Roger Kirkpatrick
JoinedPosts by Roger Kirkpatrick
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Witnessing to two JW elders
by Roger Kirkpatrick ini was approached by two jehovah’s witness elders who handed me a pamphlet advertising the jw .org website.
each man carried a bible and an apple ipad.
they told me that they enjoyed visiting with people about the bible, and asked if i was a bible reader.
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Letter to my JW elder brother
by Roger Kirkpatrick ini sent the following letter to my older brother, a jw elder in grand prairie, texas, who actively shuns me since i left the religion for conscientious reasons two years ago.. may 11, 2017. dear ronnie,.
in the opening scenes of the movie gone with the wind, a field worker hollers out, “”quttin’ time!” big sam protests, saying, “i’s da fo’man on tara.
i sez when it’s quittin’ time.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
@Pete Zahut, your point of view is as valid as anyone else's. You may be right.
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32
Letter to my JW elder brother
by Roger Kirkpatrick ini sent the following letter to my older brother, a jw elder in grand prairie, texas, who actively shuns me since i left the religion for conscientious reasons two years ago.. may 11, 2017. dear ronnie,.
in the opening scenes of the movie gone with the wind, a field worker hollers out, “”quttin’ time!” big sam protests, saying, “i’s da fo’man on tara.
i sez when it’s quittin’ time.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
@Pete Zahut wrote:
<<At the risk of sounding paranoid>>
Yeah, Pete, paranoia is one of the effects of denying one's true self for so long just to keep from being expelled from a corrupt religion by a group of self-righteous numbskulls. I'm not paranoid any longer. Embracing one's true self is the one of the most exhilarating sensations in the world. As for any future relationship with my brother, I am not interested. He's a pompous ass and always was.
As far as anyone reading information posted on this site, it should be perfectly clear by now that nobody gives a tinker's dam about Jehovah's Witnesses, except for JWs and ex-JWs. Outside of the Watchtower cult, JWs are a complete joke.
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32
Letter to my JW elder brother
by Roger Kirkpatrick ini sent the following letter to my older brother, a jw elder in grand prairie, texas, who actively shuns me since i left the religion for conscientious reasons two years ago.. may 11, 2017. dear ronnie,.
in the opening scenes of the movie gone with the wind, a field worker hollers out, “”quttin’ time!” big sam protests, saying, “i’s da fo’man on tara.
i sez when it’s quittin’ time.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
@TTWSYF, here's a little something I learned long ago: When one writes a letter and mails it, that letter virtually takes on a life of its own. When two people have a face to face conversation, they can walk away with two different perceptions of what was said. Same thing with a phone conversation. An email or a text message may never be received, read and replied to. A written letter is different, but there is a greater responsibility attached to writing letters. Thus, writing letters keeps the letter writer honest. I couldn't care less whether my brother read my letter or just tossed it in the trash unopened. That letter lives and carries with it a certain amount of energy, as is evident from the replies from those who read it on this site. It will continue to be read by many others besides my brother, because it has been shared on a number of blogs.
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Follow-up to my letter to my JW brother
by Roger Kirkpatrick ina follow-up to my letter to my brother which i posted earlier: .
my brother, ronnie, had texted my sister, linda, and me regarding our late mother's estate.
linda engaged ronnie in a text conversation about our mother’s ashes because he has ignored her texts for several years.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
A follow-up to my letter to my brother which I posted earlier:
My brother, Ronnie, had texted my sister, Linda, and me regarding our late mother's estate. Linda engaged Ronnie in a text conversation about our mother’s ashes because he has ignored her texts for several years. His response to her last text was so arrogant that I couldn't resist the urge to respond:
LINDA: I love you, Ronnie. Whatever you do with Mama is fine with me. I am just a curious sort. Will you still keep in touch with me now? I wonder about that as well. I haven’t heard anything about Larry since I was there 5 years ago. Or you either, practically.
RONNIE: I have no problem keeping in touch, but we have little in common. Our lives are centered around the truth.
ROGER: I think what you meant to say is that your lives are centered around what the Watchtower calls “present truth.” The Watchtower’s “present truth” is ever changing, ever shifting, like sand. It must change because it cannot stand the test of time. For example, we were told in 1969 that we would never grow old in this system of things. We were also told repeatedly that the end of this system would come within the 20th century. It’s all in print. You cannot name one Watchtower prophecy that ever came true. Not one. Strange for an organization which claimed IN PRINT to be God’s prophet, don’t you think?
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Letter to my JW elder brother
by Roger Kirkpatrick ini sent the following letter to my older brother, a jw elder in grand prairie, texas, who actively shuns me since i left the religion for conscientious reasons two years ago.. may 11, 2017. dear ronnie,.
in the opening scenes of the movie gone with the wind, a field worker hollers out, “”quttin’ time!” big sam protests, saying, “i’s da fo’man on tara.
i sez when it’s quittin’ time.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
@Pete Zahut, that's the nice thing about having disassociated from the Watchtower for conscientious reasons; I no longer have to post under an alias. I realize that the Watchtower is closely watching the posts on this site. It just illustrates how much they fear those who willingly leave their corrupt organization. (I have no idea who Simon is, nor do I care, to be honest.)
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Witnessing to two JW elders
by Roger Kirkpatrick ini was approached by two jehovah’s witness elders who handed me a pamphlet advertising the jw .org website.
each man carried a bible and an apple ipad.
they told me that they enjoyed visiting with people about the bible, and asked if i was a bible reader.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
@Listener, you wrote:
<<As regards the point about the GC being 'spirit begotten sons' due to their being in the sanctuary, I hadn't heard that before so appreciate you mentioning it.>>
The Watchtower's comment about serving in the sanctuary being representative of their spirit begotten condition while on earth is *not* said of the Great Crowd; however, since Revelation 7:15 clearly places the GC in the sanctuary, it naturally applies to them as well.
