does anyone find it odd that it seems there's less of a vocal apostate movement for scientology and mormons.
i'm getting this from google - i can't seem to find any majour forums like this one, or websites that are regularly updated exposing doctrines etc.. there is stuff out there, but from my search at least it doesn't seem to be as much as jw's.. strange considering mormons have 13 mill (?).
scientologists 'claim' 8 mill.. .
zound: " There's some interesting comments from ex mormons as to their views of JW' (their views when they were active mormons) "
There's an active Mormon on this board right now, if you want to check his comments about dubs.
He's "Cold Steel" and does a lot of missionary-type posting using the various books of the Mormon cult.
After you read some of his posts, you can decide where he falls on LostGeneration's "1-10 cult-scale."
i agreed, if only because i want to see my friend of many years.
the 'heavy' is a large, imposing man with a booming voice and is a creature of the gb through and thru (eg only visited his dfd dad on his death bed because it was a 'good witness' to the hospital staff) and i'm feeling stressed about seeing him.
i so badly wanted to see my friend though, i agreed without thinking and now wish i hadn't have.
Julia, you're in that horrible spot that we've all been through -- the point where you know you want to leave but can't quite believe that the people you thought of as good and steadfast friends are turning on you. You've just seen a demonstration of their tender "love" for a "lost sheep." Wolves tearing at a deer would be a more appropriate description.
As you continue the process of getting away from the dubs, you will see your "friends" for what they really are -- members of a cult. The cult was the only thing that you had in common with them.
Imagine this scenario -- everything's been patched up, and you're attending the meetings again. Could you ever feel the same trust and love you had for your friends again, knowing what they did to you?
You're going through the toughest part now. It will get better. You will learn to assert your rights about who you talk to, who you let into your home, who you call your friends. Someday soon you'll look back on this time and marvel that you ever bothered with them at all.
"Drink some tea. It's a good drink. It'll keep you going."
every soldier entering the war zone leaves behind a little piece of themself.
the gulf war is estimated to cost the v.a.
billions of dollars in disability because of the affects the war has had on these young and middle age soldiers.
My elderly mother and my older brother are still dubs.
After nearly 50 years as a dub, my mother is now a bitter, judgmental, extremely unhappy woman whose favorite activity is heaping vitriolic condemnation on her children.
My brother's life is in shambles. His dub wife is a mental case who literally covers her windows with aluminum foil to keep the demons out. His dub business partner of many years bailed when the business started to fail. My brother is now in his mid-sixties and must do menial work to stay alive and nurse his psycho wife.
They are what keeps a little part of me connected to the dubs, and what the WTS has done to them keeps that connection one of profound sadness and anger.
it seems for most of the bible that god spoke directly to people and told them what to do.
he wrote things on rocks.
he gave them laws.
Sosoconfused: " WHY WOULD GOD WANT TO DO THIS INSTEAD OF JUST TELLING PEOPLE WHAT HE WANTS?"
Adam -- direct communication with God, talking snake, angels with swords.
Noah -- direct communication with God.
Abraham -- direct communication with God.'
Lot -- visits from angels, wife turns to salt.
Moses -- burning bush, saw and heard God, received stone tablets carved by God.
Apostles and others -- saw a bunch of miracles including resurrections of the dead.
What do we get? Nada, zip, nothing at all. But we're supposed to believe in God based on stuff that supposedly happened thousands of years ago.
Thanks for nothing, God.
is it possible that someone has a jw friend who's very active in the congregation, knows you don't believe it anymore, and is still your friend?
i'm at the point where word is getting out that i'm not going to meetings anymore, and friends ask me if they'll be seeing me at the ca and i tell them i'm not going.
they want to know why, and what they can do to encourage me.
Julia: " I want to know if it's possible your 'spiritual' JW friends will ever accept your choice to leave. Or will just treat you the same as always without trying to 'save' you. "
It's possible but I don't know how likely.
When I left the dubs, I had the extreme good fortune that my best friend decided to follow my lead and left too. We've been besties for 45 years. She had attended a different KH, and when she left, she somehow stayed friends with a dub there and still does.
I'll talk to her and see if she has any insights on how she remained friends with a dub there all these years.
So sorry you're hurting so much, Julia.
during wwii, isolated islands full of aboriginal people were suddenly inundated with civilization far advanced from anything they'd ever seen.
to them, it was magic from the gods.
after the soldiers left, the islanders built bamboo planes and control towers and cleared makeshift runways and talked nonsense into coconut headsets.
gsd: " But really, is talking out loud to an empty sky and invoking the name of god or Christ to bring an end to suffering, sickness, war, etc. any different? "
So the "advanced civilization" is not so very advanced.
really proud of this young man for his speech.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nir4zbz18e.
.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/valedictorian-rips-preapproved-speech-recites-prayer-instead-172941933.html.
That wasn't a prayer. That was a spit-in-your-face, I-know-I'm-right slam at anyone who didn't agree with him. I didn't see any of the teachers applauding.
If there were such a thing as God, he would consider it blasphemous.
Seventy-three percent of Americans are Christians and that fact gives them the right to impose their beliefs on others??? Some quality thinking there. The majority of people in WWII Germany were Christian, and they certainly took advantage of their "right" to eliminate the minority Jewish population. Might makes right, huh SW?
By your reasoning SW, if you were to visit an Islamic country, they would have the right to force you to read the Quran, obey Islamic law, and profess belief in the Islamic God. Hey, that's a good idea! Why don't you go to Saudi Arabia, SW, and reap the benefits of your religious politics. I'm sure the Saudis would be glad to oblige.
when we got to paragraphs 10,11 with the reference to the box at the top of the page - is your teaching up-to-date?
the conductor asked for an explanation of what the current 'bible truth' was.
for the first one, 'this generation (matt 24:34) absolutely nobody raised their hand!
Blondie: " But of course, most jws haven't read the magazines even by the Sunday they are studied ...."
I never read them if I could help it. I've read more WTs in your "Comments you will not hear" threads than I ever did during my 14 years as a dub. You have such a way of making them .... interesting.
an hour or two ago, i was reading a topic on this forum that welcomed new elders to jwn.
there was some criticism aimed at the op and i understand that elders shouldn't be singled out as special.
one poster said he/she hates all elders.
Socrates: " I struggle with this. I am not happy with my lot in life. I don't want to be an elder. I don't even want to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses."
As Blondie pointed out, there are two kinds of elders. The blanket statement a poster made about hating elders was, I'm certain, aimed at those elders who are braindead drones of the WTS, the kind who would flap their arms and cluck like chickens if the WTS told them to.
You, my friend, are not braindead. You're not an elder, and you're not even a dub anymore, even if you do go through the motions.
"But I choose to stay. How can I make the best of it? I genuinely try to help 'the flock'. "
I wish you had been an elder in my KH. We could have used some compassion there.
If you ever decide to physically leave the dubs, the posters on this site will do all we can to help you.
Good luck to you.
when we got to paragraphs 10,11 with the reference to the box at the top of the page - is your teaching up-to-date?
the conductor asked for an explanation of what the current 'bible truth' was.
for the first one, 'this generation (matt 24:34) absolutely nobody raised their hand!
How much does anyone want to bet that the new Bible translation the WTS is supposedly working on will read, "These generations will not pass away ..... "?
