Posts by donny

45

September 11, 2001- Where were you?

by SophieG in

jw
friends

i work at a major airline in the in-flight training department.

i was sitting at the desk on the computer, i kid you not... writing the security (hijacking) curriculum for 2002, when someone came in and told me a plane flew into the wtc.

we all thought it was one of our planes.

donny

In 2001 I was living in Salinas, CA and working in Morgan Hill (about 45 minutes north). I was on my way to work and listening to the "Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan" radio show on KSFO and was about 10-12 minutes from arriving when Lee Rodgers commented that some idiot flew his plane into the WTC. Like many at the time I thought it was a Cessna or some other small plane. He resumed talking about whatever subject he was on before the announcement.

Just as I was pulling into the parking lot of my employer, they switched to the ABC news coverage in New York. Within a minute the reporter loudly exclaimed "a second plane has just hit the south tower" and immdiately I knew it was a terrorist act.

I went straight to my office and got on the internet. The bandwidth was not was it is today and getting information was very slow! A guy from our IT dept set up 2 televisions in different parts of the building and both had a large crownd around them nearly all day. Not much work was done that day.

26

Did you have to try another church or religion on your way to unbelief?

by donny in

back in 1992 when i was slowly extricating my way out of the wacthtower, there was no internet, smart phones or any other type of quick data download available.

i had basically 3 choices to obtain viewpoints from ex-jw's.. #1 - go to go to the library and look for books critical of the society.

#2 - go to a christian book store to look for the same.. #3 - order item like these from addresses or phone numbers listed in the back of these publications.. and while doing any of these things, you were always looking over your shoulder to see if any "brothers" were around.. the problem i experienced is that virtually all of these books, while giving you good reason to doubt the watchtower, always pointed to "christendom" as the way you needed to go.

donny

Back in 1992 when I was slowly extricating my way out of the Wacthtower, there was no internet, smart phones or any other type of quick data download available. I had basically 3 choices to obtain viewpoints from Ex-JW's.

#1 - Go to go to the library and look for books critical of the Society

#2 - Go to a Christian book store to look for the same.

#3 - Order item like these from addresses or phone numbers listed in the back of these publications.

And while doing any of these things, you were always looking over your shoulder to see if any "brothers" were around.

The problem I experienced is that virtually all of these books, while giving you good reason to doubt the Watchtower, always pointed to "Christendom" as the way you needed to go. As a result I found myself attending various churches trying to figure out what made sense to me. It was only after a few years of this that I finally concluded there was nothing supernatural that really pasted any kind of serious test.

Nowadays, you can sit at the comfort of your computer in your pajamas and find all kinds of data that can help you find your agnostism/atheism without having to take this detour.

For those of you who are now in the agnostism/atheism tent, did you get there straight from the Watchtower or did you also take the long way around?

22

Governing Body Meddling In Private Bedroom Affairs

by Bangalore in

governing body meddling in private bedroom affairs.. .

in chapter three of his book "crisis of conscience" ray franz mentions that the gb interfered in the private bedroom matters of the jw's.

here is an excerpt from that chapter.. .

donny

@ yadda - This was one of the issues I brought up in my disassociation "hearing." Here is an exerpt from my experience in the Watchtower.

Roy then asked me to tell them what led up to all of this. Surprisingly they let me speak for nearly thirty minutes uninterrupted as I explained to them the things I had learned through my research. Near the end of my speech I commented that Witnesses confuse the Society with Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, a sort of unholy Trinity.

Roy refuted that comment by stating that Witnesses do not have that problem. (You will notice that they quickly contradicted themselves on this matter in reply to my next allegation.)

I then stated that when the Society did reverse one of its laws, they did not apologize to any whose lives may have been affected greatly by adhering to the old way. Stewart then asked for an example.

I reminded him of what I had said in my letter regarding the Society's understanding of "porneia", the Greek word for fornication. I said that the Society for many years had held that homosexuality and bestiality did not constitute fornication and women (or in a few cases men) who were married to individuals who practiced these things was not permitted to divorce these disgusting persons. Any who did were disfellowshipped for "conduct unbecoming a Christian".

When the Society reversed itself in 1972 and declared that these acts were indeed fornication, they did not bother to apologize to any of the individuals whose lives had been greatly affected under the old ruling. Now note what Stewart's reply was.

He said; "Donny, do you really feel that Jehovah should apologize to these people?"

I said; "Stewart, you just made the point about what I had said regarding the distinction of the Society and God among Witnesses. In answer to your question, No Jehovah shouldn't apologize because Jehovah didn't make a mistake, but the Society did."

Jared then interrupted, no doubt due to the fact that one of heir own elders had done what he said no Witness would do. Jared then said that if these were my wishes they would announce it at the next Thursday meeting and then proceeded to hang up.

284

ABOUT TERRY

by Quentin in

jw
friends

terry was admitted to the hospital yesterday.

he has a severe case of cellulites which has affected his neck glands.

his face and neck are very swollen.

donny

I'm drunk on life.

Just make sure you get a designated driver is you need to go anywhere far.

32

Not Religon...not Belief....Not Inerrancy: INTERPRETATION is christianity

by Terry in

what the bible "says" isn't religion or doctrine or belief.. interpretation is.. proved how?.

there is not just one christian church.. ask yourself "why?".

here is a logic puzzle easily solved!.

donny

I am so glad you are feeling better and back to posting such insightful comments.

Donny

284

ABOUT TERRY

by Quentin in

jw
friends

terry was admitted to the hospital yesterday.

he has a severe case of cellulites which has affected his neck glands.

his face and neck are very swollen.

donny

Terry you are in my thoughts and I wish you speedy recovery. I have enjoyed all of out meetups we have had when I visit the Big DFW area.

Donny

28

New to the site.

by ?evrything in

jw
friends

finally opened my eyes about a month ago.. born in male from texas.

mid 20's.

suffered/suffer from general anxiety which i feel is a direct result from my childhood and teenage years in the org.

donny

Welcome to the site. I spent my 1st 40 years, which included my sentence in the Watchtower, in the DFW area. I am now on the central coast of California.

31

My own story.

by JoelCW in

jw
friends

i'm a long time lurker, first time poster.

i think i have a similar story to others who were brought up in the so called "truth" but after reading so many stories i thought i'd finally get around to writing mine:.

like i said, i was raised into it and almost my entire immediate family where (and for the most part still are) serious members.

donny

Very good story. I wish I had been thinking clearer at 18. I was 32 before I finally realized that I had really never believed any of it, but simply went through the motions trying to convince myself that this stuff was real.

Donny

1

Profits and Non-Prophets!

by smmcroberts in

have you ever heard of the weekly world news?

it was a popular tabloid in the u.s. which sometimes made bible-based predictions, even setting dates for their fulfillment!

does this sound like another magazine you might be more familiar with?

donny

Good article.

64

What do you replace it with?

by konceptual99 in

jw
friends

so... i am coming to the conclusion that pretty much all of the doctrinal stuff that i have believed for 25/30 years is built on a house of cards and it's about to come crashing down.

question is what do i replace it with?.

my intellectual head says that that whole thing is junk and there is almost certainly no god at all.

donny

I, like many, tried to replace it with "traditional" Christianity, but in due time that avenue also proved to be unbelievable. You have to replace it with "Living in the Now" and making the best of it instead of just trodding along in this life and placing all your hopes and dreams of a better one in the future.