Posts by Athanasius

13

Blast from the Past

by Athanasius in

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last friday i got a message on my classmates account from alice, a jw girl i hadn't seen in over 40 years.

i checked her profile and in her current photo she is wearing a native american necklace and earrings with tribal or religious symbols.

Hi Scully. I liked your final reply to your former JW friend. It was very fitting. I think that the JWs who lead double lives have a more difficult time leaving the cult than those who are more honest about their JW activity.

I don't plan to reply to Alice's last message because this was the message I sent in answer to her question if I was still a JW:

"Hi Alice,

Why do you ask? After all you contacted me. But in answer to your question: I've been inactive since 1984. So I guess the answer would be no.

If you are still a JW, then I understand your concern and have no hard feelings if you choose to discontinue conversation.

Cheers,

Athanasius"

As I mentioned earlier, Alice led a double live when I knew her and it doesn't look like she has changed. My quess is that she will go down with the JW cult, even though by Watchtower rules she won't make it into paradise.

19

Tech49 on DC: Experiences are not truthful

by Tech49 in

jw
friends

i was sent a link to a homemade video from our summer district convention, not the one i attended, but the next weekend.

it was a video of a local brother, relating his "experience" of "trusting in jehovah", and how he was blessed.. it was just about 1 short minute long.

ms harper showed it to me first, she wanted to get my comment on it before she said a word.. background: we both know this brother, he is about our age, so we know the "real" story.. anyways, his story goes like this: this experience goes back about 10 years (jeez, we must be really searching for the experiences now!).

Athanasius

I stopped believing the DC experiences way back in 1968. At the 68 DC they had an older sister from my congo give an experience about her 40 years of active servic. She related how she became a JW in the early 1930s, was active preaching, and how she was blessed, etc. This didn't go over well with the older JWs in our Circuit who knew the sister's real story. Moreover, I conducted the CBS in her home and she had told me a totally different story. The truth is that the sister was contacted by JWs in 1930 or 1931 and took their books. Later she attended a few meetings but didn't do any preaching. None of her children became JWs, in fact her sons served in the military during WWII for which she received a patriotic medal, which she wore proudly during the war. Instead of being a JW, she was really what they used to call "an interested person." She didn't really become an active JW until the mid 1950s. So instead of the 40 faithful years of service that was claimed in the DC experience, it was really less than 15.

Since the sister was honest in relating here life story to individuals in the congo, my guess is that she yielded to pressure from CO to embellish her story. No doubt he appealed to her JW patriotism. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to ask her why the story she told me was so much different from what she related at the DC.

13

Blast from the Past

by Athanasius in

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last friday i got a message on my classmates account from alice, a jw girl i hadn't seen in over 40 years.

i checked her profile and in her current photo she is wearing a native american necklace and earrings with tribal or religious symbols.

Athanasius

Last Friday I got a message on my Classmates account from Alice, a JW girl I hadn't seen in over 40 years. I checked her profile and in her current photo she is wearing a Native American necklace and earrings with tribal or religious symbols. BTW Alice is not Native American. Her biography mentioned her divorce and remarriage, her career, and accomplishments. She also dropped a few names of famous people she knew or worked with. There was no mention of religion or JW activity. In fact her bio read like a successful normal non-JW.

So I replied to her message and asked about her family.

I wasn't surprised when her reply was this question: Before I respond to your inquiries, please tell me if you are still one of Jehovah's Witnesses.

Since her biography was not what you would expect from an active JW, I thought that she was sounding me out because if I was, then I might inform on her to the elders. So I replied that I became inactive in 1984, so the answer to her question would be no.

He next reply was surprising. She said: Have a nice life and contact me if and when you return to the Truth.

I knew Alice when we were both teenagers and she lived a double life then, and probably still does according to her biography.

Anybody else have an experience like this?

53

What piece of WT literature is worth holding onto, or have you kept? Why?

by losingit in

i have basically thrown away all of my bound volumes and loose wt and awake magazines.

i kept some bpoks, the insight to the scriptures, god's love, the reasoning book, and daniel's prophecies (this was my favorite) .

i held onto insight to the scriptures after reading some of ray franz's book, crisis of conscience.

Athanasius

Most of my JW books I sold or gave to my ex-wife. But I kept the big 1971 NWT, All Scripture is Inspired book, some Yearbooks, and the Commentary on James book. I also kept Russell's books and Rutherford's rainbow collection.

I had 30 years of bound volumes 1956-1985, which I sold to an MS for $100. Hopefully reading the old literature will wake him up.

25

Can't get any bibles?

by gold_C in

so according to people in every congregation i've mentionned it to, the slave isn't producing any more bibles.

at first i thought that they were going to release an updated translation, like the updated brochures that were given at the latest convention, but that didn't happen, and everyone from the branch claims that there is "a reason for it", yet they're being extremely secretive.. .

can anyone who's got ties to bethel help me out here?

Athanasius

Maybe the GB is in the process of making a deal with a "worldly publisher" to print NWT at a cost cheaper than printing it on Watchtower presses.

