Posts by Searching

149

why jw's commit suicide?

by notalone in

jw
friends

we all know the rate of suicide is high among jw's.

my question is this- was there some subliminal messages that encourage this.

i was a born in and my entire life i would have these thoughts that could come out of nowhere,"kill yourself.

Searching

Honestly, I believe various things could push one to contemplate and ultimately commit, suicide.

As LevelThePlayingField pointed out, there is an incredible amount of pressure for each and every one to do more, every single convention isn't Love or Kindness, its about how YOU can improve your ministry or how YOU better stay obedient or else you will get shunned by your family while you're alive & then get killed at Armageddon (which is probably tomorrow so you'd better stick with US.)

I also think that, if someone IS shunned or disfellowshipped - the worst (and sadly, most likely) scenario is that they will be cut off from everyone that they've ever known, friends and family alike will treat them as if they have the plague or are dead and it is very hard once on the outside to actually know how to function on the outside and form bond.

Also - perhaps if one is disfellowshipped, and comes to the conclusion that God does not exist, and that there is no real meaning for us even being alive - that could be incredibly hard on someone, especially one whose been told their entire life that they were going to live forever on a paradise earth.

17

How does the WTS explain away THIS scripture?

by Searching in

i'm honestly in awe about this particular scripture (and honestly i can't keep thanking jwfacts enough for providing biblical contradictions to the jw doctrine!).

"john said to him: "teacher, we saw a certain man expelling demons by the use of your name and we tried to prevent him, because he was not accompanying us.

" but jesus said: "do not try to prevent him, for there is no one that will do a powerful work on the basis of my name that will quickly be able to revile me; for he that is not against us is for us.

Searching

@ Joe Grundy

I 100% agree with this! I think that Christ had many followers, from many different places and walks of life, and that they did not always communicate or talk with one another, that they were all not in one place at one time, did not matter to him. He knew each of them were HIS followers, and the nature of their hearts, and I don't believe for one second he, or His Father would cast any of them aside just because they did not follow instructions that were never even given by THEM in the first place. Or that he would abandon those individuals. There are so many things that the JW preach as "in accordance with God's Law" that aren't even laws?? Like no-beards?? Thats ridiculous???

@ eyeuse2badub

Sad as I am to say, I agree, I was actually shocked when I learned how drastically different the Org. was under Russell vs. Rutherford. Really, if feels like it just morphed into an almost completely unrecognizable religion in the transition of Russell --> Rutherford.

42

Why Are More JWs Claiming to be Anointed?

by Ding in

most jws i know claim they are happy being in the great crowd.

they'd rather live on a paradise earth and pet lions than go to heaven.. heaven is a place they can't relate to, a place where they don't expect their friends and loved ones to be.. so why are more and more jws claiming to be of the anointed?.

aren't they looked down upon as if they are crazy, proud, ignorant, or engaging in apostate thinking?.

Searching

I believe another factor might be that people are kind of calling to question the validity of the statement that "Jesus is solely the mediator of the 144000" so if one believes Jesus is THEIR mediator, then of course that means following his words and partaking in the Passover.

40

Some Good News About Me (Although Anthony Morris Will Be Furious)

by pale.emperor in

just wanted to share with you some good news i'm really excited about.

i have been accepted for university to study psychology and counseling.

my goal is to become a counselor and, in time, to specialize on treating those who have left high control relationships/groups like we all did.. it'll take a few years before im qualified but studying in university has been a dream of mine since i was 12, which was systematically dashed to pieces by watchtower.. .

Searching

I'm so happy for you! I'm really glad to hear that you've managed to do this, you're well on the road to accomplishing your dream & helping many other folk who are just as lost and confused as we all were!

17

How does the WTS explain away THIS scripture?

by Searching in

i'm honestly in awe about this particular scripture (and honestly i can't keep thanking jwfacts enough for providing biblical contradictions to the jw doctrine!).

"john said to him: "teacher, we saw a certain man expelling demons by the use of your name and we tried to prevent him, because he was not accompanying us.

" but jesus said: "do not try to prevent him, for there is no one that will do a powerful work on the basis of my name that will quickly be able to revile me; for he that is not against us is for us.

Searching

Thank you guys! I suppose at a glance, I too could probably accept that and move on. (Until the next thing I question comes up)

I just don't really understand, and I suppose since I no longer see it that way I never will, that if Jesus & God wanted, or demanded that we in the future form one small exclusive group - who were the only ones that could be saved from destruction, why did they not make that more explicitly clear? Why was nothing laid out in the bible, but instead had to be stumbled upon? Instead Jesus said that the way to gain salvation was through him and him alone.

Guess its in the fine print somewhere

17

How does the WTS explain away THIS scripture?

by Searching in

i'm honestly in awe about this particular scripture (and honestly i can't keep thanking jwfacts enough for providing biblical contradictions to the jw doctrine!).

"john said to him: "teacher, we saw a certain man expelling demons by the use of your name and we tried to prevent him, because he was not accompanying us.

" but jesus said: "do not try to prevent him, for there is no one that will do a powerful work on the basis of my name that will quickly be able to revile me; for he that is not against us is for us.

Searching

I'm honestly in awe about this particular scripture (and honestly I can't keep thanking jwfacts enough for providing biblical contradictions to the jw doctrine!)

