Posts by EdenOne

3

"Phisically In, Mentally Out" - a song

by EdenOne in

so, i am a musician and composer in my spare time, but serious enough to be affiliated with the national author's association.

i have entertained the idea of writing a conceptual album about one person's personal journey into a cult, living the cult, and leaving the cult and beyond.

i hope this will resonate, not only with jw's but with people who are going, or went, through similar journeys.

EdenOne

So, I am a musician and composer in my spare time, but serious enough to be affiliated with the national author's association. I have entertained the idea of writing a conceptual album about one person's personal journey into a cult, living the cult, and leaving the cult and beyond. I hope this will resonate, not only with JW's but with people who are going, or went, through similar journeys. I'm sharing the lyrics to one of the songs, that I'm writing the music to. If someone is a skilled guitar player, maybe you'd like to contribute with a guitar solo (I'm a keyboard player). English isn't my native language, so if there are glaring mistakes, kindly point them out to me, please.

The song is "Physically In, Mentally Out". I hope it resonates with you.

PHYSICALLY IN, MENTALLY OUT

(Ricardo Pimentel – 5.12.2024)

"I used to enjoy to meet in this place

Saw wisdom and prophecy, bonding and grace;

And I felt the spirit, or that’s what I thought

But lately, goddamnit, I so feel it not.

And now I sit down at this consecrate hall

I find myself staring at its bare-naked walls

Words that are empty flow down from the droid,

They are nothing but junk food that can’t fill the void.

This endless annoyance of a dry rolling drum

It’s getting me so uncomfortably dumb

Old Eden was lost, there is just wilderness

We just orderly march to the great nothingness

What the hell am I doing, still in this place?

How can I sit in here and keep up a straight face?

Should I just remain quiet, when I can barely hide?

This barrel will burst, ‘cause it’s brewing inside.

I am physically in, but I’m mentally out

I’m raging within, but I can’t live without

I know I must leave, but there’s so much to lose

You made me an offer, can’t afford to refuse

I am physically in, but I’m mentally out

I used to be certain, now I’m drowning in doubt

Something is rotten, something is wrong;

And the pain lingers on and on and on …

And just like that, once you have wasted your youth

In horror you grasp the truth about the Truth

Now the ark it is leaking, and the captains have lied

The prophets have failed and the hope it has died

The rabid wild wolves that have haunted my sleep

Upon waking, they’re just torn apart, grieving sheep

And I know I should speak up, from all that I’ve learned

But brother, I know, against me you will turn

This stifling oppression, I can’t take anymore

God is love and forgiving, but he’s keeping a score

There’s no loving compassion, just a pretense of love

Because, brother, you see, dead is the holy dove.

So, I feign my submission, I’m binding my time

I play to the mission, I’m hiding my crime

Is this what it feels like, to inexcusably sin?

Ahh, which way that I go, they will not let me win.

I am physically in, but I’m mentally out

I’m raging within, but I can’t live without

I know I must leave, but there’s so much to lose

You made me an offer, can’t afford to refuse

I am physically in, but I’m mentally out

Standing in horror, contemplating the fallout

A lifetime wasted on the lies that you’ve spawned

And the rat race goes on and on and on …

Oh Mother! Oh brother! Oh lover! Oh friend!

Will you still love me if I no longer intend

to keeping the creed that you’re holding so dear,

letting go of the faith that is no longer here?

Will you cast me away from your lot by decree?

Will you call out for pity, will you blame it on me?

Will you shun me for life as if I were deceased?

Will you take out our children away when you leave?

See, freedom is more than just having a choice;

It means also one’s able to grow its own voice

and to let go, or hold on, and not be coerced

By the overtly dread of becoming accursed

The birdcage is open but I’m dreading to fly

These invisible chains don’t allow me to try

My sanity jitters, this cuts like a knife

I just know I must leave, if I am to survive

I am physically in, but I’m mentally out

I’m raging within, but I can’t live without

I know I must leave, but there’s so much to lose

You made me an offer, can’t afford to refuse

I am physically in, but I’m mentally out

I bask in the shadows, I’m rambling about

Any day now I’ll leave, and I’ll see a new dawn

Till then, the pain goes on and on and on …

I am physically in, I am mentally out ….

I am physically in, I am mentally out …. "

56

Annual Meeting live updates

by ukpimo in

i have obtained the live link for the annual meeting tomorrow:.

annual meeting live link.

the meeting will begin at 9:45am eastern time, for those of us in the uk, that will be 2:45pm.

EdenOne

Apart the announcement of two new GB members ... big nothingburger.

60

The Question of the "Great Apostasy" and the Historical Continuity of Christianity

by aqwsed12345 in

1. the continuity and visibility of the church.

the true church must be continuous from the apostolic age.

there is no room in christianity for a "gap" or interruption of thousands of years during which true christianity ceased to exist and then was revived in the form of another movement.

EdenOne

It's time you find what the Bible actually teaches instead of looking to a religion that rapes children, steals from the poor, teaches falsehood and consorts with criminals.

Famous last words, vienne, considering your allegiance to the Watchtower Society's religion ...

26

Atlantis- Devastating News

by Newly Enlightened in

jw
friends

https://youtu.be/k2hwesvuddq?si=7g6pvmqvcfh-cke4.

