Posts by jwundubbed

39

House-to-House Resumes Sep 1 2022

by Smiles in

breaking news | house-to-house preaching will resume on september 1, 2022. the governing body is pleased to announce that the house-to-house preaching work of jehovah’s witnesses will resume on september 1, 2022. we pray for jehovah’s rich blessing to be with all of you as we resume our house-to-house ministry!.

https://www.jw.org/en/news/jw/#newsalerts.

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jwundubbed

I think they need to carry their vaccination cards as ID badges in order to go door to door. Now we can get mad at them for solicitation and for dangerous COVID practices. They need to have the most recent booster shots to come to my door.

22

JW's are the SAME as other Christians....

by BoogerMan in

...they condemn/attack those whose beliefs/opinions/interpretations of scriptures differ from theirs.. various scriptures reveal to christians that the judging of mankind will be done by christ jesus: .

john 5:22,28,29, acts 10:42, acts 17:31, romans 14:9, 2 cor.

5:10, 2 tim.

jwundubbed

JW's are the SAME as other Christians....

I think you may have missed the most important part that makes JWs different from every other Christian in the world. JWs are NOT Christians. They don't 'follow Christ'. They follow Jehovah. The basic definition that every Christian knows is that Christian = Follower of Christ. When you make the distinction that Christ is not God and therefore not the one to follow... you are not a Christian.

It is, to me, one of the greatest examples of cognitive dissonance that most JWs and ex-JWs are unaware of. If you follow Jehovah, then you are not following Christ and therefore you are NOT a Christian.

27

I’m a current elder ex bethel in London

by Mikejw in

jw
friends

i was in bethel for years early 2000s and was heavily involved with brd from start to finish .

im current elder in one of the congregations in london.

what i’ve noticed is huge changes since covid .

jwundubbed

I have never been DF nor DA. I faded... until someone in my family started a rumor and my entire family that is in has shunned me ever since. That was over 25 years ago. I would guess that people monitoring each other and shunning based on 'one's conscience' and rumors and gossip are still very much a part of the JWs even with COVID and Zoom meetings.

It was always easy to fade.... until someone took a persona interest and made it difficult and I am guessing that is still the case.

Oh, but welcome to the group!

33

Do you think the Watchtower is right about about eternal punishment of the wicked?

by Vanderhoven7 in

atheists believe death is the end of personal existence.

but for those who believe there is life after death, what do you think is the nature of final punishment?

in other words do you agree with the atheists and the watchtower society or is there eternal ongoing conscious punishment awaiting the wicked.

jwundubbed

But for those who believe there is life after death, what do you think is the nature of final punishment?

I believe that having to live in Eternity, even with a perfect body, with any Jehovah's Witness would be the final punishment. To be forced to live with all of them living and resurrected would actually be cruel and unusual punishment and an eternity of hell... on earth.

30

Is burying someone on a golf course tacky?

by GabeAthouse in

jw
friends

trump's first wife and mother of his children died recently.

they had her buried on his golf course.

do you think this is tacky or a savvy business move since it'll now get them some tax breaks as a cemetery?.

jwundubbed

In the United States, in most states you can bury people on private property if you get permission from your local county or city office first.

Personally, I think its fine if that is what the person would have wanted. I have no idea what the late Mrs. Ex-Trump would have wanted. I would hope that her family was doing this to respect her last wishes.

36

Do you believe that this life is all there is

by Fisherman in

the bible records resurrections and there is orher evidence besides that gives hope.

what do you think, is there enough evidence to believe in another life?.

jwundubbed

I have struggled with Complex PTSD ever since I left the JWs. My greatest fear has always been that there is nothing after this life. I've made some breakthroughs along the way in dealing with my PTSD but that fear was always there.

Between February and May both of my living grandparents passed away. It is the first time that I lost people I was really close to. Other people in my family passed away but we were estranged for the obvious reason. What surprised me the most in my grandparents passing was that I'm not worried about where they went or if they went somewhere. I don't know where they went but I know in my heart that they are together somewhere.

When I left the JWs all my foundational beliefs just fell away. I was lost because I didn't know if there was anything to believe in. Almost immediately, through self reflection, I realized that I have my own truths. I never needed a religion to tell me right from wrong because I know in my heart and in my mind what is right and what is wrong. All I had to do was listen to my instincts. And they have never steered me wrong since I started listening to them. When I ask myself if there is a place after death, I don't know. But when I ask myself if I am worried about what happened to my grandparents I just 'know' that they are in a different place. I'm going to trust in that instinct and that knowledge because I believe it and because I have faith that is the truth.

Also... I have some science in my beliefs. Energy doesn't die, it just changes form. Our consciousness is energy making connections in our brains. That energy doesn't die, it just changes form. We don't have to know what that form is to know that this is a foundational scientific truth and to trust in that truth. If the energy changes form, then who we are exists in a different form.

13

Jesus prophesied Global ''heat waves''

by RULES & REGULATIONS in

https://www.jw.org/en/library/.

keep on the watch!.

record-breaking temperatures worldwide—what does the bible say?.

jwundubbed

I think aliens from outer space would be more aligned with 'fearful sights' and 'strange and terrifying things'. They had heat waves in ancient times. They had droughts. I mean, wasn't the whole wandering in the desert and needing manna poured down from heaven due to not being able to find ground food? Wouldn't that presume there hadn't been enough rain and maybe there was even a heat wave?