"John said to him: "Teacher, we saw a certain man expelling demons by the use of your name and we tried to prevent him, because he was not accompanying us." But Jesus said: "Do not try to prevent him, for there is no one that will do a powerful work on the basis of my name that will quickly be able to revile me; for he that is not against us is for us. For whoever gives YOU a cup of water to drink on the ground that YOU belong to Christ, I truly tell YOU, he will by no means lose his reward. But whoever stumbles one of these little ones that believe, it would be finer for him if a millstone such as is turned by an ass were put around his neck and he were actually pitched into the sea." Mark 9:38-42

To me this really is a clear as day statement from Jesus that we need not be part of any organization, I do know that in my Congregations we were given the whole "don't try to stumble one another" speech, but looking at it in full, taking a step back and reading the context - he (in my opinion I suppose!) clearly means not to stumble one another on the basis of whether or not we are a part of this church or that church, we are all his followers!

~~honestly im learning more about jesus and actual scriptures as a whole NOW then i ever did as a kid in the kingdom hall~~

41

Watchtower Doctrines JWs most commonly don't believe

by Diogenesister in

there was a recent thread on another site where posters maintained that many of the *most* long-standing jw's don't believe at least one official watchtower doctrine.

i've even read reports from bethelites saying they've heard bethel overseers say they don't believe some watchtower theology.

this made me think - i believe there are a few official doctrines that are common for many jw's to be either in denial about or simply not really believe ( often one and the same thing).. i'd say these are pretty high in the ranking:.

Searching

For a fact I know that my mother does not believe 100% that only JW's will be saved.

Until recently, I know my mom still believed that being gay (or not straight) was a choice and could be changed. However, I believe she now understands (funnily enough since myself and my younger brother have come forward and admitted we are not straight!) that it's not something you decide.

Although she still upholds the "love the sinner, not the sin" it hasn't made her look at me differently, for that I am grateful.

10

Land of the living dead

by hoser in

one of my children got disfellowshipped recently.

i was worried about that some of my jw friends and jw relatives would mention it to me and it would make for awkward conversation as i am glad that he is out.

i went to a jw family gathering.

Searching

My heart honestly goes out to you - it's horrible to think that friends and family would turn their back on those who they've known for years or perhaps all their lives.

I really hope that in time they come to realize that what they are doing is cruel and against everything Jesus taught.

19

Starting To Wake Up

by Searching in

i suppose after lurking around for a few weeks i thought i might share my own personal story, as i think it would probably be a very freeing experience for me right now.

to start off, at 23 years old i'm actually a third-generation jw, my grandparents were baptized (my grandfather is actually an elder) when my mother was only a toddler, she was raised as a witness, then of course, married a witness and thus myself and my two brothers were born-in's.

growing up my mother was always very careful about what she taught me, all the good things for sure, about how we would live in a paradise earth and i could pet all the animals that i wanted and not worry about growing old, and she'd ask me who in the bible i'd love to see and talk with - my grandparents however, were a different story and the cause of i think, most of my childhood trauma.. they really drilled home the fact that we were the only people who were going to be saved, we were the only people that were going to survive and that everyone else was going to die horribly - that i shouldn't try to make that many friends in school because they would never be "real" friends unless they were fellow jw's and they would die anyway.

Searching

@ Sail Away

I have heard the whole "erased memory" statement before actually! Funnily enough, a friend of mine who is not a JW, had a step-mother who was one (an abusive woman, as I am told) and she asked this very question about what would happen, how could you be happy if you'd lost someone "to the world" as it were. And the mothers reply was that "we would forget them, in order to be happy."

And honestly when I heard it, I cried! I can't believe a God who has given us the capacity to love with such conviction, to form such strong bonds with one another & are encouraged to "love thy neighbor" would wipe away a person from our memory, just for a false sense of happiness.

@ Magnum

My mother was taught by her father (my grandfather) that well... we don't really know. That they probably were all washed away in the the great flood, but when I pried her and asked "well what about the dinosaurs who were small enough to fit on the ark? what about the sea-dwelling dinosaurs" and her response was "we just don't know! perhaps the 'whale' that swallowed Jonah was really an ancient sea-dweller that isn't around today!"

I didn't ask any further, but I was confused, if giant sea-dwelling dinosaurs were still around during Jonah's time, surely there would be more records of them, and surely we'd find remains of them!

19

Starting To Wake Up

by Searching in

i suppose after lurking around for a few weeks i thought i might share my own personal story, as i think it would probably be a very freeing experience for me right now.

to start off, at 23 years old i'm actually a third-generation jw, my grandparents were baptized (my grandfather is actually an elder) when my mother was only a toddler, she was raised as a witness, then of course, married a witness and thus myself and my two brothers were born-in's.

growing up my mother was always very careful about what she taught me, all the good things for sure, about how we would live in a paradise earth and i could pet all the animals that i wanted and not worry about growing old, and she'd ask me who in the bible i'd love to see and talk with - my grandparents however, were a different story and the cause of i think, most of my childhood trauma.. they really drilled home the fact that we were the only people who were going to be saved, we were the only people that were going to survive and that everyone else was going to die horribly - that i shouldn't try to make that many friends in school because they would never be "real" friends unless they were fellow jw's and they would die anyway.

Searching

Thank you guys, it really glad that I finally decided to speak up about my concerns and my thoughts!

@ problemaddict 2

I really could not agree more with your sentiment. As they say, Knowledge is Power and the fact that a lot of what I've read discrepancies not only in what they say vs what their history shows BUT also what they preach vs what is in the scriptures!

I honestly hope that one day, my mother and I will be able to have a real talk about this, and I can bring up things I take issue with, specifically the 144,000 & the fact that Jesus never said anything about only a select few partaking. She has been a JW all her life, so almost 50 years, I know it won't be easy but that is my sincere wish.