Posts by pale.emperor

55

Looking forward to going to Memorial this year!

by kpop in

jw
friends

i have some tricks to play.

i know it may sound childish but i feel that creating havoc and forcing the memorial to be postponed will be the highlight of the night!

wish me luck!.

pale.emperor

Farm Girl

As long as you're not planning to do something that could physically harm someone, then GO FOR IT!
Sorry posters, taking a public stand against a CULT that destroys families and literally kills people with its no-blood policy is not even remotely similar to interrupting an Easter service at a mainstream church because you don't believe in the trinity.
And please don't fall for the old "aggressive activism will just drive them further into the cult" - that's exactly what the Watchtower wants you to think.
How can JWs possibly be pushed further into their cult when they are already willing to sacrifice their education, their job, their very lives, and even the lives of their children?!
As fellow humans, as victims of corporate exploitation, Jehovah's Witnesses deserve our respect. As for the cult that bears their name and its annual 'special day'- they deserve NONE.
Resistance to entrenched injustice is never polite. If you're not pushing people's buttons, if you're not making someone uncomfortable, then you're not doing it right.
If you believe in your heart that what you are doing is the right thing to do then do it and don't let ANYONE try to convince you otherwise.
Please keep us posted if you go through with your plans (I hope to God you do). I promise to have your back if they try to pile up on you again.

I couldn't disagree more. This isn't taking a stand.

Point 1: The members of the congregation wont have any idea about the ARC for one thing because they're not allowed to look at it. And for damn sure no elder is going to tell them about it, that's even if the elders know.

Point 2: What the members of the congregation will see is an exJW getting up and disrupting their most holy of evenings. Which is exactly how the org paint exJWs.

Point 3: They dont know they're in a cult.

Point 4: This will be remembered for years to come as "how close we must be to the end because we're being persecuted by Satans world".

If you wish to make a point then take a sip of the wine and a piece of the bread. Many fundamental Christians do when they attend because they genuinely believe they have a heavenly reward.

55

Looking forward to going to Memorial this year!

by kpop in

jw
friends

i have some tricks to play.

i know it may sound childish but i feel that creating havoc and forcing the memorial to be postponed will be the highlight of the night!

wish me luck!.

pale.emperor

I will also ask you not to. Simply because there will be children present and they might get a little freaked out. Let the witnesses have their memorial. They dont know any better. It's the org that we disagree with remember, not the individual members.

16

I've been awake 1 year today!

by pale.emperor in

it was a year ago today that my life changed completely.

i'll never forget it.

i had zero friends in the kh and was never included in the "guys" drinks, football games, parties etc.

pale.emperor

I think what i've learned the most is that although JW's DO have a sort of unity around the world, it's based on fear and it's conditional. I used to visit KH's in other countries and speak to cart witnesses in other countries and it genuinely was nice to meet them. But thats only because JW's are really a minority and it was nice to meet someone who is in the same boat as us. The unity isnt anything special, the Mormons have the same thing. Probably better than the JW's in fact.

Also i learned how unloving JW's can be when you decide to leave. Accusations, gossip, lies, not forgetting the shunning, the Facebook stalking by friends of friends, the random text messages from unknown numbers telling me to RETURN TO JEHOVAH, TIME IS RUNNING OUT! - from people who love me?

It's made me a more honest person. And more compassionate and nonjudgmental. I apologized to a few people after of left, one of whom is a very good friend of mine who is gay. I apologized for bible-bashing him about Sodom and Gomorrah (im so ashamed i did that on a regular basis), about armageddon, about homosexuality being learned rather than a natural occurrence. I asked him why was he still friends with me despite all of this? He answer was "i just thought you were a bit mad, but you're a good person and sincere". That's from a "worldly" person.

It's not easy, but im now out to live "The Best Life Ever".

36

What is the basis for advising “Don’t pursue higher studies”?

by venus in

two elders who visited my friend last week encouraged her not to pursue higher studies.

it seems they are dishing out the same old stuff: “the end is imminent, and this is the time to do more in the service; hence don’t waste your resources on higher studies.”.

i wonder whether there was some official communiqué (something that is sent out recently like letter to the elders, or kingdom ministry article …).

pale.emperor

Reasons that were drummed into me growing up:

The end is just around the corner, silly! (This was 2001).

You'll be surrounded by worldly people that Satan will use to entice you

There's nothing out there

You'll be in debt for years afterwards

You'll be missing out on association with JW's your age, the best way of life!

Why not use your skills in the truth?

You can be a <insert interest here> in the new system

Be like Timothy (the bible character, not some boy called Timothy)

14

My story

by victory in

my name is collins.

i am from nigeria.

i was born in the year 1997. i was raised by witness parents.

pale.emperor

Hello Collins and welcome. I'm sorry to hear about your situation.