EdenOne

Indeed very sad news. I feel a huge gratitude for his selfless work for the benefit of the ex-JW community. May he get peace in his journey.

16

Accepting blood transfusions. By which instrument it ceased to be a disfellowshipping offense to become cause for disassociation?

by EdenOne in

ok, i know the story of how it went, with the deal they reached with the bulgarian government, etc.

i know.. what i need to know is if there is an internal document that redefines willingly taking blood as a disfellowshipping offense into a cause for disassociation.

a letter from the branch?

EdenOne

I agree in general with you, Slim, in what seems to be a more apathetic disposition towards blood observance.

However, I have personally witnessed how the WT branch office in Portugal personally monitored (in real time!) how an old sister from my congregation agreed to take a blood transfusion for a heart surgery. She was promptly disassociated. (reinstated one year later) This must have been some 10 years ago.

16

Accepting blood transfusions. By which instrument it ceased to be a disfellowshipping offense to become cause for disassociation?

by EdenOne in

ok, i know the story of how it went, with the deal they reached with the bulgarian government, etc.

i know.. what i need to know is if there is an internal document that redefines willingly taking blood as a disfellowshipping offense into a cause for disassociation.

a letter from the branch?

EdenOne

Mind you, the Catholic Church has a similar provision known as latae sententiae. Actually it almost seems as if the GB lifted the policy from the Apostolic Constitution "Sacrae Disciplina Leges". It's quite a vague text, buried under a ton of verbose, but basically it is the practice of a serious offense that has been previously deemed a sin by the church, and the practice of that sin doesn't require a decision from an ecclesiastical judge, for being self-evident. It is said that it is to be administrated very sparsely.

It's interesting that the WT had to resort to Catholic Church's tactics to try to shield themselves from liability.

Heck, without even saying so, they resorted to Saint Augustine to find an argument to condemn oral and anal sex .... imagine my shock one day, when reading Augustine of Hippo and seeing there that oral and anal sex were wrong 'because these were practices common in brothels' ... word by word the same reasoning that the Watchtower provided to condemn it back in the day. I guess a faithful Witness would reason that Augustine surely had a Watchtower magazine mail subscription.

16

Accepting blood transfusions. By which instrument it ceased to be a disfellowshipping offense to become cause for disassociation?

by EdenOne in

ok, i know the story of how it went, with the deal they reached with the bulgarian government, etc.

i know.. what i need to know is if there is an internal document that redefines willingly taking blood as a disfellowshipping offense into a cause for disassociation.

a letter from the branch?

EdenOne

Thank you, Atlantis!

16

Accepting blood transfusions. By which instrument it ceased to be a disfellowshipping offense to become cause for disassociation?

by EdenOne in

ok, i know the story of how it went, with the deal they reached with the bulgarian government, etc.

i know.. what i need to know is if there is an internal document that redefines willingly taking blood as a disfellowshipping offense into a cause for disassociation.

a letter from the branch?

EdenOne

All I can gather is that, somewhere in April 2000 there was a letter send to the Traveling Overseers instructing them about a change in the Ks91 "Pay Attention to Yourselves and to the Flock" page 95 (in English) . I don't know if that change was made manually or if a new edition was published. I have the Ks91 in Portuguese; My edition is from 1991 and on page 95 there's a reference to "fail to abstain from blood" as cause for disfellowshipping.

16

Accepting blood transfusions. By which instrument it ceased to be a disfellowshipping offense to become cause for disassociation?

by EdenOne in

ok, i know the story of how it went, with the deal they reached with the bulgarian government, etc.

i know.. what i need to know is if there is an internal document that redefines willingly taking blood as a disfellowshipping offense into a cause for disassociation.

a letter from the branch?

EdenOne

Ok, I know the story of how it went, with the deal they reached with the Bulgarian government, etc. I know.

What I need to know is if there is an internal document that redefines willingly taking blood as a disfellowshipping offense into a cause for disassociation. A letter from the branch? Instructions given to Traveling Overseers? I would need something in writing. I can't believe that it wasn't more than just a change in the elder's manual between two editions.

I mean, they must have provided evidence to the Bulgarian government and the E.U. that they had changed their previous policies. I wonder what kind of document they provided.

Please, if someone has evidence of this organizational change, in writing, please point it out for me. Urgently needed for research.

Thanks.

R.

21

Is a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses marries a disfellowshipped person, what is the outcome?

by EdenOne in

hello all.. i need a quick answer, and also a solid reference in the literature, please.. if a jw marries an unbeliever, there is reproof, it's frowned upon, it's disloyal, there will be loss of privileges, etc, but there's no other more serious consequences.

but, in a scenario where two people are free to marry, but one is a baptized jw and the other is disfellowshipped / disassociated, what are the consequences?.

thanks for your help.. r..

EdenOne

Also (sorry to be a pain), can someone explain to me what the "Coordinator's Committee" of the Governing Body does exactly?

In what way are they doing something different from the "service committee"? Or was it the "service desk"? Who is tasked with enforcing the directives of the Governing Body worldwide?

I mean also to know - in each Branch, there is a "service department". To which of the headquarter's Committees do they respond to?