freetosee

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Posts by freetosee

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  18

  Need serious information.

  by Sparkplug in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  without revealing names, for i do not want this person to be alerted, i have a few questions about how one would go about making sure an abuser is made public, even if not prosecutable after several decades.

  i have several family members that are stil jw's.

  after many many years they have decided to locate a person/plural, who molested them.

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  freetosee

  Hi Sparkplug, I just want to say it is great you don’t want the molester to get away with this and want to protect victims by exposing cover-ups.

  Thank you, freetosee
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  27

  I Can't Do Any More - Can You?

  by Joe Grundy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i first posted here, i explained that it was because although i am not, never have been, never will, be a jw, i have (earthly, as an atheist) loving concern for my jw neighbours/friends.. just recently, i found out that the mom is pregnant.

  she is not young, has a 6 year old, and a 2 year old who is like a firecracker!.

  i have offered to do basic things like take/collect the 6 year old to and from school, take the kids for walks on beach, etc.

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  freetosee

  Dear Joe, from reading many of your posts, as I have said before, your personality, expertise and concern for people is a great asset to this forum.

  When I realized the cult-factor about the WTS I was still living at home. My family went to the meetings and I stayed home. Today only my father goes to the meetings and that’s were he belongs. IMO too, it is best to ‘win without a word’ of direct challenge to their belief. You being yourself can shatter their drilled concept of the ‘worldly people’. That’s one of the things which worked for me. Since they like you too, their greatest joy would be for you to become a JW one day. I’m sure they give you literature now and then; you could ask them thought provoking questions regarding the received literature. But stay with thought-provoking questions as his will make them think. Don’t let them assign any JW (because of language difficulty) to you to do the explaining. They are your friends and you only want to discuss this faith with your friends/neighbors. And its true, the responsibility of having children has opened the minds of many.

  Sadly cults are all about –separation, isolation, manipulation, intimidation in order to take advantage of you. Once you grasp this it will again be separation and isolation through misrepresentation followed by manipulation and intimidation, until you return.

  It is heartbreaking but they have to see it for themselves, what you can do is only limited, but do it anyway.

  Observing Texan, I agree with you, but that is just my opinion.

  Freetosee
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  40

  the Power of Prayer?

  by darcy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i was reading through the 'why i hate god' thread', and reflecting on my own experience with prayer.

  i think the one most... relieving?

  point was when i realized that i when i prayed i wasn't really trying to talk to jehovah, but i was talking myself through my own life.

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  freetosee

  As a JW I caught myself while praying to be speaking to myself or wondering off thinking about people or situations. I apologized to Jehovah and restarted my prayer. I felt praying helped me as it gave me the feeling I had Jah, Jesus and all the angels on my side. When I felt guilty of failing (which I often did) asking for forgiveness and strength gave me a new boost to continue. On the other hand, most of my prayers were unanswered. I think it was the positive thinking and the self analysis through prayer which brought along a positive development.

  Being told that as a JW I was praying to the wrong God or in the wrong way, I find unreasonable, since a loving impartial God should answer every genuine prayer just as he lets the sun shine.

  My last prayer was a “good buy” prayer, telling God I can no longer worship him. And if there is someone up there he/she will understand me.

  Right now I don’t want God to answer if I pray, I would much rather he/she/it helped a woman from being raped or many, many other things Almighty God can do (and should have done in the past) instead of dealing with my little problems.

  Freetosee
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  79

  "Theocratic Warfare" - An Apostate Strategy?

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  who here had ever heard of this so-called 'doctrine' of "theocratic warfare" when you were a jehovah's witness?

  who has not heard of the so-called doctrine now that you are an apostate?

  so why have witnesses never heard of 'doctrine', yet apostates seem to promote it as the last word on witness standards of honesty, integrity and decency?

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  freetosee

  So why have Witnesses never heard of 'doctrine', yet apostates seem to promote it as the last word on Witness standards of honesty, integrity and decency? The answer is simple: apostates made the whole thing up!

