Freeandclear

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Posts by Freeandclear

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  5

  "50 Years a Watchtower Slave" Chapter 3 Part A

  by new boy in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  the door to door salesmen .

  southern california wasn’t hawaii after the war but it was real close.

  there was great weather, plenty of jobs and no smog yet.

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  Freeandclear

  New Boy please keep writing! I'm loving your stories. I just went back and read all of your posts! Great stuff. Very entertaining. Thank you.
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  30

  GB "... it can make mistakes when explaining the Bible ..." Simplified version WT Feb 2017

  by freddo in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  study article: who is leading god's people today?

  start of paragraph 12.. standard version: "the governing body is neither inspired nor infallible.

  therefore, it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction.".

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  Freeandclear

  Isn't it so ludicrous? If you speak out against the bOrg you get shunned as a mentally diseased Apostate yet they themselves admit openly to being "uninspired and fallible" It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever that anyone would base their life on their teachings and follow them to the letter, shunning their own children and family members, spending all their time in useless "service" and donating money, etc etc etc..... It's hard to believe I was once so blind.
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  39

  Why Is it the Girls who Hang in There?

  by snugglebunny in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  having seen many, many people leave the org over the years, i have to say that, when it comes to married couples, it's almost always the man who makes the first move to leave.

  conversely, when it comes to being converted into the witnesses, more often than not it's the wife who joins up first.

  although that wasn't the case with my own parents, my father became converted and my mother followed very reluctantly..

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  Freeandclear

  The bOrg uses emotional appeal to bring members in. The logic behind their teachings is sketchy at best. I used to teach and conduct Bible studies so yeah, I know this. There were things I didn't fully understand but my CD always found some way to logically explain it to others. But the emotional side of this cult is what really is appealing to most. The idea that all your problems will be solved, that you can rely on God to help you through anything, that you will have this huge "family" etc.....

  Biologically that is much more appealing to women than men IMHO, thus why I think women get brought in first. Add in the social aspect of it as was already mentioned and yes it's very hard for women to leave first.

  Makes sense to me.
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  21

  What steps did you take to free yourself from the cult? mentally or physically?

  by HereIgo in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  first i ignored all of the elders phone calls to send my recommendation letter to my new congregation, truth is i had already started my fade and moved across town and didn't have a new congregation.

  i deleted all jw friends on facebook.

  i also threw away all of my public talks recorded on cd, all literature, even my book bag and my bible.

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  Freeandclear

  I got DF'd in April of 2015. I was distraught and really still though it was the truth. Since I was out I decided to do some digging that I never would have done if still officially "in" and I read CoC and found JWFacts and read all of it. I then joined up on this forum and started talking to others and reading everything.

  It was a real shock to me. Of course I did have some very minor doubts now and then but my programmed CD always kicked in and I would be fine. But learning that the religion I had devoted most of my life to was nothing more than a cult and a lie....well that was really hard on me for a short time.

  I went through the typical phases of grief I suppose, went athiest for a while, then finally had a two month long existential crisis and finally I ended up where I am now. I don't officially believe in God (as in the God of the Bible) but I'm open to the possibility of something else after death, and the possibility that there is some sort of creator and order in the universe. We really don't know, we can't prove it either way.

  Now I follow my conscience. I try and do no harm to others. And I'm hopeful that when I die (we all will die) something else happens. What that new reality is or may be I will just wait and see when/if it happens, and if it doesn't....well, I won't know anyway, I'll just be gone.

  But my atoms have existed for 13.6 billion years and they will continue to exist for as long as our universe exists so in a way I guess I am eternal already. ;)
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  39

  New Video Series On Courtship May Open Some Eyes

  by JW_Rogue in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  so the wife was watching the latest installment of jw broadcasting and near the end there was a new segment on dating and courtship.

  it starts at about the 39 minute mark:.

  https://youtu.be/vuir-azsdm0?t=38m52s.

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  Freeandclear

  So glad I'm out of this cult. I was very interested in an ultra-spiritual JW woman for a while. Very much in lust/love/like with her. IE. Totally infatuated. I never did approach her though. I was a very spiritual guy when I was in but she seemed so much higher than me that I couldn't bring myself to hardly even talk to her, except in service.

  Looking back I'm so glad that it worked out the way it did. I would no doubt have been unhappy with her and eventually divorced. As I've grown farther and farther away from the mind control of the cult I'm starting to realize that marriage isn't for everyone. I enjoy being alone and having my time to myself. There is only one thing that makes me seek the company of women and I won't spell that out. I do enjoy women as friends and I have a lot of them, but just one, for the rest of my life? Nah....can't see that working out.
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  37

  Why are there still so many of humanity that are immersed onto the lies, ignorance and delusions of religion ?

  by Finkelstein in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  all religions under critical examination has been recognized inherently as formative lies devised to appeal to human emotions and as a means to cultivate power and control for a select propagating few.

  knowledge acquired through scientific inquiry and evaluation has proven that all religious adherence was mostly drawn out human ignorance targeted toward the emotions and consciousness of people.

  here we are in the 21 century and people like the jws are still adhering to the lies of christianity and how this religion developed over time.

