Posts by tornapart

14

Subliminal Messages Dispensed Through Memes and Imagery

by Faithful Witness in

this might sound like an abstract idea, but i would love to hear your thoughts.

there seem to be so many questions that can not be answered in their literature and research materials.

there are things they just "know," even though they are often unable to find where it was published in printed material.. how many of their beliefs are being changed, shifted and spread throughout the congregation, through use of comments alone?

tornapart

That 'Will this memorial be our last?' was very interesting. When my elder hubby looked at his KM, he said, 'wow.. that's loaded!' When I asked what he was reading, he told me. I was surprised, he usually wouldn't say something like that, it was almost as though the words were out of his mouth before he knew it.

Then my son said how he'd seen lots of other JWs commenting on it and making a great deal out of it. Both of them thought it was ridiculous and inflammatory. I'm just happy they can both see right through it!

44

Why is it so hard to deconvert the JDubs?

by alonein321 in

i was watching this q & a by peter boghossian (autor of the book a manual for creating atheists) on youtube:.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zksbmdcczvu .

around 17:15 min, he explains that there are difficulty levels when it comes to religions in aplying these techniques.

tornapart

100% agree with DD's post. I'd been wondering why it was so easy for me to 'see the light' when confronted with it and I think it is because I have always been quietly rebellious. Never liked being told what to do and always had an independent streak. Never fully bought into the whole 'faithful slave' idea. Yet still believed it was 'God's organisation'. It took three days of reading 'Crisis in Conscience' to knock that on the head.

I think for any one to wake up when presented with the facts that they have to be a bit of an independent thinker to start with. For those that will listen to me I've asked them to supplant the words 'Governing Body' or 'Faithful Slave' etc with the individual names of the GB members. When you read words about being loyal to the organisation, the FS or the obeying the GB... then put the individual names in, it can be quite eye opening. My son's response to it.. 'Wow!'

Crack that mentality and you may start to get somewhere.

26

I am at a gay bar!!!

by DATA-DOG in

jw
friends

so fun!!!

full report later..... .

dd.

tornapart

DD.. that was fun to read!!

27

How's the weather in your area?

by Decided in

jw
friends

here in nc it's snowing, about 6" so far.

haven't had so much snow and ice in a long time as we have so far this winter.. ken p..

tornapart

Sth UK like Phizzy... usually wet but getting warmer... spring is in the air...

72

CO's & DO's age 70+ to be laid off on 9/1/14

by williamhconley in

jw
friends

in a private conversation with a c.o.

friend from north carolina, he told me yesterday that they just got a letter that all traveling overseers (do's & co's) age 70 & up are going to be laid off on 09/01/2014.

they will be asssigned to local congregations and further details are pending.. .

tornapart

A couple of visits ago our CO was telling my elder hubby that there was a lack of 'new blood'... young elders becoming CO's and wondering what would happen. This last visit he said he was being retired, much to his surprise and shock. He was one of the good guys, a thinker. Loves his bible. Reckon this might give him a lot more to think about!

49

JWs no longer taking the Governing Body seriously.

by kneehighmiah in

jw
friends

the recent letter being us to come to detroit shows that jws are beginning not to take the gb seriously anymore.

the buzz following the meeting was that the letter was unprecedented in its tone.

this coming from long time jws of 30 years plus.

tornapart

My friend asked me the other night if I thought that the 'King of the North' was making a comeback (ie what's happening in the Ukraine). I told her I never believed in all that stuff. She looked at me wide eyed.. 'but it's in the bible'. 'Yes' I sad 'but I don't believe in their interpretation of it'. 'Who'? she asked 'THEM'.. I said. She knew who I was talking about. We happily went over all the false prophecies, the times when we expected things to happen and they never did. We both laughed at the fact that we will both be dead before anything happens. And she still believes in 'the Organisation'.

The R&F are becoming less and less enamoured of the GB it seems to me. And I am quite happy in helping to burst the bubble...

16

When The Ties Get Cut ...this is what I'll do..

by clarity in

jw
friends

date.

directed to the self appointed leaders of jehovah's witnesses.. .

