by minimus 33 Replies latest jw friends
Maybe the thought of living forever and in perfect conditions really was a "lure" for me and caused me to ignore all my doubts for such a long time. However, you do eventualy see that you give up so much in return....
Your family,
Your friends,
Your career aspirations..
and Everything that would make "living forever" worthwhile.
What finally helped me to take the blinders off was that you CAN'T earn life,
if God wants to
and is able to give it to you---He will.
YoursChelbie
(lol @OUTLAW)
Hi Minimus,I want to respectfully respond to your closing statement in your post response.You said,"I have to wonder though why anyone that was not raised " in the truth "would ever accept so much of this pitiful crap."I don't know if you read Steven Hassan "Releasing the Bonds Empowering People to Think for Themselves."He is America's Leading Cult Counselor."He talks about understanding the Principles of Destructive Mind Control,Studying Cult Tactics,and says that Destructive Mind Control is a Public Health Problem.It seems that everyone knows someone who has suffered a negative radical personality transformation.The phenomenon of destructive mind control indoctrination can turn an intelligent, educated person with a strong family background into a stranger.I hope this helps you in wondering why anyone not raised" in the truth"would ever accept so much of this pitiful crap.30 odd yrs.ago when I first accepted this as 'The Truth'along with so many others I didn't realize that this was as you so eloquently put it"pitiful crap".In the beginning I swallowed all the doctrinal beliefs of the Society,wanting to get my family safely inside a paradise earth where we could live forever.As an elder I taught it all as the gospel truth.Not so now! Blueblades
I had trouble with the so-called continuity of Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the ages. After the so-called Apostasy of the 4th century initiated by Constantine, who were these faithful witnesses until Charles Taze Russell? To say that they existed is not satisfactory. If it was the Arians, the Waldensens or other such groups, would they consider themselves Jehovah's Witnesses today? Many of their beliefs differ from W.T. teachings. As far as that goes, would Russell himself, were he still alive, consider himself a part of the W.T. Society?
I also had difficulty understanding why Jehovah would destroy all non-Jws at Armageddon. In service I encountered people who were extremely kind, inviting me in out of the heat for a drink of water, soda, or coffee, etc. I didn't notice any "horns" on these people. And they certainly were just as nice as any Jws I knew.
Another, was all the date settings and readjustments. Also, the idea of "new light" replacing "old light."
These are just given for starters.
Finnrot says:
Even when I was a little kid, I didn't see how people were ever going to live on a paradise earth forever.
Actually, although the earth will indeed be here forever, nobody is really going to spend ALL of eternity here on the earth. You speak as if the earth is surely the ONLY place among the countless stars that Jehovah could ever make habitable. Surely one of the great pleasures of living forever will be getting to travel to and live on other planets which Jehovah will undoubtedly one day finish and make fit for supporting life with each planet having been fitted out with its own unique forms of life and plants. But, of course, somewhere down the line -- perhaps after having experienced life on hundreds of different planets over thousands of years -- the desire will be renewed in us to return to our old beautiful stomping ground, planet Earth, in order to enjoy its uniqueness all over again. Actually, an eternity may not be sufficient to see and enjoy it all. Indeed, it will be a tragedy for any who fail to be blessed with everlasting life from the Creator.
So, hang tight, kid ... you ain't seen nothing yet!
.
Actually Yadirf the earth is finite. When the sun burns out it will get mighty cold here. Nothing lasts forever. God is dead.
-fin
Fin,
Even as you wish, so let it be said, so let it be done in your case. Of course, you should know that even Satan himself knows that non-ending life is possible, and he doesn't want to die. But, the only way that he can stave off his destruction is to prove God a liar--which he hasn't been able to do to date.
.
Yes I'm sure Satan and Zeus and Popeye are all sitting around playing poker and plotting against God, and devising a way that they can live forever with you on a perfect earth. Reality is a bitch, catch it.
Good thread!
I often wondered to myself as a child why my father and the rest of my non-witness family should be destroyed in Armageddon, they didn't do anything wrong. I hated not being able to be like all the other kids, I stuck out like a sore thumb when I had to sit out the Christmas plays and other normal school activities. As I got older, I hated having the constant heavy feeling on my shoulders of not doing enough, not going in field service as often as I thought or made to think I should, for not selling placing enough books, magazine, tracts, etc. I hated being made to feel so guilty for not having any bible students, or for not preaching to my classmates and teachers, as I remember during many boring talks that each one of us would have "blood-stained hands" if we didn't testify as we should, and on and on..........in other words, I hated it all, but I hid it really really well until I finally had enough, I just woke up all of a sudden one day and walked away.
Finnrot, I don't think Popeye is involved with this. You are funny!!!
So many things bothered me for so long it is a wonder I never put 2 and 2 together sooner and realized i was in a cult.
Many of the things that bothered me were already mentioned, and for so many of these things they are just so stupid I can't see why the Society would choose to continue to hold to their present understandings instead of easing up.
1. The birthday/anniversary thing (what is the difference really?) and holidays like mothers day etc. Like what is so bad having a special day for mom or dad?
2. Beards/fashion/entertainment - stupid stuff like this just drove everyone crazy and caused division between the "weak" and the self-righteous judgemental crowd.
3. Double standards for elders and publishers. There just are different standards for different people. Who you are and who you know depends on what you get away with.
4. Dumb interpretations of prophecy such as the trumpet blasts of revelation etc. Being so particular about things such as torture stake/cross when it only mattered that Christ died, not how he died.
5. Lack of love- JW's can invent whatever "identifying marks of true Christianity" they want, but in the end there is only one thing and that was lacking.
6. The ministry was a joke. An exercise in wasting time doing nothing. And you always wondered about the billion or so in china and the next billion in india and the next billion in the muslim world. Absolutly impossible to be preached to and if God can read hearts, then what am i doing knocking on doors?
7. Faithful and discreet slave- How does it really work? Complete inability to get any sensible answer from everyone. Basically a mystery, yet the foundation of everything in this religion.
8. Bethel expansion/Patterson at a time when the end was "so close".
9. Wealthy elders telling me to pioneer, avoid higher education and to "get by" while they did token service and travelled the world, drove nice cars and lived in custom built homes.
10. Unfairness of the whole judicial process and JW politics.
11. Only JW's will be saved. I knew this was the official position, but how could anyone possibly ever say this in public? The belief was just too horrible to ever be believed.
Just a few things off hand that bothered me for the longest time.
Path
Edited by - Pathofthorns on 8 December 2002 9:3:13
