***Even if someone is studying or someone is on the fence, they have plenty "right now" to aid them. There is no shortage!***
What is your point, free2beme? That everyone inclined to write an anti-JW book should not bother? You know, we already have "plenty" of novels, biographies, travel, science and history books, more than any of us will be able to read in our lifetimes. Why should anyone write anything at all any more? It's all been covered, right??
parakeet
JoinedPosts by parakeet
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37
Are there not enough anti-Witness books out there?
by free2beme inevery once in awhile i will read comments about someone thinking a new anti-witness book needs to be written, to expose something.
well, recently i took the time to look over the search engines of the internet and found something interesting.
when you type in "jehovah's witness" or "watchtower", you found almost 3 to 1, negative sites and information on the witnesses.
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parakeet
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Are you embarrassed?
by desib77 indoes anyone else find themselves embarrassed about their jw past?
i find that when people that know what i used to be ask me about it i am completely embarrassed by how foolish their beliefs sound especially things like the blood issue.
i can't stand when someone will say "why did you believe such and such....?
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parakeet
I've been out of the org almost 30 years, and I still don't tell new friends or acquaintances about my JW past unless absolutely necessary. The few times I voluntarily mentioned it, people looked at me like I had two heads.
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Thank you, JWD!
by AuldSoul ini just wanted to take a minute and express the appreciation i feel for this place.
simon and angharad, thanks to you two for putting up with the crap necessary to keep this place available to disenfranchised outcasts like me.
also, thanks to the forum administrators who work to keep the place relatively cordial and welcoming.. but really, this forum would be nothing without the posters.
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parakeet
Thank YOU, AuldSoul. You haven't done such a shabby job yourself.
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I Can't Do Any More - Can You?
by Joe Grundy inwhen 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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parakeet
Joe, you've reached the point many of us exJWs have reached with our family and friends who remain in the org. That point is the brick wall of JW indoctrination that we beat our heads against in vain. If you can get through to these people, more power to you.
But please prepare yourself for the possibility that they may resist every effort on your part to help them; in fact, the more concerted effort you make to help them, the more they may view it as opposition and proof that "truth" is on their side. If that's what happens, try not to take it personally as failure on your part. You've already done more for your neighbors than most people. -
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Are there not enough anti-Witness books out there?
by free2beme inevery once in awhile i will read comments about someone thinking a new anti-witness book needs to be written, to expose something.
well, recently i took the time to look over the search engines of the internet and found something interesting.
when you type in "jehovah's witness" or "watchtower", you found almost 3 to 1, negative sites and information on the witnesses.
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parakeet
free2bme: ***"While there may be seen a need for a certain category of anti-Witness books, my point is still the same, only people against the Witnesses are going to read these..."***
I disagree. There are two small but critical groups who need these books: JWs on the fence and those studying with JWs. Before I left the JWs, I agonized for 2 years about how to go about leaving. I found the courage to leave only after I read Grizzuti-Harrison's "Visions of Glory." I still have the book, tattered now after more than 25 years.
Ex-JWs often read these books for information only, but for those on the verge of joining or leaving the JWs, these books can be a godsend (no pun intended). And I agree with Drew, information in books written even as little as 10 years ago becomes dated, so new books are needed to keep up with current issues going on with the WTS.
As long as the WTS exists, there will be books needed to inform everyone who wants to know the truth about this cult. -
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I Can't Do Any More - Can You?
by Joe Grundy inwhen 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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parakeet
Joe, I've been following your posts regarding this family. IMO, if they reject your well-intentioned offer of help, they don't deserve it. I think the best you can do is to tell them that your offer to help is always there if they decide to avail themselves of it, and then leave them alone. You can lead a horse to water, ..............
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Higher Education: Is The Issue Really That Important?
by Warlock inthe catholics think they have the true religion, but they don't discourage higher education.. the protestants think they have the true religion, but they don't discourage higher education.. the j.w.
's think they have the true religion, but yet they do discourage higher education.. why?
do they really think there would be a mass exodus from the org.
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parakeet
Warlock: ***"But I'm sure some Catholics and Protestants have applied those same skills learned thru higher education to their religions and you can't tell me they all left and went somewhere else."***
Not all of them have gone but a good many have. Mainstream religions also don't stand up to close scrutiny, but unlike the JWs, they tolerate (usually) their members' scrutiny and questioning--they don't toss them out on their behinds at the first hint of doubt, like the JWs. Catholicism and (most) Protestant religions are usually willing to enter into a debate with scientists even though they may disagree with scientific findings. That's why someone who believes in evolution can still be a Catholic or Protestant in good standing--their churches have enough tolerance to welcome even those who disagree with some of their doctrine.
The WTS will brook NO questioning, doubt, scrutiny of any kind. -
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Did we really believe in Armaggedon?
by james_woods ini got jolted into a forgotten realization by arthur's world events and time of the end thread.. my personal "truth" was and is - i never even really believed in it!!!.
and, yet allowed myself to get brainwashed into following around like a robot and talking to other people like i did...unbelievable now that i think about it.
but in the back of my mind (what little part was still working on its own) i was just thinking - yea sure.
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parakeet
I was dragged into the org as a teenager, so I didn't have a childhood of indoctrination about Armageddon. I went along with it because I didn't know any better, but I never really believed it. As soon as I got out on my own, I dropped the cult like a hot potato.
The only nightmares I get now are not of Armageddon, but of being dragged back into the org. -
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TRUE STORY--I Met F.W. Franz
by under_believer ini have mentioned, before, that i live in the portland, or metro area.
i'm still anonymous, on here, but there is a very large concentration of witnesses in the portland area, and i think i'm pretty safe on this disclosure.
hopefully this next disclosure won't tip my hand to the undercover witness loyalists.
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parakeet
***"He was almost completely blind, and wore these coke-bottle style classes. He was a very small man and looked as though he suffered from osteoporosis, all hunched over and gnarled. His head was attended only by a few wispy hairs and mottled with liver spots."***
Your description of him reminds me of Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. About the same personality, too. That means you must be Bart! -
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Higher Education: Is The Issue Really That Important?
by Warlock inthe catholics think they have the true religion, but they don't discourage higher education.. the protestants think they have the true religion, but they don't discourage higher education.. the j.w.
's think they have the true religion, but yet they do discourage higher education.. why?
do they really think there would be a mass exodus from the org.
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parakeet
Yes, it's vitally important. Higher education, especially the science disciplines, teaches analytical thinking skills. Students are taught to approach problems without bias and apply critical problem-solving skills in order to find logical solutions.
Once one learns how to do this and applies this method to the JWs, the artificial ediface of doctrine the WTS has created will instantly reveal itself as the ludicrous manmade pile of crap it really is. The org knows it cannot survive such scrutiny; that's why they forbid higher ed. They can survive only if their followers are kept ignorant of such knowledge.