this thing about witnesses at the hearing... is there anything in the Bible about who is allowed to be witnesses? Surely there must be something about the accused having witnesses also? At least two!
Searcher
searcher41
JoinedPosts by searcher41
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PRESS RELEASE
by silentlambs inplease distribute freely to press.. silentlambs.
tuesday, may 7. .
jehovah's witnesses begin excommunicating child sexual abuse whistleblowers .
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Some Antis are just as bad as JW's
by DIM inspecifically i am talking about the "apostates" or antis who plaster cars or send people things in the mail with the truth about "the truth".
to me, this seems exactly like the jw's banging on doors on a saturday morning.
exactly the same thing, just from the other end.
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searcher41
I agree with both outnfree and DIM. Picketing is not for me. When I left the JWs, in 1976, I didn't bother with them for 15 years. I needed time to let go, to heal, and to grow as my own person. After this time, I felt it was time to try to get a message across to any JW who is not afraid to listen. Mostly because I care about my family still there, but also because I care about those being abused, and those living in fear, within the organisation, who feel they have nowhere to turn.
They do have places to turn to.
Picketing is not for me. I respect outnfree and her actions there, I just feel I don't want to go that road. Not saying it is wrong, but that it is not right for every exJW. For me, the quiet approach works better - letting the website draw people who are searching (hence the name, TruthSearcher) and responding accordingly.
Power to your efforts, outnfree!
Searcher
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Where else are you going to go?
by Dawn ini have heard that argument from the jw's since i was a child - i still hear it from my family.. now that i am out it seems like such a silly argument.
in fact, you could liken it to someone in an abusive marriage for years.
they're used to the situation and somewhat frightened at the thought of change.
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searcher41
my family visited the other week, just for an hour, but visit they did. When it came to talking about my teenage kids, I got the feeling (rightly or wrongly) that they expected them to have left home because we no longer got along. Truth is that my eldest is in College, my next teen is in University and we get along just fine! It's as if this amazes them.
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Some Antis are just as bad as JW's
by DIM inspecifically i am talking about the "apostates" or antis who plaster cars or send people things in the mail with the truth about "the truth".
to me, this seems exactly like the jw's banging on doors on a saturday morning.
exactly the same thing, just from the other end.
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searcher41
Regarding the comments of xJW Christian websites: not all go round picketing conventions, and not all demand that those leaving JWs must believe the same way. I am a Bible-believing Christian, have been since I left the Org in 1976, but I don't really agree with picketing - I don't honestly think it has much effect except to make the JW feel that they are right "because we are being persecuted", and I don't demand that anyone visiting my site or seeking help from me should believe as I do. For me, Christianity is my life, it is 100% part of me, but I accept and feel strongly that when people come out of the JWs, or any cult (including Christian "cults"), what they need most is *freedom* to choose for themselves. They never got that freedom in the Org, some never in their lives, so it is vital that if they choose Christianity, it is **because they want to**, not because someone else wants them to.
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My story: pieces of me
by Mimilly ini've lurked here for some time now, and posted a few times but wasn't going to do this until a couple other sweet members here suggested i do - so here it goes.
to tell my story, i have to go back to the beginning.. when i was 3yrs old, i had a very loving older brother, craig, who was 5yrs old.
while we were out playing on a montreal street one day, a streetcleaner with a hungover driver hooked my brother, dragged him several feet, and ran over him, in front of me.
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searcher41
Mimily
What you have been through has made me speechless. I thought my childhood with the JWs was bad until I read your experiences! Take heart - I always believe the first step to healing is opening up those wounds and letting them out to the fresh air.
May you find this place a place of comfort and strength.
Searcher :-)
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INCREDIBLE STUFF SAID @ BOOK STUDY!
by Mister Biggs inironically, we were discussing the watchman who stays awake night and day.. anyway, something was said that made me awaken and pay careful attention.
please, if anyone else who got this same information at their book study, please share it.. here goes:.
there was a picture of a man standing on the watchtower keeping on the look out.
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searcher41
petespal2002
Maybe you would like to take a look at:
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/truthsearcher/1975.htm
From someone who was there, and lived through all the publications regarding 1975 from the 60s through to 1975 itself, they did indeed teach that Armageddon would happen then.
"According to this trustworthy Bible chronology six thousand years of human history will end in the fall of 1975 CE" (Life Everlasting - In Freedom of the Sons of God, p 29).
"How Are You Using Your Life?" Yes, since the summer of 1973 there have been new peaks in pioneers every month. Now there are 20,394 regular and special pioneers in the United States, an all-time peak. That is 5,190 more than there were in February 1973! A 34-percent increase! Does that not warm our hearts? Reports are heard of brothers selling their homes and property and planning to finish out the rest of their days in this old system in the pioneer service. Certainly this is a fine way to spend the short time remaining before the wicked world's end. 1 John 2:17." (Kingdom Ministry May 1974)
"Do not pursue higher education ... There is very little time left! Make pioneer service, the full-time ministry with the possibility of Bethel or missionary service, your goal." (The Watchtower, 1969 March 1, p. 171)
1968 Eight years from the Autumn of 1967 would bring us to the Autumn of 1975, fully 6,000 years into God's seventh day, his rest day. (Watchtower May 1, 1968 p. 271)
"'Adam Created At Close Of 'Sixth Day' Are we to assume from this study that the battle of Armageddon will be all over by the autumn of 1975, and the long-looked-for thousand-year reign of Christ will begin by then ? Possibly, but we wait to see how closely the seventh thousand-year period of man's existence coincides with the Sabbath-like thousand-year reign of Christ....It may involve only a difference of weeks or months, not years.' (Watchtower, August 15, 1968, page 499)
"Just think, brothers, there are only about ninety months left before 6,000 years of mans existence on earth is completed... The majority of people living today will probably be alive when Armageddon breaks out, and there are no resurrection hopes for those who are destroyed then. So, now more than ever, it is vital not to ignore that spirit of wanting to do more." (Kingdom Ministry, March 1968, p. 4 [note: 1968 + 90 months = 1975])
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INCREDIBLE STUFF SAID @ BOOK STUDY!
