Wow. Thank you for sharing your story.
One of the big reasons I left the JW Cult
by Still Totally ADD 55 Replies latest jw friends
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fastJehu
@ Still Totally ADD
Thanks for sharing this story. You and your wife are true christians - following the golden rule.
I had a simular story in our family: The child (around 10 years old and with cancer) has his last days in hospital. The child could not longer eat, could not talk since 1 day and the doctors gave him another 1 up to 2 days. One of his parents (father) stopped visiting his own child to go to the convention - and the child died during his father was on the convention. The mother could not understand and could not believe the lack of love from her husband. The rest is history: she got divorced and disfellowshipped.
*** w09 1/15 p. 14 Are You a ‘Steward of God’s Undeserved Kindness’? ***
Which Is More Important?
10 God’s servants are entrusted not only with a gift to be used in behalf of their fellow believers but also with a message to be shared with their fellow man. The apostle Paul recognized these two aspects of his service to Jehovah. He wrote to the congregation in Ephesus regarding “the stewardship of the undeserved kindness of God” that was given to him for their benefit. (Eph. 3:2) Yet, he also stated: “We have been proved by God as fit to be entrusted with the good news.” (1 Thess. 2:4) Like Paul, we too recognize that we are entrusted with the assignment of serving as preachers of God’s Kingdom. By sharing zealously in the preaching work, we strive to imitate the example that Paul set as an untiring proclaimer of the good news. (Acts 20:20, 21; 1 Cor. 11:1) We know that preaching the Kingdom message can save lives. At the same time, however, we also strive to imitate Paul by looking for opportunities to “impart some spiritual gift” to fellow believers.—Read Romans 1:11, 12; 10:13-15.
11 Which of these two Christian activities is more important? Asking a question like that is somewhat similar to asking about a bird, Which of his two wings is more important? The answer is obvious. A bird needs to use both wings in order to fly properly. Similarly, we need to share in both aspects of our service to God in order to be complete as Christians. Thus, instead of regarding our assignments to preach the good news and to build up fellow believers as unrelated, we view them just as the apostles Peter and Paul did—as responsibilities that complement each other.As long as a JW has ONLY to put the preaching hours onto his monthly timeslip - nothing will change.
Half-dead birds with only one working wing.
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LisaRose
By this all will know you are my disciples, if you....
Never miss a convention?
Never miss a meeting?
Always turn in your time slips?
Don't celebrate Christmas and Holidays?
Nope, the primary identifying mark of a group of Christians is if they have love among themselves.
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Phizzy
Having read on here the many experiences and reasons for leaving that have been given, although the reasons are many and varied, it seems to me the chief one is the lack of any real love as a quality of the religion as a whole.
The experience in the O.P of the treatment given to a loving family is just dreadful, and brought me to tears. How could the entreaty to simply visit be ignored ?
I have to say that there are many, many individual JW's who are loving and kind, and spend much time in loving support of their fellow JW's. But this seems to stem from their own natural disposition, and is even then curbed by the attitudes drummed in to them that F.S and Meetings come first.
Love amongst themselves ? It is sorely lacking in too many instances. The religion as a whole is simply not Christian.
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SAHS
Let me garnish the most important word in the above post from “LisaRose” with the bold and italics which it deserves – here it is:
“Love.”
I just had to do that, as that particular word, as simple and seemingly ubiquitous as it is, really is most profound. When you think of it, not clinking glasses, not throwing rice/confetti at weddings, not celebrating Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, not saying “lucky” or “good luck,” not masturbating (practicing “self abuse”), not running for class president in school, not buying a lottery ticket, not growing a beard, etc., etc., etc., . . . . none of all those petty, childish, ridiculous things can hold a candle or a piss in a category F5 hurricane in comparison to the very positive and mutually-beneficial – and scriptural – concept of you know what: L-O-V-E. The Watchtower corporation (organization) should go back to the ABC’s of Christianity and ‘learn what that means,’ along with mercy. As Jesus Christ would agree, that’s the real McCoy!
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SAHS
(I tried to also increase the font size of the word “love” to size #6 (24pt), but for some reason the posting editor on this site doesn’t retain the formatting change of font size. So, please just imagine in your mind the word “love” in my above post in 24-point size.)
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Xanthippe
Still Totally ADD, thank you for telling your story. I am sorry for the pain you suffered. You and your wife are really good people. You deserved much better than the treatment you got from this cruel cult. I am glad that your experience helped you escape but I wish it could have been in a less painful way.
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piztjw
an elders wife (I will refer to her as cut throat bitch)
Sounds like one I knew of who happened to be door knocking in a small town about forty miles from the KH. A young woman who had been studying with jw's, and then quit after she married, came to the door. Instead of even extending the smallest of courtesies to the young woman "sister" CTB proudly proclaimed to everyone, "When I saw her, I spun on my heel and walked away form the door without one single word!"
Can't you just feel the "love"?
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Still Totally ADD
LisaRose you are spot on. Remember years ago I would hear of congregation that had no love soon someone would come in and fix the problem. Now I think most congregation have little or not love. The only thing they think love is by going out in field service or saying hi to someone they hardly know before a meeting. Sorry you are in pain be well and will feed. This is one of the biggest things I have been working on sense I left the cult is working on how to show love to others. Since I was never taught love I have found so many ways to show it but never did I think of this while in the cult. Still Totally ADD
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LongHairGal
piztjw:
I am sure after that "sister" walked away from the doorstep without saying hello, the young woman householder just closed the door, shrugged her shoulders and went back to her business. If this "sister" imagines her action (or inaction) will have any profound effect on the young woman's life she is sadly mistaken.
But, I would have at least said "hello" and left a small tract if I had knocked on that door. I feel it would have been rude to do otherwise since I was on somebody's property.
Jehovah's Witnesses are deluded in thinking that they have "power" over people who have escaped from the religion OR those who wisely never got involved! In fact, I think they are annoyed these people are out of their reach.