  
  I grow up as a JW and I knew about it, I don’t remember it discussed at the meetings but do remember our PO discussing it at a meeting point for field service in relations to the military police back in the 80ties. “A lie is not a lie when spoken to someone not entitled to the truth” was often mentioned at meetings.
  But there are many things the r&f don’t know about the WTS that does not mean the leadership doesn’t do it. There is even a vast difference between elder and regular publishers.
  Freetosee
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  54

  Did You Believe "The End" Was Going To Come In Your Lifetime?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when the society came out in 1966 with the info that 6000 years of man's existence would come to an end by 1975, i thought it was a crock.

  for 9 long years, all jws did was speculate about "when" the great tribulation was going to begin.

  i always thought of jesus' words about "nobody knowing the day or the hour"----yet jehovah's witnesses figured it out?

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  freetosee

  Yes, I thought it was coming soon, I couldn’t wait for all the wickedness to be removed and didn’t believe only JW will be saved. Actually I thought maybe only a third of JW would be saved and not many elders. Growing up as a JW elder’s child I knew many of the things going on in the congregation and also knew of the enmities and power fights among the elders. So I couldn’t believe “our loving heavenly Father Jehovah” would destroy all the non-JW for not listening to the brief door-to-door witness. We had a couple of older sisters who would tell not interested householders something like “You love Satan. You will die at Armageddon!” I hoped and prayed for all non-JW who received a bad witness to be saved at Armageddon.

  Freetosee
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  36

  A Kind and Loving God

  by Dr Jekyll in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  a number of people have asked where i disappeared to and why i stopped posting.

  so that i dont have to keep typing the reason out im putting it here.

  it might just make some of you think about what a loving god you serve.

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  freetosee

  What happened is very sad. Cute little Tyler so delightful. My heart goes out to the family. I agree to the god thing. Freetosee
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  160

  Laughing laughing laughing

  by darcy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wow.. so, you know i'm an active witness, very active.

  hah.

  and i'm not laughing at y'all, but wow, i can't believe how extensive this is.

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  freetosee

  Peg, I like what you say. freetosee
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  35

  I disassociated myself today....June 8, 2006

  by arwen in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wrote a letter to some personal friends in the congregation and enclosed the letter from the un.

  i also wrote a short disassociation letter to four elders and enclosed the un letter as well.

  i delivered them to the mailboxes and also mailed a couple.

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  freetosee

  I look forward to your letter, since I am not D'F yet and like the idea of posting the UN issue to different members.

  freetosee
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  82

  When will people "stop" relying on "churches and religions" for happiness?

  by booker-t in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it just breaks my heart when i read some of the posts on this websites and hear all of the horror stories about people and families suffering because of what the church or religion did to them.

  not just jw's or mormons, but catholics, born-agains are also included in this group.

  i bet you could find just as many disgruntle ex-catholics and ex-born-agains out in the world who have been severly hurt by their church.

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  freetosee

  Hi XJW,

  I fully agree with what you say here...

  All I am here to do is talk about a common bond that we all have. That is being a JW.

  and I am genuinly happy you found a faith that you are convinced of being from God. All of us have much in common and we can work together to help those finding their way out of this cult. I look forward to talk with and work with you based on this common ground.

  freetoess
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  160

  Laughing laughing laughing

  by darcy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wow.. so, you know i'm an active witness, very active.

  hah.

  and i'm not laughing at y'all, but wow, i can't believe how extensive this is.

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  freetosee

  Darcy, as much as I would love you to try the seattle-experiment, I agree with sass-my-frass. You have a balanced view of the position of the elders (though not according to WT demands), so keep doing your thing. It took many of us years to realize the limited authority the elders really have. If you are happy and have good friends in your congregation enjoy it. I belief you would stand up for what is right and I hope you have a good relationship with the children and youths in your congregation, because I think they can learn much from you.

  Freetosee