1. After a night out I attemtped to steal a double decker bus.
2. After a night out i danced on the center spot of the cities football stadium.
3. After a night out i pushed my mate onto the main road whilst he was in a shopping trolley.
Paul
there is a training program in the c.i.a.
and f.b.i.. you tell an interrogator 3 things about yourself.
one them has to be a lie.. if they can tell which statement is the lie, you flunk.. .
1. After a night out I attemtped to steal a double decker bus.
2. After a night out i danced on the center spot of the cities football stadium.
3. After a night out i pushed my mate onto the main road whilst he was in a shopping trolley.
Paul
im so happy ive got to tell someone!
at the beginning of the year i made the final mental decision to leave the truth and fade.
i havent been out in service or to a meeting in a long time.
Thats great news superman.
I wish you both a great journey.
Paul
i joined jwd about 3 weeks ago and have been "lurking" for those 3 weeks.....til now.
a little about me....was born into the "truth" along with 4 other siblings.none of us have anything to do with the "truth.
" i'm the oldest in my 30's married my h.s.
Hello and welcome to the board.
Paul
i've noticed as of late that quite a few people are posting "good bye" threads.... why?.
sometimes people have disagreements or arguments, but does that mean they can't remain friends or talk?.
hell, if i left my wife every time we had an argument, we wouldn't have stayed married through our honeymoon!
Why are so many leaving?
Sometimes it's good to take a break from all things JW related.
I don't think it's a case that people leave for good. This board seems to go down different roads from week to week, month to month. One week it may be politics, another such as this week gay issues take the main agenda, next week it will be a different subject. Some get offended, some do not. I think when people leave, most inevitably come back when they lurk and see that other issues are at the fore front of the message board.
For me, i get out of the board what i want to get from it and leave the rest. I haven't posted on the gay threads, mainly because i do not want to be caught up in the argument going back and forth. So this week my posts have been less than previous weeks.
I think that for many long time posters, some weeks you find you want to post, others you don't. It doesn't mean you have left, just taking a bit of a step back, until these issues pass, which they inevitably will.
Paul
as some of you are aware i have been going to aa meetings since the new year.
the "god thing" linked to the aa was a real dilemma for me.. since this time i have researched well the jw doctrines and come to the realisation that to have a personal relationship with a higher power i do not need to believe in the witness doctrine.. i am at a point where i have been considering how i personally would interprate a higher power.. i have met someone within the aa who is an ex jw and have just had a conversation with him on the phone, which has got me thinking about this.. now he has said that his faith now has been built by replacing one brick at a time so to speak.
giving an illustration of his faith being like a building, he can replace an old brick with a new one until he gets a new building all of his own making.
There is lots of good info here.
For me i guess i am in a bit of a spiritual wilderness. I know there is a spiritual side to me that i want to explore, but don't know which way to turn. In rejecting religion, i guess i threw everything out, God, spirituality and all. Now that i have seperated the JW doctrine away from God it feels empowering.
Jamiebowers...I feel like you in that i do not need to go to church or a place of worship.
Elivelith....thanks for your post, but for me in praying to Jesus i do not know whether this sits comfortable with me at this present time.
Sacolten....i agree with you that it doesn't happen overnight.
Texman....thanks for your story, it really is touching.
Snowbird....Your comments have helped, your posts always do.
BTS.....Texmans comments was a good share.
A&G.....Thanks, i think the 587 thing for me is going to be one of those subjects i will always be learning about.
Koneal....Welcome to the board! For me i do not know whether it is the God of the bible, that i am looking for yet. Thanks for your kind words.
White Dove.....good point, i have considered meditation.
Octraine Prince....i can see what you're saying about nature. It kind of makes me feel insignificant.
JK666....i know where you are coming from, no one seems to understand me in AA, when i bring up the God issue. Many do not see my dilemma. It is good that there is another ex jw there, but whether his way will help only time will tell. But it is good to know that i am not on my own with it.
Voideater....I like you are starting with a blank slate. it has taken time to get rid of those doctrines taught, but it was well worth the effort.
Hillbilly....good point.
I know i would feel better looking at that spiritual side to me, instead of ignoring it like i have all these years.
Paul
as some of you are aware i have been going to aa meetings since the new year.
the "god thing" linked to the aa was a real dilemma for me.. since this time i have researched well the jw doctrines and come to the realisation that to have a personal relationship with a higher power i do not need to believe in the witness doctrine.. i am at a point where i have been considering how i personally would interprate a higher power.. i have met someone within the aa who is an ex jw and have just had a conversation with him on the phone, which has got me thinking about this.. now he has said that his faith now has been built by replacing one brick at a time so to speak.
giving an illustration of his faith being like a building, he can replace an old brick with a new one until he gets a new building all of his own making.
Thanks for all your posts on this.
Texman, thanks for telling your story. It does help.
I came to a point about 2 months ago now where that craving for a drink just went, for me it was after about a month of trying to control it and realising that i was happier when i abstained completely. This feeling i had i would say was spiritual, there was no explanation of the ecstatic way i felt, when i just gave in to the idea that i was powerless over alocohol. Since then i have not had a craving for a drink, the only thing i miss is some of the good nights out with friends, but this i realise now does not have to involve alcohol.
I think the AA in the UK is very different to meetings in the USA, i think maybe your meetings are more religious or spiritual. So i can see why you would think that AA meetings could be like the dubs at times. Over here they tend to speak of spiritual experience, whether that be the God of the bible or other gods.
