I was aware that Russel and Rutherford had borrowed a grat deal of their their distinctive theologies from other more obscure preachers, but you provided the big picture framework. Awesome job, very enjoyable, Terry.
EdenOne
JoinedPosts by EdenOne
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43
Hidden history of the Watchtower religion
by TerryWalstrom inthe deeper you dig--the less impressive jw’s become!___________________you may think you know the men who are vitally important to the birth of the religion--but chances are good you’ve been kept in the dark.. _____________.
did you know?the 1st case heard by the supreme court of the united states concerning the watchtower society involved a director (an officer) of the watchtower, william franklyn hudgings.. a brief description of hudgings and his character.hudgings was an attorney, quack doctor, self-identified ‘scientist’, a pro-zionist, and religious enthusiast who over the years held various director and officer positions in the watchtower society, and the affiliated people's pulpit association and international bible students association.
at the time of this particular case, william hudgings acknowledged being the corporate secretary of the people's pulpit association and acknowledged that his daily duties included the administrative charge of printing of the watchtower magazine, the bible student's monthly, the kingdom news, and other watchtower publications.. (hudgings was also re-elected to the watchtower society board of directors in january 1919.
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Saying hello again
by EdenOne injust saying i’m still alive and greeting everyone, veterans and newcomers to this forum.. 2018 was a year with a lot of turmoil in my life; me and my wife separated, then reunited months later, and spent the second half of the year healing the emotional wounds from that episode.
that, along with a record year in terms of my business meant that choices had to be made regarding my time, and i decided to focus on my marriage instead of other endeavours.
it seemed to have paid off.
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EdenOne
Hello Millie :) yep, tough 2018, but survived to fight another year
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Saying hello again
by EdenOne injust saying i’m still alive and greeting everyone, veterans and newcomers to this forum.. 2018 was a year with a lot of turmoil in my life; me and my wife separated, then reunited months later, and spent the second half of the year healing the emotional wounds from that episode.
that, along with a record year in terms of my business meant that choices had to be made regarding my time, and i decided to focus on my marriage instead of other endeavours.
it seemed to have paid off.
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EdenOne
Nice to see you again, Atlantis, David. Hello Solzhenitsyn!
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Saying hello again
by EdenOne injust saying i’m still alive and greeting everyone, veterans and newcomers to this forum.. 2018 was a year with a lot of turmoil in my life; me and my wife separated, then reunited months later, and spent the second half of the year healing the emotional wounds from that episode.
that, along with a record year in terms of my business meant that choices had to be made regarding my time, and i decided to focus on my marriage instead of other endeavours.
it seemed to have paid off.
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EdenOne
Hey there, venerable veteran! :)
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The Reasons for Cart Witnessing
by Simon inwhatever we think of it, you have to admit that it's quite "genius".. the door to door ministry as done in western developed countries where the jw quirky religion has probably reached their saturation level was a complete and utter waste of time in terms of the effort expended to recruit people.. at the same time, it was rarely something that anyone enjoyed which led to people being labelled as inactive, being pressured to doing more and maybe ultimately deciding jwism wasn't for them and leaving.. there was also the issue that many jws are actually pretty bad at knowing and articulating their beliefs so were pretty incapable of getting any meaningful message across.. they solved all this with the cart witnessing.
the real point isn't to recruit, it's to make life easier for jws.
now they can stand and chat with their friend, have a coffee, not talk to anyone or make eye contact and still act as a walking billboard for jw.org.
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EdenOne
The most efficient way of recruiting for many decades already has been informal witnessing ... exchanging door-to-door witnessing by carts on the street isn’t designed to make witnessing more effective, because it’s just as ineffective. But it makes life a lot easier for Witnesses and is a bond reinforcer when they meet up on the street and hang out around the cart (because, frankly, nobody else does).
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Saying hello again
by EdenOne injust saying i’m still alive and greeting everyone, veterans and newcomers to this forum.. 2018 was a year with a lot of turmoil in my life; me and my wife separated, then reunited months later, and spent the second half of the year healing the emotional wounds from that episode.
that, along with a record year in terms of my business meant that choices had to be made regarding my time, and i decided to focus on my marriage instead of other endeavours.
it seemed to have paid off.
