Posts by Rainbow

70

What made you stay "in" even when you knew it wasn't the "truth"?

by mentalclarity in

so i've been thinking a lot about why i stayed a jw for so long even though i had always had doubts about the doctrines.

i was born into the religion, left and came back as an adult for another decade.

some of the things that come to mind (besides the threat of shunning-and this isn't to minimize that very real threat) was:.

Rainbow_Troll

Mentalclarity: we are ostracized and shunned for having moral integrity-standing up for what we believe which is ironic since that is what we're taught to do...

This is what outrages me the most. When I was in, I obeyed most of the rules while my friends led a double life, for which I did not condemn them. But when I openly disagreed with WT doctrine and left, my friends had the nerve to shun me for just being honest about who I was and what I thought!

Good people are applauded for parading their virtues and concealing their vices, as if such vanity were commendable; while the bad are shunned for not having the shame to cover up their shortcomings.

39

How do you get over all the things that you missed? The stuff you can't get back

by JW_Rogue in

look my life is not bad but sometimes i just think about all the normal things i missed out on.

and no i'm not talking about christmas and birthday parties.

i'm talking about your first kiss happening in your twenties instead of your teens.

Rainbow_Troll

Bungi Bill: I do believe you are something of a bloody troll, coming out with remarks like that!

I like to leave an impression, even if it's a negative one! Anger is usually genuine. Hardly anyone pretends to be angry and even hypocrites feel outrage.

But I stand by what I said: I know some very talented, well educated people who work at shit jobs. Two of my closest friends were both college educated and they're unemployed and homeless. One is a master artist who's paintings have more color, detail and clarity than most photographs I've seen and the other has a MA in medieval history. And no, they aren't addicted to drugs or mentally ill, they just chose the wrong fields.

College is fine if you can afford it and choose your major carefully, but it guarantees nothing and could leave you worse off then you were before. But hey, if you would rather regret the past and feel sorry for yourself, go on believing that not going to college ruined your life. I'm a pessimist; but I have found that in the great casino game of life, pessimism is a lot more practical (and, strangely, consoling) than optimism. People like to delude themselves that they are masters of their fate and their hubris is inevitably punished with disappointment and self-reproach. All we can really hope to control are our own thoughts, feelings and actions; everything else is the domain of chance and chaos.

27

Dealing with Elderly Parents Who Still Believe the jw Religion is the truth

by lancelink in

i left the religion back in 2008 right after my mother died,( the total lack of natural love/ affection was the final straw for me).. but my dad has become more and more focused on doing the wt bidding.. it just amazes me how he gushes on and on about the last days, his new bible studies, and meeting parts .

but yet he makes no effort to have any type of relationship with his grandkids, there are 5 of them , non are witnesses.

they are the children from several different sisters of mine, and myself.. so how do you deal with the witness stuff always being presented in conversations?.

Rainbow_Troll

So how do you deal with the witness stuff always being presented in conversations?

In my experience the only way to deal with it is to walk away. The Watchtower draws a hard line on issues that most mainstream religions do not even bother with, which makes it impossible to have a conversation with a witness that doesn't, in some way, touch on their religious beliefs.

Try to talk about politics with a witness and inevitably it will come down to "It's all futile, only Jehovah's government can fix things". Try to have a conversation about science or nature and unless you tread very carefully - avoiding any reference to evolution, geology, cosmology or anything else that suggests that the universe is more than a few thousand years old - you are certain to come into conflict. Ethical debate is also useless, since JWs only recognize the authority of the Watchtower and know nothing of ethics as it relates to philosophy. Social justice issues will just get you the tired line that "Why bother trying to change anything, Jehovah will soon set everything right".

In short, there is literally nothing these people can say that you couldn't read in a Watchtower. They have no thoughts of their own. They live in a fantasy world of God, angels and demons. There is simply no common ground on which to build a rapport, let alone a relationship.

39

How do you get over all the things that you missed? The stuff you can't get back

by JW_Rogue in

look my life is not bad but sometimes i just think about all the normal things i missed out on.

and no i'm not talking about christmas and birthday parties.

i'm talking about your first kiss happening in your twenties instead of your teens.

Rainbow_Troll

Well, I got my first kiss/make-out session when I was six; but concerning the other things you mentioned, I don't believe it would have made much of a difference if I were never a JW. I think many ex-JW project this fantasy life of what a non-jw childhood/adolescenthood would be like that bears little resemblance to the reality.

I remember being upset that I couldn't join the school band (because they did patriotic songs) but, years later, when I heard how terrible they were even after years of practice, I was glad that I didn't join; what a waste of time that would have been!

Another big issue is sex and dating. Unlike many JW kids I had worldly friends and even most of my JW friends were total hypocrites who led double lives. The first thing you should know is that if you are a girl, your first time with a boy at that age would have been extremely disappointing. Most teen boys don't know the first thing about fucking (some can't even find the right hole). So you didn't miss anything. If your a male, yeah, you missed something, but it wasn't anything that you couldn't enjoy better later down the line. Most teen 'relationships' are so superficial and short lived, they aren't worth the effort involved.

College? Just be grateful you aren't saddled with tens of thousands of dollars in debt! I don't know a single college graduate who doesn't regret their decision to pursue higher education. They all work at low-paying jobs that have nothing to do with the degree they payed so dearly for. Unless you know what you're doing, have lots of money, lots of connections (social capital) and a good contingency plan, attending college is one of the worst decisions you can make!

Feel better?

