steve2

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Posts by steve2

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  26

  2019-11-25-BOE--Watchtower Wants More Money!

  by Atlantis in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  2019-11-25-boe.

  donations in support of kingdom interests worldwidehttps://docdro.id/mqpxklf petra!

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  steve2

  Here, brothers, take my spare Christmas tree.Do what you like with the baubles and streamers but look after the angel on the top.
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  19

  "Get Over It!"

  by The Bethelite in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this is what my children tell me... get over the whole jehovah's witness thing!

  yes, they tell me they have gotten over the whole thing and they tell me that and i need to also.

  my exgirl friend who was raised as a jw also has said the same thing.. my children say they got over it, however they are quick to point out how messed up their lives are now because of no college education and other missed opportunities.

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  steve2

  Our kids can be our harshest critics and appreciate the least what we have done. You can always hold out the silent hope that one day they will realize if you could just get over it, you would have by now. Anyway, there could be a grain of truth in what they say - but even if there is, getting over something is not a matter of willing it to happen.

  My loved ones have occasionally said variations on "get over it" to me but I also have a good sense of my own situation and realize not everyone - even from the vantage of being an exJW - feels the same way as me.

  All I can recommend is you graciously thank them for their feedback but also acknowledge to yourself that we are all individuals who have been affected in different ways by our connection to the organization. My view is the more devastating impacts we have witnessed and observed in the organization, the harder it is to "get over it". But over time, we might manage better our expectations of others (drop the wish that they will read your book) and respond in healthier ways to your own pain and suffering.
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  21

  What can a therapist really do?

  by Thetruthhurts in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  hi all, i've not read the forums for awhile as i've been trying to move on with my life but i'm back and posting for the first time feeling like i cant get a grip.

  so i'm wondering for those of you that have seen a therapist and say that it truly helps, what can be accomplished?

  i'm just really skeptical, but starting to feel desperate.

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  steve2

  Great question.

  Here's my answer as a clinical psychologist (and ex-JW):

  A well-trained and experienced therapist can teach relevant skills on how to effectively handle distress and regulate your emotions (instead of feeling overwhelmed and hypervigilant all the time), or help you process, better understand and resolve what you've been through, or teach practical, step-wise problem solving.

  It depends on what you're immediate needs are and what the therapist offers. In my view, it helps if the therapist has some understanding of the harm caused by high control religious groups but if the therapist has been well trained - especially in the area of trauma - they will be able to help you.

  On the other hand, I'd avoid like the plague therapists who simply offer counselling because while it may provide some (short term) relief to talk through your problems unless you learn strategies and new behaviours, "talking things through" is seldom effective in the long term for moving beyond traumatic experiences and finding a way to develop healthy life goals.
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  16

  The infamous WT article "Why Has God Been So Patient?"

  by days of future passed in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  i went to my sister's house because she was cleaning out the garage and she thought i must have tons of stuff left there.

  i didn't but there was a box of unplaced mags in one.

  i pulled out one when i got home and it was this one.. i'm sure that if i had read it when it came out, i would have felt that the wt had feelings of sadness over these children.

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  steve2

  There is so much that is wrong-headed about the article.

  Firstly, how would any JW feel if their child were featured in such a classically negative and manipulative way on the cover of a widely distributed magazine whose main article "feeds off" human desperation? The article has absolutely nothing of value to offer but future promises. God is not slow indeed for those who already have food in their belly but for those on the edge of death His slowness equals death. How dare the well-fed writer(s) quote the words from 1 Peter when people are dying.

  Secondly, the article is not pitched at the organizations, scientists, volunteers and others who have devoted their lives to helping those suffering from extreme poverty. It is pitched to the well fed people who are as far removed from the desperate plight of human suffering and who are comfortable enough to read this kind of lame rubbish.

  Thirdly - and with no disrespect to those still suffering from extreme poverty - but since the article was printed nearly 30 years ago (1991) - the extent of extreme poverty in the world has decreased significantly. Of course extreme poverty still exists - but its scale has dropped.

