Posts by Pete Zahut

19

Ran into my brother at a concert; first time I've seen him in years......

by dubstepped in

my wife and i went to a concert on friday night.

there was a friend of ours there doing security, and she happens to be an exjw too.

she sent me a message on messenger to inform me that my brother and his wife were at the show, not knowing that i'd be there too.

Pete Zahut

The end of the world is right around the corner yet there they were taking time out to attend the same "worldly" music event with you and all of the rest of the non JW audience. They were outnumbered and their JW reasonings for shunning you must have seemed pretty feeble at that moment. I'm guessing that's what the red faces were all about.

Call it vanity if you will but there's something very satisfying about having your former JW friends and family see you doing well and carrying on with your life normally rather than it having become the "train wreck" they had expected or even may have hope for, on some level.

8

Trump son-in-law Kushner denies collusion with Russia - Just A crazy thought or two.

by WHATSGOINGON in

okay so jared kushner will probably be thoroughly investigated maybe he already has been.. they will look at all of his business dealings, who he was worked with over the last few years.. who sold him all of their properties - we know the answer to that.

wt.. will the u.s government also investigate watchtower as well - we shall see.

you never know what will happen.. i can see a private investigation who knows what they will uncover.. just a thought.. wgo..

Pete Zahut

I would be curious to see what (if anything) might be uncovered in his recent purchases of the Watchtower properties.

It's curious that the Russian JW's are suddenly under ban just after Kushner purchased their properties and is now accused of having illegal dealings with the Russian Government.

42

To Fade or Disassociate

by Jules Saturn in

hello to all, so i did want to talk about this topic because i think it is very important to me.

i have a grandfather who faded several decades ago.

he occasionally attends an assembly and the memorial but no longer attends meetings or goes on field service.

Pete Zahut

With Fading you get the best of both worlds if you want it and the satisfaction of knowing that you are controlling the situation and are befuddling their little power plays .

With Disassocating, you get to have your say and go down in a blaze of glory which would probably feel good, be more impressive and dramatic but I'm not a big fan of "burning bridges" unnecessarily. It's good to have options in life and be able to pick and choose your next move rather than have them cut off.

510

What Music have you Been Listening to this Last Year ? Post You tubes if you Like !

by flipper in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wktxjuyiat4.

.

Pete Zahut

Back in the 70's a friend of mine's Mom was "of the Annointed" and as insensitive teenage boys will do, we used to ask him if his Mom's favorite song was " Stairway to Heaven".

We'd alternate between that and Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heavens Door" LOL !

He took it pretty well but he was also the guy I've mentioned here before that used to give his Theocratic Ministry School talks "high" on Mescaline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gazW7MOqHzQ

29

JWs Ban TRUE RELIGION!

by Cold Steel in

the governing body of jehovah's witnesses, known for its aggressive worldwide proselytizing efforts, stunned many of its 12-million members by declaring war this week on a los angeles denim and designer jeans organization that goes by the name “true religion.”.

“as members of jehovah's one true religious faith we have no business of associating with any organization that claims to be jehovah's true religion!” a letter from the gb states.

it was dated july 20.. in its opening salvo, the seven-member gb directed believers to not “shop at, buy, nor even wear” true religion's products.

Pete Zahut

At least when True Religion makes "adjustments" they make sense and you get a product that fits better.

The Watchtower must be a major stock holder in Guess? Jeans since that's pretty much how they came up with their teachings.

His disciples asked, Lord how will we be able to identify the True Religion? And the Lord said, durable materials, uniform stitching and attention to detail.

There was a sister in my Congregation who used to wear Guess? Jeans and when I'd see the Guess? label on her back pocket, my guess was always somewhere between 250 - 260 lbs.

JW's have been banned from purchasing Guess? Jeans because they believe they have all the answers and question marks make them uneasy.

48

"You're going to die in Armageddon"

by Jules Saturn in

i'm sure i am not the only one to have heard this come out of the mouths of my loved ones.

it's a very painful thing to hear, especially when it comes from the people like your own parents/family.

even after i've been told that, they would say "we'll just continue life without you.

Pete Zahut

"You're going to die at Armageddon"

Would you be one of Jehovah's Witnesses if there were no such thing as everlasting life? Because it sounds as if you don't actually "love" Jehovah....it's more about your fear of him killing you and what you're going to get from him and you're trying to put all of that, over on me as well.

