Posts by Jofi

29

Why did Lloyd Evans say in one of his latest video

by mickbobcat in

so i was watching an evans video he just put out where he was interviewing a man about how the cult treated his daughter who was rapped as a criminal.

the man said his wife's first experience with an apostate site was here.

i could tell by the look on his face he did not like that site and then could not help himself and said that he could not recommend going to this site.

Jofi_Wofo

I don't know anything at all about Lloyd's history with this site. I'll have to grab some popcorn and look over the links Simon posted. I do have a couple of observations that might be somewhat relevant here.

First, this is a website that is open to everyone, and it shows in just how high its highs are and how low its lows are. Read the wrong thread on the wrong day, and you'll see half a dozen lunatics screaming complete conspiratorial nonsense at one another over esoteric minutia. If you want to cherry pick several of those threads, you could support the notion that this website is overrun with sociopaths. That's just the nature of free speech- the more voices you hear, the greater volume of both good and bad wind up in the mix and you can easily cherry pick whatever impression you're inclined to make.

Second, Lloyd is squarely mainstream Left his politics. This board isn't squarely mainstream left in its politics. That's all I'll say about that.

I like this forum and I like Lloyd's content. It's ok if they are at odds with one another- they can separate themselves from one another and fight the common enemy on different fronts.

23

Banned words in the organization

by Addison0998 in

i was talking to my sister in law the other day about death, and i mentioned something about the afterlife, i don’t remember what i said but it was nothing shocking .

but she squealed, “we don’t believe in the afterlife!

!” and i reasoned, well we kinda do...life after death is the after life..and she just insisted no no it’s not the same thing.

Jofi_Wofo

Evolution.

Covid-19 is changing, mutating, adapting, developing new strains but GOD NO IT'S NOT EVOLVING, DON'T SAY THAT!!!!

99

If not the WT/JW relgion where else are 'we' to go? Why not atheistic/scientific philosophical naturalism?

by Disillusioned JW in

sometimes jws wonder if the wt/jw is not the truth, 'then where else are we to go?

' i say 'why not atheistic/scientific philosophical naturalism and why not a secular philosophy which teaches a way of life?

' what do you folks say?.

Jofi_Wofo

First priority when you realize you're in an abusive relationship is to LEAVE that relationship. What you do next is none of the abuser's business, nor the business of anyone who thinks you can't do better.

16

Did I miss any big news?

by Iamallcool in

jw
friends

i used to read this site everyday for years!

i am still learning to be ex ex jw.

did i miss any big news, etc?

Jofi_Wofo

Not sure if you heard this yet, but it's come to light that Jehovah's Witnesses are a cult.

Also, a new rule. It is required that all pillows at Bethel be fully covered with modest pillow cases, so as to not bring single brothers into temptation.

33

Research question

by JeffT in

i'm doing a little background research for a novel.

what is the craziest thing you heard a witness say was demonized, and what did they do about it?.

Jofi_Wofo

My uncle thought it was impossible for David Blane to perform any of his tricks without the help of demons.

I knew a JW who, upon seeing a Luna Month for the first time in his life, was convinced he saw a demon.

My cousin, from the non-JW side of the family, had her Link to the Past SNES cartridge thrown out by her non-relative JW babysitter because the babysitter found out the game had magic and wanted to protect the family from demons.

Seems like everyone had at least one encounter with a demon in their lives.

Garage door opened on its own? Demons.

Alarm clock didn't go off? Demons.

Drunk driver? Demons.

Broken car windows? Demons.

Theory of Evolution? Demons

Ancient aliens? Ancient demons!

Wind chimes? Demons.

Insane Clown Posse? Demons.

That last one I agree with, though.

13

Zoom Social Event With a GB Member (Losche)

by Jofi_Wofo in

in a recent turn of events, i found myself at a jw social gathering on zoom (supporting my pimi wife, while among mostly jws whom i don't know and a handful of old friends who don't know i'm inactive) that just so happened to also be joined by garrett losche and his wife.

sorry to disappoint but i had absolutely no interaction with him and have nothing interesting to report about it.

i'm just sharing this because i can't believe i even got that close to maybe chatting with him, despite being a closeted apostate.. there were about 300 people in the zoom meeting, all having been directly invited.

Jofi_Wofo

@fffghost

It wasn't a meeting or anything official. It was a gathering to celebrate a certain thing a certain person did. Losche wasn't a part of the festivities, he was just a guest like me.

13

Zoom Social Event With a GB Member (Losche)

by Jofi_Wofo in

in a recent turn of events, i found myself at a jw social gathering on zoom (supporting my pimi wife, while among mostly jws whom i don't know and a handful of old friends who don't know i'm inactive) that just so happened to also be joined by garrett losche and his wife.

sorry to disappoint but i had absolutely no interaction with him and have nothing interesting to report about it.

i'm just sharing this because i can't believe i even got that close to maybe chatting with him, despite being a closeted apostate.. there were about 300 people in the zoom meeting, all having been directly invited.

Jofi_Wofo

In a recent turn of events, I found myself at a JW social gathering on Zoom (supporting my PIMI wife, while among mostly JWs whom I don't know and a handful of old friends who don't know I'm inactive) that just so happened to also be joined by Garrett Losche and his wife. Sorry to disappoint but I had absolutely no interaction with him and have nothing interesting to report about it. I'm just sharing this because I can't believe I even got THAT close to MAYBE chatting with him, despite being a closeted apostate.

