a great article i stumbled across this morning http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/05/10-reasons-you-should-never-have-a-religion/.
while consciously pursuing your spiritual development is commendable, joining an established religion such as christianity, islam, or hinduism is one of the worst ways to go about it.
in this article ill share 10 reasons why you must eventually abandon the baggage of organized religion if you wish to pursue conscious living in earnest.. since christianity is currently the worlds most popular religion, ill slant this article towards christianitys ubiquitous failings.
Blessed are the poor (donate heavily). Blessed are the meek (obey). Blessed are the humble (don’t question authority). Blessed are the hungry (make us rich while you starve). Blessed are the merciful (if you catch us doing something wrong, let it go). Blessed are the pure of heart (switch off your brain). Blessed are the timid, the cowardly, the fearful. Blessed are those who give us their power and become our slaves. Muahahaha!
I enjoyed that...
-TE
i've been working on a side project for a while.
the goal of the project is to create a comprehensive database of all publications throughout history.
with this database i will be able to instantly find trends in text,sentiment of writing, methods used, and scriptures emphasized.. essentially i will be able to put a word like "apostate" into my tool, and instantly receive a report showing every time the word (or similar words) has been used in all publications since 1870.. i will also be able to create reports showing word density used in publications over time.. so i'll be able to see that the word "governing body" has increased in usage 25% year over year since 1975.. or i will be able to analyze the november 2014 wt and run an algorithm that helps to determine, what the tone and motive of the writing is.. the thing that i am most excited about is the ability to instantly find every occurence of a scripture in every publication.. this will be a great tool to find flip flops in doctrine as well as inaccuracies in biblical interpretation.. i will for sure publish all interesting findings here.. .
Cool data!
-TE
i've been working on a side project for a while.
the goal of the project is to create a comprehensive database of all publications throughout history.
with this database i will be able to instantly find trends in text,sentiment of writing, methods used, and scriptures emphasized.. essentially i will be able to put a word like "apostate" into my tool, and instantly receive a report showing every time the word (or similar words) has been used in all publications since 1870.. i will also be able to create reports showing word density used in publications over time.. so i'll be able to see that the word "governing body" has increased in usage 25% year over year since 1975.. or i will be able to analyze the november 2014 wt and run an algorithm that helps to determine, what the tone and motive of the writing is.. the thing that i am most excited about is the ability to instantly find every occurence of a scripture in every publication.. this will be a great tool to find flip flops in doctrine as well as inaccuracies in biblical interpretation.. i will for sure publish all interesting findings here.. .
Cool - look forward to what you find!
-TE
what is your theory on the reason that prompted that?
the intend?
the hoped-for outcome?.
OneEyedjoe,
I like your explanation. It certainly does look like 2034 is begging to be the next big road marker.
The Noah thing is there, but I hadn't thought of the overlap equation pointing to the same year.
I tell you this... They can enjoy the next date-setting debacle without me!
-TE
i believe in god but i'm not sure of anything....what about you?.
I believe in a Creator. I see design in nature. We just happen to have a moon at night for instance.
It is just my opinion.
If the creator wanted to be seen, though, it wouldn't take much to get the attention of the entire earth.
I think that most of the population would be quite pleased for that to happen, actually.
Until it does...
Religion is an attempt to make certain what is entirely uncertain.
I would even add that Religion is a "Certainty Fantasy".
-TE
it's been quite a while since i lasted posted anything on jwn.
i was in hiding previously, but only because i wanted to avoid the shun gun until i had the opportunity to tell my former congregation what i think about the org./gb.
i last attended a meeting over 2.5 years ago but it wasn't until june--when i earned my bachelor's degree--that i finally had the time to collect my thoughts and get them down on paper...i decided to write my letter in a style i felt would be most appealing to my target audience--jw's still under gb mind control --in the hope that at least a few would read it and actually "think".
Good stuff. I really liked that last reply...
The elder's whole premise of "look what the org gave you" is just a way of changing the subject. It also reminds me of the typical abuser that will say things like - "You were nothing before me" - "Look at what I've given you" - "Look at what I've done for you" - all in an attempt to control the abused, make them feel guilty, scared, and obligated to stay.
Having done whatever "good" things a person or organization has done does not excuse abuse. This organization abusively threatens to take your family and friends away from you, publicly defame you, block you from "everlasting life" through their "sin against the holy spirit" doctrine concerning apostacy, promise you eternal destruction at Armageddon, etc etc. This is all emotional and mental abuse. Period.
Their indoctrination ploys are obvious and embarrassing as well.
If they are the "Lilly-white christians delivering nuggets of eternal truths" they claim to be, then why are they holding a gun to people's heads?
Seems just a tad bit contradictory.
Sorry for the rant... thanks for posting the replies.
-TE
it's been quite a while since i lasted posted anything on jwn.
i was in hiding previously, but only because i wanted to avoid the shun gun until i had the opportunity to tell my former congregation what i think about the org./gb.
i last attended a meeting over 2.5 years ago but it wasn't until june--when i earned my bachelor's degree--that i finally had the time to collect my thoughts and get them down on paper...i decided to write my letter in a style i felt would be most appealing to my target audience--jw's still under gb mind control --in the hope that at least a few would read it and actually "think".
I enjoyed the letter. It was well written. Thanks for sharing it.
What's mind-boggling is that the person being disfellowshipped is so much more honest, truthful, and a person of integrity than the elders on the committee. You have to swallow your honest expression and conscience to be a JW - assuming you have a brain.
I wonder how many elders disfellowship persons like yourself while knowing full-well you are the one in the right. I personally think it is more than you might imagine. There are a lot of brothers serving for selfish reasons. Many do not know if it's the truth nor do they care. They are getting what they want out of the deal.
If there is a God and a Judgement Day, there will be a lot of dead Jehovah's Witnesses.
-TE
here's a thought: we're told over and over how employers sing the praises of their jw employees, sometimes with a vague quote about how 'if we could only hire jws, we would as they are so honest'.
however, while some jw employers themselves may hire jw employees (usually cheap entry level positions), most don't.
in fact, many jw's in general who have businesses have a rule not to do work with jws, even those in their congregation.
(I haven't read all the posts, so apologize if redundant)
I think some of the issue is similar to hiring family. If you hire and then have to fire family, you create awkward family reunions. You have to see them again. They don't just go away.
The same is true of JW's. Many JW employers hesitate to hire JW's because they will have to see and deal with them again in the congregation or circuit if things go wrong.
I think many JW's are good, clean, honest employees - though not 100% of course.
It's best to think long and hard before mixing business with family, friends, or religion. Many JW employers know this.
-TE
i just spent 30 minutes writing this story and lost it all before i hit submit.
i'll try to be brief.. last night a former co-worker of my wife's called saying he was on his way to the house to drop off a job he would like her to do.
we haven't seen him in over 8 years.
The Truth About The Truth
-TE
i don't mean jws getting stumbled or bored or getting dfd for immorality- there always have been a certain number of those all the time.. i've been out for a few years now but am curious to know from "still ins" if there is any evidence of increasing numbers of people leaving for classic "apostate" reasons - ie either fading or getting dfd because they have done research & realise that this isn't "the truth".. when i was a jw occasionally i would hear of someone suddenly stopping going to meetings & hearing through the grapevine & jw gossip mill that the person no longer believed it was the truth or had expressed doubts in the "slave" etc.
but it didn't happen very often ( though it was increasing somewhat in the years before i left).. one would imagine with the internet & increased information available to all that this would be happening more often.
any evidence of this , anecdotally?
QMI,
Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about your experience. Look forward to hearing more details.
-TE
