Posts by Gadget

125

Is the Bible Just B.S.?

by shamus in

do you think that god enjoys killing people?

it sure sounds like it to me; jw doctrine more or less scared me into thinking that god is going to kill all persons whom he/she thinks is not doing his will.

my question is, how can god kill someone for not being "christian", or following the bible out of sheer ignorance?

Gadget

Hey budd! Long time no see. I'm glad things are going well for you.

Paul

7

i am considering counselling as i feel i am slipping into a black hole with all of this and could really do with talking it all over with an indepenent "real person" without fear of it coming back to bite me if you know what i mean?

i am still in, considering my options but my head is a mess.

sometimes i think this place can be bad for me (although really i know it's the kh that's the problem .

Gadget

if you decide to get 'private specialised' counselling then it would be worth checking out their background and their mission statements, who theyre affiliated to and/or who funds them.

This is an important point. Theres at least one big name cult help group I know of in the UK who's atated aim is to help people out of the group they're in now and into their group......... Also, when I tried to get counselling there was a long waiting list to get my 6 sessions (things had changed by then and so I cancelled them), and the private counsellor couldn't see why leaving the jw's would be so big an issue!

If your looking for a recomendation a good source of help I found was the cult inforation centre. I spoke to Ian Haworth there and he seemed to really know his stuff. http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/home.html 0870 777 3800.

A big thing that helped me was meeting others at apostafests. Talking face to face with someone who has been through the same as you and come out the overside helps show the light at the end of the tunnel. Best of all its free! Is there no other posters in your area to meet up with?

Paul

60

Feb. 1 mass calling campaign. Will you call?

by Shawn10538 in

i'm not sure if it was mentiopned.

but i think that we are talking about not just one call from each person, but we are talking about spending a good length of time calling repeatedly.

othrwise it just won't have much of an impact.

Gadget

I am interested to hear from people who are dead set against any action against the WTS. If you are out there would you identify yourself and state exactly why you want no part of any real action? Curious.

The reason I don't take part in any overt action like this is because it adds fuel to the fire. Jw's have phobia's about apostates and once those trigger points are reached it doesn't matter what you tell them, they'll dismiss it as apostate thinking and take no note of it. Rather than make them think it can actually reinforce the wt mentality by providing proof that what the wt tells them about apostates is true. The line between making someone think and triggering a phobia is a very fine one.

Paul

147

Getting the forum back on track

by Simon in

recently we seem to have had a few different dramas and subsequent fallout on the fourm which i feel has detracted from its purpose.

with this in mind we have decided that we need to bring the forum back on track and as such we will be clamping down on a lot of the aggressive / insulting posts which have begun to become the norm for a few people.

we will also be clamping down on the paranoid assusation type of comments against newbies, if someone joins the fourm and you do not believe everything they post - so what, why do we need to hound them away with shouts of troll and fake etc, just ignore them if you dont beleive them.

Gadget

Recently we seem to have had a few different dramas and subsequent fallout on the fourm which I feel has detracted from its purpose. With this in mind we have decided that we need to bring the forum back on track and as such we will be clamping down on a lot of the aggressive / insulting posts which have begun to become the norm for a few people.

I think this is badly needed. I know there has been a few cases on here of people trying to con people, but I'd hate to think that a person who needed genuine help was accused of being a con artist on top of all the other things they were going through. For me the costs of being wrong in a public accusation would outweigh the benefits of being right, especially when the only information I have to go on is just whats written on here.

We will also be clamping down on the paranoid assusation type of comments against newbies, if someone joins the fourm and you do not believe everything they post - so what, why do we need to hound them away with shouts of troll and fake etc, just ignore them if you dont beleive them. Just because someone may not express themselves well doesn't automatically mean they are fake.

The thing that upset me when I read those threads was that one of the people who seemed to be doing exactly that was a mod, one of the people charged with making sure things like that don't happen.

Paul

142

APOSTASCOTLAND

by Dansk in

jw
friends

would someone seriously consider arranging for an apostafest up in scotland next year?

i know i'm asking this early but i feel it would be good to put the feelers out now.. obviously, it would have to be a location easy to get to - so that means stornoway is out!

sorry, ross & xena.

Gadget

The people who have already booked a hotel, what part of town is the hotel you have booked?

The last time we went to edinburgh for a fest people were staying at opposite ends and it caused a bit of a headache trying to get round, etc. If you can tell me what part of town your in I'll make sure we book into the same area.

