OnTheWayOut

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Posts by OnTheWayOut

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  45

  November Is The Cruelest Month

  by JRK in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i have been going through old papers and photographs since my mother passed away.

  it has reminded me of some of the reasons that i really hate november.

  this year has added to it obviously.. thirty-four years ago, my father passed away in early november.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I hear you adding good thoughts of Dad as time went on. Hopefully, November will allow some good memories along with the sad ones.
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  93

  Higher Education

  by Brian J in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just spent 8 hours in a 1 day elders school last weekend.

  clarification given: "moving forward any elder, ms, or pioneer who themselves or someone under their roof enrolls in higher education, may no longer qualify for privileges in the congregation.

  their qualifications will have to be reviewed by their boe.".

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  OnTheWayOut

  Just spent 8 hours in a 1 day Elders school last weekend
  Clarification given: "Moving forward any elder, ms, or pioneer who themselves or someone under their roof enrolls in higher education, may no longer qualify for privileges in the congregation. Their qualifications will have to be reviewed by their BOE."
  So if my daughter goes to a 4 year college, my qualifications will be reviewed. Pathetic.
  This is a frekin joke right? The grape juice keeps getting more purple.

  I haven't read your story beyond this OP, I haven't read the responses. Forgive me if the 5 pages have taken a turn and I am late to commenting about this.
  Anyway, if you are staying as an elder for some "helping loved ones" reason, then use this as a further reason should such thing happen in your family. "I was removed because I supported my daughter's further education."
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  81

  Secret sex in the Org

  by pomo6780 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  2 pioneers of the opposite sex.

  the brother is in his mid-20s, sister is in her late 20s.

  both are alone in car as the only 2 out in field service.

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  OnTheWayOut

  People are people.
  
  The 2 pioneers in the OP removed themselves from the organization. They could easily have kept it quiet and married right away.
  
  The brother who flies to meet a sister and is DF'ed- again, they could have kept it quiet.
  
  The bananas and apples, who really cares that young people are silly?
  
  People are people.
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  69

  284000 baptized in 2017

  by jw-verite in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  seen in the 03/2018 watchtower study :.

  "during the 2017 service year, more than 284,000 “rightly disposed” individuals symbolized their dedication to jehovah by water baptism.".

  https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-study-march-2018/baptism-requirement-for-christians/.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I doubt the numbers are made up. But I doubt this is true: "So still no slowing down yet "

  The simple truth is that minors across the spectrum have been encouraged to get baptized. I, nor Watchtower, has exact data on how many youths they have, how many can be coerced to be baptized, and how many that will leave for next year as they get slightly older and feel slightly more pressure to follow suit.
  
  I would also be interested in the number of those that leave the religion and those that die. If Watchtower is still growing, it is very near it's peak. Don't worry, the slow decline has either started or soon will.
  
  As mentioned though, it is possible that these numbers have gone to fiction. Then they are already on the decline.
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  35

  Bible is good if we look for implied truth

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  thumbs-up gesture doesn’t covey much if we see only four fingers closed and thumb standing upward.

  but if we look for the implied meaning, then it is a positive, informal signal indicating a job well done, and saying ‘keep it up.’.

  similarly, biblical accounts don’t convey much if we see them as mere accounts.

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  OnTheWayOut

  The story of the garden has no implied truths.
  
  1) God warned Adam and Cain before they could act—this communication had no effect on both of them—one perfect and the other imperfect.
  
  Wrong. It's fiction that our understanding of genetics and how long humans have been on the earth have sufficiently proven to be untrue. If there was a hidden message in this fiction, it was put there by the priestly leaders that wrote or edited it- that the "God" of humans is a real SOB so y'all better do what "He" says thru his religious leaders.
  
  2) God performed great miracles over the Israelites, and Jesus too did the same—yet they had no effect on the people who simply preferred Barabbas to Jesus. Implied truth is that people would not change their course of action no matter what God communicates to them or does in favor of them.
  
  Wrong. Great miracles are used to insist that the religious teachings must be from God. It is written that the people still failed to listen after miracles to imply that they were too stubborn to change and that the reader of this story should be even less stubborn in the light of no current miracles.
  
  3) In Genesis 11:6, 7 we find God speaking about the ability of humans
  
  I like your thoughts. Let me add that I believe the point was to say that humans were able to accomplish much without God's guidance, but took it in the wrong direction. This was written/edited by the priests to tell people again that they should just do as the priests representing God tell them.
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  19

  Police Welfare Check

  by JRK in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i awoke in the middle of the night to banging on my door.

  i went to the door half asleep and asked who was there.

  i heard “police.” my dog was going crazy, so i slipped outside to talk to them.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I am an emergency worker and in my state, we CAN do wellness checks that even include breaking into a home.
  It is done for supposedly good reasons, so we don't have a legal barrier. We do have to give an opportunity for the person to answer the door, it isn't a search warrant type of situation. But when they don't answer, we are going in.

  Clearly, these officers did not spend enough time with you to be sure there wasn't a mental health issue. (Hey, you gotta joke sometimes.)
  
