truthseeker

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Posts by truthseeker

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  6

  Just got my DVD Apostasy.

  by blownaway in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my dvd arrived from amazon today.

  will be having pizza corona and a movie night tonight.

  .

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  truthseeker

  Enjoy! It's definitely worth watching,
  
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  15

  Born ins: did you have "near life experiences"?

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i recently watched the 90s movie fight club for the first time and heard the phrase "near life experience.".

  for me, a different definition of this phrase would be someone who grew up in the truth and led a very secluded and restricted life (like me) but on rare occasions actually experienced something that was considered quite normal by most people.. growing up in "the troof" was depressing.

  it was characterized by long periods of loneliness.

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  truthseeker

  I recently watched the 90s movie Fight Club for the first time and heard the phrase "near life experience."

  For me, a different definition of this phrase would be someone who grew up in the truth and led a very secluded and restricted life (like me) but on rare occasions actually experienced something that was considered quite normal by most people.
  

  Growing up in "the troof" was depressing. It was characterized by long periods of loneliness. I didn't seem to fit in anywhere. however, while pursuing my diploma at college, I was invited to play football by my classmates (soccer for US readers) and for the first time in my life I felt like I was part of something. At the end of the day, I'd take the train back home to reality station and that was it till the next day.
  

  Those times were what I call "near life experiences" because it was as close to normal life as I could get.

  You have to understand that it was the little things for me, that seem so ordinary and mundane to others, that made a small difference and made me realize that there is life outside the cult.
  

  Truthseeker
  
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  19

  "Confessions of a teenage Jesus jerk"

  by stuckinarut2 in

  1. social
  2. entertainment

  has anyone else seen the movie "confessions of a teenage jesus jerk"?.

  im still processing it, and trying to work out my thoughts..... i would be interested in others thoughts..

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  truthseeker

  I absolutely hated being a Jehovah's Witness. The teen years were horrible. Absolutely horrible.

  I will be watching this movie.
  
• 
  286

  Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Baker Who Refused to Bake Cake for Gay Couple

  by Simon in

  1. social
  2. current

  seems like such an obviously correct decision to overturn the previous overreach - it should never have been necessary to go to the supreme court but happened because the rights of the religious were being ignored.. as the fundamental level, no one should be able to compel you to work for them or to provide services that go against your beliefs, and certainly not have the government be able to force you to comply.. if this was allowed there would be so many unreconcilable situations that would clog up courts over nonsense.. i also have little patience for these activists that intentionally look to be offended.

  it really doesn't do their cause any good to go round looking to make trouble for people.

  it's also misguided because it ends up strengthening religious rights over effectively stupid issues.. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/04/us/politics/supreme-court-sides-with-baker-who-turned-away-gay-couple.html.

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  truthseeker

  Simon speaks sense.

  As JWs we were, at one time, willing to not salute the flag, sing the national anthem and sign a birthday card because our conscience would be violated. Some governments who had a national draft provided alternative service for those who would not take up arms against their fellowman.

  If a gay couple walks into a bakery they can buy any cake they want.
  

  If a gay couple walks into a bakery and asks the baker to decorate a cake with a gay themed wedding then this would violate the baker's conscience.

  The baker has options:

  # 1 He can ask an assistant (if he/she has one) to do the artistic expression or

  #2 He can sell the pre-made cake as it is and ask the gay couple to find an artist to decorate the cake.

  #3 If said wedding cake does not exist, he could meet them half way, make the cake with the marzipan and the icing according to the gay couple's specifications and ask them to finish their decoration. The baker gets paid and the couple get their cake.

  #4 The gay couple can find another baker knowing they can still get their cake (and eat it too).

  The JWs here might consider this case a "conscience matter"
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  5

  Kingdom Hall Bait and Switch - Need your help

  by ttdtt in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  can anyone put a comprehensive list of documents and or dates of how the wt has been effect taking the publishers money and i guess property - when it comes to the change in kingdom hall building and loans?i dont have the order and cant find the letters.. the special video meeting about how we need thousands of mcdonald's looking kingdom halls - and eliminating the rbc -then the elimination of loans - and the request for monthly monies.. i need to talk to someone about it soon..

  thanks!!

  !.