48

"You're going to die in Armageddon"

by Jules Saturn in

i'm sure i am not the only one to have heard this come out of the mouths of my loved ones.

it's a very painful thing to hear, especially when it comes from the people like your own parents/family.

even after i've been told that, they would say "we'll just continue life without you.

Pete Zahut

JW: "We'll you're going to die at Armageddon."

Me: "Yep...Little old ladies, babies and me will receive the same punishment as violent rapists, mass murders, arsonists, bank robbers and child molesters. Adolph Hitler and Ted Bundy might be resurrected but not me....I'll be tossed into the lake of fire because after 40 years of service, I stopped selling Watchtowers.

But Just suppose there is such a thing as "the new system" and you do see me walking down the street one fine day. Are you going to be pissed off that a heathen like me made it or will you be happy to see me, and humbly welcome me with open arms and apologize for having condemned me to death?

149

why jw's commit suicide?

by notalone in

jw
friends

we all know the rate of suicide is high among jw's.

my question is this- was there some subliminal messages that encourage this.

i was a born in and my entire life i would have these thoughts that could come out of nowhere,"kill yourself.

Pete Zahut

I think that JW children have an underlying sense/fear that they can never live up to (or don't want to live up to) the standards they've been taught that God requires for them to be spared the impending destruction that is always looming over their heads.

Telling children that the world is going to end in destruction is a form of child abuse, because they are black and white thinkers and don't have the psychological coping skills to cope with the idea of world destruction. Some children may conclude that the only way for them to avoid the future doom, is to die now. Over time, this underlying conclusion may become a habitual and automatic thought that runs through their subconscious minds during times of high stress.

There are therapies designed to help individuals retrain or gain control over their subconscious thoughts and identify them as they happen. These thoughts may eventually go away entirely but sometimes they come back during stressful times in ones life. Having the ability to identify them as they occur and replace them with positive thoughts, is key.

28

An infographic I just created...

by HappyHappyHappy1914 in

hey everyone.

i don't post here often, but i lurk pretty much everyday.

i just created the following infographic based on the recent yearbook stats.

Pete Zahut

Wow....the numbers are very telling but of course JW's will put the decrease in number, down to the fact that the preaching work is nearing the end and only "sheep like ones" in developing nations are remaining. However, to say that is also to say that it is a foregone conclusion on their part, that young ones and newborn children in western lands, won't ever accept "the truth".

(I've reposted the Graphic in a smaller form because for some, the original version may have been too large to see.)

19

Starting To Wake Up

by Searching in

i suppose after lurking around for a few weeks i thought i might share my own personal story, as i think it would probably be a very freeing experience for me right now.

to start off, at 23 years old i'm actually a third-generation jw, my grandparents were baptized (my grandfather is actually an elder) when my mother was only a toddler, she was raised as a witness, then of course, married a witness and thus myself and my two brothers were born-in's.

growing up my mother was always very careful about what she taught me, all the good things for sure, about how we would live in a paradise earth and i could pet all the animals that i wanted and not worry about growing old, and she'd ask me who in the bible i'd love to see and talk with - my grandparents however, were a different story and the cause of i think, most of my childhood trauma.. they really drilled home the fact that we were the only people who were going to be saved, we were the only people that were going to survive and that everyone else was going to die horribly - that i shouldn't try to make that many friends in school because they would never be "real" friends unless they were fellow jw's and they would die anyway.

Pete Zahut

Welcome...

I was a fellow Watchtower kid with PTSD until I got informed about the religion. A lifetime of anxiety disappeared in a matter of weeks once I knew the whole story.

One of the things I always wondered about as a kid was the flood and the dinosaurs and why God had to kill most all of the animals on the earth just to get rid of the comparatively few humans that populated the earth at the time.

I also wondered why he used angels to kill off the Egyptian first born babies but kept having the Israelites form an army to kill off the Canaanites and other battles. Why not use a few angels to do the Job?

Anyway, once you've come to fully understand the JW region and it's history and understand how cults and cult like religions use F.O.G. (fear obligation guilt) to control you, you'll be well on your way toward freeing yourself of the needless anxiety you've suffered and the anxious thinking you've had ingrained into you since childhood.