There were about 300 people in the Zoom meeting, all having been directly invited. Breakout rooms were formed randomly to give guests a chance to interact on a more personal level. I looked at the camera thumbnails and related to mt wife "Wow, that guy looks like Garrett Losche." My wife took a look and said "OH WOW! IT IS BROTHER LOSCHE!!!!"

Sad, but true - I snuck away from the laptop for a minute to turn my phone's voice recorder on just in case I may have wound up talking to him at some point. I also loaded up a pdf of the infamous affidavit where he claimed "I do not answer to Watchtower." In my little mind, I thought it would be an absolutely epic moment in exJW history if I could have read it out loud to him while I was recording his reaction.

Ahhhh, but it wasn't to be. As I mentioned, we never interacted but honestly, I have such bad social anxiety, and I was sitting right next to my wife, so I can't talk a tough game here and say that I would have ACTUALLY done this or that.

But, a man can dream, can't he? And eventually, someone in the know is going to get close enough to pull something like this off. Personally, I'd love to see a KH crash when one of the GB are giving the talk and someone reads off something like Losche's affidavit, or plays audio from Jackson lying through his treeth to the ARC.

One day...

40

This one bible passage proves abortions are wrong and honoring Mary is right

by TTWSYF in

nwt luke chapt 1.

41 well, as elizabeth heard the greeting of mary, the infant in her womb leaped, and elizabeth was filled with holy spirit 42 and loudly cried out: “blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruitage of your womb!

43 so how is it that this privilege is mine, to have the mother of my lord come to me?

Jofi_Wofo

Oh, and I forgot to mention - there is a difference between honoring a person and religiosity venerating a person. The Bible says to honor your mother - not pray to your mother nor put up a statue in the likeness of your mother and prostrate yourself before it.

40

This one bible passage proves abortions are wrong and honoring Mary is right

by TTWSYF in

nwt luke chapt 1.

41 well, as elizabeth heard the greeting of mary, the infant in her womb leaped, and elizabeth was filled with holy spirit 42 and loudly cried out: “blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruitage of your womb!

43 so how is it that this privilege is mine, to have the mother of my lord come to me?

Jofi_Wofo

The new testament is a Catholic book. The example of Jesus calling his mother 'woman' is not derogatory as the WTS would have you believe. Jesus was never disrespectful of or to his mother. The passage of calling Mary 'woman' is a reference of the OT title of the Woman who will crush the head of the serpent. Enmity between the two. Gen 3:15

Unike many of its other teachings, WT has been very consistent on this one point:

"Woman: Jesus’ use of this term when addressing his mother was consistent with his way of addressing other women (Joh 4:21) and was apparently considered polite in many contexts (Mt 15:28). It was not understood to be rude, unkind, or disrespectful in any way. Angels and the resurrected Jesus used this form of address when speaking to Mary Magdalene when she was weeping in sorrow at Jesus’ tomb; their words would surely not have been harsh or disrespectful in such a situation. (Joh 20:13, 15) On the torture stake, Jesus used the same term to address his mother when his great concern for her moved him to place her in the care of his beloved apostle John. (Joh 19:26) He made this arrangement because of the Scriptural obligation to honor one’s father and mother. (Ex 20:12; De 5:16; Mt 15:4) Several reference works confirm that using the term “woman” as a form of address could reflect respect and affection."

- From the NWT Study Bible, Gospel of John study notes.

It's also been addressed in questions from readers. Not only are you misrepresenting Watchtower's teaching on this manner, Watchtower actually proves its point with references.

Further, if calling Mary "woman" indicates that she was the woman prophesied about in Genesis, then are all the other women Jesus called "woman" also the woman in Genesis? Is there a Watchtoweresque woman "class" giving birth to Jesuses and adopting Jonadabs?

Also, what so we make of the man that Jesus called "Man"? Lest we forget, Jesus called himself the Son of Man. Draw your own conclusions!

24

How long did it take before you realized that you missed the obvious?

by pistolpete in

remember when the public speaker in the kingdom hall or convention related the ten plagues and the parting of the red sea?.

the finale when jehovah closes the red sea and swallows pharaoh's entire army of egyptian men.. when i was a little kid about 5 years old and listened to this story, i would think---wow jehovah is strong.

when i started school and started learning compassion as early as the first grade i started wondering?????.

Jofi_Wofo

Great points.

Despite being a naturally skeptical person, I allowed myself to be convinced that I didn't need to know anything more than, nor question anything about, the information that God had (supposedly) already given us. All I can now see in Watchtower and biblical literalist doctrine is contradiction, discrepancy, omission, dishonesty and absurdity.

How did we miss it? Human cognition wasn't programmed optimally to find truth. It was programmed optimally to allow us to survive the context in which it evolved. Obedience to tribal authority and adherence to group loyalty were always more important than whether or not any of the myths used to foster those ties had any truth to them.

The second that we stop thinking of it as "our" doctrine and start thinking of it as "their" doctrine is the second that we no longer understand how anybody could ever believe it.

Jofi_Wofo

Posts by Jofi_Wofo