Posts by Xanthippe

29

So I just watched Jackson's ARC interview...

by schnell in

thank you, everybody here, for introducing me to this.

no, no i had not heard of this.

child abuse issues have been roundly dismissed as apostate attacks in the congregations i've attended in the last decade.

Xanthippe

' If they don't want to apply to officially leave the JWs they can tell anyone they like they are no longer a JW ' - G Jackson

Yes Schnell he's implying members could do this without sanction which we know is rubbish. Going around telling JW friends and family you no longer want to be a JW and why is apostasy and will get you disfellowshipped.

You're right he unbelievably says it's not his field but as Stewart says everything is his field because he's one of the GB. The ultimate spiritual shepherds of the JW religion cannot answer a straight question to save their life. Shocking. Good to see this again thanks. Glad you can see it's not the truth and welcome to the forum.

12

Do you feel regret?

by HereIgo in

to help me move on after leaving the org and to maintain my sanity, i have worked on not regretting the time i spent in it.

granted, i have only been out 6 years and was 22 when i left, i still was an active jw from age 16-22. those were prime times of my youth that i will never get back.

i wanted to play high school football and basketball but couldn't.

Xanthippe

Of course I wish I'd got out sooner, I was thirty when I left but I'm not weighed down with regret. I came from a financially poor, uneducated family which is why my mother got sucked into the cult. I can't see that my childhood could have been much different because of my parents circumstances. My parents didn't even understand about further education and my mother had depression so she just wanted paradise to make all the nasty scary world go away.

I try to look at the big picture because there's so much poverty in the world that people struggle so hard to get out of and many never do. My husband and I left and got degrees and did get out of the poverty trap but I'm not rich I just value everything I have now. Freedom, a little home, books and a daughter who did go to university and has the freedom to do whatever she wants with her life.

When I looked round universities with her I do remember a sharp pang in my stomach when I thought I could have had this life, but then she had me for a mother and I had my JW mother. Hey ho. Life is what it is and for us in the west, the first world it's damn good, make the most of it!

33

Jesus, the Great Convincer?

by Simon in

supposedly the disciples witnessed jesus' super-power awesomeness first-hand.. so they were all 100% on-board to-the-death martyrs ... right?.

erm .... judas betrayed him.

thomas didn't believe he'd come back.

Xanthippe

Interesting question. It makes a huge assumption, creates a false dichotomy and attempts to belittle the experience that can be gained from learning proper debating. - Viviane

So you were never a JW, that answers my question. Belittles debating, seriously? How terrible! How about your belittling of people who come on this forum because their family has been trapped in a fucking cult for decades.

33

Jesus, the Great Convincer?

by Simon in

supposedly the disciples witnessed jesus' super-power awesomeness first-hand.. so they were all 100% on-board to-the-death martyrs ... right?.

erm .... judas betrayed him.

thomas didn't believe he'd come back.

Xanthippe

The prophecy is that one of the disciples would betray Jesus. Which one is never specified. The belief is that each disciple had freedom of choice.

Uh, which prophecy?

This prophecy -

'He who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me shall betray me' - Matt 26:23

Viviane were you ever a member of the JW religion or just the college debating society?

33

Jesus, the Great Convincer?

by Simon in

supposedly the disciples witnessed jesus' super-power awesomeness first-hand.. so they were all 100% on-board to-the-death martyrs ... right?.

erm .... judas betrayed him.

thomas didn't believe he'd come back.

Xanthippe

devil's advocate here:
JWs and other Christians would say that doubt and betrayal among some of the apostles is evidence for the gospel being genuine, i.e. if all Jesus' followers perfectly believed and were all faithful it would be 'too good to be true'. LUHE

All the best fiction contains villains, anti-heroes and flawed humans.

25

It was never, ever, a warning work, was it?

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

most witnesses i knew were exteeemly reluctant to go out in the ministry.

but when they did, they were simply scraping by, eager to avoid conflict and just do their hour or so speaking to lonely old ladies or widowed old men.

placing magazines in a car group, doing route calls, plodding along in the utter boredom of their responsibility to get some time on a report by the last day of the month.. this was never a warning work.

Xanthippe

The witness work was a tepid, ridiculous charade that people went through.

Actually it wasn't for me. I really meant it. Perhaps that's why I don't feel so frustrated that I've totally wasted the first thirty years of my life. At least I lived authentically and when I realised the religion wasn't about love or caring about peoples' survival that helped me to leave.

I'm not the only one who feels this way but sometimes we feel bad admitting we really believed it and tried to help people. We shouldn't feel bad IMO because always living authentically shines a light on bullshit and helps you, eventually, avoid it.

15

Janet Jackson before and after pics

by moomanchu in

jw
friends

guess she is a muslim now, golly.. http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/janet-jackson-spotted-first-time-9106989.

.

Xanthippe

This family is such an advert for not being raised a JW.

78

A stunning piece of LOGIC from the Apostle Paul

by nicolaou in

1st corinthians 15 12-17. but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even christ has been raised.

and if christ has not been raised, your faith is futile... .

Xanthippe

Paul is saying if there's no resurrection then Jesus wasn't resurrected, his teachings weren't true, there's no ransom sacrifice and therefore no resurrection for us. He says in verse 32 if there's no resurrection let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.

This is the crux of the matter, no pun intended. If Christianity isn't true then why all the slaving away, following beliefs that do not give you eternal life.

All that time and millions of dollars wasted appeasing a deity who isn't there to persuade him to give us eternal life. I've seen the inside of the Vatican! How about working so that everyone can eat, drink clean water and be happy? Then we can in good conscience enjoy our own lives, our own food and raise a glass with friends. We can stop worrying about death and let eternity take care of itself.

78

A stunning piece of LOGIC from the Apostle Paul

by nicolaou in

1st corinthians 15 12-17. but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even christ has been raised.

and if christ has not been raised, your faith is futile... .

Xanthippe

Hi Nic, yes if I remember rightly some early Christians believed in Jesus but not in the resurrection. It's these people he's addressing, similar to the Sadducees with their disbelief in the resurrection.

78

A stunning piece of LOGIC from the Apostle Paul

by nicolaou in

1st corinthians 15 12-17. but if it is preached that christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even christ has been raised.

and if christ has not been raised, your faith is futile... .

Xanthippe

But the kindest, most rational Christian just cannot escape Paul's logic quoted above; if Christ is not risen your faith is in vain. The absurdity of all this is that faith is required to believe the very thing that makes faith futile. - Nic

I keep reading this over and over. Aren't you saying faith is required to believe in the resurrection which is the thing that makes faith futile? How does the resurrection make faith futile. Do you mean if early Christians could see people being resurrected they wouldn't need faith?