Posts by tornapart

45

Potential Muslim convert

by StopTheTears in

jw
friends

about a month ago, i purchased arabic/english gospels of john that contain a commentary for muslims.. .

i went to one of my neighbors and spoke to him and gave him one.

fast forward to today, my brakes need done so i took my car to the shop, walking back into my street i saw my friend abdullah outside.. .

I watched a programme the other night about muslim apostacy. It was very interesting and reminded me very much of the way exJWs are treated for apostacy, especially in this country (where killing someone is against the law).

There were a number of people mainly youngsters who stopped believing in God and wanted to turn their back on religion altogether. They lost their families, their peers, their whole community and became 'kafirs' unbelievers. In some countries it meant their death. Some of these young people courageously took a stand to protest against the way they are treated even when they know it could be dangerous for them.

14

Question for Christians: What Religion are You Now?

by LaurenM in

i know many on here are atheist.

but for the christians on here...what religion are you now that you are no longer a jw?

i'm still undecided as to whether i believe in god.

tornapart

Hi Lauren, I'm a christian still and still believe in God but religion has no place in my life. Religion is all about control and I don't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire. True, there may be some liberal churches who are welcoming and tolerant but I'm not going to sift through all the bad ones to find a good one. I believe in evolution but I believe that God set it all off. I don't have all the answers and never will, I always say there are more questions that answers but it's interesting discovering what other people believe and why. I rather like the ideas that Frances Collins has, they make a lot of sense to me.

21

What steps did you take to free yourself from the cult? mentally or physically?

by HereIgo in

first i ignored all of the elders phone calls to send my recommendation letter to my new congregation, truth is i had already started my fade and moved across town and didn't have a new congregation.

i deleted all jw friends on facebook.

i also threw away all of my public talks recorded on cd, all literature, even my book bag and my bible.

tornapart

Physically it's quite hard with family still in but I've managed to become inactive and only go to meetings once in a while. Mentally it's been more successsful as I make sure that in my mind I no longer belong. This makes it easier to react to others as though I am on the outside, not allowing them any power over me (even if only in my own mind). It helps a lot to be able to visualise them as friends who are trapped rather than enemies and allows me to set boundaries that they cannot cross. I really think freeing oneself from a cult is more mental than physical and takes a lot of time and patience. Once you've been able to do it, it becomes a lot easier and you find yourself being accepted rather than shunned.

10

Husband Turns Up With Circuit Overseer And Wife!

by disillusioned 2 in

my husband said he would be gone for the day.

the circuit overseer is at their cong and he trying to get brownie points.

i was just chilling watching tv with a cuppa, when i heard a car outside.

tornapart

I went to the Sunday meeting the other day when it was the COs visit, hubby is an elder and i go from time to time just to show my face and say hello to old friends. Anyway, I was sat at the back after the meeting and the CO comes out, looks straight at me and plonks himself down beside me. However, he was really nice, Introduced himself, siad you're ***** wife aren't you'? When I said 'yes' he said it was lovely to meet me and just went on to say how much he liked my son, that he did lots of kind things behind the scenes (helping out a disabled brother and a young family) and he thought what a lovely young man he was. He never said anything about me being inactive, or missing lots of meetings. He was very nice.

I've told my husband that anyone is welcome to come back for tea or coffee as long as they don't try to get me to come back. I've had some knocking on the door to say hello and if anyone tries anything I just nod politely and smile and change the subject. Works quite well LOL. Usually they just like to pass the time of day.

77

Inappropriate Behavior

by rebelfighter in

jw
friends

now i know i am getting older or of the older generation.

i have had a very strange day with a lot of strange dealings with people with strange behavior today but this one incident was just over the top.

so i came out of a store in a busy shopping center.

tornapart

@Giles Gray... that's even better! Haha Got to love our Brit humour eh?

77

Inappropriate Behavior

by rebelfighter in

jw
friends

now i know i am getting older or of the older generation.

i have had a very strange day with a lot of strange dealings with people with strange behavior today but this one incident was just over the top.

so i came out of a store in a busy shopping center.

tornapart

One of my favourite commercials was The Levi 501 in the Laundrette (1985).

I don't think changing clothes in certain places is unacceptable, people do it all the time on the beach. As long as a person doesn't go totally nude. Maybe if you were somewhere in the Middle East it would be different.

15

My thoughts on our online community.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

i will start this o.p by a review of the mental conditioni i find many former or current witnesses at when they join the board :-.

1. broken relationships.. 2. lonliness/ depression.

3. guilt / shame .

tornapart

I think from my username you can tell how I felt on 'waking up', I was angry, disillusioned. I'd given my whole life to something I now could see was fake. The rug had been well and truly pulled from under me. Although I don't feel so bad now I still feel on shaky ground. Not quite sure what to believe half the time. Now seeing what I can see behind the curtain, I feel like my family who are still in, are being held to ransom and I'm powerless to do anything about it.

The most I get from this community is a sense of having come from the same place, even though we are all on different paths and going in different directions. The most help I find is from those who are still going through the motions for sake of family and how to deal with the situations that crop up. It's invaluable for someone like me, I don't feel quite so alone with it all.

101

Are Gods true worshippers on Earth today? If they are not JWs then who are they?

by Formerbrother in

is there gods true worshipers on earth today as jesus said there would be?

if they are not jws then who are they?.

who else comes close to being gods true followers today?.

tornapart

Christianity was started by Jesus Christ, 2,000 years ago. JWs was started by Rutherford 85 years ago. All other 'christian' religions were started by men too. As Blondie said 'why does there have to be an organisation'?

Jesus said the wheat and the weeds would grow together. He said his followers would be recognised by their 'fruits', That of showing love towards others. A whole group cannot show love, only individuals can do that. There are as many hateful, bigoted, self-righteous, prejudiced, unforgiving, judgemental JWs as there are in any other groups, christian or otherwise and just as many, if not more, loving, kind, forgiving and compassionate people among other groups. The 'love' shown amongst JWs is conditional. Conditional in that you have to be or become 'one of them'. Outside the group you are considered 'wordly' (with all it's negative connotations), even if you are a christian from another sect. If you chose to leave the JWs you become and evil hated 'apostate', regardless of whether you stay christian or not. Is that the love Jesus spoke of?

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

tornapart

Cofty.. I've understood some of what you've said, Memphis and Landy too.. but that's it i'm afraid but everyone else.... no...

I'm interested in these type of threads and I want to understand the way different people see things but maybe my brain is just too simple (perhaps I'm not far enough away from those 'ape ancestors' LOL) the language and arguements used are just way over my head. Think I'd rather just stick to David Attenborourgh and Brian Cox....

I'm still a believer and it's going to take a lot more than this thread to convince me otherwise.

405

Origin of Life

by cofty in

in recent years significant progress has been made in solving the question of how life originated on our planet.. how do you think theists will respond when it finally happens?

as a former christian i know my reaction would have been something like "well that just goes to show that it takes intelligent life to make life", but for two reasons that defense doesn't work.. firstly it would prove that life is not an ethereal force that originates with god.

there is no 'ghost in the machine', no elan vital.

tornapart

Once again, I must be totally thick or something because I have NO IDEA of what anyone is talking about....

and I'm sure I'm not the only one.........................