Sanchy

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Posts by Sanchy

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  44

  The Atheist Delusion

  by looter in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  atheist delusion.

  just want to know what the ex jw community thinks about this video and also offer my pov.

  the video was actually an advertisement on here.

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  Sanchy

  God possibly could have used evolution to create the earth since it was a long process of a few years.

  Huh? Come on Looter. Please research what evolution is.
  
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  57

  Got my JC cancelled... (at least for now)

  by Sanchy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.

  about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.

  i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.

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  Sanchy

  Ok, here's the corrected post (Simon, FYI it keeps happening that editing my posts results in other changes and even deleted sections)

  So I met with them last night, and even though I knew I probably shot myself in the foot, I decided to layout a defense based on my conscience not being respected. Here's a brief summary:

  They began by saying that they had brothers coming to them left and right anguished by the book they saw me post and that now they were in a situation where they needed to act because the matter had become public and the friends need some kind of response as to what my status is (basically telling me they need to show friends they are handling the matter)

  I started then by saying I should not have posted the FB link. I had originally promised myself I would not interfere with others faith, so, I told them I regret doing it and thus breaking my own pledge and that I would not do it again.

  Having said that, I outlined the situation I'm in and what motivated me to post that book was the issue I wanted to bring to light, it being the lack of a way to exit this org without severe and cruel punishment. I showed them the July/2009 Awake article that says one should not have to choose between family and beliefs. When presented with this, they stuttered a bit, mumbled some words and ended up saying "well, that applies to other religions", to which I nodded my head and said: "you see?". I mentioned how before the early 80s, JWs were allowed to disassociate without the punishment of excommunication and that after that policy changed it created a big community of dissidents that had no viable options to leave. I told them how I got caught up in the moment from reading experiences of grandmas being cut off from their family, or teens committing suicide, and so I felt like I needed to speak up. That's why I posted that in FB. However, (I brown nosed a bit) and told them that I realize it was not the appropriate way of doing it; that perhaps I should have instead tried writing the branch or venting directly with the elders.

  I pleaded with them, reminding them that in my situation, an expulsion would be not a 1 or 2 year thing, but rather, a lifetime punishment. My kids would be raised without getting to know their grandparents. I’d be dead to them, and all because my conscience dictates I cannot continue serving God in this way. I read to them the first few verses of Romans 14 which states to not judge someone because of differing opinion, to which they nodded their head and knew not what to say.

  Then they went on to defend “the truth”, one of them saying that before learning it, he had been a Catholic, yet didn’t see “truth” there, then he went to the Adventists and saw no “truth” there, to which I interrupted and said: “but you were able to leave said religions when your conscience told you to do so. Do we JWs have the same right to do so without severe and cruel punishment?

  After a while of back-and-forth along these lines, I again mentioned that I regretted posting the FB link and that I would not do it again, thanked them for their time, drifted off into conversing about one of the elder's sick elderly father who is currently in the hospital, and ended the meeting without prayer.

  My thoughts: This meeting seemed to me to be just a formality. I could tell by their faces that coming into the meeting, they were ready to establish a JC no matter what. However, they were taken back a bit with the defense I put up regarding my conscience not being respected and so by the end of the meeting, it seemed to me that they were at a lost as to how they would proceed.

  What I suspect happened was that when I objected to the JC during their initial call to inform me of it, they made a spur the moment decision to have the "admonishing" meeting I requested, figuring it would basically just be a meeting to tell me why a JC must occur. I suspect they never even told the rest of the BoE of their accepting to meet with me before the JC. Now, how will they tell the rest of the body that they went against their vote for a judicial committee and instead met with me, and even worst, how will they try to argue now in my favor? They wont, I doubt it.

  I suspect they will meet in the next meeting, they will explain that they met with me first as per some request of mine, they will say I regretted posting the FB link but that I did not want to get DF'd because I didn't want to lose my family. The rest of the body will probably say something along the lines of "oh well, he should have thought of that before making the decisions that he did. He's the one that left. Jehovah's law is clear and the holy spirit has already guided us to decide on the matter that there must be a JC". So, I'm almost certain I will get a call within the next few days to schedule the committee meeting.

  Now, something I did hear the brothers mention is that a JC does not necessarily mean expulsion, kinda hinting to me that an option would be to publicly reprove me. That way the friends would see that action was taken in this public matter, and I would not be excommunicated. I don't know what to make of this.
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  57

  Got my JC cancelled... (at least for now)

  by Sanchy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.

  about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.

  i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.

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  Sanchy

  Ok, I edited this post and it deleted some paragraphs, so I'm re-writing and re-posting in a few mins
  
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  57

  Got my JC cancelled... (at least for now)

  by Sanchy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.

  about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.

  i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.

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  Sanchy

  Couldn't you just say it was a mis-click? Could you claim your FB account was hacked by evil apostates? If you need an alibi, I'll confess to hacking your account.

  
  

  LoL!! A real brotherhood here ;) Thx Aha
  

  
  
  
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  57

  Got my JC cancelled... (at least for now)

  by Sanchy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.

  about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.

  i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.

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  Sanchy

  Well, let's see. The protocol in the book is to admonish the person once and twice BEFORE beginning a JC. So, this will be one of those "admonishing" meetings, after which I suspect they will have a very close eye on me.
  
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  57

  Got my JC cancelled... (at least for now)

  by Sanchy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.

  about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.

  i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.

