Posts by pale.emperor

28

Were You Ever A True Believer?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was raised in the religion and for the most part believed that my religion was truth.

i recognized some mistakes were occasionally made but felt that nobody is perfect.

then i smartened up and realized how dumb so many of the beliefs are....was there ever a time that you truly believed you had the "truth"?.

pale.emperor

I was a true believer, but at the same time i believed there is more to it than what we read. As a child in school i can still remember feeling so close to Jehovah. As if he was my best friend. I'd talk to him in my head and pray all the time (i sound quite mad dont i?). And there were times i thought Jehovah had indeed answered my prayers. But then, i was also convinced that i'd never leave school because armageddon was just around the corner.

I remember 1995 and some in my congregation saying this will surely be the last Dec 25th the world will ever see because, how much worse could the world get?

It wasn't until i was about 22yo that i started to realize that what i believed was not entirely what the rest of the JW's believed. I didn't agree with shunning those who leave voluntarily and want to be left alone. I didn't know we were supposed to shun those who leave formally. I didn't understand the ransom. I still dont in fact. If Jesus died for our sins then all we have to do is be sorry and it's glossed over? But then why confess to elders? They're imperfect and God and I know the full story. Then there were the stupid stories of Jehovah providing a Circuit Overseer with a kitchen renovation while that very same day two airplanes crashed into the world trade center. Stuff like that makes you step back and think.

16

" We don't need no university education"

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

i left school at 16, because i was studying and getting the best " university education" in the world.

.

how did the theocratic ministry school benefit you?.

pale.emperor

TMS may or may not have helped other than giving me opportunities to prove to myself I had the skill set for public speaking.

Same here. The TMS didn't actually teach me anything, it just put me on the platform and gave me the opportunity to speak publicly. I really enjoyed it to be honest but i never listened to the feedback, just nodded along and critiqued myself.

12

Elusive response from Japan's Branch

by yoko N in

an active jw living in tokyo is expressing extreme hate in twitter to those who are in different religion, admirers of musicians, those who love toplay air soft guns.. linkpeople who saw it got angry and exposed his real name,congregation where his associating with, his address, his professionon the internet.. linkthis guy wouldn’t stop expressing hate, so somebody spread softdrinks and gambages in front of the porch of his house.causing some uproar.some jws are writing, calling,sending fax to japan’s branch office tostop this man,because this cause bad reputation about jws as a whole.. branch office keep denying accepting letter, fax.they are saying they don’t know anything about the disturbance.a little newspaper on the internet wrote the article about this,.

linkand branch offices finally admitted accepting a letter of complaint.--------“ did you accept the letter we sent you?branch :yes-----did you read it?branch: no, man in charge should read it.---are you not in charge ?branch: no ------where the man in charge?branch: he is not available right now.. -------when can i talk to that person?

branch: i don’t knowthis kind of elusive conversation is going on and on and on.growing number of people is aware of the incident,and calling to the branch.disgusted of their elusive attitude.this keeps going.

pale.emperor

Could you explain why someone leaving a soft drink outside someones door is a big deal? Only in Japan!

46

How many years did you waste away in the Org?

by Tallon in

in my case; 27 years.

7 of which were as a ministerial serpent ... sorry, i mean 'servant' ;).

pale.emperor

Born in. Baptized aged 19 because social pressure and you wernt taken seriously unless you were baptized.

Woke up aged 31 and DA'd (then DF'd anyway) aged 32.

I dont regard it as a waste though, i see the positive. I can now smell bullshit a mile away, im very critical when im presented with sweeping statements and i now know more about this religion than most active witnesses.

25

Are There Many JWs That Have Actually Left?

by minimus in

jw
friends

it seems that most people who have been witnesses that i've known in the last 20 years are still jws.

they may not be as zealous as before but they still remain as jehovah's witnesses.

.

pale.emperor

A lot stay in for the social club and to keep their family.

This is true. It was certainly true for me. The GB has to make leaving intolerable, how can they do that? By holding your family hostage against you.

The warm fuzzy feeling is missed by me i must admit. It was nice to "belong" to something even though i had doubts.

Young ones are dropping off little by little. I know 3 from the hall i grew up in that are living in sin and still are very much included in witness parties and family. They arnt being shunned despite the latest ruling from the RC to shun inactive ones. They faded for only about 6 months before doing this, their family must not want to lose touch which is fantastic.

Im seeing a lot of apathy with most people though. The JW's are shooting themselves in the foot by being so "cliquey" because the ones not in the popular crowd are just leaving.

I look forward to the death of this cult in my lifetime. At best it'll become a new religion in about 20 years.

