Posts by ShotWhileTryingToEscape

46

Sound Familiar?

by peacefulpete in

a republican congressman voted his conscience to impeach trump.

the results might surprise some of us.. "my dad's cousins sent me a petition - a certified letter - saying they disowned me because i'm in 'the devil's army' now," kinzinger said in a phone conversation on thursday.

"it's been crazy, when you have friends - that you thought were good friends that would love you no matter what - that don't.".

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

“We should be able to spot propaganda and Ideological Possession better than most. It’s puzzling that some here do not. “

—DD

So here on the board you find it puzzling that we can’t always spot propaganda and political possession? It’s a process,DD. It takes time. Didn’t a lot of us arrive not really able to understand what had happened and why? And we still are— many of us trying to understand.

If I am not mistaken, one poster, cofty, said he became an evangelical pastor after leaving the JWs. Eventually he became an atheist. Now —that is a journey! He bounced on landing like most of us. He didn’t have an instant recognition of “propaganda and ideological possession”.It took time.

But, that said— must we all agree with him? No.

I have seen some on this board leave (or be expelled?) because of disagreements over social and political views. What the hell?

It would have been better for all( even the lurkers!) If basic respect for the other person was used. Just basic respect.

HowTheBibleWasCreated has a coversation going now asking why no one gave him the a**kicking he needed to get him out of the Cult. Virtually all responsers to HTBWC ‘s OP maintain that direct attacks never succeed with JWs.

Yet direct attacks happen here when it’s political and it doesn’t help change anyone’s thinking either. In fact it only seems to freeze a position. Can’t we sift through things together with respect? And let the discussion be deeper not hotter.

Personally, I lurked here a long time before venturing into the forum. Why? I wasn’t sure if it was safe for someone who had already been ShotWhileTryingToEscape.

I love your OP, peacefulpete, and yet am sorry for you that your dad’s dying prompted it. Much appreciation for launching an open discussion instead of a divisive diatribe.

31

If only someone had kicked my a$$.. (This is post is not for theists)

by HowTheBibleWasCreated in

i think back on the 30+ years of bs as well as my fading almost a decade and even now being low key in person to hopefully save my nieces from the wt.

i'm a wreck in some ways.

i'm other days i'm stable however when it comes to theism i depart quickly and with anger!

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

I appreciate jhine’s Anglican perspective “Control by one human being over another isn't love and l agree it has no place in Christianity”

Having Anglican friends and family that are open, loving, service oriented people I became curious and attended some of their Sunday services.

I saw a lot of freedom there — along with life styles that more rigid religions find abhorrent or unscriptural. While Anglicans are criticized for being unorthodox (i.e. wrong teaching) when it came to compassion vs. control they clearly opted for compassion. Freedom allowing freedom. And where was the harm?

But how could any such reasoning touch us who were “ in the Truth”?

The WTS rulers (who hilariously call themselves “Slaves”) published a book I read. The title used Jesus’ words “The Truth will set you free” . Also the Slave named their JW belief system“The Truth”. Their Truth was so regimented that we couldn’t gather for bible discussions outside of the official propaganda sessions without reproof —or worse!

We gradually accepted the complete loss of freedom so we could live *happily* in the Truth— the Truth that sets you free.

This is classic gaslighting.

We wouldn’t listen to the ignorance and lies of critics that would rob us of our freedom.

So I agree with all of the above who say that direct confrontation wouldn’t have helped you, HTBWC. In fact I don’t believe direct confrontation helped any of us escape.

12

What to say? Death of an adult child.

by jwundubbed in

my father married b when both her children and his children were grown adults.

b had two children, a son d and a daughter m. my sister db, my brother rh, and myself got along well with m but not at all with d, who was a very christian person but not a jw.

my siblings and i do not have much to do with our stepmother though we are civil and we don't have any hard feelings between us.

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

We lost a baby through miscarriage. Nothing anyone said helped if they went beyond “ I am so sorry.” And people did say things that hit wrong. Yet if a person who said nothing at all made my loss insignificant. And surely people are often at a loss to say anything— just as you are now.

No platitudes, no scriptures, no “It’s for the best.” helped. But acknowledging my grief meant a lot.

Years later a close friend lost her 18 year old son when the driver flipped the car in which her son was a passenger. She was devastated. I told her l didn’t have any wise words for her. Just that I was just so sorry.

She still shares moments of grief that wash over her from time to time. She is the one who needs to say something. I just need to hear her.

Just send a simple acknowledgment in your own words, friend.

12

Are We Now Living in a POST-Science world (at least politically?)

by Terry in

jw
friends

if your sex is only what you say it is, without any reference to biological reality, .

your race can be only what you say it is, without any reference to biological reality.. .

is this repudiation of science?

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6505576/

I found many scientific article that say chromosomes are not the sole determinate to how a baby develops as male or female.

The trouble with science is that new information comes up all the time. Even scientists have to read stay current.

I had to read some of the papers through a few times to grasp the intricate interplay of genes, chromosomes , hormones etc that interact as we are getting put together in uterus. Without such information l cannot hope to understand this subject well enough to do anything but repeat old news.

I hope others find this helpful too.

