Seems to me a lot of JW's, active or otherwise, wind up regreting the effect of the WT dogma on thier non-witness relatives. My father is a good example. At 61 years of age with a broken marriage and a strained at best relationship with his kids, he is facing a very uncertain future. When the WT banned somking, My grandfather who had been smoking for years, refused to quit. After his disfellowshipping everything continued as it had been for years, no shunning or breaking of family ties. After all, my grandfather had never tried that on my dad's sister. She had left the cult in her late late teens, having gotten married. In the summer of 1987 that years district assembly had featured a talk about how witnesses were supposed to handle disassociated and disfellowshipped persons, even family. The crux of the speach was that if you continue to associate with them you could be dissfellowshipped as well. So in front of his wife and two children, one of them only eight years old( me), He told his father that he could no longer have any association with his family, unless he quit smoking and asked to be re-instated. It was a blow that was felt by everyone, and really was the point at which my dad became isolated. He, my mother, and my grandparents were the only witnesses in the family. He continued this pattern of shunning, even after his sister was diagnosed with cancer. She passed away December 24, 1994. You could see in his eyes the realization that he had thrown away what time he had with her. Even though the witness in him will deny it, saying that it only means that he will have to wait for the new system to see her again. My grandfather has passed on now, after a lengthy bout with heart disease. My grandmothers health is slowly fading as well. The experience of growing up in the cult, and the fear, isolation, and the pain of trying to deprogram yourself has left my sister and I very close. We also are able to have a good relationship with our mother. But as for my dad, trying to repair all the bridges he burnt will be next to impossible.
LongHauler
JoinedPosts by LongHauler
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2
Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Joe
by Mum inthis morning the mailman brought me a package containing my aunt lizzie's dishes.
aunt lizzie was actually my grandfather's aunt.
i was lucky to have a multi-generational family for most of my life.
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So, where DID the 1914 timeline go awry?
by Xander inokay, i know that historical evidence is that jerusalem fell in 586/7 instead of 607 - as the wtbts would have.
however, that is not compelling enough to show a hypothetical jw.
they (generally) must not only be show that the opposition is correct, but that the wtbts is wrong.
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LongHauler
In "Crises of Concious" Ray Franz wrote about it. But from what I remember, No one at Brooklyn had ever questioned the authenticity of 607 B.C. until Aid to Bible Understanding was being reasearched. Its been a while since I read Ray's book but I think you'll find a pretty good explination of the whole 1914 prophecy in it.
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Got a call from an elder this weekend
by Texas Apostate inhi to everyone on the board.
it has been quite sometime since my last post.
well... let me get on with this incident.
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LongHauler
My God, A fellow Houstonian. Thought I was alone here.
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Yahoo! Collapse - ADDICTIVE!
by DanTheMan inhttp://games.yahoo.com/games/downloads/cl.html
this is a great game!
lots of tetris-style puzzle games have come and gone, but this one's a winner!.
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LongHauler
I have one word for you. Slingo. I've seen that game put strain on a marriage before. But I guess thats AOL for ya.
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The Fight For God
by expatbrit inthe following is quite an interesting article on the state of christianity in the u.s. the jw's are not mentioned, which is interesting in itself, since the article focusses quite heavily on churches that aggressively seek to convert others.
maybe the jw's are losing their market niche?.
expatbrit.
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LongHauler
Good article. The headine about enslaving Canadians was a letter written to Dr. Laura by someone not altogether satisfied by her attempt to explain why Homosexuality is an abomination. The whole letter is on http://watchtower.observer.org. Funny as hell.
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How Much Longer Can The WBTS Survive?
by SpannerintheWorks ina 2000-year-old-plus religion cannot survive for much longer!
we are questioning the wbts every day!
the web is a great way of exposing the wbts, and we are doing it daily!.
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LongHauler
They will likely survive for many decades to come. Even as thier self made prophecy concerning 1914 becomes less and less believable every day, most will accept whatever new light spews from the GB. Even the teachings about the "faithfull and discreet slave being annointed will likely be changed as the run out of so-called annointed ones to replace the old farts running it now. As Ray Franz has said before the "Society" has a great ability to metamorphose itself time and time again. Lets face facts, how many of the younger people in the "Truth" know about thier real history? How many have simply accepted the "Societies" doctored history and went on? How many of them would acutually believe any thing posted on this web site or any other? As long as thier minds are fully locked into the cult and thier mind control they will continue to renew this tired old religion and transform it into its next incarnation. Charles Russell once said "Religion is a snare and a racket". God, if he only knew how true those words really are.
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"Silentlambs" was the "Messenger...
by Gilgamesh inbill bowen may be more important than some of us think he is.
there was a post back in july this year that began: wycliffe, tyndale,..........bowen .
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=33120&site=3.
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LongHauler
Must we try and assasinate Bill Bowens character here on this forum? Certainly he is not a perfect man, and perhaps he is going a tad overboard comparing himself to a messenger. Anyone who stands up for the rights of others still has to have something good inside of him though. Perhaps his overzealousness is just a bi-product of the anger some feel when they have the wool lifted from thier eyes with regards to the Watchtower, Bible and Tract selling society for the first time. Disagree with the way Bill Bowen is handling things, no problem. But lets not forget that he has shed the glaring light of the media on this twisted little secret of the orginization.
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The Two Witness Rule is NOT THE ISSUE
by jst2laws inthe problem.
many here are supporters of the movement to expose the wt society's harmful policies that seem to shelter molesters and punish victims.
a common scenario is there are not two witnesses or a confession to the sin and the "loyal" elders have told the victim and their parents that 'there is nothing more we can do'.
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LongHauler
As much as they blast major religions, especialy catholics, isn't it interesting that they now have something in common with them......
" Back then we didn't have all these sophisticated birth control methods. Like pulling out."- Jack Warden explains how he came to be Norm MacDonalds father in "Dirty Work".
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New Trek Flick
by LongHauler inhas anyone gone to startrek.com and downloaded the new trailer?
this one looks pretty damn awesome.
although that whole "a generations final journey begins" crap is a turn off though.
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LongHauler
petespal2002, just shoot me an e-mail sometime if you want the whole sorded story. In the mean time read my thread on angry kids. If you e-mail, keep in mind I'm a truck driver and it takes me a bit to get back to people.
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New Trek Flick
by LongHauler inhas anyone gone to startrek.com and downloaded the new trailer?
this one looks pretty damn awesome.
although that whole "a generations final journey begins" crap is a turn off though.
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LongHauler
Has anyone gone to startrek.com and downloaded the new trailer? This one looks pretty damn awesome. Although that whole "A generations final journey begins" crap is a turn off though.