P.S. I want to make it clear that I'm not against attending college; it's just that most teens entering college have no frelling idea what they are getting themselves into! Go to college, but be smart about it. Choose a major with a plan as to how you are going to use it when you graduate. If possible, travel to Europe where university is free even to foreigners so you won't have to worry about debt.

9

The Alliances for Constitutional Sex Offenders Laws

by John Davis in

i was listening to the news today and heard of this organization.

it advocates for the removal of sex offenders registries or at least the reduction of its use and who has to register for it.

just one example of its work is to advocate for what the la district attorney's office is doing by working with sex offenders to get their names off the registry.

Rainbow_Troll

I'm glad something like this exists. An acquaintance of mine has a very hard time getting a job or renting an apartment all because he committed the very heinous crime of sleeping with a girl who looked slightly older than she was. In the USA, the AoC is usually 18, in Canada it is 16, in Denmark it's 15 (or 12 with parental approval). Which country has it right? Do the Dutch mature faster than Americans?

It's helpful to remember that everyone is a sex offender according to some ridiculous cultural taboo — except me, because I'm a virgin!

Peace out, perverts!

48

US Republican congressman, others injured by shooter in Washington DC

by sir82 in

jw
friends

tragic occurrence:.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/steve-scalise-shot-in-virginia-aide-also-hit/ar-bbcfakv?li=bbnb7kz.

i saw another report indicating that the gunman may have targetting gop members.

Rainbow_Troll

Tragic... No government should have to fear its own citizens. More sensless acts like this could eventually have a chilling effect on those seeking political office.

It's time we recognized the 2nd ammendment for the anachronism it is. I mean, think about it: the government doesn't just have firearms, it has tanks, tear gas and stealth bombers. Unless these gun touting rednecks are seriously suggesting that their 'right' to bear arms be extended to include remote assassination drones and apache missiles, their logic breaks down. How are a few men armed with handguns and assault rifles supposed to resist a tyrannical government that could wipe them out without ever having to fire a single bullet? The 2nd ammendment only made sense in an age when muskets and cannons were state-of-the-art.

7

The Resurrection narrative can make perfect sense if you consider it to be a lie.

by Island Man in

there are aspects to the resurrection story that seem unnecessary but make perfect sense if you consider them as patches to shore up the lie of jesus' resurrection.. (1) why did there have to be angels present at jesus' resurrection?

there is no other resurrection account in the bible that mentions the involvement of angels.. possible explanation: jesus' disciples really did steal jesus' body from the tomb.

two or three of them ambushed and knocked/drugged unconscious the guards on the scene before stealing the body.

Rainbow_Troll

Any consistencies in the gospel narratives end with the crucifixion and resurrection. Was Jesus betrayed with a kiss, a pointed finger or did he come forward and turn himself in? Did Judas accept the 30 pieces of silver and purchase land with it or did he cast his ill-gotten coins upon the temple floor in shame? What were Jesus' last words? Which disciples were the first to witness the empty tomb? How many angels were at the tomb or were there any at all? They can't even agree on where Jesus showed up or where he ascended to Heaven.

If Christians would just sit down and READ this book they claim to live their lives by, they would lose their faith over night.

10

Why hasn't the WT spoken out as loudly about Islam as it has catholics?

by Bad_Wolf in

muslims are now outnumbering catholics.

could the gb be all talk, and afraid if they spoke out against them, the last words they would hear at one of their talks would be "aloha snackbar!"?

.

Rainbow_Troll

Christians have always hated each other more than any rival religion. It's not the utterly alien that scares people, but the familiar with a twist. Observe that the most popular monsters in fiction are no lovecraftian abominations, but vampires, zombies and werewolves.

4

AUSTRALIA: Christian lobby group seeks to discriminate against the mentally ill

by jwleaks in

jw
friends

abc news (australia).

13 june 2017. a national christian group is lobbying for the disability discrimination act to be changed so that it can discriminate against people with mental illnesses, on the basis they could upset the "sacred" nature of church services.. familyvoice has called for a religious exemption to the act, arguing it interferes with freedom of religion.. in a submission to a federal parliamentary inquiry on freedom of belief, familyvoice said a person with a mental illness had the potential to interfere with a church service.. "for very good reasons a religion may not wish to engage a person who has a mental illness and displays disturbed behaviour," the submission read.. "a simple provision should be added for an exemption from the act for persons ... whose conscientious beliefs do not allow them to comply" .

.. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-13/familyvoice-wants-to-discriminated-against-disabled-sex-change/8612052.

Rainbow_Troll

So the churches will be empty? Sounds good to me!

28

My New Fascination - Evolution!

by pale.emperor in

since leaving watchtower i kind of hit the "reset" button in my mind and reevaluated what i thought i knew, what i believe and i require proof for every idea put before me before i commit to it.

lately i've been fascinated with evolution.

as a jw i never even looked at the subject, dismissing it as "just a theory".

Rainbow_Troll

Cofty: You might be surprised to learn just how much progress has been made in abiogenesis. Some really promising work being done by Nick Lane of UCL and others on bioenergetics.

I'll look them up. The concept of abiogenesis has fascinated me ever since I read of a Scottish scientist back in the late nineteenth century who claimed to have done it. Most people now think it was a hoax, as his experiments were never reproduced, but it the nonetheless sparked my interest. Creationists argue that there is no way something as complex as a cell could spontaneously assemble itself, yet Lynne Margulis' endosymbiotic hypothesis was proven beyond any doubt once mitochondrial DNA was discovered and compared with the DNA of modern bacteria. Cells did not spontaneously assemble themselves, nor were not created in their modern form by God, they evolved from simpler components, just multicellular organisms later evolved from them.

Rainbow_Troll

Posts by Rainbow_Troll