Posts by Xanthippe

24

Reading the Bible Alone "Will Lead you to Apostate Thinkings!" Stay a Watchtowerite!

by BucketShopBill in

"from time to time, there have arisen from among the ranks of jehovah's people those, who, like the original satan, have adopted an independent, faultfinding attitude...they say that it is sufficient to read the bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home.

but, strangely, through such 'bible reading,' they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by christendom's clergy were teaching 100 years ago.

the watchtower, aug. 15, 1981.. .

Xanthippe

Yes BSB it was at a circuit assembly in mid-eighties I first heard we could not study just the Bible with people anymore. Shocked, so much so I phoned a friend in another circuit who confirmed they had the same talk. Loud alarm bells rang that day.

8

What Happened to Elihu Books? Greg Stafford's Website is Gone!

by BucketShopBill in

i loved this guy, he was cool and now i found out his website domain is up for sale.

what happened to greg, is he still alive and doing well?

did he return to the organization, any information would be appreciated!.

Xanthippe

http://elihubooks.blogspot.co.uk/

8

Watching the World - Awake! August 2014

by Xanthippe in

watching the world.

''every year, nearly 3 million babies die within the first month of life, most from preventable causes.

more than a third of these babies die on their first day of life" - save the children international.

Xanthippe

This religion infuriates me! How ridiculous to quote statistics from a charity that has been saving children's lives with donations from ordinary people since 1919. Eglantyne Jebb found out that German and Austrian children were starving because of the devastation of WWI and she asked ordinary people to donate money to their former enemy country, which they did!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eglantyne_Jebb

Ordinary people have been opening their hearts and donating to complete strangers for the entire time the JWs have been preaching the destruction of all the men, women and children who don't agree with them. Good people are doing something about this world instead of whining about the problems. These charities are there in every conflict, every earthquake, every natural disaster. They exist because human suffering moves the hearts of decent ordinary people. Stop whining about the state of the world Watchtower, get your wallet out.

8

Watching the World - Awake! August 2014

by Xanthippe in

watching the world.

''every year, nearly 3 million babies die within the first month of life, most from preventable causes.

more than a third of these babies die on their first day of life" - save the children international.

Xanthippe

WATCHING THE WORLD

''Every year, nearly 3 million babies die within the first month of life, most from preventable causes. More than a third of these babies die on their first day of life" - Save the Children International

So do they encourage people to give to Save the Children to buy medicines and to finance immunisation programs? No they prevented JWs from giving to charity at least they did when I was there. These fat cats of an American publishing company know that these kids are dying but do nothing.

68

Come on! Tell it like it is. People are LYING when they tell you, "I've read the Bible."

by Terry in

go ahead.

tell me.. "i've read the bible cover to cover.

i don't believe you.. it is damned near impossible!.

Xanthippe

Terry you seem baffled why we care what you said well for me I think it was the last straw. I've seen people talk about 'piousneers' who lied about their hours and 'elderettes' who don't give a damn about anyone. As a regular pioneer who started doing 100 hours a month and never lied about my hours and an elder's wife who tried really hard to help people being told I lied about reading the Bible finished me off.

I read it cover to cover so as not to be a hypocrite when I knocked on doors trying to teach it. I'm not alone, many pioneers and elders/wives on this site have hinted how hard they worked. FFS why should we be ashamed of actually being genuine even if we were misguided!

68

Come on! Tell it like it is. People are LYING when they tell you, "I've read the Bible."

by Terry in

go ahead.

tell me.. "i've read the bible cover to cover.

i don't believe you.. it is damned near impossible!.

Xanthippe

For those who say they read the Bible (cover to cover) how many of you believe what you read?

Terry I don't believe it at all now. As a JW, when I read the Bible from cover to cover as a young woman in my twenties, I thought it was full of sex and violence. Women being offered for gang rape, Lot's daughters I remember in particular and the woman who was gang raped and then chopped into little pieces and her parts sent to the twelve tribes of Israel. Was that the one where the men were then forcibly circumcised and then murdered when they were recovering? Or perhaps that was another story. Very bloody I thought.

I could never undersand why woman were treated the way they were by men in the Bible or even why the whole subjection and headship thing was right when I have always believed in my bones that men and women are equal. I thought Jehovah would explain it to me in the new system. Lol!

As for the New Testament, I vividly remember trying to get to grips with this person called Jesus through his words and actions but the strong impression I was always left with was that there is nobody there! Couldn't find him. That really confused me as a JW but all of this added more doubts to all the other doubts that were slowly mounting up.

68

Come on! Tell it like it is. People are LYING when they tell you, "I've read the Bible."

by Terry in

go ahead.

tell me.. "i've read the bible cover to cover.

i don't believe you.. it is damned near impossible!.