475

What is the alternative to JW?

by Formerbrother in

i mean this with all due respect, i would like to hear from genuine people who think jw have it wrong and then what is the truth?.

im not talking about silly little quibbles here and there.. is jehovah real?

the the bible is word?

pale.emperor

Lets look at THE FACTS shall we?

1. The bible is a collection of 66 books that "made it". There were many other books that didnt make it. So of course the bible is going to agree with itself if you remove the books that contradict it (even though there are still contradictions if you look for them).

2. From what i read, Jesus didn't start a religion, nor did he shun those who decided to leave. He gave people a method of living and his take on God, forgiveness and love. Something we can all emulate regardless of religion.

3. If the bible is "your book" and Jesus is your model then you dont need anyone else. That's it. If someone compels you into something or tries to change your way of thinking you need to flip open your bible and decided for yourself with you "bible trained conscience" if your understanding of the bible and it's message is correct. No other person or book is to be used to change your beliefs.

But then, im an atheist now so it may as well me Lord Of The Rings as far as im concerned.

23

"Best life ever" ?????

by charity7 in

is this a slogan that was recently come up with for jw's?

i've seen it used as a hashtag on instagram for jw's, key chains, cakes, about me biography description... the first thing i thought was, isn't that a little pretentious?

they complain so much about this life.

pale.emperor

Lets see, in my last congregation we had 40% suffering from depression, more than half of them were elders wives.

As for the children, about half of the teens were self harming, 3 out of 5 were depressed, 1 had anorexia due to anxiety and at least one had a physical phobia to knocking on the doors and would literally go into convulsions in the drive to field service meetings.

The little kids were fat from over eating because their parents are depressed and the elders kids were living in a bubble, absolutely convinced that they'll never leave school because armageddon is just around the corner. I remember i used to think that 20 years ago.

Best life ever? I dont think so.

20

Feeling the Guilt

by Saethydd in

i'm currently disfellowshipped and living at home with my parents, but because they are both still devout jws i have to keep going to the meetings and crap because i don't want to risk getting thrown out until i finish college or find a job that will let me support myself and go to college.. yesterday, my mother rode with me to the meeting and told me how much my best friend and my oldest sister are missing me, and it just tears me apart because during the meeting i was practically counting the minutes till it was over.

it didn't help matters that i had to sit with my family because the library was closed off, thus forcing me to follow along with the meeting on my tablet instead of reading something useful or interesting like i normally do.. when i got home i just cried out in frustration because it feels like no matter what i do, i am making the wrong choice.

either i have to keep pretending to support an organization that has caused so much pain to so many people, or i have to abandon my family and friends to it so i can save myself.

pale.emperor

Understand that the whole disfellowshipping thing is designed that way to make you feel the way you are. It's not normal, its not loving or nice and they GB know it. It's a control mechanism that's underwent modifications since it's first inception in the 1950s.

My advice would be to go along with the charade for now. Sure, sit in the main hall on your tablet. Pretend to follow along. Maybe even get reinstated if it comes up to make things easier for you then get a job and move. While you're going through this make sure you make non witness friends. Remember, this only works because they expect you to have no one else. That's why people go back. If shunning didn't exist nobody would return.

The guilt you're feeling is absolutely normal. You're going through a situation that most people in the real world are never faced with and totally unprepared for. Remember though, that YOU'RE the one that's normal. You're smart, you've figured this out young.

31

I wrote to Mr. Angus Stewart regarding the "inactive" status claims made by the Watchtower at the ARC

by EdenOne in

this is the email i have just sent to mr. stewart angus, who has been conducting the questioning of the jw leaders during the australian royal commission dealing with child abuse cases among the jehovah's witnesses, concerning the claims made that a jehovah witness who wishes to walk away from the organization can simply become inactive and avoid being shunned:.

dear mr. angus stewart,

i have followed with interest the videos of the arc regarding the jehovah's witnesses in australia.

pale.emperor

Wonderful.

What annoyed me the most watching the ARC last night was that they dont answer a single question openly and honestly with a simple yes or no. They stutter, stumble, dodge, weave and claim ignorance. Even the judge had to spell things out very clearly to get a simple answer.

32

Baptism at 10 years of age! March 2017 broadcast

by stuckinarut2 in

(i wanted to put this in the child abuse section of the forum!).

we have seen that during the march 2017 broadcast, m stephen lett has openly praised children who get baptised as young as 10!.

so lets summarize why it is wrong to push child baptism (not far off "infant baptism" that jws condemn other churches for).

pale.emperor

I think it's absolutely disgusting. These poor children no doubt want to please their parents and obviously have not been able to look at any other religion, nor had the choice to look at science outside of the Watchtower.

The Governing Body are cruel for praising this, not a hint of "are you sure you know what you're doing?" or "do you know what this means?"

And the parents that allow it should be ashamed of themselves.