To be honest, the bible itself has much more 'fearful sights' and 'strange and terrifying things' than climate change... which is really hard to prove (no matter how much one might already believe in it.). I mean... I can make a list that fits that prophecy much more than climate change.

1. Manna raining from heaven.

2. Burning bush that talks as a messenger from God.

3. Angles in human form.

4. Human sacrifice.

5. Parting the sea.

6. Water turning to blood.

7. Flood killing all of humanity

8. Fitting pairs of every living creature into that tiny little boat called the Ark.

* 9. A virgin giving birth to a hybrid human/supernatural baby.

10. Turning a rod into a serpent and back again.

11. Insect plagues.

12. First born children dying but other children living. (That would have killed off one sibling, my father, my maternal uncle, my grandfather, and about 15 cousins in one fell swoop.)

13. People speaking in tongues.

14. Jericho falling because of sound waves.

15. Samson's strength is all in his hair???

16. Dinah has to marry her rapist and then her brothers kill everyone anyway. (as a woman that is terrifying.. and just awful).

17. Sodom and Gomorrah are fire-bombed from heaven.

18. Women mate with angels creating monsters/giants?

* 19. Dead coming back to life.

* 20. Walking on water.

21. People living through being burned alive, unscathed.

22. Handwriting appearing on walls.

23. Whale swallowing a man (this happened recently and was pretty creepy even though the whale spit him out)

* 24. Water turns into wine.

The ones with asterisks actually happened to or were caused by Jesus himself. So, if he said the things and sights were strange and terrifying and fearful, then shouldn't his prophecy mean things that are even more alarming than what we saw him do or go through?

I'm sorry but climate change pales by comparison because the application is just experiencing the weather... been there done that. The scale may be new, but the sight isn't strange or terrifying, just new.

24

Family division

by joao in

the worst part of my experience of getting rid of the shackles of wt is not the shunning.

i can live with that.

if people don't want to talk to me, there are many more who do!

jwundubbed

The question now is only about preserving my family and helping them see that they need to leave too.

You can't make someone see that they have the wrong faith. It is a deeply personal choice that each person has to make and trying to convince them otherwise will push them away. Instead make them feel safe in whatever choice they do make. Support them in their choices and show them love. Show them that you are happy being out of it. Focus on the positives. And love and support them even if they decide to stick with it. This is basic human nature at work.

24

Family division

by joao in

the worst part of my experience of getting rid of the shackles of wt is not the shunning.

i can live with that.

if people don't want to talk to me, there are many more who do!

jwundubbed

I had a friend who was a JW for about 20 years. Her husband was not a JW. What he was, was a stable and steady influence in her life. He was kind and considerate and a rock when the JWs were freaking out or just plain miserable. When her three children were in their teens they decided that they didn't want to be JWs anymore. Within a few years the whole family was out mentally and physically and they were happier than they had ever been when they were in the JWs. I truly believe that their transition was easier because they had their father/husband who was so steady and provided so much support to them. He didn't like the JWs. He didn't like how his wife and children were treated. But he respected the choices that his family made and that made him a good Head of Household. He maintained good values and raised his kids to make good choices. He never made them feel that their choice to be JW was wrong. I haven't seen anyone else transition out of the JWs with as much common sense and so little cognitive dissonance. I'm sure they had some but they had less internal conflict than anyone else I have ever known who went through that struggle and I, personally, believe that it was because they had a steady rock and a voice of reason guiding them.

If you are there for them emotionally then they aren't wasting their time at whatever they are doing. This is true regardless of if you don't like the religion that they are in, or if they spend too much time with friends or in video games or whatever the case may be. If you are supporting them in healthy ways then you are a good head of household regardless of how they are spending their time. It really is quality over quantity.

20

Michael Jackson Jehovah's Witness Thriller

by researcher1010 in

i'm a reporter working on a series about michael jackson.

part of this series will look at his life as a jehovah's witness and his relationship to the faith.

i've already spoken to a few ex-witnesses and one elder who have explained jw 101 beliefs and teachings.

jwundubbed

@Atlantis

Thank you so much! That link to filemail worked for me. And now I know why it didn't ring any bells with me.

@researcher1010

Michael Jackson did not apologize, he expressed regret that he offended people. The WTS did not advise people against Thriller, they told us to use good choices, meaning it was a matter of our conscience. I also saw an issue of semantics. MJ mentioned he blocked distribution for the film... that he had control over. That wouldn't have been much by that point and the film was till shown. The quote says he doesn't want to do any more Thriller and yet he was selling the album, under contract to finish his tour through December of 1984, and he never stopped performing it with the theatrics that were supposedly bad. You can find documented proof that this continued on as easily as running a basic search on YouTube. So he expressed regret and mollified the WTS but did not apologize and kept doing the very thing he said he regretted. That's not something I would take seriously... neither at the time or at any time since. The WTS is very much a do as we say, not as we do. But a lot of people don't pay attention to that, especially when it is left up to a person's conscience.

So, thanks to Atlantis' due diligence... your statements don't seem to be backed up by the very proof that you are citing. That's not good in journalism. Are you really a journalist? You should have your facts straight BEFORE you ask for anecdotal support.