Posts by Xanthippe

44

I went to one of my previous halls remodel today and they did not recognize me...

by confusedandalone in

i definitely look like a worldly person by jw standards... however i went to my old hall because they are remodelling and they are in the final p[hase.

it was not on purpose.

i had bnusiness on the street and happened to drive past.

Xanthippe

I thought about waking him up then I realized that they love the org more than me

C&A I used to think that about my mother, brother and sisters but now I think they are just lost little people who can't cope with the big wide world so they hide in a cult. No moral or ethical decisions to make, they just do as they are told. They don't have to decide which chariities to support or which political issues to care about. They just actually like being told what to do, what to think and waiting for God to make a beautiful world. Really sad.

But you are not like that. I'm glad the healing has started.

23

136th Gilead Class Graduates-JW.Org

by Brother Mike in

i just found this video they released on their official website.

sorry if this was already posted.

(if not i thought some might have some thoughts about it).

Xanthippe

'a rigouous five month course of Bible study'

Did they even discuss how the Biblical canon was formed. Why some books were left out. What the Apocrypha is about. How the Bible was translated from Latin to the vernacular. Why they are following the teachings of a shopkeeper from the nineteenth century.

10

Life after meetings

by GoUnion in

what are the positives in your life since leaving jws?

mine would be a healthier lifestyle mentally and physically.

i'm free to do what i want and can make my own decisions, is this good for me will it help me or could it hurt someone else?

Xanthippe

GoUnion I'm glad things are good with your wife and you have reconnected with your brother, riches indeed. I fill my time with reading, gardening, gym, walking in the countryside, cooking, cinema and theatre, a little voluntary work. Oh yes and my job! Which I enjoy, most of the time. I too am so much healthier now than I was in my twenties in that religion. If I hadn't left I would be like my sisters, hanging on to health by the skin of my teeth.

They don't talk to me, have'nt done for twenty-five years. Neither does my brother who is an elder. Like you I don't miss them as much as I thought I would. We have nothing in common now. Hope all keeps going well for you.

21

Do you believe there will be "Mass Suicides" within the BAC/JW community?

by booker-t in

jw
friends

as a "therapist trainee"(still have to take my license test) i worry about all of the religious people out there who might commit suicide if the rapture/armaggeddon does not materialize.

what if the bible is proven to be "a big fairy tale" will born again christians(bac) and jws kill themself?

i worry about some of my older jw relatives that have waited for armaggeddon for 50 years and are still waiting.

Xanthippe

I think fundamentalist religion is about getting away from reality. As a therapist you might almost see it as a rather successful way for those struggling with poor mental health to actually move through life in this complex world. The delusion is a coping strategy for them. Those born into it often leave battered and bruised but essentially they escape because they are well. It's being around the deluded that is harming them.

Personally I don't think there will be mass suicide because they share a group delusion that keeps them going. They will just decide it will not be in their lifetime after all. From my JW friend who has been in for 60 years I gather those that remain think it is the best way of life possible so even if the promised bliss is a long time coming they feel protected and safe.

75

HOME SCHOOL and the upcoming generation of scientifically illiterate kids

by Terry in

jw
friends

when i worked for a book store i became familiar with beka text books for home school.. i spoke with the mothers who came looking for them.

i realized something didn't smell right.. then, i realized there are a couple of generations of fundamentalist kids who have had no exposure.

to the scientific method, science facts or any conversancy with physics or biology or history as a result of beka textbooks.. in a nutshell here is the situation:.

Xanthippe

My niece was home schooled and has two degrees and is studying for her doctorate.

15

BLOOD MOON and

by NAVYTOWN in

jw
friends

had anyone heard any jws talk about the fact that a blood moon lunar eclipse is going to happen on the night of the memorial?

i can't imagine that at least some witnesses aren't saying this event is a biblical 'sign' that amageddon is getting very close.

there will be four blood moons between now and fall 2015.....a very rare celestial happening.

Xanthippe

http://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2014/apr/15/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-in-pictures

Some great pictures of the blood moon that does not exist and was made up by a fundie preacher.

13

Did you REALLY think about the 'Great Tribulation'?

by jw07 in

according to wt doctrine jehovah's witnesses will be singled out and persecuted during a time described in this way: "for then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the worlds beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.

" according to the watchtower the devil will turn on god's people will all his might (if he really exists, why hasn't he done so already?

) in an attempt to wipe them out.. also, it's not promised that all jws will escape unscathed during this period of time.. even before i woke up fully to ttatt i really thought about what that meant.

Xanthippe

Yes I really did. I commented on a question in the Watchtower study not long before I left and said we don't know how long we will have to suffer terrible things before Jehovah rescues us. The study conductor started arguing with me from the platform and said it won't be that bad! I am not sure when I got over the thought of being tortured to death, it stayed with me a long time.

24

Books!

by dynamiterose77 in

i feel like i wasn't allowed to read a lot of books when i was younger, a lot of which i'm discovering are positivly phenomenal.. i was allowed to read edgar allan poe, who remains my all time favorite writer.

but, i've discovered the joys of stephen king, anne rice, joyce carrol oats, neil gaiman, george r. martin, david sedaris... and so so so many more.. i'm currently getting through "the shining" so i can move on to "doctor sleep".

i'm interested to see if anyone else that discovered the many joys of "worldly" literature, jumped immediately into what they weren't allowed to read... and what was your favorite?.

Xanthippe

A few weeks ago I read a book that was absolutely forbidden when I was a witness, Dennis Wheatleys The Devil Rides Out which is about satanists. Turned out to be very silly but it was something I just wanted to do because I can.

bemused I'm reading Midnight's Children. Goes on a bit doesn't he! It's about the Indian partition in 1947. It's taken him 200 pages just to get to 1947, but I am enjoying it.

20

"And yet it moves !"

by Phizzy in

galileo is said to have uttered, or probably muttered these words in front of the inquisition after supposedly having reacanted his teaching that the solar system is heliocentric, as his predecessors kepler and copernicus had worked out.

(and a guy in 3rd century b.c greece !).

why was galileo unable to go back to his belief held by him in his youth, and nearly all people in christendom, that the earth was at the centre of the solar system and all the planets revolved around it ?.

Xanthippe

Very true and even though losing family and friends to the cult is very painful at least we don't have the threat of being tortured to death by the Roman Inquisition unless we recant, which was what Galileo faced.

The pertinent point for many faders here, I feel, is that Galileo did recant publicly to save his life but privately he continued to believe in heliocentrism. He didn't have a scientifically enlightened world to go out to in his world dominated by the Catholic church but we have reality and freedom waiting for us when we leave the cult. However if you can get out with your family intact using intelligent strategy why wouldn't you?

12

Any new partakers this year???

by DATA-DOG in

i just wondered if anyone was going to partake this year?

when i learned ttatt, it became obvious that the wtbts was not god's organization.

it became obvious that if the bible was true, the wtbts's teaching on the "anointed" were false.

Xanthippe

Lol Quarterback I'm not sure if you meant you are gluten intolerant or you dislike gluttons. Either way you made me smile on this Sunday morning.