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  Freeandclear

  Religion in a nutshell:

  1. We are born.

  2. What the hell is this sh!t?

  3. We die.

  We as humans know we will die. That really sucks and bums people out, always has. So we created the idea of God (and thus religion sprang up with all it's wonderful consequences) to alleviate our fear of death and to give us hope for something else, a "non-end" to life, because the concept of true death ie. non-existence is abhorrent to humans.

  Plain and simple.
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  12

  JW's Are All About Free Will Now

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  from the january 2017 watchtower:.

  first paragraph reads: when faced with making a personal choice, one woman told a friend: “do not make me think; just tell me what to do.

  that is easier.” the woman preferred being told what to do instead of using a precious gift from her creator, the gift of free will.

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  Freeandclear

  In religion there is no such thing as "free will" no matter the religion you are always subject to someone/something telling you what to do, think and believe. We as humans truly do have free will within the boundaries of the natural world (obviously we can jump from a roof and fly away, that sort of thing) but once we enslave our minds to some form of "religion" then free will goes right out the window, we then get to narrow our choices down even more. Yay! No thanks. I'll just keep following my conscience thank you very much. Do no harm is all it ever tells me and that's what I try to live by.
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  58

  What's The First "Worldly" Thing You Did When You Exited The Cult?

  by pale.emperor in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  when you finally and officially exited the cult, whether it be by disfellowshipping, disassociating or fading - what was the first things you did that are considered "worldly"?.

  for me, it was like crash landing on another planet that looked like earth but was completely different to the earth i knew.

  i wanted to learn everything that i thought i already knew.. first things i did:.

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  Freeandclear

  The very first thing I did was go out and get myself a girlfriend. Sweet relief finally. lol
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  66

  When you were fully in, did you believe that you would not die?

  by TTWSYF in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i know that it must seem silly to ask, but my brother and his family think that the big a will arrive before they die.

  i tried to explain to my brother that everyone else who has ever lived in the past has died and only jesus has [physically] rose from the dead.. it is amazing that anyone could buy that line.

  what crazy cult culture that could make people believe such nonsense?!.

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  Freeandclear

  I was 15 or so when I first heard the "good news" and about living forever in Paradise on Earth. So from that moment on I pretty much believed I would end up there, in Paradise. I didn't know if I would see armageddon or if I would even live through the GT but either way I'd end up alive forever in the big P.

  When I became fully awake about a year ago now I had to face reality. I would indeed one day die, and not too far off either. Life is short and time gets faster and faster (from our perspective) as we age. I'm 44 now and I know that the next two decades of my life will simply seem to fly by. I don't expect to live much past 70 to be honest. I have a shitty lifestyle and don't really take care of my self....my issues..... so yeah, it's gonna happen. Everyone dies, it's that simple.

  That was a hard pill to swallow for a while and I had an existential crisis for a couple of months, but I'm actually completely at peace with the idea now. It helps me to appreciate and enjoy each day that I'm alive and breathing. What happens after death is anyone's guess. We really don't know and we can't know. Chances are pretty good that nothing happens. It's just the end. Lights out forever. But the "idea" of something else happening is something that ALL humans cling to.

  We are unique in one very big aspect, we can look ahead into the future and see how things will play out, to a degree. No other animals can do this that we know of. So HUMAN's have invented God because to see our own deaths and not think there might be something more is terrifying to say the least. The idea of our own eventual end is shocking and thus we created the idea of God and all the various religions along with it as a defense mechanism to combat this fear of death and to help us keep living our lives with some measure of hope and happiness. This is the conclusion that I've come to after many months of thought and research on this idea and topic.

  We will die. We will probably be dead for real. BUT the idea of something more gives me hope (and yes, I know it's probably ridiculous but whatever....as long as it helps me get through life now I don't care).... lol
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  44

  Why Do People Become Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  besides being raised in the religion , why do people become jws?

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  Freeandclear

  My personal reasons: I was very young, about 16 or so. I'd just gotten my very first heartbreak and wanted comfort. I had no father in my life and my study conductor gladly stepped into that roll. I was a very nieve young person who trusted people at their word. All of these factored into me becoming a JW. Also it all made perfect sense to me at the time. All the answers were from the Bible which I greatly respected at the time and I had no way of verifying anything back then, no internet yet..... 1980's All these things added up to me becoming a JW despite none of my family being JW's and despite heavy family opposition. Crazy huh?