Posts by acsot

170

MAJOR TV SHOW TO DISCUSS JW CHILD ABUSE

by Scully in

major canadian tv show to discuss jw child

abuse scandal

this is to alert the jw world that a major tv documentary is set to go in canada on the jw child sex abuse issue.

acsot

Okay, help! Technical help! I have a new flat screen TV, hooked up my DVD player, and last night hooked up the VCR to the TV also. I can play movies or whatever but I can't get it to record!! What am I doing wrong? For tonight's show I'm not so worried but I want to tape it next week!!!!!

If all else fails I'll haul the VCR upstairs to my little tiny TV with no cable (CBC is about all I receive on that TV) but the picture won't be as clear as on the flat screen.

Do I need another kind of cable? I'm not using the "S hook" or whatever it's called.

If I get it recording properly I'll be able to send my copy to someone (Scully?) so they can make copies.

14

Damage control

by Gig in

jw
friends

i could spend many of your minutes describing how helpful this forum has been for me, suffice it to say that it's the way things should be...offer an idea and everybody else have opportunity to put it on the table too, pro or con.

my opinion is that jw's haven't realized (or have been denied) the benefits of such an appropriate arrangement that also provides the best method for discovery and growth.. my offering today is prompted by what i've found to be a recurring theme here...one that never fails to bother me.

as many witnesses "get out", too often (for me) they along with now rejecting the wts, reject many of the good things the wts tried, however horribly, to represent.

acsot

Now if I only had time to do all this reading I want to do while raising and homeschooling my 4! :)

truthseekers2: Wow!!! I'm single (have my elderly mother living with me but she's still pretty autonomous) with some pets and find that I barely have time for anything! Of course, I work full-time but still at the end of the day my time is my own.

(Acsot humbly bows to truthseekers2)

24

quote search: recognize His people by their love

by Jacqueline in

jw
friends

i am desperately searching fo rthe bible qoute which tells you that you shall recognize his people by the love amongst themselves.. i have not found any love amongst any witnesses in our hall, never ever...and we have attended this hall for nearly 2 years.

i am still a study, my hubby grew up in the truth.

elders are coming over tomorrow night to discuss our lack of meeting attendance.

acsot

Ditto for the above comments. And also, why do the JWs get to use the excuse "they're imperfect" when worldly people have demonstrated time and again that they can overcome their "imperfection" and help others, even put their lives at stake for others. What's the matter with Jehovah's spirit - he can't help his own name people get over their "imperfection" long enough to be helpful to someone at their Kingdom Hall?

I believe that for many of us it was the lack of genuine feeling that started to crack our dub defenses and help us "see the light".

7

Truth or Malarky?

by somebody in

jw
friends

12/1 1990 wathtower:.

why do you not operate hospitals or clinics and engage in relief work and other social services as many religious groups do?jehovah's witnesses quickly respond to emergencies in the aftermath of war or natural disaster when they can.

in fact, usually they are among the first on the scene with food, clothing, and volunteers to help with rebuilding.. .

acsot

you know whats really sad? i used to believe this $5&! years ago. when i read in the watchtower and awake rags that jw's were "there" in a time of need, i thought, wow. what "kind and loving" people. horsepoop.
i know more worldy people who are genuinely kind and loving than jw's ever were.
what can i say. i knew when i read it it kinda sounded a little wierd. why was it jw's were always "first on the scene" ?
cuz, the writer stretched the "truth" a little eh?
dang. i'm glad i know what the real story is now. liberated and loving it

Zev: I believed it too, as did most who post here! Except that when there were local disasters (floods, ice storms, etc.) where people were injured, or killed, or there was immense property damage, no dubs were around, much less "first on the scene". Often it was the army and the Red Cross and regular, "worldly" people helping out. And they didn't even bother to ask for a person's religious affiliation before helping! Go figure!

14

Damage control

by Gig in

jw
friends

i could spend many of your minutes describing how helpful this forum has been for me, suffice it to say that it's the way things should be...offer an idea and everybody else have opportunity to put it on the table too, pro or con.

my opinion is that jw's haven't realized (or have been denied) the benefits of such an appropriate arrangement that also provides the best method for discovery and growth.. my offering today is prompted by what i've found to be a recurring theme here...one that never fails to bother me.

as many witnesses "get out", too often (for me) they along with now rejecting the wts, reject many of the good things the wts tried, however horribly, to represent.

acsot

I'm going to play devil's advocate here (probably not as well as some are able to though ), but why are you settling for just the Bible? As has been mentioned in other posts, it's mostly a matter of geographic location which makes us "lean" towards Christianity or Buddhism or whatever. Now that we are "free", how about looking into other non-Christian religions? Right now I am sort of where you are at also, and have some Bible reading and Christian books I want to examine, but will probably intersperse that with Buddhism, philosophy (I'm intrigued by Aristotle), Native American beliefs and maybe some New Age. Why not? The sky's the limit!

Don't get me wrong - I do understand what you mean. I cannot fault the WTS for everything, and of course there was good along the way. We have to learn not to throw the baby out with the bath water.

Cheers!