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  truthseeker

  Not sure this is what you're looking for, but this thread contains a link to a list of JW charities I compiled for the UK.

  https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5666357703081984/resource-all-congregations-united-kingdom

  It gives the last six years of accounts and you can see from 2015-2016 a great deal of money was sent to WT HQ, whether in London or NY.

  Many of those who left wills had almost the exact sum of money sent to HQ.
  
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  35

  Not Being Invited To Gatherings.

  by kennylazo1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have you ever found out that your "buddies" from the kingdom hall went out to have fun and did not invite you?

  if so how did you feel?.

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  truthseeker

  To follow up, when they did give me a "sympathy invite" to a "video evening" I felt alone sitting with "young ones" who ignored me at the hall and pretty much ignored me at social events.
  
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  35

  Not Being Invited To Gatherings.

  by kennylazo1 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have you ever found out that your "buddies" from the kingdom hall went out to have fun and did not invite you?

  if so how did you feel?.

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  truthseeker

  This happened to me all the time. It hurt and this is one of the things that led to my eventual exit from the Borg.
  
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  15

  elder from my former cong

  by jookbeard in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  i left the wts in the early 1990's and i was baptised at the same assembly as this elder and his wife in the late 1980's they were probably in their early 50's back then, you know the kind; get called on, become a study and take to life as a jw like a duck takes to water, a dream call for all jw's and we went onto to be good friends with them over the years, the book study was held in their house also, he quietly progressed up the jw ladder became an ms then elder, a few months after i started my fade i saw him one day while i waited for a bus and he acknowledged me i said hi etc and he started a verbal tirade towards me about me knowing its the truth, how close we are living to the end, how stupid i was turning my back on it etc blah blah blah, i couldn't really get a word in edge ways, i bid him good day and that was that, he really was quite angry, i never saw him again until recently over 25 years later when him and his wife and their son were having a meal in my local pub, he was standing at the bar ordering, i saw him acknowledged him said hi and he looked straight through me, he said "do i know you ?

  " i replied " hey eddie its jookbeard from the ********** congregation, surely you remember me?

  " he said sorry i've never seen you before in my life, his wife came over to help him with his drinks and i said "hey pat, how are you?

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  truthseeker

  That is a sad story Jookbeard.
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  6

  Ten years ago - Our congregation held a leaving party for us

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  ten years ago, truthseeker and his family and other witnesses who were moving to different congregations were given a congregation leaving party at a community hall in new jersey.

  i had been planning my slow fade from the congregation for a while.

  i grew up in the south coast of england as a third generation jw and moved to america in july 2001. .

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  truthseeker

  This is all I can share for the moment...

  Baptism Talk, Saturday 22nd April 1995

  Hays Bridge Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Surrey, UK

  “Do you understand that your dedication and baptism identify you as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in association with God's spirit-directed organization?”

  
  

  “Yes,” I answered in a barely audible voice. I didn’t understand the ramifications of this question until years later. I was 18 years old and one of only two brothers out of a dozen or so baptismal candidates in an audience of 2,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses. It was nerve racking to say the least. This was supposed to be the happiest day of my life but I felt the exact opposite. After I got dunked like a McVities Digestive I was just glad it was all over. An elder who had previously studied with me gave me a last minute invite to a baptism party he was hosting for some of the candidates in our congregation.

  The year was 1995 – Britpop was in full swing and Blur and Oasis were battling it out in the charts. Nick Leeson had destroyed Barings Bank and John Major resigned as leader of the Conservative party only to be re-elected a few weeks later. It was also a record breaking year in terms of the number of baptisms for my congregation, located between Chichester and Brighton. Of the six who were baptized that day, including myself, four of us have left the organization. That’s a retention rate of 33%!
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  25

  Another One Bites the Dust!

  by freddo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's goodbye to bristol - hengrove congregation of jw's and the inmates ... err ... members, will be sent to two other bristol congregations either side of it.. i'm told by two elders from bristol, england it is being disbanded on may 1st 2018. this is the 2nd congregation in this circuit to be disbanded recently - the 1st being portishead in late 2014.. hooray!.

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  truthseeker

  Thanks Freddo.

  I have updated my JW charities spreadsheet to reflect this