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EdenOne
Just saying I’m still alive and greeting everyone, veterans and newcomers to this forum.
2018 was a year with a lot of turmoil in my life; me and my wife separated, then reunited months later, and spent the second half of the year healing the emotional wounds from that episode. That, along with a record year in terms of my business meant that choices had to be made regarding my time, and I decided to focus on my marriage instead of other endeavours. It seemed to have paid off. Our marriage is a lot stronger and built upon a lot more honest and frank grounds.
Also dealt with a few health issues and a surgery, and life goes on. Still shunned, but slowly building a small but solid new core of friendships and reconnected with family members whom we neglected for most our lives.
I hope to get more involved in the future.
cheers to all.
Ricardo
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British Psychological Society Research Digest Article: What are the psychological effects of losing your religion
by AndersonsInfo inhttps://digest.bps.org.uk/2018/04/06/what-are-the-psychological-effects-of-losing-your-religion/amp/.
what are the psychological effects of losing your religion?.
bps research digest.
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EdenOne
Marked for later
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Another marriage bites the dust ...
by EdenOne in... and this time it was mine.. mrs. eden decided to part ways and leave home, and so our 25 year long partnership is now dissolving.
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just another colateral damage in a long list of colateral damages from being raised in the "truth".
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EdenOne
Thanks to everyne for your support. It means a lot to me.
I read somewhere that the chinese pictograph for “crisis” is a mix of the pictographs for “problem” and “opportunity”, so I will take my opportunity to build a happier path for myself, and free myself for another relationship, whilentrying to remain in good terms with my estranged ex.
I, too, have been in denial for many years, I suppose.
Such is life.
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Another marriage bites the dust ...
by EdenOne in... and this time it was mine.. mrs. eden decided to part ways and leave home, and so our 25 year long partnership is now dissolving.
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just another colateral damage in a long list of colateral damages from being raised in the "truth".
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EdenOne
Thanks for your thoughts and comments. This is yet another cautionary tale. Before you leave the WT, also prepare for the impact that it could have on your marriage. Once the “glue”provided by the religion evaporates, some people discover to their surprise that there’s not much else binding them to their spouse.
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Another marriage bites the dust ...
by EdenOne in... and this time it was mine.. mrs. eden decided to part ways and leave home, and so our 25 year long partnership is now dissolving.
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just another colateral damage in a long list of colateral damages from being raised in the "truth".
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EdenOne
We are both disassociated. Both out. She hates the whole JW past. We're both active in the same 'apostate' circles and community here in Portugal.
We're still friends and I'm actually helping her in getting a second job to better support herself financially etc.
I'm still trying to understand her motives. All she says is that she feels unhappy and wants to live alone. This has been a recurring theme in our marriage for the past 15 years, in fact, since she has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I have always ascribed that impulse to her illness, and in fact it used to be coincident with periods of depression, but now that's not the case. She feels "normal" and "stable".
My most educated guess is that she has concluded that, not only her former religion, but also her marriage, have been at the root of her dissatisfaction with life. We both married too young and too inexperienced (at 21), and I think that at some point, she woke up to the fact that being married and with a family wasn't something she wanted. And now that our son is 20, and was also diagnosed bipolar, I guess it was too much for her and she just decided she didn't wanted to deal with it anymore, so she moved out. It's been a month already and she has only renewed her resolve to stay away and we're talking divorce. We both removed our wedding bands.
I'm not sure at this point I would take her back, even if she wanted to come back home. Something has broken inside, and despite the challenges of being a single parent with a son and a household on my care, I'm also enjoying being single and free to see whomever I want. I guess with every crisis comes opportunity. But it's sad, nevertheless. If this was to be the outcome, it could have happened 10 years ago and I wouldn't have had to endure such pains to keep the marriage together and we both wouldn't had wasted our time.