36

Do we come here to "convince" ourselves?

by bittersweet in

jw
friends

.

ok...so the other day my husband(he is still an active witness) starts questioning me about why i come to x-jw sites.. he said the reason people come to these types of sites,is to convince themselves that they made the right decision to leave the"truth".i told him i come here to get support from others who feel they were tricked into believing something that wasn't true.he knows i feel my life has been taken away from me because i wasted so many years following their doctrines.i told him it helps me to know i am not alone in my feelings.he is still convinced that people are afraid they are wrong,and just come here to keep finding reasons to stay away from the "truth".he doesn't understand that we know what the real truth is.. i was just curious what everyone else thought about this.do you feel we are "convincing" ourselves that we made the right decision to leave?

acsot

Vivamus said:

If I can repay some of that kindness by being here, hoping some witness will read and know that their doubts are valid, and reasonable - I'm happy.

The kindness has been repaid! It was when I came here that I realized I wasn't the one with the problem - my doubts were valid and reasonably. Thank you!

Mouthy said:

The reason I come here -is because I might run into some one who is JUST doubting-& needs to speak to someone who wont report them

gumby said:

There is also a wealth of info. here supplied by those who have been there done that and they post it for all to see

I've learned so much by being here, it's helped me tremendously. Now if I decide to DA myself, I'll have the experiences of others to guide me in the way I choose to do it.

BTW, what about the ones who aren't JWs and post here? there are dozens of reasons why people come here, all of them valid.

13

Is the Bible Really the inspired word of God?

by Shirlgirl in

i ask this question simply to see what others think....... when my daugther was 16, she came to me late one night after we had come from a meeting and asked me...."mom, what if the witnesses have it all wrong?

there are only 66 books that we use, what if we are worshipping the wrong idea?

" she then walked out of the room and went to bed...... god, did that open a can of worms.....because i actually started thinking on that.. however, i took it a step further....what if religion on whole had it all wrong....so i began to do research, and what i found was amazing to me..... 2timothy 3:16 began to 'ring' in my mind....."all scripture is inspired of god...." funny, didn't say just 66 books were inspired, but all scripture....then i began to break it down....what was scripture?

acsot

Hi Shirlgirl!

I'm at about the same place as you are right now, and after reading many of the posts and looking at the research done by so many others, I've realized that the fundamentalist (JW) view of the Bible cannot possibly explain God, or spirituality, nor was it even meant to do so. 1 Tim. 3:16 says that all scripture is inspired of God. JWs believe (as I myself did as a JW until I finally woke up from my long sleep about five months ago) that Paul was including all of the Bible canon as we now know it. But it seems to me that when Paul (if it was Paul who wrote it) said those words, he couldn't have meant the very words he was writing down at that moment, since they didn't constitute part of "scripture" as known during his day. As you said, "scripture" can mean a lot of different things. I'm reading various books right now, related to Christianity, Buddhism, New Age, whatever, and am attempting to arrive at a place that I feel "at home". I've enjoyed Scott Peck's "The Road Less Traveled" and have several more of his books which I will be getting to in the near future.

What I have found interesting is that in one Catholic translation, I believe it is the New American Translation (I'm at work right now and can't verify), the preface states that much of Scripture is a myth (i.e. much of Genesis, the creation account, a literal global flood, the account of Balaam's donkey speaking, etc.), but still useful because of the underlying "moral of the story", such as we find in Aesop's fables. So I guess you can "believe" in the Bible without "believing" it to be all literal and true. It's strange the path we find ourselves on - a little while ago I would have been horrified to see how the clergy dismisses the literalness of the Bible, and now I find it to be quite a refreshing and realistic view of things.

Good question and good post.

18

GOOD MORNING!

by Yerusalyim in

jw
friends

good morning folks.

before i get into contention with anyone today i wanted to wish you all a wonderful day, week, month, and year.. after being pretty depressed this weekend, and into this morning i'm feeling better.

two things lay behind this; i went to mass this morning, which is almost always a pick-me-up; and i start instructing a new class today.. the depression was just as a result of dealing with my wife and her mental illness.

acsot

it's 4:10 p.m. here (I'm at work and trying to catch up with all my reading, i.e. everyone's posts!) so saw your Good Morning! just now. Glad to hear you're feeling good.

I was up at 4:30 AM,

WHY????? That's not morning, that's still night!

Have a good rest of the day!

Acsot - definitely not a morning person!!!

20

mind- teasers, truthbeaters... dazed

by mind in

are you truly searching for answers... or are you like a spoil child lashing back with lies and truths.

i don't want to talk about the wts,or the governing body.

they are flaw and imperfect humans, just like you and me.

acsot

A typically incoherent post from a JW.
Sigh.
AlanF

Ditto (not even enough there for a witty AlanF rebuttal!)

28

Jesus died on a stake?

by SwedishChef in

you've got to love the watchtower.

they must think that the general population has no bible available to it.

while scrolling through a list of their beliefs on the official site, there was one that really caught my eye because of its sheer ludicrousness.

acsot

When I first realized the borg was totally out of it, I researched cross vs. stake although I failed to see why the GB makes such a stink out of it - the point being that Jesus died an agonizing death. Useless debates about words that the WTS criticizes others for makes up the major part of their rantings and ravings. I came across the same point:

What muddies up that theory is that archelogists and historians are sure that the cross was a means of punishment in Rome at that time. I read something somewhere that said that condemned killers carried the cross beam to the actual execution site where they were then nailed to the cross beam and it was lifted up and attached to a stake already in the ground. This makes sense to me and it agrees with the Bible account of Jesus carry his "timber" to the execution site.

DaveyJones says:

The harder part is the feet, the nails were generally driventhrough the heel sideways (OUCH!)

Maybe it was part of the same article I was researching as above, but I also came across the above-mentioned point about the nails driven through the heel sideways.

I still can't figure out why they make such a big deal of it, unless it's just another futile attempt at being "different from the world".