i took the most recent video on "obey" and edited it down to its core.
here tony explains that the decisions of the faithful slave are arrived at "collectively" but are not a "collection" of man made decisions.
it would be comical if it weren't so sad.. tony video.
Excellent video.
Note that just last month Governing Body member Geoffrey Jackson said to the Royal Commission in Australia that it would be presumptious to say we are the only mouthpiece God is using.
Now I understand it better. He didn't mean they are NOT God's mouthpiece. He meant there are others too? Who are they? The pope?
At least the pope says beneficial things like banning nuclear weapons or to care for refugees or to take care to nature.
it's been years since i've prayed and the last one i prayed to was the god known as jehovah.
just wondering.
I still believe in a higher force who I believe to be the origin of everything.
I believe that every living thing is somehow connected to it. And I believe it is personal and also love.
So I pray.
But I don't believe or pray to the god of the bible.
has anyone here gone nuclear on their spouse and, all of a sudden, came out in the open as a jw opposer?.
by this i mean, sitting them down and saying: i no longer want to be a jw anymore, do not want to go to meetings or preaching anymore!
and, what has happened in the relationship after that?.
Over a longer period of time my wife came to understand, that I don't see the bible any longer as inspired of god, that due to the shunning of df da ones I no longer saw the watchtower as the true religion and that I would accept for my son and myself a blood transfusion in a life or death situation
At one point she said. "So then you live by your own religion." I said that I am following my conscience and my personal relationship to god."
I never hindered her in her faith and never tried to influence her. She just got to know how I feel about these matters. She was very upset that I stopped field service (however I went with her to all meetings).
But that was enough for her to separate. But I have to say that she was and still is a hardcore jw strongly influenced by her even more hard core pioneer mother who even shuns my jw parents because they have normal contact with me.
Now we are divorced. She tried anything to reduce the time I can spend with my lovely son. But I never gave up and was very determined. So the result is that the judge gave me time from Friday noontime till Sunday evening all 2 weeks with him. Thats great because she has the meetings on Friday night and Sunday morning. So every second week my son is spared from all the meetings and field service. And she had to accept that when my son is with me, she can't take him to the meetings. At the beginning of our separation her mother said, that I know that they would never ever compromise and always take my son to the meetings even if it is my visitation time. That was also a reason I had to go to court for my visitation right.
It was a hard time but I am happy to be able to live according to my conscience and trying my best to counteract on the indoctrination of my son. I won't do that by further indoctrinating him but to strengthen his critical thinking skills with a lot of love.
I wish you all the best. Every situation is different. If you and your husband have a lot of love and respect for each other it doesn't need to head for separation and divorce.
i hate spinal treatment days.
my son is in sedation right now getting chemo into his spine.
the hospital and people here are amazing.
due to circumstances right now i cannot leave permanently the watchtower, however i need honest advice of what to say when elders question me how come im not meeting the group out for door to door & going out in " field service"... what would be proper responses not to draw suspicions since i'm aware of ttatt.. .any serious advice please...
If an elder approaches you could say:
"Thank you brother xx for your personal interest. Be assured, dear brother, that I am giving my best to live a life that pleases Jehovah. I have a strong personal relationship to him and I am giving my best for him. Be assured that I will call you if I need spiritual help."
If they continue to ask be firm. You can also say. "My relationship to Jehovah is personal and I won't discuss it with anyone, BECAUSE IT IS PERSONAL."
They only have as much power over you as you give them.
hello friends!today is a sad day for me, as seven months have gone by since my mother passed away after a decades-long fight with breast cancer..
because the witnessing/preaching/teaching work doesn't make any sense to me anymore; because it's not about any "truth"; and because it's basically useless, i've decided to quit doing it.
instead, i've decided to do something that actually can make a real difference in other people's lives.
Wonderful decision.
I did the same. After i stopped the recruiting work i looked at volunteer work. I help refugees to learn the local language and in their integration.
I am so happy not to go door knocking again.
i need information how the organization teaches members to shun any dealings with those they think are apostates, i am being labeled apostate by uncle crap head.
where is the magazine about "we wish we had the authority to kill apostates like the days of israel but the government does not allow this"?
do you have a list because my lawyer is going before a judge to show that, there is no way we can speak with them superfine's because they view us as the walking dead.
so you all know that i go with my wife to the meeting to protect the kids from the drival and pacify her.
tonight we are sitting there and she points to mathew and says something about the faithful and discreet slave and she said eplain this.
so breaking away from what i was reading in the meeting..." in search of christian freedom by franz"...i said.
Very well reasoned.
I think it is a positive sign that your wife asks you about your opinion.
as some of you might have read last week, my mother had extremely low hemoglobin and without it, she would have died.
i have somehow managed to bring her to reason and accept the transfusion.
it saved her life.
It is sad and a scandal how those elders and this organisation treats your mum and you. But that's their procedure.
I told them openly that i would accept blood for myself and my son and also the reason why i don't agree with their view of blood. They couldn't df / da me because I did not take blood, just hypothetically told them i would.
Your experience shows that they have no heart and care only for their bloody rules.
But why not look at it from a different view:
You and your mum could take this whole sad experience as a trigger to really leave. In all of this maybe your mum realizes that there is no real love in the org and that their rules are killing people. Show her that she should not feel sorry for surviving. Try to show her that a loving god (not the monster from the bible) would be rather happy that she survived as should all her friends in the congregation.
Don't fight the disassociation by action. Take it as an opportunity to leave and an example of their disgusting rules.
yesterday some jw's came over to my house and were even being nice to me, most of the time if they do come by an elder or ms may say something but the others will not, its even hard for them to say just hello (how pathetic).
( they also do this behind my back as if i don't know).
i now realize by not being their i've handed my kids right over to them!.