73

The Watchtower Writers need to answer this question "Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history!"

by ÁrbolesdeArabia in

how come the watchtower will not side with christendom and address a topic like the following?

what if christendom had allowed islam to spread it's plunder into europe without a fight and great force?

i direct your attention to islam spreading not as a distraction, but to ask the question most atheist have asked me when we talk of this subject.

Athanasius

Hi Still Thinking.

Marx may have said that religion is the opiate of the people, but the Soviet Union, which had the worst record for killing their own people, was anti-religious. In fact atheism was promoted by the Soviet system.

While I do share your concern about certain segments of Islam, I'm more concerned about the politico-economic forces that are gaining control of our world.

73

The Watchtower Writers need to answer this question "Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history!"

by ÁrbolesdeArabia in

how come the watchtower will not side with christendom and address a topic like the following?

what if christendom had allowed islam to spread it's plunder into europe without a fight and great force?

i direct your attention to islam spreading not as a distraction, but to ask the question most atheist have asked me when we talk of this subject.

Athanasius

History will show that it is "Politics, not religion is the real force behind the mass murders." Not that there haven't been victims of past religious wars. But if you consider the 60 million death toll under Soviet Communism, the 30 million deaths under Chinese Communism, the 4 million deaths under Cambodian Communism, the 35 million Chinese deaths from Japanese militarism, and the 6 million Jews killed under Nazism, to name a few examples of the 20th Century, it seems that you are in greater danger of being killed by your government than your church, mosque, temple, or synagogue .

47

2013 Drama: "Show Yourself Attentive"

by breakfast of champions in

this is the first of three "dramas" this dc, and i have to say, it was one of the weirdest dramas ever.

i won't go through all the details.

maybe someone else wants to throw in their 2c.. it starts out with two men standing on the "beach" talking, but it took me awhile to figure out what in the hell was going on.

Athanasius

I also got the "this video is private" warning. What gives?

23

Does the borg really produce great readers? How much did you actually read when in?

by likeabird in

jw
friends

i've been reading a lot and learning even more (project deadlines to meet), getting this overwhelming satisfaction and feeling good.. and then i stopped and realised that i never got that feeling when reading borg publications.. i also realized that i have probably read more non-fiction books in the last month than i did during my whole life in the borg.. for all my reading (and i was fully in) i read no more than two wt books cover to cover.

none of my study books were studied cover to cover and wts were usually quickly underlined and rarely properly studied.

magazines were usually flicked through and resolutions to read them cover to cover rarely lasted more than a few weeks.. i did manage to read the bible through once - but that was because i was always afraid someone door to door would ask me if i had, so i figured i should just crack on with it.

Athanasius

I was an avid reading while in the borg and after. However, as a JW I merely skimmed through Watchtower publications, preferring to read history and politics and still do. As others have mentioned the publications of the Freddy Franz era, though kookie, did take more than a 5th grade reading ability.

I should also mention that while in the JWs I read almost every book that Hugh J. Schonfield wrote including the Passover Plot and the Pentecost Revolution. Of course I left the borg in 1984 when it was a slightly different religion than present day JWism.

During my JW years I read the Bible Genesis through Revelation only once, and I was an elder. Back then most of the elders that I knew rarely read the Bible and barely kept up with the latest Watchtower magazine. Moreover, the Bible that I read cover to cover wasn't the NWT, but the New English Bible which included the deutrocanonical books not found in the NWT. Since leaving the JWs I've read the New American Bible and the Today's English Version.

Currently I'm reading Wild Bill Donovan--The Last Hero by Anthony Cave Brown.

62

Should all elders be painted with the same brush?

by Socrateswannabe in

jw
friends

an hour or two ago, i was reading a topic on this forum that welcomed new elders to jwn.

there was some criticism aimed at the op and i understand that elders shouldn't be singled out as special.

one poster said he/she hates all elders.

Athanasius

Socrates--

In answer to your first question, no.

However, I really do understand your situation as I was in the same position 30 years ago. I had served as an elder from 1972 to 1984. During those years we saw the liberal reforms of Watchtower Vatican II replaced by the repressive measures of a reactionary GB in 1981. Then in the spring of 1984 I learned TTATT after reading Crisis of Conscience and Apostles of Denial.

So it was decision time. Do I resign as an elder, fade, and take the chance of losing my JW family and friends? Or do I stay on, keep quiet, but work behind the scenes to help individual JWs, and keep my family? For over six months I chose the latter. But in the Borg there is little an individual can do to change things. Moreover, I hated leading a double life. So in September 1984 I resigned as an elder and began my fade.

There is a better life beyond the Watchtower. But freedom comes with a price. My 20 year marriage ended in divorce, my daughter told me she hated me for leaving the “truth,” my other JW relatives and friends now treated me as if I’d been DFd. Fortunately time heals much. I found new friends, went back to school and got my degree, reestablished relationships with non-JW relatives, my daughter left the JWs and we reconciled, and I married a wonderful woman.

While everyone’s situation is different, life is more enjoyable outside the JW curtain.