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  18

  God is not the creator

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  every theory (including darwin’s) primarily proves someone has to design a theory; every product primarily proves someone has to design it.

  when neil armstrong and buzz aldrin landed on the moon it primarily proved intelligence of many people had to design that moon-mission.. 1) if every machine primarily proves someone designed it, then a much more complex, wonderful, and living machine with reproductive feature would mean the same: someone with corresponding ability, of higher energy, designed it because effect explains the cause just like harvest explains the sowing (whether you saw sowing or not).

  science shows human body is like a complex machinery with many departments/systems (such as respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular/circulatory, renal/urinary, endocrine, nervous, musculoskeletal, integumentary/exocrine, lymphatic/immune, reproductive etc.

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  OnTheWayOut

  OnTheWayOut

  That is what the OP heading means "God is not the Creator", and that is what the concluding verse means: Within each human body, there is a creator.
  
  Um....okay.
  I am not sure what your message here is. You seem to stay speaking in broad philosophical terms. I might be on the same side of the overall issue, but I feel your conclusions are too broad and unsupported:
  
  

  • 1)Everyone knows what action of others make them happy/sorrowful which means everyone knows how they should act towards others.
    
    There are mentally ill people, there are sadists, there are masochists, there are psychopaths. Everyone does not know how they should act toward others.

    2)Some parts of earth is already like paradise which means humans know how to make the whole earth paradise, if they want to.
    
    There are not agreed upon terms for "paradise." If you mean that untouched soil on remote tropical islands is paradise and I mean that mansions with paved roads must be included, we are already starting down different paths, let alone others' ideas that paradise would include self indulgence of varying types.
    Even agreeing upon what part of earth is most paradise-like (paradisiacal), it doesn't mean we could figure out how to make all parts of the planet like that.

    3)Some countries have never partaken in any war from their very inception which means other countries know how to go about without war if they really want.
    
    "Countries" don't know anything, including how to go with or without war. If you mean that one country stays out of wars, it doesn't allow for an automatic conclusion that all countries can stay out of war. Philosophically, I tend to agree, but it is not supported.

    4)Knowledge of God is not required for anyone to be a good person because all sorts of people are found among both the groups—theists and atheists.
    
    I fully agree with that one. It is proven. Opponents will argue on the definition of "good."

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  18

  God is not the creator

  by venus in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  every theory (including darwin’s) primarily proves someone has to design a theory; every product primarily proves someone has to design it.

  when neil armstrong and buzz aldrin landed on the moon it primarily proved intelligence of many people had to design that moon-mission.. 1) if every machine primarily proves someone designed it, then a much more complex, wonderful, and living machine with reproductive feature would mean the same: someone with corresponding ability, of higher energy, designed it because effect explains the cause just like harvest explains the sowing (whether you saw sowing or not).

  science shows human body is like a complex machinery with many departments/systems (such as respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular/circulatory, renal/urinary, endocrine, nervous, musculoskeletal, integumentary/exocrine, lymphatic/immune, reproductive etc.

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  OnTheWayOut

  I share scratchme1010's thoughts. The opening post makes incredible leaps as it jumps to conclusions that are not based on anything at all.

  If your incredible leaps were valid, then let me draw them out to one more inescapable conclusion.

  "If every machine primarily proves someone designed it, then a much more complex, wonderful, and living machine with reproductive feature would mean the same: someone with corresponding ability, of higher energy, designed it because effect explains the cause just like harvest explains the sowing (whether you saw sowing or not)."

  This leads to an endless series of "creators." If "someone with corresponding ability, of higher energy, designed [humans]," then
  "someone with corresponding ability, of higher energy, designed [that designer/creator]."
  

  And it would go on and on, using your own conclusions. Since that is not logical and sensible, the original premise must be flawed.
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  18

  Does This Site Ever Change The Mind of “Spiritual “ Jehovah’s Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you think witnesses who come here believe that in fact they don’t have the truth, after all.

  or are we just preaching to the choir?

  ?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  For some reason, my current posts have been dropping everything after the "quote" portions. I will have to do something different.

  I had asked if "a watcher" wonders why s/he cannot get information from the organization.
  
  Then I went on to say that I wanted to answer Minimus' opening question about my own circumstances-
  I found this forum when I was heavily doing internet research to free myself from the Watchtower. I may have already been prime to learn the truth about "the truth" but this site took my growing doubt and helped me learn so much more. I did not know that Fred Franz' nephew had written a book. I didn't know anything much about the library card excuse. I knew a little about Watchtower charging for parking at conventions, but I didn't realize just how deceitful they were about it.
  
  I am sure plenty of folks have come away with many doubts answered, which helped solidify their feelings about the religion.
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  18

  Does This Site Ever Change The Mind of “Spiritual “ Jehovah’s Witnesses?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  do you think witnesses who come here believe that in fact they don’t have the truth, after all.

  or are we just preaching to the choir?

  ?.

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  OnTheWayOut

  a watcher-
  I'm here for info that I can't get on jw.org., such as letters to elders and info on child molestation lawsuits.
  My faith in Jehovah remains intact.