underlining is mine.. march 6, 2012 letter.
pursue divine education:some of our brothers are pursuing higher education, feeling that they can acquire a measure of financial security.
as you are aware, the educational system varies from country to country.
Thanks for putting that together bald eagle.
Yes you are 100% correct. The more prominent elders have sons who go to college and everything is fine. Where in a different congregation, a guy may decide to go to university and evenpioneer.....but does nto qualify for a role in the congregation.
None of this stuff has any root in scripture, OR reality.
The fact we all bought into it shows how far we have come.
check out this gem from the dec 2013 km which explains why it's good to over this book a second go round.. "congregations previously considered this book during 2004 and 2005. however,for many of the approximately two million publishers who have come into the truth since then,this will be the first time that jehovahs endearing qualities have been discussed in detail.for those who studied the book before, the review will help them to deepen their appreciation forjehovahs attributes.ps.119:14".
i gotta kick out of this because i can only think of maybe two or three new ones in our congregation who weren't present when this book was first studied.
at the same time, going over jehovah's qualities isn't something new.
Well their statement still stands valid. They said about 2 million hadn't yet studied the book, and that is about 25% of todays JW population.
Gypsey, I don't believe SFTW changed sides. Just that he/she is trying to empathize? I think its a good thing.Empathy is immensly important.
SFTW, I think that the Revelation book will NEVER be studied again. I predict in 4-5 years they will release another one, since so much has been changed. What they really need.....is a real reasoning book. Unfortunately dsince the WT has such an aversion to scholarship and education, it probably would be a lost effort. It really is too bad.
by jack l. green.
the bible clearly and unmistakably teaches that the lord jesus christ is jehovah god.
the cult known as "jehovah witnesses" deny that jesus is jehovah, thus revealing that they are anti-christ.. not only have the "jehovah witnesses" tampered with the context of hundreds of scriptures, but now they have brazenly moved into the bible translation field.. their reason for doing this?
Ugh.
I hate arguing the trinity and throwing around "anti-christ" as if even those that beleive in the veracity of scripture could say it points to one thing.
After all, can it be JW's AND Barack obama?
I believe in God, and am finding my way, but honestly I still reject the Trinity as plausible scripturally. And really the NWT is not nearly as bad as people think (the first one not this last one which i don't even really care to get into). Most scriptures and verses of contention have to do with a theological bias (on both sides) about the nature of God. in short, because there are various renderings (as pointed out by Bobcat) for many of these verses.....the bias is what fills in the holes.
please welcome jen1 to the jwnforum.
she posted for the first time on my thread 'making connections.
' let's all please encourage her!!!!.
Jen1....welcome!
Stick around. Do some reading, learn some things, figure yourself out. Don't talk to others abotu your doubts (yet), and picture what you would like your life to be and have it in mind to get you through the hard times ahead.
VERY IMPORTANT. Remember the elders are just some dudes. You do not owe them anything. Our training kicks in to fear them and listen to them....but they are basically strangers to you and yours. You do not need to indulge them, nor be rude to them. Just like a stranger. Once you separate that out, it becomes easier.
I am sorry to hear about your husband. I don't know your age. Are you guys older? What part of the world are you from? (if you don't mind the question of course).
I am from sunny San Diego!
lost my job, just a week before making the final arrangements to move into my very own apartment.. got a speeding ticket on the following sunday for trying to make it to the meeting "on time", (never made it to the hall, just parked in the back of a shopping center for 2 hours in silence).. marked by the elders for quitting pioneering, no more commenting and "failing to adhere to bible counsel".. jw family sees me as a disappointment.
non-jw family is too far away to care.. found out ex-girlfriend got df'ed and is now pregnant.
puts some of the blame on me for how things turned out.. realizing that she's not entirely wrong as i was still an ignorant, kiss-ass, die hard jwdub when we started dating, always putting the "kingdom interests first" never having time for her since "the end was so freaking close" and then warping her up in the mess of me learning ttatt.. dwelling night after night in "what could have been" if i had never been a jw.. alternating between being a theist, atheist and agnostic on a daily basis to the point where i don't care anymore yet getting creeped the f*ck out when facing my own mortality and the thought of me dying alone.. always coming to the same conclusion, when i find myself alone on friday nights and weekends, that i have no actual friends, only two conditional jw "friends" which are both currently out of town for about a month and 0 real, non-jw friends.. haven't been able to sleep well in literally weeks now.
So many here have had such similar thoughts and feelings at different times. You are right to throw your thoughts out here, read the responses, and take a step back from your own feelings.
Its hard to step back from this religion. All "friendships" and "family" are only as loyal to you, as you are to the religion. Its very backwards, and shameful on their part. They don't know any better.
When everything happens all at once, it can really be overwhelming.
Pay the ticket. Don't put it off. Get it in the rear view. id on't think about tickets after they have been paid do you?
