the information at the bottom of this post is from the keep yourself in god's love book, the appendix, and is a bit of the discussion of fractions......what i find interesting is this book uses a lot of the information from the november 2006 our kingdom ministry article on blood fractions, but omits the statement:.
"of course many fractions are derived from blood that has been donated for medical purposes.
this seems to be more than just an oversite.
Others, while refusing transfusions of whole blood or its
major components, might accept treatments involving a fraction.
This is why people don't know about transfusions or where fractions come from, because of selective evidence provided by the society. They're telling people transfusions are whole blood when they're not.
late this afternoon and i'm about a third of the way through it already.
can't put it down... loving it so far.
from talks about demonic influence (and ice cream) to birthday parties with no be-heading to watching her first movie that had the word f*ck in it.... it's kinda eerie too... from what i can gather the author is around the same age as me (mid thirties) and we both left around the same (1997).
Seems like a rather wrongheaded motivation imo, and still playing to the governing body to boot.
I figured if I was going to leave I would not be one of those people that the congregation talks about afterwards as a warning to the children who are still in the congregation. "Did you know that Tim left and now he parties with his new friends late nights on weekends, he's been seen drinking and making out with a girl?" "Did you know that Tim's girlfriend is pregnant, now his life is over, see what leaving the organization gets you." "Did you know Tim is smoking marijuana now, it's only a matter of time before he starts harder drugs, see what happens when you leave Jehovah?"
I'd rather have them say "Did you see Chuck joined the army, now he's going to kill people and worship his country, see what leaving Jehovah gets you?" and the kid respond with "Well didn't Tim leave Jehovah and he now has a house, a family, a good job, nice cars, he's wrestled around North America, met famous Wrestlers and actors, does charity work frequently, and is genuinely happy."
Playing to the Governing Body's rules is a bit of an overstretch, I just made sure I loved the woman I had sex with, avoided drugs and alchohol and those type of pitfalls. It really wasn't that hard, I followed the sensible advice and tossed out the ridiculous ones. I don't think that's something a person with comprehension couldn't do.
A) JW's do all those things they claim apostates do anyway, they just do them in "double life" mode.
Yup, so how much more damaging is it to have someone who is not a witness acting more christian than active JWs? It brings up the question of fairness on how God can destroy someone who's doing good in the world while saving a scumbag just because he's in an organization.
B) Make no mistake, the "world" knows JW's aren't perfect anyway, nor does the "world" believe that what a JW claims is morally superior really is "the best way of life".
That's great, unfortunately the witnesses do. Someone once posted on here the best thing you can do to help people leave the truth is to leave and lead a good life. That's what I did, that's what I took to heart.
C) If a JW considers, even subconciously, leaving the org, they have plenty of good "worldly" examples to aspire to; no one's goal when leaving the Watchtower is to be an evil apostate, or even an apostate of any sort, for that matter. The goal is to be a happy person with beliefs that don't cause mental conflict.
Yes but thanks to many stories on the internet AND in print they don't have many good ex-JW examples to aspire to. You don't think that would be a good thing to have? I agree with your goal.
Who is she? Is this writer a famous comic now? Just tuned into this thread, and wondered.
I think she does some comedy, I don't know of her being featured on Comedy Central or anything. I could be wrong, feel free to correct me and link it if I am. She's famous for writing a "humerous" ex-JW book in our community.
late this afternoon and i'm about a third of the way through it already.
can't put it down... loving it so far.
from talks about demonic influence (and ice cream) to birthday parties with no be-heading to watching her first movie that had the word f*ck in it.... it's kinda eerie too... from what i can gather the author is around the same age as me (mid thirties) and we both left around the same (1997).
That is a good parody video, though people from Lincoln didn't dress that gawdy.
late this afternoon and i'm about a third of the way through it already.
can't put it down... loving it so far.
from talks about demonic influence (and ice cream) to birthday parties with no be-heading to watching her first movie that had the word f*ck in it.... it's kinda eerie too... from what i can gather the author is around the same age as me (mid thirties) and we both left around the same (1997).
I don't think thats fair. She didn't say she was pretending to by molested by her father; she said that she was hanging around her friend lisa so much who, from growing up with sexual abuse, turned everything any guy did into abuse and had always looked at her father in a strange way to begin with, she started to wonder that maybe just maybe something happened. She didn't believe it herself but then--- "You never know.." is what Lisa would tell her. And even when she questioned if something happened in the book, it was clear in how she wrote it that even SHE knew she was full of sh*!. Maybe for a moment she wanted it to be true, for the attention. She was a young dumb kid after all.
Honestly, Tuesday I think the point should be not that she fulfills the stereotypes that the witness cast on those who leave the faith. Honestly, we all do and we can't escape their generalizations, nor should we even try.
I remember the portion of the book, she also conveys how "cool" she thought it was to have a troubled past. You're not mentioning the part where she confronts her father saying "you KNOW what you did". That is what I'm talking about, she knew she was full of it, yet she still accused her father of something the poor guy didn't do. He was a bit of a loser sure, he was certainly physically abusive, had a temper and most certainly wasn't a good father, he however was not a child molester. What do JWs say about the two witness rule and repressed memories? "They're often fake, and need to be corroborated by a second person", here's a literal example they can point to of a JW accusing an innocent person in print. So again, more harm than good.
