Posts by OnTheWayOut

9

In 1923 I Almost Died

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

in 1923 i almost died.. don't get me wrong, i wouldn't even exist for another 44 years.. for a few seconds, on top a building, my grandfather stood with tears running down his cheeks and a small caliber pistol in his right hand.

if he had pulled the trigger, not just one man--one very depressed and hopeless man--would die; he'd take with him the four children his wife would never carry, their children (including me) and so on.

all of my children and grandchildren would never exist stretching off into the darkness of eternity itself.. it was on the way back from seagoville, near dallas, my grandfather told me about it the day he drove out to the prison where i was to be released on parole.____.

OnTheWayOut

If I wanted to exercise my author skills, I would tell the long version of my ALMOST DIED story, mine being 1929.

Here's the short version.

My grandfather's family was going to move from Chicago, IL. to somewhere in California. Grandpa was just a kid. All was set. They sold the house and had a check in hand. The crash happened, the banks failed- THAT VERY DAY! If they had not sold the house, they would still have the house and sold it at a later time. They could have moved later. If they had sold the the house sooner, they would have had cash money in hand. They would have gone to California. Instead, they had no house and a worthless check in hand.

So they did not leave Chicago. They moved in with family. The rest is how Grandpa met Grandma and my father was born later in Chicago.

Grandpa told that story now and again (after Grandma passed away). I think he wondered more than anyone else what life would have been like. Those of us listening knew life would not have existed for us.

59

What can the leadership at Watchtower do to turn things around?

by UnshackleTheChains in

let's play devils advocate here.. put yourself in the governing body's shoes.

they are well aware of all the issues they are facing.

they know their numbers (they 'do the math' as they say in the us).

OnTheWayOut

Watchtower is calendar and money-driven. Watchtower is a literature printing company in an era where printing is almost dead. Many print magazines have gone online in the hopes that people will pay for them on their tablets. That has not gone well.

I don't have the answer to "turn things around" in the long run, but I see a replay of 1975. When they declared (but did not declare) that the end of the world was coming, it was a replay of times before when they managed to come out ahead. In 1976, they had financed the modernization of presses and they gained more members than they lost over the issue. As a matter of fact, they gained more members than they ever would have if they had not done their Armageddon play.

So I see 2034 as their next big play. Membership recruiting is DEAD right now. The only real growth is from a small portion of the children who grew up in it. They will not really, in the computer age, change their recruiting of adults, but I see them trying to retain more kids. The vast difference between this Armageddon declaration and those of the past is that this one will kill them when it fails. So I see them using it as a way to focus more on taking more money from the members than actually growing in membership.

After the fail, they will be like Scientology- rich in property and/or money but with a small membership. And maybe the Governing Body members will take the money and run. Or maybe they will encourage members to get married and have lots of children so they have a "next generation" to attend meetings. I doubt either of those. More likely, they will use their financing to try to become some kind of internet religion and sell ALL the Kingdom Halls.

27

Asking for help with wife

by Are you serious in

hello everyone, my wife wants nothing to do with my awakening.

every time i try explaining something she tells me she doesn't want to hear it.

i believe she's afraid of learning something she's not ready for.

OnTheWayOut

There are so many of us in your situation- the mate who woke up trying/hoping for change in the other mate.

I had to let it go and just lightly hit at the doctrine now and again. Mostly, I point out things in daily life and politics where people choose to close their eyes to the clear and obvious truth of matters. Mostly, I help tug at my wife's emotions about doing the right thing and how it would be wrong to "shun" family over petty differences. Hugely, I point out problems in the news with Muslims, Mormons, Christian groups, the like- without directly mentioning JW's.

7

ANECDOTE of the DAY (a Rabbi on God's slaying of humans)

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

anecdote of the day.

_________i spoke with a certain rabbi every morning for over a year and a half.we were at a starbucks along with a table filled with all sorts of fellows.

they were mostly immigrants.

OnTheWayOut

So I woulda said, "We are not each just a worthless canvas. Parents do not have the right to slaughter their children. If you think it's more than that, then I would have to say the creator of something more than feelingless canvas has some responsibility to reveal himself to the ones he is about to slaughter in order for them to defend their actions or change them if that were proper."

