AK - Jeff

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Posts by AK - Jeff

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  21

  How Wierd is Your Weather . . . .

  by skeeter1 in

  1. social
  2. current

  england - snowing like the north pole.

  europe - deep freeze.

  alaska - super deep freeze & snow.

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  AK - Jeff

  Our winter here [Northern Indiana] has been non-typical. We have had a few winter blasts with snow and ice - but then viola, clear and sun and melts it all off. January might have been one of the warmest recorded. It seems weird to me - but then I have only been alive 56 years, out of billions this planet has been here [bowing to FSP's on-target comments in that regard].

  This winter has beat the hell out of most here. But in some ways it seems like a very long March. With all the mud and ugly, I would almost as well like the snow cover and cold.

  Jeff
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  403

  Atheists..... throwing the baby out with the bath water ?

  by snare&racket in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this saying permeates this forum with higher frequency than most.

  despite being an open atheist amongst lots of religious people in my life, i have never been accused of doing this and i have never heard this saying attributed to my choice... appart from here.. i thought it would be best to clarify why i (and i assume others) decided to leave the bible behind after leaving the wt society.. realising the wt society was wrong desroyed my world, for me it meant so much.

  i had given so much to it too, it just had to be true!

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  AK - Jeff

  Just now saw your thread s&r.

  I could have written your initial post almost word for word to describe my journey since leaving the Watchtower. I am often at a loss as to how these folks who swallow this thing called 'belief' without question, insulting atheists as if we had not done careful 'soul searching' before arriving at the conclusions we have.

  Like you, it was reading and study of the Bible itself, and observation of those who claim to follow it, both here on JWN and in the real world, that reinforced that conclusion.

  I have found the mocking and insults to be amazing for lack of better words. These mockers believe in a God who killed a couple million people in the OT, can't 'inspire' the first 4 chapters of his 'holy word' in harmony [let alone an entire 66 book canon], passively ignores all the horror that daily permeates our world, claims omnipotence yet never acts.

  Not a single one of them can provide the very first shred of 'evidence' and certainly no outright proof of any god. Not one shred! Yet they insist that our denial of evidence and arrival at a conclusion that makes perfect logical sense is 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater'. There is no baby, and there is no bathwater. There never was! How curious that the 'faithful' are faithful to something they cannot provide any external stimulus to demonstrate, yet they are angry at those who point this out.

  Jeff
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  206

  i am a regular pioneer in my cong reading crisis of conscience.here goes...

  by MsGrowingGirl20 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i'm on page 90 right now...the info is definitely new and gives me a totally diff view as to how i used to think of faithful and discreet slave.

  i was thoroughly disgusted with the way the brothers handled the oral sex and leadership problem and the insight on the scriptures book...... still have alot of questions though.

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  AK - Jeff

  Welcome to the forum, MGG20.

  Nothing about this portion of your journey is easy - universal answers to the deep questions you are discovering don't exist. If there is one thing you will find [and you will find it easier to accept later, trust me], is that there are as many viewpoints and shades thereof, as there are those who have made a solid examination of the issues/facts under consideration, as they regard Jehovah's Witnesses.

  At first you will find most of it unbelievable - or at least I did. Research it - check your premises - accept that which is credible and logical and supported by facts.

  Eight years ago I began to read Crisis of Conscience. My heart hurt - my mind rebelled - my thoughts raced. It takes a while. Three months later I was out for good [not saying you should be - that is your choice] - three years later I Disassociated - since then there have been greater changes than those to my viewpoint - though at this point you probably cannot handle them.

  Read - read - read! Question - question - question! Take some time - keep your thoughts to yourself for now [just a suggestion]. Observe.

  This journey will be the most momentous of your life. It has just begun.

  Jeff
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  26

  The prognosis is 'terminal'

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it always has been.

  we are all going to die.. .

  how did it affect you though, when that reality set in after leaving the lies of religion?.

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  AK - Jeff

  Apologies to those who feared this thread was ominus health related.

  Of course that is the purpose of a good headline, isn't it?

  Thanx for all the comments. Seems that most have adjusted quickly and well to the situation. It was not easy for me at first - but now the idea of death seems just a natural conclusion to biological life. I think that I am 'well adjusted' to reality for the first time in my life.

  Perhaps the 'truth' really can set one free?

  Jeff
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  259

  The Two Forces

  by N.drew in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the ark pictures the response to one kind.. it means the customs of the people can cause catastrophe.. and most people did not stop the destructive behavior , but some used it to be redeemed.. .

  sodom pictures the other kind.. it means the people respond badly to the intuitive recognition that doom is ahead.. .

  in one case what the people are doing causes something bad.