1. my baptism vows were made to the father, the son, the holy spirit.. 2. i was deceived into believing your doctrine was truth.. *.

tornapart

Excellent!

9

Today's day's text

by tornapart in

i fumed when i read this.

enjoy picking it apart friends.... become imitators of god.eph.

one way to imitate jehovah is to adopt his viewpoint regarding matters.

tornapart

I fumed when I read this. Enjoy picking it apart friends...

Become imitators of God.—Eph. 5:1

One way to imitate Jehovah is to adopt his viewpoint regarding matters. Jehovah hates sin, and so should we. Indeed, we ought to move as far away from wrongdoing as possible and not see how close we can get to it without being overcome by sin. For instance, we need to guard against succumbing to apostasy, a sin that would make us unfit to glorify God. (Deut. 13:6-9) Let us therefore have nothing to do with apostates or any one who claims to be a brother but who is dishonoring God. This should be the case even if he is a family member. (1 Cor. 5:11) We are not benefited by trying to refute the arguments of apostates or those who are critical of Jehovah’s organization. In fact, it is spiritually dangerous and improper to peruse their information, whether it appears in written form or it is found on the Internet.—Isa. 5:20; Matt. 7:6. w12 5/15 4:12, 13

45

Starting from a false Premise.

by Phizzy in

we often see "starting from a false premise" enacted on here.

believers will start from the basis that there is a god.. bible believers will start from the basis that it is the word of god in some measure, and worse are jw apologists, they pre-suppose that the first two are a given, and that their beloved property company posing as a religion is god's organization.. none of those premises have been proven, some have been disproven, but we are supposed to go along with them.. now, you may be happy to debate on that basis, in fact it is probably good "exercise", but in the end i find their arrogant, unproven assertions begin to really annoy me, and then i stick in what is known on here as a "cofty", which is a short, succinct comment that points out the big hole in their presentation.. the only thing you find then is, either the apologist cuts and runs, or totally ignores your "cofty".. i think, even if we enjoy debating for a while with such people, at a certain point we need to call them out on their false premise, or premises, otherwise a j.w lurking here may simply accept the words of the apologist and gain nothing in the way of truth..

tornapart

I've stayed a christian even though I've dumped all the JW doctrines. For me christianity is a simple belief with no trying to shove it down other people's throats. I've enjoyed being able to look at things from all angles and understand the reasons why people choose not to believe in God or come to the conclusions they don't really know one way or the other.

The important thing for me is to enjoy what life is all about. My family, my friends, all my hobbies, travel, nature and all the other wonderful things there are. If it really does turn out that there's no God then what have I lost? Whereas if there is a God (and I truly belive there is) then anything after I die is a bonus

45

I am having trouble believing in God...

by thedepressedsoul in

i was raised a jw and i am still one but recently i have been having trouble believing in a god.

this is not meant to offend anyone who does, i am just curious to see if i am the only one who thinks this..... to start, i am a very black and white person.

if 1+1=2 it makes sense to me and i can agree with it.

tornapart

I've not read everyone's comments on this, so sorry if I say something someone else has said. This is how I see it. I've had lots of questions and doubts about things and trying to make sense of it all. I still believe in God and still believe in Christ but the idea that God has written a book full of laws that have no use, can be interpreted so many different ways that it's impossible for anyone to see it the same way and expect by some miracle that only a few will get it right, is absurd.

The laws God set out for mankind were to show that they couldn't, no matter how hard they tried, keep them all. When Christ came he gave us new laws, in fact only two. To love God and to love our neighbour. That's it. Salvation isn't dependent on understanding every tiny doctrine in the bible, it's not putting faith in any religion, church or organisation. It's simply putting faith in Christ. That's it.

If you still want to believe in God, I would suggest you read some books by a christian writer called Philip Yancey. He came out of a legalistic religion and became agnostic for a while before regaining his faith in God. He makes some really good arguements.

If not, there are plenty of others on here that can make a case for atheism.