Posts by Hopeless1

34

Watchtower Study on 5th December.

by Lost in the fog in

the wt study for this week is all about disfellowshipping.

in an early paragraph it said "think how heartbroken jehovah must have been when members of his own angelic family turned their back on him!".

however when you think about it, when this happened according to the wt teaching, jehovah still engaged with satan in the heavens (book of job) and had conversations with him about what was going on in the earth.. so why do the wt org practice shunning when jehovah god obviously didn't?.

Hopeless1

CJAsher, Welcome !

Like yourself, many on this website have been suicidal in the past, and no doubt there will be some to reach out to you to offer helpful advice, comfort and encouragement.

Please tread carefully whatever you do next. You are probably both in a fragile state of mind, and need to find a sense of calm before making decisions that may affect your lives in the long or short time. The reaction from your relatives and ‘friends’ among JWs may be far from helpful at this time. Be clear in your mind about what you hope for in your future.

You do not mention the adversity that brought you to this situation, if you feel the need to speak about it, please do, if not, then don’t. Do whatever feels comfortable for the present.

be assured that there are people out here among non and ex-JWS that will do the best they can for you both, just hold on to your sanity and know you are doing the right thing in trying to get help.

Wishing you both all the best!

10

What Do You Think?

by Atlantis in

jw
friends

do you think the tower is getting money from the government for encouraging people to get vaccinated?

or is there just too much lemon in my tea?.

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/07/27/biden-harris-admin-provides-121-million-in-arp-funding-to-local-communities-for-covid-19-vaccines.htmlbiden-harris administration provides $121 million in american rescue plan funds to support local community-based efforts to increase covid-19 vaccinations in underserved communities.

Hopeless1

Watchtower is very clever at inventing corporations and the like for specific purposes when money is involved.

what’s to say they have either asked for anonymity or applied for it under a pseudonym or some such thing?

15

What was the Overall reaction from the world media ,to the Awake article ,may 22nd 1994 regarding "Youths Who Died Refusing Blood".

by smiddy in

i , and my wife had probably left about 12 months prior to this magazine coming out , and i never at that time had any knowledge of it till many years later when i joined this site.. when i did see it , i was appalled that they could put out such an article , in a magazine they would distribute throughout the world .. to me it smacked of child abuse .

these were kids , who had no life experiences , who were far too young to make life or death choices of their own , were influenced by religous leaders who had their own agenda , and sadly by family , relatives and freinds who were indoctrinated by a man made religion that has its roots in america in the late 1800`s .. so my question is , did this episode of child abuse go under the radar of mainstream media ?

did it escape child protection agencies of the time ?.

Hopeless1

Yes Smiddy, I remember it. Difficult to say how I felt about offering it at the time, as a ‘publisher’ you were just to get on with it and do as you’re told, cheerfully!

But in retrospect it’s difficult to think what they expected to achieve by printing such an article, except maybe to say, ‘look at these people, aren’t they wonderful?- they must really love God and have his blessing to martyr their children this way’. ….Which of course is absolute rubbish.

Anyway, it seemed like some kind of weird bragging exercise to me at the time, and now.

33

How did you learn the truth about the truth?

by Iamallcool in

any takers?.

Hopeless1

For many, many long years I made excuses for them, comparing them to the ancient ‘renegade’ nation of Israel who were still considered God’s people right up to messiah’s coming in the 1st century.

Then came two Jehovah’s Witness suicides in a few months, (different areas)

That, was the finish for me…

45

Annual Meeting

by sove in

jw
friends

is it the annual meeting this weekend?

any insights on "new light" or new releases?.

Hopeless1

Really!!.…

….😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

27

Statements or Comments Made By JWs That Were WRONG

by minimus in

jw
friends

jehovah’s witnesses claim to be the only religion that has the truth.

they claim to be representing god himself.

can you think of anything that you could use to prove that the witnesses do not have the truth?.

Hopeless1

They say that they are all in a spiritual paradise, - but - they still criticise and judge any they don’t like in the congregation, call them ‘weak, spiritually’, mark them, and treat them like dirt.

Their love-bombing is all for show, though they claim to have Christ-like love among themselves, and that they are therefore true Christians and no part of the world.

They suck up to higher up ones in the hierarchy, and brag about any they know personally,- I could go on and on, there’s plenty of scope here.

depressing, really

26

The Bible speaks of the "Unforgivable Sin" ? What is it ?

by smiddy3 in

do any jehovah`s witnesses or ex jehovah`s witnesses even know what that sin is ?.

why is such a statement in the bible if its not identified what that sin is ?.

were the authors of the book just playing with peoples heads ?

