Posts by Freeandclear

10

If you "chose" this religion, as I did, do you remember the moment you "bought" the religion?

by Muddy Waters in

if you "chose" this religion, as i did, do you remember the moment you "bought", or believed, the religion?.

for me, it was during one of my studies with a knowledgeable, lovely pioneer sister who looked like her life was so perfect and wonderful.

i was coming out of a terrible situation in my life, very vulnerable, being abandoned by a husband during my pregnancy and with other little children to look after too.

Freeandclear

When I was very young, like 3 or 4 my mom read me the story of Abraham and Issac and I remember thinking to myself that I would do that for God if he asked me. So I guess I'd always had a deep spiritual need and wanted to please God.

I come from a broken home. No dad to speak of, he was a real pos and never did anything with us kids except berate us and put us down and make us feel worthless. My mom remarried a guy when I was 12 and he and I didn't see eye to eye at the time, so I really had no father figure.

About the age of 13 I talked to a lady who was just studying at the time and she told me all about the paradise earth and I thought that sounded great. That was the first seed planted.

I was not a popular kid in school. Very much a nerd and a teachers pet. My mom never showed me the dark side of life only life through Rose colored glasses, so I had a lot of trust for everyone and took everyone at their word.

Enter the JW's. They came to my door, a study was started and I really looked up to the man who was studying with me. Little did I know I was viewing him as a father figure of sorts.

I was very trusting, very hurt by life (I'd just gotten my heart crushed by a girl in hs who I dearly loved at the time), I had no father and I had this deep desire to please god.

All these factors pushed me right into the JW religion.

The moment I bought it was at a District Convention in Pittsburgh PA in the old 3 rivers stadium. It was hot, I was miserable, I was sitting all alone way up in the nose bleed section. I didn't want it to be the Truth. I wanted to live my life, be free, love someone, travel, go to college, etc..... but as I sat there it just all made so much sense. Everything was proven from the bible and I believed it all.

7

Moment of awakening?

by Freeandclear in

i just recalled something from my past that i've not thought about in a very long time, but it did have a significant impact on me whether i knew it or not at the time....... i have a sister who was born when i was 15. my family are not jw's thank the universe!

but me as an uberdub at the time convinced my young sister to have a study.

she was about 14 or 15 at the time i'd guess.

Freeandclear

I just recalled something from my past that I've not thought about in a very long time, but it did have a significant impact on me whether I knew it or not at the time......

I have a sister who was born when I was 15. My family are not JW's thank the universe! But me as an uberdub at the time convinced my young sister to have a study. She was about 14 or 15 at the time I'd guess.

We were going along in the Bible Teach book I think it was.....and she was full of questions. Now my sister was a very outgoing young lady with lots and lots of life in her. Very much the type to go off and explore the world (much like I was before becoming a Jdub and how I am once again) and at some point in our study and her going to meetings she expressed to me something along the lines of "But what do you DO?" in other words, she was seeing just how repressive this cult is. She saw that if she continued in it she would have nothing. None of her dreams would be fulfilled and all her desires would just be trashed. Startlingly I actually saw this too and for a split second I too asked myself "Yes, what indeed do we DO?" and the answer was "nothing". It was one of my first moments of Cognitive Dissonance and I quickly talked about how we do all this for Jehovah, blah blah blah.......

The funny thing was when she decided to stop studying and attending meetings deep down I was actually happy for her. I knew she'd made the right decision for herself.

It's funny I just thought of this. I never really thought I'd had any CD moments. For me reading CoC while I was taking a break from meetings (due to the overwhelming guilt feelings) was what I always thought of as my moment of awakening, but really looking back this was the first glimmer that something wasn't right.

I'd love to hear your first moments of awakening if you'd like to share.

14

Would you have done what Adam did?

by thinker11 in

every religious group know the story of adam & eve.

for me, i understood what they did was wrong but i never felt they were bad people and considering that they never murdered anyone and seemed to live normal lives after being kicked out, i found it hard to accept that they deserved to die forever and that we would be responsible for suffering for their mistakes.

i personally feel like i might have done the same thing adam did when eve offered him the fruit.

Freeandclear

Well of course all of this is just fairy tail nonsense but here is my thought.

I've always thought of Adam and Eve as the greatest love story ever told.

A man loved a woman more than anything else, even eternal life and happiness and was willing to give that all away to be with her. Pretty powerful actually. But again, just a made up story.

There is no God, or if there is It's certainly not a God who cares at all about what we do or what we believe since no crystal clear direction has been given.

88

What was there before the Big Bang?

by Brokeback Watchtower in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpuhj98vjoa.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hik8hj0_t9q.

Freeandclear

Great discussion, one to which we will most likely never know the answers to.

My thought. The universe is a small sphere sitting on the desk of a child in his realm of existence. Nothing more than the snow globe sitting on my bookshelf..... Forgotten and rarely looked at.

20

28 years

by PLAYGROUND in

earlier i posted about my loveless marriage.

i was baptized at a very young age, and during that time period i was having sex.yes i made a dedication knowing i was still practicing fornication.

i had raging hormones since my youth.

Freeandclear

Start here jwfacts.com it will open your eyes to the fact that you are in a cult. I'm sorry to be so blunt.

