Loose lips sink ships - just keep your thoughts to yourself and fade away into the sunset.
I got a voicemail from an elder about meeting with me.
by schnell 22 Replies latest jw experiences
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Worldling9
What The Searcher said. Keep them at bay for as long as you can. They have no real world authority over you, a point which could be made by your attorney. An attorney could actually stop them from DFing you.
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stuckinarut2
EXACTLY as "the Searcher" said!
Just be polite and remind them of "appropriate boundaries" by the way you handle matters.
for example: "Thanks for your visit, It is always nice to share a coffee with a neighbour that respects one another"
DO NOT allow the conversation to go in a direction that you don't feel comfortable with. Simply DO NOT engage in a topic unless you want to. Do NOT be bullied into talking about things you don't want.
Remember, the ONLY power people have over you is that which you allow!
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Introvert 2
After a couple inactive years of claiming depression ( which was true ) I simply sent in a DA letter to off my back and make a clean break in my mind. Works wonders, they flee from me like cockroaches in bright kitchen light ! One former friend elder agreed that Bethel was unfair and harsh, beard policy stupid, anti-education stance is dumb and the constant drumming of 'pioneer' service annoying. But he just stays in and cries 'LOYALTY' like those parroting drones on JW TV. During that last phone conv. I had with his I just said that WTBTS does NOT have the monopoly on the Bible, that it's a free world and I decide as I please and to please realize that he legally cannot do a thing about it. I'm 52 years old for crying out loud and he was speaking to me like a child. I think the fact I 'studied' with him made my quitting harder on him. That and he also tried the old guilt trip of 'who taught you the Bible ?' approach. I agreed to it as I knew nothing about scripture beforehand. What I forgot to mention was I paid dearly for it in contributions, time, wearing myself out, medical cost when I had my breakdown etc.
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Cold Steel
Jephthah killed his daughter. Get over it.
Oh, he did not. This has been endlessly debated. Human sacrifice was a HUGE no-no. Jephthah would not have risked divine wrath from such an action.
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Cold Steel
But if they get ahold of me at home and ask bluntly if I think this is the truth and want to continue, I feel as with any other sort of lie that I would do more prolonged harm than good by giving in.
What are the advantages of staying, and what do you gain from leaving? It sounds as though you've already made up your mind. On the other hand, if it affects your family or livelihood, you've got to make a decision. But the JWs never forget, never forgive. They will shun you forever. If you can live with that, fine. If a religion doesnt suit you that might be the best way to go. But if you lose friends, like the meetings, treat it as a way of life and live the fantasy.
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freddo
@cold steel
Jesus was a human sacrifice.
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Vidiot
scnell - "...my wife has already talked about staying home to do yoga with me instead."
Yay! Yoga pants!
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Giordano
Best not to meet with two of them. Or even a different Elder on a separate occasion for that matter.
It's also kind of insulting that he wants to have another witness. He must think your not going to realize the implication of that. So he picks an Elder that helped your brother? That's an old Mafia trick when they want to kill someone.....they get a relative or a friend to set up the meeting make it seem that everything is OK that's it's just going to be a friendly meeting.
You take their power away by not meeting with them. You will also need your wife on your side in terms of her saying that 'he's dealing with some issues' and if or when he needs to meet with you he will let you know.'
Keep silent and Never meet with two of them is the best option. However you know this but you may not be able to refrain from talking. People learning TTATT tend to want to tell others what they have discovered.
If you decide you want to talk to this one Elder (only) mention that you've been stumbled by the JW Pedophile problem. As far as I know you can't be DFed because you were stumbled. This is also a confirmed situation (read up on the ARC report and non ex JW sites) that this situation has been covered up for decades. Stick to this one issue and don't go or allow him to go anywhere else. Make sure it's so unpleasant that he will want to get away from you.
If you bring up the two witness rule and he says well that's a scriptural rule.....ask him if Jesus intended that to be used on children. Quote Matthew 19:14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
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Cold Steel
Freddo ยป Jesus was a human sacrifice.
Yes he was. But those who sacrificed Him were some of the most wicked people on the earth. And Judas, the apostle who turned Him over to the Jews, was called the "son of perdition." The Jews also were quite unaware that they were sacrificing Him. But Jesus gave Himself as a sacrifice for sin. He had the free agency to bail out at any time and He was never forced in any way.
He prayed to the Father to remove the "bitter cup," but nevertheless He always had the option of doing it or not doing it. Fortunately, for us, He went through with it.
In the case of Jepthah, there are two possibilities. One, he was an apostate who didn't understand the Law of Moses and he ignorantly went through with his presumptuous oath to maintain his honor. Two, he was a righteous man who understood the Torah and that human sacrifice was a pagan and abominable practice detested by God. Under the Law, human sacrifice was specifically condemned, as was offering any unclean animal. So had an unclean animal rushed out, offering it also would have been an affront to God.
The scriptures indicate Jepthah was a decent man and a man of God. They say the Spirit of God came upon him, which would not have happened had he been wicked. Japthah also was not a Levite and could not have offered his daughter by his own authority, and I doubt he could have found one who would have. King Saul, while waiting for Samuel, became impatient and offered the sacrifices himself. Although he'd just been installed, the prophet was furious. Though he was king, Saul did not have priesthood authority. And his presumptuousness cost him his throne.
So Jepthah kept his oath as was justified by the Law. Though his hasty words cost him posterity through the lifelong service and virginity of his daughter, it was her virginity she bewailed, not her life. And her virginity affected Jepthah negatively in that it stopped his posterity, and in that culture that's significant. Of course dying would accomplish the same thing but if he had sacrificed his daughter, he would have been under a divine curse.