Bonsai

Joined

• started 17 topics
• posted 889 times   see topics posted on
• send a message

Posts by Bonsai

• 
  35

  If you were told today you would die next week, would you be happy and fine with that?

  by EndofMysteries in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i don't know how so many who seem to be certain this life is it after being jw's seem to happily accept it and be fine with it.

  i am living and trying to live as if this is it.

  i want there to be a future life/afterlife, something, but i see how fast life comes and goes and even if i'm living it to the fullest, there is no peace for me with the thought this may be it.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  I feel like I'm living from week to week with no idea what the next week will bring anymore, so I guess nothing would really change. Perhaps a sense of peace would wash over me knowing that time is up and my ending has been decided. Every day is precious consciousness.
  

  
  
• 
  7

  Has any apostate ever lied at a JC about being apostate?

  by purrpurr in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i watched/ listened to the brave and courageous souls on youtube who bravely recorded their jc's.

  you really see a different and horrid side to the elders there.

  it might sound whimpy but i don't think i would be able to stand strong like those guys did.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  I refuse to be called or accept that I am an apostate. I know some here wear the title like a badge of honor or courage, but I find the label offensive, childish, mid-evil age and all around despicable. In order for you to be an apostate, they would first have to have truth on their side. They are the ones who have protected pedophiles, engaged in false prophecy, implemented harmful, Pharisaical policies etc.

  If and when I ever have to go to a JC, I'll be sure to make their ears bleed before it's done and over with. If it comes to the point where you are being ushered into a JC meeting, in almost all instances, they have already lined up witnesses against you and the game is up. Make sure to confirm this, though. If they DONT have witnesses against you, and are just playing on a hunch, then it would be appropriate to withhold pertinent information from them. If they do have the 2,3 witnesses then there is no reason to lie my friend. Don't give the elders hard-ons by cowering before them.
• 
  37

  Reliable source - new round of US Bethel layoffs coming soon

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  was talking to an ex-bethelite who is still very well-connected to those in the ivory tower.. he says that there will soon be a(nother) large number of us bethelites who will be "reassigned to the field" as pioneers and special pioneers.. he did not give his source, but he is pretty reliable.

  incidentally, he was "reassigned to the field" in the last big purge about 7 years ago.. i imagine those so reassigned would be pretty teed off.

  let go just before the golden lakeshore palace was completed..

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  Young ones, if you want to stay at Bethel, go to college and get a valuable skill first. If you have that skill, Bethel will keep you on. If you don't have any special skills, they will send you packing in 2 to 5 years.

  They might bray, piss and moan about the dangers of getting a college education, but secretly they want you to get one-especially in the legal field- so you can help protect their negligent asses.
  
• 
  13

  Comparing JWs to Jews

  by CalebInFloroda in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some have asked how my views and convictions have changed over the past 15 years or so after leaving the watchtower behind to return to my familys roots and embrace judaism.

  the best way to explain things is to allow both the religion of the watchtower and my life as a jew today to stand side-by-side for comparison.

  while i cant guarantee this will help prove to others that the jehovahs witnesses are truly a crazy religious group, i am sure it will prove to most that jews probably are, and are quite aware of it.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  The difference is Jews are kosher. JWs are just wannabe Jews.
• 
  2

  Have you ever had a JW role model?

  by nevaagain in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the jw hero thread motivated me to make this thread.

  so when you were still in, did you have a role model which was also a jw?.

  when i was young (pre school) my parents were friends with another young couple, which also happaned to live nearby.

  1. 
  2. 
• 

  Bonsai

  I had a JW hero. Great elder, speaker, father and role-model. He stepped down as the COBE and became an atheist. Time changes us all. We are powerless to stop it.
  