SWTTE

20

Jehovah's witnesses believe in Tranys.

by mickbobcat in

so women who are of the anointed will be changed to male?

i know it says there are neither male nor female in heaven but they are never depicted as women always male gender.

so does the cult believe in the transgender crap?.

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

Thanks, Doug. You have PM

28

GameStop - Great Seeing Short-Selling Hedge Funds Get Beaten Up

by Simon in

in case you haven't seen what's happened with gamestop and redditors.. these are the people who drive companies like blockbuster out of business and put people out of work.. but maybe the people have more power after all .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9toogruq7me.

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

I love this.

My son sent me a similar link. Both report the same thing— ordinary people on Reddit turned the tables on Wallstreet.

20

Jehovah's witnesses believe in Tranys.

by mickbobcat in

so women who are of the anointed will be changed to male?

i know it says there are neither male nor female in heaven but they are never depicted as women always male gender.

so does the cult believe in the transgender crap?.

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

dubstepped—

Kicking ideas around without hostility is the very thing we were forbidden as JWs. So thanks.

Did Jesus-as-Christ-God’s-Son ever exist? Dunno, Don’t care. But we know there have always been individuals that push against the system . So I don’t think it far-fetched that some carpenter back then could have pushed back about things in his (religious) community too. Too bad the words of Jesus-the-Carpenter became institutionalized and buried by religion. Then folk don’t get to kick around the moving target we call life.

I enjoyed your post whatever your reason for engaging. That selection made discussion richer. For one thing —it reflects the deep misogyny of that community —sort of a hot mic moment.

For myself, Jesus didn’t have to be the Son of God to be inspirational. And he probably was a bit of a nut case in much the same way thst I was a JW nut case. But he ( like many on this board) felt the wrongness of it somehow. So I feel sympathy for Jesus for kind of going crazy .

So, stripping the Jesus story of the divine parts still is still inspiring to me because he did push back against cruel and unfair behaviors justified by religion . If he didn’t do it perfectly so what? I don’t worship him. In fact he is the more inspirational for not being perfect - for bring a human-and still trying.

Mickbobcat’s OP— even if it was lobbed as an incendiary— ultimately helped reveal the Watchtower’s persistent ugliness toward women. And your “Thomas” post underscored a Judeo/Christian legacy of deep misogyny: females not deserving of life.

So the conversation was not entirely dumb (although l initially treated it like that in the beginning ) Then DougMason stepped in with his serious consideration and the matter was on another footing.

At this point I will leave the conversation. I know I have gone far enough. And thank you all.

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

EDIT:

Hello, Diogenesister!

I posted without seeing your comments—haha! what a balance between serious and hilarious. I will watch from the sidelines ;-)

20

Jehovah's witnesses believe in Tranys.

by mickbobcat in

so women who are of the anointed will be changed to male?

i know it says there are neither male nor female in heaven but they are never depicted as women always male gender.

so does the cult believe in the transgender crap?.

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

dubstepped,

That is an interesting post. If we take your passage from Thomas’ gospel literally then it is the answer to mickbobcat’s OP.

Let’s say this conversation took place , do you think that Jesus was possibly using figurative language hoping these rough guys could grasp that women given equal opportunity could “make herself male” , grasp instruction and claim the sand measure of agency to hold their spiritual ground ? Maybe Jesus really thought women were ‘deserving’ but there wasn’t a way to get such a foreign concept across to Peter and the boys without using this crude illustration.

That said, Jesus could never get away with that language now even if he meant well. I admit l would like to think Jesus was being clumsily poetic.and was trying to push back against his culture.

The Watchtower leaders don’t try imo. They are slicker with their words than Peter but their attitudes are not much better.

20

Jehovah's witnesses believe in Tranys.

by mickbobcat in

so women who are of the anointed will be changed to male?

i know it says there are neither male nor female in heaven but they are never depicted as women always male gender.

so does the cult believe in the transgender crap?.

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

Earnest,

You are right that the SCRIPTURE says there will be neither male nor female.

But the Society’s Holy Literature doesn’t say that men are equally unsexed in heaven. Under the topic of “Women” the WT absolutely makes it clear that female sexuality will be obliterated in heaven. That point is emphasized.

But the commentary makes no mention of men having the heavenly sex change.

Maybe they don’t mention it because men getting changed is detailed under the topic “Men”?

But I doubt it.

And sadly, I don’t have a copy of “Insight” to examine.

So I can’t tell if I am simply cynical and wrong to think that the WT once again grabbed the opportunity to put women down— to tell women that they are not mistaken to feel inferior— even in heaven?

20

Jehovah's witnesses believe in Tranys.

by mickbobcat in

so women who are of the anointed will be changed to male?

i know it says there are neither male nor female in heaven but they are never depicted as women always male gender.

so does the cult believe in the transgender crap?.

ShotWhileTryingToEscape

Lol, Simon—

Fair to say you would not want to play in the Anointed League in Heaven where you would be neither male nor female.

But seriously, children with this congenital disharmony should be allowed to grow without shame or pressure — especially from their families. Don’t you think nconditional love would seem the best approach?As for soccer- let the little whoozits play soccer with the neighbor kids. Children are pretty open if their parents are kind.

It must be tough for these poor little kids.