"You have left your first love"......
that says it all....
if they had any love in the beginning to begin with....
the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:.
i know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for my names sake, and have not grown weary.
but i have this against you, that you have left your first love.
"You have left your first love"......
that says it all....
if they had any love in the beginning to begin with....
i thought this was worth sharing.. .
where did the interpretation of gen 49:27 come from ?.
tms review question 4. .
There goes the WT again...
copying people from long ago, saying they are "brilliant lit" with holy spirit...
well... as they say on talk back radio "i'm a long time listener, first time caller"(poster in this case!).
i have been a "lurker" for several years, but never had the courage to take the step and join up...until now.. i really want to thank everyone for their insights and comments throughout the forum.
although i have not contibuted to discussions, i have benefitted very much from all of your comments and observations on all topics.
Welcome StuckinaRut2 :-)
Our fam was very involdved in helping people, building things etc.... It 'felt good.'
However..... all the people we helped (and it's not to say I don't like helping), all the years and years of friendship, even my mother, turned off like a light bulb the minute the switch was hit.
No brains, no remorse, just "what does the Society say about people who don't go to meetings?" "Don't associate" and even more lately, from a hall in our area... yes, they are still using "mentally diseased," but NOW it has been applied to non FS goers, and non meeting atteneders. How do you like that one?
My children have lost life long friends that they have helped sooooo much in their life.
My advice: concentrate on building memories with YOUR family.... expand your interests now, before fading, build friendships with other people, have other things to do... (maybe soccer, baseball teams, dancing =for wife ;-) etc, etc)
Build up family memories... those last forever ;-)
Hang in there!
Cha Ching!
i wanted to express appreciation to the members of this forum.
there are resources here that are deep.
like we heard from the stage, "what is your depth and breadth of bible knowledge?
Wkow Ginger! I am so glad to hear about other "awakening" in the 'older' community!
These forums really have helped people find a source that just did not exist before "the net."
1975.... "Don't go to college, Armageddon will be here before you can use your schooling" "We have heard some have sold their homes, and started pioneering, what great examples!" "We aren't saying exactly, but it could be MONTHS, WEEKS, who knows?!" "Six thousand years from Adam's creation to 1975, how long before Eve was created? Only that much time left before the 1,000 year rule begins"
KM 1976: "If anyone has been disappointed through not following this line of thought, he should now concentrate on adjusting his viewpoint, seeing that it was not the word of God that failed, or deceived him and brought disappointment, but that his own understanding was based on wrong premises."
Ambient abuse: Blaming victims for the wrongs committed to them. "AA's are classic nit-pickers who redirect attention away from their own abusive behavior by engaging in insidius forms of abuse..... http://notyourplaything.com/2013/04/05/ambient-abuse-gaslighting-effect-and-the-diabolical-personality
against my better judgement, i've decided to share the following as a response to guy pierce passing and the announcement of the elimination of district overseers later this year.. late in january (2014) i got an email from one of my contacts (a fader) who served at bethel for several years, but is no longer at wt hq.
he still has a lot of close contacts within the service department and in other departments at patterson and knows people in all of the ny offices.
i kept this email set aside on a flash drive and haven't shared it with anyone - figuring i'd publish an article about it later this year when i had more time to do it right.
It will be interesting to observe this years "glorious annual meeting"
i've read the walsh trial that indicates the societies stance of ' unity at all costs, even if we're wrong ' but that sounds more like conformity to me.
so how do other religions or movements justify the range of beliefs within their respective movements?
for example, the born again movement, a massive range of beliefs, but they don't insist on conformity.
"Give me liberty, or give me death"
"no lie is of the truth" 1 john 2: 20
"Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses respect for himself and others, and having no respect, he ceases to love." Foyoder Dostoyevsky
for any org/corp to survive it needs to reinvent itself continually to cope with everchanging markets, public opinions and trends.
this is bad news for an org that prides itself on worshipping an unchangeable god.
so how does the wt reinvent itself while maintaining a"no variation of the turning of the shadow "..blah blah?.
On spot, Sparrow Down! (I love your title for this thread)
i explained that i had da'd early december, due to many reasons, ie; paedophile cover-ups, doctrine, hypocrisy etc etc....... she said she would keep in touch and we'd meet up in february when we would be visiting her area.
i also asked for her df'd sister to get in touch.. guess what?
not a dicky bird.. i've seen on her facebook page that she she still has some very active witness mates, she obviously wants to stay friendly with.. i feel like i've been hurt all over again by this stupid ass cult that ruins good friendships totally.
My sister (never baptized, but always felt a duty to help jw friends) always went to some jw friends to talk, drop off magazines, visit, "encourage"...
#1. They have not gone to meetings for over 20 years.
#2 They have worldly friends.... on and on...
When she brought up concerns over latest changes, views in "the Borg" what do they say?
"Sounds like you are trying to start your own religion!" (Implying she was apostate)
Deeply implanted reactions are easily aroused.
Brainwashing is effective, it lasts a long time, that is why "they" do it!
i must admit when i was in, the idea i had of an apostate, was an angry bitter person who would picket out side a convention.
i was looking on jwservey and found on the respondents to a servey that 54% were either active members or fading members.
this made me wonder is the organisation underestimating the extent of apostasy.
Konceptual99: Totally happening. Saw it myself. Just like Nazi's or Pharisees...
"Be loyal or be dead"
last night we were discussing the "new light" that was revealed to the gb recently from jehovah.
many of us recall all the co talks and elder parts based on the bible text of how a true servant of jah would not be "inactive or irregular" for years one was required to have at least one hour to be considered a servant of jah.. as the sec in my hall i recall so many times calling up friends to get thier time and hearing them break crying cause they didn't have 60min only about 45min- and they knew that it meant they were not servants of jah.
now with the new light from jw a person with only 14 minutes of time will now be disqualified as being a servant of jah.. it is amazing how many jw will view this arrangement as a "loving provision from jah" instead of realizing that thier service to thier god has been reduced to whether they get 15min or 14 min.
Very true... I feel bad for "older" people. What is left?
"I'd rather have questions that I can't answer, than questions I can't ask (or answers I can't question)"