earthfire

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Posts by earthfire

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  33

  GAME OF THRONES (Season 3)

  by SophieG in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  ok i cannot believe that no one has mentioned this series.

  does anyone watch?

  did you see sundays masterpiece and have you read the books?

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  earthfire

  I was so upset! I still don't know what to think.
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  13

  Is this another scare tactic for the weak-minded Jehovah's Witness recruits and experienced members?

  by I_love_Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  where in the bible does it state that adam and eve are unrepentant sinners and therefore deemed forever in the grave with no chance of resurrection, of course?

  is this another scare tactic for the weak-minded recruits?

  i believe their theory is based on mere speculation and simply used to convince the new recruits as well as the experienced members to refrain from questioning/going against their superiors otherwise jehovah will deem you an unrepentant sinner.

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  earthfire

  That's funny SOP! I remember it being made clear that because they had been perfect when they sinned, no paradise for them. But I also remember asking this, "if Adam and Eve were perfect and they still sinned then won't people who make it into paradise also be able to sin?" I got dirty looks for that one! I was told that if you sin in paradise that Jehovah will just get rid of you no questions asked so you don't start the whole thing over again. lol
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  15

  Your opinion is requested.

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is rough draft of a letter that i was thinking of sending to various human rights organizations.

  i am interested in your thoughts.

  i will not include anyone's website without their permission.

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  earthfire

  This is awesome! Along with the other suggestions made, your letter sparked a memory that you may consider adding. When my parents were DF (yes, at the same time) my dad ended up leaving my mom for another woman, then married yet another woman when he was reinstated. Our dad won physical placement in the joint custody case because he took all the money and our mom had no money to fight it well with a good attorney. Our dad had the congregation behind him and used them against our mom in court. Since our dad had moved this was a congregation who did not personally know our mom but they lied in court to help our dad win custody. The things these strangers said about her were horrible. but they were willing to lie in order that my brothers remained witnesses. My two younger brothers were then forced by our dad and his uber JW wife to write to our mom and tell her that they never wanted to see her again unless she came back to the religion. Our mom has never gotten over this, nor have I. Anyway, just another control tactic.
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  122

  Suspicious

  by Suspicious in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i guess i'm new here.

  born in and an ms. things just hasn't been making sense the more i think about it.

  i'm starting to get suspicious.

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  earthfire

  Welcome to the forum Suspicious! Like many have said, just take things slow. We all come to our realizations about the religion in our own time. We all have different beliefs about God and this is a safe place to discuss that. One of the biggest questions to ask yourself is "Why are witnesses not allowed to do any research?" You definitely can't research "worldly" books though the Watchtower and Awake often quote these worldly books. But you also aren't allowed to research older books and magazines published by the Society themselves. The foundational doctrine is changing and has changed before our eyes. The light isn't getting brighter, they're just changing the rules. It's difficult to accept that people you've trusted most have been blindly following the blind. But when your eyes have been opened you can't close them again. Just try not to get overwhelmed and limit yourself on how much time you spend researching. The repercussions of leaving the organization depend mostly on how close you are to your family and friends who are witnesses. The shunning is the most dangerous and harmful part of the religion. Many who are shunned suffer from depression, PTSD and for some suicide. This is not because they leave "the truth" but because of the shunning. This is why you must be careful.

  As for believing in God, I do. But my belief in who God is has changed. For me, I believe that we are all one. Every atom is connected throughout the universe. If we are all pieces of the whole, then we are all experincing life itself from different perspectives. How better for God to learn about itself? We learn throughout our lives, we have a wide range of emotions the most important being love. After all, if we are all one then you definitely want to be kind to yourself, hence the morals. ;-) But when our physical bodies are done then we go back to Source. Is there an afterlife? I don't know but energy is never destroyed, it just changes form. And we are all energy. This is what makes sense to me but you may find another way that makes sense to you.
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  78

  They lied to you Jack......

  by Tech49 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my name is jack harper, tech49.

  new here, been lurking for many months now.

  a brief history:.

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  earthfire

  Welcome! Thank you so much for sharing your story, I look forward to reading more of your experiences. One of my brothers is an elder, pioneer and missionary down in Ecuador. I worry for him, his wife and their little boy. I hope they wake up like you have. It's so incredibly frustrating not being able to say or do anything to help them along.
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  12

  Are your emotions your own?

  by Stauros in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have you ever wondered, why do i feel this way?

  are the feelings we have our own or are they being influenced by satan?.