Prior to 1935, the Watchtower taught that all Christians were spirit anointed, though there were two classes. The hope of everlasting life on earth was understood to apply to non-Christians. Rutherford hatched the whole idea of two classes of Christians having separate hopes.
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Witnessing to two JW elders
by Roger Kirkpatrick ini was approached by two jehovah’s witness elders who handed me a pamphlet advertising the jw .org website.
each man carried a bible and an apple ipad.
they told me that they enjoyed visiting with people about the bible, and asked if i was a bible reader.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
I was approached by two Jehovah’s Witness elders who handed me a pamphlet advertising the JW .ORG website. Each man carried a Bible and an Apple iPad. They told me that they enjoyed visiting with people about the Bible, and asked if I was a Bible reader. I replied that I have read and studied the Bible and that, while I consider myself to be a spiritual person, I have no interest at all in organized religion. I also told them that I am familiar with Jehovah’s Witnesses enough to have concerns about some of their teachings. They asked if I could be more specific.
I said that I particularly have a problem with the Watchtower teaching of two classes of Christians having separate hopes, with only 144,000 going to heaven, when the Bible teaches that all Christians share one hope. (Ephesians 4:4)
I asked them to use their iPads to access the book Insight On the Scriptures (the Watchtower’s Bible encyclopedia), and to look up the word ‘sanctuary,’ making note of the definition provided there. They did so, noting the definition, “a divine habitation.” Next, I asked them to access the Watchtower’s Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures and to look up Luke chapter 1, verses 9 and 21, making note of the literal meaning of the Greek word rendered there as ‘sanctuary.’ They did so, acknowledging the expression “divine habitation.” Next, I asked them to look up Revelation chapter 7, verse 15, making note of the literal meaning of the same Greek word rendered there as ‘temple.’ They did so, again acknowledging the expression “divine habitation.” I then asked the following question: According to that scripture, where in the spiritual temple did John see the “great crowd” worshiping God, in the outer courtyard (as the Watchtower teaches) or in the sanctuary? They had to admit that, according to that scripture, John saw the “great crowd” worshiping God in the sanctuary (divine habitation) of the spiritual temple.
Finally, I asked them to look up the word ‘temple’ in the book Insight On the Scriptures to see what it says concerning the hope of those worshiping God in the sanctuary of the spiritual temple. They read for themselves where it says, “The Holy [or sanctuary] represents their condition as spirit-begotten sons of God, with heavenly life in view, and they will attain to that heavenly reward when their fleshly bodies are laid aside in death.” I asked if they believe the “great crowd” to be spirit-begotten sons of God. They never did answer that question, but said that they needed to do some more research on the information I had provided.
I then asked them to access the article, “Is It Wrong to Change Your Religion?” in the July 2009 Awake magazine. I directed their attention to the following statement from that article: “No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds objectionable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.” After they had read that statement, I asked, “In view of that statement, why do Jehovah’s Witnesses actively shun exemplary Christians, including family members, who voluntarily leave the religion for conscientious reasons, such as Watchtower teachings which contradict the Bible?” Again, they could not answer my question.
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Letter to my JW elder brother
by Roger Kirkpatrick ini sent the following letter to my older brother, a jw elder in grand prairie, texas, who actively shuns me since i left the religion for conscientious reasons two years ago.. may 11, 2017. dear ronnie,.
in the opening scenes of the movie gone with the wind, a field worker hollers out, “”quttin’ time!” big sam protests, saying, “i’s da fo’man on tara.
i sez when it’s quittin’ time.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
It is not my intent to argue with ex-Jws–especially former elders–about what is and is not Watchtower policy because, as we all know, official Watchtower policy is one thing and common JW practice is another. Having said that, anyone who watched Australian Branch Overseer Terrence O’Brien’s testimony before the Royal Commission knows that he stated–under oath and on the record–that those who disassociated are not subject to any restrictions if they renounce their disassociation, as opposed to those disfellowshipped for wrongdoing. It is a complete waste of time to argue about Watchtower policy because each elder body has complete freedom to do whatever it wishes to do and the Branch will back them up. I was a member of seven different congregations during my time as a JW. Every congregation did things differently from the others and, without exception, each congregation felt it was the only one doing things correctly. I did not post my letter to my brother to stir up a pissing contest with anyone who considers himself an expert on Watchtower policy because there is no such thing. If any former elder thinks he has more credibility than anyone else, he is mistaken. As Ray Franz correctly noted, each congregation was under the control of those having the weakest consciences, meaning the biggest dipsticks, and those were the elders. (Screen shot that!)
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Ex-JW meet-up in the Austin/San Marcos/New Braunfels/San Antonio area
by Roger Kirkpatrick inmy daughter and i are ex-jws, and we live halfway between new braunfels and san marcos, which is halfway between austin and san antonio.
we are interested in meeting up with any ex-jws in this area.. please feel free to contact me by email at [email protected] .
roger kirkpatrick.
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Roger Kirkpatrick
My daughter and I are ex-JWs, and we live halfway between New Braunfels and San Marcos, which is halfway between Austin and San Antonio. We are interested in meeting up with any ex-JWs in this area.
Please feel free to contact me by email at [email protected]
Thanks,
Roger Kirkpatrick
New Braunfels