Posts by pronomono

19

How do you measure a Jehovahs Witness?

by Londo111 in

im just thinking outloud and, of course, you are welcome to think aloud with me.. (1) there are the metrics used in the yearbook totals.

the average publisher count measures only those who reported time.

likely, most of those who attend the memorial are those inactive or somehow associated in some way, shape, or form.. (2) there is meeting attendance.

pronomono

Invisible ruler....ha ha. Good one, ADCMS.

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

That's a good creed to live by. I was thinking a few of the same thoughts last night and came to the conclusion that my goal is to not live by any man's creed except for my own. To make my own decisions and conclusions about God, life, etc. I still place a lot of importance on researching JWs, other religions and belief systems, and reasoning on such because when I finally reject the JW way of life, I want there to be no doubt in my mind that I made the right choice.

Even with all the negative evidence pointing towards JWs, I still have an inkling of a belief that they could be right if God could be proven to exist. Ultimately, it comes down to me that if you are not allowed to prove to yourself things that are true, righteous, and just without being disfellowshipped, then there is obviously something wrong. But is it worth losing family and friends? A God that tells you he came to divide households and families (and then you see it in action) loses a lot of respect from me. And lack of verifiable contact makes me wonder how much of a hand God really has in any religion.

One of the biggest faith-bolstering arguments for JWs was the conversion stories of how people made drastic changes in their lives and personally seeing the effect it has had on close family members - from my father-in-law who was a mentally diseased drunken, violoent, alcoholic to my sister with chronic depression over the multitude of long-term sicknesses and physical disorders that she has been diagnosed with over her lifetime. I have seen drastic changes in behaviors and moods for the better. I spent a lot of time reading conversion stories between other religions, denominations, and deconversions. It's funny that every group has their own PR stories like this. It's a little different when you see it for yourself. But you realize that it's mostly mental, psychosomatic. They could have made these changes on their own if they only believed in themselves. I could make the change if only I believed in myself.

Sorry for getting a little off topic. I just started typing and wound up here. lol

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

pronomono

Dismember, Thanks again for posting this. I watched it last night, and for the first time atheism made sense. I've before described myselft as an "Agnostic Christian Atheist", which to me means that I really don't care about if there is a God or not because he doesn't seem to care about us, although I believe the morals instilled by the Christian way of life have some importance in our life and merit attention, but deep down I feel that there is no God. That's the simplest way of putting the messed up state my mind is in. After listening to Dan's reasoning, atheism makes a lot more sense. I want to get his book "Godless", and read it.

24

April 23, 1933 - the most significant date of all.

by Focus in

jw
friends

april 23, 1933 - the most significant date of all.

every single one of you will, of course, know the significance of this momentous date in the history of god's people and their "inspired", ark-like organization.. do you know what was the significance of that critical date?.

do not expect the earthly media to provide you with a clue.

pronomono

marked

76

Losing Faith in Faith..

by Dis-Member in

i came across this lecture at 3am not being able to sleep by dan baker.

it details his transition from christian fundamentalist to atheist and the various shades in-between.

he realises that every denomination of christian can open the bible and prove to you that they have the right interpretation and everyone else is wrong.

pronomono

I understand what your saying dismember because I have some of the same thoughts. How can we believe in what can't be proved (or possibly what could be proved, if God made a way)? And even if we could figure out what is in fact truth, where are similar, like-minded people to associate with. Sometimes I think it was better being oblivious to these simple truths. At least back then, I thought I was happy.

Now, if you make yourself truly known, our loved ones think we have gone crazy, gone off the deep end, or are being controlled by Satan and his demons. They don't really understand the true issues at hand. And if they did, they would no doubt be just as messed up as some of us are.

27

The elders are 'letting me fade'

by TableForOne in

i attended my last meeting in january 2014, having realised that i'd been lied to for 20+ years (i'm now 43 y/o).

rumours spread of my 'apostasy'.. in may, cobe contacted me inviting me to a private meeting with elders at the kh.

(no mention of the meeting being a jc).

pronomono

Excellent way of handling this. I may be stealing this method from you soon.

54

Suggestions for car buying

by FlyingHighNow in

jw
friends

if you were a lady and you were 55 and had $5,000 or less to spend on a used car, what would buy?

top concerns: good mpg; reliable; in not having major issues like ball joints breaking, timing belts breaking, etc.

not too expensive to maintain.

pronomono

Good choice. It will last you a long while if properly maintained.

37

Your thoughts on demons, ghosts and spirits

by Crazyguy in

as a jw were taught all about demons but i never had an incident.

my wife believes wholeheartedly says her family including her has had problems with them.

i have met people that even non religious people that say they have experienced a ghost or a spirit.

pronomono

I am open to the idea of evil spirits if conclusive proof were given, just as I'm open to the idea of God, but faith in such an idea is quickly waning.

My honest thoughts..... I believe that we attribute what we don't understand in the world to be something that they are not. For instance, it was once thought that someone who was schizophrenic had demons. We know now this to be a mental illness. For people that lived before this illness was discovered, these people were downright scary and still can be today. However, we no longer attribute this illness to demons.

I do believe that there is supernatural phenomena, but we are not classifying it correctly due to an incomplete understanding. I believe that as science progresses and the tools are made available to properly measure and understand these phenomena, we will see these for what they are, explainable facts of life. In time we will see these not as malevolent or benevolent spirits, but will see them for what they are.

Of course, these phenomena can often be exaggerated by our own imagination, sleep deprevation, mental illness, preconceived notions, etc. to the point that we believe we have seen or experienced something we can not.

----------------------------------------------------------------

True experience.....

In an effort to prove the existence of God, I tried to prove the existence of the demons since God would never answer me. As an eight year old, I cried out to Satan that I would devote my life to him for one supernatural experience...... floating. Satan missed an easy opportunity to have a devoted follower. As an adult, I spent time in a graveyard at night firing off fireworks, the supposed lurking place of demons and spirits...... not one supernatural experience. Maybe they were scared of fireworks? Anyways, in my life, I've made it easy to have an experience that others have "supposedly" had, but to no avail from either side of the forces of good or evil.

43

Assembly News Photo

by snare&racket in

jw
friends

this photograph from a news site is a succinct summary of a life in wt's hands....... look at their faces, it says it all.. also, note the watchtower pr machine in action, explaining that it brings 4 million dollars to the location.

(10,000 x 400 dollars) clearly a watchtower statistic, where is the care and interest for members who are struggling so much, with new videos encouraging less career activity, less work commitments, at an all time economic low for our generation.. http://www.standard-freeholder.com/2014/06/15/thousands-attend-watchtower-convention-in-cornwall.

father: "i'm a wt 'yes' man and proud of it!

pronomono

I'm confused. He has the large RNWT that says I'm a DO/CO (or super elder that sucked up to one), but he has a common R&F badge. Whose leg did he have to hump to get that?

5

My Experience in the Watchtower (Part Four)

by Eiben Scrood in

i'm back with the fourth part of my life experience.

it was a much shorter gap since i posted the previous installment.

the part will mean little if the previous ones haven't been read.

pronomono

I'veBeenScrewed (We all have, and nice play on words. ), Excellent write-up of your story. I'm looking forward to reading part 5. I just got caught up with the first three parts. It's amazing how all our stories have common elements. Even on parts of my life that haven't happened, I can easily see them playing out the same way as yours. It's encouraging to read what you've dealt with, how you handled it, and how you're moving on. Please keep it coming.