by Mister Biggs inironically, we were discussing the watchman who stays awake night and day.. anyway, something was said that made me awaken and pay careful attention.
please, if anyone else who got this same information at their book study, please share it.. here goes:.
there was a picture of a man standing on the watchtower keeping on the look out.
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searcher41
HI Matty
You wrote: "If I contradict myself in my posts sometimes, then sorry - that’s me I'm afraid - I'm still on the fence believe it or not"
Please don't worry about that - I understand.
"there are lots of times when I still think it’s the truth, and that scares me more than anything!"
Yeah, and that awful feeling of "what if I am wrong *this* time?" - that is scary, because we can lose all confidence in our own ability to think about these things rationally. But then, did we ever really learn how to think rationally while a JW? No. We learned to think about everything in the light of the WT. I know it took me years to learn that my thoughts were just as valid and ok, I may get it wrong again, but at least I got it wrong with the freedom to think for myself, and the freedom to get up and try again. I am no longer anyone's puppet.
"All I know is that whereas I have a kind of "comfortable" life now, the pain I have inside won't go away as long as I stay like this."
Right - you have to, some time, go one way or the other, but only when you are ready. I felt like that. It was so tearing me apart because on the one hand, I love my family, and I didn't want to lose them, but on the other hand, I had to be honest with myself and realise that no more could I pretend, or go round the doors day after day asking people to believe in something I now believed was a lie. My choice meant I lost my family, but I gained personal freedom and who knows but one day my family will be able to work it out also? I sincerely hope so.
"I know what is to blame for my feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy and I feel really angry about it."
Of course. As you have a right to. You know, Matty, when I left the Organisation, I was 17 years old and I couldn't even work out what to wear every day without someone to guide me - such was the loss of my self-confidence in making simple everyday decisions. I was scared to read a book not written by the WTS, or watch a movie without asking someone if they thought it was "safe"! You get the picture, I am sure. We should have learned that kind of judgement while we were growing up - as most kids do, but we didn't get the chance. What we were left with was lack of esteem, an inability to think for ourselves, and a fear of the unknown.
You do OK, friend. I have read some of your posts on this forum and you are "OK"!
searcher :-)
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INCREDIBLE STUFF SAID @ BOOK STUDY!
by Mister Biggs inironically, we were discussing the watchman who stays awake night and day.. anyway, something was said that made me awaken and pay careful attention.
please, if anyone else who got this same information at their book study, please share it.. here goes:.
there was a picture of a man standing on the watchtower keeping on the look out.
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searcher41
OOps - replied to first page but forgot to read the other three!
Matty - I know where you are at, man. This is so hard for you because you have come to a cross-roads, but you know what it is going to cost you.
Been there done it - and it ain't pretty. Never will be pretty unless your parents come out too. But you do have friends here who know what choices you have yet to make.
btw - I was there in 1975 - I gave up school to pioneer in the "remaining months". No one can tell me they didn't say Armageddon was coming!
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INCREDIBLE STUFF SAID @ BOOK STUDY!
by Mister Biggs inironically, we were discussing the watchman who stays awake night and day.. anyway, something was said that made me awaken and pay careful attention.
please, if anyone else who got this same information at their book study, please share it.. here goes:.
there was a picture of a man standing on the watchtower keeping on the look out.
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searcher41
If they simply said "we shouted a warning but we were wrong" - I could deal with that. It's what else they say that makes it worse - like the teaching that when they do sound a warning it comes from God himself, through angels who give the F&DS the truth direct from Jehovah. A boy who cries wolf can be forgiven - an organisation who cries wolf, in the name of God, and causing untold suffering and death to millions is a whole other matter!
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Where else are you going to go?
by Dawn ini have heard that argument from the jw's since i was a child - i still hear it from my family.. now that i am out it seems like such a silly argument.
in fact, you could liken it to someone in an abusive marriage for years.
they're used to the situation and somewhat frightened at the thought of change.
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searcher41
I was told I would never survive "out there" and before long, I would sink into total depravity and commit fornication, etc., etc., etc..... 26 years later, I think my family still think I have nowhere else to go that is in any way shape or form, good!
I look at them now, and I look at my life and I know who is happier, I know who is most "together", I know who has the freedom to think, to feel, to believe, to love, and to be honest with myself and others. I don't have to pretend any more and I don't have to live a lie. I am me, I know God loves me, and there *is* life after the Watchtower!