I don't agree that you can be shunned, i have found the door is always open for you to come back should you decide to leave. However, with the program being a selfish program, i personally would not want to associate with someone who admits to being an alcoholic, yet still drinks. This would be a threat to my own sobriety, which is the most important thing, however i would be there to help if that alcoholic wants it.
I do consider myself a spiritual person and i believe in God after trying to go the atheist route. So for me this is something i am looking at, at present.
Paul
ok this is very difficult for me because i just started studing this question.
what i would like to know is what have you decided from your studies and does anyone know the statistics on how many beleive in the 607 dat and how many beleive in the 586/587 date.. the watchtower likes to say they agree with the 607 because that number is based on the bible when the 586/587 is based on secular history.. from what ive read so far the mojority thinks it to be 586/587 because most searches ive done give me that date.. what have you come up with in your research?
i feel like you almost need to be a scholar to figure this out.
I can hear 'Scholar' walking down the corridors of JWD. He ain’t guna be happy…
.....and i can hear JCanon walking from the opposite direction
Paul
ok this is very difficult for me because i just started studing this question.
what i would like to know is what have you decided from your studies and does anyone know the statistics on how many beleive in the 607 dat and how many beleive in the 586/587 date.. the watchtower likes to say they agree with the 607 because that number is based on the bible when the 586/587 is based on secular history.. from what ive read so far the mojority thinks it to be 586/587 because most searches ive done give me that date.. what have you come up with in your research?
i feel like you almost need to be a scholar to figure this out.
Hi number1anarchist
First of all i'd like to say welcome, i don't think i have come across you before.
For me this is one thing that made me question every other doctrine the JW's came up with. I like you just accepted the 607 date without question.
It will take you time to research it properly. There is much info out there.
Basically JW's get 607BCE by counting backwards the 70 year Jewish captivity from 537BCE when they say Cyrus announced his decree. This is the only way they get to 607BCE.
So what you have to ask yourself first if you were to accept the 607 date, is whether the 537 date for Cyrus releasing the Jews is correct?
Jw's and scolars agree that Babylon was conquered in 539BCE, one of the sources for this is Ptolemy's Canon. However they then go on to estimate that it took 18 months or so for Cyrus to release the Jews bringing us to 537BCE date.
So therefore if the 537 date is based on an estimation, how sure can a JW be that 607 is the correct date? It could have been 538BCE or 536BCE.
There is much info out there as to how secular historians arrive at 587/6 BCE for the destruction of Jerusalem. There is also much out there how this can harmonise with the 70 year biblical prophecy too. One of them being that the rebuilding of Jerusalems temple was completed in 516BCE, another also being that the Babylonian Empire took hold with the defeat of the Assyrians in 609BCE and the end of the empire being 539BCE, therefore a 70 year rule. This however is something that you need to research as there is far too much information to digest in one thread.
It is a rewarding thing to do to look into this. But first of all it would be good to look at how JW's arrive at 607BCE, so to do that you need to look at the pivotal date of 537BCE. Ask any JW how they arrive at 537, you will find it is based on if's and but's.
Feel free to PM if you would like links on any info. There are many people here who have researched this thoroughly, it was well worth the effort in my case.
Paul
as some of you are aware i have been going to aa meetings since the new year.
the "god thing" linked to the aa was a real dilemma for me.. since this time i have researched well the jw doctrines and come to the realisation that to have a personal relationship with a higher power i do not need to believe in the witness doctrine.. i am at a point where i have been considering how i personally would interprate a higher power.. i have met someone within the aa who is an ex jw and have just had a conversation with him on the phone, which has got me thinking about this.. now he has said that his faith now has been built by replacing one brick at a time so to speak.
giving an illustration of his faith being like a building, he can replace an old brick with a new one until he gets a new building all of his own making.
As some of you are aware i have been going to AA meetings since the new year. The "God thing" linked to the AA was a real dilemma for me.
Since this time i have researched well the JW doctrines and come to the realisation that to have a personal relationship with a Higher Power i do not need to believe in the Witness doctrine.
I am at a point where i have been considering how i personally would interprate a higher power.
I have met someone within the AA who is an ex jw and have just had a conversation with him on the phone, which has got me thinking about this.
Now he has said that his faith now has been built by replacing one brick at a time so to speak. Giving an illustration of his faith being like a building, he can replace an old brick with a new one until he gets a new building all of his own making. I thought to myself that this is a good way of looking at it. For me however, because i have been looking at doctrine over the last six months or so, i guess i have already abolished and destroyed that witness building and am now at a point of where do i go from here? Hope i am making sense.
There seem to be many here who have a new faith. What i was wondering is how did this happen? Was it gradual or sudden? Was there a confusion between witness doctrine and your new faith? Do the two get in the way of each other? Or do the two compliment each other? Basically, how did you get there?
Paul
i understand i jump around too much in my comments.
my add gets worse when i get nervous.
plus i know there are topics that could be more academic.
I will say to you that when your whole life and family and friends and beliefs and everything has to do with being a Witness, its almost like speaking against God himself. I still pray before every meal, when I wake up, before I sleep, and throughout the day.
In time if you are anything like me, you will come to realise that you can still pray throughout the day and God will listen to you. Witnesses do not have the monopoly on God that they claim. From your previous posts i get the sense that you have had some doubts with regards to the Watchtower society.
The problem for most of us when we first started having doubts was that we felt we were turning our back on God, when in reality we were turning our back on the Watchtower society and it's doctrines.
Paul