I remember these years as a teen, They were the best years, apart from a few hardliners in the cong, it was mostly an easy time. There were several changes and generally for the better. It wasn't until I read Ray Franz' book CoC recently that I realised a lot of those changes were brought about under his influence. Such a shame there weren't more like him. Things could have been so different.
tornapart
JoinedPosts by tornapart
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74
Living Through the Brief Liberalization of Jehovah's Witnesses, Never Recovering
by TMS inwith the book crisis of conscience detailing the turbulence at bethel during the early to mid 70's, the transformation from autocratic rule to governance by committee or a body of men, many of us can speak to how that felt among the rank and file of the local congregations during those years.
we learned new concepts based in large part to research done for the aid to bible understanding volume, then we were asked or coerced into unlearning those principles, going back to the old ways.
some of us never readjusted, finding ourselves very different from our more hardline compadres.. the inertia for the changes that eventually were initiated in the congregations came from the discovery that the greek words episkopos and presbyteros were used biblically to refer to all qualified men in a congregation, not just one.
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The Hermit's story PART 3
by The Hermit inyou know what, i think that i really enjoy telling my story to you guys after all.
yesterday while i was going through the events of part 2 tears were rolling down my face at some point but tonight i'm just smiling.
thank you all for your support, i appreciate it.
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tornapart
Really enjoying your story Hermit but yes, it's awful that you had to go through all that at such a young age! -
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A Big Hello From Mouthy/Grace and.....
by label licker ina special message to her daughter, ann marie if you are watching this site.
your mother is eighty-eight now and her memory is going fast.
please call her, ann marie.
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tornapart
Grace is a wonderful lady, I really hope she gets to talk to her daughter soon!
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The Hermit's story PART 2
by The Hermit inmy father is a fast learner.
he studied hard and he was really interested.
real hard.
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tornapart
Enjoying reading your story Hermit. What a terrible thing to happen to you! It must have taken a lot of courage to write about this. Looking forward to part 3. -
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We are living in the 21st Century , When , Are We Going to Bury Religious Superstition ? Once and for all ?
by smiddy inthe christian bible / cannon is different , depending on what religion you profess ,around the world.. russian orthodox ,greek orthodox ,christian gnostics ,roman catholics , polish national catholics ,c.of e , etc,etc,.
the very many christian bible translations that exist today differ according to different interpretations of the translators.. the jewish translators of the hebrew scriptures add a whole new concept to the traditional interpretation by christian translators of the old testament... throw in the mix all of the fundamentalist religions that have sprung up these past couple of centuries including the j.w.`s , s.d.a.`s , mormons , t.v.
evangelists , etc, etc,.
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tornapart
I must say those are questions I've been asking myself for a long time. If you believe in a God it gives you a strange sense of abandonment sometimes but then there are other times when he feels strangely close. I feel being in a religion can give you a sense of belonging, a higher power to tell you what to do and what to believe, maybe in the same way as a child with a parent. Only trouble is a child grows up and moves away, makes his own way in life. Who wants to be stuck as a child? The way I think of it myself, I can't shake off the feeling that there is a God. He does exist to me. Have I got evidence... no. But then neither is there evidence that he doesn't exist. I don't believe he is involved in man's affairs the way religion says he is. We have free will and free choices, Many don't like it when that free will and free choice is taken away by religion.
It's good to keep asking questions... even if we don't like the answers. Sometimes there are no answers.
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133
The new service meeting
by John Aquila ini wanted to relate an experience that happened this morning.
it is regarding the new format for the meeting on thursdays in my area.
its not word for word but im summarizing what i heard, the best i can remember.
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tornapart
I told my elder hubby your story this morning John Aquila and he wasn't surprised at all. He said he knows what a lot of the brothers and sisters are saying and many are disturbed by all the changes especially the older ones. He even told me that all the things I'm bothered about, many others are bothered by too (except I've gone one step further by leaving). He thinks there will be a lot more asking questions sooner or later. -
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"Apostates " how honest are we?
by closed inas i mentioned in another post i used to serve as an elder for 2 decades.
i was involved in a number of jc.
some i dealt with are good friends now.
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tornapart
People lie all the time. We all do it. White lies, withholding something, outright deceit. To a greater or lesser degree we all do it. It's human nature. The problem is, as JWs we were taught that we were the most honest group of people on earth. Well... that's a lie! There are just as many dishonest JWs as any other group of people, in fact, they lie to themselves probably more than other people. So is it any wonder when we break free or worse are kicked out... we make stuff up? Some people are naturally more honest than others but I think it's more to do with who they are as a person than what they are. -
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Steven Lett asks for money again
by Gorbatchov inthe 2016 january tv.jw.org broadcasting has a clear message: jw.org needs more money!.
the 2 months of donation increase is not enough: the thousands of projects are not a 2 month project.. so: thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you (heh heh heh) and send us more!
personal conclusion: if i had any doubts that the society is sincere, this openly money grabbing has made my perception complete.
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tornapart
The first thing that struck me was the way he came across, as if he were on a children's programme aimed at primary school age (7-11). Then the guilt tripping (Jesus obeying his Father). Then the commendation (how wonderful you've all been in responding) including some emotional manipulation in reading out a young teen's letter about how she'd saved up her pocket money to send. It seems the May broadcasting resulted in a 15% increase in contributions during June and July (according to Lett). 'So now we're trying it again', he's saying.
What happened to the 'we will never ask for money'?
Then there's the showing of what all the money is being used for. Nothing about having to clean up contaminated property. Nothing about out of court settlements for child abuse cases. Nothing about covering dodgy investments that have gone wrong. It's all got to look totally squeaky clean.
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ELDERS, ha ha ha ha....!!!!!
by brandnew inso as many know....ive been df'd goin on 19 years already.
i drive pops to meetings, and drop him off on saturdays for fs.. well yesterday, the elders ask to speak to me, and tell me that if i plan on returning to jehovah, i had better shave my beard off..
omg!!!!!!
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tornapart
Outlaw... you missed Sophia with her ice cream money
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How many of you actually KNOW the bible OR God???
by Mark Zyche insince jws are sooooooo terrible and full of lies.
what the heck do you think about fat santa, and and days later the celebration of janus?.
since you seem to be so good at looking at the "lies of the watchtower" what do you people think of your lives now, religiously speaking?
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tornapart
Mark.. you are not a true JW, otherwise you wouldn't be here. You are also not even a true christian because a true christian behaves the way Jesus behaved. You don't. So what are you?