Don't worry about friends and family right now. Being lonely is difficult, but being out in the world doing things on your own can be good and theraputic. Hit a movie, read a book in a public coffee shop. You mgiht be surprised at the nice people you meet.
Most of all, realize not eveything has to be done right now.
well thats what my wife said when my grandma stopped by for a visit and invited us to hang out with them christmas eve.
after she left, my wife said i needed to witness to her and remind her that we do nkt celebrate it and that it is the worst holiday to celebrate (actually halloween is lol).
i felt this wasnt the time to argue so i decided to tell her i would look into that.
Jgnat you said:
I notice that Witnesses brush that whole angelic host singing to the new-born King thing under the carpet (Luke 2). No shame in celebrating a birth.
This is simply too easy to refute from JW's. I'm not sure why its ever used. EVERYONE rejoices at a birth. its the reoccuring rejoicement that is apparently evil. JW's would say they have no problem with rejoicing at abirth, bringing presents (shower), flowers (hospital), celebrating, etc... That won't go anywhere.
Personally, I don't think we could ever make the jump to Christmas. I just think the JW's have something on it not being cool. In addition, the ridiculousness surrounding it, and the 4th quarter economic principles that drive it, just are not my favorite. So no tree in our house, although because it is part of the culture, I will most likely send some things to some of my clients.
Tell your wife that surely going to spend time with family on a day they happen to all be together cannot be wrong in and of itself. They know we don't do it, and won't be exchanging presents, and that should be good enough. In fact, we could be giving a bad witness by not being willing to bend when they already know our stance...
something liek that. My mother was a hard core JW with the best of them, but we always went to Thanksgiving because "that was when the family happened to be together". It was great. We all still go.
and within a month, he has been seeing a 69 year old woman who lived upstairs from him.
.
the wife has been sick for a year and she passed away in october.. now, the 80 year old man is like a teenager with this woman, making out in public places with this woman and introducing her to family and friends as his new girlfriend that he "loves".. the father's family thinks this is weird and are concerned about it.. any thoughts?
Being alone is very hard for many people. We don't know how long his wife perhaps has even been able to be the person he fell in love with. was she sick? Did she have any dimentia?
Peoples lives are too complex to wrap up in a paragraph. Maybe he is an unfeeling cad, and maybe he is a great person who loved his wife, and has sought a relationship witht his woman above him. Who the hell knows!
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/03/ohio-woman-thanks-lawyer-who-saved-her-life-36-years-ago/1#.uqm0_ltwulp.
ohio woman thanks lawyer for saving her life 36 years ago by douglas stanglin, usa todayupdated 2012-03-27 9:29 amflorida attorney joel cohen says the e-mail he recently got from carolynn ivey "raised the hair on my neck.
" the last time she was a part of cohen's life, carolynn ivey weighed less than 2 pounds and desperately needed a lifesaving blood transfusion despite the religious objections of her parents.. cohen, then a young pensacola attorney, was tapped by the escambia county circuit court to become temporary guardian to give legal consent for the transfusions for carolynn and her twin sister, julia, the pensacola news journal reports.
Don't sully the moonwalk with that comparrison. :)
There are alot of unknowns in this subject. Honestly, I have a hard time understanding the value of holding on to this doctrine at all? Do they fear law suits? They still claim it as a "core" doctrine, but you really are not disfellowshipped for it anymore. When bringing up my issues with elders, they all say they don't disfellowship for this anymore. Now that may be a matter of practice and not policy, but still.
Isn't that odd?
my initial withdrawal from the cult about 5 years ago or so, was as a fader, but now there is no doubt i am so over the cult, having publicly sat on the board of the local pflag chapter!
my bumper stickers declare don't believe everything you think and stop the violence; legalize marijuana (also a generic pflag sticker)... i am out and i aint coming back and i denounce the cult as a cult, i never call it anything else... .
today at the local food co-op a congregant saw me and bee-lined it over to hug me!
Seems simple. She is happy to see you, and knows nothing of the things you just told all of us. :)
after waking up and wanting to get out of this nightmare, the word apostate is really bothering me.
if i quitely become inactive, fade away will i just be looked at as "always weak".
i want to scream out how big a fool i was.. and now telling my poor young daughter how wrong i was to bring her up as a jw.
Oh I forgot the greater answer to your question.
NO! I do not look like, seem like, or act like the person I believed an apostate to be. How?
I don't have tatoos of facial hair (the hallmark of apostacy apparently).
I am clean cut and well dressed (no holes in my designer jeans....another apostate sign!)
I have ahappy marriage, and wonderful child with another little "blessing" on the way.
I am running a succesful business, but not to the point where I could be accused of "slaving for riches".
I reach out to and help others all the time. I try to be generous.
I don't project negativity.
Basically I would say i am the worst nightmare of a person who leaves the faith. Doing just fine and very happy...thank you very much!
That is the best revenge.
