Do we come here to "convince" ourselves?

by bittersweet 36 Replies latest jw friends

  • shera
    shera

    Even though,I always had doubts if it was the truth.I always needed proof that it wasn't the "truth".The past couple of months I found the proof I needed.

    Thanks for the help everyone

  • Liberty
    Liberty

    Hi Bittersweet,

    I was out of the Watch Tower Society and comfortable with this choice for years before I'd even heard of the Internet. Anyone with an honest love of the real truth and an appreciation of cold hard facts can easily come to the logical conclusion that the whole Watch Tower ideology is seriously flawed at the very least. There is no question in my mind that, an intellegent spirit being capable of creating the entire Universe, would have done a much better job of founding an earthly organization without all the false predictions and other negative baggage carried by the Watch Tower Society.The facts speak volumes for themselves so we ex-JWs don't need to reassure ourselves that leaving all the doctrinal flip flops, cover ups, false predictions, false hopes, lies and corruption, which IS the entire history of the Watch Tower Society, was a good idea and the right thing to do.

    Your husband needs to ask himself honestly why Jehovah would allow so many generations of His faithful followers to be given nothing but false hopes over and over again by His supposed one true earthly organization. I don't need "apostate" books or the Internet to tell me anything since I lived through the disappointment of several faithful old JWs who were around in the early days and were promised they would never grow old and die and yet they did. I was around for the 1975 disappointment myself and KNOW firsthand what the Watch Tower Society promised and how the leadership then blamed the rank and file for the failure when everyone knows that a regular JW doesn't have the power to predict anything without the Society's Leadership's approval. I KNOW for a fact that organ transplants were forbidden and then one day they become a conscience issue. I know Jws won't take blood transfusions yet they eat unkoshered meat full of blood everyday violating directly the scripture they use to justify their own no transfusion rule. I knew this long before I read any "apostate" material or got on a computer. Simple facts speak volumes and I was there years ago when they said that we would never make it out of the 20th century without Armageddon and yet here we are in 2003 and the 1914 generation is long dead and another flip flop made to cover this fact up. If God exists, surely He is not this stupid? Why would He allow the Watch Tower Society to be His earthly representitives since they are not only imperfect but completely 100% wrong all the time. Do we really need to reassure ourselves of this plain fact?

    Edited by - Liberty on 22 January 2003 11:20:55

    Edited by - Liberty on 22 January 2003 11:31:35

  • shera
    shera

    I know I mentioned this before,but I didn't know a bit of history about the WTS and false predictions.If I did,I would have never had anything to do with them.

  • gsx1138
    gsx1138

    I'm waaay past needing convincing. I came here by accident one day and now I'm that house guest who won't leave despite some people wishing I would. It is nice to be able to tell a JW joke and people actually get "it". However, I'm so completely over the WTS that sometimes I have a hard time relating. It seems like a distant bad memory.

  • happyout
    happyout

    I did my fade before I knew what the internet was, or how to use a computer. I come here because I need to associate with people who understand. If you have never been in and then left a high control group, you can't possibly understand the immense emotional baggage that you can carry around for life. I also came in an attempt to work out the bitterness I have for the organization that still has my family captive. Did this site convince me the org was wrong? Nope, I learned that all by my lonesome. Does it reassure me that I made the right decision? Maybe, because it keeps me up to date on the "new light" that is being spewed, and I realize how stupid it all is.

  • acsot
    acsot

    Vivamus said:

    If I can repay some of that kindness by being here, hoping some witness will read and know that their doubts are valid, and reasonable - I'm happy.

    The kindness has been repaid! It was when I came here that I realized I wasn't the one with the problem - my doubts were valid and reasonably. Thank you!

    Mouthy said:

    The reason I come here -is because I might run into some one who is JUST doubting-& needs to speak to someone who wont report them

    gumby said:

    There is also a wealth of info. here supplied by those who have been there done that and they post it for all to see

    I've learned so much by being here, it's helped me tremendously. Now if I decide to DA myself, I'll have the experiences of others to guide me in the way I choose to do it.

    BTW, what about the ones who aren't JWs and post here? there are dozens of reasons why people come here, all of them valid.

  • Buster
    Buster

    I can see that this board would be good for folks that need that final convincing. But I've been out a long time and need no such. I have a few reasons for being here:

    - I orginally joined because I noticed posters that could give me updates on all my old friends in the Franklin MA congregation. That was a very exciting thing for me. I was disappointed to hear the types of men some have become, though I was happy to hear.

    - Since leaving, I have wondered how the WTS had my family and me so convinced - like leaving a magic show. So I have purchased a lot of the old books and have read many of the doctrine-based threads. Its been a little detective thing that I've been enjoying.

    - I like the people here. I have gained some serious respect for many folks here. Their intensity, or their ability to deal with severe adversity, or perhaps the most significant is some folks ability to show compassion that comes from a well deeper than any I have access to.

    - Some of the women here are hot

  • Marcos
    Marcos

    Hi,

    I had already determined that the WT teachings were (in many areas) untrue. But, as I have stated before, there is a bit of truth in almost every lie. It is there to lend credence to the lie.

    I began coming here regularly to buttress my reasoning. I have learned a lot and think that, in my case, I do come here to convince myself. That is in the sense of not wanting to just think something is untrue. Many here have very well reasoned thoughts on what has occurred and, in my case, I simply have been unable to organize all of my thoughts on these topics.

    So, I guess what your husband says is true, as far as it goes. But, I see nothing wrong with sharing experiences.

    As far as the troll in another thread is concerned, I really dont care what he thinks. However, I do not hate anyone. I just want to be left alone and not be bothered by those mind control freaks in the WT.

    Marcos

  • bittersweet
    bittersweet

    Thanks for all your responses!

    I decided long before I found this site that I wanted out.I've been out for 4 1/2 years,and I only just found this site last August.I told my husband that we weren't going to see eye to eye on this issue,so we should just agree to disagree.

    As many of you said,why does he continue to go to the meetings?I'm sure it is to convince himself that he has the truth.Maybe some day he will actually come to this site and see the "truth" for what it is.Whatever he does,it isn't going to change my outlook!

    Take care all!

  • DanTheMan
    DanTheMan

    Your husband is resorting to what logicians call an ad hominem attack - that is, attacking the person or implying bad motive, instead of sticking to the argument.

    Your last post indicates that he has never even been to this forum, which is all the more sad. He is making judgements about things, not on first-hand knowledge, but simply on what he imagines discussion boards like this to be like.

    On a compassion note, we were all there once, including myself. JWism is their source of security, so of course they have to have these imaginings of what all of us apostate monsters are like.

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