496

This is What I Would Need in Order to Believe

by cofty in

sometimes theists challenge atheists about what evidence would be required before they would believe.

various unlikely scenarios are offered in reply.

i have taken the bait myself in the past.. i think the correct answer is much more ordinary.

pale.emperor

I remember as i was trying to fade i said to an awake JW who cant leave:

"If i were God I'd make it very simple for my little creations to know if i existed and that i was the one true God. For one thing i would speak to them. Secondly I'd say "if you let me look after you, you will never grow old and die. (Notice that I didn't say worship, I'm not an egomaniac, i said "if you let me look after you""). Those who didn't want to let me look after them, well they'd see the results of that. You'd have my people in health, happiness and prosperity. And those who reject me living dull lives. But anyone could approach me and let me care for them."

Im no genius, but to me that just made more sense. And Jehovah never thought of it.

16

I've been awake 1 year today!

by pale.emperor in

it was a year ago today that my life changed completely.

i'll never forget it.

i had zero friends in the kh and was never included in the "guys" drinks, football games, parties etc.

pale.emperor

It was a year ago today that my life changed completely. I'll never forget it. I had zero friends in the KH and was never included in the "guys" drinks, football games, parties etc. My wife was in hospital. I was looking after our little one on my own (which was actually really nice). I remember I was about a third of the way through Crises Of Conscience by Ray Franz and decided to take my little one to a park in Liverpool called St.Johns gardens. As she was running around picking up pine cones and running among the flowers it just hit me.... i cant keep making excuses for this religion. At this time i still believed in God, i still believed in Jehovah but i was 100% convinced that this religion isnt "the truth". And more and more things started to make sense.

1914 clearly was wrong. They've been wrong about many things before. In fact, every prediction they've ever made.

Blood should be a matter of personal choice.

Shunning is the exact opposite of Christianity

There's no way to leave with your reputation in tact

Although i have many "brothers" and "sisters" in "the truth", i dont trust a single one of them with my doubts

Maybe we're supposed to grow old and die. Everything dies. Plants, animals, even stars and planets.

As you will all know from your own experiences, i immediately felt sad, scared, angry, happy, free and worried. What would i do now? I cant just leave, my father in law is an elder. The things i've learned from Ray Franz, how can i explain to JW's what i know and where i learned it without being accused of being an apostate?

So i signed up to this site. I didnt post right away but i read and read and read. Many of you here helped me more than my actual friends and actual family did, who now shun me, (yes, i mean you Toesup, Mr Flipper, Dubstepped and Chook).

It's been a crazy year, but one i'll always remember.

23

Looking for my little sister.

by DeadmanWalking in

i have a little sister havnt seen or heard from in 20 years she was da for attending a church she was 17 at the time she moved out and lived with a family not jw's in fact they are very a posed to jw's the past 20 years i've tried to make contact she won't respond all i know is she's got kids 2 or 3 of them she lives outside charlotte nc and works for a insurance company as an underwriter.

i think her husband is a police officer ?

being back in her life having a niece or nephew to watch grow up would be nice.

pale.emperor

Look what this cult does. It's tragic. If this religion didnt exsist we wouldnt have to go through situations like this. Deadmanwalking i sincerely hope you manage to reconnect with your sister. Keep us posted.

45

How did you feel when you got baptized?

by Schnufti in

back in 2005, i remember sitting in the stadium in the special rows with 42 others.

8000 people were looking at us - maybe even with a binocular - while listening to the speech.

my family and my friends among them, being all proud of me.. i don't remember being enthusiastic.

pale.emperor

Im glad you asked this, when i was about to get baptized i was told that right afterwards you feel different. A clear sign that the holy spirit is upon you etc. After i got dunked i felt no different. Then as i was getting dressed, one of the brothers who did the baptizing said over the cubicle doors "can you feel the holy spirit resting upon you brothers?" to which the other brother who had got baptized along with me said enthusiastically "YES!"... i felt no different.

So i went through my JW life assuming that my baptism didn't count, that Jehovah hadn't accepted or recognized my dedication. Years later i asked a very knowledgeable brother who was very approachable and loving to the congregation if he felt different after his baptism. He replied "Yes! But then, i also felt the same right after i was baptized into the Worldwide Church Of God as a youth".

So i understood that that "feeling" the JWs were striving for was nothing more than a placebo. Like when you see faith healers making people feint off a single touch.

P.S. That day only three people, including myself, got baptized. All of us have since left the Watchtower. The man who was in the cubicle who shouted "yes!" was a zealous pioneer but left after his brother went through depression and the elders berated him for his ministry hours going down. The girl who got baptized that day left after her elder father ran off with his 19yo secretary. Both are living happy, fulfilled lives out of the borg.

11

Picture worth 1000 words

by ILoveTTATT2 in

jw
friends

(matthew 25:41-46) 41 “then he will say, in turn, to those on his left, ‘be on your way from me, you who have been cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42 for i became hungry, but you gave me nothing to eat, and i got thirsty, but you gave me nothing to drink.

43 i was a stranger, but you did not receive me hospitably; naked, but you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, but you did not look after me.’ 44 then they also will answer with the words, ‘lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?’ 45 then he will answer them with the words, ‘truly i say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of these least ones, you did not do it to me.’ 46 and these will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones into everlasting life.”.

pale.emperor

I see this all the time in Liverpool.

I remember a few years ago I was out door knocking and a householder said to me she wouldn't accept any literature from JWs because they don't help the homeless like other churches do. I had no answer for her. That really made me think even back then.