Gregg Stafford returning to the Big O (page 5)

Amazing

IW,

What a pitiful thread. So Stafford decides to return, so what! Or are exJWs so pitifully small they must degrade anyone who decides to return to the religion they themselves once kissed ass to?

Who cares? So what if some find Stafford to be a complete boob? I could care less, if that is what he wants. I just found it interesting since he is a published author and produced some recognized works, that he would make this kind of turn-around.

Cut the bull. You all kissed the man and you liked it. So Stafford decides to return does Whitney or Dogpatch have a religious place for those who are searching? Does Ray Franz? No! ... Grow up!

No one denies that we were once JWs ... duh ... that is what this board is all about ... surprise, surprise IW. Wow, you are so smart. And, yes, there are plenty of better places. There are some nice heathy Protestant churches for those of faith. And, some, like me, enjoy Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic ... so, if anyone wants to go somewhere, surely there are many open to talk to them. Your comments are simply nonsense. And, try growing up before you walk in and grandstand telling others what to do as though you are some bastian of maturity ... you just want to bitch and moan and start a ruckus.

Jim Whitney

IW

Nick off, Island Woman! The only person who needs to grow up around here is you, with your luke-warm, foot-in-both-camps refusal to make a move either way. You're Greg Stafford's Mini-Me.

Hi there, Stephanus,

So you think you have the whole picture do you? No buddy, you're just as caught up in "cult" thinking as the JWs are. Any damn group that thinks it has a monopoly on right thinking is a cult. Many exJWs are in their own cult, the exJW "we know better than most" club.

Is it wrong for Stafford to return to the JWs? Does his return somehow invalidate our leaving that religion? Personally, it does not invalidate my leaving. I don't need Stafford to leave or return...I am my own person. And I allow him the same dignity. He is free to leave or return and free to decide upon his own conscience. As are you.

And I think anyone who cuts him down for returning in reality only reveals their own smallness!

IW

Jim,

I agree with many of the comments, especially what Randy Watters had to say, as he gives a balanced perspective. Although, Willyloman said it in a succinct style, "Dog, returns, vomit." It will be interesting to see just how things turn out for Greg.
Jim Whitney

Obviously the point of your thread was to put down the man as revealed by your comment above. Very small, Jim.

IW

Farkel

Hey Jim!

That was utter rubbish. Consider this:

: Eventually, the more you look at anything, your- or myself included, you will find a cause for complaint. In some cases, the complaint may be of minor import, something that can and should be overlooked for the sake of the greater good. In other cases, the cause for complaint is too loud not to be heard, too great to avoid, and too dangerous to allow to remain or to remain near it.

His solution if the complaint is "too great to avoid": RUN, FORREST! RUN! He didn't specify what "complaint" was " too dangerous" to "allow to remain." He didn't say why it was so. He just RAN from it!

: So it was that I found some criticisms against Jehovah’s Witnesses justified; so it was that I found them too dangerous to stay near.

Greg has lost it.

:I decided to follow the same path that led me to defend Jehovah’s Witnesses against unfounded criticisms.

No, Greg you tried to defend founded criticisms.

:Eventually, the more you look at anything, your- or myself included, you will find a cause for complaint. In some cases, the complaint may be of minor import, something that can and should be overlooked for the sake of the greater good.

Hitler used the same logic. "Overlook" the massacre of an entire race for the "greater good." I know, that is not the best analogy, but the logic is the same. How does Greg define "minor import?" Failed prophecy? Destruction of families? Massacres of dubs in Malawai? Screwing up with marriages and destroying them for idiotic and later withdrawn rules about oral sex, sex with animals does not warrent divorce, sex with the same sex does not warrent divorce, blood, vaccinations, organ transplants? Lying about the connection with Rutherford and Hitler and the connection with the WTS with the UN? What, exactly is "minor import?"

:I decided to follow the same path that led me to defend Jehovah’s Witnesses against unfounded criticisms.

Back to the frying pan and back into a cult. I guess Greg calls this "spiritual progress."

Farkel

under_believer

...aaaaaaaand Farkel Godwins the thread.

IW

Farkel,

Back to the frying pan and back into a cult. I guest Greg calls this "progress."

I hate to interrupt this testosterone fest but shouldn't Greg be allowed his freedom of choice according to conscience or does disagreeing with the exJW powers that be amount to disagreeing with the GB?

IW

under_believer

IW, if you really are who you profess to be then you know that joining back up with the Witnesses is an abrogation of conscience, not a submission to conscience. It's turning off your conscience and allowing it to be replaced by a complex set of rules and regulations.
Stafford by his own admission is not following his conscience--he is suspending it to "wait on Jehovah."

IW

Under_believer,

Stafford by his own admission is not following his conscience--he is suspending it to "wait on Jehovah."

This in itself is a conscience decision....he is putting his trust in the hands of God. My point is, why should he be villified for it? Does his decision invalidate our own? Why not give the man the dignity of his own decision and conscience? Why do exJW's insist on a "my way or the wrong way" mentality? Is this really progress?

IW

under_believer

IW, those are good points, and there are exJWs who have a terrible, toxic attitude.
But I think most people here are baffled by his position, and by the position of the local elders who put him back into an approved standing, especially in light of what he said and wrote before.
Has he recanted that stuff? It doesn't sound like he has. If he's asked about his previous statements, will he deny their validity? If he doesn't, he'll end up back out on his ass again.

JWrobot

I wish him well. he might make a contribution to Watchtower's Writing Dept. In his "return essay", he quotes 4 times from Bible - 1 from New Testament and 3 from Old T.

Gregg Stafford returning to the Big O

Share this