Hopeless1

Personal belief is that unforgivable sin is one for which you have no remorse, no guilt feeling, hence no repentance, no contrition.

Since Holy Spirit seems to stimulate the conscience, the fact you may ignore or even obliterate the conscience, you would therefore be grieving or sinning against the Holy Spirit, and thereby render yourself unable to repent, and consequently unable to be forgiven.

Don’t think any human can judge another on the matter?

13

Robbing your child of a normal upbringing

by RiverPeace in

happy to be joining you!.

i am a 75 year old, who was baptized in 1968. had the full-on jw experience.

elder since 1974. reg pioneered 20 years.

Hopeless1

Ditto all of the above.

I have daughter in her 40’s still at home with us, faded completely with me over the last few years. She has never had drink/ drugs problems, just extremely low self-esteem and absolute lack of confidence. Hardly surprising given the peer pressure, bullying and lack of concern or even friendship from witnesses in various congregations we were in.

Husband in his 80’s still PIMI, but has never given us any emotional support at all, I am just grateful he got a full-time job, worked hard and got a small pension which keeps the wolf from the door as they say. If he had listened to the super-fine elders that counselled him about missing meetings due to doing overtime, we would be living off government hand-outs now. ( two or three at least of these elders are now millionaires, but we got accused by them of being materialistic?!) (sad thing is, at the time, I agreed with them) Now of course, I just have to find a way of living with the guilt and angst of decades of denying my lovely daughter all the things she had a right to expect from me.

Due to spending time money and energy on the ‘more important spiritual things’, we went without holidays, birthdays, Christmas, education and all the rest, - find myself swinging between thoughts like, ‘wish I was dead’ and ‘ let’s try and make up for lost time’, but find little respite from the fact that not only wasted my own life but probably ruined that of my dear child. (Also, her employment opportunities are not great)

Here in the U.K. we are pretty limited as to mental help, unless you have a GP who is sympathetic and will get you referred.

I believe many who visit this website have the same issues outlined here, even if they never comment.

It is just sad, so if any of you have the answer, please let us all know.

17

Zoom meetings

by molybdenum in

being pimo i attend the meetings regularly over zoom.

( i have to as my wife is a dyed -in - the wool, and stick-in-the mud pioneer witness.

i have no possibility of leaving as it would create havoc in my life and at 68 years of age i just don't want the hassle of having to cope with the ramifications of disassociating myself.

Hopeless1

Hey Molybdenum, my birthday is next month too! What date? I’ll send you an e-birthday card.

( I am in my early 70’s, not a born in, attending meetings since 1961, but not anymore)

Husband nearly born in now in his mid-eighties, and attends all zoom meetings, but complains a lot. Won’t be PIMO because he wants to see his mum in paradise.

I have not been attending meetings regularly for about 5 years, made poor health a good excuse without attracting attention to fact I was waking up.

Now you couldn’t get me to a meeting ever again, zoom meetings included. Think will get visit from elders when lock down over, or there again, maybe not. Elders here are very lax. Will only pursue you if they want you gone for good.

How on earth do you cope? Once they open their mouths and start their spiel I just feel gut-churning frustration, anger, etc, ruins my whole day... grrrr

As for zoom failures, at the start especially there were things such as people eating crisps, doing their hair, inappropriate positioning of camera, carrying on private conversations, whispering and so on. Happily none of the elderly on their commode though, - but now, apparently zoom only shows face of the one commenting or conducting meeting.

34

Anyone notice how when some of us older ones were in the cult.......

by mickbobcat in

when i was a kid in the late sixties the type of books we would study was very intense compared to the bull shit pablum that they put out today?

i mean the finished mystery and others now its these stupid books that don't dive deep into the beliefs.

.

Hopeless1

Sea Breeze,

one reference to said belief of interrupted G.T. is here, -

WHEN DOES THE GREAT TRIBULATION BEGIN?

3. In the past, what was our understanding of the timing of the great tribulation?

3 For a number of years, we thought that the great tribulation began in 1914 with World War I and that “those days were cut short” by Jehovah in 1918 when the war ended so that the remnant would have the opportunity to preach the good news to all nations. (Matt. 24:21, 22) After the completion of that preaching work, Satan’s empire would be destroyed. Thus, the great tribulation was thought to have three phases: There would be a beginning (1914-1918), the tribulation would be interrupted

(from 1918 onward), and it would conclude at Armageddon.

Watchtower study edition July 2013 (Tell us, when will these things be? article paragraph 3)

will look for original Watchtower teaching, but may take longer as dutifully disposed of old watchtower and awakes years ago.