Xanthippe

Yeah every word, a few verses a day. Took me five years. I've also read Plato, ten Shakespeare plays, rather a lot of history, computer programming books... Bored now.

28

Should some people actually be Witnesses?

by Apognophos in

it seems to me like certain people actually benefit from joining the religion.

primarily i'm thinking of ones with drug problems who are only able to quit because they are working towards baptism.

another example would be those who are always getting in fights or who have a big ego, and who learn to be pacifistic and humble as a witness.

Xanthippe

I'm not convinced that the religion is bad for everybody. It seems to work well enough for many JWs. - Apog

I do wonder if some people will ever be able to leave the JWs. My brother seemed to really enjoy bethel and having bells ringing to tell him when to get up etc. It would drive me crazy living like that and I hate being told what to believe now but I agree some people are followers, advertisers know this.

At the last two family funerals one of my sisters said something about the colours of the flowers each time. Nothing else! I thought is that all you can say after all these years? She learnt Russian at school! Have their brains been atrophied with disuse?

I don't know if everyone could cope with leaving. 'Humankind cannot bear very much reality' - T S Eliot

And do you have any suggestions of equal effectiveness for someone with this kind of need?

Do I have any suggestions? This site is great for people who are thinking of leaving but I just think if the likes of my siblings ever find their way here we should be careful not to jump all over their probably continuing theism as they try to find their way through the craziness of human beliefs. Giving up the structure of a belief system and one as strict as JWs takes time.

31

Post some niceness ! There is too much negativity in the world.

by new hope and happiness in

jw
friends

so here we are on a niceness thread talking about nice things.. yesterday a very pretty girl left her mobile behind at the computer in the libary, i returned it to her and she gave me a hug.

.

Xanthippe

This story was in a local paper a couple of weeks ago. It restores your faith in human nature after reading the national papers lately.

Trapped dolphins rescued by Nottinghamshire family

THE heroic actions of a Nottingham family saved the lives of 19 dolphins trapped on an isolated Scottish beach.

Simon Lane, 60, fronted the rescue mission at the secluded resort of Lochbuie, on the Isle of Mull, after his 13-year-old nephew, Finley Meakin, noticed a pod of dolphins swimming unusually close to the shore.

Within minutes, it was clear that the animals had become stuck in the shallow waters after following a school of mackerel towards the beach.

Mr Lane, of The Green, Hickling, immediately waded in to help the "mass stranding" – which the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust believes is the worst case seen in the UK since 2008, when a similar incident happened in Cornwall.

Mr Lane said: "I had never seen anything like it before.

"They were beached about 20 yards from the sands and seemed very distressed.

"You could hear them squeaking very loudly.

"They must have been talking to each other but they seemed to know what we were doing and that we wanted to help them."

Over the course of two hours, Mr Lane and his family helped to slowly move the dolphins, which weighed between 35lbs and 200lbs, back into the deeper water.

"They even used a suitcase luggage strap to help lift the heavier animals.

He said: "We had to move them into the deeper water and hold them under using this strap so they could get their sat-nav sorted, otherwise they would just keep heading back to the beach.

"It was pretty exhausting but we were all so relieved to know the dolphins were safe."

19

How do you think we'll be remembered?

by rebel8 in

jw
friends

some day far in the future, will we be looked upon as suffragettes who abolished cults with tenacity, courage and outspokenness?.

will future generations shudder at the backwardness of cultures that permitted cults to flourish, and not comprehend how this could have happened?.

will they be grateful for being spared death and suffering at the hands of cults because of what we are doing to expose them and reduce their growth?.

Xanthippe

Will future generations shudder at the backwardness of cultures that permitted cults to flourish, and not comprehend how this could have happened?

Historians are trained to set events in their historical context and taught to refrain from seeing them though contemporary eyes. Russell was born in 1852 and seven years later Darwin published Origin of Species. Karl Marx was publishing his works at the same time. It was the end of the industrial revolution and as the world became more secularised and industrialised those who were afraid of change rushed headlong into the new religions and cults.

In the last 150 years or so we have seen the space race, the development of weapons of mass destruction, huge steps forward in technology and medicine and the world shrinking because of ICT and air travel.

Cults may be seen in the future as the backlash because of our getting ahead of ourselves in knowledge and causing pollution, nuclear waste, global warming, depletion of fossil fuels and destroying the ozone layer. When we are afraid we rush to primitive beliefs for safety.

Will we be remembered? We might be a line in the paragraph about the people who left and were shunned by the cults. What the history books won't say is that those people went off and made a life for themselves, with autonomy and ethical living outside of a structured religion. Perhaps a tutor will look up at her students and say, after growing up in a cult what brave souls they were!