Posts by scratchme1010

123

Why do some Jehovah's Witnesses choose to be atheist or agnostic?

by Cassaruby in

jw
friends

"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .

.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .

from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.

scratchme1010

I have compassion for those who have left or been disfellowshipped, yet also for those who become atheist or agnostic. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with that choice. It just seems to me that it might be like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak.

Could you be more condescending? The words I quoted from you gives me the impression that you seem to think that we, atheists and agnostics, need acceptance and understanding from believers. Who the heck are you for me to even listen to you? What do you have to say that we haven't heard before? And what makes you thing that our decision to be agnostics or atheists comes about only and exclusively from our experiences in the WT organization?

I strongly suggest you to look at the grandiosity that you display in your post. Then after that, just mind your own business and let others live.

37

The day after Armageddon

by Pronger1 in

jws are scattered across the globe.

a few million people left, pretty isolated from each other.. telephone lines and power goes down since the people who supported the infrastructure are dead.

communication across town, state, country, etc is cut off.

scratchme1010

Magic Jehovah is supposed to take care of the details. He can magically clean the entire planet but for some reason has to put humanity through hell (no pun intended) to destroy it.

5

The spirit that guides JW org

by anointed1 in

we can draw a parallel: the democrats lost the us presidential election, and they started blaming everyone else (including foreign powers) except themselves.

they forgot the reason for their own victory before—it was the direct and proportionate result of the poor performance of the then ruling party.

and now after 8 years of mess, people voted for a change.

scratchme1010

Whatever makes you happy.

12

Governing Body Discontinues the New World Translation as 'OLD Light'???

by Ruby 1976 in

i just saw this posted on a facebook group.

anyone know if there is any truth to this?.

http://www.exjehovahswitness.com/gb-discontinues-new-world-translation-as-old-light.html.

scratchme1010

The post starts:

After 2 hours of deliberation...

That was enough for me to know that it's nonsense. Besides, what would that change, anyway?

46

Some apostates are coming across as crazed psychopaths

by jambon1 in

jw
friends

i'm not sure whether or not my view on this is correct so please leave your input.

in recent months i've been viewing youtube videos.

again, it might just be my view but there has been an increased amount of random people grabbing a camera and doing vlogs.

scratchme1010

However, some people are coming across very badly. Extremely angry. Bitter. Challenging witnesses at the carts and making an absolute mess of it by getting angry and eventually being moved on by police, etc.

I think that it's a mistake to look at it as "good" or "bad". The number one thing that I keep mentioning is that people who are in the cult of the WT are not allowed to get in touch with their feelings. So it's perfectly normal for a person who's actually feeling something for the first time on their own, to voice it the way they do.

Good for who or bad for who? Good or bad according to what?

It is part of their process. The anger comes and it's felt. In my case took some time to let it go, but I think it's just ridiculous to expect people to be nice and smiley after being harmed by the WT. Anger happens.

Speaking of anger, I also think that many people are conditioned to see expressing anger as something "bad". It isn't (within reason). Some people are still learning to deal with it. Who am I to judge or intervene?

Additionally, I don't think I should care for what other people do or how they deal with leaving the WT. The WT is always going to find something stupid to make people who leave look bad, no matter what they do. Second, expecting to deal with our own anger in a way that looks good to the JWs is still playing by their rules, sort of misses the point of leaving them. Third, who am I to tell people how to express their anger? Fourth, there's nothing new; YouTube only makes it more accessible to see. What's wrong with being in touch with the way things really are? That is, not to mention the proverbial "You don't like it? Don't watch it".

30

How to reply when someone asks about your spiritual health

by RodrigoGuerreiro in

first of all, sorry if i cannot correctly express the original expression used in my native language to ask for the "spiritual condition".. a few years ago some member of the family asks my wife directly how is her "spiritual health" (for me it's one of the many strange vocabulary used by jw like "the slave says...").

she was catched by surprise with the direct question and says that everything is ok... and luckily someone call them for lunch.. my question is: do you have any good answers for that question?

you can be ironic/use some humor because the question is a little bit anecdotical .

scratchme1010

Do you have any good answers for that question? You can be ironic/use some humor because the question is a little bit anecdotical

My answer is just "Yes, thank you". My actual reply I think depends on who is asking and why. It's a strange question to be asked to me without me thinking that there's some kind of hidden agenda that will follow.

10

The reality we must face.

by The Rebel in

jw
friends

my dearest dad is 90 years old today.

we are far away, separated by geography, but never will i allow an organisation that indoctrinated false love separate me from my dear dad.

i love my dad and we had our differences but never will i allow that organisation take away my love for my dad.. happy bithday dad.

scratchme1010

That's a very nice post. I wish I could say the same about mine. The JW thing is only one of the things that separate us.

Thanks for sharing.

39

In praise of Randall Watters

by nicolaou in

jw
friends

exjw's of a certain age will remember randy's site well.

freeminds was instrumental in waking me up along with ray franz's books.

if net soup and armageddon okies mean nothing to you you're probably under 30.. whatever caused randy to post what he did recently is something i can only guess at but it won't be what i remember him for.. randy, i wish you well and thank you for all you've done over the years .

scratchme1010

Whatever caused Randy to post what he did recently is something I can only guess at but it won't be what I remember him for.

Some of us are not aware. What did he post?

5

NWT cross references

by Steel in

lately i have been really interested in the idea of who jesus was in the in old testament.

i have reading an author named michael heiser who generally believes anytime there was a physical manifestion of god in the old testament it was a pre incarnation of jesus christ.. i was reading the first chapter of jeremiah there is a figure called " the word of jehovah appears ".

this actually happens in a number of places in the old testament.

scratchme1010

Never heard of Jesus existing during the time when the old testament was written. Scientists and historians do confirm that Jesus of Nazareth was a real person and existed in the area where the bible says he lived. Other than that, I think it's difficult to confirm the rest.

21

There is a NEW Songbook?!

by My Name is of No Consequence in

i am not talking about the one that the org came out with in 2010. i am talking about a new one that just came out.

it is completely different or is it just the 135 songs from the 2010 songbook plus the 16 that they have rolled out since then?

my head is spinning!.

scratchme1010

My point is that they just came out with a new one 7 years ago. Almost immediately, they started adding additional songs. I just have to wonder why. Like Sanchy said, apparently it is more of a revised songbook as opposed to a new one.

I still fail to see a point.