Posts by done4good

33

Jehovah's Witnesses and their Elders

by AllTimeJeff in

i wonder if the governing body (gb) knows the trouble the whole thing started..... to be sure, when the gb put into effect that all congregations of jehovah's witnesses were to have a body of elders that is in existence today, their goal was to meet their own ends.

under a sub heading "gearing up for explosive growth" in their history book "jehovah's witnesses - proclaimers of god's kingdom" they stated..... ***.

jehovahs servants were determined to continue to yield to divine direction.

done4good

"verona, NJ in the ealy 90's was sent special bethel people to cleanse it from materialism"

I was there. I remember 'ol Skip and Hop very well!

j

9

Sin

by AllTimeJeff in

the subject of sin is one that is at the core of judeo/christian thought.

jw's and ex jw's alike deal with many levels of guilt that is associated with believing that certain actions and thoughts are "sinful" or offensive to god.. jw's define sin as "a missing of the mark...... god himself sets the mark..... missing that mark is sin.

sin is anything not in harmony with god's personality, standards, ways and will.

done4good

Great thread. I, myself have come to the same conclusion. Sin is little more than a definition of "badness" or "evil" within a religious context, and most certainly is used as a control mechanism.

We learn what real "good" and "bad" is through social development. I believe this is the very reason we all have left the jws, to begin with. We saw through the thinly disguised definitions of sin, as the control mechanism that it is. The greater good was almost never accomplished because of this human definition. Eventually, we figured out the the definition of "sin" that we were taught to believe and real principles of good and bad were not in fact, the same thing.

j

23

Witness Wife Seeks Divorce Because JW Husband Hits Her & Mentally Abuses

by minimus in

jw
friends

so she went into the refuge of her elder grandfather who has taken care of her and the 2 kids.

but the other elders told him that because she was getting an unscriptural divorce and the husband was in denial about being abusive, he had to kick her and the grand kids out or else lose his eldership.

(he has taught elder's school and is highly regarded).. so grandpa gave them the news that they have to get out!

done4good

"The above is what the rules are with one exception: A person's OWN fornication is not grounds for Scriptural divorce as per the WT. This is to close a loophole that would allow anyone to go have sex to get out of a marriage easily. Of course this tends to get communicated verbally at CO meetings with elders and KM schools since no Scripture explicitly states this."

As far as I know, that is incorrect, (unless something changed in the last four years). I know of many who used that exact loophole.

24

Forbidden fields of higher education for JW?

by Shazard in

which are they?

besides christian theology?

which fields are higly not reccomended for jws?

done4good

Daniel basically has it right. Anything non-vocational is typically what is discouraged, even if they don't explain it that plainly. It's not the career, (or the matieral wealth that may come from it), it's what you learn during those years of higher-ed that concerns them. In my case, I didn't leave the WTS right after college, but it certainly was a contributing factor in "waking me up". I left about 10 years later.

j

42

Your All-Time Favorite Record/CD Albums by Musicians - Any Category ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

was looking through my collection and thought it would be cool to see what some of our favorite record albums of all-time are ?!

i like a variety of music - mostly rock n' roll, blues , reggae, and jazz but look forward to seeing some of your favorites !

here are my top 10 approximately .

done4good

21. Selling England By the Pound-Genesis

22. A Trick of the Tail-Genesis

23. Throwing Copper-Live (Thanks FHN, I forgot that one).

24. Duke-Genesis

25. White Album-Beatles

42

Your All-Time Favorite Record/CD Albums by Musicians - Any Category ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

was looking through my collection and thought it would be cool to see what some of our favorite record albums of all-time are ?!

i like a variety of music - mostly rock n' roll, blues , reggae, and jazz but look forward to seeing some of your favorites !

here are my top 10 approximately .

done4good

No particular order, but these would be on my list:

1. Making Movies -Dire Straights

2. OK Computer-Radiohead.

3. Physical Graffiti-Led Zeppelin

4. Nevermind-Nirvana

5. Out of Time-REM

6. Chicago Transit Authority

7. Chicago II

8. American Idiot-Green Day

9. Countdown To Ecstasy-Steely Dan

10. Ziggy Stardust-Bowie

11. Katy Lied-Steely Dan

12. Can't Buy a Thrill-Steely Dan

13. Out of The Blue-ELO

14. Harvest-Neil Young

15. Talking Heads 77

16. My Aim Is True-Elvis Costello

17. Face The Music-ELO

18. Axis Bold As Love-Jimi Hendrix

19. Running on Empty-Jackson Browne

20. London Calling-The Clash

52

COMMENTS YOU WILL NOT HEAR AT THE WT STUDY: Help Them Return Without Delay!

by Mary in

how do you read?

q 7. what can we encourage those who have strayed from the flock to do?.

106:13) it may be helpful to remind an inactive one that "the faithful and discreet slave" is dispensing excellent spiritual food.

done4good

Thanks, Mary, and Blondie too...I know it can't be easy reading this stuff, let alone commenting on it. Thanks again, for all of the hard work.

j

28

KM 2009 - misrepresentation on blood transfusions

by truthseeker in

jw
friends

in the feb 2009 km there is a 10 minute part entitled "answering questions about blood transfusions".

notice the part i've highlighted in red.

exacty what transfusions do jws allow their children to have?

done4good

"If JW saw a baby crawling around an intersection would the go out and get it or say 'I can't break the law. I have to wait till the light turns green'."

Wow...I know this is off-topic but it reminds me of just how sick jw thinking can become.

In early 2002 I had a conversation w/some witness friends who came over to Jersey to visit from the KC area. After giving then a tour of NYC, (and Bethel for that matter), I took them to a place where they could get a good view of the NYC skyline, (Eagle Rock Reservation). At the time, it was full of 9/11 memoralbilia, such as pictures, letters to FDNY and NYPD and such. They were not the least bit impressed. I started up a conversation over the whole thing, and they proceeded to tell me how in their circuit many of the "friends", (damn I hate that word), were "stumbled" because some of the FDNY personnel were known to be jws, (evidently, firefighting is considered to be a "dangerous" job comparable to putting your life in danger like smoking). I was horrfied by this reaction, (still am, come to think of it).

Evidently, in witness land, it's better to save your own life, rather than risk it for 3,000 others. Absolutely disgusting.

j

29

What was the most profound spiritual moment of your life?

by cluless in

jw
friends

mine was simply the realisation that if a person had faith they wouldnt need a religon.. infact not associating with any religouse association is a bit like being on the oceon in a rowing boat.

but the thing is i dont care if the oceon gets rough.

it doesnt matter not having the answers.

done4good

When you've lived your entire life believing that you can cheat death and that you will live forever and then you realize that it's a lie, that's pretty fucking profound...

Can't say it better than UC did...

56

What is the average age of those who no longer believe?

by crapola in

i have been reading many posts today and some of you have mentioned your age and how long you have been away from the org.made me start wondering what the average age is for most on this site who no longer go along with the org.

it would be interesting to find out..

done4good

I think it depends on when you come "in". I was brought up in a divided household, and really didn't take to the jw stuff, until I did it on my own at 15. I spent the next 3 or 4 years as a brainwashed dubby. A good elder friend of mine, (not an elder at the time, though), told me about 1975 when I was about 19. That is where the doubts first started. They became much stronger after I was first married at 22. It took ten years to leave at that point, (32). I have been out for over three years now.

j