Paul & Claire

42

I need your help responding to my old JW friends email

by student1 in

jw
friends

hello guys, todya i recieved an email from an old friend of mine within the jdubs... he did the usual jdub thing get married really young and as such we lost touch.. he since found me on facebook and has been bugging me about my decision to leave, i talked to him a little but his mind is completely closed and irrational so i was having little success saving him from the cult and as sich i decided to end the call.. by saying "your happy and i'm happy so lets leave it be and aggree to differ" - however he wont let it rest this is his email: any help in responding would be most appreciated!!

ps... how ironic that he should mention george orwell when he lives within a cult that epitomizes the 1984 book!!

seeing as you never botherered ringing me back or texting i thort id email you.. .

Gadget

certainly some people, and writings, ideas since have ammended. yes. but overall, the pros out way the cons.the reasoning of such things reasons more so than anything else..

Does he think that these amendments will continue in the future? How does he think Jehovah views the fact that things in his organisation aren't exactly the way he wants them to be? Does he think its acceptable? How did Jehovah reward Uzzah for doing what he thought was right in difficult circumstances?

And more importantly, how are people who reconise that a change is needed treated? We are constantly being told to not 'run ahead of the organisation', but is it not more important to do things the way that Jehovah wants rather than conforming to group norms until everybody else changes?

The Israelites were once Jehovahs earthly representatives, but lost that postion be doing things unacceptable to Jehovah. Jehovahs witnesses don't believe in 'once saved always saved', so hypothetically it is possible for Jehovah to reject the watchtower as his earthly representative. What things does he think would have to happen for Jehovah to do this? This is a deeply personal thing, and individual differences would play a big part in this. What would he do if he ever saw those things happening? This would be a similar situation to that of the first century christians, leaving what was considered to be god's earthly organisation to follow Jesus. Were they wrong to do this?

Questions like this could get you labelled as an apostate, but your only doing what the 'Awake' August 22 1984 readers letters section told you to do:

The Catholic Church occupies a very significant position in the world and claims to be the way of salvation for hundreds of millions of people. Any organization that assumes that position should be willing to submit to scrutiny and criticism.

Surely the criteria applied by the watchtower to the catholic church also applies to the watchtower?

Paul

13

On the 26th Dec

by mouthy in

jw
friends

it is gadgets birthday...many of you wont be around on that day so send your greetings before you go away .

happy birthday tou you paul!!!!!

granny mouthy,grace .

Gadget

Thank you everyone!

We're heading out to Claire's mam's house for christmas day, so are planning to have some fun! I hope you all have a good day, merry christmas!

Paul + Claire

10

Free to Re-Marry

by Grouper in

jw
friends

if one confesses adultry to their spouse, does one also have to confess it to the elders in order for the spouse to be free to re-marry?

watchtower refrences would be appreciated.. a friend recently confessed adultry to his wife but she wants him (he hasn't gone to meeting in years) to confess to the elders or write a letter about the deed, she says she needs it inorder for her to be free to re-marry.

is this true?.

Gadget

*** w77 10/1 pp. 607-608 Questions From Readers ***My unbelieving husband admitted to me that he has another woman. Is his admission sufficient ground for a Scriptural divorce? In
In this situation it is not as if he professes innocence or adamantly denies being guilty of adultery. Rather, he admits it to her, though for the sake of his reputation he might not be willing to own up to it in a court of law or before other persons. What can the wife do?
Since she is part of the clean Christian congregation, she should realize the importance of handling the matter properly so that, after divorcing him, if she later remarried there would be no question about her keeping ‘the marriage bed without defilement.’ (Heb. 13:4) To that end she could give the elders representing the congregation a letter outlining her situation, stating that her unbelieving husband confessed to her that he had committed immorality. And she could state that in accord with Matthew 19:9 she wishes to put him away, obtaining a legal divorce and thus ending the marriage Scripturally and legally.
The elders would consider whether there is any known reason to conclude other than that the unbelieving mate had been immoral. If not, they could accept her signed statement.

I was granted a scriptural divorce based on this in 2001, although they accepted my word for it and did not require me to write a letter about it.

Paul

5

Have you got one of these for your cat for christmas.......

by fifi40 in

jw
friends

http://kittywigs.com/wigindex.html.

.

Gadget

That cat in the pics look very like one of my cats! It probably doesn't weigh as much though.........

I think she'd make use of her claws if I tried to put a wig on her, but have seen a remote control mouse that I thought would be fun.

Paul

41

My cousin died yesterday.

by nicolaou in

he was 43, just a few months older than me.

his kidneys failed him when he was just 15 and he'd been on dialysis ever since.

a couple of transplants had failed in the early years and his body deteriorated after that.

Gadget

(((Mike)))