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  earthfire

  Our feelings are not influenced by Satan. If that were true then we wouldn't have free will. If you are feeling like you need to talk to someone then please do. Depression gets a lot of us and can lead to the darkest of places. But there is always hope. The best thing to do is to help someone else when you are feeling down. This gets you out of your head, you help someone and you get to feel better because of it. I hope that helps a bit.
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  53

  Jws and urban myths!

  by Julia Orwell in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jws sure love urban myths.

  the jws have their own collection built up over many years, part of their own unique worldwide jw culture.

  i've come across the same ones in america that i've heard in australia, and they pass from legend to myth and finally reality as quoted from the platform.

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  earthfire

  There was one about a man falling out a window and saved because he landed on a pile of NWT Bibles. (like they'd be laying around!)

  Another was a sister went to study with a lady who was having a really hard time. The sister ends up using the bathroom and while she's peeing she sees a demon hunched over in the corner. So of course the sister ran out of the house and then sent some elders to fix the ladies problem. (Do elders do that kind of thing?)

  The same one that's been mentioned about the serial killer and the angels behind the sisters.

  A couple of smurf stories other than what has been listed. One was that a brother and sister were home with the babysitter while their parents went to dinner. The large stuffed smurf came to life and chased them around the house and bit the boys arm leaving sharp, bloody teeth marks. When the parents came home the smurf fell to the ground and the house was torn apart.

  Another was a little girl had smurf wall paper and when her parents tucked her in and turned the lights off the girl heard talking. She turned the light back on and the smurfs were dancing and talking on the wallpaper.

  As an adult the smurf stories reallypiss me off because when these were told to myself and a bunch of other kids, we were camping with a ton of other witnesses like we did every year. I remember looking over to an elder who I trusted while some of these stories were told and he never said word one about not making things up. So since all the adults were letting us be scared then they must be true stories right? I was like 8 at the time. It's just sick.
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  14

  Just had a thought when reading Data Dogs topic..

  by The Quiet One in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  ..according to the wt, adam and eve were created to live forever on earth right from the start.

  two things i just thought of.. 1) one of the reasons that they were banished from the garden was so that they couldn't eat from 'the tree of life' , which would allow them to live forever.. so doesn't that mean that they were created with bodies that were going to deteriorate and die?

  or would the magic fruit make them invulnerable even to gods power to destroy them?

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  earthfire

  Julia that part always bugged me too. If you aren't used to animals talking to you and you know God personally then why aren't you saying, "Hey, um, that snake just told me to eat the fruit that you said not to eat." Plus if you think about the fact the Adam and Eve would have been as innocent as children because they had no life experience dealing with this kind of thing then why would God blame them for all the suffering of people who haven't even been born yet? Why let all of us be born and have original sin anyway. Just so stupid.
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  19

  Odd KH Wedding

  by earthfire in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my youngest sister was married last sunday and i was actually invited.

  not to the reception of course but all of us ex-jw relatives had our own party so it was still a great family reunion!

  i'm one of 6 siblings (2 step siblings, 1 half, and 2 whole :-) anyway, this was not my first time going to a wedding of a sibling and being an ex-witness.

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  earthfire

  My sister and her now husband are in good standing as far as I know, and they're both 22. It wasn't like people were angry or giving dirty looks, well except at me and my other brother and sister who are both DF. I left the org for good at 22 and never got baptized. ;-) I think some are upset that they couldn't put that label on me. HA

  Anyway, maybe they all lightened up and had fun at the reception. But you're right Lois, maybe "The Shadow" knows.

  This wedding looks more fun! http://geekologie.com/2013/05/the-best-wedding-party-photo-of-all-time.php
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  19

  Odd KH Wedding

  by earthfire in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  my youngest sister was married last sunday and i was actually invited.

  not to the reception of course but all of us ex-jw relatives had our own party so it was still a great family reunion!

  i'm one of 6 siblings (2 step siblings, 1 half, and 2 whole :-) anyway, this was not my first time going to a wedding of a sibling and being an ex-witness.

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  earthfire

  The wedding was in Wisconsin here in the U.S. and in a rather wealthy area and my family though not "rich" is not broke. I don't think you pay to rent the KH for a wedding do you? I could be wrong on that, I don't know. It may all have been nothing but the lack of joy was disturbing.