I have worked INCREDIBLY hard to defy those stereotypes, I left for ideological reasons. I have never touched a drug, in fact I have only drank alchohol on one occasion. I have been married 6 years, it's a happy marriage, she is the only woman I have had sex with. I have a child that I'm raising the way I would like to be raised. There are many of us who have worked incredibly hard not to live up to those ridiculous stereotypes to show that the stereotypes are wrong. It seems to me for every step forward a person like myself or MANY MANY others take towards JWs realizing that not everyone leaves for the stereotypical reasons or lives their life in sin, something like this book comes out to push us five steps back.
Again that is my take, I wouldn't recommend the book simply for the fact I don't think it's that good. People who don't enjoy Family Guy humor won't like the book. I would recommend a book like "Falling In Truth" which I think is written much better, is more creative in my opinion, contains far more information and a better look at what it's like being a JW. I think it's near criminal that what I feel is the difinitive book of the JW expirience and leaving the JWs is so under-appreciated, when a book that's chief drawing power is the fact it interspearses an expirience with stolen bad jokes about the 80's is praised left and right.
late this afternoon and i'm about a third of the way through it already.
can't put it down... loving it so far.
from talks about demonic influence (and ice cream) to birthday parties with no be-heading to watching her first movie that had the word f*ck in it.... it's kinda eerie too... from what i can gather the author is around the same age as me (mid thirties) and we both left around the same (1997).
I've read a few interviews with her now where she has admitted she wanted to grab the girl in the book and slap her.
If she wrote something to the effect of this in the book I would've liked the book. Memoirs can most certainly give either a more balanced perspective or a more expirienced perspective. Essentially I agreed with her mother "What Kyria wants, Kyria gets". It was well written from a technical stand-point, and I was definitely enamoured with seeing places I had been and people I had met described in a book. I have to like the main character of a book in order to like it, that wasn't the case here, I couldn't even relate to it. The jokes I just thought were unoriginal, I also sincerely think the book is going to do damage to the ex-JW cause. There's a part in there where she talks about pretending that her father molested her; which I think ardent JWs might read and use as an excuse why the two witness rule is in place. Which you and I both know is a VERY dangerous policy.
late this afternoon and i'm about a third of the way through it already.
can't put it down... loving it so far.
from talks about demonic influence (and ice cream) to birthday parties with no be-heading to watching her first movie that had the word f*ck in it.... it's kinda eerie too... from what i can gather the author is around the same age as me (mid thirties) and we both left around the same (1997).
I put a review up myself here, I'm not a fan. I really liked the book at first because of how lightly she looked at things like demons and the stories were familiar to me since I grew up two towns over from her. As the book progressed it struck me just how she was messing up her life and it didn't have much to do with the JWs at all. I also feel that she confirms EVERY stereotype that JWs have about those who leave. I won't spoil it for you with how, but here's a great exercise to do when reading the book: make a list of every stereotype JWs say about people who leave the JWs. They become promiscuous, they do drugs, they never really were a JW to begin with because they were sinners, rock n' roll music caused it, etc. Then check them off as you read through the book.
The constant 80's references got real old, real fast with me too. I remember the episode of South Park where they talk about Family Guy's jokes as Manatee Jokes, one of my comments is "VH1's I Love the 80's called; they said they wanted their jokes back."
To each their own, I've found that it's a pretty polarizing book you either love it or you hate it. I'm very much in the hate column, I'm probably going to do a youtube review of the book soon.
i'm new here.
i da'ed myself a few years back.
hope to get to know you..
Hi there vilot,
Welcome to the board, enjoy the company, enjoy the discussions, enjoy the freedom to say what's on your mind.
From another attendee of "The Church of Unbelievers"
the pen really can be mightier than the sword, and even fiction often carries much weight and powerful messages.. did you read a book or watch a movie that made you think?
did an "entertaining" work plant a seed of doubt?.
the first one i can remember making a definate comparison to the witnesses in my mind was ray bradbury's martian chronicles.
I guess I'm the only one that will mention a book that was a work of fiction but was directly about JWs. "Falling In Truth" by Steve McRoberts. I actually aspired at one time to write the perfect story of someone's love affair with the truth then finding out the truth about it and leaving, then I read this book and realized that that perfect story was already written.
For those who haven't read it, you can read it online for free here:
http://www.smmcroberts.net/religion/fundamentalism/watchtower/fit/index.html#contents
well at least i know it from my own friends and geographic region........... but i will wait to hear your response....i am fourth gen btw...and unfortunately birthed.... and did a good job at raising a fifth dammit....oompa.
I knew when I was gone that it was the end for me. My mother does still think I'll return, but there wasn't a person in the congregation that thought I was coming back.
I actually think the lack of perspective is more of a factor to leave than not to. Every child rebels against their parents and because religion is so important in the lives of JWs I feel this just increases the chance that children will choose to rebel by leaving the religion.
The problem lies that in rebelling they'll do the thing that they're told not to which is research the religion, in doing so they find out just how wrong and how destructive the religion is. Once their eyes are opened there's no returning.
Wasn't there a study done that showed that only 37% of children born-in stay in the religion, that would mean to me that it's not that hard for children to leave.
well at least i know it from my own friends and geographic region........... but i will wait to hear your response....i am fourth gen btw...and unfortunately birthed.... and did a good job at raising a fifth dammit....oompa.
I'm a born-in and I actually feel the opposite. I think that it's easier to leave when you're born-in because they feel that you'll return. You know the whole "foolishness is tied up in the heart of a boy" type thing. I think if you were a convert you have to be convinced and hence when you find out you were wrong there's an ego involved with not admitting that you were duped.
My two cents.
