clearly, anyone reading this watchtower society response to a "frequently asked question" on their jw-media site would conclude that jehovah's witnesses fully accept that god will spare non-jws through armageddon and grant them salvation.
all that one has to do is take a "stand for truth and righteousness" before god's time of judgment.
therefore, as former-jws, hence also non-jws, we have absolutely taken a stand for "truth and righteousness" such as exposing the criminal behavour of the watchtower leadership and their policies, such as their program that acts to protect jw child molesters.
I opened this topic on BeliefNet, and since there are lots of non-witnesses, the JWs tried to "water down" the message:
http://www.beliefnet.com/boards/message_list.asp?boardID=28082&discussionID=309678
They kept saying that only Jesus could judge... blah, blah, blah...
jehovah's witnesses say noah's flood happened c.2000bc.. interestingly a possible problem arises with the origins of the indo-european languagues b/c, which linguists have calcaluated(sp?
)2 have originated about 8,900 years ago using a cognate database,hittite being near the root of the ie family followed by tocharian ,greek and armenian.. there4 the ie languagues spread with agriculture in2 europe arriving in scotland 5500 years ago.. question?.
how will they explain this?
Leolaia - thanks for the info. Ironically, I've been thinking of this very thing the past couple of days, but couldn't find any useful info via Google. Great post!
my wife and i were talking today about how we just don't miss the meetings, the service, the association..... we miss nothing.
she's been a jw for over 25 years and i've been for more than 45 years----and once we simply stopped going, there was no sadness, no questioning our decision.
it's almost like we are carrying on as if we were never witnesses.
Ditto for me. Don't miss anything! I love my evening, making breakfasts on Sat & Sun morning. Being a regular person. I don't miss the day-to-day "if I do this am I doing the right thing" - eg. at work B'day cakes, or the other day, signing all the X-mas cards.
I love the freedom. I will never take it for granted, and hopefully, I'll never give it up again.
ex-jws often excuse behavior of jws (and their own past behavior) in their shunning and other cruel, bizarre practices by saying they're in a high mind-control group.
that's true, it seems to me, to only a certain degree.
the reason i think this is that most jws do, in fact, practice a lot of independent thinking and go against the teachings of the wtbs.
"The reason I think this is that most JWs do, in fact, practice a lot of independent thinking and go against the teachings of the WTBS. For instance, how many JWs will watch an R-rated movie, masturbate, get drunk, smoke pot, gossip, tell "dirty" jokes, practice oral sex, etc. All these things are prohibited by the WTBS, but the JWs do what they want (independent thinking) in these and many other areas. "
For the most part - those are "secret sins". To not openly shun another can bring severe consequences to our loved ones. Some "secretly" keep contact with those of us who are damned
In my experience, JW's aren't scared of Jehovah... they're terrified of "man".
i believe there was a topic about disfellowshipping an unbaptized person awhile back but i can't remember enough of the details to find it.. i was speaking with a friend yesterday who was disassociated as a young teenager, complete with a reading to the congregation and shunning, despite the fact that this person was never baptized.. (i tipped my hand a bit by blurting out that they aren't supposed to be able to do that if you aren't baptized.
way to go, smartie!
nice way to play it cool with how much research this non-jw has done, but that's beside the point.).
This happened to my brother. He was 14yrs old. Raised as a witness and chose not be one... he was shunned because of the "anyone calling themselves a brother". Up until the new light (I believe the article was in around 1988), if you studied and "came to a knowledge" you could be shunned if you left it. Especially if you went out in service.
Horrible, horrible practice. Growing up I couldn't see the diff between infant baptism and this practice on the JW youths.
ok - from what i gather, when this board was first up and running there were alot of active witnesses participating... so what happened?
i'd like to know what conversations, questions, thoughts, debates, etc.
really got to you - got you thinking and in some ways (?
Hmmm, will do Gumby.
Looks like I'll have to take a good day and try to find some interesting old posts.
if my attitude toward the shunners is to be waiting for them with a full pardon, waiting for them to quit shunning me so i can shower them with love as their reward for being jerks, they have nothing to lose by continuing the shunning.
they don't have a dog in the fight.
if children who shun parents were notified by the parents that they will loose their inheritance if they continue the shunning, all of a sudden they have something to loose by shunning.. .
My approach has always been - you can "shun" me, but that doesn't mean I'm shunning you.
I continue to write letters to my siblings every couple of months, letting them know how things are going in my life and I always tell them that I love them and look forward to hearing from them. I'm getting word back now that my letters are being read and are appreciated. I guess I want to keep a door open for those in my family that are still "in", in case they ever need support to get "out".
I love them. Shunning is a revolting, manipulative, hateful practice and I will not practice it.
Garybuss - I understand the frustration (trust me). I've lost practically everyone. Its true, they don't "lose" anything... but I remind them that they've "lost" me due to their behavior, not mine. My door is open -
ok - from what i gather, when this board was first up and running there were alot of active witnesses participating... so what happened?
i'd like to know what conversations, questions, thoughts, debates, etc.
really got to you - got you thinking and in some ways (?
I don't mind going to some of the older threads - but I have no idea where to start. I'm curious what shaped various viewpoints... like did Abaddon always believe in evolution? Was Farkel always "Farkel"? Was Simon an active Witness when this site started?
I guess I'm looking for a "Reader's Digest" history lesson, and a few links.
ok - from what i gather, when this board was first up and running there were alot of active witnesses participating... so what happened?
i'd like to know what conversations, questions, thoughts, debates, etc.
really got to you - got you thinking and in some ways (?
OK - from what I gather, when this board was first up and running there were alot of active witnesses participating... so what happened? I'd like to know what conversations, questions, thoughts, debates, etc. really got to you - got you thinking AND in some ways (?) got you out.
I'd appreciate your personal experiences. Thanks.
...yes, i have been taking those "stupidity" pills again.
it's a family thing....my 21 year old cousin is getting married to this freshly turned 18 year old dub chick.
i'm sure the sex will be just incredible for them tonight, hahahahahahahahaha..... .
Hey - I have an idea! You know how the "Family Life" book gets placed as wedding gifts???? Perhaps you could give them "Crisis of Conscience" - the gift that lasts a lifetime!
