i've seen the passion.
thought i'd be moved.
it supposedly has changed people's lives, caused them to confess sins (actually turned themselves in as criminals), etc.. please, can you explain to me why shindler's list didn't inspire such actions?
about the press... ABC had a bit on GMA a few days ago, reporting that a baby died and came back to life, a miracle which they tied to this movie, but in order for viewers to believe this, the "fact-checker" they interviewed said the robbers who confessed weren't really real, but the baby was.
How stupid, what can you expect from mainstream newsmedia, I guess.
for those of us who grew up in the jw's, there were a couple of scary scenarios presented, one supposedly to happen before armageddon, and armageddon itself.. before armageddon, all jw's were going to be chased around by worldly nations because they would be the only religion left on earth, satan's system having destroyed "babylon the great" (all religions outside jw's, we were told).
so as part of that, jw's would be persecuted worldwide for being religious and proclaiming the "kingdom".. now -- connect that with the actual persecution that happened to the jw's as documented in the annual "yearbook" and in the pages of the watchtower magazine.
sometimes the details of what happened to jw's when in confinement were quite graphic and frightening.
I was more scared of the torture, because I was taught it would be like Nazi concentration camps, which I thought was worse than a quick death from a fireball from heaven.
Nice way to think of your future as a kid, though, gotta hand it to them.
i read and take in a lot on this board.
but i have yet to see hard facts.
what are the actual beliefs of jw's that you have found are false and what is the basis for it?
IMHO failed prophecies are the easiest to see. Millions now living will never die, 1975, the meaning of the word "generation", and now the way they are going to handle who the anointed are (I beleive they will need to revise this somewhat). They explain that things get clearer as time goes on, but that is just a pat explanation coming from a group who claims to be God's spirit directed organization. God's spirit directed them to tell me college education was dead works when I was a teenager, but now evidently God's spirit has decided that is not the case anymore.
The hard fact is, these things were "hard facts" at one time, believed in by the people as much as they believed in God or Jesus. These beliefs were found to be false, and explained away as "changed".
As long as the WTS asks its followers to believe everything written in their Watchtower magazine as the absolute truth you cannot question, then I cannot go along with whatever it is they are teaching because they can, did and will eventually change it.
opening myself up to a lot of criticism...but here goes.. i guess i'm getting more cynical...and losing hope in society in general...here's what bothers me.. when i was a kid back in the 1970's i could walk out the door in the morning...and not come home until supper...and i was safe.
those days are long gone.
as i've stated before...society has become oversexualized...and has lost it's moral compass.
Yes, I can't see how the 12 twinkies you stuff in your face really has anything to do with the collapse of a nation .... I see it as the currently politically correct way of picking on a certain group of people.
opening myself up to a lot of criticism...but here goes.. i guess i'm getting more cynical...and losing hope in society in general...here's what bothers me.. when i was a kid back in the 1970's i could walk out the door in the morning...and not come home until supper...and i was safe.
those days are long gone.
as i've stated before...society has become oversexualized...and has lost it's moral compass.
From what I can tell, so many things have changed for the better instead of the worse, and you can't be too sure that morals are worse now than before, just that things are being talked about more openly than before.
There's nothing wrong with being cynical, btw.
.
the bible gives faith a very high value and make faith in god a virtue that is rewarded with everlasting life.
this,,, is what gives the bible strong power,,, over the mind causeing it not to think clearly and see the clever control faith is.
LT Pardon me (and I mean that most sincerely) if I misunderstood that you weren't talking about THIS thread, no, but OTHER threads.... OK, whatever. This back and forth is getting boring.
where shall i begin?
i once spent some time living in a womens refuge with my four children escaping from the domestic violence and emotional abuse that my husband deemed to be appropriate to bestow upon us.
apparently he had the blessing of my congregation to do so.
welcome bay six. what a great story. that would have made my blood boil too.
i don't think i've made any apology for my leanings here towards jws, whilst i don't imagine most here will agree with me, i just think its good sometimes to redress the balance on this forum in a small way to let people who might be reading/lurking/ know that.. despite feeling messed up a bit in my own head about which direction i want/have to take in my own life, and despite many struggles as deep and traumatic as many have experienced here, i still hold jws as a group in the highest esteem.
i can remember what it was like to try and do the "right" thing and follow the way of the truth, it was bloody hard, and i fell down many times.
i always used to try and pick myself up dust myself down and start over again, sometimes with success for longer periods than others.
Jamara 2000 - welcome to the board, I can understand what you are saying. I'm sure most JW parents at least beleive they are doing what's best for their kids. I wish they could be ok with you now.
Cruzanhart - that's a really touching story... I wonder what my parents will do in the afterlife when they pass away and realize what's what (Finally!) .... if there is an afterlife.
Scoobysnax - I hope you find peace in whatever you decide to do, but I think they are right about how things change once you get baptized, more is expected, less is tolerated. The pressure can get to be too much, particularly if you are sensitive to how little boundaries you are able to put up in that group. And you really can't compare JW memorial numbers to the numbers out here, this board is not a religion, nobody is told they must post regularly here, it's just a stop on our journey to find peace as an ex-JW and many people probably don't even need it.
you all don't sound like friends of mine.
nor ones i want to be friends with.
you sound like feinds not friends.
sounds like somebody is short on fieldservice time, it being the last day of the month. You only have a few hours left today to make 10 hours! better hurry...
jws think they have the best of everything-----the best friends, the best workers, the best lovers, the best everything.
and what's your opinion on that?
best friends - no - you need to watch your back with everything
best workers - don't think so, won't work late could miss a meeting. but they think nobody but them is capable of being honest
best lovers - not feeling too great about all the stress on headship and submission, so I can't see how that could work.
