Posts by OnTheWayOut

27

People Asking Me To Help Them Leave

by pale.emperor in

i dont know if it's due to the last convention, the recent broadcasts, the internet or just plain fatigue - but since the convention i've had a few people contact me via facebook messenger asking how i am then cutting to the chase asking me what it's like "on the outside" or "how did you adjust after leaving?

" and asking me how they can leave the wt but keep their families.. my reply is always the same, i show real genuine interest and concern and listen to their situation.

then i suggest a fade, how to fade, to ignore or reject elders visits, to not talk about their doubts to active jws under any circumstances and finally point them to this site.

OnTheWayOut

All have to weigh their decisions. I think it's wonderful that so many want to find a way to leave, and I hope you find it a compliment that they come to you.

My decision was that, no matter what, I hadda get outta there. If a fade didn't work, I was still going.

Maybe some of the big questions need to be listed for people. Stuff like:

Could you continue going to the KH for the rest of your life for the sake of others?

Can you think of anyone inactive or barely active that your loved ones do not shun? Why?

Are you suppressing a lifestyle and feel that you are betraying yourself if you don't say something, do something, leave the witnesses?

Will it hurt your health/stability/emotional well being more to stay or to leave and lose all that?

34

I am grateful for leaving the watchtower corporation. Innit!

by punkofnice in

i dislike long topics......so here it is.. i suffered for my religion, now it's your turn.. when i first left the corporation my life exploded into a suicidal chaos.. my family broke up.

i lost my so called friends.. luckily, i had worldly friends from all walks of life that supported me, even though they had no idea why i was so suicidal.

in as much as they hadn't left cults.. i went from the corporation to a baptist church.

OnTheWayOut

I am grateful to be out also, and happy for you too.

If you mean you are an unsuccessful author because it isn't financially supporting you, okay. But I found so much reward in writing my story. Money isn't everything. I had hoped to write more but I got it out of me. Maybe one day.

My stint of "maybe Christendom is right" was short lived. Its been wonderful to be free to learn and examine, and I agree with tlyour God thoughts. The greatest thing I take away from gaining my freedom is that I don't judge people. I will argue where appropriate, but not so much face-to-face over God issues.

33

How To Fade Away Cleanly?

by SplaneThisToMe in

jw
friends

this is my first post and hopefully i can get some advice and input.

i have been actively involved with the organization for a little over 10 years now.

i began studying in high school, got baptized and my family fortunately did not.

OnTheWayOut

I faded out for family. Family can put up with leaving the religion if they really want to. Mine wants to.

Friends, on the other hand- if they remain believers, they usually distance themselves from the totally inactive friend. Your only real hope among them is that someone is mentally out.

But you will find new friends and figure out a path.

Sorry if that's not positive enough.

48

Adam and the Dinosaurs

by The Real Edward Gentry in

jw
friends

here is a fascinating subject.

according to the bible , one of adam's first assignments was to name all the animals including the sea creatures and dinosaurs of course.

we don't know how long this took but, as all witnesses know, the time period is crucial in working out the timing of armageddon).

OnTheWayOut

One of Adam's first assignments was to name all the animals including the sea creatures and dinosaurs of course. We don't know how long this took but, as all witnesses know, the time period is crucial in working out the timing of Armageddon).

JW's don't necessarily think that dinosaurs had not already gone extinct by Adam's time. Something about the earth having much vegetation to balance the atmosphere, and dinosaurs to remove the vegetation, and then their need was over.

Also, "....as all witnesses know, the time period is crucial in working out the timing of Armageddon" !!!
Who told you that crap? All witnesses do not know a bunch of the doctrine. And all the stuff about when Adam was created and when the last creative day started/ended- that's stuff of Fred Franz' day. It has nothing to do with the supposed timing of Armageddon now, that's stuff of the overlapping generation.

22

How can a dead chicken atone for your sins?

by Fisherman in

jw
friends

the article says that the dead chickens are given to the poor but i was told that the chickens are thrown into the garbage.

(who could possibly eat a chicken full of sin?).

https://www.google.com/amp/abc7ny.com/amp/religion/exclusive-dead-chickens-in-cages-as-part-of-jewish-ritual/2457387/.

OnTheWayOut

I could eat a chicken full of sin.

42

November 13, 2017 TO ALL BOE IN THE US Re: Making the Best Use of Our Kingdom Halls

by wifibandit in

november 13, 2017 to all bodies of elders in the united states branch territory re: making the best use of our kingdom halls.

OnTheWayOut

If they go full on "internet video," expect a whole bunch of readings of that scripture that says "where there are two or three gathered in my name."

There will be some way to register how many in the room when the meeting is onscreen.

26

...and so the shunning begins

by Phoebe in

jw
friends

i am now officially 'inactive' so am no longer chased by an elder a for a report.

the congregation i belonged to never had much time for me anyway, i said once i could drop down dead in the k.hall and no one would notice.

so i never expected anyone to be particularly bothered that i wasn't there and they aren't.

OnTheWayOut

Sorry to read of your so-called "friends." Similarly, I was there for my best friend when he was DF'ed, but he was not there for me when I remained inactive.

To be fair, he decided not to maintain contact during his problem, so that he could get reinstated. But the excuses run thin when shunning is not even required.

I would forgive him if he ever wakes up, realizing he is another dangerous mind-control cult victim.

35

In what decade was it clearly apparent that Watchtower was a high control religion?

by UnshackleTheChains in

i'm just curious to get people's views on this.. the bible students seem to start of as quite a liberal group under charles taze russell, albeit he had some whacky teachings going on.

obviously things began to change under rutherford.

but what decade did it become abundantly clear that the society was indeed high control religion or even labeled a cult?.

OnTheWayOut

As answered before, I think it was a high control group when it enforced a recruitment work in order to sell literature. So that was pretty early on.

I would say "it was clearly apparent that Watchtower was a high control religion" when the 1975 excuse came out. At that time, they had recovered from Doomsday predictions before, but it would be hard to hide this past from the members. So they went into full mind-control mode and denied what they did and told members what to think about it.

24

Side effect of Downsizing......$$$

by Tech49 in

jw
friends

so here is a tidbit you will all just love!.

we all are hearing of the trend right now to ¨downsize¨ the congregations...ie... eliminate by combining, in order to blah blah blah... .

here is what you didnt know: every time a congregation is dissolved, for whatever reason, including merging or dispersing, wt makes money!

OnTheWayOut

Aren't they pretty much at the point where congregations do not keep more than a small amount of operating funds on hand, anyway? Don't they no longer save money in congregation funds for chairs or repairs but give it all to Mother who pays for such things (if ever)?

24

When did "The Last Days" of JW Organization Begin? Will This Generation See It End?

by steve2 in

a growing discourse on this forum has been around what "the end" means.

as jws, many here spent varying proportions of our lives waiting for the end when an unsettling realization was that the end that approaches is more likely to be from old age than the world's end.

through the centuries, group after group, has claimed it has "inside" information on the end of the world, drawing in the desperate-for-comfort like moths to flames.

OnTheWayOut

I have to agree with D.O.C. about the "Chicken Little" effect wearing thin when members declare that the sky is falling for over 100 years.

But somehow, Watchtower has been able to come through that before. Different this time is the 100 years anniversary of the beginning of the short time, and the age of Google for young ones. But a huge factor is the death of print.

The beginning of the end was abandoning of any urgency in the recruiting work. Regardless of what they say, the members see that it is unimportant to get literature into people's hands.