one of the heresies of the wt is denying the divinity of christ.
during this "memorial season" they say that jehovah (god the father?
) resurrected jesus.
There's no way to actually prove anything about Jesus or his resurrection
To me it's like being taught from childhood that the characters from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy actually existed and then siting passages from those books to prove that they did.
i was howling watching cedars latest video of tm111 buying a dozen bottles of scotch ((maccallans scotch).
you can't write this stuff.
right, i'm now off to buy a bottle of maccallans 😂..
1 Cor 10:23. "All things are lawful but not all things are advantageous. All things are lawful but not all things build up. No one should seek his own advantage but the advantage of others."
Tony M. isn't doing anything "wrong" or illegal in my opinion but it does seem more than a little ironic that a man in his position, would risk "stumbling" someone or creating a controversy by possibly being seen entering a liquor store and purchasing a large quantity of expensive hard liquor. Weren't they always warning us to avoid at all cost, stumbling anyone or bringing reproach on the organization, even if it meant inconveniencing ourselves ?
Luke 17:2 " It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble."
I'm guessing he went all the way to New Jersey in an attempt not to be recognized by someone from Bethel or by someone in one of the local congregations there in Warwick. "If " that's true, then he knew his actions were questionable.
Regardless...I still maintain that there's a secret "Speakeasy" there at Bethel and all of this came about because it was Tony's turn to stock the bar.
Yes
a month ago i travelled alone to italy for three days and i had the opportunity to visit the beautiful florence and re-visit many parts of rome.. but most importantly, i had the opportunity to stay alone and think about my situation and to make up my mind.. i've had very clear for almost 5 years that i will eventually leave the religion, but i couldn't decide when.. but now i know : i will leave on april 20th, the day after the memorial.. that day i will talk to my parents (this is by far the hardest thing to do) and soon afterwards i will talk to my closest friends, then i will send my disassociation letter.
i know that i will let them down, i will hurt them, most probably some of them will cry... but i need to live coherently for the first time in my life.
i'm sure that living in this contradiction is affecting and will affect my mental health and it's time for me to help myself instead of others.
I agree with others who recommend that you say nothing....just fade away. It may feel good to get things off your chest but the good feeling will only be momentary.
Most of your friends and family at this point, still want to be lied to. They want their "ears tickled" and they don't want to hear anyone say out loud what they already know. People at this stage are frightened and scared people will act irrationally in order to relieve their fears. This will likely include punishing you for being the one who made them think about things that scare them.
If you slowly fade away, you won't have to face this huge confrontation that you are dreading and if you do it right, you'll still be able to speak to your family and friends and possibly help them.
Trying to use normal logical thinking to handle people who are themselves trapped in a religious cult, won't work. You need to help yourself first before you can help anyone else. Fading isn't being cowardly...you are simply making the best of a crazy situation.
Again...think twice about putting anything in writing or sharing your plans with any JW. You already know what they think and what they'll do, why put yourself through that?
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2019/03/30/jehovah-s-witnesses-child-abuse-scandal-only-the-tip-of-the-ic/.
jehovah's witnesses child abuse scandal: "only the tip of the iceberg".
pascal mertens, an activist against child sex abuse among jehovah's witnesses, claims that the number of complaints in the public domain are only the tip of the iceberg.
I will gradually learn abusive slang))
I hope not....I'm no prude but I don't know why a former JW or (anyone else for that matter) would resort to such a low level form of communication especially when it seems so uncalled for in this case.
i have a funeral to attend for a non jw family member and the jdub family member reminded me that i should not wear black.
for the life of me, i can't recall where this belief came from in jw teachings and i'm born in.
is there something in print or is that just a personal opinion belief?
The biggest reason JW's don't wear black at a funeral is because unlike the awful people in the world, they don't want to appear to be too glum about the death of the loved one since they have the belief that they'll be resurrected any day now. How would it look to go from door to door saying that the end is near and then being all grief stricken, upset and wearing black just because someone you cared about died.
have any of you come across this rare breed of jw?.
i know a brother who spends 9 months of the year living in a caribbean island where he is an active jw and then he flies back to his home european country for 3 months to work and save up so he can fly back out again.
he is an active jw in his home country.. he's not a missionary and has never been to gilead though he attended pioneer school back in the '90s.
Serving where the need is more fun gets you the accolades of your peer group and a network of connections from whom you can take full advantage of for jobs, accommodations, meals and anything else you might need.
I've never heard of anyone going to Nome Alaska or anywhere in the frozen north. It's always some sunny destination.
did anyone else have really lazy people in their congregation when it came to the field circus.
people where i live are shamelessly lazy, they drive door to door even when the houses are 3 feet apart!
yes even in town houses they drive door to door.
Please dont paint them all with the same stroke.
I know better than to jump to a conclusion about and entire cross section of people based on the actions of a few of them, but as I said, this incident did make me "wonder" about the level of common sense the average JW possessed these days.
I was thinking that perhaps after the many changes that have taken place in the teachings and practices of JW's since I left 9 years ago, those who remained and who could overlook the inconsistencies in the teachings and ignore the bad press, were also daft enough to drive a fully loaded minivan down a public sidewalk rather than park it and walk from house to house.
I know one thing for sure. These particular individuals and the ones I've talked to at my door and at the literature carts in various places in the world, are not of the same caliber as the JW's of old that I knew growing up in the 1975 era. It doesn't seem to matter to them when they see obvious holes in their teachings or don't know anything about the history or current behind the scenes goings on of the religion who's beliefs they say they are willing to die for.
did anyone else have really lazy people in their congregation when it came to the field circus.
people where i live are shamelessly lazy, they drive door to door even when the houses are 3 feet apart!
yes even in town houses they drive door to door.
Until I retired a few weeks ago I worked as a City Right of Way Inspector. I was on my way to a project site when I saw a car group (mini van) full of JW out in service one day and they were literally driving down the City sidewalk and stopping at each house one by one.
I stopped them and asked them what they were doing and why they would possibly think it was OK for them to be driving a vehicle on a public sidewalk. They said the street was far too busy for them to stop at each house. I told them they were not only blocking the sidewalk and endangering the public but their tires were crushing the plants and possibly the irrigation system located in the planting strip along the side of the sidewalk. When I asked them why they didn't simply park at the end of the block and walk down the sidewalk, they gave me the blankest looks and said nothing.
Rather than siting them I asked them to get off the sidewalk as soon as their companions were done at the current house and had returned to the vehicle. Instead of leaving the sidewalk at the next driveway apron, they drove over the planting bed and dropped off the curb right into traffic.
I'm not sure if this was just an isolated incident but it made me wonder what level of common sense the average JW has these days.
it,s simple, i can not remember crap from my previous life.. the wife told me today if you come back in the next life, please.
take some science classes.. if i could remember a small percentage of my life today, just a little.
bit, man would it make a difference.. in school i would be 100% nerd, geek, book worm.
This post reminds me of how back when I was a kid I had a JW friend who as an ice breaker would go up to cute girls at the assembly during intermission and ask them if they believed in the Hereafter.
As expected they'd always say "No".
To which he'd reply "Then what are you here after ?? ".
They'd laugh and or roll their eyes but it usually worked.