64

Why is there such a 'high turnover' within the Jehovahs Witnesses?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i happened to come across a time article in 2008. it was basically talking about the high turnover in american faiths.

it mentioned the jdubs and highlighted the following point.. an even more extreme example of what might be called "masked churn" is the relatively tiny jehovah's witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds.

that means that two-thirds of the people who told pew they were raised jehovah's witnesses no longer are — yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts.

OnTheWayOut

LongHairGal:
OTWO:
Actually, it was me who said that. I was responding to Starry Night.

I stand corrected. Well said.

64

Why is there such a 'high turnover' within the Jehovahs Witnesses?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i happened to come across a time article in 2008. it was basically talking about the high turnover in american faiths.

it mentioned the jdubs and highlighted the following point.. an even more extreme example of what might be called "masked churn" is the relatively tiny jehovah's witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds.

that means that two-thirds of the people who told pew they were raised jehovah's witnesses no longer are — yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts.

OnTheWayOut

On p. 2, STARRY NIGHT said:
I was led to believe that the Witnesses had some special knowledge about the Bible. I was into end-times prophecy. Of course, in time, I learned that they knew nothing that the other religions didn't know.

Same for me. So much has been said, but the answer is the same whether someone figured it out or left to pursue a love affair or got hooked on drugs- they did not find what they needed abd started looking elsewhere.

12

Learning To Believe Again

by The_Seeker in

i was raised a jw and left the organization when i was 18 years old.

many thought i left because i wanted to live a life full of drugs, sex, and rock and roll, which was not true at all.

i left because i realized that these people had no idea what they were talking about and were simply parroting what the, " society " , told them to believe.

OnTheWayOut

You told us your story very well. Thanks, and sorry about your JW family stull in bondage. Most of us can relate in many ways.

I am confident that Watchtower and its men only have the power over us that we give them, so we must learn not to give them any.

Most here are seekers on their own path. My path, which includes atheism, is also a spiritual one. I see some religions as pacifiers. The good "in" them is really from good people.

24

My story and what I'm trying to do with it

by Ft2188 in

my dad was an elder my entire life and my sister a regular pioneer for most of my life, along with my mother.

ill never forget being 4 years old and staring up at the stars outside and my dad leaning over to and saying "look what jehovah made for you".

my response, "but how do you know god is real"?

OnTheWayOut

I dunno if this is the stuff you really want. I will post the links to my posted story of my JW best friend and how I was treated in my fade from Watchtower, then the second link is the letter I never sent, but kinda wish I had, as I never heard from him again.

http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/friends/183665/1/My-JW-Best-Friend

https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/207474/am-thinking-sending-this-letter-jw-former-best-friend

24

My story and what I'm trying to do with it

by Ft2188 in

my dad was an elder my entire life and my sister a regular pioneer for most of my life, along with my mother.

ill never forget being 4 years old and staring up at the stars outside and my dad leaning over to and saying "look what jehovah made for you".

my response, "but how do you know god is real"?

OnTheWayOut

Tell me if I understand what you are looking for- you hope to read our letters to our loved ones that we wrote because we left the religion, to demonstrate the pain and loss.

I don't have such a letter.

89

Do you believe in god?

by freakyAL in

i used to be a staunch believer in god.

maybe its technology and science advancing so much thats got me doubting idk.

do you believe in god?

OnTheWayOut

I am a very confirmed atheist. There are probably other intelligent creatures "out there" but not anything like a God or gods that created it all.

When I left JW's, I thought Christendom had it right. But I wasn't interested in attending.
But as I studied why Watchtower was wrong, I further studied why the Bible was wrong and how science was striving to find correct answers. I dabbled in learning a bit about Buddhism also.

The biggest thing for me was that I turned myself over to God and I wound up in a mind-control cult, so I wondered if he wasn't there, then there was the terrible 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. I thought about God letting innocent children be torn away from family by the tens of thousands.

So, the science tells me why so much of Genesis is wrong, and the heart and head tell me why I should listen to science. And the greatest thing about eastern thought is that you can take the wisdom and the nice stuff and not have to believe in any of the gods.