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  Sanchy

  Yeah, at this point I've got an internal conflict in that the idea of just getting DF and freeing myself completely is tempting; however, the chance of completely losing my family is terrifying. One of the main reasons why wife and I had children to begin with was to give my dad (whom is physically ill) grandchildren. My wife's family is also in and so we'd lose all our closest loved ones.

  I will tell elders I wont post anymore such things in FB, but, I wont say I'm sorry nor lie about the facts of my situation.
  
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  57

  Got my JC cancelled... (at least for now)

  by Sanchy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so my wife and i have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post here.

  about a week ago, i was browsing some ex-jw facebook groups when i saw a post that linked to the crisis of conscience book.

  i said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.. a few hours later, i get a long text letter from my mom (who was a fb friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text.

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  Sanchy

  So my wife and I have been in the process of fading for a few months now as per my original post HERE. About a week ago, I was browsing some ex-JW Facebook groups when I saw a post that linked to the Crisis of Conscience book. I said "f@(k it" and hit share on it.

  A few hours later, I get a long text letter from my mom (who was a FB friend of mine) telling me the typical "good luck finding friends in the world" and how we have "nothing in common anymore"; basically, it was a 'farewell' text. Over the next few days I lost about 30 of my FB friends that were active JWs. My wife and I made it an activity to checkup on FB every few hours to see "how many more we've lost".

  I realized I might have screwed up my "fading" with that post and thus I expected a call from the elders would be imminent. Fast forward to yesterday night, around 9:30 pm (after weekday meeting), I get a call from on an elder, whom was a close friend of mine when I was in. He leaves a voicemail, which basically went along the lines of: "Hi brother, I'm calling to see how you and your family are. Long time no talk. Also, we'd like to meet with you this Thursday at 8 in a meeting with myself, brother so-and-so and so-and-so"

  I took a minute to catch my breath, think of what I would reply, then proceeded to call the brother back. He established a conference call with the 2 other elders involved. I said a quick "hello", and asked them what this meeting they requested was about. They told me it was basically a judicial committee made out for the charges of apostasy against me due to some "posts I'd been putting on FB". That's when I laid out a defense as to why they could not yet carry out this apostasy trial. I reminded them (I was an elder before) that the Shepherd the Flock elder's book said that in the case of Apostasy, they are supposed to visit me a few times before initiating a JC. Here's the actual quote from the book under 'reasons to establish a JC' (bold is mine):

  Deliberately spreading teachings contrary to Bible truth as taught by Jehovah's Witnesses: (Acts 21:21, ftn.; 2 John 7,8,10) Any with sincere doubts should be helped. Firm, loving counsel should be given. (2 Tim. 2:16-19, 23-26; Jude 22, 23) If one obstinately is speaking about or deliberately spreading false teachings, this may be or may lead to apostasy. If there is no response after a first and a second admonition, a judicial committee should be formed.

  Since I began fading, they had only visited me once and it was not regarding "apostasy", but rather to find the status of my wife since she also had began fading shortly after I did. So, I firmly stressed that if they carried out this JC against me, I would appeal due to the fact that they had not followed protocol as prescribed in their own rules book. They gave me some trouble, asking me what my intentions for the FB post were, or telling me that the friends already see me as an apostate. I stressed that it didn't matter, they are supposed to "admonish" me first a couple of times BEFORE attempting to judge me.

  After a few mins of back and forth, they conceded and told me that the meeting on Thursday night would not be a JC anymore. Instead, it would be only 2 elders with the purpose of "admonishing" me. I stressed that if the meeting turned out to be a JC, I would not participate. They gave me their word that it would not be. I said "Fine, I'll let you know tomorrow if I can attend that meeting", and hung up.

  
  So, it seems that at least for now the JC against me is on hold. I will indeed attend the meeting Thursday at 8 since I do want to continue "fading" for the sake of my family. If they try anything funny like tricking me into a JC (you never know what they might attempt), I'll refuse and leave.

  I'll keep you all informed and if you friends have any suggestions, I'd be glad to hear it.
  
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  19

  Obedience At Its Blindest

  by Nevuela in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just a little something my "anointed" roommate posted on facebook a few months ago, along with replies from her fellow jws.

  it was chilling to read, so i took a screenshot and saved it for future reference.

  please feel free to share your own stories of blind obedience within the org.

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  Sanchy

  You are welcome Nevuela. I have a tumblr account, so I just saved the pic and uploaded it on here direct from my drive.
  
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  84

  Why are the atheists on this site so hateful?

  by HopeEverLasting in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  all us creationists try to do is offer true evidence that the one and only god is out there watching and looking down on us.

  we present that certain scientists know the truth about god and that he is everything that we see from trees, life, weather, the air we breath, and even the most simple molecules.

  but of course you atheists reject it because it is your nature to not be humble and see god because you want to rule your own life.

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  Sanchy

  Hopeeverlasting, it sounds to me like you were unprepared to defend your arguments, you were overwhelmed by great counterarguments and thus have resorted to bitterness and childish whining.

  Active JWs do the same thing all the time when presented with evidence against their beliefs. They resort to mental lockdowns of the childish sort.
  
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  19

  Obedience At Its Blindest

  by Nevuela in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just a little something my "anointed" roommate posted on facebook a few months ago, along with replies from her fellow jws.

  it was chilling to read, so i took a screenshot and saved it for future reference.

  please feel free to share your own stories of blind obedience within the org.

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  Sanchy