i am suppose to become an unbaptized publisher in a few days.
however ive changed my mind.
i finished my bible study and progressing in the org.
Naazira, good for you! Don't let anyone guilt you into doing something that's not right for you.
I also would give almost anything to have not been raised JW, or to have not been baptised, or, to have been able to walk away at a younger age.
It's not just those years that you lose, but, it's the years you lose later as you try to catch up.
good luck Naazira!!!
my wife and i were discussing this and thought of a few examples of words that the wt society changes meanings on in order to accomplish their own self serving agenda .
the term - generation - definition in webster's new world dictionary : " generation - a single stage or degree in the succession of natural descent ( father, son, and grandson are three generations ) .
the average period ( about thirty years ) between the birth of one generation and that of the next .
What about LOVE? LOVE used as a reason for discipline, it's LOVE that is behind shunning, Gods LOVING organisation that oh so LOVINGLY looks forward to Armageddon, where God will lovingly rid the earth of unbelievers.
Or how about bible DISCUSSION which involves reading from the set paragraph, and then answering a question by repeating the same words, maybe changing the order around, now that's a DISCUSSION.
check out the new freeminds 2.0 currently at:.
http://freeminds2.org.
so the old and new will be combined all in one site shortly at freeminds.org.
Randy,
good luck to you with this, sounds like a great plan. You are so right about the humour aspect.
so much of our experiences are funny, when you look back on it. Some of the most healing/liberating things I have ever read are the "my book of BS" parodies which are in reddit (hope I remember correctly?) and SD7's writings on JWN have had me almost crying with laughter.
ill be checking out your new site!
Thankyou for your efforts!
as i have said many times, i did not really study jw teachings in depth until i went to prison.. i had a period from 1959 to 1967 when i---sort of----could explain things to a shallow depth.
once i entered that profound place in my head (while in federal prison) when everything got serious.....i entered a secret room, so to speak, where.
all the mysteries were hidden!.
The existence of this website & others like it is the best thing that can be done for active JWs
If they ever feel a twinge of doubt, or curiosity, well, all the information they could ever want is sitting here online.
but they have to make the first move, to click on the link!
as i have said many times, i did not really study jw teachings in depth until i went to prison.. i had a period from 1959 to 1967 when i---sort of----could explain things to a shallow depth.
once i entered that profound place in my head (while in federal prison) when everything got serious.....i entered a secret room, so to speak, where.
all the mysteries were hidden!.
The more ignorant you are, the better a JW you are, the higher your standing in the congregation.
I never bothered trying to understand the deeper things of the truth. I was known to be intelligent, so, people tried to interest me in it.
But, it was just so boring, all of it. Even then, I knew, whats the point of studying something if you can't question it?
What's the point of studying if you can only look at one source? This deep level of ignorance is why JW will never enter into a theological debate with anyone who actually knows anything about history/evolution.
we had to go off grid for a time, time and half a time as we thought we had been outed.
fortunately it was a false alarm, but it was a stressful time.
i asked for my original diary thread to be deleted in case there could be anything on there to identlfy mrs smith and i. i am always very careful when posting, and am sure there was nothing on there, but felt it best to have it removed in order to be as cautious as a dove.
Hey Winston, Ive taken my kids in to watch the ANZAC day parade. It's very moving. It's lovely to be able to give these returned servicemen & women the respect they deserve. I hated how the JW sneered at this day, accusing it of glorifying war, when it's nothing of the sort.
Good to hear life is going well for you & the Mrs!
it's interesting how with believing friends and family you can openly doubt the bible.
you can doubt the flood and talk about it.
you can doubt the old testament.
This reminds me of something someone put on a thread, a quote from a JW that they would....
"rather be wrong with the WTBTS than right with anyone else"
its a crazy kind of warped thinking isn't it?
I think it's fear, the negative consequences of questioning the org are so great. If you are born in then you can literally never, ever, say or hear a word against the org. If you are baptised, then you can never safely question, or discuss anything.
if you are raised in TT, then unquestioning obedience is how you are raised.
even if this has no bible base, it's how it is.
the roman catholic church (rcc) religious leaders wear ridiculous clothing.. wts elders wear ridiculous cheap suits.. .
one can wear a beard and still be a priest in the rcc.. one can wear a beard in the wts, but never be an elder with one.
it's bible-based(tm).
Farkel, this is really interesting!
Can I add a few that I noticed from my son attending a catholic school?
RCC makes their churches, schools physically beautiful so you can enjoy the scenery around you as you listen to a blessedly short service (compared to JW).
The WTBTS seemed to go out of their way to make their halls so ugly & unadorned :) plastic flowers are worse than no flowers at all.
RCC schools encourage all to participate, my son, an atheist, is also a top student in religion & represents the school at debating & also has had speaking parts in mass & Easter services. They love it, because he's a good public speaker with a really deep loud voice. They know he's not catholic. Doesn't matter in the slightest.
I still find that strange, but also, really nice.
i am feeling a bit out of sorts & i need to bounce this off the board.. do some of you remember the coming out of the un scandal back when?.
have you seen the letter from the un in c of c?.
i am sitting here with that original letter in my hand.. the day before the date on this letter, i had heard about the watchtower involvement on hourglass2.
Apocalypse this kind of thing makes a huge difference! Life changing!
There are 3 issues which absolutely shocked me to the core when I found out about them.
One was the UN issue ( the other 2 were the Conti/paedophile issues & the Mexico/Malawi nightmare)
thankyou for exposing this. The more truth that is out there, the harder it is for the org to rewrite history to suit themselves.
discussion with wife today led to her questioning whether i believe or not.
i told her that i just can't roll over and accept everything new thing they say just like that.
we were, of course, talking about the "new light".
Sounds like you are walking a fine line there with your wife.
It reminds me of that excellent quote that someone put up here a few weeks ago, I can't remember the thread, but, It went something like this..
"I don't mind having questions I can't answer, but, I do mind having answers I can't question"
Something like that, anyway, sounds like that's what you are trying to say.
Good luck.