All the guilt you are feeling is needless. You can live the life you really want, NOW. So read that website and do some research. The JW religion is NOT God's one true channel for mankind. Please check it out. Once you know the real truth you can get on with your life.

I too had huge sexual desires like any normal human being and I fought against them for so long denying myself and all for what?

I too was suicidal and depressed and burdened by the most intense guilt. No longer. Once I woke up all that was gone and I started actually living my life. Now I have no guilt, no shame, no depression and never a suicidal thought. Life is good! Life is NOW.

Please please do yourself a favor and get the facts. Jwfacts.com

56

Generation expiry date?

by pleaseresearch in

how long will it take for a jw to see that even the overlapping generation is wrong?.

the org waited and waited to see if their interpretation of it came true.

those alive in 1914 would still be alive obviously it didn't and jws have to believe in an overlapping generation.

Freeandclear

Former brothers, I've got this all figured out now! OMG what a relief. The new expiry date for the OG thang is infinite. You just have to use Common Core math and it's all good. ;)

28

Proof God Does NOT Exist

by Hadriel in

o.k.

here's just a little fun, you guys can run with it.. if god existed would he allow the whacktower to be in business?

just sayin... lol.

Freeandclear

I think we are all in the same boat here. And the boat is slowly sinking. We think, reason and can have an ideological concept of "the future" thus we must think about our own deaths and thus we created the concept of God and god forbid "purpose". The facts are no one knows. And no one can prove anything one way or the other. The only thing that is very true is that God is silent. We see injustice and suffering all around us for thousands of years or recorded history yet where is God? He's absent and silent. Draw your own conclusions from there........

28

Since leaving WTTS have you joined a new church or just continue with the new beliefs you have discovered under no religion?

by AmIright in

share your thoughts ?

Freeandclear

I think there most likely was a "first cause", I mean, all of this around us got here somehow, most likely not by blind chance. Something doesn't appear out of nothing.... I do not believe in the Bible anymore at all. It's far to vague and scattered to be from a One True God, and there is no crystal clear message for all mankind. It just doesn't make any sense to me at all that "God" would have a book written that was so hard to understand and that so many people interpret differently.

The only time I really feel truly spiritual is when I'm in nature. When I see a sunset, a sunrise, a huge mountain, or if I'm under water scuba diving and looking at all the amazing colors and fish, or around animals. This is when I feel like there might be a God.

My conclusion? Simply this: be good to one another. Treat others well and do no harm. What happens after we die is anyone's guess, and yes, it's simply that a guess. No one knows.

So either God does exist or he doesn't. Either way I'm going to live the best life I can, cherishing every single moment, and I'm going to treat people with dignity and respect and try very hard to harm no one intentionally, but the rest? Well, that's for us to find out.

42

What Are the Top JW Issues That Just Burn Your Buns the Most?

by Wild_Thing in

jw
friends

which ones make you the maddest?

covering up of abuse, shunning, failed end of world predictions?.

my list is long and heavy, but the top 3 that set me off the most are:.

Freeandclear

Awesome comments so far, and I must say I agree with them all. For me personally it is this:

The double standard of what they say and the reality. They say "Do your best. Just do what you can do. Jehovah knows your limitations. Be modest (recognize your own limitations)" But the reality is at every single meeting and in every single article you get bombarded with "DO MORE. Reach out! Extend yourself." etc.... So the result is, even though you ARE doing all that you can possibly do, you feel worthless and guilty.

I've come to realize this is nothing more than a mind control trick. If you feel miserable about yourself you will be too down to question anything, and that's exactly where they want to keep you.

I spent a large number of the years of my life as a true believer. I was 100% from 18 to about 37, believed it all and felt miserable and guilty and depressed over my own very minor shortcomings. All for what? Nothing. For a bs lie.

Since I've woken up I am no longer guilty, no longer depressed and I'm actually LIVING my life. To me this is one of the largest travesties they inflict upon their members because it affects each and every one regardless.

Who was it that said "Religion is a snare and a racket!" ? CT Russell or Rutherford? One of them said that and they couldn't have been more right.

21

Whats the one thing

by MrTheocratic in

jw's are constantly trying to prove they have the truth.

they always point to matthew 24:14 and say "who is accomplishing this work today?

this proves we have the truth and gods backing".. for those of us in this community looking from the other side what is one thing that proves to you that this organization does not have gods backing?

Freeandclear

For me the awakening point started when I read Crisis of Conscience. That was over a year ago and started me actually "thinking" (I had not been going to meetings at the time so I was much more receptive to that book at the time)

Then I went back and got DF'd and that hurt, and so I started looking around and finally doing some real research on "my" religion and found jwfacts.com and that really started opening up my eyes.

At this point the "One Thing" for me is the false prophecy. Duet. 18:20-22 really drove it home for me. The WTS has indeed thrown out many many false "prophecies" in the past, in fact starting from Russell. None of them have come true. The end of those verses says "The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him." And guess what, that was it for me, the defining "I'm awake" moment.

From there I continued and continue to research and the more I learn the more baffled I have become that I fell for it all for so long. There are myriad things that prove not only the WTS is wrong but all religion in general and now I'm even questioning the belief in God at all. I no longer believe the Bible and honestly I'm pretty sure there might be a "first cause" but as for a God who cares about us or what we do, think, or how we worship? No. I don't believe any of that anymore.