This Forum. Has it changed? For the better or for the worse? Or not a at all? (page 3)

joey jojo

Well said Simon.

As I have gotten older, I realise that most situations are not black and white and it's not healthy or helpful to categorise people or their views. Most people have a spectrum of beliefs.

Personally, I am over the whole right - left argument. The more it's used, the more tribal the parties seem to become, as Cofty pointed out.

A good example is the gun debate. What's wrong with loving the right to own guns, yet admit that allowing the general population easy access to guns carries inherent risks?

I'm not an old timer (at least not in terms of time on this board) but the biggest change I see is that there is less discussion about JWism. It' seems to be a lot more political. I'm not complaining about the political discussions, and I think the decrease in JW subject matter is because the JW G.O.D.s have been reigned in (or reigned themselves in) and have stopped making such volatile statements -- human hot dogs, mentally diseased apostates, etc. They have toned down the "fire and brimstone", at least publicly and in their printed material. (They've learned that this crap can and will be used against them in a court of law.) Thus, there is less "outcry" about it here.

Carry on!

Simon

Here's the reality: you can only talk about JS subjects so many times. They recycle because new people join but often there isn't anything to really discuss so often people talk about other things in between "happenings" in the JW / exJW world where something new and interesting happens.

In some ways it's just part of keeping a community around so that it is there for when new things happen, and of course to answer questions and offer advice for people who are just starting their own journey leaving.

snare&racket

I'm an ex-jw and I love politics, but I find it out of place here.

I imagine the JW's swinging by, lurking, pondering ......seeing all the "lack of harmony" from their perspective and running back to the JW's.

This forum has definitely changed. We all owe Simon and Angharad much for its existence, though I do wonder how I would have felt coming to a site with such polarising political voews when searching for a soucre of TATT.

The polarisation is just a reflection of society today, we all seek our confirmation bias and echo chambers.

I believe in overlapping

I imagine the JW's swinging by, lurking, pondering ......seeing all the "lack of harmony" from their perspective and running back to the JW's.

It’s not the responsibility of this site to cater to JWs who might or might not be looking for answers. Maybe in the past that was the intention of those who created the site, but times have changed.

It is the responsibility of individual JWs to grow some balls, put in the hard work and research their religion if they feel something is wrong with it.

Now days there are literally thousands of resources to help JWs who are waking up. There are books by the hundreds of exjws relating their experiences, and hundreds more by non-exjws who reveal the organization for what it is-a scam. There are sites like exjw reddit where they get about 1000 new Jw members every week who are waking up. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of YouTube videos dealing with the WT organization’s child abuse scandals and WT doctrine.

If a JW swings by this site to lurk and gets scared and runs back to momma, that means that jw still needs to grow up and is not ready to wake up.

Once a person is ready to wake up, nothing is going scare him/her from researching and jumping from site to site and reading book after book and listening to YouTube videos dealing with the hypocrisy of the WT organization.

I don’t know much about what this site used to be because I’m in my early twenties and had exited the organization long before I was aware of this site. I learned it was a scam while in junior high school just by comparing other families to my own. I only found this site because someone from Reddit put a link to a particular topic that I thought was interesting. The Topic was;

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/269000/pastor-my-old-church-tried-re-convert-me-yesterday

If a jw is ready to wake up, it won’t take much to help him/her. You recommend some books, they read it with an open mind and wah-lah they are POMO.

If they are not ready to see the truth, not this site or any site, not any book, or any YouTube videos will wake them up, the hold is too strong on them. They will die believing they will be resurrected in the next week or two, may a year at the latest.

If this site has changed from what it was at the beginning, it’s only because the members who started the site, gradually changed from a JW-mindset, to a more normalized way of thinking; and viewing things and events in the world without being tainted by Watchtower doctrine and belief.

In other words—they are becoming normal human beings with normal concerns of how the world turns.

minimus

I like that, we are becoming normal human beings. We are not obsessed about JW things . We live our lives and now we can even enjoy, knowing we are gonna make it in this world after all!👍

LoveUniHateExams

If this forum has changed, well, so what? Nothing wrong with that.

I'm not big on social media. Twitter seems crap to me.

I'm on facebook and I like it but it's not the place for political discussions.

This place having a politics & current affairs section (and adult & heated debate section) is a brilliant idea.

This is the one place where I can read and comment on political issues. This is even more important when you consider how youtube, facebook and other social media are cracking down on free speech by demonetising people or banning them.

I've learnt a lot from a range of posters on here, some positions I agree with, some I don't agree with. We're all allowed our opinions. The level of debate is generally good - easily the equal of serious political shows such as Question Time.

If people don't want to have political debate, I understand that - that's fine.

Nobody is forcing you to read or participate in the political threads. For the life of me, I can't see what the problem is.

just fine

Of course the forum changes over time because we change over time. When I first came here I was young, scared, broken, still believing I would be killed for leaving the JWs.

Now I’m in my mid 40’s, career, marriage, life have all carried me along my path. I’m no longer young, scared or broken.

You are supposed to grow and change, challenge beliefs that don’t serve you any longer, adopt new ones as new evidence presents itself. And keep going down your path......

steve2

Handling ambiguity and/or complexity are adult tasks that require some hard thinking. As JWs we were accustomed to issues being straightforward, black and white, right or wrong. And we were often simplistic in our outlook and very prone to wanting to be told the answers. Remember how we used to have questions about exactly what would happen when we were in Paradise? That about sums up where we were "at" mentally. To grow up and take responsibility for our lives has required a significant shift in our outlook.

The forum has changed too - as it should. The last thing I'd be needing is a forum - any forum - to be exactly the same as it was some fifteen years ago when I first joined.

Simon's become clearer and firmer in his views - which is a sign of growing into one's thoughts and beliefs. I'm pretty much the same and share the need to call out bulls*t (but within posting rules!).

Still Totally ADD

It has change in the last few years. I don't mind the political talk but what does bother me is the name calling or deragatory remarks of those who don't share their views. I expect that from the borg but this is a place where all for the most part came out of the wt. Cult. This is the unity we all share but it seems for some to bully others into their viewpoint is the new way to vent their anger. It does sadden me sometimes this is what is happening but maybe this is the evolution of a internet fourm. The good thing is it is spring and gardening season has started. Yeah! Still Totally ADD

This Forum. Has it changed? For the better or for the worse? Or not a at all?