The only thing "hard to swallow" about Ray is: that like many of us, he stayed 'in' despite his gut, brain, and conscience telling him to 'get out'.
eyeuse2badub
hi all, i'm halfway through isocf having finished coc recently..
i'm still in, not sure what i believe anymore, but along the christian viewpoint, uncle ray makes a lot of sense to me.
so are there any contrary viewpoints out there, any points ray made that can be argued against or that you find hard to swallow?
The only thing "hard to swallow" about Ray is: that like many of us, he stayed 'in' despite his gut, brain, and conscience telling him to 'get out'.
eyeuse2badub
a thread on another forum reminded me of a letter i wrote to the person that went to the elders and started the proceedings to have me disfellowshipped.
i stopped believing in the religion when i was 25 but continued going for about ten years.
i finally started to fade at 35, but about 6 months after i had stopped going to meetings, a person wrote a letter to the elders about my website, which at the time was anonymous.
Great letter Paul. The name of your site, jwfacts, says it all. Facts don't lie. It is so cool to have a place to go to to see so many of the false and wrong doctrines and other dogma of the WTBTS exposed by it's own words. Thanks for compiling all this information for the many like myself that have had serious misgivings and doubts for years and even decades. Like myself, many here are former elders, pioneers, ms's, etc. We just mindlessly "went along" like good dubbers do. As a great man once said; "Free at last, free at last, O thank God, we're free at last"!
eyeuse2badub
from the march 1, 2010 wt:.
is the bible the word of god?.
all scripture is inspired of god and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of god may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.2 timothy 3:16, 17.. .
We don't even know if we have "all scripture". What book, letters, or documents belong in the Bible? The Catholic Church and their lackeys decided which books were cannonized. The decisions made by the Catholic Church back in the 4th century! The WTBTS's view is that Jehovah saw to it that his word was preserved in tact. Wonder why Jehovah didn't see to it that his name was preserved during the time that the Bible was being compiled?
eyeuse2badub
"there was a kid who turned down a college scholarship so he could pioneer.
how stupid!
i would do anything to have a scholarship.
Yea, I was a JW of the 60's and forsook a university opportunity. I pioneered and got married. Yippee for me! i didn't discouraged my kids from higher education even though I was an elder during the time my kids were graduationg high school. Today, I am actively encouraging my grandchildren to go to college get an education and a good career. I never tell my grandchildren that the big A is right around the corner. In fact, I never talk to them at all bout WTBTS stuff.
eyeuse2badub
i found it important to be honest with my wife.
so i told her about my conscience decision that in a medical urgency i want blodless medicine but if a transfusion of blood or the 4 prohibited components is necessary to save my life or health i would accept it.
this would apply especially also for our child (that is not such a problem as in our country the wts recommends to comply with doctors as they have the right to decide concerning minors).. i showed her the reasons why i came to that conscience decision (biblical and logical reasons) and that jehovah and jesus do not like anyone to die because of this wrong bible application.. .
At least point out to them how hypocritical the WTBTS's doctrine is in NOW allowing blood fractions, but still banning blood donations. If we now accept blood fractions, who the $%^& is going to donate the blood from which the fractions are derived. Let them think about that.
And I'm with you on the destroying the blood card. I did and told my JW wife. She said that it was my decision and left it at that.
eyeuse2badub
god, evidently, wants you to be poor: .
a newly baptized brother is married, and he and his wife have three small children.
one day, a workmate suggested that he and the brother move to another company that paid a higher wage and provided more benefits.
SFPW--you are obviously a younger person not retired. You are much like many of us once WERE. Naive! Comparing our circumstances with that of Jesus is ridiculous. If we could raise the dead, walk on water, turn 2 fish and 5 loaves into a banquet, etc., etc. we would have every reason to forsake everything for serving God. BUT!
eyeuse2badub
a little background, i faded in 2007 and have been out ever since.
i started studying at 18 and have no jw realitives.
i'm returing because my life is heading in the wrong direction.
You'll be back here soon. Once you know ttatt you can't possibly fake being a genuine dub for long. It eats you up inside.
eyeuse2badub
increasingly, jw.org and its print publications show lots of pictures of witnesses preaching one-to-one to "interested" passersby in public venues in contrast with fewer pictures depicting the door-to-door work.
sure, d-t-d is still the organizatrion's mainstay activity - but clearly it pushes at every opportunity the need for the rank and file to "go" public.. this push could be a two-edge sword: there is obviously a hard core of witnesses whose dispositions draw them to this type of social outreach: they almost rush out to do this public-venue work, prefering it to d-t-d. but i'd hazard a guess that for the bulk of those in local congregations, the public-venue witnessing would be a total turn off.. to date, in new zealand, i have seen no evidence of jws doing this public venue witnessing - despite the huge push on jw.org and in the publications.
kiwis just don't seem inclined to put themselves out in public places - or if they do, it is in a kind of very muted way (i.e., almost out of sight and unobtrusive).. this site has shown that in a few places, including mexico, at least a few of the more publicly zealous witnesses are doing the public work big time.. is the public venue preaching happening elsewhere, such as asia?
Let's see if the 8 Popes of Brooklyn get out there and do street witnessing or cart witnessing. You know--set the example.
eyeuse2badub
friends,.
since i was a very young boy (+/- 10 years old) i had thoughts when revelation 18:2 was studiyed at our kingdom hall.. babylon the great was for me new york.
the center of the world, where all cultures are comming together.. next step for me, was that new york was the center of the universe for our jehovah's witness religion.. so i was connecting babylon the great with our own religion.. now with all the topics about the connexion between the watchtower corporations with investment billions, political influance, history cleaning and rebranding their business i could imagine when the society is going down, many corporations and politicians will say "shame, shame, babylon the great has fallen...".
The Governing Body, Babylon The Great or TGB -- BTG. Looks like the same 3 letters. Weird huh?
eyeuse2badub
ok i've read similar threads to this before, but i just thought i would share a comment made by an aunt.
my aunts bible student died, and due to the families wishes the funeral service was given in another church.
my aunt with a disgusted look on her face when recalling the events to me said "and you know what, they must of only spent about 5 minutes talking about the person, and the rest of it was about the church".
At JW memorial services it reminds me of Jesus words, "Let the dead bury their dead."