• 
  14

  Do you have a JW hero?

  by Island Man in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  when i say jw hero i mean a jw who courageously did what was right despite the indoctrination and peer pressure to conform to cultishness.

  i have an unknown jw hero that i've never met but only heard of from an experience relayed to me about an incident at a jw funeral.. i was told that at a jw funeral internment, a non-jw put a wreath in the shape of a cross on the grave.

  shortly thereafter a jw elder came up and removed the wreath.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  Takeoffthecrownis my hero. He has taken his crown off in order to come on to this site and enjoy association and fellowship with us all! Welcome brother!
• 
  40

  July Broadcast Denies That JW Children Die Rather Than Have Medical Care

  by BluesBrother in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  anthony morris 3rd delivered the broadcast this month and advised that lies are circulated that they let children die rather than have medical care .

  he says this is so inaccurate as to be a boldfaced lie ...... further he says it is "up to the parents to determine what would be the best treatment for their children" .

  now, does this mean that parents are really free to make a decision to accept blood for their minor child, if they so choose?

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  Am I alone here in thinking that this whole broadcast was dressed up and produced for the consumption of the civil authorities who are scrutinizing this organization to see if there is cause for punitive prosecution? This broadcast has the feel of whiny desperation. Too bad the average JW will lap it right up, though.
  
• 
  91

  Why using Jehovah for God's name is as good as using Yahweh

  by oppostate in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  in another thread i wrote some notes about why using jehovah in english is as good as using yahweh.

  i'm starting a discussion on this topic because it sounds quite ignorant to hear people talk of the monk who started using it in latin without really understanding why the monk did so.. the spanish dominican monk, raymundus martini, in 1270, didn't get hoodwinked by an old jewish superstition about pronouncing the divine name with the vowel points of another word.. 1. first the vowel points of adonay and jehovah cannot be the same for grammatical reasons.

  you just can't use the same vowel points because some vowels aren't paired with some consonants in pronouncing hebrew words.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  I think I see your points.

  Jehovah the name has earned the right to exist in modern times, just as Yahweh has.

  We don't know what Martini knew in his day, so it's unfair to bash him, or claim that he was the inventor of Jehovah.

  We both agree that the JW religion is a borderline, if not full fledged, cult. We both agree that they overemphasize the usage of Jehovah to fit their agenda? If so, then I have no problem with anything that you wrote. Sounds good to me. I'll stop bashing Martini and try to use the name Jehovah with more respect around JWs.
  
• 
  59

  A difficult yet necessary decision

  by Brother Jeramy in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the past five weeks have been perhaps the most painful in my life as a witness.. some months ago a young man (i'd say in his late thirties or early forties) began attending meetings at my kingdom hall.

  he had just moved to my area from another state.

  he had disassociated himself from his home congregation many years back, when he was 20 years old and going through many of the typical trials and temptations most young men experience.. two of the elders met with him initially, and they later shared the details with the body of elders.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  Thanks for sharing the situation Brother Jeramy. You honest to goodness tried your best to be loyal to "the family". I applaud you for that. I remember some of your previous posts made me feel sad that I wasn't trying to help from the inside as well. I love my estranged JW family, but they are just too toxic and brain-washed to deal with right now.
  

  This dysfunctional JW family needs to be educated. It's leaders need to have their day of reckoning soon. I'm sure whatever choice you make in the coming weeks or months will be the right one for you. this stupid religion is pushing the best members of its flock right out of the pasture. Their loss, not ours.
  
• 
  56

  JW's came to my door 6 weeks ago. I told them I was inactive.......

  by Alchemist in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  6 weeks ago some jws came to my door.

  i've been inactive for 8 years.

  after they gave their presentation i told them i was inactive.

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Bonsai

  You've become inactive, so you are marked my friend. You can go back, and I'm sure the initial love bombing will be nice. But at the end of the day, they will continue to view you as "spiritually weak" and "mentally unstable." They will guard themselves around you and worry obsessively about "stumbling you" which will prevent you from making friends who will value you for who you are and not for what they want you to be. The world sucks sometimes, but it's not like they are doing anything to make it any better. I hardly find the global campaign to spread guilt and fear as conducive to building a better society for our children. Give it a try if you want. Maybe I'm wrong.