  Fourthly, if the organizations, scientists, volunteers and others who strive to help those living in poverty had somehow heard about and subsequently accepted and embraced JW organization's notoriously passive line about leaving the solution in Jehovah's hands, the world would currently have an even greater proportion of humans suffering extreme poverty. Look at countries like Bangladesh which once was one of the "poster" nations of extreme and burgeoning poverty: The standard of living in that country had improved exponentially in recent years beyond all predictions and expectations.

  JWs' line on poverty suits the mindset of those who are NOT in the grip of extreme poverty for those near to or suffering from it do not have the luxury of using such poverty as an entry in preaching a useless message about a tomorrow of plenty than never ever comes.
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  13

  Reaching out

  by Reg andeson in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hi everyone my name is reg anderson i am from new brunswick canada.

  i have currently relocated to toronto canada.

  i am currntly working in downtown toronto .

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  steve2

  I wondered if Reg is who he said he is (looking for a local congregation of JWs).

  In a large city such as Toronto it is so easy to locate local congregations of JWs; there are more than 20 kingdom halls in the larger Toronto metropolitan area.
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  19

  Our Spiritual Heritage of Failed Expectations

  by neat blue dog in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  last sunday's watchtower tells the story of a man who:.

  was baptized in 1908 at the age of 20. he was very confident that he would soon receive his reward.

  in fact, when he proposed marriage in 1911, he told his prospective bride, pearl: “you know what is going to happen in 1914. if we are going to get married, we better do it soon!” did this christian couple give up the race for life when they did not receive their heavenly reward in 1914?

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  steve2

  Halt everything people. Check the small print in your life insurance policy regarding payouts. It says "In Jehovah's due time". And you thought it was just around the corner. Always - but always - check the small print.
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  20

  Satan is abyssed for 1000 years and when released, immediately asks...

  by The Fall Guy in

  1. social
  2. humour

  ... "has brexit been sorted out yet?

  ".

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  steve2

  Jehovah, why didn't you destroy me when I first rebelled instead of letting this drag on for thousands upon thousands of years and cost unending millions of human lives?
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  18

  Post convention grumps..

  by zeb in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hm of you with a divided house have to put up with this?

  in this house its walking a mine field.. also our little cat has been gone for some 24 hours and her absence is also my fault apparently..

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  steve2

  zeb, what do you put the "post convention grumps" down to? Most JWs I know are on a spiritual/self-righteous high after conventions - they're intolerable for a different reason than the one you mention.
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  10

  Why Register (R) jw dot org?

  by pixel in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, on paragraph 9 of last's week wt study (number 30), i see the are showing the registered symbol next to jw.borg.

  why would you register a website in that circusntance?

  i've never seem that before.

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  steve2

  As the 100-plus year association with the Watchtower symbol recedes into the past, "JW org" with its white on blue grows in branding stature and brand recognition. Soon, if you refer to JW organization as "The Watchtower" young readers will wonder what or who you're talking about. Watchtower symbolism is gradually being replaced.

  The word Watchtower has accrued a lot of negative connotations in more recent decades. While past associations were about watchtowers being used to detect danger on the horizon, in the 20th and 21st centuries, negative meanings accrue around surveillance and "Big Brother" welding it over a captive group as when prisons use watchtowers to keep inmates under surveillance. The GB quickly sees the irony in people talking about the organization being a high control group and its having a Watchtower branding.
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  29

  Activism works! Success!

  by ZindagiNaMilegiDobaara in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  want to keep as short as possible, if any questions just ask.. just this weekend gone, i had two visitors (pimi single bros).they came round for a visit and a long chat.they had so many questions now that they have woken.

  they are planning their fading(??

  ), one is an ministerial servant .

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  steve2

  That's a nice approach zing! But isn't it a little premature to call it a success? I couldn't tell from your intriguing post the number of times they have returned.