now that im not longer a jw this verse puzzles me.
being born and raised a witness, this verse confirmed to me that jesus was talking about a paradise on earth.
but now that everything the witnesses taught is 99.99% incorrect can somone explain what he was getting at here?
Look at the context, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven -Matt 5:3. Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven - Matt 5:10. Strongly suggests inheriting the earth as a possession as kings.
Having said that, who wrote it, who translated it, who decided this bit should go in the Bible canon and not be assigned as apocryphal, which verses in between were discarded etc etc.
exjw's of a certain age will remember randy's site well.
freeminds was instrumental in waking me up along with ray franz's books.
if net soup and armageddon okies mean nothing to you you're probably under 30.. whatever caused randy to post what he did recently is something i can only guess at but it won't be what i remember him for.. randy, i wish you well and thank you for all you've done over the years .
We got Randy's newsletter Freeminds sent by mail from the US in 1989. I know I've said it before but it shone a light in the darkness. Thanks Randy, I hope you're okay.
in appreciation of david bowie who died a year ago today.
also to george michael and all the other less famous people ( mouthy, school friend.
my aunt.
Victoria Wood, Alan Rickman, Carrie Fisher, my cousin Julie.
so i had my first appointment with a counsellor, of course i explained about being a born in jw, mentally leaving, the penalty of doing so and therefore the mental strain of pretending to be someone i'm not.
her response was that she couldn't help me with that because leaving a cult was a "lifestyle choice".
i tried to say to her that its a cult not a religion and how it brain washed me but no.
The first counsellor I tried thought I should join her group therapy. I explained that cults were very different from most traumatic experiences. She was rather indignant that I thought I had had a totally different experience emotionally to someone who had been through a divorce or had a miscarriage. I gave up trying to explain it to her.
My second counsellor knew about JWs because her relatives were involved with it. She said when she took her kids to their grandparent's house they were not allowed to play with their cousins whose parents were JWs. Her kids were viewed as a bad influence so had to play in another room.
As usual people don't understand this cult unless they've had first-hand experience of it. I strongly suggest you try another counsellor.
when i was younger i used to hear about "marking talks" given in the past.
i believe they stopped in the 80's or 90's.
basically, if someone wasn't baptized or doing something unrepentant, they would get a "marking talk" and be treated the same as a df person.
Anyway how does dating an unbeliever reflect badly on the congregation? In whose eyes? NonJWs don't care who you date.
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-reasons-2016-is-the-best-time-to-be-alive-2016-8/#1-there-are-much-fewer-hungry-people-in-the-world-1.
is the world getting better?.
in which century would you rather have been born, given the choice?
The world is getting better, there are so many amazing things in this century. Technology, medicine, travel, literature, ethics and morality, compassion and charities, a wonderful array of food but in some ways it is still primitive. Cults, materialism, politics and the multinationals dominated by sociopaths. I would have liked to see the twenty-third century, I think it will be awesome.
the scriptures reveal that god never takes advantage of the ignorance of anyone.. j.rutherford, jehovah, brooklyn, international bible students association, 1934, p.19.
would that the oligarchy followed suit.. tom..
Thank you Xanthippe. For some reason I cannot update my bio nor the avatar. So just briefly; Born in, thirty-something years later I finally came to terms with some life-long suppressed thoughts & doubts. I am now going through what seems to be a well told story on this forum. (grateful to be able to read about people in the same boat)
Try sending a pm to Simon who owns the site if you are struggling with it. I left at thirty too. Yes many have noticed the similarity between Orwell's 1984 world and the JW cult.
Looking forward to hearing more about your journey so far.
i have a nearly academic interest in the occult, though i am not a spiritualist and remain a skeptic.
i've come to learn that demons are based on everything from dust devils in the desert, to diseases, to actual people.
probably most of all, demons are a tool of good ol' fashioned con artists and fear mongers.. but here's a question.
The only thing to worry about is if you still have the JW mindset that you are doing something dangerous, then you can frighten yourself. I found a book about near death experiences in a second hand book shop after I left the cult and it really surprised me. Since then I have read may books on this and also the paranormal. It's a time to catch up on stuff we were told not to look at. Just don't be afraid, books can't hurt you.
i am a teacher and coordinator in brazil.
the school (it's for adults) i work for requires that our students donate food (rice, beens, pasta) or clothes or toys every month.
then, at the beginning of the next month, we take all of the donated goods and deliver them to places that exist on receiving donated items.. two months ago, we delivered the items to a home that cares for kids with cancer.
Fantastic post thanks! What a great school you work at. Yeah religion is all about the future when many people are in such great need now.
I agree helping others is a game changer. It empowers you and prevents you feeling the world's problems are hopeless. People power, it's real, it works.
as far as i know, the "creation" book is out of print ?, am i right?.
well, i was searching for new watchtower articles trying to debunk, for instance, human evolution.
so, i did my homework, for the first time, so as to read past and updated papers and books on human evolution.
We were told by a CO that if someone in FS mentioned Darwin we were supposed to say 'do you mean Charles or Erasmus?'. This was supposed to show them how clever we were and throw them of track. How pathetic.