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  AK - Jeff

  Drew, is this your attempt at intellectual discussion? Really?

  Can I have a toke?

  Jeff
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  11

  Do you remember this?

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i used to go in service with a prominent elder in our area who would announce, regarding the 'truth' book in the 70's:.

  "would you like to know the truth and gain everlasting life in just one day?

  this book is divided into 24 chapters that can be studied in just an hour each.

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  AK - Jeff

  I used to go in service with a prominent elder in our area who would announce, regarding the 'Truth' book in the 70's:

  "Would you like to know the truth and gain everlasting life in just one day? This book is divided into 24 chapters that can be studied in just an hour each. In one day you can be on the pathway to everlasting life."

  WOW - how corny was THAT? Yet we bought into it, and hoped the householder would to. We thought him BRILLIANT for that approach.

  I look back and wonder how I ever got caught up in such bullshyte!

  Anyone else hear this 'presentation'? Or others just as cheezy?

  Jeff
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  26

  The prognosis is 'terminal'

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it always has been.

  we are all going to die.. .

  how did it affect you though, when that reality set in after leaving the lies of religion?.

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  AK - Jeff

  It always has been. We are all going to die.

  How did it affect you though, when that reality set in after leaving the lies of religion?
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  28

  Should we attend our first Birthday Party?

  by Flicka in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so we have only been fading for the past few months but already made up our minds that we are completely out.

  we never managed to make any friends in our cong but we befriended our neighbours.. so our neighbour invited us to her b-day party in a few weeks time.

  she knows that we are/were witnesses and that we are fading.. i don't see a b-day celebration as being wrong anymore.

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  AK - Jeff

  I think that many people who leave the WT [including my wife and I for a long time] carry the idea that the elders are in tune with everything going on - and live in fear of them as a result. This may be partly due to the isolated nature of the religion, and the viewpoint we were indoctrinated about it being so well known and seen in the community.

  I had a similar [if unrelated] fear when we first left and we were reading Ray Franz' books behind closed doors in our home. I was always on edge that someone would come to the door and 'catch' us. When I began to take the books with me to the local coffeeshop to read, I carefully marked out the author's name on the cover, and walked with the book concealed under a wrapped newspaper.

  Looking back, I doubt if anyone had any idea what I was reading anyway. Once, unsuspectedly, the PO of the congo came into the coffeeshop, stepped over to speak with me for a moment, and laying on the table in plain view was ISoCF [with Franz' name marked out]. He barely glanced at the book, and though we had been missing meetings for a few months by this time, he did not seem alarmed at all with a book with a title like that.

  Though it is not impossible for them to find out what you 'are up to' if they wish to - the real key here is: How much do you care? How would being 'outed' affect you in the short and long of it?

  I understand the nervousness of this situation very well - I was a 'model' Jw for 48 years, and really feared the results of being out 'officially'. In the end - 8 years later - I wish I has just waltzed into the KH the first day I 'knew the truth about the truth' and lain a letter of DA on the conference table. As it was, I sweated it out for 3 years, missed opportunities to live, laugh and love.

  Thanx for sharing your situation with us, and for letting us contribute [for as much as it is contribution] with you.

  Namaste

  Jeff
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  87

  WTS successfully counters claims it is a "false prophet"

  by trthskr in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  greetings.. http://www.jehovah.to/xlation/fp.html.

  "do not interpretations belong to god?".

  but as the saying goes; you can never satisfy a critic.. .

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  AK - Jeff

  Actually, how would it be possible to 'counter' such claims, other than by careful examination of the facts of what they have said, when, etc?

  It is very easy to deny things, not such an easy matter to 'successfully counter' such - and tens of thousands of educated posters, quoting Watchtower statements, over many years have long shown them to be what they are. Watchtower pundits with an agenda of apology, have shown themselves very unable to do so. This poster will do no better - especially when he does not seem capable of mounting an argument of any stature, under this moniker or any other. So far at least.

  Bring it!

  Jeff
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  31

  Our latest "Gee it's great not to be a JW" moment. Share yours!

  by Open mind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  recently my son had a minor injury that required a trip to the emergency room.

  the admitting nurse asked us a ton of questions and then this:.

  nurse: do you have a religion?.

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  AK - Jeff

  When I started to realize that I no longer felt 'funny' wishing others a Merry Christmas, or Happy Birthday, and when all the guilt left and I no longer even 'considered' whether I would hang a flag, say the pledge of allegience, or put up Christmas lights.

  There are many more 'ah ha' moments like that - but the freedom just feels soooooo good, in so many ways.

  Jeff