrong but allow your cognitive dissonance to kick in.

if you are confronted with facts which are reported by reliable sources which are hard to dispute and deny, and you choose to dismiss these as "apostate lies" rather than looking at these from an objective point of view, it's your fault and you deserve the consequences of willful ignorance!.

tornapart

Dubstepped:- Couldn't the OP just as easily read:

To all the battered wives out there, if you allow your weak azz to stay in a marriage with a spouse that beats the crap out of you, you get what you deserve. It's your choice to stay so you deserve the consequences of your pathetic choices.

Victim blaming is sooooo cool. Compassion is so overrated. Smdh

I've just this morning finished reading a book about a woman in an abusive marriage and found it eye opening. The way someone can be totally trapped and be unable to see any way out. The similarities between being trapped in a cult and trapped in an emotionally abusive relationship were so easy to see. Even though we are not physically abused as in this woman's case, the emotional abuse and control, leading to a person's complete domination is all the same. You end up believing everything you are told by the abuser and have no way of escaping. Your post is spot on dubstepped.

65

Introducing...ME

by Heartsafire in

jw
friends

long time lurker here.

i'm a fifth gen born-in baptized jw.

to say i've been struggling with doubts is an understatement.

tornapart

hello Heartsafire, there are lots of us here who are treading on eggshells with our spouses. I've been fading for years now, my husband is an elder and although I can talk to him about doctrinal things, show him what's in the bible and compare it to what is taught, it's much harder to talk about scandals etc. So I try and take it very slow, drop a seed every now and then. It's very hard but he's now used to me not going to meetings or out on FS anymore (except for an odd meeting). I'm hoping one day something will happen to lift the blinkers but I'm not holding my breath. One of the best things I've found is to say that God gave us a free will, that it's a precious gift and he wouldn't want us to be forced into things that we weren't happy about. Saying that I feel uncomfortable with the way things are going and feel much happier reading my bible by myself and will stay close to God that way.He respects that and leaves me to it. Sometimes he tries to push my buttons but I usually manage to resist. LOL We find it works for us.

Hope you can find your own way to get through this. Remember, patience is everything if you want to make your marriage survive this!

225

Cult or Religion

by Richard C B in

what is a cult and what is a religion?

its open to debate.

who has the authority to say for certain what is a cult and what is a religion?

tornapart

Richard C B :- 4. Can you identify the true religion?

Which religion bases all its teachings on God’s Word, honors God’s name, and proclaims God’s Kingdom as mankind’s only hope? Which group practices love and shuns war? What do you think?

this is telling... cults always think they are special.